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Episode 28: Laura Joseph - Starting a Stationery Business (and a Discussion about Mental Health)
177 Plays6 years ago
Today’s guest is Laura Joseph, the Founder of Paper & Honey, an heirloom wedding stationary and letterpress studio. In today’s episode, we get to learn about how Laura started her stationary and letterpress business. I know next to nothing about stationary, so it was really interesting for me to learn more about her business. I think one of the most fascinating parts of the discussion is hearing about the letterpress machines that she has. These are machines that are over a 100-years-old. We talk a little bit about what went into adding that into our business, the process, and by process, that’s probably an understatement of researching, acquiring, transporting and maintaining those machines.
One of the most important parts of the episode, however, is a discussion that we have about mental health in the latter half of the conversation. Laura opens up about her journey with depression, anxiety and ADHD, how that’s impacted her business and what she’s done to deal with those things. I really, really appreciate Laura sharing about this, because I think it’s something that so many of us deal with, but often don’t talk about. I hope people find encouragement and hope in listening to this episode.
For show notes and more resources, head on over to https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-laura-joseph-episode-28.
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Introduction
00:00:05
Speaker
because I have built a business and I am successful and I am a really happy, positive person so that when I talk about this kind of thing, people don't really understand where I'm coming from or it's sort of like, yeah, but you're fine. Welcome to the Brands at Book Show where we help creative, service-based businesses build their brands and find more clients. I'm your host, Davy Jones.
Guest Introduction: Laura Joseph
00:00:35
Speaker
Today's guest is Laura Joseph, the founder of Paper and Honey, an heirloom wedding stationery and letterpress studio. In today's episode, we get to learn about how Laura started her stationery and letterpress business. And I know next to nothing about stationery. So it was really interesting for me to learn more about her business.
Laura Joseph's Historic Letterpress Machines
00:00:52
Speaker
And I think one of the most fascinating parts of the discussion is hearing about the letterpress machines that she has. These are machines that are over a hundred years old.
00:01:00
Speaker
So we talked a little bit about what went into adding that into our business, the process, and by process, that's probably an understatement of researching, acquiring, transporting, and maintaining those machines.
Mental Health and Business Impact
00:01:13
Speaker
One of the most important parts of the episode, however, is a discussion that we have about mental health in the latter half of the conversation.
00:01:19
Speaker
Laura opens up about her journey with depression, anxiety, and ADHD, how that's impacted her business, and what she's done to deal with those things. And I really, really appreciate Laura sharing about this because I think it's something that so many of us deal with, but often don't talk about. I hope people find encouragement and hope in listening to this episode.
00:01:39
Speaker
I feel silly for having to mention this, but it's the age we live in. So a quick disclaimer, we are not mental health professionals. Today's episode is not, nor should be construed as mental health advice and always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
00:01:57
Speaker
Be sure to check out the show notes at daevianchrista.com for the resources we mentioned during the episode. I'd like to hear from you about what kind of content you'd like to see on the Brans That Book podcast as we
Listener Engagement and Feedback
00:02:06
Speaker
move forward. And I'd also like to know what episodes you've most enjoyed so far and why. To leave your feedback, head on over to the Davian Christa Facebook page and send us a message.
Podcast Joy and Conference Experiences
00:02:15
Speaker
Now, on to the episode.
00:02:23
Speaker
Laura, I'm so excited to have you on the show today. I'm so glad that you were able to join me. Thanks for having me, Davey. I feel like such a fancy lady being on your podcast. You know, I was chatting with Krista after I created my heart and I was talking to her about how much I enjoy seeing you at the conference because I think you're just one of the funniest people. And I always walk away from conversations with you just, you know, smile on my face and having enjoyed that encounter. So thank you, Davey.
00:02:51
Speaker
Yeah, kind of a bummer we only get to see each other really once a year. And as I told you at creative this past year, one day I hope to meet your husband as well. Oh my gosh, I want that so much. He's such a hoot. Yeah, I mean, and for anybody who, you know, I don't know if this video is like publicly available, but his his his Halloween costume from this past year. I mean, it was one of the one of the best things I've seen all year, but also kind of gives me nightmares.
00:03:16
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, he's a character. He loves to, he's always the most charismatic person in the room. He's so great. I'm really hoping that I can get him to a creative one of these days, a creative art conference, just because, you know, he has heard me sing its praises for years now. And now that he is a part of my business in such a, you know, much more substantial way, rather than just sort of like a surface level, like, how's your day been? Like he's asking me about paper stocks. He knows like the language of what I'm talking about.
00:03:46
Speaker
just to have him at creative and just to see that aspect of what I do and just sort of the community that you're a part of. He really has no idea what it's like and just the atmosphere and he would just thrive in that situation. So I'm really hoping that, you know, you and all of our other industry friends will be able to meet him too. Yeah, I hope so.
Family Roles in Paper and Honey
00:04:06
Speaker
So just to catch everybody up, even though I mentioned this in the introduction, but you are a heirloom wedding stationery and letterpress business, right? I got that right. Okay, good.
00:04:15
Speaker
And I do want to ask you about like your husband's role in the business real quick, just because I think that's so interesting for people to hear about. I mean, Krista and I have worked together for a couple of years now, but there was definitely that period of transition when I was coming out of my undergrad degrees in theology. And then I was a teacher, you know, economics and English teacher for a while. So it was a really funny process looking back, getting involved in the business and learning
00:04:38
Speaker
you know, getting to the point where I know the things that I know now. So how is that like, what's his background in and how is that transition been for him coming into your business? Oh, man, it has been slow and wonderful. And yeah, like you look at us and we work really, really well together. And granted, everything that I show on social media is kind of like a highlight reel, right? But incorporating him into the business has been slow and confusing and just sort of
00:05:06
Speaker
just such a long process. But basically, I have my degree in fine arts, and he is a registered nurse. He works in the operating room. That's his teacher. So very, very different, completely different universes. He comes home and I'm like, I had a difficult email I had to write today. He's like, I had to transplant six livers. And he's like, oh, all right. Well, I have no idea what you do all day. But he's always been so supportive, just incredible.
00:05:36
Speaker
and really doing everything that I really would have asked of him. So early on in the business, it was him helping me assemble. So, you know, we would have all of our print are stationary and he would help me cut ribbon. He'd helped me apply postage to envelopes. He'd helped me proofread envelope calligraphy, pretty much any kind of like physical labor that I just needed an extra body for. He was there and that was wonderful. But I'm someone who I can't do all of this alone.
00:06:05
Speaker
And I kind of just really needed a partner, but it's hard for someone like him who, you know, he, he doesn't know anything about paper or didn't anyway. And he didn't really know what capacity that he could show up and do this, like help me. And so, you know, he can't help me with blogging. He can't help with marketing. Like he doesn't know anything about like web design. So it was just really hard kind of fitting like a square peg in a round hole, something like that. Whereas if nothing was really a great fit.
00:06:33
Speaker
And it wasn't until a couple of years ago when I was doing my taxes and I realized that I had spent 40 grand that past year on just printing. And I told Max, what if that was our 40 grand and what if we did all of our own printing and
00:06:52
Speaker
That was just this new avenue that we're going to take for our business. And he completely latched onto that. He loved it so much. He was just so excited about that idea because he is a very, he's like a handyman to his core. He loves tinkering with machinery. And like, I don't even know how to describe it because it is so beyond my realm of knowledge, I guess. But he is just creative in such a different way that I am. Sure. He loves building furniture. He loves like sketching out designs for our bar.
00:07:22
Speaker
our basement bar and making sure that it happens. Anyway, he loved doing the research on letterpress machines and finding out all the different types of machines that there are and figuring out, okay, this is the type of machine that is going to work for what we need. He's the one who found the machines because you have to do so much research just to even find one. He figured out how to ship 2,000 pounds of
00:07:48
Speaker
cast iron across the country. Really things that are just so, I can't figure that out. That's so confusing to me. I just want to just leave me to my drawing and my emails and I'm happy. But he's just been so great at stepping in in a capacity that I'm unable to do. Now that we have these machines and we're up and running for the last couple of years, he is the print side of our business. Where I do all the design and
00:08:15
Speaker
just sort of head the company, I'm able to hand everything off to him to produce and print, and he has just fallen so in love with it in a way that I kind of always wanted, but you know, you can't really force passion into somebody else. But he is just so genuinely interested and invested and curious, and it's just been incredible to have him know what I do in a very kind of intimate way
Transition from Fine Arts to Wedding Stationery
00:08:44
Speaker
beyond just coming home from work and asking me how my day was. Like he comes home and he has all day he's been thinking of like cool designs that we can do and like different print methods that we can incorporate or what if we use this material.
00:08:57
Speaker
And yeah, it's just sort of been everything I've ever wanted. Well, I'm so glad I asked about that. And it's, you know, it sounds so fresh too. And I just remember when I was joining Krista full time, there was a lot of things that I thought maybe I would be interested in, you know, regarding the job that I ended up not being interested in at all.
00:09:17
Speaker
And then there being this tension like, okay, well, the plan was for you to do XYZ and you don't like XYZ and, or maybe, you know, some things, you know, like when I came on, it was our wedding photography business and Krista had planned on giving me her editing and I was so slow and not very good at it that she was like, okay, I'm taking this back. We have to figure out something else for you. So it is such a process, you know, it's not as easy as just, you know, having a second set of hands right away that are productive, you know?
00:09:45
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So that is such, you know, one day I'll have to have him on to share his perspective. That would be Oh, my gosh. Yeah, you're off. Well, it's just a question we get often, you know, we have people reach out all the time wondering like, Hey, you know, how is it working as a husband and wife team? What did that transition look like for you? So we'll have to have him on but I don't want to gloss over your story. You would mention that you have a fine arts background. Yes. So how did that fine arts background lead into wedding stationery?
00:10:15
Speaker
Yeah. So let's see. I graduated from college in 2012 with a fine arts degree with a concentration on graphic design. And sort of my college high school dream was that I would work at this like really chic marketing boutique, you know, downtown Ann Arbor, where we're like, we have a loft. And, you know, I think I was just really interested in like the actual studio and feeling, you know, really cool and legit like a, like a, I'm a graphic designer.
00:10:43
Speaker
But right out of college, I kind of immediately got a full time job as a designer, which was huge because I think I still know people that I graduated with who still haven't found full time employment in design. So, you know, right away, I felt super grateful. Like this is incredible. I have a full time job. I have benefits. I have a retirement.
00:11:03
Speaker
But it was at a broker dealer. That's right. Yeah. Still don't really know what a broker dealer is. It was a financial firm and I was working in the basement of an IT department where I was the youngest person. Not exactly that loft that you're imagining. Yeah. Basement. I always call myself solar powered because sunshine makes such a difference for me. And so now looking back, I can tell that this like basement IT
00:11:31
Speaker
atmosphere just you know wasn't my vibe but all day I was just sort of designing logos for like older realtors and doing a newsletter for this financial firm and it was just sort of like I don't know I was only 22 and I had this like midlife crisis where I felt like I was wasting my potential and I was wasting my youth and look at all these other young people doing things that I really want to do and that I could do and
00:11:59
Speaker
In between terrible logos, I was reading a lot of design blogs. Just sort of dipping my toe into the fact that a creative, self-employed industry was a thing that existed, and it was a thing that was actually possible and capable for me. My mom actually has been self-employed since I was 10, and a couple years later, my dad quit his job to join her full-time.
00:12:26
Speaker
that also in the back of my mind was kind of like, this is the path I'm supposed to take because that's what I'd seen really my whole life. That's awesome you had that example. Yeah, that's that's really cool. Because I think a lot of people, you know, they just kind of have to figure it out, you know, they don't have it. It's not even like for me, that wasn't even on the horizon. Like I didn't even and I'm so thankful for Krista and the risks that she was willing to take, because I just would have never taken that risk myself. Yeah, and it's really scary too.
00:12:55
Speaker
And thankfully, you know, oh man, I'm embarrassed to say that I only lasted at that full-time job like a couple of months, literally. It was just so, that was the first time I kind of realized like, oh, okay, I'm depressed in a literal way. I was just, I was so, so unhappy coming home every day and just kind of crying and feeling like this isn't for me. And this was supposed to be for me. And I immediately knew, oh, I actually really hate this on just such a deep level.
00:13:25
Speaker
And thankfully, you know, my parents with their background, I told my mom like, Hey, I really want to quit my job and I want to start my own something. And I know it was design. I didn't have it kind of figured out that I wanted to do stationary
Freelancing and Specializing in Wedding Stationery
00:13:38
Speaker
yet. I just knew that I'm talented. I'm driven. I'm capable of doing this and like, I can make this happen.
00:13:44
Speaker
I don't have it figured out yet, but I can make it happen. And my mom was just like, yes, go for it, girl. You got this. She was incredible. My dad, you know, risk averse was just not, you know, trying to be supportive. Well, especially in, what was that? 2010?
00:14:01
Speaker
2012? 2010, 2012. Even so, not too far after the Great Recession of 2008. And like you, I think I graduated in 2010. And the job market just being really, really tough.
00:14:16
Speaker
Again, friends of mine years later still hadn't found full-time employment in what they had gone to school for because of the result of this recession. I can see as a dad looking, saying, well, you have this great job, salary, benefits, retirement, maybe stick it out. Yup, absolutely. I feel a little bit, I don't know, I know I'm coming from a very privileged place saying like, oh, I hated this, so I quit.
00:14:45
Speaker
And then I figured it out. Not everyone is able to do that and I recognize that. It was just sort of like I was at a time in my life where I was able to do that. I was living in this tiny studio apartment. My bills were not that much, so I was able to do it. And I forgot to mention that while I was at this full-time job, the basement, while I was in the basement, I was working as a contractor
00:15:12
Speaker
like freelance designer for a stationery shop in Ann Arbor called Rock Paper Scissors. And that was such a game changer for me because it was another small business owner who took a chance on me, who saw me as talented and knew that I could do this. Just sort of like reinforcing these sort of things I was trying to tell myself that I could do it. And that is where I kind of first learned about wedding stationery.
00:15:37
Speaker
It's where she would send me jobs and I kind of just learned all of the things that you only learn through the experience of doing it, if that makes sense. Yeah. So it's where I learned, you know, like, okay, an A7 card is five by seven. Here's how we set up files to send to print all that sort of like technical stuff that you just learned through doing it. And I just loved it so much. And even though I was freelancing.
00:16:02
Speaker
And Paper and Honey at that time was a freelance design studio. I'm doing air quotes because I would just kind of design what anyone would pay me for, right? Literally anything. And I kind of knew early on that, okay, this is unsustainable. If I'm just a jack of all trades, I'm not going to be an expert at anything. And I really just wanted to be the go-to pro at something. And working at the stationary shop,
00:16:54
Speaker
really kind of showed me that, okay, I actually really, really love this. Yeah.