Today we’d like to introduce you to Margie Williams and Gregory Williams Jr.
Margie and Gregory, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My partner/husband and I were married in 2012 while serving in the Marine Corps in Okinawa, Japan. Four years later, we had our son, Gregory Williams III and that’s when our journey began. We were sharing in the joys and challenges of learning how to be parents when we stumbled upon one of those challenges: putting toddler’s shoes onto their feet. You never think of the small little annoyances, however eliminating those can be the difference between getting out the door on time, or not. As I was struggling to put my son’s shoes on, rushing to get to his doctor’s appointment, I said to my husband, “There’s got to be a better way to get kids shoes onto their feet!”. That’s when we decided to create something. It was then that we went to the drawing board. We did our research, developed a business plan, obtained funding, and today we are humbly and proudly open for business.
Has it been a smooth road?
I’m not sure that entrepreneurship is ever a smooth road. From the very start when your idea is only an idea, it can be uncertain as to how to get it from an idea to, in our case, a tangible object. At every step, there is something new to learn and a new obstacle to navigate, but once you navigate those obstacles successfully, after the 100th attempt, it gives you that rush that you need to get to the next hurdle and overcome it.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
My partner/husband and I own Milestones Children’s Shoe Company. All of our children’s shoes come with a zipper feature that surrounds the outer toe area of the shoe. It is a functional zipper that allows parents, grandparents, etc. to unzip the shoe, which creates the added space needed for ease of placing a young child’s shoe onto their foot. Greg and I didn’t want to compromise style for function so we made sure to keep our styles up with current trends as well as offer more classic looks.
I’m most proud of being on this journey with my family. Not only is my husband, who I love tremendously, my business partner, but also our son is the reason for lightbulb going off, so in our eyes, he is the true creator of Milestones. So many family members and friends supported us, uplifted us, encouraged and guided us. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to “raise a business”. We are very blessed to have the good hearts and brilliant minds of so many amazing people in our lives.
Our defining feature is our zipper! It’s practical and adds style to all of our shoes. And we are very excited, after quite a rigorous process, that patents have been granted on our product. We’re always working on the next idea or style to bring to our supporters and we will be adding another style to our online store on October 12th, which is our son’s 3rd birthday.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Atlanta has so much style amongst the movers and the shakers of the city. I think any determined, resourceful person can do great in this fabulous city.
Pricing:
- Tailored (casual): $39.99
- Classics (sneakers): $44.99
- Royal (Boots): $49.99
Contact Info:
- Website: www.easymilestones.com
- Phone: (205) 886-6136
- Email: customersupport@easymilestones.com
- Instagram: milestones_llc
- Facebook: @easymilestones
Image Credit:
Dario Hardy and Rashad Hardy
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