Hopefully, you’re all familiar with Cupcakes and Mace – I don’t know which is better, the lovely jewelry or the blog! I’d like to start doing more interviews for the site, and Kim was the first person I thought of to email. We talked about business, style, and cats! Curious, aren’t you? Well, go on, read it!
Michelle: Just to start the interview off for readers who might not be familiar, can you talk a little bit about yourself and your business?
Kim: I’m just an average Kiwi girl who likes pretty things but also likes to be a bit different. I got bored of working in offices where I wasn’t respected as an individual with valid ideas and my newly rekindled love for playing with trinkets led to the Cupcakes and Mace jewellery line.
Michelle: How’d you come up with the idea for Cupcakes and Mace?
Kim: The blog or jewellery line?
Michelle: The jewellery line!
Kim: I’d been looking around Etsy and fell in love with all of the plastic charm bracelets. They were all out of my price range though so I bought the pieces I needed to make them myself. The Boy and I had talked about making laser cut jewellery when he was at uni a couple of years ago and it was fantastic timing that his dad bought a laser cutter for his own business just as I was ordering chains and beads.
Why helloooo there, awesome!
Michelle: Earlier this year (I think it was February or March?) you quit your office job to work on Cupcakes and Mace full time. Did you find the transition difficult?
Kim: I actually didn’t finish till the start of June. I had all these plans about how I was going to run my home office just like it was a real one. I would get up early and have a shower, settle in and get lots done in the morning, give myself an hour for lunch etc. In reality it has been nothing like that! It wasn’t a hard transition, it just hasn’t gone like I pictured it originally.
Michelle: I found that when I wasn’t working a set 8-5 job that I was really surprised where my natural peaks in productivity were…and when you work at home it’s a lot easier to work with those than just trying to barrel through & work for 8 hours straight whether you’re getting much done or not
Kim: Yes, definitely! I can have down time at 2pm if I need it.
Michelle: Yeah, to take a nap or recharge or do lunch or whatever…my best times are from 8-11 AM and then from like, 5-8 PM…which doesn’t work very well in a traditional job!
Michelle: Next question: One of the reasons I love to read your blog is that you don’t shy away from controversial topics, you often link to blogs like Feministing and Shapely Prose. Have you ever had any negative feedback about that? I wouldn’t think so given your general target audience, but…
Kim: No, none. I guess I’ve targeted my audience quite well as I’ve had negative feedback approximately twice in over a year of running Cupcakes and Mace. If you arrive at Cupcakes and Mace without knowing what it’s about you’ll probably find out pretty quickly that I have a foul mouth, am an atheist, and that if you don’t like what I’m saying I’ll suggest you piss off.
Michelle: That’s definitely a good thing; I’m always curious because people get offended over the tiniest things on the internet, you know? It’s such a bizarre thing to me.
Michelle: How would you describe your personal style?
Kim: Ooooh, a mix of geek chic, rockabilly, comfort, and laziness.
Michelle: And do you think that personal style (as opposed to fashion in general) is more important? (to you, or in general)
Kim: Oh yes! Definitely. I don’t follow fashion trends, I don’t watch runway shows or fawn over the latest shoes. I much prefer to see someone comfortable and in love with their clothes because they genuinely think they look good, not because they’re the latest offerings for the season.
Michelle: Totally, you can definitely tell when someone is in love with their clothes as opposed to just wearing it because it’s the hot new thing. I really hate how “stylish” means “take ‘classic’ pieces and add trendy ones” any more, instead of working on something that suits you.
Kim: Agreed!
Michelle: Random question: I’ve noticed that, like any sane human being 
, you love cat macros. And that made me wonder, do you have any pets?
Kim: Ha! Unfortunately not. We live in a little unit and while The Boy and I both adore cats he thinks it’s not a very good place to have one. He’s also allergic to them, but is willing to take antihistamines for the rest of his life just to have a kitty. Cute!
Michelle: That’s so funny, because I have to take allergy medicine because of our cats – my dad thinks I’m insane!
Kim: Aw, not insane, just in love!
Michelle: That’s true, I love my kitties! Okay, and to wrap up, do you have any advice for aspiring businesswomen?
Kim: Don’t wait! Dip your toes in while you’ve still got your day job and see if your idea is viable. You don’t have to have everything sussed in order to get going, I’m still figuring things out now. By the way, someone just commented on the blog saying they love the blog because it’s so full of cat love!
Thanks so much for the interview, Kim! Be sure to check out the blog, the shop, and the sale they’ve got going on right now, and you can follow her on Twitter, too. Gotta support those indie bizzes. Especially when they’re run by people this awesome!
