Episode 121 - Staying True to Your Art AND Building a Successful Business with Janna Willoughby-Lohr

03/10/22 • 61 min

How can you stay true to the why behind your art and grow your business at the same time? Janna Willoughby-Lohr chats with us about how she’s done both.

Artists need to eat.

While we create paper flowers because we love our art and touching people’s lives in a unique way, we also have bills to pay.

Can you do both? Yes!

In our latest episode of Paper Talk, we talked with Janna Willoughby-Lohr of Papercraft Miracles. Starting back in her college days, she set the rules for being an artist and building a successful business at the same time. As she put it, “I wanted to be an artist, and I didn’t want to be a starving artist, because that’s terrible.”

Janna made the right choices at the right time so that she could take advantage of opportunities that stayed true to her why and made financial sense. Listen now to get a shot of confidence for how you can do the same thing.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you listen to our conversation:

► Jenna’s paper flower journey and the why that’s fueled it.
► Why being open to new opportunities is critical for building a business.
► How Jenna made her appearance on a discovery+ TV show.
► Her advice for where to start when trying to grow your business.
► How Janna became a meme.

If you can’t listen right away, here are three things we discussed on the episode to get you started.

Be Open to Opportunities

One way that Janna has helped her business grow is by being open to new kinds of opportunities.

She has received many requests over the years for things that were outside of her norm. That’s how she discovered paper flowers! A client asked if she could make them, and she said yes knowing that she’d have to learn something new. That led her to discover yet another medium that she now loves.

You can listen to the episode to hear many more examples, from being on a discovery+ show, to fulfilling an order for half a million seed bombs for Lowe’s. Each time she pushed the boundaries of what she did, and doing so paid off in big ways in the end.

Focus on What Will Work

When a potential client comes to Janna with a crazy request, rather than thinking about all the ways it won’t work, she focuses on what might work.

Maybe she’ll try something that fails. Then it’s just back to the drawing board. Maybe she’ll try something that ends up being fantastic and leads her somewhere even better.

“I really try not to be that person who thinks of all the reasons it’s not going to work.” -Janna

With a positive attitude and a problem solving mindset, you’ll face more challenges—which means you’ll overcome more challenges! Your skill set will grow, and your business will grow.

Give Your Business Time

No business is built in a day. That’s especially true when you’re forging a new path, which many of us in the paper art world are doing.

On the episode, Janna told us that she didn’t pay herself until very recently. Every penny of profit she made went back into building up her business. She avoided debt and was able to invest in things that helped her paper business grow in the long term.

You might not be in the right financial situation to do that, and it simply might not be the right choice for you. However, being patient is definitely the right path for all of us. Even if you were somehow able to work on your paper flower business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it would still take time to grow into what you envision.

Listen to the podcast now to hear even more about how Janna has focused on her why all along her journey, and how her business is all the better for it.

Also, here's the PDF format for THE WHY WORKSHEET that you can download for free.

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ABOUT Janna Willoughby-Lohr:

Janna Willoughby-Lohr is an artist, poet, musician and entrepreneur from Buffalo, NY. Her company, Papercraft Miracles, specializes in handcrafted paper art that brings meaning to people's lives. She was awarded a $25,000 Ignite Buffalo Grant in 2018 and was named 40-Under-40 from Stationery Trends Magazine in 2019. She’s worked with large brands such as Twitter and Capital One. In 2021, her team created 500,000 plantable seed bombs for Lowe’s Spring Garden Giveaway event. Janna was also a contestant on Meet Your Makers Showdown, a new crafting competition TV show that is streaming now on discovery+.

She is the host of Reach the Stars Podcast—which features inspiring stories of persistence, passion and purpose. Janna leads the membership committee for the Nati...

How can you stay true to the why behind your art and grow your business at the same time? Janna Willoughby-Lohr chats with us about how she’s done both.

Artists need to eat.

While we create paper flowers because we love our art and touching people’s lives in a unique way, we also have bills to pay.

Can you do both? Yes!

Here’s what you’ll learn when you listen to our conversation:

If you can’t listen right away, here are three things we discussed on the episode to get you started.

Be Open to Opportunities

One way that Janna has helped her business grow is by being open to new kinds of opportunities.

Focus on What Will Work

When a potential client comes to Janna with a crazy request, rather than thinking about all the ways it won’t work, she focuses on what might work.

Maybe she’ll try something that fails. Then it’s just back to the drawing board. Maybe she’ll try something that ends up being fantastic and leads her somewhere even better.

“I really try not to be that person who thinks of all the reasons it’s not going to work.” -Janna

With a positive attitude and a problem solving mindset, you’ll face more challenges—which means you’ll overcome more challenges! Your skill set will grow, and your business will grow.

Give Your Business Time

No business is built in a day. That’s especially true when you’re forging a new path, which many of us in the paper art world are doing.

Listen to the podcast now to hear even more about how Janna has focused on her why all along her journey, and how her business is all the better for it.

Also, here's the PDF format for THE WHY WORKSHEET that you can download for free.

**********

ABOUT Janna Willoughby-Lohr:

She is the host of Reach the Stars Podcast—which features inspiring stories of persistence, passion and purpose. Janna leads the membership committee for the Nati...

Previous Episode

Episode 120 - Managing Multiple Brands with Laura Richey

Juggling multiple brands as a small business owner can be tricky. Listen to how Laura Richey manages marketing, aesthetics, and customer service with her paper art brands.

You have a fantastic new paper idea. It’s innovative. People are going to love it.

The only problem? It’s a little off-brand for you. It relates to your paper flower business, but it’s different enough that you’re not sure if you can market it all together.

You might need a brand new brand.

Next problem? How in the world do you manage more than one brand?

In our latest episode of Paper Talk, we chatted with Laura Richey of Pucker Up Paper Lips and 2 CLVR Designs. On top of her paper flowers and lip sculptures, she has also started creating paper portraits. Her art is all related, but appeals to different audiences and needs to be handled accordingly.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you listen to our conversation:

► Laura’s paper journey and how it led to sculptures and portraits.
► How to get found by big brands who want to work together.
► How to source paper despite shortages and shipping problems.
► Laura’s process for frequently checking in with customers to ensure they’re happy with the end product.
► How to tell when it’s time to pay for marketing or other outside help.

As a little sneak peek, here are three things to get you ready to branch out with multiple brands.

Be Prepared for Opportunities

As we chatted with Laura, we noticed a thread running through her work. She is a cardstock paper artist. She has over a decade of experience working with that medium. That expertise is invaluable when opportunities arise.

On the episode, Laura explained how Pucker Up Paper Lips took off. Without spoiling the entire story, her circumstances changed, opportunities arose, and she had the experience to be prepared to seize the moment. The paper lips were still related to what she is skilled at (working with cardstock), but different enough to warrant a new brand.

“Why can’t I do that with paper?” - Laura

If you’re waiting for your break, or you feel like you’re stuck in a rut, keep innovating. Keep learning new things. Better your skill set. You want to be as prepared as possible for when an opportunity does come up. Otherwise, it doesn’t really matter if you get a chance if you’re not ready for it.

Be Available in Many Places

With three brands comes three audiences. Some of those clients will overlap. Some come from more niche markets. Even within a single market for one brand, customers are individuals. As Laura pointed out on the podcast, some people are more comfortable with emails, others with Instagram DMs, etc.

If you’re looking to expand your sales, then you need to meet people where they are. Your paper art should be in more than one place on the internet, and you should get your work physically in front of people.

To find the best places to be, you should understand your target customer base. On the episode, Laura discussed how her clientele differs for her various brands. Listen now to better understand who you should be seeking out.

Get Outside Help When Needed

Laura shared that she is now working with a PR company to better market her businesses. This wasn’t an easy decision for her to make, and as we discussed, it isn’t the answer for everyone.

Sometimes, however, you simply don’t have enough time to run your business, or you don’t have the skills for a particular need. That’s when it’s time to hire someone. You of course should be mindful of what you’re spending, but if you do this well, you’ll keep making money even while outsourcing some parts of your business.

“Taking a leap with your business is definitely something I recommend.” - Laura

Listen to the episode to hear Laura’s very sound reasoning for why she decided to work with a PR company, and how to know when it’s time to hire someone to help your small business grow.

Also, here's the PDF format for THE WHY WORKSHEET that you can download for free.

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ABOUT Laura Richey:

Hi, I'm Laura. I started my business during the Covid pandemic in mid 2020. I needed a business that was flexible and that I could manage during online schooling and taking care of my son, who has ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). I created the Paper Lip business from the ground up. I have seen so many amazing makeup artists doing lip art that I thought, why can't I do something like that in a form of li...

Next Episode

Episode 122 - Over Coffee: The 100 Day Project

Learn about The 100 Day Project and how Quynh is participating, plus the strategies that are helping her achieve her goal.

How do you stick to a goal and see it through to the end?

It’s really hard! We all want to build new habits and skills, and we all have projects we want to finish.

In our latest episode of Paper Talk, we chatted about how Quynh is participating in The 100 Day Project. It was founded by Lindsay Jean Thomson as a way to commit people to working on a specific project daily for—you guessed it—one hundred days.

Quynh’s goal is to work on video: shooting, editing, sharing, all of it. You can hear more about how she’s doing this, including lots of tips that you can use for editing and posting your own videos.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you listen to our conversation:

► What The 100 Day Project is, and how Quynh is participating.
► Tips for using Instagram Reels.
► How and where to edit videos, including stabilizing shaky video.
► What to look for in a camera and what to avoid.
► How we’ve been pampering ourselves lately

If you can’t listen right away, get started with these three things we love about The 100 Day Project that you can use to accomplish goals and finish projects.

Be Consistent

To reach the end, you have to take lots of steps. If you don’t want your project to take years and years, or never get finished, you have to make consistent progress. The 100 Day Project is great in that it pushes people to do something everyday. That’s how habits are formed. That’s how you move steadily towards the finish line.

“I think that’s one of the biggest things about creating, is being consistent. So everyday doing something.” -Jessie

If you have something you’d like to work on, setting a daily goal is a great start. Quynh committed herself to taking a video everyday. That’s a flexible goal that doesn’t have a huge time commitment. You don’t need to set aside hours and hours a day if you’re being consistent daily.

Make a Public Commitment

Quynh uses the hashtag #The100DayProject to tag her progress on Instagram. Everyone else participating does the same thing. If you miss a day, people might notice. That pressure can be a useful tool when trying to accomplish something. It motivates you to keep up.

“It’s so hard to be accountable just to yourself.” -Jessie

In your own life, you can find ways to build in this accountability. For example, we have long leaned on each other for advice, collaboration, and very importantly, a way to keep each other on track. When someone else knows about your goal, you’ll be much less likely to skip out on those smaller steps since you’ll know they’ll ask about them soon!

Keep Practicing

Your music teacher was right. You need practice!

“I just know in past things that I’ve done, the more that I do it, the more time that I touch and repeat it and practice and practice, the better I’m going to be at it.” - Quynh

The more you work towards your goal, building in consistency and accountability, the easier it will become. Practicing those good habits will lead to them feeling more natural, just a regular part of your day. And as you work regularly towards a goal, you’ll get better at that skill! It’s a win all around.

Listen to the podcast to hear more about the skills Quynh has been building on her 100 day journey, plus lots of tips she’s picked up along the way.

Also, here's the PDF format for THE WHY WORKSHEET that you can download for free.

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