We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Autum Stryker. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Autum below.
Autum, appreciate you joining us today. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?
When I was 13, an advertisement in the paper was put out for young people to learn how to be an entrepreneur and then later attend an entrepreneur eventI am always looking for new things to learn, so I attended the meeting. At the meeting, they went over product and what we wanted our product to be. Everyone choose the common products like jewelry, baked goods, and decor that they wanted to create and sell. I wanted to be different and stand out . I wanted something unique, something that was different then everyone else’s product.After the meeting, I went home and brainstormed. I came up with the idea to create something for those who are going through cancer. I am creative and love to design things, so I knew that creating a book was a way I could express this and do something for those who have/have had cancer. I wanted to help those who have cancer because my grandma went through cancer and unfortunately passed away from it, so it was a form of healing from her death for me. and a way of thanking her for being my best friend and a way to give to those who are still battling/survived cancer since my grandma couldn’t. So, I set out and created a cancer journey book that was filled with tons of affirmations and coloring pages that cancer fighters can utilize on their journey through cancer. I presented these books for the first time at the young entrepreneur event and I got a lot of positive feedback and people told me they could be used for a wider variety then just cancer. So, from there I continued to create different books for different journeys in life and mental health. There was plenty of challenges and learning that came about on this journey. I had to learn how to make and create my own website and learn about social media and work on gaining traction and attention on their, After making my third book, triumphing trauma, I started to attend vendor craft shows and quickly learned that business is hit or miss. You will have good day ms and weeks where everything is joyful and you are getting a ton of orders and good feedback, and then weeks and months where there is nothing at all and you just want to give up and think it wasn’t worth it in the first place. This was really hard on me and I felt people didn’t understand my deep passion. Over the next two years, I continued to make a few more books, attend vendors when I could, and continued marketing. My new favorite way of marketing is sending emails. It takes a good amount of time and can feel repetitive, but it has been my most successful way of marketing so far..
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 when I was 13. I got into my industry because I wanted to help people. I wanted to create resources for people who have gone through cancer because my grandma went through cancer and passed away from it, so I wanted to give back to her and to those like who are struggling. I know how hard chemotherapy and cancer can be on a persons mental state, so I wanted to create something that would help people work through that struggle, and something they could turn to in times of struggling and when they need a little extra support. It was also a way of healing for me since my grandmother was my best friend. I felt like she would be so proud of me for what I was doing. I saw the difference the book was making in peoples lives so I wanted to create more books that a larger variety of people could utilize. So, I created other books. Over the next two years I made a book for kids, trauma, veterans, seniors/autism, and eating disorders/body image struggles. I used my experience with trauma and an eating disorder to create those two books. What sets me apart from others is the meaning and passion behind my books. I create my books to provide support and coping skills to people who feel alone in their mental health and need a little extra support. I want people to know that I spend countless hours creating these books and I put a lot of research and effort into them because I want them to be beneficial and helpful to people who buy/receive the books. The affirmstions in the books are geared towards the mental health/life journey the books are for and then there are multiple coping skills/worksheets in each book that are designed for the mental health journey the book is for. What I am most proud of is when I got a massive order of over 200 books for gift bags for people who receive cancer treatment in Renville county, Minnesota. Another accomplishment I am proud of is my first time talking to a business/hospital about my books and the executive director saw so much potential in me. He was very excited about what I was doing and now the books are at that cancer clinic, Centacare in Willmar, MN. I am also proud of myself for connecting to big, worldwide known treatment centers/hospitals in the US. For example, Eating Disorder Recovery Center, Montenido, Children’s Minnesota Hospital, and many other small business/hospital locations. Amongst all of the good though, there was of course a lot of struggles I have had from mispricing my books and not charging shipping, having panic attacks over phone calls with people, and lacking confidence in what I do. I hope that people will take some time to check out my website and also subscribe to my email list so that they can stay up to date with what I am up to and other resources for mental health and awareness. I also want people to know that a large amount of the money I make off my books goes back into the community and helps me with volunteer projects I am working on. For example, buying supplies for the tie blankets I make. The money also helps me pay for mission trips I go on to provide more service and support to others and the world. I hope to continue to grow nationwide and maybe one day worldwide. I hope people buy and donate some books to nursing homes, hospitals, therapy centers, and people in need. The books also make a great gift that will help support people you know that are in need/struggling. People can learn more about me and what I do through my social media where I post everyday about a mental health/world topic and provide insight and education to people.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I think people struggle with understanding why people want to establish a business based off of something they created. I also think people don’t want to put in the hard work and are a triad of failure, which I understand, but you don’t know how big or successful something can be, until you try. Even if it’s not majorly successful, it can be successful in your eyes for the fact you tried to do something that you enjoyed doing. For me, I wanted to create something I made and could be proud of. I wanted to create something that gave me a purpose and gave me something to work towards. My business doesn’t take up all of my time and I don’t make enough to supply me with a stable income, but it’s something I can turn to and work on. I created something that I knew has potential and I knew would make a difference in peoples lives. I want people to understand that my passion in what I do is to help others and I hope that people will see my passion. I hope that people can see my passion in my work to and understand it and understand how deeply passionate I am about it. I hope others can share my passion and see my books for what they truly are, a way to help others through their struggles.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
The best source of new clients for me has been email marketing and vendor shows. I started with just sending a long paragraph telling about what I do and what books I have to different places like therapy offices, foster care centers, residential treatment centers, hospitals and other therapy/mental health centers. Then I would wait for a reply and if I never got one, then I just let it be. Now, I create a monthly email, that I send out about 4 times a month and it talks about my books and other resources you can utilize for mental health.
I also do vendor shows when I am able to attend. At the vendor shows people who are walking by and shopping stop by my booth and look at what I have to sell and I tell them about the story of my books and my passion for the books. People usually are very intrigued and consider getting one for someone they know or for themselves.
Contact Info:
- Website: espoirbyautum.square.site
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/espoirbyautum/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/autum.stryker
- Other: People can click on this link to be connected to my email marketing list to keep up to date with new books and other mental health tips. https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/wjc2B7e