188 | Providing Comfort for Grief and Loss Through Products with Janine Kwoh, Kwohtations
Hey friends! It’s no secret that grief is hard. It comes with so many unexpected feelings and emotions.
My guest in this episode, Janine Kwoh, the owner and artist behind Kwohtations is no stranger to grief. Her own loss is what inspired her to create a product line to comfort people dealing with the pain of losing a loved one.
In this episode, we chat about her business and how she took it from a hobby to side hustle to her full-time gig. She also shares her experiences running her business as a one-woman show.
Janine and I chat about her process (she actually letterpress prints each card on an antique printing press and hand paints them all). She even shares her advice for other entrepreneurs and how lack of knowledge can sometimes be a benefit as a business owner!
ON TODAY’S EPISODE:
What her mission means to her and how it came about
How Janine uses her life experiences as the anchor for her products
The response she’s gotten from her product line
What identity means to her
Her transitions from hobby to side hustle to full time in her business
Why you have to work on your mindset constantly as a business owner
Her production process for her products
Janine’s long term vision for her business
What types of products Janine creates
Her advice for people who are building their businesses
How not knowing how to do things can benefit you as an entrepreneur
Janine’s self-help book that she’s working on
Download These Quotables to Save and Share
KEY TAKE AWAYS
“I'm not so much interested in making cards that celebrate our Instagram lives, but I'm more interested in making cards that address those questions and fears that we have by ourselves.” - Janine Kwoh
“We all might feel a little bit less alone when we realize that we're all more similar than we think.” - Janine Kwoh
“You really speak to the heart of who people are as individuals and the incredible emotions that they're going through at different phases of their life.” - Katie Hunt
“For me, grief has been a pretty isolating experience and a very confusing one and just a lot messier and longer than I thought it would be.” - Janine Kwoh
“No one else was really telling me that I wasn't an artist or I wasn't an entrepreneur, but I think I had to validate that for myself.” - Janine Kwoh
“Don't wait until you feel like you know everything or have all your ducks in a row before you start, because you may never start.” - Janine Kwoh
“Just do it. Just put it out in the world.” - Janine Kwoh
“We set ourselves up for disappointment sometimes because we place unrealistic expectations on ourselves.” - Katie Hunt
RESOURCES
MEET JANINE:
Janine is the owner and artist behind Kwohtations, a Brooklyn, NY-based line of letterpress printed greeting cards and other gift items that celebrate a diversity of identities and life experiences, and always with a bit of humor.
Kwohtations products address the real life ups and downs that make the journey both so hard and so delightful. They are for those of us who feel alone or "other" in some way, whether it's because of some aspect of our identity (e.g. race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation) or our lived experiences (e.g. grieving, navigating everyday anxiety and life milestones, re-defining success and family for ourselves). Kwohtations is proudly a one-woman show - Janine letterpress prints each card on an antique printing press, and then paints in any colors by hand, so each one is truly handmade and one-of-a-kind.
CONNECT WITH JANINE
Website: kwohtations.com | Facebook: @kwohtations | Instagram: @kwohtations
Twitter: kwohtations | Pinterest: kwohtations
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
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