Uncharted Waters: What have we learned so far?

We have officially hit one month since we launched The Creative Makamae. Woohoo! BUT, a big fat BUT, what have we learned so far? Well, A LOT. Like, A LOT, A LOT. Due to my naivety, I thought I could just turn my doodle creations into stickers, start an Instagram, and, boom kanani, we’re in business and we would be all good. Oh, sweetie. Naive, naive sister. Cue wake up call.

First off, overhead costs.

My biggest problem, and I’d venture as far as saying fault, as an entrepreneur is I get very excited about projects I’m working on and, even though logically I know I should be doing market research, I can’t help myself. I get stoked, then invest in the product without any research on their potential to excel/succeed. However, I also know you have to spend money to make money. Gratefully, I broke even (*cue celebratory dance*); however, here are somethings I started building:

1. A Journey Map: This process included the pre-experience (state), the current experience, and the post-experience (desired state). At each step, I looked at my potential customers/consumers. What do they say, what do they think/feel, what do they do, what do they see and what is their overall experience?

2. Customer Persona: I started looking at the following questions: Who is the person who will be using my product? What is important to them? What is their goal(s)? How does their goal(s) shape their behavior? Why will this appeal to them? What is the potential hesitation in using my product? How will they find my product? I took the time to answer each.

3. Finally, Market Research: Using a table, I began with my Total Addressable Market (i.e. anyone who likes stickers), then I moved on to my Serviceable Available Market (i.e. anyone who likes ʻōlelo/ʻike Hawaiʻi-centric stickers), and finally to my Serviceable Obtainable Market (i.e. the specific demographic that has purchased my products and related demographics).

This did take a while, BUT, this is a key piece that will guide me on what I invest in (a.k.a. keeping my overhead costs down as best as possible)

Secondly, niche.

Ick. I’m not a big fan of that word. Finding your “niche” - that specific segment of the market that The Creative Makamae plans on and intends to occupy. You may be wondering, why? Isn’t that a key point of starting your small business since your niche will help set you a part from others? The short answer: yes, I know it is important. But, two things: 1) I am a staunch advocate of the fact that we do not fit neatly and nicely into little boxes. We are complex, we have so many interests and we occupy many different spaces to make us who we are. So, I personally have a very hard time with niches. And 2) I am a firm believer in collaboration rather than competition.

I’m grateful because, even though there have been many wake up calls so far, there have also been so many spaces that have opened up for collaboration. So, what space does The Creative Makamae occupy (or hope to occupy)? I’ve kept it fairly broad:

• the space of digital art focused on ʻōlelo and ʻike Hawaiʻi

• the space of collaboration - where I connect with other like-minded individuals, small business, particularly the ones that are Hawaiʻi-centric, and collaborate to see how we can come together

• the space of general creativity, in all mediums, from painting, photography, to poetry and everything in between

• the space of constantly learning

And, we are just getting started, so I am sure this list will grow.

Thirdly, content creation.

If you are reading this and you are a small business owner, you know how important it is to constantly produce content. But, if you are a small business owner, you also know that you wear many hats, including: creator, social media manager, content creator, packaging/shipping, website designer, inventory manager, office manager, and the list goes on and on. So, in between all of that, how do you find the time to: create content, learn how to use Reels/TikTok (I’m a millennial, but Reels and TikTok are SO not my forté), and post in a timely manner based on your analytics? Well, here is what I have learned and created.

1. Social Media Annual Calendar: I’m very much the person who needs to see my ala (path) at a glance - where is it going? I created a massive calendar that was generic enough so I could plug in important dates that were important to me (i.e. Hawaiian Holidays, Aliʻi Lā Hānau, Important Dates in History, particular days I wanted to honor and celebrate). That way, I can plan around it (i.e. Lā Hānau o Kūhio - that was my reminder to release my Holiday Digital Stickers)

2. Brainstorm/Brain Dump: In that same Google Sheet where the Annual Calendar lives, I created a tab just for all my brainstorms and brain dumps. If you are like me, random ideas strike you that seem like they could make great content for whatever platform.

3. Generating Content: Within that same Google Sheet, I created a new tab where I could begin to map out my content for each week. I had a section for the date, the caption, the hashtags and a link to whatever I would be posting (essentially, the post itself saved in my Google Drive so I could access it from wherever).

So many lessons in our first month live and so much more room for growth and improvement. We are so grateful for those who have supported us so far and we are excited to keep learning along the way.