January Review - The Month of Setup
January has been busy, in a good way. I’ll give you a bit of back story to explain how I got to here. In October 2024, my husband and I both lost our jobs on the same day. I have worked in printing, design, and marketing for almost 20 years. I have also homeschooled my two, now teens, for 7 years until this past school year when we made the decision for my daughter (unofficial co-owner and creator of dragons) to return to traditional school. My husband was blessed to find employment rather quickly with a local photography studio, but my part-time income became harder to replace because the job market for what I needed (part-time, preferably remote, digital creative space) is highly competitive and flooded with scam jobs (even on “reputable” sites like LinkedIn and Indeed).
It has been a life-long dream to create my own business, and despite the hardship that we were handed, I took a look at the amount of time I was using to apply to work for other people and began to shift my focus towards crafting an operation for myself that wasn’t limited to another person’s decisions or preference for whether they like me or not.
I took the plunge and am pursuing my business in the digital media and content creation space under the company name Amanda Popwell LLC. (If interested, see popwellcollection.com for a non-dragon related portfolio.) Chatty Dragons is an extension of designs and drawings my daughter and I have created along with story-telling and character development.
January has been a month full of set up. I can only imagine what stress Spyder has been under trying to revamp an entire sticker factory when I’m just trying to establish myself online.
Quick overview of this past month
🧡 secured my LLC
🧡 trademarked Chatty Dragons
🧡 obtained a state license
🧡 secured social media accounts
🧡 decided on a sticker printer
🧡 wrote and scheduled 13 weekly blog posts
🧡 set up email automation
🧡 purchased a Google Workspace for my official email address
🧡 secured a small business mentor
🧡 attended several webinars through SCORE
🧡 maintained contract work for freelance accounts that I also manage (which pays me real money)
🧡 I spent roughly $600 on initial set up this month, not including monthly expenses (that I have had for years to do freelance graphic design) or the website hosting that was purchased last year.
In February, I hope to open the dragon’s store to offer stickers, prints, and stationary of the characters. I will work on marketing and developing strategy to start spreading the word more, and continue to grow my digital graphics and content management opportunities outside of Chatty Dragons.
🧡 Share this post with anyone who might be inspired. Let’s cheer each other on!
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