266: From Self-Doubt and a Factory Job to Freelance Biz Owner: Caroline’s One-Year Transformation

If you’ve ever wondered *how the heck someone actually quits their job to freelance full-time*—this episode is it. Caroline Kuhlman went from working in a sewing factory, filled with doubt about her skills, to running her own thriving freelance fashion business...in just one year. She had no portfolio, no website, and no idea where to start. But she made it happen. In this episode, you’ll hear exactly how she did it—and the quiet, powerful steps that helped her finally leave a job that was draining the life out of her.

Resources:
020: The Step by Step Guide to Fabric Sourcing for Your Fashion Brand (with low minimums) with Jay Arbetman

About Caroline:
Caroline Kuhlman is a sample maker who specializes in collaborating with pattern makers to bring designs from 2D concepts to real-life garments—faster than factories can. Through her hands-on process, clients gain valuable insights that help prevent costly production mistakes. Caroline loves bringing the tech pack, pattern, and materials together for the first time—and proudly calls herself a sewing nerd at your service.

Connect with Caroline:
Email her at [e-mail]
Check out her website

Follow on Instagram 

Connect on LinkedIn

Download my Freelance Price List just for fashion (it’s free!): sewheidi.com/price

Creators and Guests

Host

Heidi Weinberg {Sew Heidi}

Heidi (aka Sew Heidi) is a self-taught freelance fashion designer who built a six-figure business without a degree, portfolio, or industry connections. After years of burnout in the fashion industry, she went freelance—and never looked back. Now, she helps other designers ditch toxic jobs, land better clients, and build flexible careers they love. Through her podcast, courses, and resources, Heidi has helped thousands of designers take control of their fashion path and finally get paid what they’re worth.

What is Fashion Designers Get Paid: Build Your Fashion Career On Your Own Terms?

This is a show for burnt-out fashion designers (and TDs, PDs, patternmakers, textile designer and beyond) who want more flexibility in their career while still doing work they love.

You'll learn how to build a freelance fashion business, so you can do the work you love on your own terms. Freelancing in fashion is the only way to get freedom in your day (instead of being tied to a desk).

Whether you want to earn extra money on the side, fund your fashion brand, or replace your salary, the FDGP podcast will help you get there. Listen in for actionable tips and strategies to kickstart or grow your career as a freelance fashion designer, build your confidence, and create the life you want.

Hosted by $100k+ fashion freelancer Sew Heidi, the show features interviews and strategy sessions with successful freelance fashion designers from around the world who've ditched toxic fashion jobs and taken control of their own destinies. This is the only place to get REAL insights from REAL freelancers who have built REAL careers on their own terms. (Formerly the Successful Fashion Freelancer podcast.)

Heidi [00:00:00]:
Caroline Kuhlman was working in a sewing factory. She was exhausted, underpaid, and filled with doubt that she was ever going to be good enough to freelance. In fact, when she first signed up to work with me, hands on in my Fast Track Turbo program, she told me she just wanted to find some freelance work on the side. She said that if I had told her she'd be quitting her job in just one year, she wouldn't have gone for it. That leap would have felt way too scary, because at the time, freelancing full time didn't just feel out of reach and it felt impossible. But she started anyway, quietly on the side. And one year later, she walked away from that factory job and now runs her own thriving business as a freelance sample maker. This episode is about the courage to start when you're scared.

Heidi [00:00:43]:
The power of tiny steps, and how believing in yourself, even just a little, is sometimes all it takes to change everything. Oh, and you'll hear it right away. But Caroline and I had the privilege of meeting up in person to record this at a coffee shop. And I have my nice mics, but you'll hear some ambient background noise. You're going to love this episode. Let's get to it. So can we start off like mega fucking celebrating that you quit your job in about a year from starting freelancing or what's the exact timeline?

Caroline Kuhlman [00:01:15]:
So I started fast in June and then I quit my job in June.

Heidi [00:01:20]:
So it was like exactly a year.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:01:22]:
Yeah. Okay, that's crazy. It is crazy because sometimes I think about, I got my first client in September, so it's September of 2024.

Heidi [00:01:33]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:01:33]:
And then I left my job in June 2025.

Heidi [00:01:37]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:01:38]:
So depending on how.

Heidi [00:01:40]:
And we're recording this September 2025. So it's one year date of getting your first client. Okay, so I wanna hear a little bit about the. And you sent me a LinkedIn message, but I wanna talk a little bit about the journey and the. I'm gonna say, I don't wanna put words in your mouth, so I'm not gonna say that. Actually. The journey of quitting your job and going full time into freelancing, and then we can dig. Then we'll dig a little bit more into your backstory and the whole evolution.

Heidi [00:02:18]:
But I. I like to focus initially on like, so what has it been? June, July, August. So three, four months since you quit? Like, talk to us.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:02:29]:
Okay.

Heidi [00:02:29]:
Yeah.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:02:30]:
So I think I didn't know when, I didn't know how I was going to know when it was going to be. Time to leave. But the kind of mixture of events that helped me make the decision was there's one week where on Wednesday, a potential client reached out to me asking if I was available, and I had to say no to her because I was going on a work trip for corporate the next week, and it was a short turnaround time, so I had to say no to that. And then the very next day, another previous client reached out to me asking if I was available for a project, and I was gonna have to say no to her as well because of yet another work trip that I hadn't said yes or no to, but I knew was coming. And I was the only person, like, who from our location who was gonna be able to go anyway. So it was sort of. I knew it was coming, and I was like, okay, this feels like a moment where I. I have to choose my clients and these relationships that I've worked hard on or my corporate job.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:03:49]:
And so I remember I went, yeah, I was sitting at the sewing machine in, like, this windowless warehouse area where I had been working for like a year and a half. And I went outside and it was like, super, super sunny. And I called my mom and I said, this is what's happening. I feel like I'm ready to leave. And what do you think? And, like, both of our voices were trembling like this. And she said, I think that makes sense. And I hear you. And she's like, we're with you.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:04:34]:
We're behind you. And. And then I called. I called a friend. She also has her own business, and she had started a little bit ahead of me. She's a graphic designer. And I was like, she's really straight shooter. So I asked her, what do you think? These are the factors.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:04:57]:
I feel like I have to choose between my clients and corporate. And these are the reasons, like I just said. And she was like, I think. I think you can go for it. So I was like, oh, my gosh. So that. So that was a. When.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:05:18]:
That was a Thursday. And then I took the weekend to think about it. And then on Monday morning. Monday morning I was leaving for that work trip that I had to say no to the first client for. And I put in my two weeks notice that morning before I left on the work trip. Oh, my gosh.

Heidi [00:05:41]:
Did you, like, send an email or did you go talk to somebody?

Caroline Kuhlman [00:05:44]:
So there was a store manager at the location where I worked. And so she was like, I directly reported to her. And so I went into her office and I had my letter written up, and I gave it to her. And it was funny because she wasn't expecting me to come in that morning because I was leaving on the trip. But I was like, nobody had told me that I didn't have to come in just because I was leaving to go to Philly's. So she was surprised to see me and then I wondered if she suspected something and I was freaking out. But then I went in there and she asked me why and she was like, I'm happy for you. So I wasn't expecting that at all.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:06:38]:
And then so I went on the trip and I ended up meeting some sales reps for. From some uniform companies while I was there. And they were asking me, you know, we had getting to know each other throughout the week and so we talked about like, how long have you been at Galls? How long have you been at your job? And so it just came up about my business and that I was leaving. And by the end of the week I had exchanged information with these two sales reps from massive companies that I never thought I would be interested in, in hiring a freelancer until. So the uniform, it was uniforms for public safety, military and so state troopers.

Heidi [00:07:39]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:07:41]:
Sheriff's departments and police departments and fire departments was the uniforms that we did at the company.

Heidi [00:07:48]:
And the job that you had just quit, right, the day before, the day of this, now you're meeting these other people?

Caroline Kuhlman [00:07:55]:
Yes.

Heidi [00:07:56]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:07:56]:
And so there's like government contracts involved and I just didn't see how a freelancer could fit into that. And I hadn't seen it any sort of small businesses or individuals working in that space in the year and a half that I've been there. So that was a total surprise and felt like, felt like serendipity that like they, you know, I had sort of, they had asked me questions about what I was doing and I had sort of almost been ready to talk about it in a way that made them ask me if I would be available to work with them.

Heidi [00:08:46]:
Like how. What was your thinking behind that strategy? Or like how did you word that?

Caroline Kuhlman [00:08:51]:
So I don't. I think, I think the work that I had done with you and with pitching and talking to clients, like I had sort of had my elevator pitch. So when they asked me, what's your business? I just kind of said I do sample making, I do pre production prototypes for brands and I like to work directly with pattern makers. And so I kind of said my spiel and then it sort of was an organic. I was just telling them what, telling them about myself not Telling them, like, hey, this is a service that I have. And so by the end of the week, it became, here's my information. Can I have your information? And so when I got back from the trip, I followed up with them and said, would you be open to a test project? And they all responded to me right away. It was amazing.

Heidi [00:09:51]:
So are you working with them now?

Caroline Kuhlman [00:09:53]:
There has not been a project that has come up.

Heidi [00:09:55]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:09:56]:
But it really was like a boost. Totally that. Because those were the biggest brands I've ever talked to. Like, huge, huge nationwide companies.

Heidi [00:10:09]:
Yeah.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:10:10]:
So that was. That was because I felt like we had gotten to know each other throughout the week and I hadn't anticipated that that would happen by Friday. So it felt like just me being myself was sort of enough.

Heidi [00:10:39]:
Yeah.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:10:40]:
And just me being my nerdy self and asking them, like, what your tech packs look like and can I see the. Can I see, like, behind this? Like, I just couldn't help myself but ask questions and stuff like that and ask them about, you know, when they do. They were telling me how a lot of state troopers are like, very, very particular about their uniforms and want it to be really custom. And so I was asking them about the process and they were telling me how they do. They like to do samples and sometimes it is a little bit more specialized than their regular production process is ready for. And so we were just nerding out about that. And I think it felt like. It felt sort of natural.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:11:30]:
And I was like, oh, my gosh, maybe this. It helped me feel like this. Maybe this is a special skill that I have that I. That is valuable. And so thinking that about myself is a milestone for me. And making that decision and all those things happening within like a two week period was really, I mean, life changing. Sounds so dramatic, but really for me, from where I was in 2022, it's like night and day.

Heidi [00:12:20]:
Yeah. Just three short years. Okay, I have so many questions. So first of all, you're on this work trip, so give everybody a one liner about what you did at Galls, because I think we don't have context yet.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:12:35]:
So Galls does public safety uniforms. And I worked at a branch, so it was a retail location. And also they called it production, a production facility. But we were mostly doing hemming and applying, sewing on patches. So I was sewing there every day for about a year and a half. So I got. I got faster and more confident with my sewing. So that was a valuable thing that I gained there.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:13:12]:
And I needed that confidence in myself that that's A skill that I have. So that's what I did.

Heidi [00:13:21]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:13:21]:
@ gols.

Heidi [00:13:22]:
And so then you were on this work trip, and how did you, like, balance the conversation of, like, you're there representing galls on this work trip. Little do they know, like, the day before you just quit and you're going full time into your freelance business. Like, how did you juggle that? And like, hey, I'm a freelance sample maker. And like, I. Da, da, da. But also I'm here representing my employer.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:13:45]:
So it was. It was tricky because the regional manager, my boss, didn't know if he was going to be coming to be a part of the team on this trip or not. And so the trip was going to police precincts to do fittings. And so that's what I was helping with.

Heidi [00:14:10]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:14:10]:
And so the regional manager, who was over top of my store manager, she didn't know if he was coming or not, but then he showed up, I think, on Tuesday. And so I didn't know if she had told him or not.

Heidi [00:14:25]:
That you had just quit.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:14:26]:
Yes.

Heidi [00:14:26]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:14:26]:
Yes. So I didn't know what information he was working off of and if he was irritated or what.

Heidi [00:14:35]:
Sure.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:14:37]:
And then he told me that he was upset for the first 24 hours, but then he was happy for me.

Heidi [00:14:44]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:14:44]:
I was like, okay, I'm glad we're. We're in that.

Heidi [00:14:48]:
So then people on the work trip knew the context.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:14:51]:
Yes.

Heidi [00:14:52]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:14:52]:
Yes. So just because it was people from all different branches coming together on this trip to work on this huge fitting project for all the police officers and Philadelphia pd.

Heidi [00:15:07]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:15:07]:
So just through the process of getting to know each other, it was like, how long have you been with galls?

Heidi [00:15:14]:
And.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:15:18]:
So it was tricky. I didn't know exactly what to say, but sort of, as the week went along and they were talking more about, like, sometimes the stores collaborate within galls and help each other out. And so it just came out that I wasn't going to be around anymore.

Heidi [00:15:40]:
Yeah.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:15:42]:
After one more week. So.

Heidi [00:15:44]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:15:46]:
So I kind of waited until I had some rapport with the people there to say. So it was like Thursday, Friday, where I was talking more about leaving and what my services are. And because I had. I had been open about it like that. I freelance on the side.

Heidi [00:16:14]:
Okay. So Gauze knew this the whole time.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:16:16]:
So I had. I had. Yeah. I had said that I also do freelance sewing projects.

Heidi [00:16:27]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:16:28]:
But I didn't. I had a hard time, like, with LinkedIn, because a lot of the corporate people were on there. And so I Didn't know what was appropriate so I didn't really utilize that tool, LinkedIn. I didn't know how to navigate that. But now I've been using it a lot and people are starting to reach out to me. LinkedIn has been so powerful actually even before I went kind of started really posting every week.

Heidi [00:17:00]:
Okay, so let's talk about this. Comes up with a lot of people like how do you juggle LinkedIn while you're working full time? So Gauls did know you were freelancing on the side?

Caroline Kuhlman [00:17:13]:
Yeah, I had told my boss that, that I think I said like I do freelance sewing projects on the side.

Heidi [00:17:24]:
And it was just a non issue.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:17:25]:
And she didn't, didn't really react. Okay. So I, I mean I kept, kept it separate. Like I only did the freelance work at home and the galls work at work.

Heidi [00:17:46]:
So how come you struggled with like leaning so much into LinkedIn? You said it's because there's other corporate people on there.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:17:53]:
Yeah, because. So we, we were at the, in Richmond, Virginia. I worked at the branch and the headquarters is in Lexington, Kentucky.

Heidi [00:18:02]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:18:02]:
And so we were quite separate from them and I just didn't, didn't know how that would be received from their perspective and just I think we in the branch felt like a little bit separate from them and I wasn't sure what was okay and not and if my boss be okay with it was a reflection of like the larger company being okay with it or not.

Heidi [00:18:37]:
Okay. But because I know this because you and I worked together in Fast Track Turbo. You updated your LinkedIn headline like immediately to say your freelance sample maker and you were engaging on there in some capacity.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:18:52]:
Yeah, yeah, I think well before you quit. Right, right. So I had started, I had started doing that and I'll never forget because we Talked about my LinkedIn and then a pattern make a huge really successful pattern maker reached out to me like within 24 hours of me updating my, my tagline and I was like whoa, what just happened? This is so much more powerful than I thought. So maybe it was more of a mental thing that I was seeing them separately and trying to keep them separate in my mind and not wanting to mix them together in a wrong, wrong way. I mean I was definitely posting about freelance work.

Heidi [00:19:53]:
So yeah, like I, this is the first time hearing of this and we worked together like for eight months or however long like this is the very first time hearing of this. So that was, I was a little bit surprised but internally it's clear you were feeling it yeah.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:20:06]:
So maybe it was more of an internal kind of tension, struggle that, That I was thinking and worrying about. Thank you. Hmm.

Heidi [00:20:23]:
I never saw or felt that on your LinkedIn.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:20:25]:
Okay.

Heidi [00:20:26]:
I just saw and felt it as your freelance sample maker. So this is interesting to hear.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:20:32]:
Yeah.

Heidi [00:20:33]:
So, okay, so a big pattern maker reached out like a week or 24 hours after you changed your tagline. So talk a little bit about, like, those early days and finding those first few clients and. And your business is a little different in that your clients currently are more of the pattern makers as opposed to the brands.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:20:55]:
Right.

Heidi [00:20:56]:
So talk about some of that stuff.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:20:58]:
So just like in fast. I mean, the customer research was huge. That's how I learned or that's how I decided what to put in my. In my tagline was talking to pattern makers, and I also talked to technical designers. I talked to.

Heidi [00:21:19]:
Jay Arbitman.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:21:20]:
Arbitman, yeah. Yeah, he.

Heidi [00:21:22]:
He's been on the podcast. We'll link that in the show. Notes.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:21:24]:
Yeah. Such a good one. So I, I talked to different, different people in the industry and I was like, I want to do. Do sample making. What. How do your clients. How is their process with samples? Do they get them from their factory? Do you, as a pattern maker, sew them? Do you work with a pattern maker who sews them? Just all these just. I tried to ask as many questions as I could and be as curious as I could.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:21:55]:
And. And that was, that was a good way for me to start gathering information, but also talking to people virtually that I don't know, because that was really, really scary. I remember it was frustrating because I would, Would prepare and plan and we, you know, you looked over my questions and you were supporting me, but I was literally, like shaking every time I talk to somebody. And so it was just. My nervous system was completely overloaded and it was, it was hard to get. Get through the conversation when my body's, like, freaking out. But I stuck with it and kept. Kept doing it.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:22:48]:
And that's. That was so valuable because I needed to understand sample making in the context of brands and freelancers as it's happening right now. And so what are the pain points? What does sampling look like at a factory that I could improve upon or help the product brand be more ready? And all. The context of. I lost my train of thought.

Heidi [00:23:28]:
That's all right, you're good.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:23:29]:
The context.

Heidi [00:23:30]:
Yeah, the context of, like, where does this piece of the puzzle fit in in the prototyping production process? So, like, you ultimately discovered that your niche socketed into the Pattern makers are your clients. So the pattern. Currently, yes. The pattern makers work with the brands to create the patterns and then for various reasons they want to outsource the sample making.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:24:04]:
Yes. So even, even a super sample making is a big time, like almost like a hidden time, Hidden big chunk of time that pattern makers are not losing. I'm trying to say it's just taking.

Heidi [00:24:25]:
Up a lot of time.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:24:26]:
It's taking up a significant amount of time for pattern makers is making the samples. If they do that themselves, it takes up a lot of their time. So that's, that's where, where I, that's the main thing that I noticed. And I. And so I said I can help with that.

Heidi [00:24:43]:
And.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:24:55]:
So the. That's what I've been. That was one sort of prong that I was one approach that I was taking. And then I also was reaching out to design agencies. And so I kind of explored that avenue and that just turned out not to be the people who need my services, they're mostly going to their factories for the samples. And so that was like something that I needed to expand and learn and then sort of be like, okay, I'm gonna focus on this, focus on the pattern makers then. And then I do. Sometimes brands do reach out to me, but I have found that they are really excited to get a sample, but they don't necessarily have their technical design and their pattern making to the place that I would like it to be, to make the best sample that we can and it be a good investment for them.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:26:03]:
Yeah, so it has. That has been a really good learning experience too, is explaining, you know, why I asked for them to have a tech pack for me and to have the pattern. I've. Most of my experience on Upwork was talking to people who wanted me to. To make a sample without a pattern.

Heidi [00:26:28]:
And without a tech bag and without a tech pack.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:26:31]:
And I said they wanted me to. It was a good learning experience to see how they would phrase things. They would say they would want me to sew from a picture. What does that mean?

Heidi [00:26:44]:
Picture? Make it.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:26:45]:
Yes, yes. Or sew from an example or another garment that they had or a combination of things. So that was really interesting. And I decided I kind of did two big pushes on Upwork where I was like on there every day and sending out as many pitches as I could. And I never did end up working with any brands on there. They were most or as far as I'm understanding it was. It was difficult because some of the postings had so little information.

Heidi [00:27:19]:
Yeah, yeah.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:27:20]:
Off of. But I believe that they were all brands who were looking for sewing help in different capacities. And so it. It wasn't. Wasn't the right fit.

Heidi [00:27:33]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:27:33]:
Didn't. Didn't result in. In a project. But now if I go on there, I can sort of see or. I mostly have chosen not to go on there and spend my time there because I can sort of see. Okay. I don't think they're ready and they don't have the perspective that I have on what is a good approach to product development. And so we're on a different.

Heidi [00:28:05]:
They're still set on like, they just. Can't you just make a sew a sample from the photo?

Caroline Kuhlman [00:28:10]:
Yes.

Heidi [00:28:11]:
And it's too. You're just on different levels of like or different. You're reading different books about like, well, different planets. Yeah, I could sew something and. Yeah. But it's not in best service of them. So. Right, okay.

Heidi [00:28:25]:
So it's so interesting. Right. Cause you. You reached out to design agencies thinking that could work. Talking directly to these smaller brands via upwork. Both of those kind of hit dead ends. But you found a sweet spot with the pattern makers. So has that exclusively been your clientele to date? Mostly.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:28:49]:
I have. There has been one technical designer who was sort of maybe acting more as like a project manager. So she, she does design and technical design. And then she had hired the pattern maker and then me as a sample maker.

Heidi [00:29:11]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:29:11]:
So that was. That was cool. And that was really good learning experience. Experience to see what. What is her perspective. And also her managing, sort of managing the project was a different. A little bit different than when the pattern maker is engaging me for my service. So I think.

Heidi [00:29:47]:
It'S been all with other freelancers though.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:29:50]:
Right?

Heidi [00:29:51]:
Yeah.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:29:51]:
Right. I have not. I have not done a project with directly with a brand.

Heidi [00:29:57]:
Yeah. Yeah. But it's so interesting to me, like you socketed into this really little niche. I remember our very, very, very first call when you were considering joining Turbo and we were talking and you were like telling me about your skill set and stuff. And even. So that's been a little over a year now. Even your confidence since then is like night and day. I remember that first call and I was like, I was like, you have something.

Heidi [00:30:28]:
I saw a lot of places where you needed support. It was mostly in like confidence and like get out there and do the thing and like, I'm gonna help you package it and position it. But like you had something and we found this little place in the industry to socket you into and It's. Talk to us a little bit about, like, what you've worked at Galls, but before that, because you have all this industrial equipment at home. I mean, you have like a whole setup.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:30:54]:
I have six machines.

Heidi [00:30:55]:
Six. Oh, my gosh. Okay. So for people listening, they probably want to hear the machines. Let's hear it.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:31:01]:
So I have a juki industrial single needle lock stitch, which is just a regular kind of straight stitch machine, but it has this awesome powerful motor, and that is totally silent. And, like, I can adjust it. And so that's. That's my. My main workhorse, but I have a cover stitch machine, which is. It's technically like a home machine, but that's also juki. So I've had. That's my newest one.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:31:29]:
That was, like, an exciting purchase that I used my. Kind of reinvested back into my business from some of the projects that I've done. And then I have Serger, and I have a Bernina home machine which does perfect button holes every time. So that makes me really happy. So I can do. I can do bar tacks and button holds on there. Even on denim.

Heidi [00:31:53]:
Yeah.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:31:53]:
So. And then I have sort of. It's my grandmother's machine, so I sort of use that if I'm. If I'm going somewhere.

Heidi [00:32:05]:
Okay.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:32:05]:
So that's the sixth one.

Heidi [00:32:07]:
Okay. So how did you.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:32:09]:
Oh, and then I have another. I have another home machine. Okay, so that's six. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

Heidi [00:32:16]:
How did you. What did you do before you worked.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:32:18]:
At Gauze for five years? I lived in North Dakota and worked at a health food store.

Heidi [00:32:24]:
Oh, completely unrelated.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:32:26]:
Yep. I used to be married. Now I'm not going. The divorce was devastating for me, and I really. I remember on that first call talking to you that you were just mentioning, like, I had no idea if I had any skills or services that were valuable to offer. I mean, I had been. So I first found your content online when I was looking for a job. So for 2022 and 2023, I was also having health issues in the divorce, so I couldn't work.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:33:07]:
So I had been in 20. At the end of 2023, I was looking for a job, and that's when I found your content to help me with my portfolio. So I was putting. I redid my portfolio, and that's when I also had a realization about. Oh, my gosh. Like, the. We didn't learn about tech packs in the fashion school that I went to.

Heidi [00:33:30]:
Okay, so you had. That was your background in fashion. You had gone to school, and then had you worked in the industry outside of Gauls? So.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:33:37]:
So I graduated from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2013, did the fashion program at that art school. Okay. And then I worked for a bespoke shoemaker. I worked at a shoemaking company doing production. I worked at, like, a designer retail store. I worked at a designer consignment company. And then in 2017 is when I got married and moved to North Dakota and worked at health food store for five years. And then I moved back to Virginia.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:34:15]:
I was sick and couldn't work for a while. And then I got the job at Guls, which, like, your content, your free content helped me. Like, did it really? Yeah.

Heidi [00:34:27]:
I never heard this story.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:34:29]:
Yes.

Heidi [00:34:29]:
Okay. Oh, my gosh.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:34:30]:
Yes. As I was working on my portfolio and resume, like, I was watching your videos and looking at your website, and that's when I signed up for your emails. So it had been maybe. Maybe a year or something that I had been on your email list. And so I was getting, you know, a little weekly reminder. There's this course out there. And so the reason that I dropped joined when I did was because we had. We did not have enough work to do at Gall's.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:35:04]:
And so I was really. We were all worried that the store was going to close. So I said I had extra bandwidth because I had, like, nothing to do at work. So I was like, okay. So I went to. I signed up for one of your.

Heidi [00:35:26]:
Live training events.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:35:27]:
Yeah, live training events. So I took. I took off. Morning of work, I think, to. To go to that. And I felt like this energy. And I was like, whoa. Oh, my gosh.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:35:42]:
And it seemed like people were supporting each other and that it was like this collaboration, collaborative space. And I was like, oh, my gosh, maybe I can be a part of the fashion industry again. And I don't. And I can still live in Virginia, where I want to live. And I thought maybe I can freelance on the side and see what happens. I never thought it would be a business like I have now.

Heidi [00:36:10]:
I'm like, getting teary, like, maybe I can freelance on this side. And a year later, we're sitting in a coffee shop in Virginia and you've.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:36:18]:
Quit your job on a Tuesday morning.

Heidi [00:36:20]:
On a Tuesday morning. By the way, do you know what today is? September 23rd. Exactly one year ago, we were in New York at the SFD NYC event.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:36:28]:
Oh, my gosh. That's right.

Heidi [00:36:29]:
My time hop reminded me. Oh, my gosh. Just throwing that out there.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:36:34]:
Whoa. Now I have chills. Yeah, yeah.

Heidi [00:36:37]:
So maybe you could freelance on the side. Wow. What does it even like feel like to be where you are right now? Literally right now?

Caroline Kuhlman [00:36:50]:
I, I don't think I would have signed up for Turbo if I had thought it was gonna be like, I'm gonna make a business for myself.

Heidi [00:37:00]:
Oh, really?

Caroline Kuhlman [00:37:01]:
Because I had, I didn't have, I didn't have any confidence in myself like that.

Heidi [00:37:06]:
Oh, interesting.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:37:09]:
So in my brain I was looking at it like maybe so at Gall's, I was making $14 an hour and lots of medical bills. I wanted to be able to move out of my parents house. And I was like, this is not adding up. So I was like, maybe I can, maybe I can just make some money on the side and see what happens. So I boxed it in for myself like that because I did not see myself. After I graduated from fashion school, I dreamed of having my own brand or my own business. And I remember showing myself parents, like a little business plan that I put together and they, I didn't give them any context that I had like been working on this for weeks and it was like one page, it was okay.

Heidi [00:38:11]:
This is back in 2013.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:38:12]:
Yes, yes. And my dad was like, this is nothing. And he didn't know that I had. So he didn't, he didn't. I mean, he was right. So then that's when I gave up on that and I was like, okay, I want to work for other people, but I do really like that I get to be supportive of brands and other freelancers. That is really, really rewarding to me. That just is what part of makes.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:38:51]:
Part of what makes my job satisfying is that I get to support and help brands and other freelancers. So amazing. That is sort of like a big picture thing that makes me happy.

Heidi [00:39:04]:
Yeah. What a transformation. It's so interesting to hear like some of your mindset stuff behind it. Of like, had you had I said to you on that call, like, in a year you're going to quit your job and have a full blown business. You sounds like you wouldn't have gone for it. You weren't there mentally.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:39:23]:
I, I probably would have like laughed and like shrunken in my seat and put up my shoulders like this. Yeah. Yeah.

Heidi [00:39:32]:
Although, you know, who am I to say that that's gonna happen in a year too. Right. Like, obviously I have big hopes for everybody, but.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:39:41]:
But you've seen that happen for your students.

Heidi [00:39:43]:
I have. But everybody's path is so different.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:39:46]:
Yes.

Heidi [00:39:46]:
Because there's so many variables. Right? So many variables. Your offer, your skills your expertise, how much you're willing to push through. Some of the discomfort is a huge component. I mean, you talked about, like, trembling on these customer research calls and customer research calls. You're not there to pitch your services. You're not talking about money. You're air quote, just asking questions and leading with curiosity so you can learn where your services can fit into the market and how to discover these pain points and problems you can solve.

Heidi [00:40:20]:
Yet you were, like, so anxious.

Caroline Kuhlman [00:40:23]:
It was scary for me.

Heidi [00:40:24]:
How did you push through and actually do those things? Because I see a lot of people literally get crippled and they can't actually do the thing. It's very hard. All right, you guys, serious cliffhanger here. But that is where we're going to pause this conversation. Trust me. You're going to want to hear what Caroline says next, because she opens up about the fear that almost stopped her from financing altogether and how she pushed through. It is real, it is raw, and it is so human. We also dive into so much more, including the exact rates she's charging, the huge pricing mistake that nearly cost her a client and how she fixed it, plus how she's now getting dream clients reaching out to her directly through LinkedIn.

Heidi [00:41:05]:
If you've ever struggled with anxiety, undercharging, or not knowing where your next client is coming from, you're going To Love Part 2. It'll be episode 267, and it comes out on November 10th. You don't want to miss it.