Amy Turn Sharp is a blogger, but is also a successful entrepreneur offering amazing  wooden toys through her shop Little Alouette. She’s brilliant and she has an amazing story to tell of business, blogging and bliss.

Alli: So one day you woke up and said, “I’m going to start my own business?” How did the empire begin?

Amy: We really started it organically. I had left my career in politics and education and had a second child and all of the sudden the housing market went crap. {we owned 2 homes and were trying to sell one} We just kept hearing that we should sell these amazing toys that Joe made.
People loved them. Local stores wanted them. We opened an etsy shop and things started. Although my life did not take the path as a full time writer, the business has allowed me to stay home with my children. The business has given us so much precious time together even with all the work. If it ended tomorrow it would have been worth it.

Alli: How did your online presence  help get attraction the business?

Amy: I am 100% grateful and FOR SURE that my business was pushed out into the world from the blogging community that I had created around myself. I was and still am surrounded by amazing and kind and SMART people all day long who helped spread the word of this tiny backyard cottage industry. I will always be thankful for my community.

Alli: What is the most surprising part of running your own small business?

Amy: That I have no idea what i am doing most of the time. AND I WORK ALL THE TIME> lol. I have a creative writing and feminist theory degree. I am swinging from the learning curve still of small biz. I am trying to read a lot and ask for help.

Alli: What advice would you give women who dream of leveraging their online presence into a small business?

Amy: I think being a nice person will get you very far. I think caring about others and investing in being a source of information for others is a good idea. I think you should be ready for success. We often think it won’t happen. It just might.

Don’t say yes when you are not sure. Learn to say no and stop fearing the world will end if you can’t attend some function or cannot collaborate with someone. Time is precious. You don’t need to climb. You just need to shine. xo

Alli: What Social Media bad behavior really annoys you?

Amy: I try and answer all my emails and @’s and such. Sometimes it is hard, but I think it is important.

I don’t like copycats or people who are mean to others from behind a computer screen.

Alli: If you were an animal what would you be?

Amy: I think I would be a monkey. I am silly.

Alli: How many ninjas could you take in a fight?

Amy: Several. I am kinda tough. I have excellent muscle tone under the chub.

Be sure to give Amy Turn Sharp some love for sharing her story today at MomCrunch! You can follow Amy on Twitter here.

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