We were lucky to catch up with Grace Casey recently and have shared our conversation below.

Grace, appreciate you joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

Paper Clouds was born in the pandemic, as I am sure so many businesses were. As a former NYC resident, I moved out of the city and all of a sudden found myself with a ton of time on my hands. My mind kept drifting away from my 9-5 and towards what would truly make me happy, and I knew this was owning my own business and doing something I believe in and enjoy. Launching a business during a pandemic is risky, but I went in to it thinking “having tried and failed is better than never having tried.” I knew I had to be scrappy and lean. October marks 1 year since launching – I’ve learned a ton (launched with 6 kits and decided they were too niche and completely scrapped them and launched new ones, for example… that was fun), and I still have a ton to learn and a ton of growth to find, but it is a fun ride so far.

Grace, 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?

Paper Clouds is a creative escape for busy people. Or, in other words, an all-in-one craft kit company. We provide the instructions and all the materials you need to make beautiful, DIY home decor.

I’ve always loved arts and crafts, but often felt like I didn’t have enough time to go to Michael’s or to research what project to work on. It was a big blocker for me, and I had a hunch it was for other people as well. I created Paper Clouds with the mission of helping busy people find more space for creativity.

Paper Clouds: Go ahead, lose your head in the clouds.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

One of the tenants I aim to grow Paper Clouds with is “surprise and delight.” It feels really special when brands go out of their way for you, and is often unexpected – so I want to be that brand. I often will include extra goods within my craft kits. For one order that I knew was a birthday gift, I took the initiative of creating a handmade card for them to include in the kit. I also plan to send customers brand loyalty/VIP kits as thank yous.

Another way that I keep in touch with clients as well as foster brand loyalty is through newsletters. My main purpose with a newsletter is to add value to their lives, so I will include free tutorials, gift ideas, and try to make them fun and interesting to read (my first one included a word search in order to find a discount code). Of course, I also want to sell my kits, but I am hoping those purchases will follow if I can build a loyal community of crafters.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

One of the main differentiators for Paper Clouds is beautiful packaging. I know that I myself am attracted to beautiful branding, so I wanted this for Paper Clouds as well. I wanted people to be excited when they open their package and see fun colors and inspiration. When you open your kit, you are greeted with “go ahead… lose your head in the clouds.” I also knew that I didn’t have the creative design skills to create what I had in mind, so I took the plunge and outsourced the design to a freelancer I found on Fiverr. She did an incredible job. I love my kits, and I sure hope that costumers feel they are opening a bundle of fun and inspiration.

All-in-one craft kits means quite a bit of random pieces of inventory (i.e. glue, string, scissors). When I launched, I was ordering that inventory on Amazon or using discount codes at Michael’s. I knew that this wasn’t the best method, but I didn’t have time to source the inventory and I knew I had to start somewhere. About 6 months in, I took the plunge into the world of Alibaba so that I could purchase my products closer to the source, in bulk, for cheaper, and thus provide more cost efficient products for my clients.

Long story short, there is a great deal you have to learn about a great many things as a founder. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and to outsource, and get ready to do a lot of Google searching.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.papercloudscreativeco.com
• Instagram: papercloudscreativeco
• Facebook: papercloudscreativeco
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/paper-clouds
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjSRiMAgOobwE2u6DR1d6-Q
• Other: TikTok: @papercloudscreativeco Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/papercloudscreativeco/