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Actually, they are nothing short of carrying emotional value as well. My friend Christina recently reached out to me regarding her nonprofit called Being Positioned. She was wondering if Laurel Reath and their artisans would be able to create custom luggage tags for her journey recipients. First, a little backstory: Christina's nonprofit provides one-in-a-lifetime journeys to adults 21+ diagnosed with life-altering rare genetic disorders. So if you or someone you know lives with either NF2, VHL, or Schwannomatosis, please check out Christina and her mission which focuses on improving mental health by creating a shift through travel. Her fortunate journey recipients will be equipped with happy memories to revisit and they will better navigate through everyday life and its struggles. Because all their hard-earned money is already going toward medical bills. I was blessed to help Christina start her nonprofit (we used to be neighbors and met on our doggie walks) in 2019 by providing graphic design and moral support. Christina herself was diagnosed with NF2 not that long before in 2016 and is one of the strongest warriors I know. Besides having to deal with her own health challenges, she started a nonprofit from scratch to help others. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic arose at the exact time we were getting ready for the first journey recipients and it wasn’t until now that this first journey is finally happening. This brings us to the present: I know Christina is very excited about all the firsts that are about to take place but I'm sure she is also super nervous about how everything unfolds since she wants to give everyone an unforgettable experience. And even though it was a tight turnaround schedule on our end, we are extremely happy that she chose us and trusted us to make this happen for her and her journey recipients. Both Being Positioned and Laurel Reath thrive on the value of providing that special and very personal touch. Which made this collab so much sweeter. So sweet I had to share it because that way I too can revisit it anytime. HAPPY TRAVELING to the Being Positioned journey recipients!

It’s the story of Erin and Sarah, two friends and neighbors, who became closer neighbors (literally), even closer friends, and then co-owners of Laurel Reath. We’re all familiar with the saying ‘when life gives you lemons,…’ Well friends, evening during a pandemic lemons still make lemonade. 2020 was a trying year for us all and we saw so many people turn to new creative outlets just to make it through. It was during this time that we discovered we had so much more in common than living in the same awesome neighborhood, across the street from each other, showering our four-legged fur babies with attention and love. It was the shared passion for decorating our homes, the one place we were suddenly bound to for the unforeseeable future, that really brought us together. Erin had just purchased a new home and had a blank canvas to work on while Sarah was in the middle of her own outdoor remodel (pool). We shared concepts, ideas, usage, and colors. We continued sending each other pictures of products that were useful and added decorative value to our homes. Then one day our friends (also neighbors) asked us to plan their baby shower (for the cutest baby boy, Hudson) and that’s when we realized, we have a true passion for unique decor and its personal touch. We understood that it was beyond just supporting our neighbors and friends during this challenging time, but involving them and their beautiful artisanal skills throughout that special day. That’s how the idea of laurel reath was born. ​ A creative, skilled person is honored by wearing a laurel (w)reath as a crown. lau•rel reath noun /'la:r.el , ri:0/ • honors local artisans by showcasing their unique creations We identify the immense artisanal potential surrounding us here and we focus on building a community that inspires everyday accessories and accentuates its craftsmanship and quality. ​ We want to connect you to handcrafted decor on a personal level…one artisan at a time.

We thrive on the idea to connect you with (local) artisan creations, build a community, and everything that leads beyond. Identity We are proud to recognize creative (local) artisan and their unique craftsmanship. It goes beyond their one-of-a-kind skills. We honor the handmade aspect, it's inspiration and the quality that it stands for. Every piece is thought through and made with pride to share and enjoy. Inspiration Incited by their artistic skills, we reflect their inspiring value and meaning on everyday home decor pieces as well as everyday lifestyle accessories. That is truly what brings the idea of Laurel Reath to life. not just for our artisans, but for Erin and Sarah and of course you, our dear friends. Connection Laurel Reath provides you with a transparent shopping experience and a personal relationship with the products we offer, the artisans who make them, and with us, the people who feature these items to you. Theses made-by-hand creations, in their own special way, highlight how unique and special they will be for each and every one of you. Community By honoring our creative decor, we build more than lasting pieces...we build lasting memories as well. How fun would it be if we are able to inspire you to get creative? Or maybe you have something in mind that you would like us to showcase on Laurel Reath. The opportunities are endless. Our mission is to offer you meaningful and handcrafted accessories that outfit your home and compliment your everyday life. We can't wait to see this community grow.

Do you like to hunt for sales or rather just buy it when you see it and not have to worry about anything else? It’s hard to resist a good sale. We all get excited when we see something we like and it's accompanied by a red sticker that reads SALE. Now we may see the tag even read 40 or 50 percent off and we want to grab it right away before the price goes back to normal or it's gone completely. Retailers know that. But is that “sale” price really a special, reduced price? Not always, according to a study, it was concluded that some well-known stores seemed to have perpetual sales on certain items, so the “discounted” price is really the regular price (Consumers’ Checkbook). Did you know that 97% of retailers cite discounting as their top pricing strategy? Some other businesses follow a so-called 'Discount Pricing Strategy' which allows them to sell low-priced products in higher volumes. Larger retailers are able to demand price discounts from their suppliers (wholesalers) and make a discount pricing strategy effective as they buy in bulk. For small businesses like us, it is obviously impossible to compete with these retailers. While we could gain customers, that make decisions on price alone, other customers may choose competitor products because of perceived quality. Low prices may drive sales for a limited time, but do not build customer loyalty. Now here is the challenge for all of us consumers: It’s difficult to value a product or service nowadays. Determining whether a price is a good deal is first of all time-consuming but it involves researching prices at other retailers as well as comparing product attributes and pricing of rival products. That's why we consumers use reference prices as a shortcut — but did you know that 'reference prices' are embellished as well? Lots of the products have original prices that were never selling prices. All an illusion to affect the consumer behavior by making discounts look larger than they really are. Just to create a perception of value, since consumers view products with higher original prices as more desirable. This means that you might subconsciously make purchasing decisions based on false information. The feeling of saving more money or getting an awesome deal can be persuasive. It's not a new or unique phenomenon and it happens to all of us. They know what they are doing trust us. It just usually goes unnoticed! Until now that we unraveled their secrets for some of you. But here is what you CAN do: Don't trust the listed original prices. Research products prior to purchasing to understand their true original price. If a product appears to be discounted by 30%, don’t necessarily take it at face value. Before swiping your card make sure you understand what you are buying and what it has actually sold for. You can also check product tags for UPC codes or product IDs to verify that you are getting the product you intended to purchase. Before you make a purchase, ask yourself what you think a product is worth. Try to guess what the product seems to be worth before even looking at the price. By making your own assessment of what a product is worth to you, you’ll rely less on the perceived value derived from the listed original price. When shopping online, make sure you review the retailers’ shipping and return policies. Make sure that the quality of the product is exactly what you were expecting. If the sweater doesn’t seem like it was originally worth $150, then there’s a chance that it wasn’t. Be sure to read the fine print on ads. Especially around sales like Black Friday, the fine print often includes date ranges, excluded items, whether the offer is only good in-store or online, purchase limits, and warranty limits. The last thing you want is to make a purchase and find you overpaid. When shopping with Laurel Reath you can rest assured that we don't price our items to accommodate discounted pricing. Especially for the holidays we only want to make as much as there is demand for. And why can we do that? Because we make our products by hand and per order and we provide a transparent shopping experience. That's why you should take advantage of our Holiday PREORDER system - Handmade and ready to ship within 5 - 7 business days directly to your door! HAPPY SHOPPING!

We started with a checklist and lots and lots of sticky notes. You may wonder why those two? Easy. The sticky notes were to visualize individually since we are a co-owned business. We like to keep them right in front of us at our desks. That way we don't lose focus, it's easy to track but also very satisfying to get rid of them the moment the task is completed. No better feeling than to rip that sticky off the desk and discard it. The checklist, on the other hand, is a great tool for us to have ready wherever we are and on the go. We can keep everything important reachable in one place and synced at all times. We found a great software for that called Asana. You can either just pull it up on your internet browser from anywhere or as an app on your phone or tablet. Like any other app, you have a free version and added options for a fee but for right now the free version has so much to offer that we personally do not have a need to upgrade just yet. It can be very overwhelming when starting a business on your own, no actually it IS very overwhelming. You constantly ask yourself if you are doing the right thing? Are you forgetting something? Will you dear friends even like what we have to offer? Are we doing our artisans' justice? What can we improve on? The list is long... This is when it becomes very helpful to write down ideas, thoughts, and questions along the way. At least that's what helped us tremendously in the very beginning. We started off by categorizing our checklist and adding items we could think of right off the top of our heads. Then the search on the world wide web started and even though there is a lot of helpful information, you can easily get sidetracked with not so helpful or even false information, which then needs further exploring. (Now reaching 7 months post-launch we still have those sticky notes in place. The colors keep changing, but the to-dos are never-ending) Pre-launch it became very helpful to categorize our checklist and prioritize certain items: Official business documents (in our case LLC and articles of organization) EIN number Sellers permit Business bank account Brand identity Designing our own logo Web host Web builder Building the actual website Professional Email Products Contracts Social Media Marketing Branded marketing material Accounting Accounting software Quarterly Sale's Taxes and so much more (This was after we already established our business name and made sure it was available both with a domain of our liking and with the LLC filing department) We are actually really proud that we have accomplished everything so far on our own and we want you to know that when you feel like you have an idea that can lead to your own business, you shouldn't feel discouraged with all the leg work that needs to be done first. Obviously, that doesn't mean that you can't reach out for help if wanted or needed. We definitely are aware that none of this is possible without the support of our family, friends, and community and it shouldn't. We are here to help and support each other. In any way we can. Are you planning to start your own business? Then do it! Trust us, you will figure it out along the way! And if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. We have been there and would love to help!

The idea was born before the actual name but our efforts did not fall short on being creative with it. It was early January of 2021 when Erin and Sarah were wrapping up last year's holiday season by taking down decorations to replace them with fresh, spring-inspired ones. Sarah had just created her own 'Welcome Home' wooden sign the previous year for which she was creating a mini wreath for every season in order to bring a pop of color to her front porch. (Also notice her secret passion for everything gnome-related - they seem to have really taken off this year haven't they?) Erin who just moved into her new home in April of 2020, was also inspired to change out her porch decor with the season. We should add here that the community we live in is very unique, every house has a different color and we are not talking about hues of colors, no we mean one house might be yellow with blue trim and purple doors while another is blue with grey trim and red doors. Basically any combination you can think of, we have them here in Laureate Park. Besides all the colorful schemes, every house features a very pretty porch - the garages are all in the back of the homes and share an alley, that way the front porches really get to shine. Just walking or driving around will inspire you all over again and of course, a lot of them are masterly decorated as well. How does this all tie together you may wonder? Let's get back to the wreath-making. Erin and Sarah got together one weekend and created their 'spring' wreaths, which they followed up by sitting on their front porch with a glass of bubbly (yes it's their favorite beverage) looking at the wreaths they just made. While talking about all sorts of things, they kept on circling back around to their business idea and that they should come up with a name that truly reflects them, their idea, and their brand. That's when they brainstormed about things they have in common, like living in the same awesome community named Laureate Park, where every street is named after actual laureates. Things quickly started to click and come together. What exactly are laureates? How are they recognized? And how are they honored? A laurel wreath of course. Since both didn't necessarily want you to think that all they're selling are wreaths or that they're honoring actual laureates, they changed it up a bit. laurel reath Honoring creative skills - the artisan kind - and while not handing out wreaths, Laurel Reath provides the artisans with an opportunity to show their craftsmanship on a platform that is built to feature handmade products and their quality. Only after searching the internet to make sure the name wasn't already taken, did they realize that they'd literally just finished making actual wreaths. They really don't think it could have come together in a more beautiful, full-circle way for them.