Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stephanie Fjetland. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Stephanie, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
My story is a bit gritty and awkward. I’ve been a writer since before I could spell. My problem was never having a good story. Then my life happened along and it got complicated. A social worker and social scientist by trade and education I saw my future set out before me in school and work. I was a psychiatric hospital therapist and mental health court liaison. I loved what I did and who I worked with. I adored and empathized genuinely with the population I served. My personal life was falling apart. No one needed to know that unless disclosing it was going to save a little life.
In 2016 I relocated to Austin, TX and began making novelty t-shirts under the name “Four Letter Names” and writing my first book, “In the Shambles” (available on Amazon). I was working as a therapist in a psychiatric hospital while finishing the hours needed for my private practice license in clinical social work.
All I really wanted to do was write all day and make t-shirts. My bank account insisted I keep my day job and my spiritual purpose in life insisted that I had much bigger plans for the future.
I was planning independent practice for higher acuity patients and populations using a combination of clinical therapies, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing(EMDR), substance use management, family case management, infused with music and arts. I also began creating continuing education content based on ethics and reality in practice to train other professionals.
My sister, a painter and musician, moved to Austin and into my home to pursue her dreams of being a local artist in the big city while beginning college to be an arts therapist. By the time she finished college my practice would be established and we would partner up and go into practice together. We thought we had it all figured out.
A little over a year later my sister had enrolled to start college. She’d also met a man who wanted to marry her. She decided that it was best to wait for marriage and focus first on finishing school so she could have a solid foundation for a future.
When she declined the marriage proposal her boyfriend started acting eradicate after disclosing a history of mental illness and no access to active mental health services. As the red flags started waving my sister decided to do what was best for herself and break up with him while he sought help.
Instead of seeking help for the breakup when she gave him the news, her soon to be ex, shot and killed her.
All future planning stopped when I got the call that she wasn’t coming home. In fact, without her paying rent I wasn’t sure I was going to have a home. I was lucky to have a job but not for much longer. I had already exhausted FMLA for the year after recovering from a car wreck injury. When my sister was murdered I was given 3 days of bereavement leave and exhausted what little vacation I had to travel back home for the funeral. I was diagnosed with compound PTSD and wasn’t ready to return to work as a clinical therapist. I was in my own crisis trying to treat it as fast as I could but business is business. After three years of long hours and dedication I was told the hospital would not hold my position while I recovered. I was forced to step down from my full time role and go into as needed status. I was moved into a smaller apartment and returned to finish my clinical hours but found I’d been taken off the schedule completely. I had to volunteer in a different department while still active being employed for the last month of my clinical requirements. I wasn’t going to quit at the end.
I got a part time job at a hospice and kept making my shirts and trying to promote my book while I waited for permission from the board to take the practice exam so I could start seeing patients independently. The board responded by saying that they had been so far behind in their paperwork that they chose to suspend my license because they found I had forgotten to update my mailing address when I had moved to Austin four years earlier. They skipped the fair hearing to save time and my career was over as soon as it had started to peak. It would take at least a year to get back in good standing and try to take the exam. I was forced to quit my job at hospice as it required a license.
Then Covid-19 happened. While I found and made work reselling and writing on the internet it wasn’t enough or fast enough for the housing market in Austin. I was going to lose my apartment. The news kept promising rent relief and I was awarded some creative artists grants but when my application for rent relief was approved by the county it was denied by my landlord. Four thirteen months I tried to get and stay on my feet while I fought the eviction and my declining mental health.
By the third anniversary of my sister’s murder in March 2022 came along. Her killer had finally been convicted but I found myself having to abandon my apartment and live in my car. Realizing then that there was no future to plan in the city I drove back home to be near my children rather than move them to Austin as I had planned.
I kept designing my website, store, and blog but my budget and technology skills made my progress much slower than YouTube promises when you are desperate.
In the name of social justice and homicide survivors I created a mental health blog with ambitions to get critical and credentialed information to the public for free by monetizing the site with ads and selling products designed with my late sister’s artwork. Coping skills downloads, journals, puzzles, and branded merchandise are available in my store and my blog “Kinda Unprofessional” is hosted on my publishing website, “The Petty Cow”
www.thepettycow.com
I still just want to write books and sell tshirts. My next book is currently in editing when I have time. Life has driven me to a day job at a home health agency nine to five and my traffic and promotion is slow with a very low budget.
I desire a bigger purpose for my content than just posting about my life until I find advertising. I also desire sustainability. Every penny counts around here with no savings, health issues, and four kids that aren’t grown yet. I daydream about making enough off my sites just the money is just to afford what I can’t now. Student loans, child support, medical care, or retirement aren’t exactly in my budget yet. I’m working on it.
So my mission and my company’s mission, to be honest with yourself about what you want so you can take action to do what you want is still my mission. I could use any of the support, likes, readers, reviews, sales or traffic I can get. My current obstacle is organic traffic and promotion since I haven’t been able to buy advertising, I am self funding, and my social media friends don’t even hit share to support most days. That’s the story behind it.
Keep being true to yourself so you can stay motivated towards a life you want to live no matter what life brings you.
Keep it basic and ‘Do What You Want. We Do.’ is the motto at my company, Four Letter Names Productions.
I want to say thank you for having me here. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a part of Canvas Rebel and reach a new audience. It’s an amazing opportunity. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Stephanie, 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?
“Do What You Want. We Do.” is the motto at my company, Four Letter Names Productions
I am a former clinical social worker and writer in Amarillo TX.
I am working on a free access me tal health blog because I believe information can change a life and garding it within the politics behind healthcare is dangerous and often leads people to nothing.
I told our story in the first question so I don’t want to repeat too much.
My blogs are hosted on my website
www.thepettycow.com
On my company website
Www.fouetternamespro.com
I offer freelance writing services and opportunities for brand collaboration and affiliate advertising on both of my sites.
My goal is create a sustainable future for myself while providing free content by building enough traffic to attract monetized advertising organically.
My products range from novelty tshirts, social justice support projects, live music support and artist support merchandise. In keeping with my mental health focus I have products designed as coping skill tools like journals designed to showcase the art my sister created before she was killed.
I host merchandise for other creatives including musicians, comedians.
Merchandise includes anything from stickers, clothing, hats, mugs, pillows, canvas arts, notebooks, puzzles, and more.
My goal is to find companies or creators who don’t have a place or way to manage their merchandise and work with them to design products that they can share with their audiences and customers while I manage the online sales and distribution. I hope to gain more of my own exposure through the creators promotion of the merchandise.
More traffic means more readers and as a writer that’s what I need to build a sustainable blogging business.
It’s not my day job but I hope it to be someday.
My audience is organic and small. My readers are from all walks of life. Mental Health is difficult to target an audience with because everyone has mental health needs but often don’t talk about it or know where to find reliable information. I work to self promote and collaborate to expand my reach and audience daily and as fast as life lets me.
Everything is designed in the name of supporting local art, music, family, and wellness. You can shop my merchandise at
www.fourletternamespro.com
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Freedom. The freedom to say and do what I want and what I believe is right without the burden of liability on my shoulder is what I’m chasing right now. My platform and my products are exactly that. Mine. I see creative arts: creative writing, digital media, and all traditions included as a safe space. It’s how I stay connected, It’s where my mind goes when I don’t know how to be motivated. It’s liberating and invigorating to get lost in the moment of creativity no matter what you’re specialty of art is. Nothing I am doing right now brings me anymore than a spiritual lift, physical endorphins, and distraction. So it must be the feeling and state of mind I am chasing. That must be the part that I love.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I truly think we can belong to both sides. I think we all have the artist and the analytic within us. I don’t think we belong in separate classrooms. I just think that both sides of the fence could stand to slow down and listen to someone else take the lead for a time or two. I have personal characteristics and tendencies that only fuel my ego and self confidence for the better and I have areas that I am completely ignorant. The creative in me struggles to feel confident enough while the realist in me within my personality finds that totally asinine logically. I think we all have some sort or art or purpose driving us towards torment within. I just don’t think we have figured out the right words to talk to each other about it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thepettycow.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bombcityoutlaw/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bombcityoutlaw
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sfjetland/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/fourletternames
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/Shambles-Stephanie-Fjetland/dp/1910565628 www.fourletternamespro.com
Image Credits
Stephanie Fjetland. Four Letter Names Productions 2022