I was 25 when I started Kate & Birdie. I have always been enamoured by art and design and any creative work, since as young as I can remember. Though I always naturally gravitated towards the design side - interiors, home textiles and prints and beautiful products. I had helped others with their homes from when I was a teen, and loved the idea of running a creative business and designing products. I contemplated chef school in my 20s, but I knew it wasn’t quite right. My early 20s were filled with wondering how to pick one creative direction. I had a distinct interest in the business side of creative work and working for myself and there wasn’t a school for both - it was one or the other. I dreamed of travelling to New York for business. That was big for a small town girl where no one else, let alone a woman, was doing that. I dreamed of a warehouse space for my business. Whatever that would be I didn’t know, but that was the big dream.
I was 24 when we purchased our first computer. It was 2003 - we had a basic PC with a 3-in-1 inkjet printer and internet access for the first time ever. It came with a basic Corel Draw program, and I discovered that I could take one of my simple drawings, scan it into the program with the printer and colour my artwork digitally. I was hooked. It was like a world opened up. I could turn my little illustrations into something and print it out multiple times - what magic! I created a few greeting cards with basic yardstick and a bone folder. I gave these out to friends and family and it didn’t take long before my cousin in another Canadian city asked to purchase a set of them. She hadn’t seen anything like it there. That was my lightbulb idea. I could design paper goods, even custom stationery and sell them to others. It checked the boxes for me and was an easy and affordable entry into a product-based creative business. I simply started and declared I was in business and soon enough I had customers.
I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t have a framework for what I wanted to do. I also didn’t grow up with women in my life starting businesses. And I didn’t know a thing about the industry. I had worked at a retail design store that gave me a brief idea what an independent retail shop might be like, and what working with wholesale vendors might be like. I happened to come across a couple of magazine articles (back when that was the only way to discover something or someone new) of independent stationery designers and I tore them out and put them up on my pinboard. I worked from my living room, and then eventually a spare bedroom. I wanted to try pitching them to local shops, so I met with a local print house and began printing them in small quantities. A couple of shop owners took a chance on me. But I had a lot of nos. One shop owner that I hoped to work with asked me if I was planning to exhibit at the big trade show in Toronto for the gift industry (I had no idea what he was talking about). He told me that only once I was ready to exhibit at a large trade show would he take my business and my products seriously. The rejection was painful but only made me more determined and curious.
When I had my cards in only a couple of local shops, they happened to land on the desk of a top greeting card distributor in Toronto. A former coworker of mine had sent them to one of the owners at Urban Barn, a Canadian design and furnishings store where I had previously worked. The owner passed my cards along to the greeting card distributor they worked with. The president of the distributor called me up (I was so nervous) and asked how many SKUs I had. I had no idea what SKUs meant but I knew I should and it turned out the number was 30. I had 30 different designs in my collection. He turned me down gently but encouraged me in a way I’ll never forget. He said “there is no doubt that one day you’ll be successful. Just keep building your product line.” It forced me to keep working on it alone, which solidified my path to becoming a business owner, building a bigger product line and developing solid relationships with retailers that have lasted years and even decades.
Meanwhile I had taken the trade show comment seriously. I did want to be seen as a legitimate business, not just someone who makes cards in their spare time. I looked into the cost, and estimated it to be $4000 (it turned out to be about $6000). So one day I sat down with my Dad over a cup of coffee and asked him, should I go for it and exhibit at a Canadian trade show in Toronto? His response lit a fire: “$4000 to pursue a dream? That sounds like a small investment to me.” So I went home and registered for the next Toronto Gift Show for January 2006, and bought items to design my first 10”x10” booth. I printed inventory for two collections of cards, boxed note cards, thank you notes and boxed invitations. I wrapped up a crate and shipped it off and flew to Toronto. On set up day, my booth neighbours introduced themselves and told me not to expect breaking even on my first show. But even under a different business name that I would soon change (more on that later) I wound up not only breaking even, I profited by the end and had 30 retailers across the country carrying my products. I was in business! I came home and booked more trade shows across the country.
My second show turned out differently. I went into it thinking - it’s three times the size, so I should profit three times the amount. But everything that could have gone wrong did. I lost my voice upon arrival. My booth fixtures were damaged in shipping. My wallet (and my ID to fly home) was stolen on set up day. I was put in the most undesirable spot in the basement of the show. It was an entirely different market that didn’t meet my product with the same kind of enthusiasm I had experienced in Toronto. I lost money. Even still, I came home and signed up for another show, this time in Vancouver. It was a success. I quickly realized in that first year exhibiting that I had to learn my audience and my market. I used my personal line of credit with a $20k max to pay for trade shows for the year and purchase inventory. I had maxed it - and had paid it back by the end of the year. Midway through year, I received a call from one of the first retailers I worked with. He was calling to ask for my new Holiday designs for Christmas. I thought - wait, I’m supposed to have Christmas products? And ready in July? I was learning everything on the fly.
That fall shortly after my third and last show for the year, I was ready to grow out of my spare bedroom filled with inventory. I signed my first lease on a 500 square foot studio space on the top floor of a beautiful, old former sewing factory downtown. And I just signed a contract to exhibit in New York the following year. It was the dream coming true.
