Today we’d like to introduce you to T’yana Conway.
Hi T’yana, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
T.Nicole Craft Shop wasn’t always the Craft Shop. Originally, I wanted to start a candle business. I was doing all this research about candles; I bought a cricut joy (cutting machine) to make my own candle labels. I wasn’t considering doing anything else with the machine except for branding. As time went on, I realized candles is a business that takes A LOT of research and time I honestly didn’t have. So, I gave up on the candle business, but I still had this machine sitting in front of me with no use for it at that point. I started looking up different things I was able to do with the machine, and I made one t-shirt for my candle business, which is funny now that I think about it. But I loved the way the T-shirt looked. I started looking up all these different crafts I could do with the cricut machine series. Christmas 2021 came and my mother-in-law ended up being my first initial investor into the Craft Shop by buying my cricut explore for me. After that, excited and anxious, I jumped headfirst into making things. From t-shirts to acrylic signs all the way to memory keepsake shadow boxes.
My friends have always called me the creative gift-giving friend; my gifts are always in some way meaningful, things that they can keep for extended periods of time to always remind them of me. That’s my goal with the Craft Shop… to create meaningful gifts for all my customers. Memories that last a lifetime for them and their loved ones.
I don’t really want to box myself into one lane, so I’m still building my portfolio of other crafts I haven’t necessarily mastered. I’m getting into party favors and even some business stationery that could be beneficial to my fellow business owners.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It hasn’t been an easy road at all, but nothing is. Personally, I was going through very trying times in my life when I first started. It became more of a therapeutic thing to do, to create and see the final product; it made me happy. Business-wise, I didn’t really know where to start with everything. I was confused on how to turn crafting into something that actually made money. So many times, I was so close to quitting just because I wasn’t getting the traffic and attention to my business; I wasn’t getting orders at all. Everything I was doing was solely for fun. I prayed a long time, for weeks, asking God if this is something I should keep investing my time in. Then before the end of 2022, I received my first real order. It wasn’t a huge order but it was enough to boost my spirits. I did a serious rebrand of T. Nicole Craft Shop in December 2022, going into January 2023. I don’t know what it was, but something was different. The way I felt about my business was different. That order just boosted my self-confidence in what I was doing. After the rebrand, I started taking it serious, taking all the necessary steps to turn this into more than just a t-shirt-making business.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
T. Nicole Craft Shop is a business focusing solely on handmade crafts and gifts. Although I’ve been dipping my toes into other crafts I want to offer, my bread and butter is custom t-shirts and apparel.
I think the thing I’m most proud of is my ability to keep going, especially on the 0 weeks. When I get no traffic to my website, no orders, no looks or shares on Instagram… I still keep going, I still keep creating, and that’s what I’m most proud of.
I think what sets me apart from other businesses is that I’m very personable, and I genuinely love people! I love making people happy and delivering exactly what they wanted.
What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is to run your own race. Never compare your success to another’s because your time will come. I had to learn to stop beating myself up over things that just take time. Patience patience patience
Contact Info:
- Website: thetncs.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/tnicolecraftshop
- Facebook: facebook.com/tnicolecraftshop
- Twitter: twitter.com/tnicolecs
