Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Autum Proctor. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Autum, thanks for joining us today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?
We started Traveling Art Parties almost ten years ago. I started as an artist helping Evie (original owner) with the shop. Few years in when Evie retired I took over TAP. We closed the physical store front and I started from square one locating businesses to teach at. At the time traveling paint business was a newer concept. I started small, went to a lot of mom and pop shops, got turned away a lot saying either not interested or may not be the demographic for it. I had to learn to approach these scenarios appropriately as I knew what I had would eventually take off. I started putting myself out there more, joining more local groups including other artists. I refined my skills over the years, picking up training in oils, portrait work, etc. I integrated myself into the community. We started with a very small following, I believe about 600 on Facebook when I took over. In this type of business I learned you have to show up and put yourself out there. Things started to pick up, each passing year more and more inquiries came in. We started to build up what started as just something small and we have grown into something that I think is huge. Almost ten years later we are slammed, we do fundraisers for our community to give back, we’ve grown a following on social media of over 5,000, and growing.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
We travel to home, businesses and venues teaching paint and craft events. We take care of everything including supplies. We offer a wide variety of classes including Bob Ross Workshops taught by our CRI instructor. We have canvas painting, wine glass painting, wood crafts, ceramics and more. I think what sets us apart is that we don’t try to upsell you. We are just a couple of local artist who love our craft and want to share that with others. I’m most proud of our growth. It started with just me, then my spouse (our Bob Ross instructor), our artist Samantha who teaches so many awesome book and novel themed classes. TAP has made a name for itself because of the years, blood, sweat and tears that was put into it. Traveling Art Parties was built on the foundation of giving back to our community. This is why we hold tons of charity events and fundraisers.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I am an 11 year recovering alcoholic. I went from a months stay in the hospital, to intense PT to learn to walk again. That doesn’t even include the physical and emotional aspect of healing. I bounced back from something that should have killed me. I promised myself I when I was able to walk again I wouldn’t stop. I hit the ground running when I could and haven’t stopped since. Art has always been there as my therapy and I used that as one of my coping tools.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
This! I only quit my full time job about two years ago. I was so afraid to take that leap of faith on myself I juggled both a full time job and running my business. I do not recommend. I was terrified when I finally put my notice in at work. I was so afraid that I would mess up, or couldn’t do it. What it did was pushed me even harder. I now can focus 100 percent of my energy into my business and it really has shown.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Travelingartparties.com
- Instagram: @travelingartparties.tap
- Facebook: Travelingartparties.tap
