We recently connected with Carlee Hawkins and have shared our conversation below.
Carlee, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?
Well, how I got my first client that wasn’t family or friend… starts with first doing a job for a friend. One morning I was getting coffee with a friend of mine. At this point in my business it was still a part time hustle. I was doing custom pen and ink drawings, as well as, selling my works at art markets in my area. My friend and I were talking and she told me how she quit her job and was going to open her own pottery studio. As ecstatic as I was for her, I always saw an opportunity. You see, I’d heard this podcast and the lady was telling about how she paints murals and how profitable she has found it to be. When my friend told me about her space I knew I wanted to paint a mural there. Actually, I told her. “look business to business, I want to paint a mural in your space and I have an idea.” To put it in perspective, I had NEVER painted anything before much less something large scale. For some unknown reason (lol) she trusted me and said “Okay, whatever you want to do.” I designed the most beautiful black and white floral mural for her. It was clean it was simple, but it was pretty. While painting I took videos of the whole process and posted constantly about it… enough so that I caught the attention of the owner of the building she was renting a room out of. Once I completed the mural for her pottery studio, I got a message from the building owner. She wanted to meet with me about painting a mural for her. Now… I never told her that was my first mural ever, butttt she also never asked. So with blind confidence in myself I approached the job like there was not a reason in the world she shouldn’t hire me. Never even crossed my mind “How on earth am I going to paint this giant wall… I’ve only painted one small mural before.” Instead I thought I could do it and for some crazy reason the owner believed me because I got the job. From there the same process happened again and again and I was able to build my business becoming a full time muralist just 3 months later.
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?
Layered is my business and personality, but at the core of it all I’m driven by creativity and working with my hands. My name is Carlee Hawkins and I run Gray Works. We paint large scale works of art on your businesses’ walls. Gray Works started as me drawing black and white vintage style drawings of barns and florals then selling them at markets. That phase of the business taught me to focus on the details and learn the craft, becoming a skilled artist. But sitting at a desk all day, I quickly realized wasn’t for me and I began painting murals. The large scale, the people I meet and work with, the impact the art has in a space are all things that drew me into the field. From clean lettering for signage to larger than life realistic florals, I love to paint and bring any vision to life. I’ve now been doing this for several years, and I never knew it was a dream of mine to end up where I am painting murals, but… God just had a plan for me and got me there. However, I have always had a dream of renovating houses. Throwback to the apartment and businesses I was drawing up in middle school for fun! Now, with the steady business Gray Works has provided me with I was able to start a new adventure and circle back to that life long dream of renovating and saving old homes. Last year at this time, I asked my Granny if I could buy the family farm house from her. This house has been in my family (The Gray Family hence the business name) since it was built in 1890. Half expecting her to say no, and once again with blind confidence because I’d never done anything like it before, she sells me the house and I’m bringing it back to life and sharing every step of the process along the way. Gray Works is a reflection of me, like I said. We are layered here. We work with you to bring your business to life with paint. We give you inspiration by bringing my own 1890 Farm House back to life. And we entertain you with a bold, bubbly, thoughtful voice the whole time.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Be authentic. What does that mean?? Tell me the secret. The format. The captions. How long? How often? The answer to those questions are not important or at least not high on the list. Gray Works has been growing on social media for years now as a muralist and house renovation page. It is how I have gotten every business opportunity. It is how I was able to go full time. I am very thankful for social media. I believe I’ve had that success because I look at it from this perspective.
Social media. It’s a place to be ~social~
Tell stories. Talk and interact with people. Write in your captions as if you are talking to someone. Post a story without a filter and just tell how your day is going. Post an idea you have and don’t think twice.
People crave social interaction and they love a story. If you can offer both, possibly throw some good lightening in there every once in a while, you’ve cracked the code. Think of your followers (and treat them as) your friends. How often do you talk to your favorite person? Once a month.. probably not that close then. Likely, you’re talking to them everyday or every other day. So, maybe that’s how often you should post on your page. When your friend texts you, do you leave them on read… probably not. Therefore when people comment on your page, think of it as a message from. friend and comment back to them. Talk to them. Go to their page and comment on their photos. Not all of the time, you can do it as often as that fits your schedule, but if you can see a person that follows you instead as your friend or sister then I feel like you will begin to create these connections and build this community of people on your page, and growth on social media will then become a byproduct of that.
Also, what kind of content and how long should your videos be? A mixture of all content styles. Going back to my friend metaphor. If you’re sitting getting coffee are you going to tell a long story, sometimes. Are you going to tell a one liner and laugh together, sometimes! Do the same with your content. Create a whole long vlog, then the next day post a relatable one liner that you write over a 6 second video clip. People are following you because they want to know you and feel connected, give them something to connect to. Share.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
One good job deserves another. Someone told me that, and I live by it. Every job I’ve ever gotten I believe really was because I worked hard and made it the best I possibly could. When painting murals I made sure to pay attention to the details. Take the extra time to tape off straight lines. To make sure I always lay a drop cloth down and care about their space more than the client does. I truly believe attention to detail matters because I am someone who has always noticed them myself. Therefore, I attract clients who feel the same. That is consistent throughout each facet of my business and people recognize a hard worker when they see one. So that is what I am, therefore that is what I show them. Honestly, I’m a little quirky too because I’ll do this thing in my head where I see this small itty bit drip in my painting. Annoyed because now the painting is done, no one will see it except me (and I know that haha), but I think to myself “Karma will get you for not doing the best you can. You’ve got to fix it.” And as tired as I may be, I go back pull out another brush and paint and touch it up. I believe that core value and mindset, sets you up for success, although to others that may be a little anal haha.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Grayworks.art
- Instagram: Grayworks.Roxboro
- Facebook: Grayworks.Roxboro
- Youtube: Grayworks.Roxboro
Image Credits
All photos were taken by Carlee Hawkins