Building a Brand That Can Survive the Pivot: Mindy Young on Risk Resilience and Going All In
Art + Audience
In this episode of Art + Audience, Stacie Bloomfield sits down with Mindy Young of Indy Bloom Design to discuss the challenges and rewards of building a sustainable creative business.
Key takeaways
- Sustainable creative businesses must move beyond relying on third-party platforms like Spoonflower or Etsy.
- The transition from hobbyist to full-time business owner requires mindset shifts, commitment, and willingness to embrace uncertainty.
Main topics
- The risks of building a business on someone else's platform
- Mindset shift from hobbyist to entrepreneur
Notable quotes
"I realized then I've built enough. Now it's time for me to like go to the next step."
"You have to come to terms with... when you're ready to go, I'm ready to go from hobbyist to actually making money with my art and like being a business owner."
Conclusion
Mindy Young's journey illustrates that true creative success isn't about avoiding change but
Transcript preview
Speaker 2 (0:00) Like all these little changes they made had big impacts on people who were doing very well there. And I know I'm not the only one. And so, but at the same time, it's their platform. They can do whatever they want with it. And I realized then I've built enough. Now it's time for me to like go to the next step. Speaker 1 (0:18) Wouldn't it be nice if your art business loved you back. Hi, I'm Stacey Bloomfield. After years of trial and error and late night doodling, I went from being a coffee shop manager to running a vibrant seven-figure art business that I love. And now I'm on a mission to help more artists create an art business that they love too. So I invite you to find a cozy spot, pull out your favorite sketchbook, and listen in. It's never too late to chase your creative dreams. Welcome to the Art Plus Audience podcast. Speaker 1 (0:49) Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Art Plus Audience podcast. I'm so excited today because we're joined by one of my good friends in just powerhouses in this creative industry, Mindy Young of Indie Bloom Design. Hi, Mindy. Hello. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here. I'm really happy that you're here. First of all, I think you're brilliant and lovely and kind and you're a mama like me building this thing for your family. But also, I think that you and I have a lot in common in terms of how we just never give up on what we're building and we're not afraid to pivot. And I think a lot of people in our audience really would benefit from hearing a story from someone they look up to, like you, Mindy, because you're so admired in our world, and rightfully so, about the pivots you've made and why you've made them. And why you're not afraid to make those changes whenever you feel like you're led to make them. So before we dive into all of that, Mindy, can you tell everyone just a little bit about yourself if they're new and don't know who you are? Yes. I Speaker 2 (1:52) started designing in 2016 when I had my last daughter. I was looking for stuff to put in her nursery or dress her in. And I couldn't find the style that I was looking for. So I was like, I'm just going to create this. And then I put it on Facebook. My friends and family were like, Hey, I want to buy that too. Then I ended up like trying to figure it out and found Stoolflower. I've been selling all of my designs on Stoolflower. I actually didn't even know how to make a real like repeating pattern at the time. I was just kind of like following it and made hundreds of designs that way. Then I had to go back and fix them all when I figured out how to make a real repeating pattern. My designs just really resonated there and took off. I built my business there. I made multiple six figures selling on Spoonflower for years. Then as we continue to grow, we want to make this sustainable. And Spoonflower made lots of changes here a couple of years ago when they sold to Shutterfly. It really affected my business big time. It scared me because my husband had left his job. He was working full time for me now. We thought we had everything made and in the bank. And then when everything started to shift, I realized I built. my foundation based on someone else's platform and someone else's rules. And even though Spoonflower is a wonderful place for artists to get started and build their portfolios and their brands, I realized though, like to be a sustainable business, I have to build my own foundation Speaker 1 (3:19) now. Now Speaker 2 (3:20) that I knew what worked, now that I knew like what sold well, I can realize that I needed to make that. So we started manufacturing and selling our own wallpaper because we knew that sold well on Spoonflower and we knew that's where we could kind of pivot. And it has been the biggest, the hardest thing I've ever been through. I will say, like, I went through a couple of years where I thought it was going to break me. And it's right when I decided to start teaching everybody how to do Spoonflower too. So it all kind of was piled on at once. It was overwhelming. We'll see though. It was the best growing experience for me. And now we're starting to see the sunshine after going through a few cloudy years. That's kind of like the story and we can dive deeper into it. But like, that's kind of like my story. And I got started in where I grew from, I guess. Speaker 1 (4:10) Yeah. So Mindy, I've watched you throughout this journey because I met you maybe four years ago online and watching you go from strength to strength. People assume looking at you and how beautiful your artwork is and how articulate you are, you know, that like, you know, it must be great to be men young all the time, you know, but you're right. People don't realize that in order to build a brand, and we're going to talk a lot about building a brand, not on someone else's foundation, why that's important. You have to be willing to go through hard things. Like you have to choose the hard that you're willing to go through. And a lot of times people want something that looks really great on social media, but they may not necessarily be willing to keep going whenever something changes suddenly. Like you said, I remember the day Spoonflower sold. And I remember my gut being like, nothing ever good happens whenever something goes from one hand to the other. in our world. And my foundation wasn't on Spoonflower, but you know, years ago, my foundation was on Etsy. And so I realized that I couldn't continue to build something that was mine using Etsy as my foundation. And so I went through that arduous journey of feeling like I was about to lose it all. Am I going to shut down? What am I going to do to finding the way forward that has created stability and growth, which, you know, You say it out loud like that and it's like, oh, it's one sentence, one long run on sentence. And then we're here on the other side. Would you mind going into a little bit more detail about what it really is like to be someone who people follow and admire and you teach them online whenever behind the scenes you're actually having to change your whole kind of identity as a business owner? Speaker 2 (6:03) Yeah. So I would say the best thing that you can do as an artist really is truly. serve your audience and know who you are talking to. Because if you are just creating beautiful things every day, you're a hobbyist. Like you're not actually being serious about making it a business. And you have to come to terms with like, when you are ready to go, I'm ready to go from hobbyist to actually making money with my art and like being a business owner. And there's a big difference there. And you have to step into that role when you're ready. But when you're ready, that's when it like really starts to take shape and you really start to start building foundations that are going to help make you successful. And until you make that decision in your own mind, like nobody can force you to do it. You have to just really commit to like giving your all to it because then you're going to obsess about like who you're selling to every day. You're going to start understanding other things that you can help them with. And that stands out. And I will say, like, we've been able to pivot, thankfully, based on data that we had on Spoonflower, knowing what sold best. And we were able to, like, really lean into that customer as well. I had to switch my customers who I was speaking to before I was speaking to fabric designers and small business owners. And then I had to make this pivot to speaking to now people who buy wallpaper, interior designers. I had to start speaking a different language and learning that. And there was a little lull for when I made that jump from one ship to the other. And it was scary because you don't know if it's going to work. But there comes a point where like you're all in. Like you burn the boats. Like you said, there's no back door for me to go run to anymore. Like I am all in. And that is the difference maker with... I think artists who are actually successful and artists who are dabbling and just barely getting by. There's people who are like all in and I am all in in my business. No matter which direction I'm going, I'm going to go 100%. And that is understanding who I'm selling to, where my style, like if it needs to shift a little bit in the colors, the motifs that are popular, you know, what's selling well on wallpaper now. I have to do that research and understand, okay, like Can I do this? Does my art style fit here? Am I willing to change my art style a little bit if it needs to change to be sold? Like you have to know what sells well. And so really understanding that, I think, and having those foundations in business makes you so much more successful as an artist when you are all in and focused and like very clear on the path that you want to take forward. Speaker 1 (8:54) Let's talk a little bit about what it actually means to have a foundation in business because two things I want to say real quick and then get your feedback on it. First of all, I see so often people say, you know, I want to be self-made. I want to build my own career. I want creativity to be the thing that pays my bills. And I mean, I wanted that too. I've wanted it since I was a little kid. But a lot of times people don't realize that anytime you're