051: Maggie Whitley of Maggie Whitley Designs & Caroline-Made

Maggie Whitley Designs is a tight-knit community of handmade makers, wives, mamas and encouragers. Maggie shares inspiration alongside her story as a handmade business owner going from Gussy Sews to Caroline Made and becoming a mama. Maggie and her husband live in a cozy apartment in Los Angeles with their two young children. They are adventure seekers, dog lovers and color enthusiasts.

This week's episode is a bit different in the formatting. We start our chatting with Maggie about how she and her husband went from living in Michigan to moving to Minnesota in 48 hours and then finally how they sold 90% of their belongings after a trip to Tanzania and moved out west to Los Angeles.

Maggie shares how she and her husband found themselves unemployed in Detroit, Michigan soon after they were married.  She shares how her love of learning and her new interest in Etsy lead her to learn how to sew. She checked out 30 books from the library, borrowed a family sewing machine and taught herself how to sew!

We talk about how Maggie used the time when she unemployed to really cultivate a community around her business, which was then called Gussy Sews.

Maggie goes into detail about how their trip to Tanzania, Africa changed their lives.  They went with Compassion International. You can read more about the trip here.

After this trip to Africa Maggie's husband, Zach brought up the idea of moving to California. Maggie said of course and soon after they made the decision to do this they found out they were expecting their first baby! Just out of her first trimester Maggie and Zach sold 90% of their belongings, packed up their Jeep and left Michigan for the West Coast!

Fast forward to now and they have welcomed a second baby, Maggie's shop has transitioned from Gussy Sews to Caroline Made, Maggie has also taken some time off since their second child arrived and her work has shifted a lot to be a SAHM and a WAHM.

Maggie shares with us a great definition of success!

"It ultimately boils down to happiness and are you confident in the choices you are making.  Is the lifestyle that you are living something you are proud of?"

And she shares this great reminder with us

"Everyone's story is different. What I do for a living may or may not be what my neighbor wants to do. It may not be what anyone in our family's ever done but it's not wrong."

Maggie also shares how her business shifted a lot after their move to LA, then the birth of their son, and then again with the birth of their daughter.  She needed time and space to figure out her new roles.  This is something we know new moms, or any mom can relate to!