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

Rachel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

This is a question I think about a lot especially in the culture of new years resolutions, pressures to be productive, or even the messaging stating if you would have started six months ago you’d already be six months better. When I got serious about my creative business I was pregnant and getting ready for maternity leave and having my first pop up market lined up during that time. There was a sense of urgency to get it figured out and fast rather than just playing around like I had on and off for the few years prior. Once I got a taste of selling my art directly to people in the community, the freedom of running my own business, and the time to create the idea of losing all of this and working somewhere I wasn’t passionate about and had to answer to someone else panicked me. So from there, I worked constantly between my corporate web design job, making new prints, tapping into new product lines to reach a larger market, while balancing being a new mom. As you can imagine, it wasn’t a sustainable work/life balance which caused my mental health to suffer and I felt myself burning. But I knew I really didn’t want to give up my dream of being a full time artist which would mean more freedom and time to be with my son. Because of this, I just kept going until I finally got to a point in my business I was comfortable putting in my two weeks and making the leap.

During that year long period of doing way too much I would tell you I wish I would have put in the work before having a baby. I was mentally and physically drained and I kept thinking, “If I would have started X amount of time earlier, I’d have been this far into making it happen.” I saw all these other people starting their own businesses or pursuing a dream they wanted to achieve and was very much in that mindset of seeing the end goal and not seeing the steps people had to take to get there. I think that was also the burn out talking too.

Now looking back on my creative business, where I started and where I am now – without the urgency of losing time with my son I don’t think I would have ever taken it that seriously. My 9-5 paid me well enough, life was comfortable, and I was able to work for the weekend. Becoming a mom showed me that my actions affect way more than just myself now. In the past, any opportunity that scared me I would have said a firm, “Heck no” to. But after having my baby I wanted to be able to show him that you can achieve all your goals, but that comes with doing things that can be a bit scary. So I put myself out so much more which has made a clear difference in the success of Rachel Hiemer Studio.

So long story short, I no longer wish I started my creative career any sooner. I think everything happens for a reason and you need to be ready for the things you set your mind to so you can do it with as much passion as you have. I definitely wasn’t ready for that earlier on.

Rachel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Rachel Hiemer – owner of Rachel Hiemer Studio based out of Charlotte, NC. I am an artist mostly working on linocut printmaking, illustration, and floral design for weddings and events! I was first introduced to linocut printmaking in my high school art class. It was my absolute favorite section in school and something I had picked up on and off over the years. It’s such a soothing and tactile art which also includes a lot of problem solving. So it’s sort of the perfect package of art mediums for me. I love to create works involving very textured natural subjects – so you’ll see lots of botanicals and animals throughout my work. I try to make art that forces people to slow down and start to notice the world around them vs. skipping over the small details to get through the day in our fast paced world. I do mostly prints, but also offer textiles, keychains, stickers, and other stationery items!

Alongside my printmaking projects, I also do wedding and event floral design. My floral career started back in Wisconsin where I learned the ins and outs of the trade in a local flower shop. Flowers have always been so fascinating to me and I loved having the opportunity to work with them daily while also being able to make people happy! Working with local growers in Wisconsin, I got to design with so many amazing types of greens or blooming flowers that I hadn’t had the chance to see before. This is something I wanted to be able to pass on to folks here in Charlotte on some of the most special days of their life.

Finally, one of my greatest passions behind Rachel Hiemer Studio are my block printmaking workshops! These are a blast because I get to meet so many people in the area who are so excited to learn a new skill or dive back into one they haven’t done in a long time. People come out and create something they are proud of which is such an honor to be part of. I recently starting doing a lot more private workshops and lessons for folks around the area.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Community. Hands down, community. There is community in each aspect of being a creative and everyone has their people and those around you just get it.

There is the community you gain when you find the right audience for your art. These are the people I have the fortune to interact with at pop up markets where we can nerd out over our craft or who are genuinely interested in the process of each peice.

There is the community of local businesses surrounding you in your city. The notion of competition REALLY scared me before getting started. I thought there would be a million people better than me who I would have to battle to get the space to sell my work. That it was a cut throat business where artists compare each other vs. build each other up. Now actually being in this business, I cannot express how opposite this is. Charlotte is HEAVILY community over competition and it is a breath of fresh air. Everyone wants to help you succeed and the amount of people I mention in rooms they are not in and the amount of times I have heard someone say another artist referred me is incredible. Artists want other artists to win. Also, artists buy other artists work – constantly.

There is the community of support you get from family and friends. My business wouldn’t have got off the ground without my first orders coming from friends or family that were stoked for me and really believed in me. This is something I try to pay forward now. We all need support and people believing in us – and even just a “You Go Girl!” text can spark some confidence.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Always strive for perfection. This is something I unlearned pretty quick and was a switch that clicked with me early on. If I focused on everything being perfect before getting things done, I would never have started my business. There were so many things that I just had to say, done is better than perfect on. These were things like my website – I just needed to get a homepage, contact page, and a place for people to buy my product. If I waited to launch until it was perfect, it would have taken ages and so many other things couldn’t have gotten done if I didn’t just hit publish. Owning a small business means you have to wear a lot of hats, so sometimes you have to do things to the best of your ability at the time. Then once you gain more skills, you can revisit and tweak the thing.

Contact Info:

• Website: rachelhiemerstudio.com
• Instagram: @rachelhiemerstudio
• Facebook: @rachelhiemerstudio