059 | Launching a brand through Kickstarter with Suann Song, Appointed
Suann Song is a graphic designer and founder of Appointed, an American-made brand of carefully designed desktop products that make utility look luxurious. Prior to starting Appointed, Suann conducted an exhaustive but unsuccessful search when she tried to find refined and well-made desktop products that are manufactured in the US, so she decided to create her own. In March 2015, Suann launched Appointed through a kickstarter campaign reaching her goal of $25,000 dollars in the first five days.
On today’s episode, Suann is sharing what it was like to launch a brand and product line through Kickstarter. She’s also sharing some behind the scenes info on why she’s redesigning the Appointed website and what that process has looked like. Suann also reminds us that relationships and fresh product are at the core of a successful product based business.
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58 | Layering in New Products and Working Towards a Freedom Business Model with Chelsea Sonksen, Bossladies Magazine
Chelsea Sonksen is the founder and Editor in Chief of Bossladies, a movement that began with a print magazine in 2016 and has grown into a vibrant in-person and online community of entrepreneurs through her monthly event series, Work Sesh.
On today’s episode we’re talking about the mission behind Bossladies, how Chelsea is layering new products and services that will give her the freedom and flexibility to work from both California and Maine. Chelsea also shares her thoughts on why making a good first impression is so important.
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054 | Shifting from services to products with Jessica McSweeney
Jessica McSweeney is the owner of Little Well Paper Co, a letterpress greeting card company aimed at celebrating and deepening the connections between loved ones. Prior to starting Little Well she taught herself calligraphy and offered wedding calligraphy and invitation services. Jessica’s calligraphy work has been featured in The Knot, Southern Weddings Magazine, and Once Wed. Jess attended Paper Camp in fall 2016 when Little Well was just a spark of an idea, and she launched to the retail and wholesale markets in fall 2017.
On today’s episode we’re talking about shifting from a service based business to a product based business, her vision for Little Well Paper Co., and why relationships are critical to building a successful business.
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053 | Leveraging Pinterest for product sales with Megan Auman
Megan Auman is a designer, metalsmith, educator, and entrepreneur who has built a multi-faceted business around her passion for art, commerce, and visual content creation! (Which is just a fancy way of saying she’s obsessed with Instagram and Pinterest.) In addition to running her Megan Auman jewelry line, she runs the site Designing an MBA, where she writes and teaches about the intersection of art and business.
On today’s episode we’re talking about product photography and why you should be leveraging pinterest to get more sales.
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052 | Building a team and leveraging systems with Lichia Liu, Gotamago
Lichia Liu is the founder and creative director of Gotamago, a stationery & gifts brand based in Toronto, Canada. A self-taught illustrator, Lichia took a detour from her urban design career in 2013 to start Gotamago when she realized that she needed more authenticity, autonomy and artistic exploration in her work. Besides running Gotamago and being a mom, Lichia is a musician, an urban sketcher, a member of a Japanese Taiko drumming group, and a foster dog parent.
On today’s episode we’re talking about how Lichia left her day job to pursue her passion, how she involves her team in building systems to automate and streamline her business and why she thinks it is important to jump before you feel ready.
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051 | Using reps to enhance wholesale sales with Kim Burks, Ramona & Ruth
TSBC alum, Kim Burks is the founder of Ramona & Ruth is a boutique letterpress studio located in Omaha, Nebraska. Kim started Ramona & Ruth in 2009 with her tabletop letterpress in a spare bedroom of her home. Kim makes simple and thoughtful letterpress greeting cards and a variety of other paper goods including gift wrap, notebooks and planners. Ramona & Ruth products can be found in retail shops across the country.
On today’s episode we’re talking about Kim’s decision to change her business name after being in business for five years, how her design aesthetic has evolved and how bringing on sales reps has enhanced her business.
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050 | How angel investing fueled their business growth with Zoe Scharf, Greetabl
TSBC alum Zoe Scarf is the co-founder and Chief Brand Officer at Greetabl–a personal and easy way to make your friends feel super loved. If you’re not familiar with Greetabl, you should be. It’s an impressive gifting service where you choose your packaging, gift and personalize your message and they take care of the rest — getting it in the hands of your recipient. Greetabl has delivered 200,000 happy moments and is continuing to quickly grow.
On today’s episode Zoe shares how they unsuccessfully chased wholesale, struggled with figuring out who their audience was and how impactful their fulfillment relationships have been. We also spent a good amount of time talking about how Greetabl sought funding from angel investors. They achieved three rounds for $50k, $750k and most recently $1.5M — we talked about how the process worked, what they did with the money and she shared some resources for those interested in learning more.
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049 | Vision, hustle and boundaries with Emily Thompson, Being Boss
Emily Thompson is an author, educator and web designer. She’s the founder of Indie Shopography and co-host of the Being Boss podcast, where she inspires, writes and curates content to help creatives own their path and be more boss. With over 3 million listens, the impact of the podcast inspired Emily and her business partner and co-host on Being Boss, Kathleen Shannon to write their first book called Being Boss: Take Control of your Work and Live Life on your Own Terms.
This episode is a fun one and we talked about some key topics in the book. Emily shared her thoughts on why being boss requires vision and hustle, the importance of setting boundaries that align with your values and why you need to do the work.
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048 | Pricing custom calligraphy projects with Laura Hooper & Alyssa Bobbett, Laura Hooper Calligraphy
TSBC Alums Laura Hooper Leader and Alyssa Bobbett of Laura Hooper Calligraphy have served clients with hand calligraphy and stationery needs for weddings, showers events & more since 2002. These sisters have grown a dynamic business that includes their custom work, ready made product, calligraphy kits, offer in person and online educational programs and these girls wrote a book last year.
On today’s episode we’re talking about their business model including their process for adding new revenue streams. We dove deep into their custom work regarding pricing and how they’ve set better boundaries to provide a better experience for their customers. And, we talked about their strategies and goals for engaging with their 318k instagram followers! A little side note here — but they aren’t happy with the IG algorithm changes either!
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043 | Why she scraped her product line & started anew with Renee Griffith, HeartSwell Co
Renee Griffith, the founder of HeartSwell, designs and creates her products using her original hand lettering style, incorporating patterns, colors and textures inspired by her deep love of the ocean and lush landscape where she lives in South Florida. Renee is a TSBC alum who has attended our Paper Camp Conference twice, once when she was starting her business and a second time after she had revised her line and rebranded her company.
On today’s episode we’re talking about why she changed her business name, how she nurtures relationships with customers and the importance of finding your voice within your product and brand.
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041 | Overcoming creative blocks with Melanie Karlins, Grey Moggie
TSBC alum, Melanie Karlins of Grey Moggie started letterpress printing in 2008 as a creative outlet while she was in law school, and later taught letterpress classes at a local art center. In 2011 she started selling her products at local craft fairs and picked up wholesale accounts through her Instagram feed. Today, Grey Moggie is Melanie’s full-time job and her greeting cards are sold in stationery and gift shops all over the United States, including Paper Source
On today’s episode, Melanie is sharing how retail craft markets shaped her business and product line, how she overcame creative blocks, and why her definition of success shifts with different seasons in her life.
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038 | Licensing partnerships with Erin Dollar, Cotton & Flax
Erin Dollar, the owner of Cotton & Flax is an artist and textile designer, focused on creating home goods and bold surface pattern designs. Her background as a printmaker guides her work for Cotton & Flax, and the entire collection of Cotton & Flax home goods are designed, silkscreen printed, and sewn in California.
On today’s episode we’re talking about how Erin licensed her artwork for a line of fabrics manufactured by Robert Kaufman. She’ll share her story of how this licensing partnership came to be, considerations when partnering with other brands and things she learned along the way.
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035 | Discontinuing wholesale with Gia Graham, Betsywhite Stationery
Gia Graham is the founder of Betsywhite Stationery. Gia started her first stationery business in 2005 and has been undergone major transitions over the last 12 years. She’s renamed and rebranded her business, shifted from custom work to ready-made products, ramped up wholesale to the point she was working with big box stores and multiple reps and most recently she’s scaling back and slowing down.
On today’s episode we’re talking about how Pinterest helped her business, the importance of faking it until you make it, and why she chose to discontinue her wholesale line.
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Camaraderie not competition with Katie Hunt
Katie Hunt, founder of Tradeshow Bootcamp on why she chose to share her business experiences and resources with her ‘competitors’ and the importance of community over competition.
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031 | Licensing with Heather Lins, Heather Lins Home
Heather Lins is the founder of Heather Lins Home, a textile and home goods business. Heather comes from a design background and has a fascinating story of starting her business before she even had products to sell.
On today’s episode we’re talking about licensing opportunities, simple strategies for pitching the press and why hard work and being busy doesn’t always equate to being productive.
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030 | How she raised $80,000 for Planned Parenthood with Kyle Durrie, Power and Light Press
Kyle Durrie is the founder of Power and Light Press, a ship-shape letterpress print shop built to handle all of life’s messy emotions. On today’s episode we covered a lot of ground including the pros & cons of different trade shows, how Kyle has grown her team and why she makes travel and downtime an important part of her life. We also talked about how Kyle has donated over $80,000 to Planned Parenthood through the selling of her Stand with Planned Parenthood Tote bags – how she did it, her motivations for giving back and how she dealt with public backlash.
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029 | Overlapping a day job & side hustle with Sean McCabe, SeanWes
Sean McCabe is the author of Overlap: Start a Business While Working a Full-Time Job. He has helped tens of thousands of students with his courses on copywriting, client work, pricing, and marketing. On a daily basis, he runs seanwes.com: a learning community for entrepreneurs looking to do fulfilling and meaningful work.
On today’s episode we’re talking about getting unstuck in your business, overlapping a day job and a side hustle and the power of masterminds.
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23 | Misconceptions around productivity & goal setting with Jon Acuff
New York Times Best-selling author, Jon Acuff has written five books including his most recent, FINISH which focuses on goal setting and follow-through . Jon has helped some of the biggest brands in the world tell their story, including The Home Depot, Bose, Staples, and the Dave Ramsey Team. He’s spoken to hundreds of thousands of people at companies such as Microsoft, Nissan and Comedy Central.
On today’s episode we’re talking about misconceptions around productivity and goal setting, how to set yourself up for success and why it’s ok to let yourself be bad at certain things!
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022 | Prioritizing personal happiness with Emma James & Bailey Rivera, Antiquaria
Emma James and Bailey Rivera are the owners of Antiquaria. These savvy business women have made some big transitions in their business over the last 7 years. They started selling vintage pieces, hand calligraphic work and now focus their product line on stationery products such as gift wrap, notebooks and greeting cards.
They attended our Paper Camp E-Course in 2013 prior to launching wholesale. Their products are currently carried in Anthropologie, BHLDN, Paper Source, Terrain and independent boutiques internationally.
On today’s episode, they’ll tell their story of starting the business, talk about how pivoting at different points strengthened their business model and how prioritizing their personal happiness has enabled them to grow too. They also shared nuggets about what inspires them when creating new products as well as logistics for how they determine which product categories to tackle next.
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021 | Outsourcing product packaging with Stephanie Clarke, Dahlia Press
TSBC alum, Stephanie Clarke is the founder of Dahlia Press, a boutique design and letterpress studio that offers custom design for events, as well as, a wide variety of stationery accoutrements for the retail and wholesale channels. Stephanie participated in our Paper Camp E-Course in 2014 before selling wholesale and exhibiting at the National Stationery Show.
On today’s episode, Stephanie and I are talking about how her business transitioned from a side hustle into a full time gig, how sales reps have enhanced her business and she shares her system for outsourcing packaging of her products.
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