We recently connected with Rachel & Justin Patten and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Rachel & Justin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, what do you think about family businesses? Would you want your children or other family members to one day join your business?
Our family is quite close and now that our children are older, they can help with a lot of the work when we need them. We love how they are willing to jump in when needed and how they have such a direct understanding of how our business supports our lives. Justin and I were both inner-city elementary school teachers while the kids were young. They saw us work hard and believe in what we were doing, but unfortunately could never make ends meet. They saw us have to give up one passion for another and learn how to start a business from scratch using our strengths, natural talents, and work ethic. So we are proud to have our kids watch this journey and we are not too proud to ask them for help when work gets overwhelming because we want them to understand how hard it is and also how important it is to be able to ask for help when you need it. Both of our kids are incredible artists and I think they could potentially be interested in working for our company in the future.
Rachel & Justin, 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?
Justin had been painting on the side while we taught for years. He combined his passions for art and sports into his own unique style of painting and his art became more and more popular with sports fans. We decided to take a chance on making his art into high-end products in 2020. We used local vendors and sold into local shops who weren’t getting a lot of other business because of covid, and we built a community of local businesses and we all supported each other. Since then, we have grown into working with larger companies, getting more sports licenses, and have since branched into 300+ NCAA schools, Resorts, NFL, NHL, MLB, MiLB, Indy Car, and more. Justin also paints custom art for businesses and does live-painting events for corporations at trade shoes, galas, and other events.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
We sell directly from our website, www.stormstriker.com, our Etsy shop, our wholesale boutique partners, and at events like the Indianapolis 500. We look at every piece that comes from our strategically chosen partners to ensure that our customers will feel the detail and attention given to each piece of merchandise and that it feels like they are buying more than just a t-shirt or a stickers, but rather a piece of art. Every image begins as a hand-painted painting in Justin’s art studio and he also photographs and digitizes the art personally so that it will be represented just so on each piece.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
Justin and I met on the first day of onboarding for our first year of teaching at the same elementary school. He was the new art teacher and I was a new 3rd grade teacher. He remembers what I was wearing that day when we met! I got to see him once a week when I dropped my students off for art class and I tried to make the best use of those moments. I think my students noticed I liked him before he did, but he finally caught on and started leaving me little notes in my teacher mailbox with cute little drawings. The rest is history!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.stormstriker.com
- Instagram: @stormstrikerart
- Facebook: @storm striker
- Youtube: @stormstrikerartbyjustinpatten
