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

Chrissy, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

When I fell into the world of games and toys, it was with a game called Friend or Faux that I created on a whim with three of my friends from childhood. After a successful Kickstarter, we got the opportunity to license our game with a major publisher. This was awesome, a company liked our idea enough to take it on, handle the manufacturing, selling and shipping, while we sit back and collect the royalties?! I was bit by the inventing bug and knew I had more to offer this industry. So with my friends moving on with their own careers, they wished me the best and I set off on my own to create more games that I could pitch to different companies for possible licensing.

Full of hope, I started the process of pitching my ideas, only to learn that getting an idea licensed is actually much harder than what I experienced with Friend or Faux. Turns out, the stars were aligned with that partnership. Publishers weren’t necessarily saying no, but rather, not right now… The more I pitched, the more ideas I created, I was getting better at it all. I started to take these meetings as opportunities to grow, rather than a reason to stop. Now I was not just full of hope, but also determination. I started to learn more about self-publishing and realizing that I don’t have to wait for a company to give me a yes, I will give it to myself.

Self-publishing is, without a doubt, taking a risk. The obvious risk is financial, committing to an idea that has no guarantee of a return. The less of obvious is the personal risk, could I trust myself to take on the responsibility of starting, owning, and running a business on my own. Thankfully I have a supportive set of people around me who were cheering me on, believing in me when I was doubting myself, and being very aware of the fact that my husband would be our sole financial support while i was investing our savings into squishy baloneys and tater tots.

There were a couple of contributing factors that finally led me to pulling the trigger. With my support system in tact, up until this point, I had done the work and was too far deep to turn back, plus I believed in my product. Risk taken…

There is no bigger motivator than a warehouse full of product to set you in motion!

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.

Following my graduation from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in communications, It took one day working in a corporate office to know that my brain and my heart were meant for something else. I had worked at a small floral shop while I was in college and decided I would work at one in Denver until I could figure out what I was “meant to do”. There I stayed for 17 years. I loved the creativity such a job offered and hearing people’s stories behind their flower needs.

In between that time I got married and had two kids and once they were older, I decided it was time to hang up my shears and try new things. I dabbled with other areas of interest like greeting card and invitation design and worked a couple different part time jobs simply to earn a small income.

It was not until I had the pleasure of getting together with my friends from childhood that would lead me on the path of games and toys, when one of them said, “Let’s play a game, I just made it up.” There we sat for hours creating what would become Friend or Faux, an adult party game now licensed with Goliath.

What I love about creating games is was how it incorporates everything I love…being creative, humor, spending time with others and connecting with them through play and laughter.

I took this experience and knew there was potential with a younger audience, so I set off to create party games that were designed for an audience as young as 8 but could also be enjoyed by adults as well.

My motto soon became play more, connect more, no matter your age. There is nothing like sitting around a table with people and laughing together to help build connection. This helps keep my focus on creating games that are easy to learn, offer light competition and big laughs.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

In the game and toy industry, a lot of it is who you know, so it is important to put yourself out there and show up. In the beginning this was hard for me as I struggled with imposter syndrome. I eventually had to throw my ego out the window and I made it a goal to attend different trade shows this past year to determine which ones were the right ones for me and my company. This has given me opportunities to meet with retailers, both big and small, in person to sell my products. This lets people get to know you, see your passion and learn about your products and your brand that can’t be as easily done in an email or a phone call.

Getting to know your peers at these events is also important. They will become a support system and can lead you to people or opportunities you may not get the chance to have otherwise.

I also like to support retailers through my social media by recognizing them as my retailers, I want them to understand how much their business means to me and how I am thankful for their investment into my products.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I first started, I thought there was a formula I was supposed to follow when it came to pitching. This did me no favors! I don’t enjoy power points and slides, I was making them because that is what I thought I was supposed to be doing. One bad pitch meeting to a major company left me leaving the meeting knowing exactly how bad it was and wishing I could turn back time. I said to myself, never again. I scrapped it all and started to connect with people using what I am good at, which is humor. As cliche as this seems, I needed to be myself. I started to make videos of my products with a sense of humor and it started to get me traction. People were thanking me for bringing them fun stuff to watch and complimenting my approach and style. I have translated that into my approach on social media, including Linkedin, which is typically a more polished, professional place, but has gained me a lot of attention from my peers who appreciate what and how I am using the platform.  

Contact Info:

• Website: https://eaptoyandgames.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eaptoyandgames/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissy-fagerholt-929391130/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@eaptoyandgames