The First Step : Taking the Plunge

This is the first in a weekly series about small business. I recently filed as a sole proprietorship, after three and a half years of treating the "business" as a hobby. This series will document my journey, aspire to give you all a glimpse into what running a small business is like, and hopefully be of use and inspiration to other aspiring entrepreneurs out there.

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"Whatever you want to do, do it. There are only so many tomorrows." - fortune cookie

After work on Christmas Eve (I know!), my boyfriend and I went to see Iron Giant at the Film Forum and then had dinner at a Chinese restaurant nearby. The quote above was my fortune that evening, and it spoke to me in a way that fortune cookie fortunes rarely do. Later, when I was moving, I lost the fortune, which only elevates its stature in my mind.

I started Chelleline Cards as a hobby the summer before I went to law school. I'd spent years in cerebral hobbies (writing, reading), and I was itching to work with my hands again. I decided to go with greeting cards after I stumbled on a greeting card blog. I had a bunch of catalogs from Book Expo (as a result of my New York Brain Terrain blog), I bought some cardstock from Staples, and in one June afternoon, my first four cards were made. One month later, I began listing my cards on Etsy. And from there, it grew. Kind of. I sold at several craft fairs, and got the occasional sale on Etsy. I began reaching out to stores. But it was all very sporadic.

The thing is, I never really took the plunge with Chelleline Cards the entire time I was in law school. Law school was my priority. I was spending a lot of money on the education, and I didn't want it to go to waste: I wanted to do well in school. Predictably, my "business" suffered as a result. Even though I treated it as a hobby, I still wanted it to do well. I often wished that I'd thought of the idea earlier, say, during the summer of 2006 when I was not sure where I wanted to go with my life.

Fast forward 3 years later: I'd graduated from Fordham with good grades (missing the cutoff for cum laude by thousandths of a decimal point), passed the bar, but found myself without a full-time job due to the economic crisis. And I was now in debt (I had no debt prior to law school). I went on informational interviews, I checked several job boards every day, I applied to every job posting I saw that was related to my skills, including some non-legal jobs, got a few interviews, but no offers. Throughout Fall 2010, I worked at two jobs part-time, which meant I was working every day of the week and which paid me just enough to cover my rent and have $200 extra, and worked on Chelleline Cards in the spare time that I had. I did get a mention in TimeOut New York, which was nice. No, it was more than nice - it was validation. Validation that I was doing something right.

At the end of 2010, I decided that 2011 would be the year when I would try to take my business to the next level - when I would try to make it into a real, legitimate, full-time business. I filed as a sole proprietorship and applied for a selling license (which I received). At my boyfriend's suggestion, I bought a cutting machine to help me cut some of my designs (it has saved me a LOT of time and may have been the best move I've made so far this year. And yes, I know I need to update my website on this fact). I applied for a wholesale account with my cardstock supplier, which has saved me a lot of money on supplies. I continued to strengthen the relationship I had with my current stores, and started to establish relationships with new ones. I am happy to say that as of today, April 28, 2011, I am now in 14 stores - 9 of which are new this year! And I have more plans for expansion, which I will share as this series continues.

Although I've had plans to expand the business since December, the most recent development in my life has strengthened my resolve. My boyfriend and I will be moving to Montreal later this spring, and I won't be able to practice law there - at least not without taking 1-1.5 years of classes first.

A lot of naysayers would say that now is not the best time to start a business. The economy is bad, you're in a lot of debt, starting your own business is risky, etc. And there is some truth to this. But you know what? Those things limit you only if you let them. It's never a good time to start a business. There are only so many tomorrows. You might as well do what you want to do now.

Mother's Day Seals

Hot off the press: my latest Mother's Day/new baby card, featuring a baby Nerpa seal and its mother snuggling together.

We're off to see the Wizard

Here, Dorothy, Toto, Shaggy Man, and Button Bright are about to meet a new friend on their journey through Oz: Polychrome, the daughter of the rainbow. This scene is from "The Road to Oz."

At my boyfriend's suggestion, I've made the image on two cards, so to give the customer visual delight at "putting the pieces of the puzzle together."

We're moving!

I've told almost everyone, so I might as well announce it here: I'm moving at the end of the month, almost six years to the day when I came to New York. I'll first be down in North Carolina, and then once my boyfriend gets his work permit, I will join him up in Montreal! Chelleline Cards just got into a store up there, and the cards will probably be there before I am! I'm a little sad to be leaving New York, but very excited to start this new chapter. Keep you posted!

When it rains, it pours

I'm not exactly sure what inspired my recent spurt of creativity - whether it was repressed from a month of filling orders (which I love but frequently leaves me little time to create) or whether it was speaking to a shop owner who encouraged me to do more birthday, animal- and New York-themed cards - but I have created 11 new designs in the last week. The first batch was revealed in the last post, and here is the second round:



This birthday card illustrates a popular Russian birthday tradition. It's similar to the American pin the tail on the donkey and the Mexican pinata in that the birthday child is blindfolded, then led to a place where his or her gifts have been tied to a suspension rope. The child is given a pair of scissors and must try to cut off their presents while blindfolded.



Riders of the F train in Brooklyn will be familiar with this card, which is modeled off the Kentile Floors sign between Smith-9th Sts and the 4th Avenue stop. Kentile Floors made asbestos tiles, among other types of tiles, and went bankrupt in the 1980s after a number of asbestos-related lawsuits were filed against the company.



This card is a variation of my popular Heart Bubbles card, and features the same little girl blowing bubbles that spell out 'happy birthday.'



This card was intended to be a Father's Day card, and still can be used as one, but I left it blank so that it could be used for other purposes.



Mother's Day featuring a flower mother and her flower children. The color palette of the flowers is inspired by a flower clock I bought in Perugia in 2008.



This Mother's Day card is actually inspired by a photograph my boyfriend took of a mother duck and her little ducklings in Prospect Park back in July 2009.



This card is a variation on my New York Valentine card, and features the same little boy and girl sitting on a bench in Central Park. Only now, it's springtime: the grass is turning green again and the lake is thawing. If only it would happen soon enough!

It's Party Time!

Now that Valentine's Day has come and gone, I can breathe a little and create some...at least before the run-up to Easter/Graduation/Mother's Day/Father's Day.

The other day, I sat down and worked on a few birthday cards. Here are the results:



The buyer at one of my stores (and former boss and now friend) suggested a few months ago that I make a birthday version of my wedding cake collage card, which I finally got around to doing.



Another Octopus birthday card! This one is juggling the letters to wish you a happy birthday.





I call this series (the seal and the elephant) "Party Animals." :)

Love at first sight, or the red thread of destiny

The red thread of destiny. Chinese legend says that a red thread ties your foot to the foot of your soulmate at birth. The string becomes shorter and shorter as your lives approach each other. Here, I've depicted the classic "love at first sight" on the street. The boy and girl do not know it yet, but they are destined to be together.