Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Caroline Iversen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Caroline, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
Before going full-time with Caroline Haines Creative, I worked in retail at my first and only other ‘real job’. After a year or so working on the floor, I started doing some creative work for the back office/e-comm/signage for other store locations. This definitely gave me a good feel for how the business side of things connects with the creative side of things. I always was creating things for my family and friends on the side, just solely because I was everyone’s sort of ‘go-to creative person’. If they needed a quote on a sign for Mother’s Day, I was the person they knew could make it happen. So naturally, I had been doing some custom illustrations for people I knew when they needed to give a quick and special gift to someone. Once enough people had started to order them from me and post about them, more people would reach out wanting to buy one too. The thing that finally made me feel comfortable enough leaving my job and taking the risk to go full-time with my business was when a Youtuber, Keaton Milburn, was gifted one of my drawings from her best friend, Natalie Braun, and showed it off in one of her vlogs! I never ever would have understood the power and potential that one single Youtube video could have in launching someone’s career until that video happened. It was like overnight I was just getting hundreds and hundreds of new followers — from all over. It was so cool. I vividly remember I was sitting at the gate with my parents at the airport and was just looking at my phone screen in awe because it was filled with notifications. It’s so crazy. But yeah, that’s what really made me think, “okay, I think I could do this and it could be a real thing”. So I did! I quit my job and told myself, “if I’m not making enough money in three months from now to actually do this full-time, I’ll find another job”. And here I am, three years later, busier than I’ve ever been!
I truly don’t think that knowing what I know now, I would have done anything differently to speed up the growth process. My business initially grew pretty quickly right off the bat, but not too quick that I couldn’t manage it, and not too slow that I wish I would have gone about things any differently. I have seriously lucked out when it comes to my business and my amazing customers, it blows my mind every single day!
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 (formally) started Caroline Haines Creative in January of 2019. I had been out of college for 2 years and was doing all-things-creative for a local boutique that had multiple locations and an e-commerce website. I took model and product photos, designed the website, created all in-store signage, designed all of the e-mail blasts, and more. It gave me some solid experience working on the back end of things, creating things behind the scene, that I had only seen from the front-end prior. It was really cool to be able to see how the creative side intertwines with the business side of an operation like that. I went to Arizona State University and graduated with a BA in Design Management. During my time at ASU, I was mainly focused on graphic design, and played around with art on the side for fun. Since I was little, I have ALWAYS loved creating and designing things. School poster board presentations were my JAM. Whether I was making menus for family dinners to pass around to my family members, customizing my entire MySpace page, or making fake magazines about my life — I was always creating. I knew from a super young age that I wanted to work in a creative industry. All through college my dream job was doing the page and layout design for a big fashion magazine.
While I have always been creative, I have also always been interested in understanding how things function. I think this is what led me to where I am now — running my own creative business. I get the best of both worlds.
For those that aren’t familiar with Caroline Haines Creative — it’s a one-woman show (with the help of my insanely organized mom, Cate). I create completely custom illustrations for people, and also create custom stationery and signage for weddings and other events. These are my two biggest time-occupiers, but like I said before, I’m sort of everyone’s ‘go-to creative person’, so I’m very often found doing random creative things that fall outside of drawings and wedding invitations.
When it comes to my custom illustrations, I think my customers really love the idea of turning a memory into something so unique and different. My drawings are the perfect ‘I have no idea what to get them’ gift. When someone opens it, it’s not what they expect to see, and with no facial features on my drawings, it’s always a cool “aha!” moment when someone realizes who they’re looking at.
The custom stationery side of my business might secretly be my all time favorite side. I absolutely LOVE bringing a bride’s ultimate dream invitations to life. It’s a whole operation. One that I wouldn’t be able to run without my amazing mom’s help! The thing that sets me apart from others in this industry is that I always keep it real with my clients. I treat them like they’re one of my bests friends (unless I sense that they want things more professional, ha!) and they really feel that and appreciate it. It makes the process of creating something so custom and special for them one hundred times more enjoyable for everyone — and really helps me to create the perfect invitation suite for them. I specialize in minimal designs — lots of negative space and clean lines, but I have definitely created some designs that were a little more out-there and fun! There is always a task to be completed when it comes to custom stationery. There are SO many steps behind the scenes that you would never even consider until you’re faced with the process first hand. I learned SO much my first year doing wedding invitations. And still do every single day!
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 that a lot of non-creative people don’t understand all of the inner workings and complexities of running a creative business. I myself honestly had no idea just how much work went into things behind the scenes until I was fully involved in it. The cool thing about what I do and the industry I work in is that if we create something GOOD, people won’t see or be aware of all of the work that went into it. That’s, ironically, kind of the goal. The downside to this, for the business owner or creative, is that when people first approach us for our services, they often are shocked by how much we charge for them. As a business owner, I always want to say “yes” to every opportunity, and never want to turn down new work or new clients. Over time though, I have come to realize that the people who are shocked by my pricing are typically the people that would be a semi-nightmare to work with. Custom art and design (or really, custom anything) is SO much different than readymade, or even semi-custom. When you choose to work with (and invest in) a custom stationery designer, you’re choosing the path that is the utmost catered to YOU. When you work with me on custom stationery, you are along with me the entire way. I communicate (maybe even too much!) with you at every step. If a change is needed or requested, a change is made. If you have an idea in your head that you need to see mocked up in real life, I mock it up. I have paper samples, color swatches, wax seals, belly bands, envelope liners — you name it. Creating custom stationery is so personal and detail oriented and AMAZING.
As far as non-creatives struggling to understand the creative journey — just know that if it looks great, functions seamlessly, and leaves zero confusion — a talented designer is behind that. Designing, communicating, ordering samples, ordering cards, ordering envelopes, assembling, revising, data merging, packaging, shipping — these are just SOME of the many different hats a designer wears. The hard part for us is learning when to take off one of those hats and let someone else help!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I honestly think one of the coolest things about my job is that I get to connect with so many new people all over. Whenever someone orders a new drawing on my website, or starts working with me on wedding invitations, I feel like I’ve gained a new friend. Every one is so awesome and funny and sweet. I absolutely love bringing someone’s vision to life — bonus points for exceeding their expectations. It’s always so fun to see people’s reactions to even just the first rough mock up of their illustration or invites. Something so preliminary and sort of second-nature to me, can be something so foreign and amazing to someone else. It’s cool.
With the stationery side of my business, I even wow myself throughout the process — and that might arguably be the most rewarding part. Sometimes a client wants something that I’ve never done before and am completely unfamiliar with, but I am always determined to figure it out. And the rewarding part comes at the end when I do. I love learning new things, finding new vendors, and making something that I initially didn’t think I could. Seeing a fully assembled invitation suite at the end of a long creative custom process is genuinely the best feeling. And like I mentioned before in a previous answer, the things that look beautiful and put together are usually the things that took the most work behind the scenes. If it looks sort of questionable and ‘eh’, then corners were cut in the background and it wasn’t done by a great designer.
Contact Info:
- Website: carolinehainescreative.com
- Instagram: @carolinehainescreative
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/carolinehainescreative
- Other: TIK TOK! @carolinehainescreative
Image Credits
carlschultz, mollymcphoto, emeraldazphotography