Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jessica Hargis. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jessica, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
It’s impossible not to feel this way when you first start out, and heck, I still feel this way all of the time. What I remind myself, is that everyone who knows so much more than me and is so much more successful than me, they all started out where I was too. I have always just pushed through that feeling and aimed to accomplish my goals despite what anyone else is doing or saying around me.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I started Charlie Lou Baby when I was a fresh, new, first time mom. I was completely overwhelmed with my son, who had very severe colic for almost the entire first year of his life. He also has toritcollis, eczema, reflux and honestly, he was never happy. He cried 24/7 and he never slept. It was so difficult and I was so desperate for help. One thing I truly needed was better clothing options for him. He needed something that was better on his skin, made it more comfortable for him to sleep and something that would make changing time easier on him. We were changing him about 8-12 times a day because of the severe reflux, which of course made him even more colicky. This was when I discovered bamboo baby apparel. It is hypoallergenic, temperature regulating, super soft and stretchy, SPF and moisture wicking. It was right then and there that I decided I wanted to start my own baby apparel business. I knew I needed to produce these bamboo pieces and make them more accessible to parents and babies who needed these kinds of options. We now offer a huge assortment of bamboo pieces that go beyond even just pajamas and all the way up to size 5T at this point. We recently just released a new collection that has bamboo, plus other cotton pieces as well.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Grit, focus and patience

As a stay at home mom that now owns her own business, I could not have accomplished what I have without these three key factors. When you can only work in between taking care of your children, while they are napping or in bed, you have to have immense focus to get what you need to get done within the windows you are allotted. As with running any business, you must have grit to continue to strive for your goals even when things feel impossible or you get overwhelmed. Lastly, patience is key with any start up. No business takes off right away and most companies will have periods of stagnation. Combine your grit with your patience and eventually you will reap the benefits of your hard work.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?
We love collaborating with moms that enjoy posting pictures and videos of their children in our apparel. We have an affiliate program where you can actually get cash back from referring sales to us through social media.

Contact Info:

• Website: charlieloubaby.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charlieloubaby/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charlieloubaby
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/charlieloubaby