Celebrating 16 years in Business
On October 10, 2010, I made my business “Facebook official”. At the time, making a business page and announcing it on Facebook felt like it was a huge deal. Sixteen years later, I'm still here, still making things out of paper and still a little amazed to see what I started as a hobby now turned into my full time job.
I'm celebrating 16 years of HandmadeBySaraKim so I wanted to tell the story of how it all began. It didn't start with a business plan. It started being on a budget. I majored in violin performance and in my twenties I was a struggling musician. I was teaching music full time and running a small business managing around 30 students. I taught group music classes in elementary schools and performed with ensembles and community orchestras plus whatever other jobs came along.
I was always crafty since I was a kid, really like every other kid but I really loved going all out making my shoebox book report diorama, probably didn’t read the book but I had some crazy dioramas. Naturally in my twenties, I made cards for friends and family for every birthday and holiday. I made jewelry, sewed aprons, scarves, and throw pillows, anything I knew I could gift. I had just graduated college and was trying to keep my spending low so making gifts was a way to be generous on a tight budget while enjoying the creative process.
I was lucky to have a friend, Patrick Cho, who was starting his own web design portfolio. He offered to build me a website for my music business. I ended up changing it last minute and asked for a website for my handmade goods instead and quickly named it handmadebysarakim.
That's how this started. I listed random things I'd made and opened my Facebook business page. I barely made enough or not enough to cover the hosting of my website. But in 2010, having a custom website wasn't common and I had no idea how important this would become. I still remember making a bouquet for this friend who made me my website to give to his mom. In my memory it was terrible and I'm so grateful he believed in me anyway. His story is crazy 16 years later, he’s actually an award winning creative director now. I hope he’s proud of me as much as I’m proud of him.
The Secret JOB
I was living with my mom at the time and like a typical Korean mom, she told me every morning that I shouldn't waste time and money on a crafting hobby and that I should use that time to find another part time job. So I lied to her and told her I had one. Then I spent my days off from teaching at Starbucks, taking over an entire table to make cards, paper flowers, jewelry, and accessories. That Starbucks totally knew me as that one lady that brought a glue gun, crafting after buying a short pike’s place drip coffee, I think it was $1 at that time and spent my whole day there. I lied about this second job but it turned out to be the best job I ever had! I still tell my mom about this now and she totally denies it and says she never said that but also she still doesn’t really know what I do and how I make money crafting at home.
How i got my name out there
My sales were small and random, mostly friends and friends of friends. That changed when I started interning once a week for a wedding blog, Utterly Engaged. Yes that time where blogs were such a thing before social media took over. I met wedding photographers and other wedding vendors and they helped photograph my work and featured me on different wedding blogs. The blog also shared my paper flowers and hair accessories. I also helped write a DIY section for brides.
I had been making hair accessories for my niece and at some point I started making them in white and selling them as bridal accessories which landed me in the wedding industry. Then a popular Australian blog even featured me and I got my first international order through that. I was finally selling to people I didn't know and I didn't even realize I was building a brand.
The first contract Moment
I started Instagram as a very personal account like everyone else in the early days of Instagram. I posted a photo of my engagement dress from Anthropologie with a sash I made from my small collection of handmade wedding accessories and I tagged them. Within that week, a buyer from Anthropologie contacted me about wholesaling my accessories. That really happened just like that.
Soon I was selling bridal accessories, paper flower cards, floral pens, and garters with them, with orders in the thousands of flowers. I had to read through hundreds of pages of vendor manual and sign a contract, all while still teaching music full time. That was the moment I thought for the first time, I'm really officially running a business. It was my first real contract and people started treating my work differently. I was no longer just a crafter. I was a founder and a designer.
A little before that, I had a local client order over 200 paper flowers for party favors for an event. A few arrived with slight tears in the petals, probably from transporting them. The client emailed to say they would never work with me again. It was my fault so I rushed to swap them out. There were only about five damaged flowers out of hundreds. I learned two things. Paper flowers are fragile so I needed a clause in my terms. And as I found out later, people's opinions can change fast. Once my work was in Anthropologie, I ran into this same client at a networking event. They congratulated me and asked to grab coffee so they could pick my brain about getting my products into Anthropologie. I don't think they remembered at all. It was definitely my first triggering customer moment but glad I could tell it as a fun story and lesson learned now.
Choosing my job
Around then I knew that if I had to choose between my music career and my handmade business, I would choose the handmade business. After I got married and started planning for a baby, I moved away from the wedding industry. I let go of my bridal accessories collection and focused on paper flowers and paper art and the timing felt right. I was already teaching paper flower workshops almost every week.
Workshops also solved a problem I'd had from the start. I could spend hours making a single card or paper flower and barely sell it for $5. Paper costs almost nothing but handmade paper goods don't pay for the time they take. Teaching meant I could earn a real living while still making things out of paper. I officially closed my music business before I got pregnant. When I had my son, I stayed home during the week and ran workshops on weekends. It was the perfect job for a new mom.
Right before the pandemic, I started getting paid partnerships with brands like Michaels. I was invited to film a commercial with them and it was scheduled for the week of the shutdown. I was the first artist they interviewed and filmed and the shutdown happened just days later. I still feel lucky about that timing.
Like everyone else, I used that time during the pandemic to learn how to shoot and edit videos and I slowly built up my social media platforms. That's how I became a content creator.
Where I Am Now
As my son got older, I realized I loved our weekends together more so the weekend workshops gradually slowed down so I started building digital products and growing my Youtube Channel for my long form content. I wanted something I could sell without having to be physically present every time. For my Youtube Channel, it also let me stay true to my teaching background and keep bridging the gap between art and craft.
Today I have over 200 templates on my website and I focus on creating long-form and short-form content while selling templates.
Sixteen years ago I was a violin teacher with a Facebook page, a friend's web design, and a table at Starbucks. I'm so grateful you've followed along on this journey of running a creative business. In just a few days, I will be officially 16 years old now! I'll be back here soon with some lessons I've learned from 16 years in business. Until then, thank you for being here.
