We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hunter McKay a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hunter, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?
One of the biggest challenges I face is making profit online. Facebook changes it algorithm so people won’t see your post or they make it so that you have to pay for people to see your products. Etsy is pretty saturated and the expenses add up quickly with little return.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’ve always been a person that changes their mind or hobby frequently and this is the first thing that has stuck. I started in August of 2020, a lot of people make clay earrings now. I think the way that I stand out is that I don’t have a particular style that I do. I create something for everyone and I like to make mine one of a kind so I don’t make many pairs of the same earrings. I love the versatility that this gives me and I truly love what I do. Being able to sell my earrings and giving that joy to others is a bonus. I never started this thinking I would make a whole lot of money but I have been pleasantly surprised with the extra income my little hobby has given me. I aim to give people unique handmade earrings. My favorite customers are the ones that have a hard time deciding on what to get because they love so many of my creations.
Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?
In July of 2022 I gave birth to my daughter, I was working for the military in a job that worked 12 hour shifts that switched from days to nights every two weeks. I desperately wanted to leave my job because I was very miserable and I saw my mom work at a job she hated. I never want my daughter to see her mom do something she hates so I knew that I was going to have to make a change. While I was on my maternity leave I scheduled every weekend to go to craft shows to sell my earrings and I absolutely loved it. I was making more money selling my earring than I was at my full time job. I was met with much resistance from different family members on wanted to quit my job. But I did it and now I run two businesses! I work as insurance agent for Derrick Hodam’s office for Farm Bureau and I book as many weekends as I can for my earring business.
We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.
I create all of my clay pieces and create many of earring charms and beading. I got started by seeing something about clay earrings on pinterest I thought it looked like something that I could do. So I went to hobby lobby the next day and spend $300 on all my supplies and started by hand molding donuts and little avocados. I sold 6 pairs withing 2 days of starting and I think that’s what really motivated me to continue to try out different designs.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hdartistry.square.site/s/shop
- Instagram: _hd.artistry
- Facebook: HDartistry