We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kiana Jones. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kiana below.
Kiana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Alright, so one thing we think people don’t talk about nearly enough is investments – either time or money. What’s one of the best or worst investments you’ve made and what did you learned from the experience?
The worst investment I made in my business happened in 2021. I had spent a year and a half getting my business, Happening Hands, off the ground as a national marketplace for makers. We had grown to nearly 25 makers, and I was able to secure $50K in funding for a new and better marketplace platform for our makers. The funding was reserved for branding, the website build, and marketing the new site. After around 7 months of researching and interviewing developers and web design agencies, with price ranges from $7K-$90K for a custom marketplace build, I went with the lower-end, out of the box software that could supposedly grow with me and be customized as I had more funds for custom features. Although I did my due diligence, reaching out to current and past customers of this company, their customer service and my experience with them was abysmal. After 4 months, they shut down my marketplace and cancelled our contract without communicating with me, and I had to pivot my entire business model overnight to a membership.
I learned so many valuable lessons from this experience, but I’ll mention my top two. First, that failure is inevitable in business. It’s how you handle it, learn from it, and move forward that will determine your success or not with the business overall. Second, I learned that in business there isn’t always going to be a 100% perfect solution to the problem you’re trying to solve. It can take a lot of experimenting, iterations, patience, and willingness to think out of the box. That willingness to keep trying is going to set you apart as an entrepreneur.
Kiana, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m Kiana Jones, multi-business owner and Sustainable Marketing Strategist. I got into entrepreneurship from an early age. I first joined the Etsy and creative blogging scene back in 2008, and quickly realized I could make money from my passions – mainly art and supporting other creatives. Simultaneously, I had begun using Pinterest to market my work – I love to tell folks that I still have a pin from 10 years ago that makes me art sales! After realizing the power of Pinterest and content marketing, I started helping fellow artists and artisans on Etsy with promoting their work both on Pinterest and my blog.
In the meantime, I went to school for Art History and eventually Library and Information Science. The plan was always to have a steady job, but I spent a lot of my extra time marketing my art business, my blog, and marketing other makers’ and artists’ work. After nearly 5 years of working as a faculty Fine Arts Librarian at a major university, I decided to leave to pursue a business idea that I just couldn’t shake. I wanted to create a marketplace to rival Etsy, but better – more ethical in how it treated makers, and providing marketing assistance in some form or fashion. 2 weeks after the pandemic hit, I launched Happening Hands as “the marketplace that does the marketing for its makers”.
After 2 years, a lot of conversations with makers and artists, many mistakes and iterations, Happening Hands is now a vibrant membership community and business resource for makers where we help them build thriving profitable businesses – no matter where they sell online or in person. We help makers through a robust resource library that contains guides on how to sell wholesale, what to post on social media to make more sales, how to manage inventory, and more. We also offer courses on Pinterest marketing, email marketing, and how to have a successful craft show. Once a month, we gather for a group coaching session where makers can sign up for coaching slots. We also offer workshops from visiting service providers and professionals who can provide expertise on branding, creative direction, keeping your business legal, and more. We have partnerships with organizations and companies like Bridgeway Capital and their Creative Business Accelerator, the Made By Her handmade marketplace, and Inventora. In addition, we have a podcast called the Handmade CEO Podcast where makers and creative business owners can get free business advice.
What I’m most proud about when it comes to Happening Hands is how much it has been influenced by our makers and artists. The way this business has evolved has been by listening to the needs of our members and showing up in a way that gives them exactly what they need to grow their businesses to success! When makers join Happening Hands, they’re not just another maker in a crowd – they truly are a valued member. We care about their success and every single one of their needs, from money to mindset.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Absolutely! I love to tell this story because it proves that almost anyone at any point in life can build an authentic social media presence. I actually started building our social media presence when my daughter was just 8 months old. I was at home, on the couch with her a lot, and what else is there to do but scroll on one’s phone?! Of course, I’m a highly productive type of person, so I started building the Happening Hands social presence from the couch in all of my “spare” time spent feeding or holding my baby.
The biggest thing that grew our presence and trust with our following was direct message outreach. I got in the habit of sending almost 20 messages per day to new makers that I’d find on Instagram. Eventually, it grew to the point that I had a 67% conversion rate to makers I DM’d becoming email subscribers, which is where we send most of our communications and get the most traction. I’ve gained a lot of close friends, clients, and we’ve gained new members this way, just by building authentic relationships in the DMs. None of this is necessarily reflected in how many likes or comments we get on posts, but I’d say that out of the 2,500 or so followers we have, almost all of them are also on our email list. For those who are just starting out, this is a great way to build relationships with your ideal customer or client, and you pay in time instead of money (which most people don’t start out with).
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
When our marketplace went down in March of 2022, I found myself having to pivot overnight. The reality of the situation behind the scenes was that soon after the launch of the new marketplace site a few months before this pivot, I started having doubts about the direction of Happening Hands. We had a question on our intake form when makers applied to join us that asked what their biggest business struggle was – and it was always marketing – not that they needed yet another place to sell. No matter where they sold, online, in person, or in boutiques, the biggest struggle was in how to market their business and how to do it sustainably.
Before the marketplace went down, I had gained a few of our makers as clients for Business Strategy Coaching, where I assisted them with building sustainable, short term marketing strategies based on their business goals. With these initial clients, and through many conversations with makers in the marketplace, I started realizing a much deeper, wider need that wasn’t being met by anyone: makers need help with their marketing, whether that’s achieved through learning or through services. My vision for how to help makers and artists began to expand. When the marketplace disappeared, it almost felt like the band-aid had been ripped off. I pivoted to a membership only, and have since fully stepped into my role as a community leader and sustainable marketing coach for makers. Although the pivot was a shock, my heart was invested in the new direction, and for that I am so grateful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://happeninghands.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happeninghands/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/happeninghandscomunity
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/happening-hands/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf12wHHVqwNzr_uJmEXcCNw
- Other: Podcast: https://handmadeceo.com/
Image Credits
Please credit the business owners featured. In image with Seiko – please add “Kiana Jones with Seiko Sisco from Waku Waku Baby.” In image with Kim Evans, please add, “Kiana Jones with Kim Evans from Divergence Design.” In image with WittyVoyager and KatydidPGH, please add, “Kiana Jones with Katie Paskorz from KatydidPGH and Co-Owner of Witty Voyager”