Busy Beaver Buttons' Christen Carter
Ready for takeoff
Issue #28
Once your biz has stabilized, there’s nowhere to go but up, up, up
By Grace Dobush
Published: June 1st, 2006 | 12:00am
Amid all the shipping, printing, invoicing, crafting, and dealing, it can be easy not to recognize when it’s time to take your DIY business to the next level. It’s the classic case of not seeing the forest for the proverbial trees, but when it comes to your business, it’s worthwhile to check out the view from time to time.
“I think that starting a business it easier than maintaining it, in general,” says Christen Carter, the woman behind the thriving Busy Beaver Buttons (busybeaver.net). “At the beginning you’re excited and you can have a clearer idea of what you want your biz to be. Once you get to that point, you’re like, ‘Now what?’”
PARTNERS IN CRIME
Carter, a 34-year-old Chicagoan, started Busy Beaver in 1995, while she was a student in London, and she had a few big-name clients (mostly record companies garnered from her own music collection) from the get-go. Carter says she sometimes feels as though she spent too much of her 20s filling orders to fulfill Busy Beaver’s promise of one-week turnaround. She went it alone for about six months before getting help fulfilling orders, and she only moved the operations out of her house three years ago. But her hard work has paid off: She hasn’t had another job in seven years. Now, she even has a few full-time employees.
Giving up some control of your business to other people isn’t always easy, as Nicole Balch, of stationery company Pink Loves Brown (pinklovesbrown.com), knows. Balch, 25, started Pink Loves Brown in February 2005, and in only nine months was consistently pulling a profit. She now makes her color-coordinated paper goods full time.
When she recently moved operations from her spare bedroom into a studio space in Forest Park, Illinois, she knew the company had become too much for her to manage all by herself but was not ready to share creative control. She found two occasional employees, who help her with administrative work and make promotional buttons, which she admits goes a long way toward keeping her sane. But, she says, “anything that has to do with the actual making of each product I still do myself, because I feel like nobody else would be able meet my standards.”
PROMOTE THYSELF
If you find yourself too busy to let the world know your product exists, public relations folks can help you do just that. Getting the attention of the media is their job, and PR firms have media contact lists that would take mere mortals years to build.
Bonnie Spencer of mml pr, who represents 36-year-old Californian Jen Bilik’s quirky paper goods company Knock Knock (knockknock.biz), sends out press releases to play up new products and speaks directly to magazine editors she knows about sending samples. The biggest advantage to having a PR rep, she says, is that your time is freed up to do what you do best: run your business. With Spencer’s help, Knock Knock has received coverage in publications as varied as Readymade and Newsweek.
In the spirit of DIY, indie businesses are finding strength in numbers when it comes to promotion. Two Web sites — online scavenger hunt SeekIndie.com and advertising co-op IndieFinds.com, for which Balch is a designer — help boost DIY business by compiling directories of hot stuff and driving Internet traffic to their sites. “When we couldn't find the opportunities we wanted, we made them ourselves,” Balch says.
If you’re holding out for a feature in Super Glossy Magazine or waiting for your first million, you might get discouraged. But if you keep realistic expectations, you may find you can do just about anything. “Know what you want and always work toward that,” Balch says. “When you have a clear idea of where you want to go, you can make smarter decisions.” And that’s the key to making a business last.
If you missed any of our Biz of DIY articles or want to read about a specific business topic, you can find the following stories in our back issues: Starting Up (summer 2005), Marketing (fall 2005), Selling winter 2006), Keeping the Books (spring 2006).
STOP THE PRESSES!
TIPS ON GETTING THE MEDIA TO NOTICE YOUR WORK
WHO? You know your clients, and the publications you approach for coverage should be ones that will appeal to them. Just as Feminist Photocopied Quarterly may not be such a great target for pink princess dog sweaters, Super Glossy Magazine might not clamor to cover hemp tampon ornaments.
HOW? Once you determine your target, figure out who is responsible for the sections that would feature the kind of stuff you make. FYI: Depending on the size of the publication, addressing press releases or product samples to top editors might simply land them in the hands of lowly editorial assistants. Try to aim your pitches at mid-level (assistant and associate) editors who can then direct their bosses’ attention your way.
WHEN? When it comes to sending out product samples and press releases, timing truly is everything. If you have Valentine's Day cards you think a magazine's readers would love, get them to the proper people by November, at the latest. Seriously. Magazines often plan their issues three or more months in advance. Remember, that February issue often shows up on newsstands by the middle of January, and Super Glossy Magazine was not printed in a day. Try to time your inquiry so that it hits editors’ desks just as they’re starting to plan the appropriate issue’s content.
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