This small business inspired me to start featuring different rabbit related businesses each month so we can get to know them better. Some businesses seem to be growing and thriving, while others unfortunately are closing their doors. With the millions of bunny loving people worldwide, it seems as though we should be able to support them all. My hope is for you to read these monthly interviews to get a more in-depth understanding of the featured business.
TDR’s First Featured Business
Bunmom Boutique
1. What is your business?
Bunmom Boutique is a bunny-themed sewing business. I work with media that includes bunny buttons, bunny fabrics, and faux bunny-colored furs.
2. Tell me about yourself, your buns
I am the proud bunmom of three rescue buns, Isabelle, Dandelion, and Missy. Isabelle was adopted from the SPCA in June 24, 2017. She was quite the feisty overcomer, as she developed head tilt September 1, 2020. She lived in a crib for three-and-a-half years. Izzy developed head tilt on September 1, 2020. She’s never lets it get her down, so we don’t either. She’s still a feisty cheerleader. Her favorite time of day is medicine time, because she knows a treat is coming at the end. (Update: Miss Izzy crossed the rainbow bridge February 14, 2024)
Dandy is a senior bun, estimated to be born in 2015. I would describe him as the type you’d like your daughter to date. A total gentlebun. He likes long naps and snuggle sessions with Izzy and even in bunmom’s lap. Dandy is free-roaming and knows when and where to report for his evening date with Izzy. Dandy had a Total Ear Canal Ablation and Bulla Osteotomy on January 13, 2020. He’s doing well and is as cute as can be with his quirky face. His ear infection left him with some facial paralysis, which makes it look like he is smiling. We hope he is happy as Izzy’s free-roaming husbun.
3. What inspired you to start your business?
I started sewing masks in the spring of 2020. I made a few for family and friends and that went well. I got the idea to post a picture on my @bunnyisabelle1 Instagram account and see if anyone was interested in making a purchase. The response was overwhelming. At one point I had over sixty masks in my waitlist. By the end of 2021, I had sewed over 500 masks. By 2022, there was zero demand for masks and I decided to start sewing other projects with the left-over yardage.
4. How is your business unique?
I try to create a sense of community among my customers. For example, I name all of my bunny fabrics after look-alike bunnies. The bunparent will submit a story or anecdote about their bunny. I then include this information on a little card with each purchase that uses their bunny’s “fabric”. This also helps when customers are ordering a project with a particular fabric – instead of calling the fabric “brown bunny with a deer” or “white bunny with flowers”, we refer to it as “Vianne” or “Buttercup”.
5. How long have you been doing this?
I sold my first mask on April 1, 2020, so I consider this my business anniversary. In August of 2020, I took a class to make my business official, getting a state tax license, EIN, and officially filed my business name with the Pennsylvania Department of State.
6. What does a typical work day look like?
Most of my day resolves around carrying for my special-needs bunny, Isabelle, who lives in a baby crib. I get her medicine, express her bladder, bounce her on my mini-trampoline, ensure she’s eating hay, get her salad, give her water out of a syringe, and clean up her poops. I then start her laundry. Somewhere in there I make a cup of coffee and eat breakfast. I also tend to Isabelle’s husbun, Dandy, who free-roams. I give him some pets and ensure he has produced poop and eaten.
The days I have the time to work on my business are the best. That may be a day of doing nothing but ironing and cutting out pieces for stuffies or bags. Some days I sew non-stop. I try to use a lot of “muscle memory” when I work, and do the same step over and over again. This helps so that when I’m sewing, I can feed the same material through the sewing machine and keep the same tension and thread color.
Some days are spent on the computer – working on my website, ordering supplies, or updating my bookkeeping. The beginning week of January, each year, is spend counting and organizing all of my supplies. I set some time aside in February, then, to do Schedule C and taxes.
7. What is your biggest challenge?
When I started, my biggest challenge was actually that uncomfortable and scary topic of the IRS, taxes and bookkeeping. Now I have that down pat and it is a routine task each month and year. I’m actually rather passionate about this topic and love to talk about it! Now my biggest challenge is resisting the temptation to buy all of the cute bunny fabrics I see, especially with spring and Easter coming up.
8. What is your most popular item?
In 2020 and 2021, my most popular item was the miniature wreaths. One of my customers gave me the idea to sew stuffed bunnies from rainbow bridge bunny’s blankets. These have become incredibility popular and I am so grateful to have such an awesome customer base that helps me with ideas.
9. What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur?
Get your business in order legally and financially as soon as possible. The peace of mind is priceless.
10. Where can someone purchase your products?
Anyone can contact me on my website, on Instagram @bunmom.boutique or via email bunmom.boutique@gmail.com
Final Thoughts…
I can 100% recommend Suzanne’s work. She made a stuffy of my Winter after he passed and even included his tilty head. Click here to see more TDR featured businesses.
