Meet the Husband & Wife Duo Behind Home Decor Brand Aft Helm
This week on Business Over Breakfast we learned that businesses need to be open-minded when it comes to change and that change can present itself with new opportunities.
Husband and wife duo Stephen and Lianne started a new journey as we know it to be Aft Helm in August 2019 right before the pandemic hit. How did they come across this journey? They knew that they wanted to do something but they had to find the right niche. It had to be something that customers would like and enjoy. One day while walking around a store they came across a typical sign that could be purchased for home decor and in that moment were inspired to make signs tailored to the local market.
Stephen’s background in manufacturing in Rhode Island and Lianne’s background in business is what makes up Aft Helm. Together the two run the business from start to finish, beginning with cutting their own wood! They bought their own equipment and brought it to their home and continue to take their profits and reinvest it in the company so that it can continue to grow. Together they took a small idea and made it bigger and were able to grow something based on what they both knew.
Through Aft Helm, you can buy everything Rhode Island and everything seaside according to host Lori Giuttari. Their core designs are nautically designed and Rhode Island-based but that’s not all they do! Aft Helm does a lot of customization projects. You can email them directly asking for custom work and they will even send you the mock-up before printing. Stephen shared with us,
“If there's something a customer wants that’s not on the website we want to listen to our customers and get feedback so we can have a better product.”
Aft Helm was the first company to upload 50 products on shoplocalrhodeisland.com using our data import tool. Vendors can upload products in bulk using the data import tools and spreadsheet (which contains which product information you need) rather than individually uploading each product which Lianne shared was very helpful. Lianne also mentioned that the media browser tool is very helpful and is something that most websites don’t have. With the media browser tool, you can store all of your images rather than having to import an image from your computer every time you want to add a new image.
Watch the full episode with Stephen and Lianne above to learn more about being open to change and how it can create bigger and better opportunities. And be sure to check out their awesome nautical flags and home decor here on shoplocalrhodeisland.com!
Each week on Business Over Breakfast, marketing experts Lori and Ben are joined by Rhode Island entrepreneurs who are living their dream of owning and running a business. If you’re a Rhode Island business owner and want to share your story please contact danielle@visualthrive.com and visit ShopLocalRhodeIsland to learn about other small businesses.
