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However you found us, I'm so glad you are here ❅ If you are new to the #boldandbrassytribe , welcome. Allow me introduce myself.

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I'm Bobbie. If I'm in trouble or feelin' a little rednecker than usual..you can call me Bobbie-Rae 🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm feeling like in a time where #smallbusinessowners are all demanding your attention toward supporting their #smallbiz, a personal touch might be nice for you. Behind our small business..is real people. Moms, students, teachers, paralegals, photographers & go-getters. We are a small, down to earth team of staff with a ton of passion for creating our most epic lives possible and encouraging others to do the same..and we are using Bold & Brassy as the vehicle to achieve that goal, collectively.

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I am the owner, chronic creator, manifestor, marketer, budget balancer (or lack there of), buyer, graphic designer + behind the scene'r...to name a few. You don't see my face a ton here on socials but I assure you..I exist, and I'm working hard in the background to keep the wheels rollin' here at the #boldandbrassyHQ.

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⇢ Here's the long story long of how the heck our incredible team came to be ⇠

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I was inspired by my all time favourite country singer, Miranda Lambert. She opened The Pink Pistol store and I nearly died. The seed was planted and the roots ran deep within. There was a shift I cannot explain. It certainly was not fashion that captivated me. I grew up, to put it quite bluntly, poor. Fashion was at the bottom of our essentials list. We never ever went without, and that's where I learned my resourcefulness, but it did not inspire a "career" in fashion. It inspired hustle, resilience, resourcefulness and the need to take charge of my own damn outcome in life. At the time, I was working a corporate job. From the outside looking in, I should have been grateful at the opportunity. After-all, I was "so lucky to land such a secure job". I didn't feel that to say the least. I felt like my soul was dying. Starving for more. I had hit the glass ceiling of my potential within that company and still had approximately 40 more years to go before my glory days. I was the girl in school who talked too much and obviously I thrived on my 15 minute coffee breaks. One thing about me, if you tell me I "should"..and you "should on me"..I will most likely go the opposite direction. One thing I am grateful for? I'm grateful that at such a young age, I learned what I did not want in life..and it sure as hell wasn't to sit in a cushy, comfortable job for the next forty something years waiting for someone else to see my potential. Nope. So I started researching. I started watering that seed. That feeling that I had when I thought about doing something for myself. I started exploring my creativity and that was enough to get started. I wanted to create from the ground up, my way. Drink my damn coffee in however many minutes I wanted to drink it in. Side note; 5+years and two kids later, I often don’t drink the entire cup of coffee at all. It can be found the next day in the microwave, #mompreneur. But I left it there on my own damn terms. 

In 2015 - I launched my website on my birthday! I spent an arm and a leg having a custom website built - only to find out in hindsight, I run the friggen thing myself anyways. I placed my first wholesale order on Alibaba and lost $4000 somewhere along the way. Placed another order on a shady wholesale platform but did receive the order. Got it up and running and clicked “launch online store” and posted to my tiny little Facebook page. It was thrilling. Then crickets. I had this idea it would be instant. Like when you are being sold a network marketing company? Like it happens now, when you are ready. What the heck, that isn’t how it works? No. That is in fact, not how business works. Call me ignorance on fire, but I really thought it would be that easy. Where’s the f*cking easy button? You know - that one from Staples. You press the big red button and it says in oddly peppy, enthusiastic male voice - that was easy! Well I actually had one of those. I whacked it. I whacked the shit out of it. Nothing. A few more hours went by before my 2 page followers and email subscribers caught wind I launched my website. I must have refreshed my website browser a million times and finally..cha ching! I got my very first online order! I’m basically the queen of passive, residual income at this point. HA! It was exhilarating, for real. I was so excited. Then it happened again..and again. By the time my birthday came to an end, I had generated just over $2000 all the while breast feeding and chasing after my kid. On my own time. Around MY life. Addiction activated. 

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Fast forward a few years..a ton of tears..trials and tribulations..I was actively running a black market (jk! - it’s all legal) fashion boutique side hustle out of my basement located 30 minutes outside of Grande Prairie, while at home raising my babies. Going back to that time, it was all a blur. I’m pretty sure I never paid myself. Not once. Business 101: You may never pay yourself..for years. Accept it, don’t bank on it. If you have, then please submit an email to hello@whatthefuckamidoingwrong.ca offering your business advice and expertise. Today - years later - I’m still not paying myself consistently, ha! I am able however, to make payroll and pay my staff, whoop!

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My husband, friends and I would set up pop up shops in and around the community to build brand awareness and create connection. After some time, my business organically grew. I started exploring a place in my mind that I NEVER had the intentions of visiting. A brick and mortar location. What was missing in communities and the boutique industry? More specifically, our community? Connection. Experience. Fun. That was what was missing. So fast forward to a million weird, random, seemingly insignificant conversations and encounters..I was guided in the direction by something divine and went with it. One foot in front of the other. Not worrying so much about all the “hows”, the “why nots”, the “oh no’s” and focussing on the “why not me”, “if not me, then who” and all those positively jazzy affirmations. One day led to the next and the more equipped I became. I fuelled my own damn research. I focussed on my vision, with blinders on. Hindsight - maybe take a peek outside your blinders once in a while (not all the time - stay in your lane) BUT to make sure you are on track, in your lane. Perhaps avoid opening a brick and mortar location only months prior to a global effing pandemic and save yourself hundreds of thousands of tears and dolla dolla bills…mmmmkay?

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Nonetheless - what belongs to you will come to you. It was obviously meant to be because we opened the storefront at our brand new building in Grande Prairie, December 2nd 2019! It was a huge success and I’m just grateful I got three solid weeks of sales prior to the inevitable pandemic that paralyzed our communities economically. It has not been easy but my focus forward & bigger than the Beatles vision has kept the doors open and my staff loyal. I can’t imagine a world in which we don’t keep on trucking. There are too many incredible people invested in this little dream of mine. We are all collaborating daily to keep this business afloat, and in that, the Universe has our back. 

I know I know..there is so much in between that I’m not sharing, but I wanted to keep this short & sweet (hahah - I joke I joke..I kid I kid). 

Nice to meet you. I look forward to being able to serve you in whatever capacity we can. Whether it’s inclusion. Self love. Exploring your brassy & saucy side. Inspiring you to fail forward or the most obvious..dressing you to feel fancy as hell. Like the badass bold & brassy smoke show that you are. The fact that you read through this ginormous novel..tells me you are my people. You belong here. The light in me sees the light in you and we can’t wait to serve you in the tribe.

Bobbie Eskdale

Connect With Me On Instagram ⇢ @bobbieboldandbrassy