Never did I imagine that one day I would have my own business. I never had a strong entrepreneurial drive or the desire to be my own boss. Over the past fifteen years, I have worked in the field of education and I thoroughly enjoy it. So, what could have led me to start Artiful Boutique?
If I had to do the genesis of the history of my company, I would start it around January 2019 with the arrival of my daughter. Our social networks or conversations around meals are filled with anecdotes that are joyous and sweet. As for me, motherhood has been, and still is, the most difficult experience I have ever had.
I will spare you the details, but I was unable to enjoy my pregnancy or my daughter's first moments. This gave us several scares over the 9 months of pregnancy, and my delivery was not easy. Her first month of life was spent in hospitals taking tests after tests. Please don't worry; my daughter is now in excellent health and I am slowly gaining my strength back!
Due to these life trials, I found myself in an unexpected direction: postpartum depression. You cannot even take care of yourself, let alone care for an innocent little one... Fortunately, my golden husband was there for her and for me. I was also very lucky to have a place in a family daycare to drop off my daughter there and try to regain my strength and regain a minimum quality of life.
If you know people who have suffered from depression, you know that the days are all alike: sleeping, crying and watching TV… One day, I had enough of this depressing routine. I needed to do something with my ten fingers. But what? Let's say the pandemic narrowed the options a bit!
For as long as I can remember, I have always been amazed and envious of people with artistic talents like drawing or painting. Since I had nothing to lose, but above all nothing better to do, I decided to watch a drawing tutorial on YouTube. After a single pencil stroke, I felt soothed. After several pencil strokes, I was amazed!
I couldn't believe I was the one who made this drawing. I didn't want to stop there. I now wanted to paint, draw, with all possible colors and mediums. I had just, during one of the most troubled moments of my life, found myself a passion: art in all its forms!
Remember, my passion arose in the midst of a pandemic. The stores were all closed, only online shopping was possible. That's when I realized there weren't many great deals and the good prices were only found at the big retailers. I wanted to encourage local, but the prices were outrageous.
Nevertheless, I started to equip myself a little, here and there, according to the promotions. More often than not, I have been disappointed by the quality of the products I have purchased. Falling brush bristles, broken pencil leads, paint that lacks pigmentation… How can you develop your passion if the tools used are not up to your expectation?
This is exactly when I had the idea to create my arts, crafts and stationery shop. I knew from experience that student range products are difficult to obtain in my area without going through the department stores. I started to listen to and read almost all the blogs on the subject. That's when I fell in love with Japanese and Korean brands. They offer products that are both aesthetic, well designed and at very attractive prices. I couldn't keep this information to myself anymore!
Fortunately, it is now possible for anyone to start a business. All it takes is the internet, a computer, and a lot of perseverance. I forgot, it takes time, a lot of time. And since I had a 2-year-old little girl at the time, I must say that I had very little. Also, I was still not 100% back on my feet so the energy was not always there. Thus, most of my evenings and weekends were spent creating my website, choosing my products and thinking about my company's mission.
What I had in mind was starting to take shape and I was proud. Being hyperactive and somewhat airheaded by nature, I have rarely accomplished projects of such magnitude without giving up. This time it was different. I absolutely wanted to allow as many people as possible to emancipate themselves through art and creation as a whole. I wanted to make a difference in people's lives. Create a creative community!
It has been quite a year since Artiful Boutique was born, but I consider that I have started my business project well. I don't know what the future holds for me, but I wish one day to be able to make a living from my business and then bequeath it to my daughter so that she too can make a difference in people's lives.
Krystel, owner of Artiful Boutique