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

Jenidy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Taking care of customers isn’t just good business – it is often one of the main reasons folks went into business in the first place. So, we’d love to get a conversation going around how to best help clients feel appreciated – maybe you can share something you’ve done or seen someone do that’s been really effective at helping a customer feel valued?

Any customers or supporters I have, I really appreciate more than they know. Word of mouth goes a long way, and sharing my business with others also helps expand my reach. No matter how big or small an order may be, I love to add extra art for free. I love to add stickers, jewelry, trinkets, prints, or even original pieces of art. I feel this shows the customer I appreciate them and want them to know I thrive because of them. I enjoy making hand made thank you notes and hand packaging each order myself. I hope that anyone who purchases from me or supports me in any form knows how much they mean to me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Jenidy Johnson and I am the creator behind Batty Art By Jenidy.

Ever since I was a young child I’ve always loved to craft and paint. I feel like my mom encouraged me to create along with other family members. Everyone would buy me DIY kits for my birthday and Christmas. As a teenager I’d spend free time filling up sketch books. Nothing too crazy or artistic, it was more of getting the creative energy and flow out. As I got older I started to understand the concept of art and started creating more and more.

After being in an 8 year relationship at the age of 21, my fiance and I had a baby, and I became a stay at home mom. I started making body scrubs to try and make some extra money. I realized that I wanted to instead make art and changed my Facebook business page into one for just that. I really enjoyed painting with watercolor and acrylics, made some jewelry here and there. I felt successful because I would sell a couple pieces and my home was decorated in all of my art. I was working a full time job and being a mom. But nothing compared to being a full time business owner.

A couple years went by and we had gotten married, changed our house around, my husband went though different jobs and found one to stick with, and I was now a stay at home mom again. Life just seemed to flash by quickly and it occured to me I hadn’t excelled in what I wanted to do, so I made a plan to start my dream career.

I started by making an official office space for all of my art needs. My husband and friends were so helpful when doing all of this and getting everything in order. I made a business Instagram, website, and updated my Facebook art page. Slowly but surely I was growing in the art community and made lots of artist friends and was happy and confident in my work.

After a year covid hit and we were stuck at home. This was my time to shine! While on lock down at home, it gave me all the time in the world to finally create like I had been wanting to. I got plenty of supplies to kick my business off to it’s full potential and was creating day and night.

After 6 years of creating I feel I have finally found my niche and style in art. Watercolor and acrylic are my go to, and I also really love making jewlery. But maybe that isn’t true as my style is ever changing! Every day I feel different and create off of those emotions. I’ve been running a full time business, sending out packages all across the world, meeting up with locals, donating art to local causes, and have a website up and running with all of my creations. My art has been featured in a magazine, I’ve hosted art nights with friends to get creative together, and I’ve expanded my horizon on using digital art and pyrography.

I love spooky cute stuff, and that’s the themes I try to go with. Bright colors with creepy things are what inspire me. Halloween is my favorite and I want to make every day spooky. I want my art to pop and catch your eye while also making you feel happy and nostalgic. I want my art to inspire you and make you feel. Whether you’re just looking at my art, buying it for yourself or a friend. Even if you don’t like my art and can’t stop thinking about how you hate it, at least it is making you feel something. That’s how I know I have accomplished what I wanted, to make YOU feel.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think consistently creating, sharing my art, and interacting with other artists and followers on social media as often as I can has helped me build a reputation. I feel I’m a very kind a generous person and really try to show how compassionate I am about art to all of my friends and followers. I also think having a spooky cute theme with my art has helped me be recognized by a large group of people. I really enjoy donating my art to causes for helping people and think that has also helped recognize who I am as not only an artist, but a person.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A big lesson that I had to unlearn was to not create for others, but for me. For the longest time I would make and create things that I thought everyone would like and want to buy. I learned that I need to create for me, and make what I want and would want to use in my own home or wear myself. Once I started doing this I felt more recognized and successful. I was so much happier, less stressed, and didn’t feel like my business was a burden any more. Creating for me also gave me creative freedom to show who I am.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ko-fi.com/battyartbyjenidy
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/batty_art_by_jenidy?igshid=11hp95x33dykc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BattyArtByJenidy/
• Tiktok: https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdMFN7Gg/
• Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/JenidyJohnson/shop?utm_source=rb-native-app&utm_campaign=share-artist&utm_medium=android
• Linktree: https://linktr.ee/BattyArtByJenidy

Image Credits
Jenidy Johnson