For years the only backdrops I have used are by a fabulous company located in MN, USA called Lemondrop Backdrops. When they first started up their company we were in contact with eachother and began an online friendship. Jessica, the owner of the Lemondrops, also was our very first hostess for our first newborn/maternity workshop! Throughought the years our ‘business’ relationshop became a true friendship, and Jessica even flew all the wayyyy up to Fort St. John, BC to visit and mentor with me 🙂 Not only is this savy lady run a full time business, but also is a photographer, wife and mom to 3 children! Their customer service rocks and so does their product. I’m truly blessed to have this creative and lovely lady in my life. Thankyou from the bottom of my heart my friend, xo.
How did this amazing backdrop company start?
We actually didn’t start out to become a ‘backdrop company’. I was working as a photographer in a home studio and simply wanted more options than I could find in the marketplace in 2009 & 2010. I mostly wanted a variety of wood floors, but that was expensive, cumbersome and took up a lot of room. When I couldn’t find what I was looking for, we made the decision to purchase a printer and started selling drops to pay for the printer. It was really a snowball effect from there. Kind of a ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ thing, I suppose!
How do you come up with the ideas for many of your designs?
I’m a designer first, and photographer second. Really, it was just myself, designing what I liked. Our art department has evolved into a team finding inspiration in new color trends, clothing, nature, anywhere really… and gathering together to share ideas. We do NOT use stock images, and 99.9% of our designs are created in-house. I actually spent the good part of today sketching some fun new concepts for drops. My daughter sits next to me and learns photoshop and illustrator as I am using it.
What are your most popular designs with photographers? And which material is most popular?
The woods- Sequoia, Hazelnut , Pretty Planks. The most popular material is the Poly-Pro.
Do you do custom designs?
We do design custom drops for clients. However, we’re not able to accommodate every custom request because we have limited time. We are usually using our Art department resources to concept new designs for upcoming seasons and themes.
Do you miss being a photographer now you are mainly running Lemon?
I do miss a lot of things about photography. Mostly interacting with people and it’s sad to have to refer a former client to another photographer because I can’t do everything. However, I’m able to be a part of our creative in-house photography direction.
How are you balancing your busy life?! Mom and running a company?
Some days it’s not so balanced. Many days, actually. Maybe more like organized chaos. But we have a fantastic team to help run many of the parts of the company so my husband and I can occasionally take a breather and actually sit down to dinner. I like to think that our kids are learning about hard work and running a business.
Are you expanding into any other countries?
This part of Lemondrop has been very exciting, and a long road. We’ve been working on setting up our International distributors for over two years., making sure we do it well and do it right. We have a line-up of (outside US) distributors waiting to be launched. We have our UK distributor functioning, and we are working on the UK and Canada websites presently. The Canadian distributor is very very close to being ready to go! Think… weeks, perhaps?
Of course your ultimate goal was to have lemon be successful, but did the HUGE popularity of Lemon’s drops surprise you?
As I said earlier, we really didn’t start out to be a success. But when we started to grow, and grow very quickly, it was a huge (overwhelming) surprise. We (my husband and I) spent over a year working 22 hours a day, making sure we could get our orders out. In the early days everyone’s order was tracked on paper, by hand, using post-its and things. BUT – we finally moved into a production facility and were able to hire some great help, gradually adding staff and equipment. I think I’m surprised every day at the number of new people that find us and are referred to us, and the number of repeat, loyal customers we have. From the beginning we have tried to make sure that everyone gets quick, personalized service. I think between great customer service and the and fact that our design is always thoughtful, unique and fun keeps people coming back. We’re definitely blessed to have such a great group of Lemondrop team members behind the scenes and a wonderful, repeat customer base.
What makes you different from other ‘drop’ companies?
The things we hear most from people who give us feedback are 1) fast, fabulous customer service, 2) no glare on our materials 3) great design — and a LARGE number of our customers are word of mouth. . I also have a fantastically talented web geek husband so we have a very streamlined order and production process. He’s always looking at what we can do to make things easier and function more smoothly.
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Sequoia:
Old Oak
Hazelnut wood
