We recently connected with Marybeth Shaw and have shared our conversation below.

MaryBeth, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

I was raised in the 60s and 70s. My parents were young, having married at age 20, they had me at 22. I imagine today you would call them free-range parents. Although they taught us solid moral values, they left us up to our own devices in many ways. In the summer, I was encouraged to invent things to keep me occupied. Laying around the house and being bored was not an option. I raised money for The Cancer Society by organizing a carnival. Another year I hand-wrote a newsletter for our neighborhood and also found plenty of time to hang out in the creek with my two brothers. We grew vegetables, cared for injured animals, and made arts and crafts. Between my Mom’s creativity and my Dad’s engineering ability, we witnessed firsthand how to live life.
I am the oldest of three and my brothers and I have all been successful, to which I credit my parents. It wasn’t for the reasons you might expect, but we all learned a strong work ethic and then conjured up ways to earn a little pocket change working around the neighborhood.
When it was time for me to plan for college, I realized Mom and Dad had not saved any money. It was up to me to figure that out. I made a plan to live at home and attend community college while working part-time. At community college, I worked for the newspaper and ended up as the editor in my second year. This opportunity put me in a good position to transfer to finish college at a 4-year school.
To this day, both my parents chuckle about their poor child-rearing techniques. But I think their teachings of persistence, creativity, and work ethic ended up creating strong and competent kids.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

After college, I found myself working in insurance claims. It was a good match for a journalism education, due to the investigative skill required. I moved up the ladder into management and had a good job, but when I turned 40 in 2000, I decided to quit and explore my creativity. I took some art lessons, got a studio, worked daily, and got to the point where I entered juried competitions and my mixed media work garnered attention. I exhibited in outdoor art fairs and galleries for 5 years until 2008 when I transitioned to teaching workshops. Somewhere along the way I became enamoured with stencils and cut a few of my own which I shared with students. With student encouragement, I had 100 stencils of six designs cut professionally. With no packaging, no business cards, and no plan, I put them on a vending table at an event in 2010; six designs for $75. I was astonished when they sold out within 30 minutes.
StencilGirl®Products, LLC was born.
I started as a sole proprietor but eventually involved my husband and son-in-law. Today we sell our catalogue of over 2500 worldwide and are a respected provider of artist-designed stencils. We use a tagline of “Designed by artists for artists” which describes what I wanted in the first place because my inability to locate complex stencils was what led me to cut my own designs.
Over and over, we hear that our designs are unique within the industry and I know that our stencils offer something for everyone. In addition, the online education that we offer via social media and YouTube is exceptional. I have always felt that it is important to share techniques with our customers. I joke that the stencils sell themselves once an artist or crafter learns of their capacities. We created a Club many years ago where we create community among the members and they receive special designs along with private video instruction.
But I am most proud of the Royalty program I developed for our designing artists. Every artist who designs for us receives quarterly royalties for their stencils that have been sold. It helps create a stream of passive income that I know is appreciated because I used to be in that place myself as a struggling artist. In addition, our company only licenses the artist’s design to make stencils. The artist always maintains ownership of their design. Again, this is how I think business should be done.
All in all, our team follows the Golden Rule as our business model. We simply treat people the way we want to be treated.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Previous to the Pandemic, we used to travel and sell stencils at shows. We also provided stencils to our artists who were doing the same. Even though the bulk of my teaching (at that time) was in person, I had dipped my toe into social media and live-streaming content. When the pandemic hit, I found that my ability to Livestream was the best thing ever. I had accidentally learned just enough to be functional right away and started a weekly program on our Facebook page. It was a total Pivot that served us very well and we experienced huge growth during this time.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Through the years, I have learned that my strength is ‘flying by the seat of my pants.’ This might mean I show vulnerability. It also means I am unafraid to ask questions or to push myself forward when I am not fully ready. I have found that there will never be a time when everything is perfectly aligned. I always have a loose plan but trust in my ability to respond to the unexpected. This approach still means that preparation is still tantamount.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stencilgirl_products/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/StencilGirl-Products/61571567936687/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/StencilGirlProducts
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/stencilgirlart/

  We are in the process of rebuilding our FB page as it was hacked and stolen in December and FB is unwilling to restore our 28K followers.