Hobby
Noun
An activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure.
While I really love what I do, it’s not easy trying to earn a living from it. Something that began as a hobby is now all encompassing and is at the forefront of my mind every single day. This is mainly because I have made my art MATTER. It matters whether I make something that appeals to people because I need it to sell. It matters that people see what I’ve made, so that they can choose whether to buy it or not. It also matters that when my support network understands that in order for me to carry on, they (you) matter too.
The year of 2024 began full of optimism. I had finished the festive season well, which meant I was able to design some new ranges of greetings cards. The Patchwork Bears Upstairs story calendar had been popular, so I launched a card range hoping this popularity would continue. New Valentine’s designs were included, and a brand-new Easter card range followed. The bear cards weren’t quite as successful as I’d hoped initially, but to my surprise, my Easter cards really started to take off in my online shop. I was struggling to keep up with top-up card orders for 2 designs, and it proved to be a crucial few months for my online shop sales.
When the online shop orders are ticking over nicely, it tends to relax me slightly into thinking about the next big project for the year. Etsy online orders give me a weekly income and it can really vary from one week to the next. As the years have gone on, I’ve tried to work out when my busiest times might be and therefore plan ahead and be prepared. However, something I have learned about running my own small business, is that you literally can’t predict what is coming next! Just because I had a good Easter, doesn’t necessarily guarantee that this next one will be as good. So many things can alter the course of a small business like mine. The thing I didn’t see coming was the huge impact that the cost-of-living crisis would have.
I don’t know one person who wasn’t affected by the huge levels of inflation. It seemed like everything seemed to keep going up and up in price at one point from food, to bills and postage (nobody will ever believe the price of a first class stamp these days - £1.65 is shocking). The trouble is, we all had plans – holidays for example – and this had a huge knock-on effect when it came to spending money on anything else after that. Everybody tightened their belts and there was a sudden drop in sales for me personally. Other small businesses that I have spoken to tell me there was a noticeable change for them too. While this is reassuring to hear, it made me apprehensive for the Autumn/Winter season ahead.
After a seriously quiet summer (more so than previous years), I expected sales to pick up for the Autumn season ahead. I love designing cards for Autumn and Halloween, and this year I had branched out into pocket-sized notepads too. It’s one of those niche things for me, a bit like Easter. My Trick or Treat card designs were surprisingly popular last year, and I hope they would be again. With this in mind, I re-ordered plenty of stock and launched a new Halloween Party notepad. Anything that I make is basically something that I would like buy for myself or friends and family, so I have been beyond happy with the results of all my little notepads this year. Like anything new, sometimes they can take a few months to get going, but I’m so pleased to see that this new product has appealed to like-minded people.
Everything that I make is considered carefully. If I am going to spend money on a new product, firstly I must fully commit and believe in the idea myself. Everything that I have printed must be done in bulk (small batches), to sell them at an affordable price. While I find it almost a dangerous mindset to only make things to sell, ultimately of course, I do make things so that I can earn a living from them. I can’t take too many risks at the moment, due to financial instability, but if there’s something that I really believe in, I make it my mission to make it happen.
One of my favourite projects to work on throughout the year is the story calendar. This year I fully immersed myself in the world of the mysterious fox who discovers a buried tin full of collected trinkets, which spring into life and take the fox around different areas of the garden. This year I have felt at my happiest creatively, and I have loved exploring ways to tell this story. Moments like this prove to me that this is why I do what I do. There is nothing more addictive and gratifying to me than diving into a world that I’ve created and working out ways to share it with the world on paper. It’s hard to describe, but it genuinely makes my soul happy. It feels right. It feels like this is what I’m meant to be doing with my life. Throughout all the doubts and uncertainties with the “business” side of things, the reason why I sell my art is really so that I can make more of it.
Another collection I loved making was this year’s Christmas cards. “Christmouse Nativity” was initially inspired by those nostalgic childhood school plays, and I’m also a big fan of the film “Nativity!” starring Martin Freeman and Ashley Jenson. I have a growing collection of felt mice which happily hang on my Christmas tree every year, so the idea of drawing a group of them performing the nativity really appealed to me. I had a lot more compliments about this collection than sales! Seriously loved working on these though. Next year might be different in terms of sales, you just never know.
After the huge cost of all the print runs: from calendars, to books, to cards, I was praying daily for decent sales…and there was a very noticeable difference from last year. Generally, everything has been much quieter. It has made me wonder whether I need new strategies in the year to come, or maybe things will change once again, with the hope of Spring and new ideas. One thing is for certain, I can’t stop and won’t stop…I’ll find a way to continue with the many ideas that I have for the year 2025. Please know that I am so grateful to every single one of you who has showed me any kind of support this year. It is a lonely ride sometimes and you make me feel like it is all worth it.
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