This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
If you want to trademark your product name or your design, how do you go about doing it? And in fact, should you do it in the first place? Is it worth it? Should you do it yourself? Should you hire a professional?
And so on. Well, I hear these kinds of questions a lot. And first of all, I'm not a lawyer, so I don't give actual legal advice. You can only talk about my experience and the experience of our community. And the bottom line is, not just because of that disclaimer, but just in reality, it's complicated.
The trademark process takes a lot of time and is also not cheap. So if you are deterred for either of those reasons, which is totally understandable, at least for lots of people and lots of products, you might want to just not worry about it. There's some other ways you can protect yourself. And in the end, people who want to steal are going to steal anyway. But of course, as we have seen in some episodes, it can be worth it for the right product, the right person, et cetera.
So we're gonna talk about that today in the context of a story called Hand Lettering Artist upgrades cheesy photo booth props. Now the illustrator in today's story did go down that road of trademarking. I'll tell you why and also pass on some advice for anybody else in a similar position. These upgraded photo booth props bring in a healthy profit. And she's going all in, focusing on building out the business this year.
So it's something we can all smile about. That story coming right up. [Music]
Approximately four years ago, Doris Way was helping her sister plan for a big event, a big life event, also known as a big day, also known as a wedding. Somewhere in between reviewing swatches and floral arrangements, they transitioned into discussing the props for the photo booth. But as they poured through what was available, Doris realized that the props left a little something to be desired.
They were flimsy at best and the designs themselves bordered on tacky, which was far too much for her creative soul to bear. As a full-time hand lettering artist in Toronto, Ontario, Doris was determined to do better. She grabbed a pencil and some craft card paper and got to work. She kept the top hats, mustaches, and bow ties, but put a more modern spin on them. A couple pops of color and some glued on sticks later, and she had a set of props that were picture perfect.
In their final state, they were also completely different from anything she'd ever seen. Those upgraded props were a big hit at the wedding and Doris discovered they could be useful in other ways too. She's always been a card person, someone who gives a lot of cards out, and no matter the occasion, she firmly believed that no present would be complete without the perfect card. Following her sister's wedding, traditional cards started to take a back seat. Instead of picking up a card at the store or even making a traditional card herself, Doris started making these props instead.
She could still write her sentiments and well wishes on the back and use them to decorate the present she was giving. The recipient could also turn around and use them for selfies to commemorate the occasion. Who needs a photo booth when everyone is walking around with a camera phone? Since most of her hand lettering work was custom made and commission-based, Doris was essentially trading time for money. While she could still do custom orders for her prop cards, she realized she could create a tried and true lineup of products.
She could design these products once and then sell them en masse. This could be her retirement plan, she thought, or at least a side hustle. But first, she needed a good name. When a domain search for posecards.ca came up as available, she knew she had found the perfect match. So let's talk about how she did it.
Although she knew she would eventually want to produce these in a grander scale down the road, it was also important for her to keep her costs as low as possible. She wanted to test out the market and make sure that she had a product worth investing in. So to achieve this, she created all of her designs by hand. Most of her sketches and designs start off on paper with a pencil. She then photographs it with her iPad, brings it up with Procreate, which creates a digital version of her drawing, and then sends it to Adobe Illustrator.
From that digital file, she prints it onto craft card paper, cuts it out, and colors it by hand. Doing it like this allowed her to create her designs in small batches and save herself from having to place a large order with a printer. Although she did end up purchasing that domain, posecards.ca, she opted to start out on Etsy. And Doris did this for a couple of reasons. Number one, it provided her with a large, craft-friendly marketplace that would gravitate towards her product.
And number two, if posecards wasn't a smashing success, it meant that she didn't have to worry about investing money into whipping up a site. When it came to pricing, with her long history as an avid card purchaser, she knew that a card from Hallmark or Papyrus can range anywhere from five to $12. The real artisan ones assembled by hand could put you out even more. And Doris wasn't just hustling greeting cards, these greeting cards were super cute photo ops as well. People are prone to putting greeting cards away and not looking at them again.
But because posecards are more of a prop, she felt they wouldn't get tossed aside like your run-of-the-mill greeting card. But she also didn't want to price it too high, so after a bit of deliberation, she decided that $8 felt about right. Sales started to trickle in, and they trickled in pretty slowly. Her commission work kept her busy, and she didn't have a lot of bandwidth to dedicate as much time as she'd like to posecards. But it was a start, and before she went too far in, she decided to trademark her idea.
And this is something that can take a while. One reason why she held off so long to bring posecards into the world, or at least actively market them, was because she was waiting for the US trademark to go through. She had the Canadian trademark for a while, but it took longer to get posecards trademarked in the States. And she decided to do this for a couple reasons. First of all, the name posecards, you know, you pose with your card slash photo prop, was such a great name for the product itself, she felt strongly about needing to protect it.
And then also she wanted to protect her design because the design itself was also unique. She knew that there was a possibility that someone would want to copy the concept itself, even if they chose a different name. So for both Canada and the States, she tried to trademark things herself at first, and Canada, you can do an online trademarking process. She thought she was fully approved, but later on, she got a notice saying that they were confused about what the product would be used for. So there's a lesson here.
In the end, you could dedicate a ton of time trying to figure this out and still not be properly protected. Short version is don't DIY your trademark process. It's expensive and time consuming. I think in her case, it costs about $8,000, but if it's important to you, it's better to let the professionals deal with it. Thankfully, that's now done.
And this is the year that she's focusing her efforts on growing posecards. It's also the first year she's had a legit website for it as well, because even after she got that domain, all of her initial sales have been on Etsy until now. She now has 200 designs and has sold over 5,000 pose cards in total, earning $30,000. Her camera-ready creations have even been spotted at New York Fashion Week and the NBA All-Stars Game. It's an upgraded photo op that she helps to ride beyond the booth.
[Music]
Okay, so there you have it. Trademarks can be expensive. They can take a long time. And for the right product, the right person and the right goal, et cetera, it can be worth it. But only when you feel you truly have a unique product, something that hasn't been done before, something that you are genuinely worried that other people will come along and copy.
But of course, for a lot of people, there are a lot more benefits in getting your product out to the world sooner. So pros and cons to everything, but also don't DIY it. If you are going to explore the world of trademarks, then get some real counsel, like some actual counsel from a real trademark attorney. Okay, so I was looking at these notes that Whitney, our content manager, took regarding her conversations with Doris. And I thought this part was interesting.
We always ask people about challenges, what's tough, what have been the obstacles or hurdles. And for Doris, she says that the only major problem she's come up against, besides the long wait for the trademark, is that she has to constantly explain to people what postcards is, or what postcards are, I guess you could say. Postcards the brand, postcards the product. When most people see them, they automatically think of them as photo booth props. And she has to go and explain if this is more than just a photo booth prop.
So her goal is to take the booth out of photo booths, because as she said, we all have camera phones in our pockets. These are photo props for everyday life and occasions that we celebrate. Why wait until a photo booth is around? So that makes sense, but it is challenging to have to explain that. You ideally want a concept that you can get in, one sentence, really quick, really simple, oh, here's how it works.
In fact, even better than that, you want somebody to just pick it up if it's in a stationary store or wherever, and automatically understand. So I can see how that would be a challenge, but it is a great name. And the visuals on these are so nice. You should come and take a look at them on the show notes page. I can really picture them being in all kinds of stores, not just stationary stores or greeting card stores, but in all kinds of other stores that have gift items.
So I will look forward to seeing them when I'm in Toronto next, if not sooner, but perhaps somewhere else around North America or elsewhere. All right, my friends, I hope you enjoyed this episode. As always, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. Today's show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/795. In addition to Doris' site, I'll include links to everything else I mentioned.
And I will be back again tomorrow with another story, another episode. I hope you'll join me. Episodes are free. They come out every single day. Much more is on the way.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
