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A bedroom overflowing with cards. A bulletin board hidden under orders on sticky notes. As each order is finished, a sticky note is taken off and someone receives their homemade cards.
These cards are handmade by Sadie Church, a sophomore who owns a small business where she creates and sells personalized cards.
Church has wanted to start a small business for a while, but she wasn’t sure what she could sell. Then, during quarantine, she began to make cards for her friends to send to them on their birthdays.
“I got really carried away and started my own little collection of cards that I could use to give people and finally decided to start a business,” said Church. Now others are able to experience both giving and receiving her cards.
Now that she finally has her business, Church has found that, although she enjoys most of it, it’s not always easy.
“It has its ups and downs,” said Church. “Sometimes I’ll go a really long time without getting any orders, but then I’ll get a random big order.”
When Church does get large orders or multiple at a time, it can be overwhelming. Especially when she has a limited amount of time to get the order finished and to the post office to be sent. Luckily, her family is there to help and support her.
“Sometimes I would literally get to the post office minutes before they closed and it was so stressful”, said Church. “But when I was overwhelmed, my family would always be there to help me out.”
Church’s family is very supportive of her. They help her stay on top of things and sometimes give her ideas for card designs. They’re all proud of her for creating her business.
“I’m so proud of her and how she had used her incredible, artistic talents to make a business for herself,” said Carole Church, Sadie’s Church’s mother. “I think it’s empowering for teenagers to realize they can start a small online or local business that highlights their creativity and ingenuity.”
Both her family and Church agree that she can and has learned a lot from running her shop.
“I think it’s definitely taught me a lot,” said Church. “I’ve learned a lot about budgeting and money.” Church has also learned about advertising from running an Instagram account by the name of sadie.maes_ showing her many products.
There is a wide variety of cards to choose from. Some wish happy birthday, while others offer thank yous or congratulations. Each card is designed and made by Church herself. She gets inspiration from her mother and sister or comes up with ideas on her own.
“Sometimes it is hard to think of ideas but other times an idea will just come to me,” said Church.
After coming up with an idea, she draws out the design and then prints two cards on a piece of paper. The page is cut in half to make the two cards. Then the cards are folded. Next, Church adds the colors.
“Since the printer only prints in black and white, I only have the outline on the original copy,” said Church. “I color the cards and touch up the lettering after it is printed.”
The process of creating these cards can take up a lot of time, but the final product is worth it.
“I would say they are all pretty time consuming because I want them all to be perfect,” said Church. Even if it means starting over or completely changing the design, she makes sure that the cards are the best they can be.
She wants all her cards to be as perfect as possible for her customers so they will be happy and enjoy the cards. Customers’ happiness is a priority for Church.
“I want what I sell to be worth their money and I want my cards to make them happy so they can give the cards to other people and make those people happy,” said Church. Not only are her buyers happy, but so is she.
“I really enjoy having a business because I love that I can make money doing what I love,” said Church. She hopes that people will enjoy her cards as much as she does.
