We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ally (Aiken) Ross. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ally below.
Ally, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
When I started my business back in 2020, I was definitely not trying to start a business at the time. I had been water color painting for fun for a few years & had just started a new role doing graphic design work.
My now husband, Campbell, was starting a new role in corporate finance after working in the golf industry for 9 months as an Assistant Golf Professional. He loved his time working in golf and was trying to think of creative ways to commemorate this special season of life between graduating college and starting his career in finance. He worked at two different golf courses – Sunday River in Newry, Maine followed by Royal Wellington in Wellington, New Zealand. We brainstormed the idea of creating maps of each of these courses for him to hang in his bedroom or office. I took time to try and paint the maps and it turned out better than I was anticipating. I created digital copies so that he could gift them to friends he had worked with at the courses. Campbell also loved the way the maps turned out and encouraged me to paint a few local Austin courses to see if anyone wanted to give them as gifts for the holiday season. I painted about seven more courses & posted them on my personal instagram to see if anyone was interested ten days before Christmas. To my surprise, I ended up painting courses for hours in those ten days leading up to Christmas due to the demand that I had received when posting. From there, my business came to fruition and really took off!
I get excited to learn everyone’s personal connections to different courses and memories associated with special rounds of golf. I think the great thing about the paintings is that it is a fun and unique way to commemorate a special trip, story or friendship that came from the golf course.
Ally, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I started painting for fun when I was in college and have continued learning every day since then! I love watercolor because it is a very forgiving medium and I am not a perfectionist – so I would say its the perfect art form for me personally :) In addition to painting, I love going on walks – with my golden retriever, with my friends and at Lions Municipal Golf Course with my husband Campbell.
The main thing that I create in my business is golf course artwork. I utilize Google Maps as well as other golf-centered apps to capture the aerial view of a golf course along with all of the bunkers, tee boxes, and water features. I offer original artwork as well as prints of all of the maps I have created. I have created over 350 golf courses to date and continue to add more to my list every week. Luckily there are over 30,000 golf courses in the world! In addition to golf course maps, I enjoy working with clients to make an idea come to life. Whether it is a painting of their childhood home, map of a college campus or significant landmark in their city, I am always open to try to paint something new and unique in order to make a client’s vision come to life.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
I love listening to podcasts – as someone who works from home I have grown to look forward to the queue of podcasts I will listen to every day. I listen to the typical pop culture, true crime plus some audiobooks, but I have especially loved one podcast called Proof to Product with Katie Hunt. She is a professional educator for product-based small businesses and shares resources, interviews and continued education for business owners. I have learned so much about tradeshows, wholesale, email marketing and more through this podcast. I am passionate about being the best business owner I can be – I am always open to learning something new in order to grow as a person and as a business.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Back in 2021, I was creating a couple of new golf courses per week while also working my full time job in design. Approximately seven days before Father’s Day, a big holiday for golf related gifts, my friend who is an influencer generously posted about my artwork on her instagram as a suggestion for a Father’s Day gift to her followers. When she initially posted, I felt flattered and excited for a few sales to come in from this post. Little did I know that I would have the biggest week of my business up until that point! I stayed up pretty much all hours of the day until Father’s Day in order to fulfill over 200 orders, with almost half of them being custom commissions. It was exhausting but even more rewarding. I had never worked that hard in my life and it was because I felt so driven and passionate about doing my best work for the sake of this business I have grown! This was a huge milestone for me personally and as a business owner. I have since learned how to better pace custom work and how to efficiently fulfill orders during busy times of the year. I am so thankful for this whirlwind of a week because it has made my business better!
Contact Info:
- Website: allyaikendesign.com
- Instagram: allyaikendesign
- Other: tik tok: allyaikendesign