We recently connected with Taryn Seng and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Taryn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?

From when I was a child my family would always push my creativity. I always remember having coloring books, and doing fun crafts with my mom and grandma. When I was in school I always remember creating fun stuff in art class and my family would be so proud.

I know when I pushed on to my father I wanted to go to art school, he wasn’t very excited. I know a lot of people still believe that artist starve. He was scared as any father would be for their child. But in the end he still believed in me and I went to art school which helped me in so many ways and helped my knowledge and network grow.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I really started my business with cute stationery products. And at that time I had no idea what kind of niche I wanted. A lot of my business came a long as I was learning. I went back and forth with what I wanted and what others wanted from me. At the end of the day always choose what you want. I’ve always been a fan of Halloween and general spooky things, it really started with my mother who is also a huge fan of Halloween. And that passion grew with my art as I realized there was a fan base for Halloween and dark subject matter.

Coming up with Taryn Studio’s has been a long journey as well. I chose the word studios because a studio in my eyes will always be changing. That felt right as I knew through the years that my art will always change. I knew with a name like Taryn Studios, I could change and grow with it. And I think that really relaxed my mind when going down the road of the Halloween niche, that I could change it if I didn’t want to make Halloween themed art anymore.

At the end of the day I want my clients to really know me and to be transparent as possible. To know the face behind all the art I create, but not to be confused if I ever change the direction my art goes in.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I sell all my stationery on Etsy. I do believe that Etsy is great to start out because of how customers can with ease look up your products and how you can be found on Etsy. A good amount of customers I’ve had have found me through Etsy.

The one thing I think everyone can agree on with Etsy is the fees involved makes it less attractive. But for a small business with a small amount of followers or fans, Etsy is a nice way to start without totally failing opening an online store.

Eventually in the long run I do think it’s smart to have your own site to sell on. Say if Etsy shuts down? Then what? What if any of the many social medias shut down? You’ll always have your own site to direct your own customers.

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

As an artist it is always smart to have multiple streams of income. You never know when something could come up and what makes you the most money fails. For instance I have spooky pet portraits that I offer for around Halloween, but any other time of the year that wouldn’t really work.

There’s a few things I do to have multiple streams. For one I have a Patreon that gives access to monthly rewards and a behind the scenes to what I do as an artist. I stream on Twitch, at the moment it’s mostly game streams, but I occasionally make art on streams. I mentioned my Etsy, and I offer commissions as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: tarynsengart.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/tarynstudios
• Other: Etsy.com/shop/tarynstudios Patreon.com/tarynstudios Twitch.tv/tarynstudios