264 | Looking back at 10 years in business with Nikki Tyler, Little Lovelies Studio

There’s a quote that reads something along the lines of “Remember that once you dreamed of being where you are now.” Business growth and success looks a little different for everyone depending on where you are in your life and the goals you have for your business—but a past version of yourself has likely dreamt of being exactly where you are. It’s so easy to keep grinding and moving along in our business, but today I want to encourage you to take some time to reflect on where you started in your journey and where your business is today.

In this episode, Nikki Tyler of Little Lovelies Studio joins us to discuss what the last 10 years of business has looked like for her, what her journey to wholesale entailed, and what she’d do differently if she was just getting started. Listen in as she shares how wholesale went from an idea to contributing to 95% of her revenue at Little Lovelies Studio!

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Building a Product Based Business

The success of Nikki’s business started almost by accident—she was struggling to find a Mother’s Day card that fit her personality, so she decided to make her own. Prior to this exploration into greeting cards, Nikki had an Etsy shop that she had opened to sell off the extra prints she made in her letterpress class. The Etsy shop wasn’t anything that she put a ton of work into, in reality she hadn’t been giving it much thought or love.

Not long after designing this greeting card for her mom, she decided that it was time for her to stay at home with her one year old. She decided to turn it into a creative outlet, make more cards, and give her Etsy shop a run! At the time, Etsy wasn’t oversaturated and the orders began rolling in.

Moving into Wholesale

A couple of years into her business, she’d created a few category lines and built some great products, but she didn’t know anything about industry standards (ex: her cards were 5x7). She’d considered moving into wholesale because the direct to consumer side of her business was going really well.

When Etsy rolled out Etsy Wholesale, she started to really explore the concept of wholesale and that’s when she came across Paper Camp. She made the decision to join Paper Camp in 2016 and take the next step to reaching more customers.

Growing in Wholesale through Paper Camp

When Nikki joined Paper Camp, she had a line of 5x7 greeting cards, but nothing else. The intention of going to Paper Camp that year was to make it to NSF in May 2017. At NSF, she went with a line of 5x7 greeting cards and enamel pins. That was the only trade show she attended.

Presently, Nikki has standard size greeting cards (4.75 x 5.5), enamel pins, stickers and notepads. The change in greeting cards wasn’t just because it was industry standard, but also because wholesale customers shared feedback that her 5x7 cards would take up too much room on the shelves. They loved the products, but the decision was business oriented.

She’s selling on Shopify and Etsy for her direct to consumer sales, along with Faire for wholesale. Now, retail is on cruise control while she pours her energy into scaling wholesale, which makes up 95% of her business.

Prioritizing Your Family as a Business Owner

Not only is Nikki a successful product-based business owner, but she is a mom to four under 9-years-old! Right now, she’s managing most of the business on her own outside of a friend that comes in once or twice a week to pack orders.

In order to find the creativity for more products, Nikki has found a routine that works for her. She gets up early, heads to the gym, get home to get her kids ready for school, and works while they’re in school. She then spends time and dinner with her family and once the kids are put to bed, she does a little more work. Additionally, Nikki has found a creative outlet in playing around with video marketing on TikTok and IG Reels.

Priorities & Sacrifices in Business

In any business, based on your own circumstances, you may have to sacrifice some things in your business—at least for a little while. For Nikki, her sacrifices come in certain product types that she doesn’t have the capacity to store, like t-shirts. In order to create a t-shirt line, she will need more storage space, because she doesn’t love the quality of print-on-demand. As of right now, an office building and storage space just isn’t feasible for her family with her kids at their current ages.

With that sacrifice, comes the sacrifice of business growth. Over the years, she has grown very, very slowly because as her business grew as her family also grew. Her priority will always be her family.

This doesn’t mean those sacrifices won’t happen eventually, as they’re all in her big picture plan. It’s all about timing—maybe not right now, but later.

A Look Back at 10 Years in Business

In looking back at the 10 years she’s been in business, Nikki is pretty happy with everything that she’s accomplished and the decisions she’s made. If anything, she may have started her business with smaller greeting cards, but outside of that, she wouldn’t do anything differently.

In the early stages of her business, when she first entered the wholesale world, she felt like her business was prepared, but she as a person wasn’t. So as far as entering wholesale, she may have considered doing it a little later so that she was ready for what all it entailed.

In moving forward, she doesn’t see herself doing any trade shows until her kids are a little older. Until then, she’s exploring the relationships she has in wholesale and continuing her efforts on wholesale.

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MEET NIKKI

Hello, my name is Nikki and I am Little Lovelies Studio. I am a stay-at-home chaos coordinator to four very feral and rambunctious kids. When I’m not herding them to their various activities, I’m working on new designs, packing orders, and making IG reels (it’s important to have fun!).

Here at LLS, I specialize in handlettered and illustrated greeting cards, stickers, notepads, and enamel pins. My designs are a mix of pop culture, political culture, parenthood, and things that make me happy. When it comes to the parenthood aspect of my designs, I like to use universal themes (both good and bad) to either add some humor to a situation or to offer encouragement and/or support.

I started Little Lovelies Studio because I couldn’t find the right card for a specific relationship. I continued Little Lovelies Studio because it helped me have a purpose outside of the home and find myself.

CONNECT WITH NIKKI

WEBSITE: littleloveliesstudio.com | FACEBOOK: facebook.com/LittleLoveliesStudio | INSTAGRAM: @littleloveliesstudio

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