Cape Girardeau's Magnolia Bed Swings — inside a tale of entrepreneurship

"Buckle up" is Eric King's advice for anyone planning to leave the security of a 9-to-5 job for the up-and-down roller-coaster ride of launching a startup business.

"You have to give up your nights and weekends for at least a year or two and completely focus," said King, a Kentucky native and 2004 Murray State University graduate.

King and his wife, Casey, a Pemiscot County, Missouri, native whom he met at Murray State, have launched two separate but intertwined businesses.

Eric King's outdoor furniture manufacturing business, Magnolia Bed Swings, located in rented space at 334 N. Broadview St. in Cape Girardeau, launched in 2019.

Casey's closely related enterprise, Magnolia Porch Swings, started four years earlier and is entirely online: www.magnoliaporchswings.com.

Woodworker Adam Walker of Cape Girardeau uses a "domino machine" to cut holes into a frame for a bed swing Tuesday.Jeff Long ~ semissourian.com

Success

The empirical data are difficult to ignore.

In 2015, the couple's first year, revenue produced by their website totaled $68,000.

Last year, revenue stood at $2.1 million — selling products online made by Eric King's business and that of other vendors.

"We shipped 270 swings in 2021 all over the U.S. — with most of our business in California, Texas, Florida, Georgia and New York," he said, adding that through the website, orders were placed and fulfilled for swings for celebrity customers such as hockey superstar Wayne and Janet Gretzky — a gift for Janet's mother; singer Nick Lachey and his wife, Vanessa; former Miss Universe Olivia Culpa; and TV personality Elizabeth Hasselbeck.

The website's products, he added, have also been shipped internationally — to France, Germany and England.

Hockey great Wayne Gretzky and his wife, Janet, sit on a swing sold by Magnolia Porch Swings in this undated photo. Casey and Eric King of Jackson operate an online business for porch and bed swings from various vendors and also have a manufacturing plant located on Broadview Street in Cape Girardeau.Submitted

From here to there

Eric King, son of a police officer father and schoolteacher mother, armed with bachelor's and master's degrees from Murray State, worked in various health and safety roles in Louisville, Kentucky; Jackson, Tennessee; and Cape Girardeau.

"I've always had trouble working for other people (and) it's been an area of struggle for me," he said.

"In 2015, Casey and I decided to start an online business, thinking we could maybe make an additional $500 per month. By the next year, the website, which we built from scratch, was doing well enough that she could stay home," Eric King said, adding Casey had been teaching school in East Prairie, Missouri.

The couple had spent time researching entrepreneurial opportunities.

"We did a lot of deep dives into things we wanted to sell," King said, "and Casey narrowed our list down to two or three ideas and together we liked the idea of the bed/porch swing concept."

Eric said his wife concentrated on the website while he continued his consultant work — making bed swings when time permitted in the basement of their Jackson home.

"I was on the road a lot for the job, listening to business and self-improvement podcasts and reading books," he said, leading to July 7, 2019, when he cut the cord of gainful employment.

"Casey and I talked about whether this business could sustain us because by that time we had three kids. Now we have four. By mid-June of that year, we had gotten to a point where it finally felt comfortable for me to step away, having sold 18 or 19 bed swings by that point," recalled Eric King.

Products

Eric King said he can sell a crib-sized bed swing frame for $1,399. His most expensive offering sells for $9,000 with accessories. The high-end product he manufactures is 9-feet in length and 4-feet deep, made of teak and weighing 400 lbs. when finished.

King will also make bed frames out of cedar and pine.

"Everything we produce is custom-made, tailored to the desires of the client, and payment is made entirely upfront," he said. "I'll have customers send me pictures of what they want. If I can draw it, I can figure out how to make it."

Eric King employs four full-time staff at Magnolia Bed Swings, and clients find his products via the internet or by word-of-mouth. He does no local marketing.

Pandemic

Sensitive to the pain, loss and dislocation felt by so many because of the impact of COVID-19, Eric King reluctantly confesses his business flourished during the worst of the pandemic.

"For us, (the pandemic) was awesome purely in terms of business. We grew two-and-a-half times in 2020," he said.

King said the reason for the spike in sales is not hard to determine.

"People were home a lot more with their families then and wanted to be out in the sunshine — and what Magnolia makes is essentially for outdoors," admitting some clients bring the company's products inside the house, too.

Name

The couple use the word "Magnolia" in its branding for a larger purpose.

"When we started out, we didn't want to just sell porch swings (but) wanted to focus on an overall lifestyle that many people are getting away from these days," Eric King said.

"We want to encourage a slower pace — with time for relaxing with family and friends — while enjoying nature. Casey chose the name because she felt it represented the laid back, southern Sunday vibe of spending time on the porch, enjoying an iced tea and smelling magnolias."

Future

"My wife and I feel we can handle anything," said Eric King, adding his locally-made bed swings currently are only available on the website — which also sells porch swings made by other vendors.

"We're booked up for bed swings through July. Anybody placing an order now is told it'll be at least 10 weeks before its done," he said.

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