ON TODAY’S EPISODE:

What led Morgan to start Morgan Swank Studio [3:06]
How she was driven by art [5:27]
How Morgan decided on a greeting card business [6:11]
How having zero expectations impacted her start as an entrepreneur [8:32]
What it’s like navigating her chronic illness and business [10:41]
Her words of encouragement for entrepreneurs that have chronic illnesses [16:15]
Morgan’s lessons about having self-awareness and your well-being [19:41]
How she got a licensing opportunity with Hobby Lobby [22:08]
The various ways you can leverage art and licensing [24:42]
How her time blocking has evolved as she’s done more licensing deals [27:49]
How Morgan’s perception of herself as an entrepreneur has changed [30:02]
What products she’s excited about creating next [31:24]

Download These Quotables to Save and Share

KEY TAKE AWAYS

“One of the problems with being an entrepreneur is we're so reactive and we don't give ourselves that space that time to have that clarity. - Katie Hunt [7:52]

“If you don't pace yourself, it's not sustainable.” - Katie Hunt [14:33]

“We need to really hone in on the things that are working for us and prioritize things based on our personal needs as well as the business needs.” - Katie Hunt [15:32]

“You need to be able to make sure that you're caring for your own health and well-being because without you, there isn't going to be a business.” - Morgan Swank [17:52]

“Licensing is a completely different business model than having a product line and selling it direct to consumer and retail.” - Katie Hunt [27:02]

“The point of being a business owner isn't that you know everything but that you're willing to put in the time and effort to grow and to keep learning. - Morgan Swank [30:27]

RESOURCES

LABS
Paper Camp
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
Special Edition | Taking our Business Temperature with Katie Hunt & Kristen Ley
203 | How to Negotiate Licensing Contracts with Stacie Bloomfield, Gingiber

MEET MORGAN:

Morgan is a corgi-loving, enneagram 5 bookworm with a fondness for G+Ts. She creates bright bold illustrated paper goods for the fun and witty millennial.

CONNECT WITH MORGAN

Website: morganswank.com | Instagram: @morganswankstudio | Facebook: @morganswankstudio

Connect with Katie Hunt

Katie Hunt is a business strategist, podcaster, mentor and mama to four. She helps product based businesses build profitable, sustainable companies through her conferences, courses and coaching programs.

Website: prooftoproduct.com | Instagram: @prooftoproduct

Transcript for Proof to Product Episode 215

DOWNLOAD THE TRANSCRIPT

215 | Growing a Multi-Faceted Business while Managing a Chronic Illness with Morgan Swank, Morgan Swank Studio

[00:00:03] Katie Hunt We're taking you behind the scenes with entrepreneurs that run product based businesses. There is so much information out there tailored toward service providers. So we have carved out a space just for you, the creative entrepreneur making and selling physical goods, whether you are just starting out or a seasoned business owner. This podcast will shed light on new strategies, inspiration and action steps to help you grow your product based business. Hey, friend, I'm Katie Hunt, and welcome back to Proof to Product. Today's guest is one of my longtime students, Morgan Swank of Morgan Swank Studio. Morgan attended our Paper Camp program in 2018 and is also a founding member of our LABS community. I am so proud of how Morgan has intentionally and thoughtfully grown her business and she's going to share her story with us today. Morgan is a corgi loving Enneagram five bookworm with a fondness for gin and tonics. She's created bright, bold, illustrated paper goods for the fun and witty millennial. Morgan sells her products to both the wholesale and retail markets, and she recently started working with a licensing group to create wall art for stores like Hobby Lobby and Home Goods. In this episode, you'll hear Morgan talk about how she never planned to be an entrepreneur. But after giving herself 72 hours to reflect on what she wanted in her life, it became crystal clear that she wanted to start a paper goods brand. Morgan also shares what it is like to be a business owner with a chronic illness. Specifically, we talk about how she needs to adjust her schedule, how she gives herself grace and listens to her body's rhythm. When planning out her work, she offers words of encouragement that are applicable to all of us as we navigate business growth. Now, before we jump in, I wanted to quickly mention here that we are working on plans to open up our Paper Camp program soon. Paper Camp is where you'll learn everything you need to know to start or scale your wholesale program. You can get all the details and join the waitlist at ProoftoProduct.com/papercamp. In Paper Camp, we cover four key areas, including how to prep your product line for wholesale sales tools and strategies that you need marketing to wholesale buyers and how to exhibit at trade shows. We have been running paper camp for over ten years now and have taught thousands of brands and they sell to stores like Target, Container Stores, Starbucks, J.Crew, as well as independent boutiques that are located around the world. If you want to be first in line, when we open the doors to pay per camp, head to ProoftoProduct.com/papercamp to join that waitlist. And I will include that link in the show notes too. Now, let's jump into this episode with Morgan of Morgan Swank Studio. Hi, Morgan. Welcome to Proof to Product.

[00:02:49] Morgan Swank Hi, Katie. Thanks for having me here

[00:02:51] Katie Hunt It is my pleasure. I have really enjoyed watching you intentionally grow your business over the last few years. You know, you previously shared with me that you never wanted to be an entrepreneur. So what led you to starting Morgan's Studio?

[00:03:06] Morgan Swank Yeah, I think it was a gradual process. So I went to school for fashion design. I have a fine arts degree in fashion design. And I was always like, I want to just work for a corporation. I don't want to do my own thing. I think, like in my head, entrepreneurs are a little crazy. But it's true. We are.

[00:03:23] Katie Hunt We are.

[00:03:25] Morgan Swank But it kind of was like a gradual process where I worked for a corporation and then I started working for an overseas company. And through that overseas company, I actually had to set up an LLC for myself because of the way the money was being wired transferred. So it was funny because like I became a business before I even became a business might to be more like you really need to become a business for this also like legally work well. I was like OK, I guess. Make me an LLC. And what do you want to be? A Mike Morgan studio? That sounds like a good name. So it's really like my business started before I started my business and then going through working for an overseas company, which was problematic in certain ways and not good for my health. Just high stress, long hours, interpersonal issues. I think some cultural issues as well. So I was like, this isn't this isn't where I want to be. I'm like, at that point I was in my mid twenties. I'm like, I'm hating my life. Everything is about work. I'm so stressed all the time. And then I ended up going part time for them and doing some freelance work. And then I ended up getting just a sudden onset of chronic illness and really just being like, OK, if I'm going to be ill. And this is kind of like the projection from my life right now is not feeling well. I need to make what I do when I work count. Yeah. That I want it to be something that I enjoy, but I, I can spend time on and I can make it into a life where I can, I can have a good quality of life and work towards being able to balance my health and my business. So.

[00:05:09] Katie Hunt So it sounds like you're obviously putting yourself first, which is a must do. Right. I'm so glad that you made that choice. It sounds like you love the work. Well, not working with that organization necessarily, but the artwork, you were driven by the art, from what I've seen. Is that true?

[00:05:27] Morgan Swank Oh, yeah. Everything about what I do is just based on the fact that I love to create art. So with the jobs I was doing were design jobs, that's another side that I love to do, is design work. But even on the side, when I was doing that, I was still doing art and trying to put stuff out there and see what was happening. And so when I kind of sat down, it was the summer of 2018 by the time all of this kind of happened. And I was ill and trying to figure out, OK, I'm doing commission work and I'm doing freelance stuff and what do I want. It really came down to like I want to create art and I want to create art that not just people who have hundreds of dollars for commission work can afford.

[00:06:11] Katie Hunt Right.

[00:06:11] Morgan Swank My desire would be I want people to be able to afford my art at all different price points. And I kind of went on, I say a bit of a tongue in cheek way, but like a vision quest. Yeah, I gave myself like seventy two hours where I'm like, you're going to sit down and you're going to go through like I had like a values like find your values mini training course. I went through, I rewrote essentialism, I picked up a few different books and I sat down with like a notebook and I'm like, What, what do you like, what do you want and what are you passionate about? And through those, like I sat myself at a desk at my desk looking outside the window and I'm like, you're just going to sit here. And for the next two days to three days, you're going to like work on this and figure out what you want. And it was crazy because if you asked me before that, I would have never been like, oh, a paper products business like that. And going through the different exercises about values and then reading, essentialism and then being like, what brands do I really think are I really enjoy following and working on things that make me excited? Like at the end of those days I went and I told my mom, I'm like, I want to start a greeting card company. Like, that's what I wanted to do.

[00:07:18] Katie Hunt Just clear as day. This is what I want to do. Yeah. OK, I want to peel the onion back a little bit on this, because I think it is amazing that you gave yourself this block of time and that you allowed yourself to, you know, reassess your personal values, to look at the things you enjoy doing, looking at the things that you didn't want to do any more, looking at the negative repercussions of this corporate job that was really harming your health and giving yourself the freedom really to dream. Because I will tell you, I mean, we've talked about this in LABS and stuff. One of the problems with being an entrepreneur is we're so reactive many times and we don't give ourselves that space, time to have that clarity, to even think about next steps. And we're so busy doing the work, I guess, is what I'm trying to say with our heads down. We're doing the work and we don't take the time to lift our head up and say, am I walking in the right direction here? Am I pushing this in the right direction, which you did over those two to three days? And I'm so excited to hear that one you gave yourself that time. I think that's so impactful. And two, that it resulted in this clarity, like a crystal clear path that you wanted to take for yourself. Did you expect that going in?

[00:08:32] Morgan Swank Not really, actually. And I think one of the good things about it was I didn't have expectations of myself going in. Yeah, I knew I knew I needed to change something. But I think going into it, I was like, I'm just going to grab these things that I think will be helpful to help me process and make decisions. Yeah, but kind of having the freedom to not have pressure on me was helpful. And I didn't have a preconceived notion of what was going to happen at the end. You know, I was just hoping for some sort of clarity or some sort of like maybe I shouldn't do this anymore. Maybe I should try. Yeah. So it was kind of crazy, actually. It still feels crazy. I'm like I don't even know how I ended up. Like, I remember doing it. I'm like, I don't even remember how I got there at the end. But I think just looking over the things that I had written down, which I think was important too, is like stop and like start have questions, because again, we're generated, I think, by other people that are taken from different workbooks and which or something

[00:09:35] Katie Hunt like sometimes we need a guide through that process. So for anyone to give yourself that time, whether you're at the beginning phase of your business, whether you've been doing this for a while, a little while, whether you've been doing it for ten years, I mean, I used to go before covid. I used to go on solo retreats. And I've talked about this on the podcast in the past for one or two nights where it was just me with all my big ideas and I would jot stuff on paper. I would do what you did. Sometimes there were books I read based on what I was trying to accomplish. Sometimes I ran through workshops or people, you know, like I used other tools to help me with whatever I was trying to hone in on. So I think that's hugely valuable and I love that story. I did not know that that was kind of how you came to this decision to start the business and start the paper product business. You mentioned your chronic illness. So I know you've been navigating this as you were starting the business and to how you've continued to grow it. What has that been like for you having this? Additional weight on you, you know, it affects your schedule, it affects your creativity. How do you navigate that as a business owner?

[00:10:41] Morgan Swank Yeah, I think it's a process that I'm still navigating as things change. I think it was helpful that, like I started this business with already having it starting and having major chronic illness issues, except when I stopped doing freelance or when I was doing freelance work and then I switched over. It's like, OK, I was already experiencing a lot of the issues, so I didn't have it where it felt like I was going this great, fast paced routine business and then stopped. And then it was just like, OK, I have to work this in too.

[00:11:19] Katie Hunt I have that's where my head was going. Like you would have. I assume you would have to adjust your work schedule. You would have to adapt how you were allotting creative time or I mean, what kind of logistics did that make for you? I mean, if you wake up feeling not so good one day and you had things planned that changes your routines, right? I mean,

[00:11:40] Morgan Swank yeah, it does. And I think that's where I've had to really work on not only time management, but also expectations of myself and my business. So I know there are a lot of things that I want to get done. And I'm a list maker. I'm a check it off, put it on the calendar, do or die type of person. But it really ended up being OK. What are the three things I started going to the what are three things this week that would help move my business forward. And you know what? If I got one, the top one of those done like then I have to say this is a successful week. And so taking it more as like my business is a long game and I want to not only make my business sustainable, but it has to be sustainable for me. And I think that that is something that I can't. I don't have energy like a healthy person, and I have to accept that. So I think it's hard because there's personal acceptance of chronic illness. And then as a business owner, there's also, like you said, there's ramifications. And then I have to accept certain things for my business. So I can't be running in five directions at once. Like on a good day, I can run on one.

[00:12:53] Katie Hunt Right. Well, it sounds to me like you have to give yourself a lot of grace and flexibility. Yes. In all sides of your life because of this.

[00:13:02] Morgan Swank Yeah. And I think it's been helpful because it's really made it where I have to make hard decisions on a routine basis as opposed to being like, well, let me throw five different things at the wall and see what sticks. I have to do a lot more analyzing like, OK, what is my time, energy commitment and is this really pushing forward my business in the direction that I want? So even when you were saying, like going on retreats, I have a friend, we've been friends for years and she's also very analytical. And we'll have checking calls like every three to six months. And we'll go through finances, like I'll run down on, like what everything is making. What I'm passionate about. I think it's your time, money, heart impact.

[00:13:49] Katie Hunt Yeah, I love that.

[00:13:51] This is, this is it. And we'll go through that and we'll talk and be like, OK, what do I have energy for in the next three to six months? What's the thing that I think that I can put time and energy into and that will push my business forward? What are the things that I might like but right now just don't have the bandwidth to do that. We can put on the back burner. And I think it's making me have a more intentional business, even though I don't like how slowly I feel like it's going. And sometimes I have to like, Sometimes it's like mourn the loss of being able to be like, I can do all the things I want to and my heart is there and I love my business. And I'd love to be able to just pour out all the energy into it.

[00:14:33] Katie Hunt But if I don't pace yourself, it's not sustainable, like you said earlier. And you have to. It's interesting too, you know, our business growth kit that we do in LABS where we do all the analytics of what's working and what's not working. And then we prioritize things based on what you talked about, the time it takes, our excitement, which is our heart for what we're doing. We look at the money involved or potential revenue, and then we look at the impact to like, what is it going to do, impact it? How is it going to impact the business? But also how is it going to impact our customers and the people that we work with? And it's interesting when I run that exercise with our community, but I also do that exercise myself and my own business. And there are seasons where, you know, in your case, the energy is the heart piece is a bigger factor for you, whereas maybe at a different piece in someone else's business, the money factor is a bigger piece for different reasons or you know what I mean? Like, it goes to show how different our businesses are. And how we need to really hone in on the things that are working for us and prioritize things based on our personal needs as well as the business needs. So that was just a thought that came up as I was listening to talk and having just recently done that exercise with everyone and hearing their feedback, you know, it just goes to show that that slow growth that you talked about, all of us are going through it. And I know we struggle sometimes with this. It isn't moving as fast as I want to. So I think that's completely relatable to you, although you have an added layer to that with your chronic illness, you know, what words of encouragement do you want to offer to other entrepreneurs that have chronic illnesses that may be listening, that are in the same boat as you?

[00:16:15] Morgan Swank Yeah, I think one of the things that I would say is like, you're not alone. You know, I could cry about this. You know, it's hard. Having chronic illness is hard. And I think that you can hold yourself up to measuring yourself against other people's abilities, their energy levels, the way that they're moving their business forward, especially with social media. It feels like and I'm guilty of it, too. I don't always post personal things on Instagram and I do post a lot of things that are my wins and less of things that aren't. But I think there can be a feeling that you're alone or that you're you're the one who's behind and I think to understand that, you know, there's more of us out there than people probably think who are struggling with physical and physical illness, chronic illness, chronic pain. And also, I think, to give yourself, like you said earlier, like a lot of grace, to be able to say, like, you know what, today. Today, I'm not feeling well and I just can't. I just can't keep working or I need to go and stand outside in the sun or I need to go take a nap, because everything is now a catastrophe on my head and everything is getting worse on paper. You know, I'm drawing something and it's just looking worse and worse. And I think just giving yourself permission to, like, step back and be like, you know what like, again, if you want your business and you love your business, it's a long game and you need to be able to sustain yourself and you need to be able to you need to be able to make sure that you're caring for your own health and well-being because without you, there isn't going to be there's going to be a business.

[00:17:59] Katie Hunt No, there's not.

[00:18:01] Morgan Swank Yeah. So I think that and I think remembering that part of the ability to have your own business is to be able to make those boundaries. Yeah. And then not feeling guilty, I think especially I think we all can feel guilty in this fast paced world of like achieve more and be better and run a marathon and whip up a souffle, run a thriving business and make it beautiful and Instagram.

[00:18:24] Katie Hunt And drink all the water and get all the sleep and eat healthy and exercise and all of the things. Oh my goodness. Yes. Yeah. Thank you for being vulnerable with me and sharing that. One thing you mentioned that I think is a really good thing for people to keep in mind, too, is knowing yourself and what your I guess what refills your energy, like you said, stepping outside, getting sunshine, taking a nap, like knowing what things are personally to you, going to refill you, and then also recognizing the things that are draining us to you know, if I'm continuing to draw a piece and it feels like it's going nowhere and it's stressing me out and, you know, it's making me say negative things in my head than, OK, I need to take a step back from that, too. So I think that self reflection, that self acknowledgment of who I am and I'm speaking for myself to, you know, knowing what fills me up and what drains me. My kids are reading the bucket book of gosh, what is it called? It's all about filling our buckets and what fills our buckets and what empties our buckets and how to make sure we're focused on more of the things that fill our bucket. So I just wanted to mention that. I think it's really wonderful that you have that self awareness too. These are the things that really fuel me and these are the things that drain me.

[00:19:41] Morgan Swank Yeah, I think that's I think that's important. And also, I think too, I like to walk in my week and. Yeah. And then being able to say what hours I am most creative I think I've had to really hone in on what hours I can do like computer work. What hours am I the best at my drawing table? What hours am I the best at writing newsletters like three big pieces? It's like I'm a way better evening newsletter writer. I draw the best in the afternoon and I can do all of the computer work in the morning and I know that about me. So it's easier then for me to be able to go, OK, you know, it's the afternoon now. I'm feeling pretty good. I'm not going to worry about my emails. I'm not going to worry about that newsletter. I need to get done. I'm going to sit down and do the drawing that I want to do. And then if it's evening and. I have energy and I have some ideas. It's like, you know, this is a great time to just start working on that newsletter. So I think listening to your body, really listening to your body and your mind and where you thrive and at what times you thrive in different aspects, because I think we all have rhythms. I certainly do. That is pretty significant where if you try to sit me down at eight a.m. at a drawing table and you're like, draw something, you know, like it knocked out, you never like unless it's like after 12, it's not going to happen. And that's because of chronic illness. I have a lot of joint stiffness and pain and I have developed a tremor in my hand. So things are worse at different times of the day. And sometimes I'm like, I have to wait until the afternoon when my joints feel better so that I can actually draw where doing some computer work is easier in the morning with that. So it's also balancing that for sure.

[00:21:29] Katie Hunt I think the rhythms you're spot on with that all of us have our unique rhythms and you know, some of us are night owls. Some of us I mean, this is oversimplified, of course. But, you know, morning people find me. I feel like that's a really important thing for us to find our rhythm there. Switching gears a bit, I want to talk about a recent project that you did or that you're currently working on. You recently shared in our LABS community that you had a big licensing partnership with Hobby Lobby, which is so exciting. So first off, congratulations on the collaboration. And then secondly, can we dove into some of the details here? Like how did that opportunity come about?

[00:22:07] Morgan Swank Yeah, actually, I ended up meeting this while our licensing group at NSS 2020 when I exhibited there and ended up in kind of an email dialog with them after that. And they followed up there like, hey, you know, we'd love to talk with you about your work. And so we had a couple of follow up phone conversations and some talks, contract talks, kind of figuring hammering that out and the limitations of that. I wanted to make sure that I protected the ability to license my work with other people and for other things. So really making sure that the contract was advantageous to both of us. So I did a couple of things like back and forth, revision of some stuff. And then everything went. They took pieces that they saw on my portfolio, on my website, cause I'm a, primarily I like to call myself an artist first. I just try to make sure and have artwork on my website and a portfolio section. And so they ended up picking pieces from my portfolio and pitched them at a meeting with Hobby Lobby. And they ended up a couple went on to the next round and then they ended up picking one to put in their stores. And so that was really cool and exciting.

[00:23:23] Katie Hunt Yeah, you I mean, it was a huge number, like the quantity of

[00:23:27] Morgan Swank four hundred

[00:23:28] Katie Hunt fifty four. OK, OK. And that was just one print that you had?

[00:23:33] Morgan Swank Yeah. One print for that, that release cycle that I've been doing, illustrating for different meetings that they have with Hobby Lobby. And so there should be another one, another piece coming out so each with roughly the same amount of that as well.

[00:23:48] Katie Hunt OK, so this licensing agency, or group, I don't know if that's a correct term, but are they just pitching you to Hobby Lobby or are they pitching you to other projects, too?

[00:23:57] Morgan Swank So I primarily brought me on to pitch to Hobby Lobby, but I just had the opportunity to draw some stuff for a pitch they were doing to HomeGoods. So they have a couple others they work with quite a few. They just do wall art and wall decor and they pitch to some of the larger, larger companies.

[00:24:14] Katie Hunt So I think this is fascinating to hear how different people get into licensing. We've had Kristen Ley on the podcast and she's presented in LABS. We had Stacie on the podcast from Gingiber recently. She was talking about licensing, Kristen works with a licensing agent. She works with an art agent. Stacie, some of her first things were people approaching her. This is you working with a licensing group. So I think it's one just fascinating to point out that there's so many different ways to leverage your art and also work in this licensing arena, whether you're working directly with a company that you're providing art to, whether you're working with a single agent or somebody that's going out representing you, whether it's more of a group setting like this to where they have other artists that they work with, I guess is kind of similar to an art agent. But it's different to write the way.

[00:25:05] Morgan Swank I would because I talked a bit with Sassily about her art life, because she works with an agent and we kind of had some chats, which I think is really important. And one of the reasons I love LABS and Proof to Product is it allows me to talk with people who are doing similar things in a different avenue and kind of picking each other's brains. And so it is a little different in that I'm pretty much just getting a brief and inspiration board and I get. When the deadline is before the meeting, they might tell me, like we think, that these would be really good or like take a look at these few boards, but I'll get maybe 20 plus inspiration boards and then with images and some colors. And then I'll just go through the kind of narrow boards that I'm like, that is in no way my art style filter through and then get down to the boards. And I'm like, okay, these are things that I think I can do some wall art pieces for. And then I try to I try to get it down to working maybe two to three days on it and just creating, researching, finding the inspiration pieces, figuring out what am I going to do digitally, am I going to know which ones am I going to do in marker, which ones am I going to do on my iPad and then try to just knock it out again at a time block? Sort of like this is the time that I'm going to spend on these pieces and then get them off. So it's different, I think, than an art licensing agent, where I think they bring a lot more opportunities and a lot more variety of options where this is specifically wall art and I will get a specific request for a specific client with certain words.

[00:26:42] Katie Hunt So it's I love hearing you say how you block your schedule and you block because licensing is a completely different business model than having a product line and selling it direct to consumer and retail. Right. It's very different from selling wholesale. It's very like all of these different revenue streams that require a different capacity from you, a different mindset, and different logistics, too. And so one of the biggest things I hear people struggle with is how am I going to do all this? How am I going to juggle all this? And they try to weave in these, like designing and sending out orders with, you know, so for you to buy the licensing side, to your point, it requires research and brainstorming and identifying trends and thinking through things and and then the actual creation of the art. So the fact that you are very intentional about how you're blocking off your time and, you know, handling that portion of your business, I think is really something that listeners should listen to, because I think that's important to do. And I think a lot of people miss that step as well. Do you have that, did you have that schedule when you first started or did that kind of morph and change as you started doing more of it?

[00:27:49] Morgan Swank I think it changed a little bit. I when I first started and I'm still somewhat new because of the pandemic kind of thing or it's like, OK, things are happening. It's like things actually aren't happening for a very long time. So after going through a couple of the design cycles, I think it's like, OK, how much am I getting? If a piece is packed financially, what does that mean? And still figuring that out because with licensing, as you know, but maybe listeners don't, but it takes a while to get paid because you're not getting paid until the product is either shipped to the store or in the store. And so that's you know, from the time that I started art licensing to getting my first check was, you know, nine months to a year. So that's significant. And so part of it was like, OK, I'm going to when I'm starting, I want to give this my best my best amount of energy that I can without harming my other income streams and then kind of adjusting the time input based on the revenue I was receiving. So I'm taking in the data points as I'm going and being like, OK, if I'm getting X for one piece, then how much of my week or month should I be spending on this? Because if I'm spending time on this, like with anything, I'm not spending time on something else. So how am I going to weigh that? And is this worth my time and attention? So I think that's how I went down. I'm like, OK, you know, for certain things, it's like this is two to three day. Like, that's what I'm comfortable with. So that if I sell a piece and I get that check, I'm not going to be disappointed because that was what I input. I don't want the time to outweigh the benefits.

[00:29:36] Katie Hunt Yeah, for sure. Oh, that's a great way of looking at it. All right. As we're wrapping up here, how has your perception of yourself as a business owner changed over the years? I mean, when we started at the beginning of this interview, we talked about how you never wanted to be an entrepreneur. And, you know, I've seen you refer to yourself as a reluctant businesswoman that's passionate about art, you know? So how do you see yourself now as an entrepreneur or as a business owner?

[00:30:02] Morgan Swank I think that's still growing. I think I still have it where people are like, what are you doing? Like, I draw things. And so I'm a really bad marketer. That's what I've learned from the liner. You know, I finally came up with one the other day and I can try to sound official. I think I had to, like, come to a place where I realized that we all in some senses, are faking it until we make it, that the point of being a business owner isn't that you know everything but that you're willing to put in the time and effort to grow and to keep learning. So I think that's really a key piece of entrepreneurship and love. What you do is and like I am passionate about figuring things out and making it work. And I can get behind that. I don't know if I should get behind being a business owner, because the thought of that isn't really things that make me happy, but the ability to be like, you know what, I can figure this out. And I think that I can figure this out is what is the heart behind entrepreneurship.

[00:31:04] Katie Hunt Absolutely. It's that drive, that grit, that and even more than either of those two, it's the curiosity of if I can do this, I can figure this out. Oh, I love that. OK, Morgan, tell everybody what you're up to next. What are you working on that you can share? I know there's probably some projects you can't share, but what's coming up for you next year?

[00:31:24] Morgan Swank Well, I'm really excited. I've started adding some new products in retail and wholesale, but I've been really working recently on growing my retail side of my business that seems through the pandemic to have grown faster than wholesale. So, again, focusing a little bit more on retail. And so I just added in some new washi tape, but I'm really excited about notepads. Yay! And I started doing these gift boxes that I really like. And then I also just placed an order for sticky notes. So I'm going to release sticky notes as well.

[00:31:57] Katie Hunt Oh, I can't wait to see them. I will tell you, that has been like an ongoing product that has had so many people I know in our community and LABS communities have wanted to do sticky notes, but yet they couldn't find the right manufacturers. The sticky wasn't good enough. Like, I can't wait to see what you come out with because that's been a product that I know a lot of our maker community has wanted to do. So kudos to you for finding the answer, as you said.

[00:32:23] Morgan Swank Well, I found one answer was yes, it will.

[00:32:28] Katie Hunt It totally will. I'm excited to see them. All right. Tell everybody where they can find you online. So if they want to check out your products and see this new washing in the sticky notes and everything else,

[00:32:36] Morgan Swank yes, you can find me at Morgan Swank Dotcom and you can find me on Instagram. That's the one social media site I really hang out on at Morgan Swank studio.

[00:32:47] Katie Hunt We will include that in the shadows too, so everyone can easily find it. Morgan, it was such a delight to chat with you today. Thank you for coming on to share your story. Thank you for being vulnerable about the chronic health illnesses that the chronic illness that you've been facing. And just for sharing your heart with us today, I really appreciate it.

[00:33:06] Morgan Swank Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed chatting with you.

[00:33:11] Katie Hunt Of course. All right, friends, I loved hearing more of Morgan's story today. And I wanted to highlight a couple of key takeaways before we sign off. The first is self awareness and grace are so important in entrepreneurship. Morgan talked about giving ourselves permission to rest when we need this. And so whether you're navigating a chronic illness or not, this is a really important reminder for all of us. Rest is critical. It is not sustainable if we're constantly hustling, hustling, hustling. So give yourself permission to rest and to take breaks when you need. Secondly, I loved how she talked about how the opportunity with the licensing group came about at a trade show. You never really know who you are going to meet and how that may lead to new opportunities down the line. So whether it's at a trade show, whether it's at a craft or whether it's just talking at a party with people about how what we do and how we do the work we do, you never know who those people are and how they may come into your life down the road and present opportunities to you. So always keep your mind open and be open to what the future may hold. Their third is negotiations. Did you hear when Morgan talked about going back and forth with the licensing group to negotiate her contract? Everything is negotiable, friends. And I want any deals that you enter into to be advantageous to both you and whoever else you are working with. So don't be afraid to ask for what you need and speak up for yourself. If you feel that a contract that's been presented to you doesn't seem balanced or fair to you, everything is negotiable. And fourth, I just want to reiterate what she said. You are not alone. I know this road to entrepreneurship can feel lonely and hard at times. If you don't have a support network, please find one. Morgan found our camp community in our lab community. Find people who understand what you're working towards and who understand the unique challenges that you face in your life, in your business. I want you to have people around you that really, truly support you and everything you do. All right. Thank you again to Morgan for joining me today for this powerful episode. That is all I have for you today. Oh, don't forget, I take that back. Don't forget. Join our paper. Can't wait list at ProoftoProduct.com/papercamp. If wholesale is an area of focus for you over the next six months or a year, there is no better program suited for you or more comprehensive than our Paper Camp program. It is not something you do on your own. We guide you through everything step by step with each piece building upon the last one, and I'll put a link in our show notes, but it's at ProoftoProduct.com/papercamp for more information. All right, guys, have a great day and I'll be back next week with the new episode.