Starting and growing an online business isn’t always easy, and Laurie Coppersmith has seen that first hand with her online store BlueDaisySky.

Coppersmith’s big sellers have been her embroidered Santa’s hats, stockings, clips, and vinyl undergarments.

“My best seller is the personalized Santa’s hats which I began selling in 2011,” said Coppersmith.

“Laurie’s pragmatic and has really gotten into the business,” said Rich Coppersmith, Laurie’s husband, who has recently begun helping with product output. “She’s been the creative mind behind the business.”

Rich expects the income from Coppersmith’s business to rise over the next five years, if she decides to maintain her business as well as continue the development of it. “It’d be nice to increase our store size which would then help with a larger profit,” said Rich.

When Coppersmith originally started her business, her work station consisted of one embroidery machine. “I felt like I was just doing a hobby but now it’s become serious,” said Coppersmith, “I bought an embroidery machine to start and over the years I’ve had to buy bigger and better machines.”

Moving along with the company was an integral part in her current success. Coppersmith said. “I had to grow with the business. Since it’s all my ideas and business I have to be the one to push it ahead and add onto it.”

Junior Alyson Korsten currently owns a personalized bag made by Coppersmith as well as one of the Santa’s hats. “I’ve never seen something so personalized,” said Korsten. “It makes me feel special to have something created particularly for me.”

Coppersmith has tried to create products that do such. She said, “I use things that I would like.” Coppersmith has found that around Christmas and Valentine’s Day is when her sales sky rocket due to the personalization and the kinds of goods she makes.

“I had a really busy season last year so I need to raise my prices so that it lowers my demand just a bit so I can continue to supply them the product,” said Coppersmith. “Instead of having to close down the store, the simple raise of prices can usually accomplish the same thing.”

Chris Torda, co-adviser for the Mayfield High School student council, is tasked with purchasing shirts for Homecoming. “We really go on price so that we can make the most profit,” said Torda. “As long as the price is right and the quality is nice, I don’t think it matters if it comes from a large company or a small company.”

Coppersmith has seen that reaction from her customers. Her orders range from hats for Christmas cards to 40 hats for a doctor’s office. She’s also filled an order for Nestle which challenged her to experiment with the design and creation of the Santa’s hat. “The biggest difficulty is continuing to try different things…it’s really just persistence,” she said.

Coppersmith plans on continuing to expand her work. She said, “I want to branch out into spirit wear and other embroidery products so that I have more options and more places I can sell my products.”

Coppersmith continues to push on with her business and hopes to expand in the future as she has already done.