We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jamie Luttrell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jamie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

There are definitely pros and cons to being a business owner. I am grateful for the flexibility that enables me to juggle being a mom and available for my kids and their needs. A con would be that you are never really off work. Even when your schedule allows you to be away from job sites, you are still mentally scheduling, brain-storming, or fielding customer calls and emails. I do sometimes think letting someone else carry the weight of managing, so you could clock out completely, sounds so much less stressful. But not having to worry about losing my job when I decide going on a field trip with my kid is the most important thing I need to do today, is too good to pass up.

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.

So much has gone into the complex self-employed scenario that I am currently in. I grew up on a little farm in southeast Kansas, with an artistic mom, giving me a deep respect and love for agriculture and art both. I got married young and we moved from Kansas, to Wyoming, to Western Nebraska, working on cattle ranches, which gave me solid roots in ag business and an appreciation for what goes into that industry. Moving to Michigan for 7 years and working for a veterinary clinic gave me great experience in being able to better care for my livestock and my ever-present collection of animals. In a final move back to Nebraska, I have settled into raising kids and cattle, owning a small-town hardware store, and running my own mural painting business. The cattle are a family endeavor, the hardware store job is supporting my husband’s interests, and the murals are my own passion. Painting has been a journey of self-discovery that I don’t think I could have accomplished any other way. I love, not only the painting itself, but the challenge of extracting ideas and concepts from the imaginations of my clients, and bringing them to life outside of their minds. There is so much more that goes into it than just picking up a brush to paint! I love the entire process from conception to completion! I have never done anything else, besides becoming a mother, that gives me the kind of satisfaction and sense of accomplishment that creating something beautiful that invokes feelings that nothing but art can provide and get paid for it too! After decades of work, and a wide range of self-employed endeavors, I finally feel I am able to say, ultimately, I am an artist. It’s who I am and I love my job!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think there is a huge misconception that to be successful in a business, you have to live in a big city, with a high population. I would have believed that as well. Particularly considering that my business is mural art and assuming that rural areas would be a dead end for impractical expenses. I have not found that to be true. My small rural town has been the ideal launching pad for my business. I do use social media as my advertising platform. I think it is critical to remain active and therefore relevant in the minds of your surrounding market. Never underestimate any demographic as potential customers. I actually think it would be MORE difficult in a higher population where the competition is heavier. My rural customers have kept me perpetually busy and my opportunities further from home, even in other states, have come in as a result still. I am almost hesitant to over advertise, as I don’t feel like I can carry a heavier workload and still offer my best work to my clients, without additional help. My daughter, who is 21 now, has been painting with me since she was 14 and that helps tremendously in the size and quantity of jobs I am able to take on. I think that being able to be consistent and deliver quality work has led to repeat customers and word of mouth advertising that online marketing alone cannot provide. Establishing a reputation with not only the value of the product or service you provide, but also with your character and being able to partner with your client to accomplish what they are after is probably more important than marketing. Anyone can market themselves. But if clients find out that the marketing is better than the product, they will not return for another job. Ability and good character will sell your work on repeat. Focusing on improving both of those is time better spent than advertising alone.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

While in the beginning of my painting business, my work was relatively simple, from windows, mailboxes, signs, and small-scale murals. As people began to trust me to create larger murals, each job felt like I was learning something new on the fly! The challenge of different surfaces (rough bricks, corrugated metal siding), new subject matter that I had no experience painting, competing with the weather, the bugs, the constant interruptions of the public, and managing the mid-project changes that working with committees bring, have all left me weeping and questioning my choices. I have eaten meals on scaffolding and also forgotten to eat all day and nearly fell OFF that scaffolding. I lose sleep, as once a project begins, my brain will not fully disengage until it is over. I have found that the older I get and the more experience I have behind me, the less intense the stress over not being sure I can accomplish what is being asked of me. I did not have a significant support system to help hold me up through the strain of beginning this business. If anything, I was spread thin already, being pulled in many directions, leaving me with little left of my time and energy to put into my own dreams. As a chronic conflict avoider, it was normal for me to let go of my own plans in order to keep the peace. But this felt too important to let go of. I sank my teeth into my dream of creating art, and defied a lot of pressure to set it aside as a hobby that had to wait for a more convenient chapter of life. I will never regret my decision to fight to keep moving in a direction that mattered so much to me. Sometimes, you have to be your own encourager for awhile. If I could give advice to any start up business, it would be not to be discouraged if you don’t have an overwhelming real life cheering section while you do the work to establish that no one sees or appreciates. But don’t put all your energy into just trying to create an online fan base. Put your energy into working and learning and producing an ever increasing quality product or service. Then the word of mouth and online reviews will market you much more efficiently than you ever could! Yes, market yourself hard, but work on bettering your skills harder.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://uniqueartbyjamie.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hueniqueart/