Little Words Make a Big Impact

Little Words Make a Big Impact

Written By: Megan Sones of Chasing Kids in Heels

Finding the “courage” to start your own business can be extremely daunting. Not to mention, quitting your full-time job and stringing beads in your parent’s basement for a living, but that is exactly what Founder and CEO Adriana Carrig of Little Words Project did. Little Words Project is a company that creates “wearable, passable, friendship bracelets” for customers using customized beads with words of inspiration or reminders. The unique aspect of Little Words Project is the “girl gang community” that it fosters, as well as the individualized number tag on each bracelet. The goal is for a woman to wear her word/bracelet for as long as she needs it, then to pass the bracelet on to another woman who needs it more!
Little Words Project values self love, kindness, collaboration, authenticity, and inclusivity. These ideals have helped to perpetuate the brand throughout the years and to keep customers coming back, as well as spreading the word about the amazing company. So much so, that major retailers such as Nordstrom and many local boutiques continue carrying and restocking Little Words Project bracelets!

Throughout her youth, Adriana was bullied by other girls and looked for inspiration and kind words in her daily life. The feeling continued once Adriana reached college, serving in the leadership role of Vice President of Membership for her sorority, Delta Zeta at The College of New Jersey. She recalled an activity from her church youth group called “warm fuzzies,” in which participants tried to elicit warm and friendly feelings in themselves. Adriana used this as inspiration to create hand beaded bracelets for her sorority sisters using words that would apply to things that they were encountering— strength, believe, love— to pass amongst one another, as needed, and “to help keep the love circulating.” The sorority sisters loved the idea and continued to pass the bracelets around as they no longer needed their specific word or found another sister who needed it more.
After college, Adriana began to pursue communications, but felt uninspired and as though part of her passion and college project was left untapped. She began working in New York City all day and beading bracelets at night. As a woman with a strong moral compass and a passion for what she was doing, Adriana determined that it was in her best interest to only grow as large as she herself could afford to invest, therefore beginning with only $5000 invested in the company. This needed to cover all bracelet supplies, packaging, and shipping, which left little to no margins left for advertising, website design, staffing, or product marketing. Adriana looked to her social network for people with particular expertise who could assist her on this journey, and who would be willing to work pro-bono for the time being. She was able to launch her business with a unique and custom created logo and a personalized website, while serving as her own social media/marketing department, and elicited the help of her father in the packing/shipping department.
To this day, Little Words Project has had no outside funding AND the company has been profitable since its first month in business. In Adriana’s words, “I invested $5000 to start my website (sales) and really devoted myself to the brand, and it was the greatest decision I’ve ever made!” Of not accepting outside investors, she says, “I’ve seen the growth happen so organically, and I’ve been able to hire the right team to really help us build and grow so it’s not been something I felt compelled to do.” Finding the confidence in yourself, your product, and your business model speaks volumes! Succumbing to the pressures imposed by potential investors may take away some of the creativity, authenticity, and “spark” that helped to ignite the business in the first place.

Although every business has challenges, Adriana identifies the greatest hurdle for herself and Little Words Project as “finding the right people to help build the company alongside me because finding people equally as passionate and devoted to YOUR dream can be quite difficult!” Additionally, she identified that as a business owner it was an important lesson for her to learn to release control to other people. In this case, as the Founder and CEO and as the distinct leadership in your own business, it is important to identify your immediate strengths, the non- negotiables or things that you must be involved in, and then being able to successfully delegate tasks to team members.

When asked what message she has for young girls looking to begin an entrepreneurial journey, Adriana responded, “Definitely follow your dream, even when it feels absolutely impossible to keep going! Never giving up and always believing you CAN is the key to starting and successfully running any business. Put the work in, don’t make excuses, and show up every single day. It’s not easy to be an entrepreneur, it is a constant battle of convincing the world and yourself that you’re worthy to be in that place. But, if you believe in yourself, and what you can offer the world, you deserve to be there just as much as anyone else. But, the most important thing is to always show up.”

From one small word, Adriana and Little Words Project have been able to make a big impact on the “girl world” community around them. It all started with one small idea and has blossomed into something larger than ever imagined. What idea will pop up next… will it be yours?

**All photos courtesy of Little Words Project**

"We're grateful for Megan Sones interview and story'Little Words Make a Big Impact,' because it inspires girls to pursue their passion, use their talent for Good to launch their start-up companies."

Recruiting for Good, Fun+Advocate Founder, Carlos