“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Jamie Montz founder of The Original Stretchlace

An interview with Phil La Duke

If you can, keep your day job. I ran my business as a side hobby until it blossomed enough to warrant me leaving my job. Many successful business people are able to go all in from the beginning, and if you have the means, go for it! This wasn’t in the cards for me. I learned from that experience and it taught me to hustle even harder.

As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jamie Montz. Jamie spent her childhood between Boise, Idaho and Seattle. She’s since returned to recreational town of Boise, where she lives with her husband of 17 years — and their three sons. The 43-year-old is a first-generation American and the first college graduate in her family. She studied Business Marketing at the University of Idaho, channeling her childhood entrepreneurial interests. Jamie and her husband moved to Seattle after graduation to jumpstart their…