‘Twas the weekend before finals, where Millersville University students are partying throughout the residence halls and the off-campus apartments before they begin studying and cranking out last minute assignments.
In the midst of it all, Millersville University junior, Brooke Keefer, never lets the decisions of others get in her way of what she needs to get done.
She is fulfilling holiday orders while hitting the books at the same time in hopes of spreading her love of monograms with her customers.
“I put a lot of time and effort into everything I make and I hope that they appreciate the work behind a monogram,” Keefer said.
Keefer’s weekend begins when she leaves Millersville at 8 a.m. Friday morning. She drives to Hershey, PA to babysit from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
She then drives 30 minutes west to her home in Mechanicsburg, PA where she lives with her parents, Brian and Lori Keefer.
When she arrives, she unpacks her bags and heads straight to her crafting room. She will then print out 3-4 orders off Etsy with a few more from her email.
She then begins her process of making monograms.
Keefer runs a monogram business called “North Bound Monograms” where she sells customizable products such as drinkware, decals, and accessories on Etsy.
Once she receives an order, she will design it on the computer and then use her vinyl machine to make it. After the vinyl is cut out, she uses a tool to pick out excess material.
She then uses special tape to transfer the vinyl to an item.
Once the vinyl monogram has been applied to an item, Keefer will leave sweet notes inside for her customers, which is her trademark. She and Mrs. Keefer will package them and send them to their destination.
“She’s extremely hard-working,” her friend, Jessica Jones, said.
December is where her routine runs precisely as the machine she makes monograms with. It has been her busiest month because of school and the holidays, which has her mind in overdrive more than any other time of the year.
According to Dictionary.com, a monogram is “a design consisting of two or more alphabetic letters combined or interlaced, commonly one's initials, often printed on stationery, embroidered on clothing, etc.”
In the southern lifestyle, the three-letter combination is the most common monogram. The initial of the person’s last name is in the center. While the first name initial is on the left and the middle name initial is on the right.
Monograms are popular down south because it is something that has personal meaning. Keefer believes this is why a lot of people in the South will give monogrammed items such as clothing, drinkware, towels as gifts to friends and family.
“I think it is all about displaying your name,” Keefer said. “It is something to be proud of, so why not show it?”
From January to April of 2015, she built the framework for her business with her friend Ali.
Around that same time she also had to learn how to make monograms.
She first got her vinyl machine that April and spent the next three months learning how to use it. She had to learn how to work the machine and the vinyl cutting software, Silhouette, as well as the designing process.
“Overall, it was pretty difficult at first,” Keefer recalled. “It is something that you learn as you go.”
She didn’t feel comfortable with making monograms until July. She opened North Bound Monograms on Etsy for business on July 18, 2015.
Keefer recalled that it took a while for her and her family to brainstorm a name. The name was finally decided when her friend Ali asked her what her goal for the business was.
“We want to bring our love of monograms and personalized gifts north of the Mason-Dixon Line,” Keefer wrote on her Etsy page.
Since then, she has about 200 sales on and off of Etsy.
Keefer explains that Etsy is a site for people who have hobbies and want to make some extra money from it.
Etsy takes only a small percentage of the seller’s profit, which she benefits from as a small business owner.
“I have bought items on Etsy before and really liked how the site worked,” Keefer said.
What inspired her to start her monogram business is her southern background.
Her father is an alumni from The Citadel, a military college located in Charleston, South Carolina. She and her family will go see The Citadel-Virginia Military Institute (VMI) football game and other alumni events every year.
“When we came back home, I struggled to find local shops or online stores in Pennsylvania who sold monogrammed gifts,” Keefer also wrote on her Etsy page.
Since monograms are a southern staple, shops that sell them are only found online or in the South. There are not a lot of monogram shops in the North.
“It is not very popular in our area, so they are hard to find,” Keefer said. “So I decided to start my own.”
Her locale wasn’t the only factor for starting her own monogram business.
The riveting redhead is a crafting hobbyist who has a giving heart.
Her friends and family loved the gifts she gave them over the years, which made her happy to see.
One recipient of her gifts is Jessica Jones, who has been Keefer’s roommate since freshman year. She gets to enjoy the products featured on the Etsy page by receiving them as gifts from her.
“Her customer service and personality is what keeps customers coming back,” Jones said. “Everyone gets so excited when they receive one of her products.”
North Bound Monograms has become so successful over the past year. Its popularity stretches outside Pennsylvania’s borders. She has customers from Texas, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia, where monograms are a part of the Southern persona.
“I feel really excited about receiving feedback,” Keefer said. “I know how much my customers appreciate my work and it also helps me improve my work!”
Some of the work Keefer does at home is updating listings on Etsy, posting to social media, or ordering new inventory.
While at home, she works with her mother. Mrs. Keefer is a stay-at-home mom which makes her available to help her daughter on the weekends and summer vacations.
Brooke designs the monograms on Silhouette, which is connected to the machine that cuts out the designs. Lori then places the monograms on the products and helps Brooke with packaging.
Even though the two of them have been close with one another, running North Bound Monograms together has brought them even closer.
“I love having her help me and encourage me to always do more,” Keefer commented. “We are able to work together and come up with designs for the business.”
Keefer gives a lot of gratitude to her parents for their support of her and her business. Not only did they let her start the business, they also gave her an empty room in their house for her to use as a crafting room.
Operating a small business has taught Keefer valuable life lessons.
One of those life lessons she learned was time management. She learned this skill from planning her weekends out according to the amount of orders she had. She also must figure out which orders had first priority.
Alongside the life lessons, she also had to make some sacrifices. With her going home every weekend, she misses out of social events with her friends at Millersville.
“It proves her dedication to her business and making her customers happy,” Jones commented on Keefer’s sacrifices.
Her friend, Maria Mazenko, misses her during the weekends. She describes Keefer as headstrong, independent and goofy.
She felt Keefer’s presence the most during their sophomore year, where they were all roommates together in a four-person suite at Millersville.
“I miss having fun with her, but I also miss having her to lean on with when I need advice,” Mazenko commented.
Mazenko mentioned that Keefer is good at calming her down and making her laugh again whenever she was feeling down.
She also said that Keefer also helped her look at things logically, which she notes as one of Keefer’s strengths.
“It’s so nice to be around someone who is stable,” Mazenko said.
Some of the most creative people in the world are also the most innovative. They are also the ones who love their customers and everything else that comes with being a business owner, big or small.
Brooke Keefer is that person, whose products have made a lasting impact on her customers and those who receive them as gifts.
“It is a title I like to have and share with people,” Keefer commented on being a small business owner. “It is an accomplishment that I am very proud of, which surprises a lot of people considering I am only 20 years old.”
