We recently connected with Adrienne Lin and have shared our conversation below.

Adrienne , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?

I started off by hiring a contractor in 2023 to create an Instagram account for my business. She got me up and running and showed me best practices for posting. This was important to me because I closed my account on Facebook in 2018 and never had an Instagram account before my business, so I didn’t know too much about how or what to post to social media.

I closed social media accounts before now because of the negative headspace and mentality that can come with comparisons and whatnot when scrolling. However, I know it can make a huge impact in marketing so I figured it was time to finally invest the time and create the account.

I did appreciate having someone get me off the ground and ready to post, but I’ve had more success creating and posting my own content. It is a learning curve I am still working out every day but I have gained confidence in posting about my art and business.
We all have fears about what others will think, but putting my face out there and showing genuine personality instead of curated perfection has been a struggle. I think people relate to real people and showing their process of how the art is made, so I’m working to find a balance between the two.
The overall results have been ok. I’m happy to have more followers than the day I started but it is slow going. I’ve been teaming up with some other local Minnesota small businesses to do giveaways, and that has been helpful. I’ve tried boosting a few posts here and there and it will get some engagement but overall it is fairly slow. Not putting a ton of pressure on this area though since my focus is the business overall and fundamentally, the art I create.

I think it is key to just give it a try. Sometimes there is a paralysis of what to create and post, but I’ve never been one to let that hold me back from just giving something a shot and learning from it. There is a ton of pressure to get millions of followers and engagement, but honestly, just take it one day at a time and create what you want to create.

Adrienne , 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?

Well hello! I’m Adrienne. I grew up in a tiny farming community for back story. Art and music were always interests of mine from the start, so I took as many art classes as I could in high school. Unfortunately, my upbringing that said there was no way I could be an artist as a career and be successful.
So, I went to a local college studying graphic design. From there I realized graphic design was pretty abstract in feedback from the professors and other students, which was difficult to make sense of and try to please everyone with the design output. Fortunately, I took a web design course as a part of the elective portion of the curriculum and found that the mash up of design with HTML/CSS was a perfect combo because the code either worked from a technical perspective, or it didn’t, but still was creative design work overall. I ended up moving into a ‘new’ concentration of my BFA at the time for Interactive Media to add onto the graphic design and I loved it.
There were still a lot of opportunities to take fine art classes during my time in my undergrad like art metals, sculpture, drawing, etc. so I was very fortunate to continue to hone my fine art skills while working towards a career path in digital art. I was fortunate enough to finish my BFA with a minor in photography as well, and eventually go on to get a Master’s degree in Psychology, which I think is very useful for understanding website users and their behaviors. As of now, I have worked as a full time UX/UI designer for almost 11 years and find it is a great hybrid of creativity and usability. And, it allows me to do my art on the side as a business.
As for how I decided to start my own business, it was due to feedback over the years that I received about my art as gifts to friends, family, and colleagues. I would make my art in my spare time and ultimately give it away as gifts due to the belief I wouldn’t be successful as a fine artist, but the feedback was so positive and encouraging to really give my own business a go. There was a local craft event one of my corporate jobs hosted each year that gave me a safe environment to try hosting my own table at, and it went pretty well.
The products I provide are handcrafted gifts. The description is pretty broad, but I love trying different mediums and ideas, so the business follows suit. The overall goal of my products are to provide the buyer or receiver delightful products that make them feel good either through body positivity, creativity, or individual growth.
The products can range from clay earrings to laser engraved wooden bookmarks to handcrafted buttons to canvas pouches with compliments on them. All of these products grow from a background of fine art that I’ve been able to develop skills for over the year by trying out different mediums.
Another area I’ve considered moving into is a consultant space for fellow artists and their brand and booth development. There has been a lot of feedback given on how aesthetic my table or booth looks at events and others want to learn how I’ve built it all. Along with my roots in web and graphic design, I would find it very intriguing to help fellow artists develop their brand identities and booth aesthetics to promote their work.
What problems I believe I solve for my clients are genuine gift giving to themselves or their loved ones in a world full of mass produced goods. I find that people love the thought and consideration of a purposeful gift that can be given by a loved one, and I’m here to help my local community do that. And, to take it a sentimental step further, the art I make are meant to spread positivity and warm emotions towards self and others in the form of handmade art. A lot of commercial goods in our current economy cannot say the same.
What sets me apart from others, is the diversity of the skills I’ve developed and the products I offer. The overall drive I can’t seem to shake for exploring different mediums and skills is what keeps my business interesting but still focusing on making things by hand with love for others to give to themselves or their loved ones.
Honestly I’m most proud of just taking the leap to build a business. I am my own investor and employee so it is scary to think about the logistics of making this all work day to day. But, I love what I do and find enough security and stability in my full time work to supplement my true passion during the rest of my time on this earth.
I apply to a lot of local art shows and really have found I enjoy talking to attendees about the art and how it is made while they are enjoying the event. With event applications comes quite a bit of rejection as well though, and having the courage for anyone to keep applying and keep creating is inspiring to me as an artist and business owner.
There are so many people who will tell you what you can or cannot do, and it takes a strong amount of grit to be able to know your own abilities and follow your passion. Even if you’re not the best painter, sculptor, or artist in the world, you can create something that someone will identify with and appreciate, and ultimately improve their quality of life.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I grew up in a small farming community. Nothing against people in small towns or anyone who has an agriculture occupation, but it just wasn’t expected of anyone I grew up with to be creative in their career and be successful. The idea of a ‘starving artist’ was alive and well, and the lack of budget provided to the art department in school was proof of this mentality.
One of the main moments that drove this idea home was when I called an aunt of mine, who worked in the musical arts as a college professor, was absolutely astounded when I let her know I got a job offer before I was graduating from my bachelors degree. She honestly didn’t believe I would find a job in graphic or web design, let alone before I graduated. But my determination to be able to move to Minneapolis was a force to be reconned with. I was applying for jobs at Thanksgiving time (about 7 months before May graduation) and getting interviews by spring break.
I knew it was a long shot to be applying for web design jobs before I had a degree, but my drive to live on my own as soon as I had my diploma in my hand was strong. So, I did it. I sent out an embarrassing amount of applications and networking emails to design studios in St Paul and Minneapolis to ensure I had a plan once I graduated. I was offered a full time job with benefits in Minneapolis by spring break and had my plan in place to move here immediately after I graduated.
The only other option in my mind was to move back home with my parents and find a temporary job that would pay bills, but not allow me to follow my creative passions. That lesson was a lot of work to overcome and relearn, but definitely worth it, as I’ve worked in my career for almost 11 years now and created my own business.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

My business is small and specialized enough that I’ve built it from the ground up by myself. I started with creating a brand, which was fueled by my fine arts degree in graphic design. From there, I built a website, which is what I do regularly in my daily career work.
From there, I used money earned from my full time UX/UI design work to fund displays and printed branded materials. A lot of the materials I started with to create art were already on hand due to my hobby of creating art during my spare time, but any extra materials also came from funding from my full time work.
Since then, it has been great to make back the money from selling my artwork to pay for the displays and materials. If I were to expand my business or produce art work that is beyond my skills, I did name the business with Studio in the title to keep it open for other collaborators.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lizabellstudio.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizabellstudio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093504319237
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrienne-lin/
• Other: Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LizabellStudio

Image Credits

Amanda Clarke took some of the photos of me and my space. I took the others.