Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in graphic arts but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Carol Bova, president, and owner of Designer Stencils, located in Wilmington, DE, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

We solve decorating dilemmas! For forty years, we have designed and manufactured reusable plastic stencils so our customers can easily transform their home, crafts, and now cookies and cakes too. Without being an artist, our customers can economically decorate rooms, revitalize second-hand furniture, and create cakes and cookies with intricate patterns.

Tell us about yourself

My mother first started selling stencils when she tried stenciling her kitchen and fell in love with the process. I was in high school at the time, and I always loved crafts, so I was instantly drawn to the instant gratification of painting a pattern without having any artistic skills.

After getting a college degree in finance, I joined the business full time as a designer and operator of our first mechanical machines for cutting the stencils. Until then, everything was hand-cut, and we couldn't grow the business without mechanizing the cutting process. My father was an engineer specializing in plastics, so I worked with him to find the right machine and plastic to make our stencils. I love designing new stencil patterns and helping our customers with their decorating projects!

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Reinventing our business to "keep the doors open." In the early 2000s, stenciling on walls was falling out of fashion along with the trend in wallpaper. (It has since started to blossom again with the resurgence of wallpapering!) The husband of one of our employees was a Master Baker from England, and he suggested that we get into designing stencils for the baking industry. Hand piping was a lost art form, and bakers needed a way to decorate their cakes and cookies quickly.

Within six weeks, we developed a line of 30 cake stencils and took them to a national cake convention to test them out. We sold out! We knew we were onto something, so we switched gears. For the next ten years, our focus was on developing an international brand of food-grade stencils. We now sell this line all around the world!

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Finding and training qualified help so that I can go on a vacation!

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Manage your cash flow. This will be the most important thing to keeping you paying your vendors and employees on time.
  2. Keep innovating. Look for ways to expand or improve your product line or sales channels.
  3. Keep it personal. From the work environment to customer relations - people want to be treated as your friend. And what's better than working with your friends all day?!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.designerstencils.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/designerstencils/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/designerstencils/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/designerstencil
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/designerstencils/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.