How I Worked with College Students to Grow My Company

I’ve always been someone who is interested in creating things. Turning raw materials into something beautiful is a process I find to be therapeutic and inspiring. However, I didn’t expect that this process would become my full-time job, and I certainly never pictured myself employing 13 other people at a single time to make that job happen! 

In November of 2014, my life accidentally changed forever. As a recent high school graduate with no job, I decided to create holiday gifts for my family and friends with an idea I had, a spin-off of a Pinterest trend I had seen. I was inspired by the marbled clay jewelry dish trend, but I wanted to make it my own. Through a little trial and error, I found a white clay and gold paint combination and stamped my loved ones' names into the dishes. The gifts were well received, and I was encouraged to list a couple on Etsy. 

Fast forward a few years of juggling a growing Etsy shop, full-time college, and part-time jobs. When I graduated with my bachelor’s degree, I had a decision to make. The business had been growing steadily and had been an overall success, but I knew that getting my masters would likely mean I had to close down The Painted Press. When the time came, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to this thing I had worked so hard to build. I didn’t go to grad school; I launched myself into a new journey of running a business full time. 

Today, I run The Painted Press with my husband Josh. My sister Annie is our design director and she now has an assistant, and our team is currently at 13 full-time and part-time members. We have a studio in a beautiful area, and send out an average of 800 packages a week! We are always expanding and shifting things to accommodate the growth that we experience. It’s been a road with many bumps, hard lessons, successes I still pinch myself over, but most importantly, it has and will (I’m sure) continue to be such a character-building experience. 

Starting Business the Opposite Way

I didn’t “launch” a business. I gave my hobby a chance to grow, and slowly, it did. I didn’t write a business plan, I figured that as long as my hobby wasn’t losing money then I was good. I didn’t start out with a desire to scale, I let the market tell me that this was, in fact, a scalable idea. I suppose I don’t abide by the cliche quotes that encourage you to “shoot for the stars” or “dream the impossible, then make it happen.” I think I thrived through taking a different approach, one that was wondering what this business might become if I really gave it my all. By not holding on to specific expectations with a tight fist, we were able to pivot and not allow certain desires to cloud our judgment in decision making and looking at what would be best for us in the long run.   

A true turning point for me was the day The Huffington Post published the article that featured my dishes, and it seemed that I had a decision to make. At that moment I figured I could easily shut it all down, put the shop on vacation mode, enjoy my holidays and never look back. After all, I did not have the help, the space, or the inventory to fulfill the hundreds of orders that were pouring in. Or, (and this was a big, life-changing “or”), I could figure out how to fulfill all of the orders, endure massive growing pains, and look back at the 2015 holiday season as a defining moment. I chose the latter, and that season was a whirlwind I only got through because of my family’s generosity (dropping their commitments to work TPP and helping me get a studio space), lots of coffee, and very little sleep.

Looking back, I am so thankful for the organic nature in which the business took shape and grew. I understand that my experience is completely different from what professors teach in business courses. I understand that there are many ways to go about owning a business. I understand the pros of going down the traditional, “start with a business plan” route. But the natural way for me was to see what worked and go from there. My work ethic was influenced by the reality of seeing my craft in the hands of others, not seeing my bank account get bigger. I believe that what motivates the business can cause it to thrive, or sink the ship. 

Scaling with College Students

My desire to work with high school and college students was initially because I was one. My sister, Annie, and brother, Michael, have been with me from the start and their support is what made this possible to begin with. They are both younger than me and have worked so hard right alongside me all these years. They have shown me that age does not dictate work ethic; young people can get a lot done. The other team members we’ve hired through the years have been able to see people their age working hard, and can see how our hard work is so directly tied to the success of the business. Everyone who works for The Painted Press pulls their weight and makes me so proud! Though I still have fears about being able to provide for everyone, those fears are small and in the back of my mind, and reality looks a lot different! 

Community is so important at The Painted Press, especially after the last year and a half. Our team is a family, I trust them and they trust me. We’ve endured a season (Covid) together that no small business wants to go through, but we made it through together! Through community, this business has become about so much more than jewelry dishes. A lot of our team members attend the same church and it’s so fun to see relationships grow both during work and outside of it! 

When I first hired, it was for the role of production assistant. Just one or two people to sit by me and do what I was doing, whether sealing dishes, painting them, or proofing them. Eventually, we needed help with shipping, so I hired someone to come in daily to proof, package, box, and label all of the finished orders from that day. Annie became so inundated with watercolor requests that we hired her an assistant who comes in for around 5 hours each day and assists with multiple designs.

 Our most recent outsourcing was customer service, which was a huge help once we started receiving well over 100 messages a day. Our current customer service manager works from home which gives him the flexibility he needs to work his other full-time job, and we do all of our communicating with him through the app Slack. Today, I am primarily responsible for keeping up our Etsy presence, molding and stamping each dish that is ordered, and scheduling the team's hours. Josh processes and prints each order on Etsy, communicates with the shipping team and customer service team in person and on Slack, runs payroll, and does our bookkeeping. 

My advice to anyone who feels like they may need help is to start small, but find help! Assess ahead of time what the role of the new team member would look like and write out those expectations. A local college or church youth groups are great places to find people needing some flexible hours! You may only need a handful of hours a week, but to a high school student, that’s a great learning opportunity and a way to build a young resume! One of the great things about hiring students we trust is that they often know of other students who are looking for jobs when we have openings. I love hiring through word of mouth so that the team I have can vouch for the character and work ethic of the potential new hire. 

Another thing to remember is that not everyone will be the right fit, and that’s okay! Developing a team of loyal, hard-working people takes time and sometimes there are setbacks. Protect yourself and your employees by having a contract that defines the terms, expectations, and protocol for parting ways. Stay in open communication with those who work for you, and ask for the same courtesy from them. Communication is key. 

Summing it Up

I have never been one to have a five-year plan or any major goals, but Josh and I hope to expand our business ventures into other areas in the coming years. We purchased another handmade business two years ago that I’ve been able to grow with my mom, and we are always thinking of ways to diversify our income. As a two-person household relying entirely on our own businesses, we love the idea of having and growing multiple businesses. For a long time, we could only focus on one business to give it the attention it needed to grow and run smoothly. Our other ideas are only now becoming something we can even consider, and that’s exciting! 

My number one piece of advice is that nothing, absolutely nothing, beats hard work. No amount of talent or money can do for your business what hard work can do. If you are looking to grow, take the slow seasons as an opportunity to do what you cannot do in the busy seasons (write down Instagram post ideas, take product photos, email micro-influencers you might want to work with, show up to trade shows, offer a giveaway, create new products, work on SEO, etc.) Remember to listen to what your market is telling you, invest your time, and prune your business regularly so that it can grow into what it’s ultimately meant to be! 

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