Daily Inspiration: Meet Amy Braswell

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Braswell.

Hi Amy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I truly believe in Helen Keller’s famous words – Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.

I have a huge love of adventure. Mind you, not the scary kind – I’m a total wuss when it comes to roller coasters, sky diving, and all of that adrenaline-pumping stuff. But the “hop in the car with no idea where you’re going” type of adventures.

When I met my (now) husband, we bonded over our love of travel, adventures, and experiences over things. He ran a vacation rental website at the time, and I started doing some copywriting for his site. I had studied Theater and English in college, but didn’t really know what I wanted to do “when I grew up.” As much as I enjoyed copywriting (and getting to browse through gorgeous pictures from around the world and call it ‘work’), when I had the chance to learn a little graphic design from the company designer, I was hooked.

I ended up going back to school in my 30s (life is an adventure, right?) and getting a degree in Graphic Design. I knew immediately that I wanted to start my own wanderlusty home decor company and Paperfinch was born in 2011!

Now I have my products all over the world, I’ve been married for 12 years, and I have a 7-year-old son who already has 6 stamps on his passport!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think any business owner would agree that starting your own business is NEVER a smooth road. Some obstacles are just little tiny speed bumps that you barely even notice as you’re going over, and others are huge mountains that cause you to stop, reassess, and figure out how to metaphorically make it over that mountain.

In the past 12 years of running Paperfinch, I’ve hit both kinds of obstacles. My speed bumps were all expected things – setting pricing, sourcing materials, dealing with upset customers (which I haven’t had to do much of, thank goodness!). All things that I expected, knew were normal, and just dealt with.

But my mountains were trickier. Most of my mountains came in my personal life – but as a small business owner, there’s no real separation between the two, and I had to figure out how to navigate business and Life together (and yes, that deserves a capital L for the stuff that was going on)

I won’t get into too much detail, but in the first 5 years of running Paperfinch, I was dealing with the loss of a parent, major family health issues, and infertility treatments. Which, anyone who has gone through it knows, is practically a full-time job.

So I had to learn quickly how to streamline my processes, delegate + outsource jobs, and really cull down to what was working for Paperfinch… and what wasn’t. In the end, all of the Life craziness (there’s that capital L again!), actually helped make Paperfinch a better functioning business.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
The design that put me on the map, pun intended, is one that I offer in over 700 cities (and counting!) – it features a city skyline over the map of that particular city. Lots of clean, white space – which is a common thread in all my work.

And I still get to look at beautiful pictures from around the world and call it ‘work’ – just now I’m tracing them to make my skylines!

But, since I’m creative and I can’t just work on ONE thing (can’t stop, won’t stop designing), I have way more wanderlusty designs than my “classic”. But all designed around my mantra – Life is a Daring Adventure or Nothing At All.

I think I’m pretty proud of the gallery walls that I released fairly recently. I have one for each of the 50 states – they incorporate the state’s flower, bird, motto, and other icons for each state. I found that I love doing collections – especially mixing patterns, colors, and textures – and they’re selling well!

Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’m funny when it comes to risk-taking. I absolutely will not jump out of a plane, bungee jump, or eat anything really spicy (ha!). But when it comes to day-to-day life, I love a little risk. I joke that life really IS an adventure with my husband. A little story to illustrate:

My husband and I had briefly discussed selling our house. Well, my parents came to town to visit us and I had previously scheduled lunch with a friend. They insisted I go, so I did. I came home to find my parents and my husband frantically cleaning the house. They told me “We have a showing in an hour!” My response? “Our HOUSE IS FOR SALE??” And it sold to that showing.

But that’s him. And I’ve got way more stories like that. But you know what? I love it.

So I think my take on risk is this, whether in business or in life – All of it can be scary. Jumping out of planes, selling houses… all of it. But can you recover if it’s a disaster?

If moving out of the area was a bad idea, just move back. Hate your new haircut? It’ll grow back. A new product you loved creating isn’t selling. Like, at all? Set a time limit on how long you’ll try it out, and then scrap it. Dial in on what IS working.

In a creative business, the risk is necessary. It’s necessary, it’s scary…but it’s fun.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://paperfinch.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/paperfinchamy
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/paperfinchamy

Image Credits
Caroline Thomas Photography and Paige Mercer Photography