Management Consultants Create Travel-Themed Digital Art

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

One of the most interesting effects of the pandemic economy, something that I think was totally unexpected, at least for many of us, I certainly didn't expect it, is that so many people have been quitting their jobs. So many people have been quitting their jobs and are actually happy about quitting their jobs. Moving on to new roles, in lots of cases, they get competitive offers, they're able to get a better job, and some people are just quitting their jobs for the sake of quitting their jobs. In fact, four million Americans quit their jobs in April, and of course, many more since then and many more all over the world as well. So some media is calling it the great resignation, which I think is an interesting phrase, the great resignation.

I'm doing some writing about this. If you have quit your job for any reason in the past few months, let's say, send a quick note to team@cidestleschool.com. I'd love to know why you quit your job and what has happened since, or at least what you're in the midst of. Very fascinating, as I said. Something totally unpredicted, unexpected.

Meanwhile, in today's Cidestle School story, two friends in Canada create Wonder Colors. Wonder Colors is an online shop offering digital and print-on-demand travel-themed art prints. I'll tell you how they got their idea, how they made it happen, and what the outcome has been, all in this short episode. Management consultants create travel-themed digital art. The story is coming up in just 30 seconds.

When Christine Chen and Emily Liu graduated from university, the two friends both landed jobs in management consulting. These jobs required them to work in a structured and logical manner. However, their shared passion for art left them wanting an outlet where their creative side could flourish. They spent time talking about what it could be. They experimented with freelance graphic design and then selling acrylic paintings and stickers, but nothing stuck.

This went on until COVID lockdowns began, and the duo finally found an idea they were excited about. Because of their restrictions, travel was impossible, and they soon started seeing their friends post throwback photos of faraway adventures. This made them look back at their own photos. The digital albums brought back strong memories, especially since they'd spent four months together in France on a semester abroad. As they laughed and reminisced on FaceTime, they realized that a lot of people were missing travel.

It hit them there might be others who would appreciate digital paintings of inspiring places, perhaps ones that they hoped to visit when they could. Of course, many people decorate their house with landscapes. Emily and Christine thought that their paintings would hold a lot more meaning if they were memories of actual experiences. This belief formed the basis of what would become a travel-themed digital art business called Wander Colors. They started by listing places that were popular among their friends, gathering reference photos, and then proceeding to create digital paintings through the iPad app Procreate.

Both of them had extensive experience in different forms of art, ever since high school, and they'd continued to hone skills such as shading and animation. Furthermore, the Procreate software made it easy to apply these skills because it effectively mimicked drawing on a piece of paper, and the learning curve was gentle. They would then upload these designs on their Shopify site, where customers could purchase. Physical fulfillment could happen through a print-on-demand service called Printful. And although these services charged significant fees, especially Printful, Emily and Christine knew it would allow them to focus on creating art, which was of course the very reason why they were doing this.

They vividly remember the first item they sold, a Hong Kong-themed phone case. Although lockdown restrictions made it impossible to celebrate with the night out, they congratulated each other over a Zoom call, and were excited to continue. They had started off with phone cases, as well as unframed and framed prints, and knew they could add other products down the line, because of course Printful was doing the fulfillment. As they began reaching out to a wider audience, Emily and Christine leveraged different social platforms. They would run Instagram giveaways to reach friends of friends, and spread the word through Facebook groups, such as Subtle Asian Travel and Women Who Freelance, which brought them more followers and sales.

Then, big news, they were discovered by HGTV, a media channel focused on home improvement, and had their artwork showcased on some of their shows. These moments of publicity drove a significant number of sales, and they eventually began experimenting with paid Instagram and Facebook ads as well. Last but not least, they were featured by Buzzfeed as a top Asian-owned brand to support. Naturally, Emily and Christine achieved all of this without quitting their day jobs. Their startup costs were under $2,000, with much of that cost going towards two iPads.

Today, they're averaging $750 a month for the sales of artwork on their site, as well as commission paintings from customers who want something more customized. The real joy comes not only from the additional income, but from knowing that their creations live in the spaces of customers all over the world, whether it's an album cover for a New York-based singer on Spotify, or icon designs for a Montreal-based storage startup. Next, they're looking to partner with nonprofits to support causes such as stopping racial hate and encouraging sustainability. If you would like to take a look at Emily and Christine's shop, just head to wandercolors.com. That would be colors with the U.S. spelling, C-O-L-O-R-S, no U, even though they are Canadian.

wandercolors.com. They're also wandercolorsart on Instagram and wandercolors on Twitter. Of course, I will link up everything mentioned in the episode on our show notes page. That page is, what is it today, sidehustleschool.com/1681, 1681. Thank you so much for tuning in today.

I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope it also gets you thinking about what you might do yourself for your own side hustle or for your next side hustle. Let's say this case study in particular is what we might call a no pressure, no risk venture, or at least a little risk venture. I mean, they bought some iPads, but aside from that, no risk. There are so many things like this.

You could try so many different stories in our archives. You're welcome to borrow from, or of course you might have your own idea as well. Whatever it is I'm cheering you on, I hope you'll come back tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.

from The Onward Project.