Olivia Badgett Designs Her Dream Job
By Sharon White | Photography by Skeebo Reichert
Step into jewelry artisan Olivia Badgett’s workplace and you soon discover this successful entrepreneur is not your stereotypical young professional. She doesn’t work in an office or punch a time clock. Instead, two rooms of her home are solely dedicated to an atelier where she designs, creates and promotes her jewelry and clothing business, Liv Simply.
The 21-year-old Academy High School graduate recalls, “A few years ago, I had a horrible job. And one evening at dinner my husband asked, ‘What do you really want to do?’” Olivia’s answer: “I don’t want to work for anyone. I want to be my own boss.”
As a result, Olivia left her job and spent six months building a website with the help of her tech-savvy husband, Logan. She started an online baby boutique—essentially managing sales through her website. She launched her business, Liv Simply, and soon gained experience choosing products, pricing items, shooting photos and selecting wholesalers. “But,” she says, “I never got to see the products. They were shipped directly to buyers from the wholesalers.” Olivia quickly realized something was missing. She says, ”Being the middleman just didn’t feel like me.
I didn’t get to create anything. It didn’t feel personal.”
“On my 19th birthday,” Olivia recalls, “my grandmother gave me a machine that cuts vinyl, cardstock and heat-transfer paper. It was amazing. I started playing around with it, and before I knew it I was making decals for cars, cups and laptops. I actually sold some and, from there, I was asked to make T-shirts. … In the beginning, I ironed all the transfers by hand. Eventually I was able to upgrade to a professional heat press.”
She says that one day she saw a pair of beautiful leather earrings when she was doing research online. “I immediately fell in love and was determined to learn how to make them. With the help of a few friends and lots of YouTube videos, I got started.” Olivia kept her website’s domain name, LivSimply.net, but she is no longer a middle(wo)man. Now she’s the curator of her own collection.
Olivia will tell you she finds design inspiration everywhere. “Honestly, everything inspires me. It might be a blouse I own or color schemes from pictures I see. I was even inspired by a flamingo floaty in a swimming pool! Every few days I lay out leather pieces and just pair up what will go well together. During the holidays last year, I decorated our Christmas tree with earrings!”
Olivia’s journey has been a family affair. Her husband supported her from the start (both financially and emotionally). Her mother-in-law builds wood racks for her displays and Olivia sold her very first T-shirt to her aunt. And, of course, her grandmother, Judi, gifted her the machine that started it all.
When asked what her favorite and least-favorite things are about running her own business, Olivia confesses, “If I could spend all day just creating earrings, it would be my dream. But paperwork, packing and shipping have to be done to keep up with orders.”
Olivia’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs? “No matter what life throws at you (or your business) it’s how you react that matters.”
Find Olivia’s designs online at LivSimply.net or at Hair Hero Salon, 420 Old Waco Rd., Temple. 386-366-2356
