We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ali Hooten. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ali below.

Ali, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

One of the biggest risks I have taken, to date, is quitting my full time job teaching at a University to pursue my own business. I always imagined building up Coit Creative as a side hustle over several years, waiting for the day it made enough money to justify leaving a more steady job. I anticipated a natural leap, not one full of unknowns. I am not entirely new to the risky career jumps; I also left a job working as an architect for a very well known firm and some amazing projects to transition to other facets of design, all of which led me to illustration and surface pattern design. The decision to take the risk was a mixture of several factors, primarily mental health and where I am in life. I was not making a livable income yet in my business but had saved up a year’s salary and was ready to take the risk. I fell back on the feeling that I would deeply regret not trying to build my own business one day and the opportunity arose. Risk is incredibly subjective, and for me, the leap to run my own business was worth the risk.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am the founder of Coit Creative, an illustration and surface pattern design brand. I license art to companies, both big and small, which is then placed on products like children’s apparel, dog beds, greeting cards, murals, and more. In addition, I teach a few online courses about design to fellow creatives.

I didn’t start my career path as a professional illustrator. After graduating with a Master’s in Architecture, I worked on high-end residential homes as an Architect for many years. I left to pursue a professional career in guiding, gaining rock climbing certifications, only to realize I went a little too far the other direction. I felt like a pendulum swinging from design – outdoors – design – outdoors. I ended up teaching at a state R1 University for several years while guiding in the summers before launching to build Coit Creative full time. I loved teaching and still teach online to this day, but I craved a more flexible lifestyle and always wanted to run my own business. I now run my own business and continue to use many technical skills, apply critical thinking, and teach at a much smaller capacity.

Looking ahead, I really hope to license more artwork and collaborate with companies. I dream of working with more outdoor brands, blending my lifestyle with my work. I also dream of living abroad and having the freedom to work from any place in the world.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I have recently made a rather large pivot within my business. As of spring in 2022, I have decided to not sell physical products anymore and go down to a zero-inventory model by the fall. With a few major life changes that popped up in addition to crunching the numbers after tax season, this decision and pivot makes sense for this stage of my life. I was primarily selling eco-friendly greeting cards with my illustrations to both direct to consumer and wholesale to shops around the country. The cards have sold really well yet I had to weigh several factors including my own business goals. I may sell cards again in the future, and will continue to sell them until the fall, but in the immediate future I anticipate focusing more on art licensing and online education.

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

My business has multiple revenue streams which is fairly common amongst artists running small design studios (solo-preneur). Working with a digital art product in the form of spot illustrations or repeating patterns, I often license and sell the art in different forms. My pie chart of revenue is made up of 5 main tiers: online education, art licensing royalties, client commissions, print on demand income, and wholesale sales. I have sold my art on products through my own website and FAIRE wholesale, on Etsy, fabric and wallpaper on Spoonflower, courses on Skillshare, and lastly royalties with various companies both large and small.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.coitcreative.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coitcreative/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Uf46KVTfiBdTspEBe29Ww