Courtesy of Emma Sadler
She settled on custom pet accessories because it was something she personally wanted but couldn’t easily find.
“A lot of what’s out there for keychains or magnets or portraits are all based around designs because they’re more scalable,” said Sadler. “But I had mutts. They’re unique. They have their own personalities. And so that’s kind of how it started: I want a keychain of my dog, but none of these really look like my dog.”
To test whether other people also wanted custom pet portraits and accessories, Sadler applied for a pop-up event in Brooklyn so she could interact with customers and get feedback. She continued doing in-person events around New York and started profiting after the 2023 holiday season, which confirmed that she was onto something.
By the time she was let go from her day job in early 2024, “I was like, it’s now or never. I have these skills, I’ve been building this business, people are interested, I really enjoy this personally as a creative. I have this opportunity where I can go ahead and bet on myself and see what happens,” recalled Sadler. In a worst-case scenario, “it’s not as successful, and I have to fall back on being a bartender or pouring myself back into the job market search.”
In the six months since committing to her small business, Taleology, Sadler has earned more than she anticipated.
“I definitely didn’t think I would be making five figures in my first year,” she said. BI confirmed her five-figure revenue by looking at her Shopify dashboard.
With so much more time to dedicate to the business, she was able to focus on growing her online presence in addition to the pop-up events. TikTok Live, in particular, helped bring in new customers.
“I had a spike of growth thanks to TikTok, but I think now my steady growth is coming from word of mouth and from people genuinely caring about the uniqueness of the craft that I offer, as well as the seamless experience that I provide,” said Sadler, whose typical turnaround time is one week from when a customer places an order. “I know I’m not Amazon and I never will be Amazon, but I do know that there’s a lot of small businesses that can take a very, very long time, especially for something that’s custom.”
Courtesy of Emma Sadler
Her monthly income hasn’t come close to surpassing what she was earning in tech, and she does some freelance work as an email marketing designer and presentation designer, she noted: “Do I think it could eventually one day get to pay my salary? Yes. But as of right now, in the first year, it’s definitely not comparable with that, which is why I do have some part-time jobs to help supplement because I do want to put as much of it back into the business. I don’t want to really pay myself right now if I can avoid it.”
In the meantime, she has peace of mind knowing that her earnings are broadly in her control. She expects fluctuations — the end-of-year holiday season is much busier than January and February, for example — but she doesn’t have to worry about layoffs and her income abruptly halting.
“Building something that’s your own definitely comes with a certain level of contentment — knowing that it’s something, to a degree, that you control,” she said.
Her day-to-day as an entrepreneur looks a lot different than it did as a corporate employee, and she prefers it: “The main difference is the freedom. You’re making your own schedule. I’m not bound by the meetings from 9-to-5 that I have to attend. I get to structure my day how I want.”
That said, there are tasks she has to do as a one-woman operation like social media and admin that, for her, are “not really that fun,” she noted. “But creating and getting to communicate with customers brings me so much fulfillment that it shadows all the other stuff that I have to do as a business owner.”