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

Amy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

When I first started doing illustration and surface pattern design and didn’t want to put my work (and myself!) out there, my husband would say, “No one knows what you’re doing here in the barn in your back yard. You have to get out and share it.” For me – and for many of my creative friends – it’s really difficult to put yourself out there, between imposter syndrome, the pressure you put on yourself for your work to be exactly like what you see in your head, and comparing your beginning to other people’s middle, it can be hard to take those first steps – applying for markets, reaching out to art directors, showing your work – but the more you do it, the more feedback you get, and the better you get at your craft. It’s so gratifying to see how people react to my work when I’m at markets, it’s usually exactly what I was hoping for – putting a smile on people’s faces – and that never would have happened had I stayed in the barn, never sharing my work.

Amy, 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?

After a couple of years working in broadcast production, I decided that I had to make art, and started taking continuing education classes at night and on weekends, exploring all different media, from photography to paper making, to drawing and painting.

Around the same time that I started taking continuing education classes, I started thinking that I needed to work toward something that was more of a product than the service business I was in in video production so that eventually I could have (hopefully) more stability. Through a paper making workshop, I learned Polaroid image transfer, did that for a while, until Polaroid went out of business, and licensed some of my image transfers for home decor.

Home decor had always been an interest of mine, along with cards and stationery. I spent a lot of time at my local stationery shop as a child, buying every Sandra Boynton card that existed and collecting tons of Mrs. Grossman stickers. I think I had always dreamed of making cute cards and fun artwork, but for a long time, I felt that I didn’t have the skills to actually do this, so I kept plugging away at continuing ed classes while working as a video producer.

Eventually, I started taking online classes in surface pattern design and began a daily sketchbook practice during my train commute, which started me on the road to illustration. Because video production was so stressful, I wanted to make things that made me happy, and started focusing on cute, cheerful paintings and drawings when I was in my studio. I can (and sometimes do) draw in a more realistic style, but the cute artwork really made me happy, and now, when I see other people look at the work and smile, or when they tell me how cute they think my work is, it’s such an incredible feeling.

Life can be stressful, as we know (!), and to make something that cheers people up or makes them feel happy is the reason why I do this. It’s an added bonus that when they learn that all of my products are made in an environmentally friendly way.

As a woman founder and creative director, I’m able to bring all of my values to what I do, which hasn’t always been the case when working for other people. I’m able to support causes that I want to support, I’m able to make things in the most sustainable way possible – and am able to adapt my offerings as better, more sustainable options become available. Seeing people react so positively to my products also makes me feel like there’s so much potential for what I’m doing, and that I have true agency over my future, whereas it hasn’t always felt that way before in my video production career.

I think what makes me most proud of my business is that I’ve worked for years and years to gain the skills I needed to be where I am now, all while working in a very demanding, unrelated job, and I didn’t give up. Even during COVID, I used that time to improve my website, rewriting copy, shooting products on my iPhone (my DSLR camera died at the start of lockdown – ugh!), and giving each product shot its own little story through propping with what I had on hand. I also used that time to focus on sourcing, improving my products, and adding designs to my line, and that’s resulted in me – slowly! – gaining recognition for my business. I market my work primarily at in-person markets and online, and each year, I see growth, which has been amazing. Seeing the potential for my business, especially after starting it later in life than I’d have liked, and to see how enthusiastic people are about my designs is exciting and motivating.

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

For me, it’s the myth of the starving artist. This was so ingrained when I was younger, and, of the many things that I learned and was able to use from my video production career, one huge one is that there are plenty of opportunities out there for artists, designers, and writers – just in film / video / advertising alone. I think there are a lot of layers to what the starving artist represents – it’s not just financial insecurity, it also implies a lack of responsibility, though artists and creatives are among the most resourceful, hardworking people I know, and will often balance their studio work with another job if they have to. The myth also serves as a means to cut us off from our dreams – but our dreams will always be calling us – that’s why we work so hard, so we can do the thing we know we have to do.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I’m kind of obsessed with the way that Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan does business – though I have never been there! They have a very worker-friendly philosophy, which is sadly quite rare. A long time ago, I was at a culinary conference (I wrote a cookbook that was published in 2010 – a whole other story!) and Ari Weinzweig, one of the co-founders of Zingerman’s was running a visioning workshop at the conference. It was my favorite session, and after that, I started reading Ari’s books on management and business. At Zingerman’s, they use visioning to create a roadmap for their future plans, they provide great opportunities to members of their work community (the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses), and Ari shares a weekly newsletter that touches on literature, anarchy, music, and business philosophy. His newsletter always seems to be on point for whatever I’m mulling over that week. Having worked in a number of different small- to mid-sized companies, because I’ve been a freelancer, I’ve seen a lot of what works and a lot of what doesn’t, and the main thing that I want to be sure I get right in my business when I get to that point, is how the people in my business feel and how the company supports them. Zingerman’s has been walking that walk for a long time, it’s really inspiring to see.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://amymccoy.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amymccoy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tinyfarmhousebyamymccoy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amylmccoy/
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/tinyfarmhouse/

Image Credits
photo of me: Jonathan Richardson all other photos: Amy McCoy