Notes from Chris

Episode 1991

In 2016, Naa Ardua Flohic was an American expat living in France with her husband and two children. As a legal secretary at an international patent law firm, Naa Ardua was a valuable employee to have on staff. Among other skills, she was fluent in both English and French.

But when Naa Ardua asked to take on more work in order to get a raise, the answer was no. So that door was closed. She knew at that moment that she needed to do something else. She could already do traditional drawing on paper, but she knew digital art was the future.

Naa Ardua began learning to draw on a computer using a free open-source graphics program called Inkscape. It was hard at first, but she practiced every night after she put her kids to bed. An hour of practice would soon flow into two as she gradually developed her skills by watching tutorials, taking lessons, and practicing.

She focused in creating digital art that celebrates the African American community. As her skills improved and she began creating drawings she liked, Naa Ardua posted them on Instagram. People started liking her drawings, so she posted more. After a few months, a man messaged her and wanted to buy a custom illustration of Michele Obama for his t-shirt business that was dedicated to multiculturalism.

But Naa Ardua didn’t know how to invoice the customer for the illustration. He suggested using Etsy, the well-known online seller’s marketplace for handmade and unique items. Using his suggestion, Naa Ardua opened her Etsy shop, created a listing for his custom illustration, and he bought it.

Paper Flo Designs was in business.

Naa Ardua opened her doors in 2017 and has now sold over 10,000 scalable vector graphics or SVG files … which are just digital drawings.

Startup costs were a grand total of $120, which included buying a tablet and the first course she took to learn the graphics program. In 2021 she earned over $24,000, which she hopes to double this year.

Big news: Naa Ardua left her day job in January of this year and now works on her side hustle full time. She’s still figuring out her future plans but is focused on growing traffic to her website and increasing sales.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Naa and her artwork at her website, PaperFloDesigns.com.

SEE ALSO:

• Graphic Designer Paints a Picture Worth $8,000/Month: This designer is the picture of success with a side hustle that draws in a full-time income.
• More Monet, Fewer Problems: Attorney Turns Holiday Prints Into Cash: This Texas attorney has no Magrittes about starting her easy-to-scale side hustle.
• Graphic Designer Learns to Draw Caricatures for $250/Hr: How a graphic designer went from $8 an hour to $250 an hour in her side business. She now earns more than $100,000 working part-time—and she has some great advice that applies to a lot of hustles.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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