Every time a person signs up to receive my newsletter, I glance at their email address and subscribe them to my list. On a rare occasion, something about their name catches my eye, like it did when Kimberley Chagnon sent her contact information to subscribe. Her email address end in @kimsupholstery.com which got my attention. A woman upholsterer! I immediately went to her website and was enamored by her offerings. Wow!

I wrote back to her and asked if I might interview her for my blog. She’s exactly the kind of remarkable woman I want to write about as inspiration for myself and my readers.

We had a great conversation a week ago, and I wanted to share the highlights. I hope you’ll spend some time on her site for further inspiration after reading this post.

What first struck me, as I read about and spoke to Kim, was her expressed desire to upholster a couch that had been in her family–I was hooked!–and how she wanted to sign up for a local course being offered. She was told there’d be a 9 month wait. So she waited.

After having exceptional results in that class, Kim got the bug. A friend of her father’s had a sofa he wanted re-done, and Kim took it on. She consulted other local upholsterers to get an idea about pricing, did a few jobs that way and has been working steadily ever since.

She took out her first ad in the yellow pages – remember those? – in September, 2001, a significant time. After the national tragedy, Kim thought, “Oh, well. We may have to write off $100 per month” due to the timing. But she had a big surprise ahead of her. While other businesses may have suffered as the country reeled and got back on its collective feet, Kim’s phone continued to ring. People were staying home, wanted more comfortable spaces to hang out in, and her business skyrocketed.

There has not been any downtime since she first hung out her shingle.

To meet with increasing demand for “How do you do that?” Kim started producing a series of videos, rudimentary at first, then increasingly more sophisticated. For someone who used to be very shy and terrified of public speaking, she now has over five million (+) views on her youtube channel.

Kim continually responds to opportunities and needs driven by her market. She and her husband both eventually quit their day jobs to devote themselves fully to Kim’s Upholstery.

It was a delight to speak with Kim, to hear how her vision unfolded and continues to thrive. I wanted to share her story with you on this cold, cloudy day to lift your spirits and encourage you to keep at your dreams.

Would you like to read about some other remarkable women?