We recently connected with Kristan Howard-Cooper and have shared our conversation below.
Kristan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?
As a stay-at-home mother and wife with 3 children at the time, I had completely lost myself in the world of just going with the motions. I was a cook, an in home maid, chauffeur, doctor, counselor, mediator, etc. Let’s just say I filled many rolls but wasn’t doing good at taking care of myself.
I decided to turn our extra bedroom into my own little area to decompress and started buying canvases and paint to relax. On my journey to rediscovering myself, I stumbled upon a Dutch artist by the name of Rinske Douna on YouTube and she was the queen of acrylic pouring. I connected to it so well because I felt like I needed to pour all of my anxiety into something so why not this? Looking back, I wish I would’ve started KazeCo-Arts sooner because this was long before others within the US discovered acrylic pouring, also known as Fluid Art. I feel I would’ve been able to expand my skills and knowledge had I started earlier and would’ve made a lot more currency. In addition, I wish I would’ve started sooner and extending KazeCo-Arts to social media sites like Tiktok because it has brought in a lot of clientele to me right now even with starting later. I started my business in December 2019, right before Covid so when Covid hit, many people started exploring other forms of art which has made it even harder now to bring in new clientele. Although I wish I would’ve started sooner, I do believe things fall in line for a reason and I’m exactly where I need to be with my business.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Kristan Howard-Cooper and I am the Owner of KazeCo-Arts. I am an acrylic pouring artist, best known for custom designing toilet seats, jeep Mesh Inserts, Sips N Stains Kits and more. I have been in business since January 2020 and have at least 2 viral videos on Facebook & Tiktok of me doing acrylic pours on EVERYTHING. I have my own acrylic pouring mixture which helps others also to produce cells and lacing that no other acrylic pouring mixture can get. I am the queen of trying my mixture on items must people would find crazy to pour on. I also dabble in Sips N Stains Kits and Hosting Sips N Stains (Also known as Sip and Paint) both in person and virtually. I hosted a Virtual Sips N Stains with over 40 people across 5 different states at the same time which was fun because no one else was doing it and I offered it during the peak of Covid. I also teach resin classes, acrylic pouring classes and abstract art classes as well.
For those who do not know me, I would like them to know that there is NO SURFACE KazeCo-Arts will not pour on. I love challenging my KazeCo Ready-To-Go Mix to see what surfaces it will work on, even car parts.
If you’re interested in watching me create follow me on Tiktok where I go live 1-2 times a day showing live how to create beautiful paintings using KazeCo Ready-To-Go Mix.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.
In this ever growing business, it is important to expand your products and services on more than just 1 platform. I list my items on my website kazeco-arts.com and also on Etsy.
The pros that come from having your products or services on more than just your website is that it is able to expand your audience for those who do not know the name of your website. Many people shop on Etsy so this platform is a great way to expand.
The cons I have found with Etsy is the fees that are associated with each transaction and customers are able to ask for refund for items even if they received an item and they just want their money back. I have had an item lost and the shipping profiles that you have to create are a little difficult so you have to make sure you do your research. I am able to increase the pricing on these platforms because of the fees that are associated but other than that, Etsy is connected to my website so it makes it so much easier to fill the order.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
Working with different carriers for my items has been the most difficult journey on this business road. As a business, you can get everything right but one wrong mistake from the carrier and the customer blames you for life.
Ex: I had a customer order a pre-made beach themed toilet seat from Etsy and it was absolutely beautiful, I got it sent off in time, made sure all information was correct for the address, etc. Now what made this such a big deal for Kazeco-Arts was, this was the 1st out of the country order I had (The United Kingdom) and so I did everything to make sure it was on point. My thoughts were, if my item gets to the UK, my business is deemed international and that’s good for my business. Low and behold, USPS gets the package and it makes it to the UK and guess what? Made it all the way to London which is only miles away from the customer and they completely lose the package. I communicated with the customer, gave her every update I had and yet she never received the package because it was LOST. I was livid and although I did everything right, even staying in constant communication, somehow I ( KazeCo-Arts) was to blame and she stated she would look elsewhere for business. This hurt me greatly because not only did I lose money, I now looked bad to the customer and had to refund the customer her money. So be wise about the carriers you choose for your business although there’s not much you can do to control what happens when the package leaves your hands.
Contact Info:
- Website: Kazeco-arts.com
- Instagram: @kazecoarts6
- Facebook: KazeCo-Arts
- Twitter: KazeCo-Arts
- Youtube: KazeCo-Arts
- Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/kazeco-arts-covington
- Other: Tiktok: kazecoarts