by Helen Widman

At 23 years old, Ohio University alumna and Columbus native Jessica Jones never guessed she would start a business out of her favorite hobby, much less during a global pandemic. Her business, Daydream Junk, is an Instagram-based vintage store, selling items from handmade hair clips to thrifted clothing finds.

The small business started out in May and has gained almost a thousand followers on Instagram since. Jones, who resides in the Athens area, says she planned to get her life settled and start selling through Instagram after she finished school.

Jones says that she thought it would be best to create an Instagram page designated for selling Daydream Junk items instead of selling from her personal account.

“I figured I also needed a name, so that’s how the name came in. I use the word ‘junk’ in a really affectionate kind of way. So, it's like, dreamy junk is kind of the vibe,” Jones says.

During the state-mandated quarantine in the spring, Jones says she was inspired by TikTok videos of people making custom jewelry and other items with resin molds. She now uses resin molds to make custom glitter and floral ashtrays, combs, earrings and more. Jones has also experimented with making earrings out of clay.

Jones graduated from OU this past May, where she studied integrated media with a minor in marketing. She had plans to work at Girl Scout Camp Winacka in San Diego over the summer, which were cancelled because of the spread of the coronavirus. However, Jones still has goals of working within the media industry.

“I've always really liked film, and I think ultimately if I could have any job related to film … I'd want to be a producer,” Jones says. “But since doing Daydream Junk, I've been really into costuming … either for films or music videos … that's been super interesting to me lately, especially for period pieces.”

In addition to jewelry and accessories, Daydream Junk sells vintage clothing finds. Jones says she has been thrifting vintage-style clothing since she was a teenager.

“I would say [my style is] definitely very influenced by [the] ‘60, ‘70s. I've always been—ever since I was little—I've always really been into that kind of era of fashion and music,” Jones says.

“[I like] the fun-loving hippie vibes and flowy clothing. I like stuff that's comfortable, but I also really like color, so I'm drawn to patterns and textures. I guess it'd be kind of like a mix of eclectic vintage.”

Jones likes to emphasize body inclusivity within Daydream Junk, as many vintage clothes she finds tend to have smaller measurements than modern clothes. She strives to find thrifts to resell that will fit a wide variety of body sizes and types.

“I love vintage clothing, but a lot of vintage clothing is really small, and I think that's just how it was made and it's really hard to find plus size, or even anything that's above a standard [size] 8/10,” Jones says. “So that was one of my main goals, I'll try really hard to find stuff that can fit bigger bodies.”

Although Daydream Junk is primarily online, Jones does have space reserved to sell at Fuzz, a nail salon in Columbus.

Jones says that there were a few other shops in Columbus with booth rentals, but that they were a bit out of her price range. Finding a place in Fuzz was serendipitous.

“I've been following this nail salon for a really long time, and I loved their nails, and one day they posted that they were looking for vintage resellers, because they had space in the shop,” Jones says. “I messaged them [and] they said they really liked my stuff, and it hasn't been there too long, but it's been going pretty well.”

Brittni Stump, one of the co-founders of Fuzz, says that they wanted their business to not only be a nail salon, but also a “collective, creative space.”

Stump says that Jones pays Fuzz a monthly fee to rent out the floor space and for them to promote her items to salon guests. There are currently three other small businesses who also rent floor space in Fuzz to sell vintage clothing and even plants.

In the future, Jones wants to find more shops like Fuzz where she can sell Daydream Junk items, and potentially open her own pop-up shop in her own future home. Jones lives in an apartment, so that idea may have to wait, but she says she has plans to start an Esty website.

“My next biggest thing is to make an Etsy,” Jones says. “I was trying to make my own website for a while, but it was a little bit expensive [with] the payment plans, and I'm not a great graphic designer.”

After the Etsy page is up and running, the next goal for Jones is to start shipping to farther locations, even internationally. So far, most of her Daydream Junk orders come from Columbus and Athens, but she has shipped to Seattle, Chicago, New York City and even one order to Australia.

“Yeah, I'm always kind of surprised, like a happy surprise[d], when I get stuff [orders] from other states, and I think that's I think that's just the Instagram algorithm doing its thing,” Jones says.

Despite the pandemic throwing her post-grad plans for a loop, Jones remains optimistic. She is currently taking a gap year from pursing a job in the film industry while nannying for a family near the Athens area.

“I can package stuff up at their house which is cool, so it's kind of nice to kill two birds with one stone that way,” Jones says. “And yeah, I'm just working it for a year so it's not like, a high commitment type of job. But I'm really just using this time to figure out what I want to do.”

Some of the most valuable advice Jones would give to students who have an interest in starting their own small business would be to pay attention in marketing classes and to not be discouraged.

“I think passion is really important. And also, just having the motivation for it [your ideas] would really help, so that's what's helped me is personalizing things a little bit,” Jones says.

“I find that sets you apart a bit from other brands … also thinking like a consumer and then putting that into your brand.”

Her advice for business owners wishing to navigate the world of Instagram?

“Hashtags work,” Jones says. “I think hashtags definitely work and the Instagram algorithm is a mystery.”