We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sarah O’hop. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sarah below.

Hi Sarah, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

For a couple years, I was making hand lettered wooden signs and selling them as a side hustle. That happened to be around the time that Cricuts became popular, but I didn’t want to move into that space – I wanted to have offer a completely handmade product untouched by digital technology. The problem with that was my competition could sell their products at a much lower price point than I could, since the signs I was making took much more time. So, early in the summer of 2020, I invested in my first scroll saw, hoping to differentiate my work from the stencil and vinyl artists that were becoming so popular.

Shortly after that, I attended a virtual conference for female small business owners. We were challenged to figure out how to serve our customers, and I’ll admit I almost dismissed the challenge since I don’t have a service-based business. I’ll forever be grateful that I took the time to consider how to apply that challenge to my business! I thought about what I was craving at the time. We all know how isolating 2020 was; the main thing I was craving was meaningful connection. I knew I wanted to eventually scale my business to a point where deep connection with each and every customer wouldn’t be possible, so I shifted my focus to providing connection for my customers to their loved ones. And just like that, handwriting signs were born.

Most of us have cards or letters from loved ones, and they’re usually tucked away in a box or a drawer right? Well, these signs take that handwriting and make it into decor to display in your home every day. My customers send me a photo of the handwriting, and I enlarge it and cut each piece by hand on my scroll saw. They even get the opportunity to watch me work on their signs on TikTok live. The handwriting is typically written by someone who’s since passed away, and I’ve had so many of my customers tell me that the signs I made them helped them in their grief journeys. They get a piece of their loved one to hang in their home as a constant reminder of the love they shared. Some of these signs have even been incorporated into wedding decor so the bride and groom can have a piece of their deceased parent on the most important day of their lives.

While I’m not the only one who makes handwriting signs, I’m one of very few that makes them completely by hand. Hours of love are poured into each one, and it’s such a joy to provide connection through such sentimental pieces!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I started marketing mostly on Instagram originally, but after a while I realized that since my videos were only relatable to other makers/woodworkers, my following were mostly makers/woodworkers. While I love that community, these are not my ideal customers! So I pivoted to TikTok and changed my marketing to focus on my target market. I’ve had a handful of viral videos (1 million + views), and each one uses the formula of gently pointing out a problem and showing how handwriting signs are the solution. For example, “your loved one’s handwriting doesn’t belong in a box. Let me make it into art.” I also used these videos to point people to my email list, since I restock spots for handwriting signs once a month. In the last 2 years, I’ve gained over 80k followers on TikTok and over 7k people have joined my email list!

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I started out on Etsy, and I recommend it to makers who don’t quite have a big enough following to get traffic to their own website. Etsy does charge fees, but it also took care of a lot of the work I’d have to put in to drive traffic. As long as my SEO (search engine optimization) was solid, my products showed up in Etsy search results. A couple months after my first viral TikTok, I had enough people join my email list that I was confident I could drive traffic to a website, which is when I switched to Shopify.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.coalcountrywoodworks.com
• Instagram: @coalcountrywoodworks
• Facebook: Coal Country Woodworks
• Other: TikTok: @coalcountrywoodworks