Meet Kelly Brown | Founder & CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kelly Brown and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kelly, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I often thought about having my own store when I was younger and walked through shops in the small towns my grandparents lived. As I continued to grow and fall into more mainstream thinking, I put that thought in the back of my mind and focused on going to college and getting a steady corporate job and focus on working my way up the ladder. About 10 years into my career, I started to get the feeling that there was something else I should be doing, something more fulfilling. In 2019, I started spending more time reading and listening to podcasts focused on personal growth. That summer I attended a personal growth conference and left there committed to at least start the process of finding that “something” that would fulfill me. It was Labor Day weekend when I recalled that I always dreamed of having my own store. I started researching, connecting with other business owners and meeting with the Small Business Development Center. Things started falling into place and I continued to get a nudge to keep going. I determined fairly quickly that the type of store I wanted to open was one that contained products made by Wisconsin makers. What I craved was connection and community. Nothing seemed more fitting than to develop relationships with people right in my own state that are making high quality products, where I could support their small business as well.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I own a gift shop called Locally Inspired located in Port Washington, Wisconsin. We feature products from Wisconsin makers that range from apparel, bath + body, home goods, food + drink and jewelry. The variety of products curated is unique to our shop. I get to support over 140 Wisconsin small businesses every day. I am most proud of the fact that we have been able to grow over the last 2 years by moving into a larger location, especially given that I opened in June of 2020. It certainly hasn’t all been easy, but I pride myself on being adaptable and constantly look for ways to better serve our customers. We strive to provide a wide variety of gifting options that include unique, high quality products. We love being our customers go-to shop where they know they will find something they can be proud to gift. We absolutely love the stories from customer of how the gift made the recipient feel. We offer online shopping, local pickup and corporate gifting options to make it easy to gift local.

Owning a business can be lonely and very trying, but the biggest thing I’ve learned is to create a community of other business owners I can lean on. Having relationships with people that have similar challenges lessens the load and helps me to continue to learn different ways of doing things. Collaborations with other small businesses have been so much fun and rewarding for both businesses. Community is key, whether that be the one you create for your customers, among business owners or being a member of the one you live in. We all crave connection and it is important to me to create that each day in my retail shop.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in Cedarburg, WI and there is so much to do in the city and within the County. Heading to Port Washington to take in the views of Lake Michigan is a must! There are many walking and bike trails throughout the county making it easy to explore. Both Port Washington and Cedarburg offer many local shops and plenty of food and drink options. We would definitely have coffee at Java House, lunch or dinner at Wayne’s Drive-In, New Fortune, the Stilt House, The Steerage and Yummy Bones. There are also great options for sweet treats like Chocolate Chisel and Creamy Pig.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My parents for instilling a hard work ethic, drive to continue to do better and overall achiever mentality. My brothers have always been supportive and helped nurture a competitive drive. My husband for supporting my ideas, being a great sounding board to help bring those ideas to light and willing to use his carpentry skills for the benefit of the shop. My friend since college, Brittany, deserves a huge shoutout for inspiring the risk-adverse me take a leap. She has always been a huge supporter, encourager and mentor in navigating the entrepreneur world.

Website: www.locallyinspiredwi.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/locallyinspiredwi/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/locally-inspired/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/locallyinspiredwi

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/locally-inspired-port-washington?osq=locally+inspired

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTGq3SoAjGc