Image of Kiki holding packages and smiling. Biscuit the dog is technically present, but he’s shown up as a blurry spot in the photo, since he HATESSS being photographed. Ok privacy diva!

ONE MONTH in business: What it’s like starting an online art shop

Pop the champagne, I’ve had the shop open for ONE WHOLE MONTH! 

I want to share what it’s been like; in line with my artist’s manifesto, which outlines my goal to be an “anti-gatekeeping” space.

It hasn’t been hard per se, but it takes a lot of intention and constant personal check-ins. 

In my first month open:

  • I had 247 sessions on LittleKikiProducts.com
  • I had TEN WHOLE ORDERS!
  • I sold $207 worth of stuff
  • My average order sits at ~$17
  • My top product? The tea towels! Y’all loved those.
  • 2nd from top was the cake print. I LOVEEEE seeing photos of it in your homes. <3

Photo by Tia Bustanoby Photography

My biggest mistakes:

  • Shipping wasn’t easy to figure out. 3 of my orders I had to re-purchase shipping labels for because I categorized them incorrectly. I also learned that some types of shipping labels are non-refundable LOLLLL but now I know
  • Speaking of shipping, the post office is a LOT. I don’t mind it, especially because I work from home and like seeing folks during the day. But I’ve seen a few fights at the counter, waited hours in line, and been told “baby this is not the right shipping label, go back home and fix this then come back” more than once.
  • I released about 1 order in that I should have gotten cards printed with my socials and Google Business Profile to promote social sharing and Google Reviews. Will get on that!
  • Market research: SOOOO many people, mostly men, asked me if I was selling t-shirts. That was an oversight on my part. Looking into QUALITY stuff now, and I’ll report back when I know more!
  • Shopify is a LEARNING CURVE. I hadn’t set up payments properly, so launch day was kind of backwards LMFAO. Thanks for being so kind and patient with me, y’all.

Image from Haley, the creator of DoGoodDieGreat.

My biggest proud moments:

  • Theo, my younger sibling, calling me to visit the site for the first time. The feeling? It’s REAL, people can go on the site, it looks GOOD, it’s working
  • Getting to tell people “I’m an artist/I’m a small business owner” instead of mentioning my 9 to 5. Identifying with my true passion??? Priceless.
  • Getting texts/Instagram tags of y’all with your LKP stuff - truly the best feeling. I still can’t believe it every time I get one of these notifications. Last week someone showed me their LKP order was in their Instagram Photo Dump?!? MY FIRST PHOTO DUMP! I love it.
  • Making enough to pay my BGE bill (I mean, kind of not really since I’m still in the red if you factor in start-up costs) — This was my BIG goal. To hit it month one? Insane.
  • Making anything at all?! I can’t believe I made $200 bucks since opening. Naturally, sales have big time slowed down since launch, and I have a lot of work to do to make money more consistently, but this was still such a huge surprise to me and I’m grateful for all your orders.
  • Documenting the process to teach other artists/knitters/makers — more on this soon, but DM me if you have any questions <3

 

Photo from my friend Maddie, who I don’t think has any links to promote, but is a fashion icon

 

I’ll check in again in a month or so. Thanks for ALL of the orders, reposts, likes, texts, calls… Y’all know how to make someone feel special. THANK YOU!

Back to blog