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In today’s Spotlight, we’re talking with Jan Sykes, founder and owner of 2Gurlz, LLC.

Jan: We are a custom craft business, specializing in creating, designing, and making unique customized items. We make custom t-shirts, cups, lanyards, water bottles, stickers, gift baskets, and more. Our motto is, “We Turn Your Vision Into Reality.”

Jan: I’ve always been a crafty person, even as a child. My parents would say that my crafts were taking over the house! In the late 90’s when working in Corporate America, my manager invited me to a scrapbooking party, which I was unaware of what scrapbooking was. That evening, I learned something new, and once I saw what it was about, I was hooked. I loved everything about it, with all the crafting aspects.

I was really inspired and initially started my business creating greeting cards and invitations. As I continued to expand my offerings, I decided to formally create a business in 2008. The business is named after my 2 daughters. I continued to grow my business, while still maintaining a full-time job. Fast forward, COVID hits and turns the world upside down. Like the rest of the country, I was working from home, and over that period I had several friends pass away and decided it was time to reevaluate life. Life is too short, and I wanted to follow my passion and my dreams. So in December of 2020, I walked away and started running 2Gurlz, LLC full time.

Jan: I first connected with them in the late 90’s when I started out, and at that time, I just wasn’t mentally ready to run a business. Even though I went to a few workshops, I didn’t really take advantage of the information. But this time around, I started attending the webinars, and learned so much. By attending the webinars, I was informed that I could connect with a mentor who could provide me with personal guidance.

Since then, I’ve been working with Shelli McMillen and Lacey Banks McGill. They’ve helped to connect me with a web developer, a financial professional to assist in setting up my QuickBooks account, and have helped in creating my business plan. We had multiple check-ins to help strategize on how to grow the business. They’ve been a wealth of knowledge! They give you the nuts-and-bolts of everything you need to be successful and continually reach out to see how you are progressing. I promote the program to those who are interested in going into business.—it’s a fabulous group of mentors and a program to be affiliated with.

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