How to Scale Your Creative Business with Kristy Rice – Transcript
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[Intro Music] This is Office Talk with Annette Stepanian.
Annette
Welcome back to another episode of Office Talk. I’m your host, Annette Stepanian. And in this week’s episode, I’m having a really, really great conversation and an important one, with Kristy Rice of Momental Designs. Now, if you find yourself that you’re in a creative line of work, for example, maybe you’re an artist, maybe you’re a designer, maybe you’re a jewelry maker, or you want to figure out a way that you can grow and scale your business, I want you to make sure to listen to this episode, Kristy’s business Momental Design is all about creating custom, hand painted invitations and stationery, for weddings and events. And her business, you know, you would think that’s something that can’t be scaled, right? Because it’s all requires her unique art skills and her aesthetic.
Well, she has proven that statement wrong. Kristy has scaled her business in such a way where she’s been able to move away from the day to day doing to the dreaming. And as a result, she has been able to create multiple revenue streams. And I really encourage all of you guys to have a listen to this episode, because it is a beautiful lesson. And maybe even a reminder that we need to be thinking about how are we structuring our businesses, so that we could step away from the day to day doing and start moving towards the dreaming. With that said, let’s dive into my conversation with Kristy Rice. Hi, Kristy, thank you again, for joining me on Office Talk this week.
Kristy
Oh, my goodness, thank you for having me.
Annette
Now, I met you what, almost a year ago, when you spoke at Be Sage conference. And you there’s there are a lot of facets to you. You are I feel like just and I mean that in a really, really good way. You are just a force of creativity and this energy and, but also really business savvy as well. And so I’m excited to have you on here, especially for those folks who are artists or very creative in the work that they do. I would love. I want them to hear about how you have taken that creativity and transformed it into a very, very successful business. So before we dive in, why don’t we bring our listeners up to speed as to who you are and what you do?
Kristy
Great. Well, I’m Kristy, as you know, and where do I start? I always tell the joke that like I my elevator pitch is like three minutes long, not 30 seconds, but whatever. So I am the founder and creative director of Momental Designs, which is a boutique stationery studio, where we actually hand paint the bespoke stationery for couples worldwide. So we have a team of seven full time artists, designers, craftspeople that we knew we are just a big happy family. And we work with couples all over the world. And we do about 400 plus fully bespoke projects a year. And myself.
In the last few years, I’ve been able to kind of back away a little bit from the day to day of Momental. And I started writing books. So I am an eight time author currently soon to be nine. And I love styling, I do a lot of styling work for bridal publications. And most recently, we were had the cover sheet for Destination Wedding Magazine. So that was really fun. And that was in Scotland. And yeah, what else do I do I license artwork, which is great. We’ve licensed artwork with, you know, big brands like Bed Bath and Beyond, Anthropologie, Ecolo. Yeah, so lots of good stuff. Good stuff.
Annette
I know. And I want to dig into so much of that. Because I do see a lot of artists who want to make a living off of their, their artwork, their creativity. And yes, it can be challenging to do that. And I think what’s so intriguing about what you’ve done is you’ve taken something that can be very personal and hands on, you know, you’re literally hand painting invitations, right?
Kristy
Literally.
Annette
So, you know, like, how did you even begin to think about well, how can I scale this because I’m sure at a certain point, you’re like, I can’t be the one hand painting this if I really want to grow I have to figure out a way to bring in people to help me but how do you outsource something that is so personal and can be almost so like, specific to the individual?
Kristy
Yes, yes, absolutely. It’s a great question. And I’ll be honest, in the beginning, I had no intentions of scaling my business, I literally was the girl sitting at, you know, her dining room table just like scratching out little hydrangeas on 100 invitations. So I had no I didn’t, I wasn’t a big dreamer, I’ll be I like to be honest about that. Because I think that is very telling for a lot of people. They’re not these big dreamers, things just kind of evolved. And that’s really how it was.
For me now I’m a big dreamer. Now I’m like, I drive my husband and my staff crazy with my big dreams. But, um, you know, it became very clear about five years in, that I could no longer just do this myself. And with, you know, a few part timers a couple hours a week that if I wanted to continue the business, and I wanted to continue to build revenue, and all of that, that I needed to bring in more of a team. And it was an incredibly stressful time.
And, you know, we did experience for years turnover in the team that we were developing, because it is difficult. How do you train someone to paint like Kristy Rice? How do you do that? And so, you know, we, we simply not simply, but we developed a kind of a training course, for anyone that was coming on board, our team. And there were literally tests involved painting, test, cutting, test all of the skills that go into being a production artist at Momental. We really broke those skills down into kind of manageable parts that could be learned.
And so I think what’s interesting about that, it’s something that creative entrepreneurs don’t often think about is that you’re, you’re creative, you’re an artist, and how do you kind of serialize such a creative organic process. But if you want to scale that process and make more money, you have to, you have to break it down, and you have to be able to teach it. So I think that is the biggest takeaway is that you kind of have to kind of get out of your creative headspace for a little bit, and be able to break down your process so that you can teach it to someone.
Annette
There’s so much there that I loved. I mean, it’s it’s the idea that I mean, it wasn’t easy. And I appreciate that honesty, as someone who is looking to bring people on, you know, something I struggle with, too. It’s like, you know, it’s gonna be a process. But you realize, like, there’s at a certain point, you just can’t keep doing everything, or most of the things yourself. And with the, I’m curious, so with the breaking down of the process, is that something that you developed, that you were like, Okay, if I were to teach somebody how I do this, I’m going to, you know, create these videos, or these tests or whatnot, or was that the kind of a collaboration in and of itself, with the people who you’re training.
Kristy
So that was a collaboration with the folks that I already had on team. Because I wanted to not only have my perspective and my style, you know, obviously reflected in those teachings, but I wanted, you know, at that point where we were really coming up with a training program, I had already had, you know, two other full time people on board. So I wanted their input, because, you know, their perspective of our production and artistic process could be different than mine. And I wanted that input there. So yes, it definitely was not something I just created myself.
Annette
And you said earlier that now all you do is you just not all you do, but like you’re the dreamer, you dream of all these big things, and you maybe drive your team a little nuts with all these, you know, ideas that you have. And so what has given you like, what, what changed for you, because you said in the beginning of your business, you really weren’t like that. But what shifted? At what point were you like, oh, now I’m giving myself that permission to dream?
Kristy
Yeah. You know, that is a really, I love that question. Actually, it’s not one that anyone’s ever asked me. Because in the beginning, I was like, I don’t want to work for the man. I just want to run a business and do my thing creatively. And so what shifted for me from that kind of small thinking, was having the headspace to think big. And, and so for many years, I’ll even say, you know, we’ve been in business now 15 years. It’s our 15th year.
Annette
Wow.
Kristy
Thank you. Even eight, nine years into the business, I was still, you know, hunkered down and weighted down by the day to day of doing my business. And so I didn’t have any space emotionally, physically, mentally left to be that big dreamer, I was just so stuck in the day to day in the production in all of that. And that’s not to say that all of those elements of my business are not honorable, because they are they are that, you know, they are the bread and butter of my business.
But to be that big dreamer, you have to find a way to give yourself space to be a dreamer. And I never let myself do that I never did until actually, it was until around 2014, to be quite honest, which isn’t so long ago. Yeah, I really, I looked at my team, I realized I was micromanaging them a lot. I realized that they had a lot of better ideas about some things than I did. And I wasn’t utilizing their talents, their gifts, their talents, their abilities. And so I forced myself to step back to let them kind of own a lot of the process in the day to day of the business. And honestly, magic started happening at that point.
Annette
Yeah. Oh, this resonates with me so much. I feel like I really need to, I needed to hear this. And I know it’s gonna be valuable for a lot of people, too. And so what role does your team play now in your business? Like, very high level? Like, what kind of how have you structured that? So you have that, that whitespace to dream?
Kristy
Yes. So we have seven on staff right now. And we’ve tried it all, you know, we’ve had as much as 15 people on staff, a lot of part timers, a lot of freelancers. And that just was messy for us. So this is a really good place for us seven full time. And what it looks like is we have a communications manager, and she handles all of the email correspondence, all of the invoicing, proofing and just general, customer happiness kind of tasks. We have a full time graphic designer, that’s pretty self explanatory.
We have a full time artist, she is my right hand. And that is a whole other realm of this I brought her on her style is similar to mine, but more of a complement than a copy. She does a lot of our prototyping and things like that. She speaks with all of our clients, she gets them to, you know, reveal all of their wonderful ideas with our help. We have a production manager. And then the rest of our team are invitation artists that handle production. So that’s kind of the basic structure.
Annette
Nice. It’s a pretty lean team for the amount of work that you’re doing. So one of the projects that has you know, now that you have the time and the space, you mentioned that you have been an author of quite a few books, and quite a few coming down the pike. So what what does that experience been like? Can you talk about like, what you just woke up one day and you’re like, I want to write a book? And because it’s I think a lot of people have being an author on their bucket list. And they want to share, you know, their talents with the world in the form of a book. So tell me about that experience.
Kristy
Yes. So it is quite the experience. Um, I do feel in a lot of ways it was for me kind of, I woke up one morning and I decided I wanted to write a book.
I was at an industry conference. Sylvia Weinstock, she’s the queen of cakes, was gifting the entire conference, her her books, Sensational Cakes. I’ve told this story many times, and I am not sure whether it was in my head or in reality, but I recall them being brought out on silver platters, you know, and I just had a moment with that. And I was like, Oh, my gosh, here is this icon of our industry of the wedding industry. And she is she’s written this beautiful big hardcover book. And now she’s gifting it to everyone in the room, and that it wasn’t so much the book, I’ll be honest, that I wanted to do. But I wanted to have that moment for myself being a little selfish and narcissistic here. But I wanted to be able to have that moment and give my creation to a book of a room of my peers. And so that’s what started it for me, honestly.
Annette
And then what so what do you do? Like, what’s the next step? I mean, because you haven’t yet published you have publishers. So what what did that look like in terms of, you know, you did you have to write a book proposal, like, how did that all work out for you?
Kristy
Yes, so one of the things I mentioned, I’m a stylist, they do a lot of editorial work for publications. And so in my head when I was like, Oh, I want to write a book. But what’s it going to be about? I immediately went back to kind of my volume of work editorial speaking, and was like, okay, that should be the book because everything I do editorial is very kind of based in fine art fine art, often inspired by painters of history. And so I that was the first step. I think I’m going to do a book about, you know, editorial inspired by fine artists.
I had a few friends that had been published. And they were kind enough to actually introduce me to their publisher. I work with Schiffer Publishing, and I had been working on a book pitch, I tend to be very overzealous in almost everything I do now. And my book pitch was basically a book I had it hard bound, I had glossy pages. It was like 60 pages long. I submitted it, I actually sent in a physical copy to the publisher. And they were sending me a contract within two weeks of receiving it. And yeah, and they said to me, they’re like, I gotta be honest, Kristy. We’ve never received a pitch like this. You’re really went above and beyond. I’m like, yeah, that’s how I roll.
Annette
That’s amazing. Yeah, you can’t half ass it.
Kristy
Oh, I’ve never been one to half ass anything. So. And oddly enough, I you know, of course, they received the contract. It was a huge milestone for me, you know, totally enamored with the whole experience at that time, signed the contract.
And then one afternoon, I had this idea. My, my communications manager at the studio was like, Hey, you know, those, like coloring books for adults? You know, those are cool, but you should do one for watercolor. And like, mind you, I had just signed a book contract with my brand new publisher that I don’t know very well. Yeah. So I was like, Kelly, that’s an amazing idea.
And so I literally emailed the head of the publishing company. And I was like, Hey, I know, this is insane. But I have this idea. And I think it’s really good. And he’s like, well send it over. And I sent it over. It was basically a glorified scribbling on a napkin, compared to my first book. And within a week, I had a contract in front of me for four books for a series and they’re like, we want to do a series, we need to get this out. Now. It was very timely, we rushed the entire process. And the rest is history. Now we have two series, a total of seven books. And we created the world’s first water coloring books, though.
Annette
And you wouldn’t have done that unless you had the time and the space to, you know, to create that. Right? And if you were caught in like, Oh, I need to get the invitations for you know, Joe’s wedding out.
Kristy
Yeah.
Annette
And you’re like hand painting these, you couldn’t get these opportunities, or even I’m not that you couldn’t get them you couldn’t fulfill and follow through on these opportunities, because you’re gonna be bogged down with that other stuff.
Kristy
Absolutely not. And, and to be honest, my book pitch for the Painter’s Wedding, the big crazy hard band one – I had been working on that for three years.
Annette
Wow.
Kristy
So I had been working at on that during a time where I was still very much in my business. So that’s a testament to that fact, right there, that I couldn’t even get the book pitch finished, because I was so bogged down by everything else.
Annette
So talk to me about the Painter’s Wedding. Talk to me about that book. What is it all about?
Kristy
Well, the Painter’s Wedding, it’s 16 chapters. And it is it’s not a coffee table book. It is lovely and beautiful. And it’s everything you would expect from a wedding inspiration book. But more. Each chapter kind of dives deep into the thought process behind the artists, the inspirational artists chosen. And it really dives deep into the thought process of a fine artist in a way that is, you know, consumable for a couple just trying to come up with their wedding design. So we teach people how to understand composition, how to understand things like scale and proportion, and how that all applies to a really beautiful decor plan.
So I don’t profess to be a wedding planner, I am not a wedding designer, but I am an artist and I’m a painter and I have this knowledge in me and this experience in me that I felt could be really valuable in the very early stages of wedding planning. So, there are it’s a very visual book. So there’s beautiful editorial and each chapter inspired by a fine artist. And then there are spreads in each chapter that, that really break down the thought process and visualize the thought process behind each chapter to to really help couples figure out how to dream up their wedding, not just how to go to Pinterest and choose their wedding. So that that is the big point of the Painter’s Wedding.
Annette
Now I have to ask you, have you had your silver platter moment with this book? Please tell me you have.
Kristy
I have. It was quite quite the epic one. I had two silver platter moments. One was with the water coloring books, I was able to go to engage in 2016. Engage if you’re in the wedding industry, you know, it’s the big luxury business summit for weddings. And I was able to gift my water coloring books to a room of almost 500. And that was that was incredible. That was incredible.
Annette
I can I can almost imagine in my head. I don’t know why I’m imagining like these men dressed in like Butler like tuxedo things with like white gloves and like the tails and walking around.
Kristy
It wasn’t quite like that.
Annette
Like I know, but that’s what I envision. And then they pop the champagne.
Kristy
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. The Painter’s Wedding, I had quite the experience as well. I worked with Leslie Matin Events in New York, a very up and coming new restaurant in New York City. And they sponsored an incredible book launch party for the Painter’s Wedding. And we had over 100 of just the some of my best friends in the industry there to celebrate. And we were able to give to the book and have a wonderful evening of music and celebration. It was fantastic. So it was everything and more that I could have dreamed up.
Annette
I have a huge smile on my face knowing that this, this little inkling vision and it made it You made it happen like not just once, but several times over.
Kristy
Oh my gosh, I still can’t believe it.
Annette
So as someone who has been in the industry for quite a while, I mean, 15 years in business is no small feat. I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of changes through the last year. I mean, even what we did, like 10-11 years ago, we didn’t have an iPhone. Right. So when you started there were no iPhones. I mean, was Facebook even a thing? I don’t even know.
Kristy
Barely.
Annette
Yeah, barely, right. We’re of that generation. Yeah, we remember the analog life. Yeah, sometimes I miss it really badly. So I would love your thoughts on you know, how do you guys stay relevant in an economy that is – it’s changing, it’s evolving, your consumer has changed. You know, I read recently that, you know, like, in the wedding planning industry is expected to shrink over the next few years, because there are a lot of, let’s say, DIY couples who are now you know, using technology and things of that nature to plan their weddings, right. So the dynamics have shifted. So what are your thoughts? What, what’s kind of worked for you? Have you guys approached this reality?
Kristy
Yeah, and this is, this is an extreme reality for anyone in the the wedding industry. You know, let’s, let’s face it, I hate to use the M word. But millennials have the buying power right now. They are making the buying decisions across the board. And so they have a very different approach to weddings, especially, they want an experience and just like the global retail economy for years.
It’s an experiential economy right now. And it will continue to be and it will evolve to be even more robust of an experiential economy. I truly believe that. And what that means, you know, entertainers, you know, food service, all of those type of wedding needs are becoming really hot and really big. And that’s where they’re spending their money. Photographers, even shockingly enough sstationers Of course, wedding planners, we are in a category where we could be potentially categorized as non experiential.
And so we are in a position to figure out, how do we keep up? How do we make sure that our couples still see us as providing an experience not only for them. And it’s really not so much about providing an experience for the couple. millennial couples want an experience for their guests, they want their biggest point in planning a wedding, and I’m generalizing here, but this is useful. Their biggest point is that they want their guests to have a good time and walk away saying that was the best party I’ve ever been to.
Annette
They want something to talk to talk about, right?
Kristy
Absolutely.
Annette
Yeah, Instagram-worthy.
Kristy
They want it, they want something to fill their Instagram, hashtag feed. They want something to talk about, they want it, but they do still truly want their guests to have an authentic good time. So you know, our team has, you know, we’re lucky in that our work, it is very bespoke, it’s very custom, it’s high touch. So you know, we’re a little bit of an advantage as the economy shifts, but still, a lot of our couples are, you know, they’re going to other sources, you know, we we have to be careful in, in how we, and in how we approach that client experience, because they have a lot of options that are more affordable, and are more simple, and just get the job done when it comes to stationery.
So we’ve made it very important to let our couples know, and to show them that we are giving their client, their couples, or excuse me, that we are giving their guests and experience. And so that’s been the biggest thing. So that may may look like, you know, finding really innovative ways of packaging, the invitation ways that, you know, are not just accessible to the very wealthy, we’re looking for ways that you know, upper middle class couples can really innovate with packaging, because packaging makes an invitation feel more like a gift. And that right there is an experience.
So, you know, we’re really trying to innovate with pricing, and with packaging, and we’re also trying to innovate with how are our guests communicating with one another with their vendors? How are they communicating with their guests. And so, you know, we’re looking at the we’re developing right now social media packages, where we’re offering, you know, wedding website design, we’re offering development of custom gifts for Instagram stories, and we’re offering development of custom Snapchat filters. So all of these things, you know, it’s not just about the paper, it’s about the whole artwork experience, wherever there’s artwork, at your event, Momental Designs is going to turn that into an experience from all different angles. So yeah, that’s what we’re doing.
Annette
What I loved about just this whole topic is that you didn’t gripe about, you know, like, these millennials, and these are dadda, dadda, dadda dadda. Right. And this is how things have always been done. Rather, you maybe you’ve done it behind closed doors, I don’t know. But for purposes of our conversation, you didn’t. And so what I liked is that you said well, how can we communicate with them? How can we create products and services that meet the needs of this changing buyer?
Kristy
Absolutely,
Annette
You just took all that energy just off the table and put it into something that has hopefully proven to be productive for you guys and connecting with your, with your, with your buyers?
Kristy
So yeah, absolutely. I’ll be honest, I mean, I, you know, we’ve seen things change over the 15 years. And I really love this generation, in terms of how they approach their wedding design. They are very authentic, and they really are trying to connect with their guests, with their family and with each other. It’s not about showing off. And I love that. So, yeah,
Annette
Oh, it makes me think about my wedding. But that’s a topic for another conversation. So I would be remiss if I didn’t as a lawyer asked you about all these wonderful licensing opportunities that have come your way. I know when I work with the different you know, whether they’re a surface pattern designers or other you know, artists and whatnot, licensing is a huge way in which they can monetize their work, expand their reach and your visibility. And like you said, you’ve worked some with some really big brands like Bed Bath and Beyond and Anthropologie – which is one of my favorite stores.
I would love to learn or hear more about how those opportunities came to be and what advice you would give to folks who are interested in licensing or maybe they’ve done their first licensing deal and just I would love your thoughts on that. Just as someone who has so much experience in this area,
Kristy
Sure, licensing is a whole other planet, really, as an artist, and you if you think you’re going to license artwork as a way as a personal outlet for your creative genius, think again. Because you’re still you’re creating artwork for the man, it is wonderful, and it’s a great way to monetize your talent, but don’t have delusions about it. That is my biggest piece of advice, you are developing artwork for the market, not for yourself.
So for years, I did a lot of licensing just piecemeal as it would come to me. Um, you know, we would get, you know, contacted by different art buyers that worked with places like Bed Bath and Beyond or Target. And we would just, you know, do these individual deals and and be on our way. And we worked with Anthropologie through Plum Print Sugar, I hope I said that the right way, sometimes they say it backwards, the beautiful the beautiful robes, we all know them that everybody aspires to have in their getting ready shots for the day. And they contacted us directly to develop some custom patterns for their collection for Anthropologie. So. So a lot of the licensing work that we’ve done in the past was just very much by chance.
But I started to see a trend and I was like, you know what we’re getting more and more requests. And I want to try to put this into kind of a system or an opportunity where I can be getting this kind of work more consistently. So about a year ago, I did sign up with an art rrep. And that has been a very good experience. It’s a profitable experience, but a very interesting one. So I think you know, getting an art rep is difficult, because everybody wants an art rep. Everybody wants to have their work, you know, taken out there and kind of sold to the masses. And because it seems like a perfect idea, perfect way to get more money in your bank account. But it is a it’s an interesting experience as a creative mind. But it’s been a good one. So now, our licensing is all done through my art rep.
Annette
So if someone is taking, like the first few steps in the licensing world, so don’t be delusional. Know that, like, your art has to be consumable for the masses, like you said, so it’s maybe gonna be watered down. I don’t know what the right term would be, but like scaled back a little bit. What other tips do you have as to how they could approach or find these opportunities? BBecause you’ve, you’ve kind of had it in the sounds like they’ve come to you, which is an ideal situation to be in. But do you have any insight on maybe if someone no one’s knocking on their door, how they can go about starting these relationships?
Kristy
Yeah, I’ll be honest, don’t wait around for someone to come to you, I, I, you know, was so busy with momentum that I didn’t really even think of chasing after an art rep. But here’s the thing, most art reps worth their salt, you’re not paying them to represent you, they just take a cut of your work when you do get a buy. So seek out an art rep. Don’t wait for people to contact you. Nobody’s got time for that.
I if that if I had to do that over again, I wouldn’t have waited, I would have sought out an art rep that was willing to take me that will be difficult. So I think you know, your first step is to research all the art reps out there, just get on Google and go to town. And and just take a look at every single art rep you can find see, you’re going to see art reps that have a great presence online, they have a great Instagram account, and you’re going to be like I want them to rep me and most likely they’re going to be the difficult ones to to apply with and and get taken on by. But at the same time, there are great reps out there that maybe are a little bit under the radar on social media that are just as fantastic and can bring you just as much money. So I think the next best step for someone just launching into licensing is to try to find a rep. Absolutely.
Annette
Wonderful. So Kristy, there was so much in here. That’s what I love about you is that like you’re a true artists you have an artist’s heart and vision. But then you balance that with a very like, just like a business approach as well. You know, and you you you found a nice balance between both that I think sometimes we tell ourselves a story that we’re either just creative and businesses in our thing or like we’re like business minded and creativity isn’t our thing. Right? I think we usually pick a side. But I think, I don’t know if I always believe that.
Kristy
I think I don’t believe that you have to pick you can’t pick a side. If you’re a creative and you want to make money. Yeah, you you’ve got a straddle. You can’t pick a side.
Annette
Okay I’m gonna take that as the quote for this episode. You’ve got the straddle. Okay. You heard it first. From Kristy Rice. Well, Kristy, thank you for taking the time to share all of your inspiration, your insight your business know how with us, I know it’s going to be truly truly valuable for the folks who are listening to this episode.
Kristy
Thank you so much. This has been super fun.
Annette
I hope you enjoyed that conversation. I know I did. And it was a beautiful reminder for me as well as I look into the future about how I want to set up my business. If you want to learn more about Kristy and you want to connect with her, you can head on over to her website at momentaldesigns.com and you can find her over on Instagram at momental. Okay, you guys, thank you so much for listening to this episode of Office Talk and I’ll catch you later.