We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amanda Martinez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Amanda , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Any thoughts about whether to ask friends and family to support your business. What’s okay in your view?

This is a tough one, when first starting out family and friends are technically your first supporters. They help share your art, maybe make a purchase or a commission. Over the years however, that support changes entirely. Being in my business now for over a decade my support system has changed. I don’t even remember the last time any of my family and friends (with the exception of my immediate family and maybe a couple of close friends that actually even just showed up to one of my events. It’s a tough thing to go through and I know for a fact in this self employment/ artist life I’m not the only one who feels this way. At this point I feel I have plenty of regular people/customers who fully support me and continue to shoe up to events, share my posts and make purchases.
I don’t think I ever felt like anything was inappropriate to ask for supporting. It was as easy as asking to just share my art and most of them did in the beginning. These are some hard truths about being self employed as a ‘non traditional’ worker. But it’s reality to the majority of us. It used to bother me. Now, I’ve got the support system that matters and it helps me be successful. I’ve never pushed anyone to support me and I’ve never felt like it was required to do so. It’s definitely an eye opener though.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Founded in 2012, Lust for Dead Oddities has a revolving door of butterfly wings, fetal pigs, pressed flowers, skulls, and magic. As a collector and creator, the main focus of my brand is the preservation of animals via articulation and display. You’ll also find other unique items such as bone Jewelry and Home Decor for sale, along with Wet Specimens and other Oddities.
My main medium is bone jewelry, handmade entirely in my home workshop as well as glass cloches filled with a mini world of nature. I’ve been in my industry now for over 13 years, in this day there’s a lot of new people making very similar art. It’s hard to stand out however, my items are unique to me and I have frequent buyers who always come back to support.

Sourcing

All animals utilized in my work are sourced in a manner that adheres to legal and sustainable practices, encompassing donation, natural demise, by-products of food production, pest control efforts, population management, reputable breeders, licensed hunters complying with regulations, and sanctuaries. Ethical considerations vary among individuals, highlighting the significance of transparently disclosing sourcing methods. While I endorse ethical hunting practices, I do not condone trophy hunting, particularly when the animal is not utilized for consumption, leading to wastage. Insect farms and sanctuaries play a crucial role in maintaining ecological balance by managing native populations through culling while also reintroducing these populations back into their habitats. Moreover, these initiatives contribute to supporting local families and communities.

You can find Lust for Dead currently traveling with the Oddities & Curiosities Expo. I have been a part of the ever-growing event since 2017 and continue to represent powerful women entrepreneurs in New Mexico. .

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

I started out as a tiny home business. I made all my art on my little coffee table in my tiny one bedroom apartment. I worked full time as a manager at very large corporate retailer. I only had time to make a few things here and there on my own time. ITT was my ‘getaway’ I’ve always enjoyed making things even as a kid. I’ve been an artist my entire life. My job was incredibly stressful/demanding and the environment wasn’t the best either. I worked anywhere from 40-60 hrs a week on the opposite side of ABQ. When I came home making art was my sanctuary. I was also in an incredibly toxic relationship. I was very unhappy and depressed. I honestly don’t know what finally made me kinda ‘wake up’ but I saved money at my full time job for about 6 months. I put in my two weeks notice and I got a part time job as a server. I was able to focus more on my art and eventually started to pick up as many markets and local pop ups I could find. For an entire year I did this. I did events nonstop every weekend and sometimes back to back. I knew I wanted to do my art full time, it took me about 3-4 years of doing events consistently as well as running my website and social media that I was confident enough to support myself. June 2021 is when I finally left working for someone else and went full time. My biggest takeaways with going full time are save up! You can’t always depend on markets or website sales to survive on.
Every year I tried something different to find where it worked best.
One year I did any kind of events nonstop every weekend locally.
One year I did only large scale events like festivals.
One year I tried traveling to other large scale events on top of local large scale events.
This year I’m only traveling for the oddities & curiosities expo.
Another I did local events and online only.
The oddities expo is my bread and butter bringing in about 90% of my total revenue for the entire year. The rest comes from my local holiday markets like the Railyards, humble Coffee holiday market, NM artisan market. And my online sales during that time.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I have a few stories.
To sum it all up, I set up boundaries after years of trying to please everyone with my business. I didn’t say no when I needed to. I’m the only one who runs this business and at times I got ‘trampled over’ by overwhelming myself. At the time I was still working full time in corporate. At times I felt I could never do this, I wanted to give up multiple times. People I knew started to doubt me, including extended family. People told me I was wasting time and I should focus on my regular job. The only reason I didn’t give up were my immediate family and closest friends who always encouraged me to keep going. I never gave up I worked harder and tougher. I started to stand up for myself, I started to say no to things that would not hold any importance or value in my business.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @lustfordeadoddities
• Facebook: Lust For Dead Oddities
• Other: Lust For Dead Oddities on IG, FB, Pinterest and TikTok is where you can find me.

Image Credits

I’m my own photographer