How I Built A $48K/Year Artistic Business In A Niche Industry
Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?
Hello everyone! I'm Smieon Mo, I’m a custom shoe painter located in Hong Kong. Over 10 years ago, I established Mypaintedshoes and became one of the first individuals to create an online platform for selling hand-painted shoes.
Back when I was a student, I discovered my passion for painting canvas shoes, which ultimately led to the creation of MyPaintedShoes. In collaboration with a team of skilled artists, we specialize in crafting stylish and personalized custom-painted shoes.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
MyPaintedShoes online store was launched in 2013. With a background in e-commerce from my university studies, setting up the website was relatively straightforward for me. I used Zen-cart to develop the initial version of MyPaintedShoes, and while the website has been online for a decade, it maintains a simple and elegant appearance.
Of course, I am aware that certain functionalities can be improved. However, my focus has primarily been on creating art, and the website ensures secure payments, prompt order processing, and a straightforward product presentation.
I warmly welcome any suggestions for enhancing my website. As a token of appreciation, I offer a free pair of custom hand-painted shoes to anyone providing valuable suggestions.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
In 2013, the hand-painted shoe industry was quite niche, and Google indexed my website just one day after launching. The uniqueness of the product content garnered favorable attention from Googlebot.
Following the index, I engaged in image-sharing strategies, such as sharing on platforms like Pinterest and Flickr. These efforts attracted traffic to the website, including organic traffic from Google. Within the first month of the site launch, I received my very first order.
Subsequently, I started receiving two to three customer orders daily, and the earnings from the craftsmanship sustained my modest lifestyle.
If you start a business, I hope you can have a few like-minded friends who can learn and grow together.
Describe the process of launching the business.
Before the website launch, I had already optimized the simple website structure to provide a user-friendly experience. I set up search engine-friendly URL stabilization and configured the title, keywords, and description of the site. I have some knowledge about SEO and I create 2-3 links from other sites every day.
There were many times in between when I thought about giving up and pursuing other products, but I have a passion for drawing. Drawing has become an essential part of my life. Even though sitting and drawing can be mundane, I enjoy it.
Despite the low volume of orders, I engage in image sharing, social media sharing, and blog posting to generate some external links for the website. From 2013 to 2019, the order volume remained low. Although I only had one or two orders to work on each day, I continued making promotional efforts.
Finally, the keyword "hand-painted shoes" made its way to the first page of Google search in 2020. The website's daily order volume reached 10-20 pairs of hand-painted shoes, which was sufficient for me. I spent over 14 hours every day drawing.
All the hand-painted shoes were personally crafted by me. There was a period when I was so busy that I couldn't keep up, resulting in numerous customer complaints about delays.
That's when I brought in an assistant to help me with the drawings.
The major challenge with handmade products is that they cannot be mass-produced. Each pair of shoes is truly a one-of-a-kind creation.
However, after 2020, more hand-painted shoe websites were created, and I lost my competitive edge in terms of content and external links. As a result, the natural ranking of my website started to decline.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
All the hand-painted shoes have always been personally created by me. There was a period of time when I was really busy and couldn't keep up with the demand, which led to a lot of customer complaints about the turnaround time. That's when I decided to bring in an assistant to help me with the painting in my studio.
The biggest challenge with handmade products is that they can't be mass-produced; each pair of shoes is truly hand-painted, stroke by stroke. I exclusively focus on hand-painted shoes; they are not printed. Additionally, if a customer is unhappy with my design, I offer an immediate refund because I have full confidence in my painting skills.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
I have been drawing hand-painted canvas shoes since 2013. However, the trend shifted from hand-painted canvas shoes to hand-painted leather shoes starting in 2021. At first, I was reluctant to change and wanted to remain someone who persisted in hand-painting canvas shoes.
Over the past two years, the number of canvas shoe orders has gradually decreased, forcing me to start trying my hand at hand-painted leather shoes.
On June 6, 2019, I released my first hand-painted leather shoe:
I believe that both hand-painted canvas shoes and hand-painted leather shoes will continue to be popular, as I have remained dedicated to creating them.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
I believe the biggest challenge in the hand-drawn industry is that orders cannot be mass-produced; each piece must be drawn individually. As a result, each artist has to work for at least 14 hours a day. For more intricate designs, such as complex patterns on shoes, only one pair can be completed in a day.
Simpler designs allow for around 6 to 7 pairs to be done in a day. Consequently, each order requires a processing time of 7 days. However, many customers lack the patience to wait for this production process, leading to a significant level of dissatisfaction with my website. This is the primary issue in the hand-drawn industry.
Apart from asking customers to be patient, the only solution is to wait for talented artists who share the same passion for hand-drawn art to join my team.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
I like using the Zen Cart system, but now I'm using WordPress and Shopify, both of which are excellent website-building systems.
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
After having a website, we need to have traffic. Whenever I have free time, I will go to SEOBOOK to learn.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
If you start a business, I hope you can have a few like-minded friends who can learn and grow together. I've been persisting on the path of hand-painted shoes because of my passion and happiness.
Even though I was the first person to create a website for hand-painted shoes, my sales have always been average, and I haven't achieved major success. However, this has kept me going.
From the initial canvas hand-painted shoes to the current leather hand-painted shoes, my transition took many years longer than others. Fortunately, there are still people who remember my website, and for that, I am thankful!
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
I would like to have a colleague who can help with social media promotion for Mypaintedshoes, such as on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, to share my products and generate traffic. My hand-painted shoe technique is truly exceptional, and I want more people to come to me for custom hand-painted shoes.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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