Meet Maclaine Farrell | Owner of online boutique, Vyvacious

We had the good fortune of connecting with Maclaine Farrell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Maclaine, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I attended the University of Alabama from 2014-2018. When I entered college I had around 5000 Instagram followers, and throughout my time there, my following continued to grow. It was all very organic. I had joined a sorority, was attending football games & constantly posting my day to day lifestyle & outfits. I have always been into fashion and putting together cute outfits. At the beginning of my sophomore year, I remember hitting 10k followers and naturally, brands started to reach out about collaborating. This was all so new and exciting to me. Nowadays, it is very common to be an influencer that receives free product in exchange for posts, but 7-8 years ago, it felt too good to be true, especially as a broke college kid! I started to gain a reputation online and within my sorority for being the “Instagram girl” that people looked to for style recommendations and entertainment. By the end of college I had over 50,000 followers and had worked with lots of small businesses but also brands as big as Victorias Secret. While I loved this “side hustle” (I almost never charged a brand) I knew I was going to have to get a job after graduation, but I truly had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I felt a lot of pressure to go the career fairs my peers were attending or interview for jobs that I really had no interest in, but I never did. I knew deep inside of me that I wanted to take an untraditional route and not succumb to a 9-5. In my final semester of college, two different sorority sisters, completely unrelated to each other mentioned to me the idea of starting some sort of online boutique. It felt like a sign and really got me thinking… if all these years I have been successfully promoting other brands, why not promote my own? This is where the idea of my online boutique, Vyvacious, was birthed!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Vyvacious is an online woman’s boutique founded in Upstate NY in December of 2018. I remember doing some research about starting an e-commerce business and reading that it’s best to stick to a specific genre of clothing, whether that be boho, edgy, workout, loungewear, etc.. My brand was built off the fact that people liked my personal style and trusted my recommendations, so it was impossible to narrow my “vybe” of clothing into one specific category. I decided I would curate my store to be filled with only things that I personally would wear. This meant I would carry a wide variety of styles ranging from sweatpants to dresses. I feel that Vyvacious is a one-stop-shop because of this. When it comes to buying, I am not following trends or taking inspiration from what other brands are selling. I feel my brand is different from most because I do not set out looking for customers, I attract them by picking styles as if I am shopping for myself, and attracting people with similar taste.

In just under six years, Vyvacious has gained over 20,000 customers with over 45,000 orders packed and shipped. Something I am most proud of is the fact that I have grown my business with almost ZERO paid marketing. E-commerce is an extremely fast growing market and the competition grows daily. People open their phones and are hit with advertisements left and right. There are a million places people can spend their hard earned money. The first few years of Vyvacious, I brought in my sales mainly through posting on Instagram. I would upload tons of stories daily with “swipe up” links attached, and if 4000 people watched and only 100 people clicked the link, I could still get a good 50-70 people to actually purchase. When my luck started running out with this tactic, I had to pivot. I made the switch to TikTok and started putting all of my time & effort into creating video content. Constantly trying to get that one viral video that would hopefully create an explosion of sales, I was posting about 2-4 videos a day. I remember posting a TikTok that took about 3 minutes to make and it ended up getting 2.4 million views. How many sales did that video bring in? Zero. This was a huge lesson learned that views/followers does not= sales. While no press is bad press, I started to experiment with the live streaming feature they offer.

Fast forward three years later, I have now been going live on TikTok every single week day for, on average, 4-6 hours. This has become my entire business model. The first few livestreams, I had about 4-10 viewers and would show the clothing and interact with whoever showed up in the comments. Now based in Los Angeles, I work from home, so these streams took place in my garage aka my “wear-house” where all of my inventory is stored. Vyvacious was in a lull at this point and I was pretty desperate to reach new customers, so I kept up the streams. After a few different tries, I remember getting my first order from someone brand new that I had reached on the FYP (for you page). I thought to myself… “woah. I just organically attracted a new customer to my website by simply chatting and showing off my products. If I keep this up, I will eventually reach more potential shoppers.” That is exactly what happened. My lives starting reaching on average 100-200 thousand people in the span of 4-6 hours. I think of this as my own little virtual store front, where people can pop in, speak with the owner, ask questions and feel they are being personally styled/tended to. It is a very intimate experience. I have about 100 people who tune in daily, all over the world to hang with me while I pack orders, try stuff on & spread positivity + good vybes!

I feel that all of my trial and error when it comes to marketing has led me to live streaming. After spending years doing it, I feel connecting with my customers via live stream is what I am genuinely good at. Since the start of my brand, I have worked from home. This has meant lots of time in solitude. As someone who majored in communication studies, I think of myself as a very outgoing, vivacious person, so it was hard to push through the first few years with little to no human interaction. Now, I get to log onto my TikTok lives and chat with hundreds of people, making them laugh and creating a safe space for all ages to come and hang out, while simultaneously bringing in sales! A win-win in my book. I urge everyone reading this to tune in, at least once, to see what all the hype is about 🙂

All in all, taking the risk to start this online business has given me my dream life. I have grown so much as a person and have learned invaluable lessons. Some of my fondest memories are when times were the most tough because it forced me to think outside of the box. I have made tremendous progress on my student loans, moved myself to my dream city & have the freedom of being my own boss. I did not major in business and never saw myself being an entrepreneur. I am living proof that you can figure things out along the way as long as you remain consistent and focused on your goals. Never forget why you started in the first place. The journey is the reward.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I am from Upstate New York, but have lived in Los Angeles, California for the last 5 years. This place is huge and it feels like their are endless things to do and see. I have not nearly scratched the surface, but I do have a list of my favorite things to do when I have a visitor.

Typically, we’d wake up and take my wiener dog, Wilbert, on a walk to a coffee shop. I love Cafecito Organico, a coffee window in Atwater Village. Up next we would go for a walk around the Silver Lake Reservoir. Obviously have to drive around and see things like the Hollywood sign and the (underwhelming) Hollywood Walk of Fame. I love bringing visitors to the west side so they can see the beach. Walking Abbot Kinney is so fun! A trip to Erewhon is non negotiable. Not to shop, but to walk through as if it’s a museum. The produce is more organized than my closet.

I love bringing people downtown to see where I buy my inventory in the fashion district. Getting drinks at the Cara Hotel or Marco Polo Trattoria within the Silverlake Pool & Inn. Followed by dinner at L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele or Bacari Silverlake. While hanging out at places like Hollywood Lake Park feels surreal, I also love to just chill in my backyard with a charcuterie board and some music. For a fun night out, usually somewhere like Tenants of the Trees or Nicos Wine Bar.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My entire business was built off the fact that I have an online presence. You cannot sell a product without demand. Every single day I remind my customers that I would not be here without their support. I owe it all to the people who have followed me through my journey of highs and lows, through busy and slow times. I also have to dedicate this shoutout to my Dad. He allowed me to move back home after college, start my small business out of a spare room in his house, and trust the process of entering a new industry he (and I) really knew nothing about. College does not come cheap and I have a lot of student loans, so the idea of not jumping into a traditional career path to guarantee a steady income and start chipping away at the loan payments took a lot of trust. Neither him nor I knew if this risk would be worth it but there was only one way to find out.

Website: https://Vyvaciousfashion.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vyvaciousfashion/?hl=en

Other: Vyvacious TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vyvaciousfashion

Download the Vyvacious APP! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vyvacious/id1569069455

Maclaines Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maclainefarrell/?hl=en