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

Alright, Heather thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I now earn a full-time living from my creative work. My business, Après Ski Jewelry has become my “bread and butter” and I teach one college level class at MSU Denver. It used to be that my teaching and other jobs were my main gig and my business was on the side but now my business has grown so things have switched. It definitely has not been this way from day one, I have gradually gotten to this point over about five years. It started off with building furniture, I call that part of my business Relevant ReUse. Every time I got a furniture commission, I would buy a new tool. I gradually built my wood shop. I was also making ski jewelry on the side and slowly started selling that to friends and approaching stores when I was in a ski town or in a boutique I liked and learned how to do sales that way. I could have sped up the process by getting on an online wholesale sales site that I’m on now and expanding my sales but that honestly would have been too fast for me. I have had to grow slowly because I am mostly a one woman show. I have figured out how to get the help I need and now have two part-time assistants but that took time and I needed to start bringing in more income to afford them. Now, I have the help I need to grow and am almost growing too fast because of the wholesale site so I need to figure out my next steps. I now sell in over ninety stores, 30 states and 3 countries!

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 am originally from Colorado, I grew up in the foothills outside of Denver and from a very young age I grew an appreciation for the mountains. I also grew up renovating family condos and houses with my family. I lived here until college and then I moved to Bozeman, Montana to study art at Montana State University. After graduating and living there for a few years I decided to try out the big city and moved Chicago for graduate school at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I got my Masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture there and also worked in the student wood and metal shop as a manager and teacher for a few years. My experience in Chicago was very influential in my life but in my heart I knew I needed to be near the mountains again so I found a way to move back to Colorado. When I moved back I started focusing more on my own business, Relevant ReUse, that I had started in Chicago as a side job. Relevant ReUse began as an art, design and furniture company where I built custom furniture, accessories, children’s play features, jewelry and environments out of reused and recycled materials. Making jewelry has always been a part of Relevant ReUse as I would have small scraps of interesting raw material that turned out to be perfect for earrings and necklaces. These materials included wood, fire hose, bike tubes and my favorite, skis. Now my ski jewelry has risen to the forefront of my product line and has proven to be quite successful as it’s own business called Apres Ski Jewelry. I stay very busy running my business, spending time with my husband and my two dogs and enjoying the mountains of Colorado on my skis, bike and going on lots of adventures.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

It is funny to think about how many times I have gotten weird looks when I tell people I make jewelry out of skis. I don’t think many people believed I could make a living that way, which is understandable. I’m not sure I believed it either. So my advice is if you have a good idea that you believe in, stick with it!

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I moved to Denver I had to consciously step away from my career in Chicago. I was running a small gallery, working with famous artists, managing a student wood and metal shop and teaching college. I had a good career that would have gone somewhere but I really wanted to be back in the mountains and near family. It took me about two years to find a new job and figure out how to make the move. Once I finally did it, the job I moved for was a horrible fit for me and only lasted two weeks. That was hard but I worked some random jobs for a couple of years and it pushed me to start my business, which I am very happy about.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ApresSkiJewelry.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apresskijewelry
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/apresskijewelry
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1KNh1p7Rd8

Image Credits
Elisa Demarest Heather Mullins