Chicago - Six Month Update
It’s been HALF a year since Lettering Works relocated to Chicago. What a hustle and growth-filled experience these past six months have been.
The BIG News!
A sticker I designed went out to 31,500 people! Bradley Alumni donors to be specific. The huge sticker order that I received in October was in fact for Bradley University. I am beyond grateful that the Bradley Fund chose to work with me for this year’s annual mailing.
100 Days of Chicago is COMPLETE. You can take a look at the project and the full 100 drawings I created on both Instagram and Facebook. It also landed a feature in the December ‘Giving’ Edition of Design Calendar.
General Updates:
The AIGA Chicago Mentorship Program wrapped up. I spent eleven weeks learning from a combination of my small-group mentor Maxwell Billings of EightySeven and interactive workshops and speakers. Max led a group of ten mentees under the topic of Creative Entrepreneurship and The Art of The Side Hustle. I most enjoyed learning from his approach to creative business and being able to work on implementing new strategies to my business each week.
I returned to Cary-Grove High School. It was great to share my journey and successes with CG's art students and hopefully instill in them a sense of possibility with pursuing art as a career. While there, I recorded an impromptu podcast with District 155’s communications department that will be part of an upcoming campaign. In November, I also presented at a local Chicago arts program: Marwen, sharing similar insights to my creative entrepreneurial journey.
I recorded an episode on the Built to Stay podcast. Bart Bradshaw interviewed me on the challenges and successes of being a solopreneur. I shared my thoughts about receiving startup funding, the importance of passion projects, how to make art a career, and my plans to scale my business. You can listen to it here.
I taught my first Lettering Workshop in Chicago at Ampersand Cowork. It was a great night with a wonderful group that was mostly interested in pursuing lettering as a hobby. I also taught a private lettering workshop to the employees of a small local agency. Information on future lettering workshops will be shared via the Workshops page.
I participated as a vendor in the Women’s Small Business and Entrepreneurship Expo put on by the City’s Treasurer. I spent the day connecting with aspiring and established female business owners and attended a workshop about Women’s Business Certification. It was really informative, so I set up a follow up meeting with the presenter to best prepare myself for the application process. And…we made the ABC 7 Chicago news! (Only for a second, but you have to start somewhere, right?)
I worked on a new branding project. Throughout November, I worked with a social innovation software startup in Peoria to establish branding materials including a logo and brand guidelines. I’ll be sharing the final designs soon.
I became a featured vendor at Peoria Made. Lettering Works is one of 15 merchants selling in the new storefront. I am so excited to be included and part of the creative and entrepreneurial movement happening in Peoria! While I am working hard to build up business in Chicago, I still prioritize and love doing work with the Peoria community.
I completed my first artist collaboration with a local Chicago business. An official announcement with more details will be shared on Tuesday, December 10th.
I signed up for a Holiday Market on December 12th. Lettering Works will be one of 20 vendors set up at the new Time Out Market Chicago for their first Holiday Bazaar. I am excited to debut a couple new products alongside the existing collection of art products already available.
I’m starting to hit a breakthrough in planning to scale up my business in 2020. It’s equal parts exciting and scary because I know there is a lot of work to be done but also so much potential. Specifically, I am exploring opportunities within government contracting and researching the networks and opportunities I can plug Lettering Works into. As always, I am looking for new and exciting opportunities in the Peoria and Chicago areas and beyond. If you or someone you know would like to work on a project with me, send me a message via the website contact form.
