Bauble Stockings founder Kate Stice Stewart and her family on Christmas in front of a fireplace with Bauble Stockings hanging

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Growing up, Kate Stice Stewart would shop for a special Christmas gift for her mother. She, her brothers and their father would nestle it—or a clue about it—in a small needlepoint stocking on the tree, and it would be the last gift opened. So it had to be perfect.



“It’s the idea that the last gift of Christmas is supposed to be the most thoughtful gift,” Stewart says. “My dad called it the bauble stocking because, on a good year, it was a bauble, which is a piece of jewelry.”



Stewart cherished this childhood tradition so much that she wanted to share it with other families. In 2018, she launched <a href="https://www.baublestockings.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bauble Stockings</a>, which now sells hand-stitched stockings online and in 400 stores. It has also sparked collaborations with celebrities and popular fashion and lifestyle brands including Alice + Olivia, LoveShackFancy, Dogwood Hill and Draper James, the clothing line founded by Reese Witherspoon. We talked with Stewart about business, balance and life lessons.



This interview has been edited for length and clarity.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-q-amp-a-with-bauble-stockings-founder-kate-stice-stewart">Q&amp;A with Bauble Stockings Founder, Kate Stice Stewart</h2>



SUCCESS: Your vision was a sustainably produced, hand-stitched needlepoint stocking. How did you look for potential manufacturers?



Kate Stice Stewart: It’s 2017, and I’m on my laptop searching “fair trade.” I start emailing all of these different groups. That was very eye-opening because the groups write back saying, “We don’t know how to do that. But if you can come and teach us, we could do it. We need work.” That’s the hardest thing you can hear because when people say they need the work, that means there are people who aren’t eating. 



S: You eventually partnered with <a href="https://www.goodthreadsneedlepoint.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Good Threads Needlepoint</a>. How did you find them?



KS: I was up one night—it was 10 o’clock on a Tuesday. And we’re in our little house. And my husband’s in the kitchen. The kids are asleep. And I’m sitting with my laptop and crying. I had spent $5,000 at that point. I had samples, I was doing photo shoots and started making these wheels turn. I said, “Maybe I can’t do this. If I’m not going to know my stitchers, I’m not going to do it.” And my husband, God bless him, says, “Have you searched all the manufacturers that do the needlepoint belts?” And I said, “Yes, I have a spreadsheet. I know who does every needlepoint belt in America.” And he said, “Just search it one more time.” I searched it, and on the landing page of Google, Good Threads Needlepoint in Haiti pops up. I clicked on this website, and it was based in Jacmel, Haiti. They started by employing single moms.



S: You’ve worked with guest artists to design special-edition stockings. How did you end up collaborating with <a href="https://www.baublestockings.com/collections/nicky-hilton-bauble-stockings" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nicky Hilton Rothschild</a>?



KS: The whole success story of Bauble Stockings is women supporting women. In November 2020, Allison Speer, a Los Angeles publicist who’s good friends with [Nicky’s mother] Kathy Hilton, gifted her the stockings. Nicky was there when her mom opened them. Then Nicky went to the grand opening of [the women’s clothing brand] LoveShackFancy on Bleecker Street in New York. The stockings were hanging as décor, and she shared them on Instagram. I [direct messaged] Nicky, “Can I send you something?” She gave me her email, picked her stockings, and—the next thing I knew—she was posting them on Instagram. Two weeks later, she contacted me. She had talked to Page Six saying we were the best gift of Christmas. I wrote back, “Would you be a guest artist next year?” She agreed. With a guest artist, 10% of the profit from sales of that stocking goes to the artist’s charity of choice. I cannot sing Nicky’s praises enough. She gave me so much by supporting Bauble Stockings.



S: What hurdles and lessons have you faced?



KS: In 2021, I made the mistake of selling product before it arrived in the States. It wasn’t arriving fast enough, and I had to write to all of these people; I wrote 1,000 people in one day. The biggest challenge was letting people down. My No. 1 piece of advice to a new business is to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-improve-your-client-relationships/">communicate</a>. Overcommunicate. Tell people if you messed up. Take responsibility. And make exchanges and returns as easy as possible.



S: How do you achieve work-life balance?



KS: I don’t know what made me think I should start a company while working a full-time job with two small children and no money. But I did. And it feels like <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/motherhood-and-solopreneurship/">a lot of women do that</a>. And it’s gotten easier. We did have au pairs to help us for two years of it—from Colombia. We love them, they’re cousins; we still talk to them every week. And I’m very supportive of the au pair community. Trying to do it on your own is hard. It was really, really hard for a long time—there were a lot of late nights. It’s gotten easier. I have a <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-support-a-partner-in-career-change/">very supportive husband</a>; he owns his own company as well. Luckily, most of my business is during the holidays, so I have flexibility right in the sweet spot of spring. With my kids, I always want them to feel loved. I verbalize that to them, like, “You are my biggest priority—you and your dad. If I ever make you feel like you’re not, let me know.”



S: What part of this journey has been the most rewarding?



KS: Realizing that people are good. I have the nicest customers in the world.&nbsp;



Photo by ©MC BROWNFIELD; Courtesy of Bauble Stockings.

Learn how Georgia entrepreneur Kate Stice Stewart launched Bauble Stockings after finding inspiration from a family tradition.

Learn how Georgia entrepreneur Kate Stice Stewart launched Bauble Stockings after finding inspiration from a family tradition. | SUCCESS

Q&amp;A: Bauble Stockings Founder on Turning a Family Tradition Into a Business

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Q&A: Bauble Stockings Founder Is Rooted in Family Traditions | SUCCESS

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The Real Good Life founder Maggie Skarich Joos pictured holding a platter of food in her kitchen

In seventh grade, Maggie Skarich Joos dreamed of owning a restaurant. But years later, after studying hospitality management and working in several restaurants, Skarich Joos realized the long evenings weren’t a good fit for her. She decided to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/5-steps-to-turn-your-passion-into-your-profession/">channel her passion for food</a> into creating <a href="https://therealgoodlife.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Real Good Life</a>, a meal delivery business serving the Milwaukee area. What started as a one-person cooking operation in a church basement has since expanded to a bigger organization with its own kitchen, more than 30 employees and a rotating weekly menu including a soup, salad, entrée and—as a nod to its founder’s love of chocolate—an indulgent dessert. We spoke with Skarich Joos about how she got started, what challenges she faced and how she balances work, family and self-care.



This interview has been edited for length and clarity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-did-you-decide-to-start-the-real-good-life">How did you decide to start The Real Good Life?</h2>



Maggie Skarich Joos: I was staying at home with my first daughter, doing food marketing. I met a woman who was a lunch lady by day. At night she would cook food for her colleagues and bring it back the next day, and they would pay her for it. And I thought, Well, I could do that!



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Your kids were really young when you launched your business. What was that like?</h2>



MSJ: I have great support at home; my husband is definitely an equal partner. At the start, it was very overwhelming. Our second child was born in May 2016, and our first meal delivery was that September. I remember being in that church basement thinking, This is all crazy; this is way too much. There were probably two years when I had a New Year’s resolution that every week, I was going to take at least one day off. I had <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/5-strategies-for-making-your-new-years-resolutions-work/">varying degrees of success</a> with that.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What factors helped you grow your business?</h2>



MSJ: I am an only child, and I thought I wanted to work by myself forever, but I knew I couldn’t grow that way. With the first person I hired, we clicked so well that I realized <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-delegate/">delegating is OK and safe</a>. I was also in a really fortunate position in that I didn’t have the stress of bringing in money to make sure the lights stayed on in our house or we had food to eat; my husband was able to support us through that beginning time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">How has owning a business impacted you as a parent?</h2>



MSJ: I will never forget the moment when we moved to the new kitchen. I brought my husband and the girls, and my oldest daughter looked at me and said, “Mom, this is your kitchen?” It hit me that she was recognizing her mom was a business owner. For my kids to see they <a href="https://bakadesuyo.com/2020/02/calling-in-life/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">can be whatever they want</a>, and see it happening in real life, that’s been so important.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Your business donates a portion of sales to Hunger Task Force, Milwaukee’s local food bank. Tell us more about why you wanted to give back.</h2>



MSJ: Anything we can do to help other families have an easier time getting to the table is our goal. Our vision is full bellies and happy hearts all across southeastern Wisconsin, whether they’re customers of ours or not. Dinnertime is when people should be with the ones they love or get to do the things they love.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">We have to ask: What is your favorite entrée and dessert in The Real Good Life’s rotation?</h2>



MSJ: We have a very good chicken tikka masala, but we decided one week to try a vegetarian version. Just the spice level of it and getting the vegetables with the chickpeas... it tastes amazing! And then dessert—that is like picking a favorite kid, but I would have to say it’s The Real Good Life bars, which is our take on Twix bars, with the shortbread, caramel and chocolate on top.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">How do you cope with uncertainty about the future?</h2>



MSJ: We’re very much at that price point where if anyone needed to start cutting corners, our service would be a really easy thing to let go of, unfortunately. I always have that in the back of my head. But for the most part, we have enough systems and people in place that if I ever end up having a moment of panic, there’s always someone who can say, “We have the solution for that problem.” And in turn, I am that person for people on our team.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What does self-care look like for you?</h2>



MSJ: One of the things I learned from COVID is that I do need to <a href="https://www.wellandgood.com/benefits-morning-workouts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">work out in some form</a> or fashion every weekday morning at least. It doesn’t need to be hard, crazy things, but I need to start my day by moving my body and having that alone time. Also, just being slower and more in the moment is sometimes the most important thing to do... and having chocolate at the end of the day!&nbsp;



This article originally appeared in the July/August 2023 <a href="https://store.success.com/by-media/success-magazine-july-august-2023-chance-the-rapper.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">issue of SUCCESS magazine</a>. Photo by ©Lindsay Stayton Photography; Lisa Mathewson Photography/courtesy of The Real Good Life

The Real Good Life founder Maggie Skarich Joos shares the origin story of her meal delivery service and her self-care as a business owner.

The Real Good Life founder Maggie Skarich Joos shares the origin story of her meal delivery service and her self-care as a business owner. | SUCCESS

The Real Good Life Takes Dinner Stress Off Your Plate

The Real Good Life Takes Dinner Stress Off Your Plate | SUCCESS

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