How a Teen Started a Successful Art Business – with Lucy Kendall, Share A Little Frankie

Welcome to the Bring Your Product Idea To Life podcast. This is the podcast for you if you're getting started selling products or if you'd like to create your own product to sell.

I'm Vicki Weinberg, a product creation coach and Amazon expert. Every week I share friendly practical advice as well as inspirational stories from small businesses. Let's get started.

Hi. So today on the podcast, I'm speaking with Lucy Kendall.

Lucy hand draws wildlife inspired artwork using graphite pencil, aiming to create the subject's physical likeness and their personality. She then reproduces her designs into high quality giftware and eco conscious greeting cards.

So Lucy runs a company called Share a Little Frankie and she reached out to me to ask if she could come on the podcast to share her story about being a young entrepreneur. So Lucy started her business when she was 16 and she explains how she got the money to start her business and how it's grown ever since.

And I have to say, I just couldn't believe how eloquently and confidently Lucy spoke about her business. She did say to me when we weren't recording, this is the only job that she's had. You would think that she's been doing this forever.

I was super impressed by Lucy. I think she's going to do really, really well.

And she had so much useful advice to share of us, including an organization that she thinks a lot of you should join. So listen in to find out what that is. I would love now to introduce you to Lucy. Hi, Lucy, thank you so much for being here.

Hello. Really lovely. Thank you.

Oh, you're so welcome. Thank you. Can we please start with you giving introductions to yourself, your business and what you sell?

I'm Lucy Kendall. I own Share a Little Frankie, based in Dorset, and I hand draw wildlife artwork and reproduce onto giftwear and greetings cards.

Amazing. Thank you.

Now, I know that you have a rather interesting story about how and why you started Share a Little Frankie, so could you share that with us, please?

So I made a deal with my mum with my GCSE grades to pay me per grade and I ended up with £850, which I put into greeting cards. And that is slowly gone into everything else and tumbled the business into what it is today.

Oh, that's amazing. And you must have done really well in your GCSEs as well.

I did, although I was lucky. It was Covid. So we made the deal Before COVID was about so I didn't have to sit my exams so my grades were better than expected. My poor mum.

So what was it that led you to like ask your mum for that and made you think about starting a business?

I, I loved my art at school and I would love.

Well I've always wanted to be a full time artist but as much as I love doing the pet portraits and the commission work, I also did product design at school and I would thought I'd love to make a business where I can combine the two passions. So I thought I'd do greetings cards and then I sort of just ended up doing the giftware as well when I wanted to expand my range.

Yeah, I'm quite fussy with the products that I create as well. I try and make them. It's eco conscious as possible and high quality. I won't sell anything that I wouldn't buy myself.

Well that's really good. And so when you first started was were you selling on your own website or did you go on to another platform?

So where did you start selling your cards?

So most of my cards today as well are sold direct to shops and retailers.

I started off with a basket with my cards in going around to local shops and just walking in with a basket full of cards and seeing if they would be interested. So now I also sell off my website and I still approach shops in person today.

Amazing. So was that your plan from the start was to sell directly into shops rather than trying to sell directly to.

Consumers with the greeting cards? Yes, mainly because obviously they are a low price point item which people are more likely to go into a shop and buy with the giftware.

More online sales. But I do sell to stockists as well with my giftware. But the greeting cards mainly go through retail.

That makes a lot of sense because I'll be honest, I don't know what the margins are on greeting cards but given as you say that they're low cost, it must, you must need to do volume and the best way to do volume in bulk.

Yeah, the more you can buy of a product, the cheaper is to buy in. The greeting card markups are better than the giftware markups because they're a paper product and they're cheaper to buy in.

But yeah, it's more effective for shops as well to buy in bulk and sell them that way.

And I guess also online you're competing with a lot of people who sell cards. If you're a customer looking for a card, they're obviously big card websites that we won't mention who obviously have a lot of the market.

It must be really hard as a smaller business to get found.

Yeah.

So the SEO of the website and the keywords for giftwear is easier to get seen than trying to compete, like you said, against massive publishers and greeting card companies online.

Whereas especially with shops, they will probably have a section which is dedicated to small businesses and they have a section with their cards which people can then go to, are directed towards and want to support those smaller names. And you just easier to get seen that way.

Yeah, definitely. And was that what led you into giftware or was there another reason why you decided to expand?

It was the designing element which I missed from the product design.

Greeting cards are really simple to design, whereas with like the tote bags I do and the mugs and other giftwear, it is that extra design element which I really enjoy. Yeah, it's just expanding my range, which the greeting cards are the bread and butter sort of element in my business.

They're the baseline, they have a good sort of margin on them, but the rest of it is what I really enjoy doing.

Yeah, that makes sense. And were there other challenges involved in creating these products? Because obviously cards, you mentioned their paper.

So it's a case of looking for a printer, but how about actually working with suppliers to get your designs on the homeware products?

So with the greetings cards are easier to produce because there are loads of UK printers. My greeting cards get printed on my doorstep pretty much it's about a five minute trip down the road.

But finding manufacturers for giftware and other products can be harder.

So I'm part of the gift association and that is a really good network to be part of because you can ask them for manufacture sort of information and they will point you in the direction of who you are looking to speak to.

But also speaking to other small businesses, it's very, very rare that I will speak to another small business that does products and asks for manufacturer sort of information. They won't. No one really gatekeeps. We're all here to help each other.

So asking, just asking people about where they get their products produced could. Would they be able to help you? It's. It's not it.

It sounds really hard to be able to find a manufacturer for giftware, but it's not as, it's not as big and hard as you might think. It is definitely starting. When I started the business I thought that seems way off something I'll be able to do.

But everyone's really friendly, especially the gift Association. They're really helpful.

I don't actually know about the Gift Association. I've definitely seen their logo. I think I've seen it on your website and other websites for businesses that are part of the Gift Association.

But would you mind just explaining who they are and what they do because that might be really useful.

Yeah, of course. I only joined I think the end of last year and they are essentially a network of small businesses.

You will get a member of the Gift association which will know all of those people. You can have one to one calls and you can ask them any questions.

It's I think, I think I pay a quarterly membership of about £80 but it's definitely worth it because it gives you access to other small businesses, manufacturers. They'll help you with doing things like press releases.

They are basically the person that you can ask all these questions that you don't know and they will point you in the right direction to help you grow your business.

That's amazing. And I guess your products just have to come under the category of gifting for you to be eligible.

Well, no, I think you're service based as well. I think it's a variety of networks of people they have in the network.

That's so interesting because I highly recommend. Yeah, that's such a good advice. Thank you.

I think that everyone should go and take a look because I've seen the logo and I knew, I was aware that there was a Gift association but I'll be honest, I didn't know who they were and what they did. They sound like they could be really useful for people.

Yeah. And you can book in one to one calls as well. That's included within your membership and I would definitely recommend doing that.

And if you go to any trade shows like Spring Fair or Giving and Living or Top Draw, there are usually reps of the Gift Gift association there which you can have one to ones in person with as well. So it's definitely worth being a member just to have that person. You can go, oh, I'm not sure about this. Can you point me in the right direction?

Yeah, I definitely think that's invaluable. Wow. I'm.

I'm thinking that's. Yeah, that's amazing and I wish I'd heard of them sooner. You mentioned trade shows then, Lucy.

Have you been to any yet or are you thinking about that?

I have visited a few over the last year.

I haven't been very well with my health so it's not something which I realistically can do at the moment, but Just to walk around and network with other businesses. I would recommend doing that as well because that's invaluable. Talking to people face to face, meeting people.

I would recommend doing that even if you don't exhibit because it can be really expensive and costly for a small business to exhibit. Just walking around is really beneficial.

Definitely.

And as you say, it's just really nice to meet, you know, the people behind brands that you've seen or people you might have spoke to online and suddenly you could meet them in real life. Is. Yeah, I totally agree. I love going to trade shows just for that reason.

Yeah. And it was actually a little bit.

We went all the way up Springfir to Birmingham and the best discussions I had with other businesses happened to be businesses which are all southwest based.

So we drove all the way up to Birmingham just to find out that all the businesses which are all down these country lanes that you would never think you wouldn't meet because we're all on the countryside and we're all just surrounded by fields. We all had to go up to Birmingham to meet each other.

Well, I guess that shows the benefit. It is still worth doing things in person. I guess that's what that shows.

Trade shows are definitely worth it just to walk around and meet people. They're. Yeah, invaluable. Meeting and face to face with people.

Oh, that's brilliant. So let's talk a little bit about getting stocked in retailers, Lucy.

So you mentioned that when you started you were going around to shops with your basket. So is that still how you're approaching that now or are you doing that and other things?

I mean it's. It's definitely more tidied up that it's not just a little basket with some greeted cards and anymore. But they have platforms online like Fair.

If, if you heard of Fair. Yes. Which is essentially Etsy for shops and that's a really great way to f. Well for. For shops to find you. But I think it is.

Meeting people in person is invaluable. So going around, contacting shops, having meetings one to one, it's just irreplaceable.

People seeing your product in person, getting to feed it in their hands and see the quality of it. So I would say the best way to approach retailers and stockists is in person.

I really like the idea of you just going along the shops of a basket of cards and talking to the owners because I do think that if you're, if you're talking, you know, shops in your local area or ones you know that are near you. I think that people do like the personal touch and I imagine that that's much better received than an email from someone they've never heard of.

Yeah.

If you send an email to a shop, I mean, one out of ten times you might get a response, but you are probably also emailing the wrong person and you're just filling up their inbox. So it is nice to. To maybe phone ahead, arrange a meeting, get them to see your products in person.

And that's why the trade shows are fantastic as well, because buyers are going there to have a look at the products in person and you can take lovely pictures of your products and put it on an email and send it to a shop, but they can't see that product in their hand.

But it's also really lovely to go to the shops in, in person, because then you can look around that shop and think, is my product relevant to this stockist? Is my target market shopping in this shop?

And if you look around and think, yeah, this is exactly where my target market, my customers are shopping, that gives you an even better pitch for when you're pitching to the shop, because you know your product is completely appropriate for that stockist.

Definitely. And as you say, you can also get an idea of what they're stocking already. So do your product.

Yes. Will it fit with what they've already got?

And coming back to what you said about photographs etc, I feel, I think, especially for cards, I can imagine that's a product you'd really want to see in person because the quality of the printing and the paper can vary so much.

Yeah.

And you just can't portray that in a photograph.

No, it's. Greeting cards are something really hard to photograph. They are something which it's, it's. You've got to really fill it in your hand.

Anything paper related is such a tactile thing and I think technology is fantastic and it helps businesses grow so much. But in person sort of meetings just aren't replaceable by that.

Definitely. But having said that, though, are you also having success with fair?

Because I've heard that fair is a brilliant way to get found by stockists who may be a bit further afield than where you are.

Yeah, I've set up fair. It's on my list of things to increase this year. Most of my wholesalers at the moment I meet in person.

I'll do trips, two different sort of areas and I'll make three or four different meetings with three or four different shops in that area. And that's how I Tend to do it.

Sorry, I keep sneezing.

That's okay.

Hopefully no one can hear me sneezing. So that's. That makes a lot of sense.

Let's talk a little bit about you starting your business so young, if that's okay and you don't mind talking about. Talking about that. Do you think you've come across any. Well, let's start with challenges.

Do you think there are any challenges that are unique to starting a business when you're younger?

I think that is. I think it's definitely. There are skills that I've really had to grow on. Confidence. I had no confidence when I started my business.

And I think you can get so excited by creating products that you sometimes, when you're beginning, don't think about the end result, who you're targeting it to and making sure it's relevant for your target market.

But I don't think there are loads of any more challenges for someone starting young as there is for someone who is starting when they're sort of middle aged. I think it's still that lack of experience that you're going to have at any age if you're just starting.

And actually the people that I've approached, I think probably want to help me more because of my age and help me start my business. So I, I wouldn't say there are really any more challenges.

Maybe potentially not getting taken as seriously by some people, but I've had that happen on very few occasions.

And I think because I'm younger, having sort of growing with the technology which is being provided as well is, Is really relevant for me as a younger person.

That makes a lot of sense. And I guess one of the things I was, I was curious about is whether, you know, you had people not take you as seriously.

But then I have to say, Lucy, from talking to you, you're so articulate and you obviously really know your business and that comes across really well. So I would, I would be surprised if anyone did try and understand you because you definitely know what you're talking about.

I think that's the thing. If you are really passionate about.

If you have a product business and you live and breathe that product business and you're really passionate about it and you're confident in your products. I don't think. I think someone might initially look at you, not say anything, and then once you speak, start talking. They.

I've never really encountered anyone which is. Has not bought from me because, or made a sort of sales arrangement with a shop because of my age.

If anything, I Think people want to support you in your journey.

That's really positive.

And I totally gave what you said before, by the way, about doesn't matter what age you are, if you're coming into starting a business new, you could be any age. And it's. And it's still completely new. It's still a learning curve. And what could also.

And also, I think there were challenges if you start a business a bit later and you've done other things before that sometimes that you can take skills and experiences with you, but sometimes you can find that maybe you're not up to date on things because maybe you've worked in a completely different industry and you're not. Do you know what I mean? And you're not quite.

Yeah. And I could argue as well, it's because I'm younger, I don't have that financial worries much.

I don't have like a house deposit or something, which I think I've got to work and earn the money for that because I live at home still. So it eliminates an element of risk by having a startup business by being younger.

I think because you don't have the financial burden of if it goes wrong. Definitely not thinking like that. It's going in the right direction and I know, yeah, it's. I'm not sure if I've said that exactly.

I hope that came across how I wanted to say it.

No, I think it did. I know exactly what you mean. And also because you're young, there's also the case that you may not want to do this forever and that's okay too.

But I think you're right, there's. I guess there's a lot less pressure because you're doing it for now and you can see where it goes.

But as you said, it's not having to pay your mortgage, for example, at the moment.

Yes, there's no, I think being young, there's no financial worry on running a business if, you know, you take some risks and you just, you, you do a product and it isn't what you thought it was. I'm actually really grateful. I've been. The weird way of saying it, I've been really grateful.

I've been ill the last few years, had chronic fatigue syndrome. So it's allowed my products to sit on the market. So I gain. I've gained a better understanding of what my target market want.

So moving forwards, I now know which products are going to be really appropriate for the people who are buying my product. So it has eliminated sort of an element of risk.

I think in my product sort of development, because I now know what is going to be really relevant for my audience that I. I sell to.

Yeah, that makes sense.

And I think, and I'm so sorry, first of all, that you've had that, but I think what you're saying is it's also allowed you to slow down and not be rash.

Because I think, yeah, there's no rush. I think, yeah, there can be this sort of pressure as a small business to do everything 100 miles an hour.

Yeah.

And there's. There's not. Sometimes you need to slow down, look at it from sort of further away and evaluate. This has got. This is what's going really well.

This hasn't taken. Why hasn't it taken? Why is that doing really well? And then make a plan, moving forwards about how you're going to.

What products you're going to move forwards with or just reevaluate.

That makes sense.

And while, of course, I'm sure you, you know, would have preferred to have had perfect health and not have anything, you know, and not had to be so unwell for the last few years, I suppose that it is a good reminder, as you say, of slowing down and not doing everything 100 miles an hour and trying to do everything, be everywhere. Because that's quite a common thing, I think, when you start a business.

And I know I did it when I started my first product business, I wanted to sell on every marketplace. I was expanding my range far too quickly, so my cash flow kind of wasn't keeping up. And it's. I mean, it comes from a good place.

It comes from a place of enthusiasm and passion.

But actually, I think if I'd had my time again, I would have approached things a lot slower and done things in stages, let things play out, see how things went, rather than just constantly plowing ahead.

Yeah, I think this is.

This is definitely one of the things I've learned the most is I was so excited about designing the products and doing my artwork and seeing my artwork on products that I think to begin with, some things went really well. And some things I was like, why aren't they going so well? I love those.

It's my artwork on products, but I wasn't thinking about the end consumer and who it was relevant for.

And now that I've done it slower, I can see who is buying it, why they're buying it, and moving forwards, I can make sure that my products are really relevant. So doing it slower is.

Is definitely more beneficial than doing everything as quickly as you can trying to put stuff out on as many marketplaces and do it for as many people as you can. It's. It's getting that more sort of concise.

Approach that makes a lot of sense. And with that in mind, what are your plans for this year? So are you looking to add more ranges or what? What's in the plans?

So this year I got some products with me. This year I am hoping. Well, I am going to be expanding my British countryside designs.

I am going to be focusing on my greetings cards and my fine bone china mugs. Because I could sit here and talk all day about how much I love my fine bone china mugs and my greeting cards. They just are. This is my Highland cow.

I don't think my camera is going to be doing this justice on my laptop because it's not the best quality camera, but the print quality on my mugs is just. It's. It's the same quality of my drawings.

So I'm going to be taking forwards my mugs, my greetings cards and my British countryside designs to focus more at sort of farm shops and more countryside, sort of agricultural consumers.

That's really exciting. And I have to say, you're right, it's not the best resolution on the screen, but you can.

Pictures.

You can see that really great drawing. I mean, if you told me that was a black and white photograph, I would have believed you. It's like really beautiful.

Thank you. I. I do have a picture of Frankie, which is the design which inspired the name of the business.

I'm not sure her picture is any more detailed on the screen.

Amazing. And honestly, anyone who is listening to this needs to go to YouTube so you can actually see it. Well, that's beautiful, Lucy.

Thank you. I am, yeah. So I'm going more British countryside. The irony. I've just showed you giraffe, but she's a staple of the business and she's really popular.

But after I brought out a few sort of British countryside inspired designs last year, they've gone down so well that I'm continuing, continuing that sort of theme onwards.

Well, that makes sense and it's brilliant that you have the data, as you said, that you've had the time to see what does sell well, so you can really consider where you go next. Because I suppose as well as an artist, it could be really tempting to just keep creating and just create you like and hope someone buys it. Almost.

Yeah. This is. This is exactly what I was doing when I started. I was. Yeah. It was so exciting as an artist.

Creating the artwork, seeing it on products, and that's just not the way that you can approach it. You've got to really think, is this relevant for who's gonna buy this? Because you'd go, oh, I'd buy it. I love it. I've designed it. Looks fantastic.

But you've got to make sure that it's relevant for who you're selling it to.

That makes a lot of sense. Well, thank you so much for all you shared, Lucy.

So I'm going to link to your website in the show notes this episode so everyone can come over and look at your art and your products. But I have one final question before we finish, if that's okay. And that is, what would your number one piece of advice be for other product creators?

I think it is probably plan from the end. So who is your target market? What are they going to be looking for?

And making sure that you are designing your product so it's really relevant to who you are pitching it to.

And then sort of work backwards from that point and be really confident in your product, because no one knows your product like you do, and no one can rave about it and be as passionate about it as you. So make sure you get that across to other people when you're promoting it.

Well, that's brilliant advice. Thank you so much. Lucy.

Hi. Thank you so much for having me.

Thank you so much for listening right to the end of this episode. Do remember that you can get the the Fullback catalog and lots of free resources on my website, vickywineberg. Com.

Please do remember to rate and review this episode if you've enjoyed it, and also share it with a friend who you think might find it useful. Thank you again and see you next week.