Back in 2006, when Kristin Roof started Stargazinglily, she was hoping to make some extra money for her family.
Eight years later, she beat the odds of success, even though half of small businesses fail each year. Also, she would now be providing full-time employment for herself, her husband and partner, Dave, and a number of other part-time contractors.
Stargazinglily, is an e-commerce business that designs, creates and sells everything from beaded jewelry for kids and adults to knitting supplies and tools. The company is owned by husband and wife partners, David and Kristin Roof, and is run out of their home in Grand Blanc. David’s impression of working at home with his wife, “It’s such a great thing to be able to leave the office for good to work at home and be able to see my kids growing up.”
Stargazinglily had one of their products featured in Vogue Knitting’s annual special edition. The recently-released special edition focused on crochet. The Roofs’ product is a specialty crochet stitch marker that caught the attention of the writers at the top magazine in the world for knitting enthusiasts.
According to Kristin, she was both surprised and thrilled when Vogue Knitting contacted her to let her know that one of her items was selected for inclusion in the magazine.
“I find materials that are appealing and then put them together into something that I like, and the next thing you know, Vogue Knitting is contacting us about them. We couldn’t be happier”
This business is no hobby for the family. Stargazinglily has seen significant growth over the past few years and now offers more than 600 different items in their online store and has processed more than 20,000 orders from customers across the globe.
Customers, who rate them with five stars, have submitted more than 5,000 reviews raving about excellent customer support, quality items, good pricing and an excellent delivery record.
All of this hard work and attention to customer relations has placed Stargazinglily at number 13 for all accessories sellers on the popular e-commerce website Etsy.
For handmade accessories, they are the number one selling shop out of Etsy’s approximately 500,000 shops.
Many stories cover how many unemployed people have left the labor market as uncounted jobless.
This business is a prime example of a new class of entrepreneur making their way on the internet with a great idea, hard work and dedication to success.