Today's guest is Melissa Gullatte, the founder of Gracefully Made Art. Melissa started her business in 2015 while she was a student at Auburn, painting original artwork and then designing wedding stationery for eight years. She walks us through how licensing works and how she went from taking Paper Camp in 2023 to having her products in more than 1,000 stores just three years later.
Read MoreHow do you decide what to make next, what to cut, and where to put your limited time and money? For Elizabeth Rees, founder of Chasing Paper, the answer has come from her customers for nearly 13 years. In this week’s podcast episode, she shares how customer feedback shaped her product format, her materials, her wholesale approach, and her newest line, and why she checks every instinct against the data before acting on it.
Read MoreWhen you're deciding which products to add to your line, you probably think about sales data first. But that's only part of the story.
Amita Nair has built Amicreative into a cohesive, intentional brand by making product decisions from four angles: financial performance, design aesthetic, what customers actually want, and whether the product fits her brand voice.
In this episode, she walks through how she's learned to say no to products that make business sense but don't fit her story—and why that clarity matters.
Read MoreThis week’s podcast episode features someone I've admired for a long time— artist, author, illustrator, and creative entrepreneur Lisa Congdon. Lisa has been building businesses around her art for nearly 20 years, and in this conversation we talk about something that I think a lot of established brand owners will relate to, and that's what happens when you've built a successful business but you realize it's no longer the business you want to run.
Read MoreThis week’s podcast episode features one of my Advisory Board clients Melissa Hyatt, who is an artist and surface pattern designer. Melissa shares how her career evolved from the corporate design world to entrepreneurship, why she intentionally built multiple revenue streams in her business, and how one unexpected setback became kind of the catalyst for creating a business that's more resilient and also more fulfilling for her.
Read MoreThis week’s podcast episode features Kirstie Lee from A Jar of Pickles. We talk about everything from balancing a corporate career while building a product brand to hiring your first employee, expanding into wholesale, building a devoted direct-to-consumer audience, and why treating your business like one big experiment has opened doors to opportunities that Kirstie never even planned for.
Read MoreIn this episode, wholesale expert Katie Hunt dives into the topic of how many SKUs should you have as a product-based business.
Read MoreToday I'm joined by my friend Kimberley Yurkiewicz, owner of Measure Twice, an independent gift shop in Brooklyn, New York. In this episode, we are catching up about buying patterns, rising product costs, what brands are getting right and wrong when pitching stores, and why industry standards still matter.
Read MoreIn this episode, wholesale expert Katie Hunt dives into a topic that may make some of you really uncomfortable, but may save your business. We're talking about raising your prices.
Read MoreThis episode I am joined by Daniel Lachman, founder of Justice for Artists. We discuss the realities of art theft in today's digital world and dive into the difference between counterfeits and knockoffs and why this matters more than you think.
Read MoreDuring this episode, Angie Chua of bobo designs shares her experience with Amazon adding her products to their Amazon Buy for Me platform without her consent and the steps she’s taken to protect her products and brand.
Read MoreDuring this episode, Paper Camp alum Isabella Montano Ghazarians, the founder of Isabella MG and I talk about building products that resonate across cultures, managing a remote team, and the opportunities that have helped bring Isabella's work into big box retailers like Target and HomeGoods.
Read MoreDuring this episode, Paper Camp alum Stephanie Clarke of Dahlia Press and Chloe Clarke Paper discusses where she's at now, including the complexities of running two sister businesses. We talk about the importance of building relationships in wholesale and custom work and the realities of juggling multiple business models including, a brick-and-mortar storefront, online sales, wholesale partnerships with big box accounts, and independent retailers.
Read MoreIn this episode, wholesale expert Katie Hunt shares a case study featuring Athletic Brewing and how they doubled their D2C subscription sales in 2025 and how other product business owners can apply the same principles to their own business.
Read MoreDuring this episode, Alyson O’Connor of Rust Belt Love shares about a new product launch. We discuss where her inspiration for this collection came from, what it took to bring this product to market, and the logistics of a quick launch.
Read MoreIn this episode, wholesale expert Katie Hunt shares a sneak peek into the LABS coaching program.
Read MoreIn this episode, Katie Hunt shares 10 opportunities that she sees for product business owners in 2025.
Read MoreDuring this episode, Sarah Hart of Simply Curated shares the origins of her candle and home fragrance business, including the pivotal moments and challenges that she faced along the way. She provides insight into the nuances of the candle industry and the unique hurdles that it presents, like seasonal fluctuations in demand and the importance of in-person customer experiences.
Read MoreDuring this episode, Bonnie Christine shares how making residual income through art licensing, how it can be lengthy, but also rewarding process, and also a great way to make extra income for your business. We also talk about the importance of being proactive, how to handle rejection as a creative, and a breakdown of how creatives can use an art agent. We'll also cover the benefits of in-house sales team and the evolving impact of AI on art and business.
Read MoreDuring this episode, Ashley Sutton talks about her experience participating in the Target Accelerator program, and we talk about how she's been utilizing grants for her business, including how she got started applying for grants, what she looks for, and how these grants have benefited her business. She also shares resources in case you want to get started applying for grants for your business.
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