Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Meagan Crocker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Meagan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
Evergreen Summer was an idea in the back of my mind for a long time before I actually started the business. I’ve loved painting since I was a kid and would always make cards for family and friends on their birthdays or holidays. After enough people said, “you should try and sell these,” I figured I’d look into what the process of starting a business might be like.
The hardest part was finding a printer – I knew I couldn’t make every card by hand but I still wanted them to feel like real artwork. That search was over a year in the making, and I did it the old-fashioned way. I Googled “printers near me” “printing service New York” and so on, and requested samples from anyone I saw that I liked. I would ask what kind of print runs they did, what papers they printed on, and calculate what my cost would be if I went with them as a vendor.
I was lucky in that I had gone to communications school for art direction in advertising so I had the design chops and marketing knowledge to put together a website and brand for myself. My parents were my biggest supporters, my Mom helped me choose the artwork pieces that might work best as cards and my Dad, a seasoned businessman and salesperson, gave me a lot of advice about how to set prices, calculate costs, and keep my finances in order.
I spent basically every night of the first two years on Google looking things up, researching how other brands succeeded, and figuring out the greeting card industry and where I might fit in. I would lay in bed with my laptop creating line sheets and writing pitch emails until I fell asleep.
My friends also helped a TON. We had packing parties at my apartment when I started receiving larger orders and we’d all eat pizza, drink wine, and pack cards for hours. They came to every pop up market and fair to support me – no matter how big or small. I truly couldn’t have launched the business without them cheering me on.
As time has gone on my goals have gotten bigger. When I started my goal was to get my cards into my favorite bookstore in NYC. After they ordered, my goal was to attend a wholesale tradeshow and write orders for 10 retailers. Once I had 10 retailers my goal was 100. Once I got 100 retailers, my next goal was to be in Anthropologie. As I built the wholesale arm of the business I also built out my customer side, selling directly to friends and family at first, and then more and more people as the years went on. I’m lucky that we’re now shipping out orders constantly and I smile every time a new retailer or customer finds their way to this slice of sunshine.
In some ways I feel like I’m still just getting started, like everything leading up until now was just the warm-up. I’m so excited to see how the business will grow in the next 5 years and all of the amazing people I’ll meet along the way!
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.
Evergreen Summer is a boutique stationery and gift brand based in Spring Lake, New Jersey. We make high-quality, artistic artwork, greeting cards, paper goods, and home decor inspired by summer and life at the beach. Inspired by free-spirited sunny days and life by the water, our goal is to create beautiful, artistic goods that brighten your day and make the spirit of summer last all year round. Our colorful abstract artwork and illustrated hand lettering bring joy, creativity, and inspiration to the lives of our customers, and our high-quality products elevate the meaning of casual cool. Whether you’re sending birthday wishes, gifting something special to a friend, or need a new task pad at work, you don’t have to be near the sea to smell the salty air.
I launched Evergreen Summer in June of 2018 with 25 cards. My goal was to create the kind of cards people would actually want to send–no puns, no pop culture, no cliches–just beautiful cards that anyone can give anytime. I wanted to share my artwork with others and spread the happiness that came when I would give someone one of my cards. Over the past 5 years the Evergreen Summer product line has expanded from 25 cards to 200+ designs. In addition to greeting cards we also sell notebooks, notepads, mini cards, art prints, and a yearly limited edition collection of hand painted home decor items (vases, ornaments, etc.). Our cards are available in over 100 independent retailers nationwide and internationally (Canada, Bermuda) as well as nationally at Anthropologie.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Every year I attend a wholesale trade show in NYC which accounts for a huge part of my business. All of my wholesale buyers attend this show and place large orders from me, often for immediate shipment. In 2019, my printer quit the day before the show. We had been working together for about a year and she suddenly told me she didn’t want to run her printshop anymore, was closing her doors, and I’d have to find a new printer. I knew I couldn’t back out of the show (nor did I want to) but I had no idea how I was going to print cards for any orders I would write.
I spent the entire night researching print shops near me and making a list of anyone who stocked the same paper I was already printing on. In the morning before the show I started sending out emails and making phone calls to see who might be interested in taking on my business. Instead of just hiring a printer, I started looking for a business partner, and asked about logistics and partnership details beyond just pure printing. I sent anyone who seemed like they might be a good fit a few of my design files for test prints.
At the show, I wrote orders with a smile on my face like nothing was the matter. By the end of the show, I needed almost 15,000 cards.
I kept researching, and within a week had found a new printer who not only worked quickly, but more efficiently than my last printer. We worked together to set up a new online SKU system and catalogue so that my designs could be stored and reprinted easily and quickly as needed. He helped me rush print all of my orders from the show, and I had friends come over after work one night to help me pack everything up for the stores.
Looking back, this was totally a moment when I could have given up, decided not to do the show, or even the business as a whole. I had to reconfigure my entire business and start working with a new vendor during an extremely busy production season. But I believed in myself, my designs, and my work, and I knew that if I could find a new printer I could keep going. The printer I found in 2019 is still my printer today and has helped me expand the line from 25 cards to 200+. I’m so thankful for them, and thankful for the “problem” that my original printer quit :)
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I’ve had to force myself to relearn the thinking that problems are bad. Growing up I’d hear things like, “that’s a problem,” and there is a huge negative connotation around it.
When starting a small business, problems are inevitable. You will mess up, make mistakes, and things will go wrong that are totally out of your control. If I would have let the problems get to me I’d probably have given up.
I’ve retrained my brain to see problems as opportunities to start over or do something differently. If a something doesn’t work out or sell as well as I’d hoped, we’ll revamp it. If supplies don’t arrive on time or aren’t up to our standards, we’ll look for a new supplier. If we’re too busy to get everything done, we’ll hire more help. Instead of problems being negative things we have to fix, I’ve relearned to see them as a chance to take a step back and reevaluate what I could do differently to make things more successful.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theevergreensummer.com
- Instagram: @evergreensummerco
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/EvergreenSummerCo
- Other: www.pinterest.com/evergreensummer www.tiktok.com/@evergreensummerco