Caryn Kayton is "creative and kind."
For Caryn Kayton family is everything. After attending Longwood University and grabbing a degree in education, she tried teaching and realized it just wasn’t for her. So she decided to go after her true dream, which was to work in fashion or clothing design. Now after opening the highly successful Caryn’s Bridal over 30 years ago, she is still running the place like a well-oiled, soft spoken and thoughtful machine. According to her, she doesn’t owe her success to a loan, the dresses in her store, or any material thing. Instead, she believes that success will come if you simply keep good company around you. Although things in her life and business are constantly changing, to Kayton one thing always remains the same - her role as a wife, mother, and now grandmother to her two-and a half month old grandson, Cooper.
Here is the story of how she got that fun, fearless life, in Farmville, Va.
"At some point I learned that when you are in business, to make money you make money with your mind and not you back. There is no way you can do everything yourself. That’s the biggest thing. You have to work on the business and not necessarily in it."
Caryn Kayton was born into a military family, whose travels eventually led her to Virginia after her father retired in Hampton. Growing up she always wanted to do something with clothing and design after learning how to sew when she was young. She also liked to play store as a kid, and had no idea that she would eventually turn a childhood dream into a reality by opening a store of her own.
"I learned to sew at an early age because I was heavy and that way I was able to have clothes."
Her father's retirement in Virginia, soon led her to Longwood University where she received a degree in education and a master's degree in reading. She spent most of her time leaving on the weekends while in college, but after meeting her now husband her senior year, she spent every weekend coming back and has really never left since.
After graduating from Longwood in 1979, she taught school for a while, but it just did not seem like the career path she wanted to be on for the rest of her life. So after a push from her husband, Kayton decided she wanted to play store for real this time and opened up a local fabric store, which later developed into Caryn's Bridal.
"I wanted to open a store and my husband said ‘do it!' So I originally opened a fabric store and then I found a need for this (Caryn’s Bridal) and it developed into this. One of the girls who worked for me, I made her wedding dress and put it in the window and people kept coming in and asking ‘do you all sell wedding gowns?’ and I was like well maybe we need to! So that is how it all came to pass."
For over 30 years, Kayton has been running Caryn's Bridal, where people from all over the local counties come to buy wedding dress, prom dress, suits, and a great range of formal wear for some of the biggest events of their life.
“It’s fun. We work with all different kinds of people. Big and small and pretty and not so pretty, and everybody is pretty when they leave. We like to make everyone feel special when they leave because everyone is special.”
Just recently, after the birth of her first grandson, to whom she takes to work sometimes, Kayton has thought about taking a small step back from the business after just hiring her first serious manager. Kayton said that starting her business was one of the hardest things she has done because she had no business background and no idea where to start at first. Having been running the business herself for years, giving birth to her first child in 1984 prompted her to start hiring more help in the store because she could not do it by herself anymore.
“It was very hard to start my business because I didn't even know where to begin. I began by looking at the end of bulks of fabric and getting the names of the companies and starting to make phone calls. I didn't have any idea how to do it.”
She later gave birth to her second son in 1987, and says that her biggest success in life was "raising productive children." After getting over the hard part of starting her business, Caryn now spends most of her time still running Caryn's Bridal, but also with her biggest success in life - her family.
N: What is something that you would tell younger Caryn?
#1. Learn to write and speak well. Communication is the key to your success.
#2 Work hard and enjoy your leisure. Everything in moderation.
#3 Seek out mentors and learn from their wisdom.
#4 Get hands on experience.
#5 Always remember you make money with your mind; not with your back. Learn to surround yourself with strong people and leverage yourself by teaching others what you know.
#6 Realize your dream and follow it.
#7 Be kind to people, do not take things personally or make assumptions. Always do your best.
"I think that tenacity and sticking with things and not giving up have made me successful. It has not always been easy. I have had to do things many times over by making mistakes in this business."
