I am so very excited to introduce you to my Featured Sponsor for the month of December, Five Sixteenths Design Shoppe! Moe is the lovely lady behind the brand and I’ve invited her to share a bit about what it’s like to be a small business owner!
Hi Moe!! We’re elated to have you as this month’s featured sponsor!! Please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your online business, Five Sixteenths Design Shoppe!
Hello there! The Five Sixteenths Design Shoppe is an online design studio focused on providing affordable, unique blog designs for all kinds of bloggers. While the focus of the design shop is creative blog design, you’ll also find business cards & other printable material for your office or occasion. In the shop are premade templates to purchase as is OR to upgrade with many different, customizable options. You’ll also find custom blog elements such as headers or blog buttons to give your current design a leg up. Completely custom options are available as well under three price points.
As a blogger, I know the importance of having a well designed look to your blog. Each design is created to give you a professional look with out breaking the bank. Each custom design is created to give you a brand identity to bounce off of or evolve your current branding. New design requests & learning new techniques motivates me to keep up with the services offered through Five Sixteenths Designs.
Where does the name of your brand, Five Sixteenths, come from?
Originally, when I first started out on this creative journey, I decided I wanted to run a decor blog focused on decorating a small apartment, so I thought using a unit of measurement – 5/16 – would be a fun way to express that. Realizing that while I loved decorating, I really didn’t have the budget to go all out I had to refocus the direction of my online presence. After changing my major in college to art, I took several classes where measurements & details were important (think book binding, printmaking, functional pottery, graphic design, & woodworking – I took all those classes!). I realized that sometimes I wasn’t so good with the details & got caught up in the making process. I am a messy creator by nature, you should see my old pottery studio! The name Five Sixteenths became my dedication to focusing on these details in every part of the designs I create.
What made you decide that having an online business was something that you wanted to pursue?
When I was in high school, my aunt asked me what I’d like to do when I ‘grew up’. I said if I could do anything I’d like to own my own shop where I sold the things I made. Eventually I opened a shop on eEtsy, selling crocheted accessories & jewelry with horrible photos. As I grew both in age & experience I took better pictures, refocused my shop, & learned more about the creative avenues I’d like to pursue. I think that jumping in with no idea what I was doing helped me a lot. When I was complimented on my own blog design & encouraged by a few bloggers to attempt to design blogs for others I sort of had an idea about branding, about selling on Etsy, etc. Learning as I went helped me launch other ventures more efficiently. So I guess I knew that an online presence would be necessary for creating my brand in this age.
I see that you’re also an office manager by day! What’s your number one tip for staying organized while working a day job and keeping up with an online shop?
Actually, that was my old job!! I just relocated to Indiana & am in between managing offices presently 🙂 In all seriousness, I think the key to balance is planning. I rely heavily on my planner. Not only do I use it for scheduling blog posts but also to schedule time for clients. Knowing exactly how many hours you have & what work you have to do will help you set deadlines and communicate those to your clients. You’ll also learn at what point to say no. Now that it’s nearly the new year, I can’t wait to pick up another planner!
I’m a huge fan of your design work – tell us a bit about your favorite design that you’ve created to date!
Wow! Thanks! My favorite custom design so far had to be working with Hayley of The Weekend File. She really wanted a simple but striking design. It was a combination of going back to simplicity but also evolving her branding. We started of with a completely new design but realizing that her brand had already been established we chose to stick close to her original header & original fonts. Keeping some of your classic branding elements but adding in a new twist or something that is trending can show that your brand is up to date, current, yet stable. If you catch my drift.
Where do you draw inspiration from when you’re designing and/or crafting?
Though I like to mix it up sometimes I find I draw inspiration from pattern, color, bold fonts, nostalgia, and simplicity. I love all things vintage but try to keep my designs with a modern aesthetic. Overall I am inspired by how we react to things & interact with things. I love the idea of how we respond to ideas similar to what we’ve experienced, that’s why advertising works so well!
Do you have any advice for someone interested in achieving similar goals as a creative professional?
The most important piece of advice I can give is that it takes dedication to do this sort of thing. You have to have a serious level of dedication because it’s not just an overnight event. Building your brand & starting from scratch is the hard part. Even if you only have 3 hours a day, you have to devote some of that time to working toward your dream because no one else will do it for you. When I was in art school, a visiting artist once told me that in order to be good at what he wanted to do (he was a ceramic artist) he knew he had to be boring. Meaning he knew he needed to spend time in the studio, even when he didn’t want to, even if it was on a Saturday, even it if it was into the middle of the night, etc. He needed to do these things to achieve his goals. I’ve lived a sort of modified version of this. I took to heart that what he meant was that he was responsible for his success: no one is assigning you jobs, you must find them. No one is asking you to make, you must find others to make for. No one is expecting you to advance, you have to seek out these learning opportunities, etc. Once you get yourself out there, these things will come in…but you have to put the work in. Phew, that was a lot huh?
And one last random question for good measure: Tell us what your perfect day looks like!
Oh my, let’s see. The perfect day for me would start off antiquing with my boyfriend. We love finding cool treasures for our personal collections as well as for the vintage shop we run. A perfect day would also involve some sort of interaction with clay. Maybe I’d spend the afternoon in my studio throwing a few things, or glazing, or unloading the kiln. Then I’d probably work on a few things for other shops, respond to emails, etc. As you can tell, a perfect day involves being creative! I love that I have an outlet for my creativity & am glad that I can turn out a bit of an income!
Thanks so much, Moe! I know I loved reading her answers, as a gal with an interest in the possibility of one day owning my own Etsy shop! Make sure to pop over to the Five Sixteenths Design Shoppe to check out her designs – you might just realize you’ve found the perfect one for your own corner of the internet!
