Small Business Success Story: PRESERVATION

Owner and creator of PRESERVATION, located in the Historic East Village in Downtown Des Moines (DSM), Nicole Lorenson is a classically trained photographer who mixes vintage and modern to create her lifestyle shop and photo studio.

Buying Vintage

Nicole talks about how she found vintage products that weren’t in her size or style, but she would buy it anyway. Around that time, Etsy was becoming popular. She decided to start selling her vintage collection on Etsy, morphing her love of vintage and photography.

Back in Iowa

In 2011, Nicole moved back to Des Moines and did her first pop-up and sold her first piece of vintage clothing. After that, Nicole knew she needed to open a small business. The name for the shop, PRESERVATION, was the LLC she created to house both Vintage Salvation, the Etsy store, and Harlo, the photography business.

Creating a Business Plan

Nicole found the space and then a company to help write her business plan. After a couple phone interviews, the company created the business plan for her. During this time Nicole met with other business owners in the Historic East Village. Following the creation of the business plan, she got the loan moved forward with moving into her shop.

Creating Content

As a photographer, Nicole can create a lot of content herself. She created a website that later grew into a full online store. 

Tips for Instagram

Nicole speaks about knowing your audience and who is checking your Instagram. If people are liking posts and commenting, you can figure out your main audience. Be authentic and mix up the type of posts you create.

Hear the stories of other small business and startup business owners in the community in The Partnership’s Small Business Resources Hub or sign up for the Small Business Resources newsletter to stay connected for information about upcoming events, other resources and the latest announcements in the small business community in DSM.