Episode 1: Changing Directions with Ali Hooten of Coit Creative
Ali Hooten started as an architect and became a full-time working artist in the summer of 2021. She played with different income streams such as art licensing, wholesale, Etsy, POD, and client commissions. After a year of running her business, she intentionally started to reflect on and reassess her different revenue streams in the spring of 2022.
During her time of reflection, she looked at what revenue streams were working, which ones she would continue, and why she wanted to continue in them. She came to the conclusion that she wanted her revenue streams to match her ideal lifestyle in the future. This meant not creating physical products anymore, working toward having a zero-inventory business model, and releasing herself from selling wholesale.
This was a decision that Ali did not take lightly. She looked at the data, evaluated what it would take for certain revenue streams to grow, and how she felt when working in each revenue stream. She commented on how it was also dangerous to compare yourself to other businesses because not everything someone else is doing in their business is something you need to be doing in order to be successful.
A big shift in Ali’s mindset was that just because she was going to stop doing something didn't mean that she had failed. Eliminating her financial fears was also something that she moved past to ultimately decide on her change of direction to focus solely on licensing and POD.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
It is important to evaluate and reassess what is working in our businesses. This allows us to see if what we are doing is what we want long-term for our lives
We have control over our decisions in our businesses and we are allowed to pivot and make changes
There may be times that we have seasons in our businesses that don’t last forever
It’s ok to experiment and see what works
Just because you have stopped doing something doesn’t mean it failed
Having a community can be key to making decisions and not feeling alone
Ali is an illustrator, surface pattern designer & educator based in Colorado, USA. She is known for her earthy & minimal design style that is often inspired by the wild places & adventures in her daily life. Ali also teaches other creatives with online courses on Skillshare and her own platform. You can find her at coitcreative.com and on Instagram @coitcreative.
