Real Life As An Entrepreneur

Megan Brown, owner of Tinker and Teal, grew up with a passion for drawing and painting. She uses that passion now to create and sell digital cut files for crafting machines such as Silhouette and Cricut, while also selling digital and physical stickers online. Megan probably got the art bug from her father, who was a painter. “I have learned most of what I know just by watching him. I was inspired by the fact that he was a self-taught artist and just got lost in what he did.”

Megan didn’t always focus her skill and passion as an artist into working for herself, however. She spent 10 years working in a factory and pursued two college degrees, but just felt unsatisfied and lost. She had always dreamed of being able to stay at home with her family while being her own boss and one day the mom of four decided to make that dream a reality. “I really ignored my heart for the longest time. I knew what I really loved to do and just one day it hit me.”

Going All In, Digitally

It was three years ago that Megan started on the journey of creating a business. Originally, the focus of her business was paintings she did by hand and then she added stenciled quotes. Customers repeatedly would ask if she sold the stencils, too. This sparked her interest in trying to find out how well her stencil designs would sell online. “I had no formal training or education in digital design… I quickly realized that I loved creating the digital files the most rather than doing the paintings.”

Today she juggles a graphic design business with making planner stickers, custom logo packaging stickers for small businesses, plus selling her custom stencil and sublimation files for crafters. 

Megan starts the process of creating her designs by drawing them digitally in Procreate on an iPad. Then she turns the drawings into vector files in a design program and finalizes them in Adobe Illustrator with the Font Self Extension pack. “Each design is different, I find inspiration from what I love to do or what my favorite things are.” 

Helping Her Husband

During the pandemic, Megan faced new changes to life and business. Her husband was laid off from the job he had held for years. And, like many moms, Megan found herself homeschooling her kids as they attended virtual school while in-person schools were closed. 

With her experience in building a business online, Megan helped her husband launch his own handmade endeavor. Drawing on the family's passion for fishing, he makes handmade baits. Megan showed him how to build his website and social media presence which quickly gained momentum. “He's done really well with TikTok, which is like my worst thing! He made some videos and boom, he really grew in followers.”

Although Megan doesn’t enjoy being in front of the camera like her husband does, she has been able to grow her Instagram within the last year and has some advice on the platform. “At first I wasn't really consistent with my posting and my branding. It’s really important to know your brand colors and be consistent with them. The more you do it the more comfortable you’ll get with sharing projects, showing who you are and what makes your business personal rather than trying to pitch a sale to everybody.”

The Challenges

Being seen is one the biggest challenges that Megan feels she faces. “Growing your audience and being able to connect with them to bring more business has been a growing effort for me. You have to really find a niche that works for you and stick with it. Find out what your audience loves and who they are individually.” 

Understandably, She sometimes thinks it can be tedious to put yourself out there (she gives examples of being too critical of her photos, not liking her voice in videos, and taking lots of photos just to get one that’s post-worthy). But Megan still believes social media is the most direct way to market her business. “I probably spend about 70% of my time on marketing and creating content and posts. The majority of the job itself is doing the marketing and keeping my business out there.”

In addition to this, one of the main stressful habits Megan has worked on moving past is the tendency to compare her business to others, a frustratingly easy part of today's social media-based business world. “I see an 18-year-old kid who's in college and they’re bringing in way more sales. And I'm here wondering, ‘How did they do that?’ But then I remind myself that they don't have the bigger responsibilities I do. Just know that you're on your path and life is definitely not always what it appears on someone's Instagram feed.”

During the Pandemic

The level of busy has been kicked up several notches during the pandemic with virtual school adding part-time teacher to Megan's daily regime. She laughs that she feels like she's working on more homework now than when she was in school, and with three boys in school, it's understandable. 

“I've tried to work out a schedule but it never pans out because every day is different. Some days there's much more homework and other days there are quizzes that take extra work. I try to wait to start work until they are finished, so that way if they have a question I'm not getting interrupted every five minutes.” She's also waking up earlier in order to find a few hours of quiet time before the school day starts.

As with most families, Megan is also experiencing the challenges of running an at-home business while the whole family is stuck in the house together for the majority of the time. Making videos without background noise is one of many challenges in this new normal. “I've been just trying to relax and take it for what it is. I can only do so much each day, I can't do everything. Being over-stressed will make you sick and that’s not good for you or anyone else.”

If you’re trying to go the route of creating or growing your small business at the same time you’re raising kids, Megan emphasizes remembering to stop and take a breath once in a while and don’t compare yourself to that person who may seem to have a perfectly successful Etsy shop. “It’s ok to not be perfect. Just keep learning and growing. As human beings we tend to compare ourselves to other people A LOT; I do it myself but I am learning that everyone has a different journey.”

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