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

Suki, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

Signed By Suki began in 2019 by me practicing lettering and calligraphy regularly on whatever I could get my hands on – notebooks, take out boxes, gift bags, receipt paper, etc., and posting my work on social media, which then allowed friends and acquaintances to inquire about a number of various projects, whether that be wedding name tags, a wedding brochure/pamphlet, or even a tattoo. I started lettering and I haven’t stopped since. I had to figure out who I wanted to cater to, which started with weddings. I launched because I was receiving a good amount of inquiries that inspired me into taking myself and my work more seriously. I was approached by Sip & Script in 2021 to be the first Michigan instructor, which is pretty cool, but a little scary at the same time. However, through teaching, I have found I really enjoy instructing and connecting with like-minded individuals in the area and getting together to talk about all things lettering and calligraphy! It started as a passion project and having it grow into Signed By Suki is beyond my wildest dreams come true.

Suki, 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?

So it all started when I won best cursive in the second grade LOL okay but in all seriousness, I have always leaned into the creative side of things. In grade school, when we were supposed to be taking notes on whatever the subject was, I found myself so busy with writing and rewriting just the title of the notes to “look good” that I pretty much missed the first bit of whatever the lecture was about. It was the one hobby I may have strayed away from time to time, but would eventually make my way back to. I would practice on notebooks and take out boxes in my spare time…I would practice, and practice some more, and keep practicing, and would take pictures of my work and post it on social media. After that, I would get inquiries from all sorts of people asking me to do random lettering tasks such as addressing envelopes for wedding invitations, lettering name cards, making welcome signs, etc.

From there, I decided to establish myself as a small business called Signed By Suki, and I currently specialize in event signage such as wedding welcome signs, seating charts, and more. I also create chalkboard menus for local businesses in the Metro Detroit area, I letter and engrave in-store for luxury brands through on-site events, and I am an instructor through Sip & Script, where I teach beginner friendly calligraphy and brush lettering workshops at local venues.

I really had no idea how any of this was going to work out. It started as a hobby, and I love being able to use calligraphy to help others with their wedding decor details, and connect with some really great local venues for hosting the classes, as well as meeting so many people that take the class. For me, I was just happy being able to do something that I love doing, but to have people out there that think my work is worth paying for means the absolute world.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Last fall, I was on track to teach the most classes so far in one month but unfortunately, I got sick, and this meant giving two of my largest classes to another calligraphy instructor in my area so they could fill in for me. I was pretty down about it, but at the end of the day, there was nothing I could really do but rest up.

Because of that moment, instead of feeling down about the previous situation, I decided to take the free time I (finally) had at home to buckle down and work on something I had been putting off: engraving. Freehand engraving on products such as fragrance bottles is a trendy thing happening in the calligraphy community, so I decided to refine my portfolio and brand deck in order to expand my services beyond teaching classes.

From there, I was able to create some sample pieces and go in person to pitch my services, and a few weeks after that, I booked my first on-site engraving event at a large department store and went on to book two more events within the same month, and now I’m continuing to book more and more events months in advanced. It was very much a “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade” type of situation.

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

I started out with serving/bartending as my main job and with calligraphy being a side hustle and now those two things have switched – calligraphy seems to be more of my main job these days, but I still enjoy serving a few days a week on the side.

Back in the day at my serving job, I would write the specials on these chalkboards and post pictures of them to my social media, and then took some time to look into all of the possibilities through calligraphy. Some crafters/calligraphers make their own products such as greeting cards, t-shirts, mugs, etc. but throughout the years, I have found success in being a service-based artist.

A huge milestone for me was creating one of my biggest projects with my first small business client, which started with me creating a 4′ x 10′ chalkboard menu comprised of many other smaller chalkboards for a business that operates out of a local farmer’s market, and from there, I would take on large scale chalkboard menus for local businesses in the metro Detroit area.

A few years later, I signed on as a calligraphy instructor through Sip & Script and teaching classes has allowed me to network with many different kinds of people. Through teaching, I have met a lot of awesome creatives as well as had a spotlight on the local Channel 4 news last fall, and have the pleasure of adding luxury brands to my collaborations such as Jo Malone London, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, & MaxMara. I can’t wait to see what else is in store for the future!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.signedbysuki.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/signedbysuki
• Facebook: facebook.com/signedbysuki

Image Credits
@kellyzientekphotography @marilynsdetroit