Looking back on the art I’ve been making for the past few months I’ve done quite a bit of digital work. I started really delving into Procreate when we went on Vacation earlier this year, and I haven’t stopped exploring the possibilities since. While planning for our vacation in late February and early March of his year I opted to take only my camera and iPad. No knitting, no sketch book, no art supplies. This was the first time I’d ever taken only my iPad, with the intent of creating art while on a vacation. I had a plan to limit my supplies and challenge myself to only using procreate. My plan worked, I learned a lot about procreate and I enjoyed to process. The biggest thing I learned was how very freeing being able to sit on the couch or the porch at night with just an iPad and a pencil was. There was no figuring out where to put supplies, or how to juggle a sketchbook on my lap, or being confined to the table. The other bonus ...
So what made me start this crazy venture and why did I decide to start building it into a business? Where do I even start with this story?
I've wanted to own my own business ever since I can remember. While most little girls were playing house I was playing office. I made my dog a co-anchor for my own news programs in our yard and even wrote short stories on an electric typewriter I bought with some birthday money. I've been hoarding notebooks and pens since I was in junior high. The desire to have my own business has always been strong within my soul.
In my pursuit of owning my own business, I even tried to buy into multi-level marketing. Once upon a time, I was a "beauty consultant" for Mary Kay. Yep, that's right I tried selling cosmetics to win my freedom from a 9 to 5 job. I learned this was not going to be for me, too much focus on recruiting more people for my liking. So I gave up and went back to the 9 to 5 job.
Then in 2007 I got married, left a job, and moved to a new state. There was no cleaner slate to start with than that. I started searching for my niche again. I jumped on the food blogging train in late 2007 and in 2008 I started an Etsy shop. I wrote that blog for nearly seven years before closing the doors and taking it down. The Etsy shop was not as long-lived. I sold handmade goods way below their cost. I had no idea what I was doing when it came to pricing and selling things. I was sewing like I worked in a sweatshop and I was miserable. After nearly four years I threw in the towel.
In 2012 we moved to Alaska, and I started making cards again, something I honestly hadn't done with any regularity since getting married. When we bought our house there was enough room for me to have a studio again and I was getting into a groove of creating with consistency, but what was I supposed to do with all these cards? In the back of my mind was still a gnawing desire to build my own business, no matter how small it might be.
I started giving sets of cards to friends and family as gifts. I started sending random packs of cards to people as "happy mail" and I began getting feedback. The message that kept coming back to me was "you should really consider selling these". In 2014 I blew the dust off of the old Etsy shop and listed a few things.
Next week I'll tell you the rest of the story of how I got where I am right now on this journey.
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