Ms.
Krissy, how on earth did you go from life as a journalist to life as a
crafty gal / artiste extraordinaire? That seems like quite a jump!
There was one stop in between. I worked at a web company for three
years, eventually becoming creative director of a spin off — though
there was nothing creative about what I did. I was a total cliche
—completely absorbed in my job, working at least 80 hours a week. By
the time the company tanked, I was physically and emotionally burned
out. So I decided to take some time for myself ... only to realize that
I had become the most boring person on the planet! I had no hobbies or
interests outside of work. So I got my ass in gear and tried everything
— knitting, Spanish class, hula class, collage, yoga. You name it, I
tried it.
How did this business start? And how has it grown?
It mostly started by accident. I was at the beginning of my “finding
myself” phase and at some point thought, “Hey, I like toys.” So I went
to the fabric district and my mom let me borrow her sewing machine. I
just did what I remembered the old ladies on TV doing when they sewed
... flipping this thing here, turning this other thing there. Within a
couple weeks, the toys had taken over my apartment. I stalled and
stalled but finally went to a local store I thought might like them.
They did and told me to bring them in and set up a display the next
day! So I went home, put together a little marketing campaign for them,
and the biggerCritters were born.
Was it difficult to take the plunge and start your own company? Why did you finally decide to go for it?
The
most difficult part was to take my biggerCritters outside the house. I
thought people would laugh at me because they were so lame. I was
trying for edgy, and they were sort of odd and cute. But, like, not at
all. I look at those old ones now and want to contact the buyers to
refund their money. They got gypped. Really, though, I was good at
my job ... so when it came to doing that stuff for my own gig, I
couldn’t have been happier. I was at a time in my life when I was
working hard to push outside my comfort zone, and this did that in a
big way. Still does.
What was the biggest hurdle? Was there an easy part?
I have to admit, there haven’t been a lot of hurdles. The “be bigger”
stuff has all just evolved for me. Because I worked in branding and
marketing, that was the easy part. On that level, I knew what I was
doing. At the same time, I was sort of living it.
I’m still not sure how it all came together. I found this community of
amazing crafty women through message boards – back in the day it was
Glitter. But now there are Craftster, the Switchboards, Supernaturale
and more. The women are amazing resources. There’s also a small
community of plush toy makers who have been great – a few reached out
to me very early on. I consider myself extremely lucky. For the most
part, people have come to me, and I’ve made some really good friends
along the way.
The hardest part has been staying motivated. Sometimes I just get over
biggerKrissy and threaten to shut the whole thing down. But then I make
a couple little guys or get an email from someone who digs it, and I
saddle up again. My current issue is protecting my brand. I’m having
some trouble with people stealing parts of it. I don’t really get it,
but I suppose it’s flattering.
Did you ever have a moment when you regretted your decision or thought that you wouldn't be able to make it?
I get over it all the time. I think the freedom of being able to shut
it all down at a moments notice is what keeps me from actually doing
it. At the end of the day, it’s my little baby. I’m proud of it and I'm
just enough of an egomaniac to enjoy the attention.
How long did you have to work before you could quit your day job?
I
didn’t exactly quit my day job, I’m on hiatus. I have some health
issues, which is at the heart of all this. So biggerKrissy came at a
time when I was redefining who I was and who I wanted to be. My life
had pretty much fallen apart, and I decided eventually I was going to
be a bigger and better version of myself — hence biggerKrissy.
Sometimes I like that biggerKrissy is still pretty small. Who know what
the future holds? I try to enjoy where I am, because I likely won’t be
there for long. Life is like that.
What are the upsides and pitfalls of Internet retailing?
It’s
all upside, I think. At first, it was all just seeing how far I could
get my brand out without spending any money. OK, it still is. Why
front? There’s no way I could have started this without the resources
online in terms of information, friends, materials, software and just
really cheap shit to put my name on. Pencils, pins, whatever. I think
the Web was the best thing to happen to small business.
What is your advice for women who want to start their own Internet business venture?
The
best part about the Internet is that it doesn’t have to be a full-time
commitment. You can start small small small and never show it. That was
part of the game for me at first; I guess it still kind of is. A little
HTML, an understanding of clean design and a cute little product ...
you’re golden. Can I stress the clean design part again?
Other than that, think bigger! I have a very clear vision of what
biggerKrissy is at this stage and what it will be if it gets bigger. I
make all choices with both those visions in front of me. I think the
mistake many crafty women make is they don’t run their ventures enough
like a business —I don’t mean in terms of accounting and stuff. I mean
they don’t have a big picture. As women, we’re doing so much, juggling
so much and then are encouraged to think small. F@#* that! Have fun
with what you’re doing, honor it and yourself through the process ...
and, well, be bigger.
How do you handle the nuts and bolts of the business, such as order fulfillment, taxes and accounting?
Mostly
by pissing and moaning. I don’t update my site nearly as much as I
should, but it’s just such a pain in the ass. Someday I’m going to pay
someone to create a thing that automates this more. Taking pictures,
sizing them, PhotoShopping them to make up for how bad the pictures
are, creating a new page for each toy, writing all the copy, redoing
all the library items. See? As boring as it is to read about, it's
worse doing. And I’m a nightmare about keeping track of who is where.
This is not much of an answer. I’m a very poor role model.
What systems have you designed or software do you use to handle this?
Welcome
to my world of Dreamweaver. If I understood Photoshop better, that
might also help. Once I decided I would learn how to write ASP, another
time how to write a database. That lasted about two minutes apiece.
Fortunately two of my close friends are skilled in graphic design. My
brother is an IT guy ... most of my operations are completely ghetto.
The skill is in hiding it. Is that a skill?
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