We were lucky to catch up with Amy Major recently and have shared our conversation below.
Amy, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
The idea for starting the first children’s process-art studio in the Kansas City area actually came to me from one of my good friends. We were all the stage of raising babies and toddlers, and I was a “stay-at-home” parent at the time. She was a very busy “full-time” working mom. But we both had the same wants and needs for our littles–finding quality, fun, and enriching activities for them and ourselves. I was deep in the “baby and toddler” class circuit of my area. As a young mom with tiny littles at home most days, it is a yearning to find places where we could meet others and get out the house. There were plenty of music classes, baby “gyms”, PDOs available to us (which I was already part of, and enjoyed all of these experiences), but as a former art educator, and lover of the visual arts, I really noticed a lack of hands-on, art experiences for this age group. My friend reached out to me one day and told me about a kids art studio in her area that she was taking her son to. She said this is great! And you really need to look into this. It is perfect for you, and you need to open a place like this in your area! As a former elementary art teacher, who decided to stay home when I had kids, I had always longed to get back into the arts for kids in some way. So, when she pointed this concept out to me–a neighborhood art studio for small kids and their families–I absolutely knew this was what I had to do! I got to work right then, researching other studios like this around the country, and worked for two years on my concept and business plan! I was so excited, and with my background in child development, I knew how important a hands-on, process and sensory based art experience was for toddlers and young kids. As a mother of littles myself (two at the time I opened my studio), I also knew how important a safe, fun, and happy social option for young mothers and their children was. Taking my kids to these types of classes was vital in so many ways, and I made some of my best friends in those classes. Also, I just loved the idea of starting a place where children could have the opportunity to explore arts in a process-based way, a self-lead way, and a hands-on way–allowing them the autonomy to decide and make mistakes, to learn and experience in the process, and not have to be focused on the final product.
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 started as an elementary art teacher, and also have a masters in curriculum and instruction. I taught in a school setting for 8 years, and then married and stayed home with my kids. As my youngest reached the toddler stage, I itched to get back into spreading my love for the visual arts in some way. I knew I didn’t want to go back into teaching in a school setting, but wanted share the visual arts with kids. This is what lead me to opening my art studio. My kids were 2 and five when I opened the studio, and I loved that they could be part of all of it! With me every step of the way, showing me what worked, what they liked, and also what didn’t. My main focus was to provide a hands-on visual and sensory art space for young kids. I wanted to feel safe to explore, make mistakes, and have fun. Get messy without worry, feel free to try new things, have the freedom to touch and explore all art mediums. As a former elementary art teacher, and lover of art history, I was very familiar with the type of art education these kids would get in school. I know how valid and important this type of art learning is–skills and techniques, elements and principles, visual art masters and artists–there is a great need and place for this. But I also understood how many kids didn’t love that type of art learning. Feeling like they were never “good” at art, their works didn’t “look like” my examples or other kids, etc. So I knew in my studio we would provide a different approach. One were there was no “wrong” way to create or explore the artistic experience. In my studio we offer weekly classes, workshops, camps and birthday parties. We serve kids and families ages 18mos-the tween years. In offering art classes and experiences for kids, we provide an extracurricular activity for those who want more choices than music, dance and sports. Giving kids a chance to make mistakes and see how those “mistakes” can be wins also. Allowing them autonomy to choose and make creative decisions, to think outside the box, develop problem solving skills, social skills, fine and gross motor skills. And also a place to relax, de-stress after a school day, take it slow, use their right brain, touch and have calming sensory experiences. I want potential families to realize in today’s crazy and busy world, kids need a break. They need a place where there is no competition, no need to be the “best”, to have an equal playing field where all are valid and important. To breath, relax, and feel safe. And also, to have so much fun! Laugh, make friends, feel confident.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I choose this question because I feel like being an entrepreneur and small business owner is the definition of resilience. I also wanted to choose the “pivot” question, as this is also the constant state of a small business owner, at least in my experience. Ini just starting my business, making the choice to go for it, I had to be resilient. Throwing ideas out, seeing what would work and what wouldn’t, getting unwanted opinions from people, have a huge “dream” of what the business could be, and realizing it may need to change and evolve a little in order to be successful–all of these things started my journey in resilience. And then, once the studio opened, the difficulties and challenges were endless. The never ending pursuit of finding clients, wanting everyone to love your business as much as you, and yet dealing with negative reviews. Needing to make enough money to keep the door open, pay employees, come up with new and fresh ideas constantly to keep people interested. The list of being resilient for small business owners and entrepreneurs goes on and on. But, I have to say, the hardest time for me was Covid…as I’m sure it was for so many of the people you interview. Covid hit for me at a time when my business was just starting to grow. I opened in the fall of 2017, and it was a hard first two years. But we made it, and I was just starting to see how my business was successful. We were selling out of classes and workshops, full weekends of birthday parties, my social media was growing followers–all of the things a new business wants to see. I had signed a three year lease, and I began to realize we would need a new and larger space. At the end of 2019/beginning of 2020, I had started looking for a place to expand. However, in the spring of 2020, we all realized that was not going to happen. The shut down in March of 2020 hit my studio hard. I ran a child centered business, that was built on in person community and learning, that was optional, and not a necessity. It was scary for so many ways, but also as a small business owner. The amount of ways myself and my team had to pivot were countless. We had just launched Spring classes, we had a full schedule of months of booked birthday parties, we had a full 10 week line-up of summer camps that were booked and paid for—these were all crucial financial necessities my business needed to stay alive. And I was forced with a decision on how I could handle this. So, we pivoted in a major way. I reached out to all of our spring class enrolled parents and offered them an “online” spring class program. We boxed up 8 weeks of class supplies and dropped them off to porches of all the families who wanted to participate. However, this option didn’t work for many families, and especially for our toddler families, those classes we couldn’t do in person. We also had to cancel many birthday parties, and refund all of those families–a huge loss of income. But, we were resilient, we pushed through, we came together as an online community and it was great! And in the following months after, we pivoted in everyday we could to keep our studio open–were were able to do small, summer camps, with masks, all while keeping our artists spread out 6 ft, We gave them all their own set of art supplies to use, not having any community supplies for the summer, and etc. Then, in the fall of 2020, my lease was up. And instead of my dreams of expanding, and moving onto a larger space, expanded programs, and more new artist friends, I made the decision to shut the physical space down. It was hard, and I wasn’t sure what the future would bring. But I had hope. I think this is the most vital part of being resilient–having a strong hope and dream that it can still work. So, for the fall I pushed on, trying to make money any way I could. I turned my basement into an art kit processing center, and continued to bring art to families at home. Families were so supportive and ordered art kits to keep their kids at home busy. We made art kits for at home birthday parties. I went to social media and shared ways families could easily bring art to their kids at home through at home process-based projects and sensory kits. And we were resilient, all of us together, getting through it! And, in the winter of 2020/2021, with the vaccine promised for young kids soon, I trusted things would work out, and started looking for our next physical location of Wee Create. In the spring of 2021, we found a great space, and opened in June of that year, just in time for an in-person full schedule of summer camps and parties. We did what was needed to stay safe, everyone masked up and washed hands, and had fun! We made it, through resiliency, and bravery, and hope and pivoting a lot! I will say, since covid my business has struggled, in ways I know are a result of that time. In the clients we lost, in that excited momentum of the growth and spread of word-of-month. We have had to continue to pivot and be resilient, but we are still here!
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
The most effective way I have built my business and gained clients is definitely though word-of-mouth. In a business that is built on kids and community, having trusted parents who experience the magic of our studio and share it with others has been crucial. We love having a community that is connected, where families and kids are familiar with one another. Through this we have built a loyal clientele base, that has become “generational”. Families who started with us in 2017, with their first borns, and have stayed and grown with us through the years, with their second, third and fourth children growing trough our programs. It has been such an unexpected joy in owning this business! Kids continuing to want their birthday parties at our studio, for multiple years in a row. New clients coming in and saying they found us at their child’s best friends birthday party, or their best friend’s child takes classes with us, or their neighbor told them about our studio and they were so excited because they we looking for a fun class for their toddler. It is best!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://weecreatekc.com
- Instagram: weecreateart
- Facebook: weecreatekc
