Photo by: Henoc Kivuye
Twin sisters, seniors Caitlin and Carly Crockett, merge business and fairy tales to gain financial stability before graduating this spring.
The entrepreneurial duo entwined their experience and personal strengths to create Storybook Sisters, an independent entertainment company that provides services to parties within the Houston, Texas and Oklahoma City, Okla., areas.
“It’s just really cool to be able to go to a birthday party and the little girls believe we’re Cinderella,” Caitlin Crockett, a marketing major, said. “They want us at their parties, so it’s really cool that we can do that on our own and create that magic outside of Disney World.”
Their multi-faceted party package includes a visit from Cinderella – the only princess currently offered by Storybook Sisters – and a story, coloring activity or craft and pictures.
“One of us will be the princess and one of us will be the attendant to help out and get the kids focused,” Carly Crockett, family studies major, said. “As we get going we also want to get more girls to do parties, but we’re doing it just us two right now because we’re still experimenting and building. Also, with just us two, we know what we’re doing and we know how to help each other.”
Along with the encouragement of their respective advisors, the sisters have plenty of support to carry them to the next stage in business.
“The thing about family studies is that it’s interdisciplinary, or multi-disciplinary, so it opens a lot of doors and it’s a good base for understanding people and social systems,” Sada Knowles, instructor for psychology and family studies, said. “I think Carly has a good, broad foundation now to pursue other paths.”
Knowles has proven instrumental in getting the Crockett twins’ company up and running, helping stage the photos for their marketing publications and watching for business opportunities.
“I’ve been excited for them through the process,” Knowles said. “Now that they’ve got their website up and have things going, I’ve just been trying to get the word out and find friends to share it with. … Sometimes when you’re starting out, word of mouth really does help.”
In a technologically-savvy age, easy and accessible company reviews are often at the fingertips of every business’ market.
According to many marketing publications, word-of-mouth is the most reliable source of business.
“[Caitlin] is a perfectionist, she holds herself to very high standards and she doesn’t settle for anything less than excellence,” Professor of Marketing and Management Burt Smith said. “Where that’s going to translate into success on the bottom line is that’s what the customer wants. In any business, but especially a business like hers, you’re going to get a lot of your next business from referrals.”
In a competitive market for entertainment, breaking into the industry is a challenging and lofty goal for anyone, especially college students.
“In my classes, I try to use as much real world application as possible and I encourage students to think about how they might be able to apply it,” Smith said. “In Caitlin’s case, she and her sister have a low-start up business that they can get into while still in school and get that experience of being an entrepreneur. … She has a lot of traits that will help her be successful: work ethic, work attitude, perfectionist nature and her entrepreneurial characteristic of not being afraid to try new things.”
The twins’ participation in the Disney College Program in the fall of 2012 prepared them for many aspects of their business.
“It set a high standard for us,” Carly Crockett said. “We want to be like the real Disney princess, not just a girl in a costume.”
The final push to go into the business of party entertainment came from their father.
“Our dad is an entrepreneur, and he has a lot of his own businesses,” Caitlin said. “He really encouraged us to make our own business, so we were trying to think of something that would make a lot of business but be easy with our schedules. We realized quickly that parents pay a lot for their children’s birthday parties.”
When the sisters are at school, they partner with sophomore Kelcy Nash to provide photography at events in the Oklahoma City and Edmond areas.
“Caitlin and Carly and I have been really good friends for a few years, and I own a photography business so we decided to work together,” Nash said. “It’s inspired me to find what you love and what you love to do and make it your career. … We don’t really see it as a chore; we see it as a fun time to do what we love.”
With their upcoming graduation from Oklahoma Christian, the twins are faced with the decision to continue pursing their own business or return to work with Disney.
“We have people, like at the gymnastics gym where we held our first event, that have said they’d like to offer parties and have us as part of their package,” Caitlin Crockett said. “So we have options to expand once we figure out our after graduation plans. We would definitely want to keep doing it if we end up in the same place.”
Through connections and offers in Houston and Oklahoma City, the sisters have multiple opportunities for expansion in front of them.
“It would be cool to do this as a real business in a party venue,” Carly Crockett said. “We’d like to hire more people and have a place where the customers come to have the birthday party.”
The duo continues to fulfill the dreams of young girls as they set out to make their own dreams come true.
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