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

Kyle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

[note: This is a story about how I came up with my bestselling planner.]

In 2017 I was a couple years into running a stationery business. I felt generally overwhelmed by life as an entrepreneur. I had so much on my plate: a busy personal life with friends and family I loved, as well as a massive to-do list for my tiny business.

I had purchased a planner that year and ended up recycling it. I felt disorganized; I needed a system that would help me keep track of both personal tasks and work tasks in one book. I started using the notebooks from my stationery business to write in a handmade planner with two pages per week: one page for my personal life, and an adjacent page for my work life. It really helped me to have mental clarity around my schedule, and a better picture of my work life balance.

I started showing my customers my homemade planners on social media. Instantly I got positive feedback and regular requests to actually print and manufacture a planner with this setup. My stationery business was still very new, and I was afraid of the financial risk of taking on a bigger project like planners. It took me four full years to finally listen to my customers and bring a personal and work life planner to life. In 2021 I bought my first pallet of planners, and they sold out almost immediately. I was stunned at how many people found it to be a useful planning tool for their own lives. It’s now the #1 bestselling product on my website, and I learned I should have listened to that customer feedback earlier on!

Kyle, 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?

My name is Kyle Sommer, and I’m the watercolor artist and owner of Sommer Letter Co. I design stationery and gifts featuring my colorful, floral watercolor artwork. My work is heavily influenced by a love of gardening and nature. We try to make stationery items that are really beautiful and incredibly useful. Our bestselling product is the Sommer Letter Co. personal and work planner, which went viral a couple of times in 2022.

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

My business journey has been an incredibly long, slow uphill battle! I knew I wanted to make art for a living, but I had no business training or skills. I started off making custom wedding invitations in 2015, and realized fairly quickly I didn’t enjoy client work. I’m a really slow, deliberate artist, and having strict event deadlines didn’t always align with my creative pace. I wanted the freedom to focus on painting whatever inspired me, not whatever a client needed.

I pivoted to focus my business on stationery and gift products with my artwork. Without clients, I could develop new ideas at my own pace. However, I was still finding my voice as an artist, and struggling to grow my customer base. By 2017 I had spent most of my personal savings, and borrowed cash from a family member to keep the business going. I was constantly selling at pop up markets and shows, and trying to grow. Despite constantly traveling and trying to sell my work, growth was slow. My husband and I decided to move in with my parents to try to save money and give the business one final shot. I remember feeling really embarrassed about that at the time. I was 27, living and working from my parents’ basement, and forgoing a paycheck, but I kept going.

Around 2019 I really found my creative footing. I started making work I was really proud of. A few years of painting regularly had helped me to improve my skill as an artist, and a few years of failing as an entrepreneur had helped me develop marketing and business acumen. I started seeing real, significant growth for the first time. I had a slow but steadily increasing stream of sales, and I felt like 2020 would be my first big success.

Of course, the pandemic hit and 2020 ended up being nothing like anyone had hoped! I had to cancel all my planned pop-ups and shows and double down on my online strategy. It was really healthy for the business, because I learned how to convert more sales online and not rely on in-person events. In 2021, I got on TikTok and was able to really expand my customer base. It’s a great tool for bringing in new awareness to your business.

In 2022 my business nearly doubled again, and I was able to hire two part-time employees. I am really grateful for my slow journey. My entire journey to success felt like a bit of an uphill climb. The first four years especially felt really stagnant, and I often wondered if I was doing the right thing. I’m so grateful for the perseverance and stamina I developed during that time, because I really feel able to weather just about any storm. I’m now really proud of the art and products we make, and I’m excited for what’s next.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I have a small to midsize following on both Instagram and TikTok. My experience on both those apps was totally different.

I’ve been on IG for about 8 years, and never had any wild viral moments. I just continue to show up and share my creative work, my life, and my products there, and have steadily grown bit by bit. My favorite part of the app is stories; I love to show the development process of new ideas, and ask customers for their input along the way. IG is a place for my most loyal customers to keep up with my business on a daily basis.

I got on TikTok in 2021, and grew to about 60k followers in year one, and 160k in year two. The app is really great for reaching new audiences. The content you post there should be evergreen; TikTok videos have a really long life span. I still get views on videos from a year ago. That means it’s not great for time-sensitive content like announcing a sale. Instead, the app is all about discoverability. Every time you share a video, some of the people who see it will never have seen you before. My best advice for TikTok is not to try to keep up with the trends, but to make original, shareable content. If you’re not familiar with the app’s culture, it’s very fast-paced. You can absolutely make “longer” videos over a minute, but you have to keep your viewer’s attention.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sommerletterco.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sommerletterco/
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sommerletterco

Image Credits
Some photos by Natalie Kunkel Photography.