My Journey To Becoming A Greeting Card Designer: How To Turn Your Passion Into A Small Business

At the time of writing this, I am nearly 5 years into being self-employed, and running my own small greeting card business based in Cheltenham, called Jess A Little Creative. I could never have dreamt or predicted this would be the direction my career would go in, but I am currently feeling the most fulfilled and creative that I ever have. 

So I thought I would share a bit about my journey: what I did at the start of my career, how I came to running my own greeting card business, and a bit of advice for you if you’re wondering how you can turn your hobby or passion into a small business.  

Btw, this is me, Jess - hi! 

Before we get started, it’s important to remember that everyone’s definition of a successful small business is different. I am not writing this as someone who has a 6-figure global enterprise.

I am self-employed, splitting my time between working as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator in Cheltenham alongside running my own small greeting card business, and earning enough to pay the bills from doing something creative that I love.

That is success to me, and makes me happy, but do be aware that everyone’s journeys and circumstances are vastly different before you start comparing yourself to anyone else - everyone’s story is unique!

So whether you are a budding greeting card designer looking for advice, someone who has been following me on my small business journey since the start, or you’ve just stumbled upon this article, you are so welcome here.

I hope you find it interesting learning a bit more about how I came to run my own small greeting card business.

 

From art-obsessed teenager, to full-time graphic designer, to small business owner: How it all began

Education and university

I have always been creative. As a child I loved arts and crafts, and that only developed further as I went through my school years. Art was by far my favourite subject, and while at sixth form, I would spend all my free periods down in the art room. To me it was a magical place, and I loved creating. 

But I had no idea how to make a career from it. Trying to be a full-time artist felt too risky, and back when I finished school there weren’t as many options for creative careers as there are now. 

I managed to stumble upon graphic design, and saw it as a way that I could build a creative career. I went on to study Graphic Design at Falmouth University, and quickly became obsessed with the world of design.

Losing my creative spark

After graduating, I got a full-time job as a graphic designer in Bristol, and continued working as a full-time graphic designer across creative agencies in Bristol and the Cotswolds for nearly 7 years.

But then 2020 arrived and something shifted in me - I had lost my spark.

I didn’t feel I was using my creativity to its full potential, and had lost a lot of my confidence in my abilities, which was not a good combination.

I knew I needed to get more creativity in my life, so I started illustrating more in my spare time.

I ended up illustrating a set of intricately patterned letters, which I turned into typographic greeting cards, and set up an Etsy shop to sell them, a couple of months before the COVID pandemic kicked off. 

This was my desk set-up when I began my small business in 2020!

Starting my own small business

Lockdown gave me a lot of time to design more greeting cards and learn about running a small business which I really needed, because I did not have a clue what I was doing! But I loved it.

I felt like I had some spark and excitement back, and in 2021 I quit my full-time job to focus on building my small business and trying to make it work being self-employed.   

And this is where I have my first tip for you, if you’re thinking of turning your hobby into a small business: Do not do what I did, and quit your full-time job straight away. It is such a financial risk, especially when you don’t even know if your small business will become a success.

I had some other stuff going on around the same time, and of course we were all dealing with the COVID pandemic, so looking back I can see I did the best I could with the situation I was in, but I wouldn't recommend doing what I did! 

Luckily, as a trained graphic designer, I managed to support myself by quickly learning the ropes of freelance, but please ensure you have the funds to support yourself, or at least some savings before going all-in on your business.

Maybe do it in stages, reduce your hours first by going part-time, before you take the huge leap. There is no shame in having another job alongside your own small business!

 

Was running a greeting card business always written in the stars?

So it was now 2021, and I was working on the greeting card business full-time, alongside some freelance graphic design work, which I still do today. I absolutely love having the two different creative avenues to my small business.  

But I feel I skipped a step in my story. Why did I choose to start a greeting card business? 

I have always loved greeting cards. One of my oldest friends recently created a scrapbook of all the special greeting cards she has received over the years, and she sent me some photos, as there were some in there I had made for her when we were at school together over 15 years ago! 

Safe to say my design skills have improved a fair bit since then, but I always loved making greeting cards as a child.

I actually attended my first ever craft market when I was about 12 years old, selling my handmade Christmas cards. I think I was selling them for about 25p each?! 12 year old Jess still had much to learn about profit margin!

Did I know then that I would end up running a greeting card business? Absolutely not.

But given that I’ve always loved making, sending, and receiving greeting cards, it makes sense that when choosing a creative career of my own, this was the direction I took.

There is something magical about greeting cards. They are tiny pieces of art, containing kind, sweet words from someone you love - what could be better than that!

So my second tip for you, if you’re thinking of starting your own small business, would be this: build a small business out of something you are truly passionate about, and have been passionate about for a while.

You may get lucky and build a successful small business out of a new hobby you stumble across - it could even be what you end up doing for the rest of your life.

But running a small business is hard work, all-consuming and requires a lot of learning, so you definitely need to have passion for what you’re doing in order to sustain the motivation needed to keep it going. Else you may find yourself running out of steam pretty quickly!

 

And if you’re wondering what my small business looks like today… 

At the time of writing this article, we are nearing the end of 2024 and I have been running my small business for nearly 5 years. I now have my own website with over 150 different greeting card designs in my collection, all drawn and designed by me, for many different occasions.

I am still working really hard to build my small business, by evolving and improving my illustration style, working on marketing and SEO, building the wholesale side of the business (getting my greeting cards on the shelves of some lovely independent shops), plus also working as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator.

2024 has been my best-selling year to date, and I am thrilled. I have been working so hard to make my small business a success, and it’s great to see it growing.

I still have a long way to go, but I am loving the journey, and am very proud of everything I've achieved.

 One final tip for you when starting your own small business, is to not neglect the ‘boring’ parts of running a small business i.e. the business admin.

I put ‘boring’ in quote marks, because I’ve found that I actually love that side of things too, which is incredibly helpful as it means I make time to actually do it. 

I know making your beautiful creations that you’ll be selling is your passion, but there are a lot of other jobs alongside that, equally as important when running your own small business.

Sure, I would be super happy to sit and design greeting cards all day every day, but that is not what my working days look like!

I have put a tonne of effort into learning about SEO, marketing, wholesale, finances, doing tax returns, and so many other things that all help a small business become successful and visible to customers.

This part is so important, so please give your small business the best chance of success by not neglecting it! 

 

And what does the future hold for Jess A Little Creative?

Well there’s a question. I don’t know! I have already set some goals and plans for 2025, and I’m really excited to get stuck into those, but honestly right now, I’m pretty content.

The combination of designing greeting cards for my online shop, alongside working as a freelance graphic designer is making me very happy. I have some big ambitions for my small business, but I’m actually trying not to get too ahead of myself, and just enjoy the journey. Where I’m at right now is pretty sweet.

I send a monthly email newsletter to my subscribers with all the behind-the-scenes goings on of my small business, so if you want to hear about what’s next for Jess A Little Creative, be sure to sign up.

You also get a 10% discount code to use in the shop when you sign up, perfect if you’ve seen some cute greeting card designs that have taken your fancy.

(I’m not on social media so joining my mailing list is the best way to follow my small business journey!)

………………….............................................................................................................

 

And that pretty much brings us to the present day, in my journey to becoming a greeting card designer.

I really hope you have enjoyed this slightly self-indulgent trip down memory lane with me. It’s been very interesting to look back and reflect on the events and decisions that led me to where I am today. 

As previously mentioned, please do join my mailing list if you’d like to learn more about my small business journey and stay up-to-date with how things are going for Jess A Little Creative, I’d love to have you there.

If you have any questions, or anything you want to discuss, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help or chat.

Thank you so much for reading, Jess x