Finding The Perfect Time To Start Your Business
You light up when business ideas are tossed around or perhaps when you speak about your passion. So what’s stopping you?
Haylee Watson is the founder of Haylee Watson Studio (HWS), where she creates art prints and stationery items. HWS artwork explores flora, colors, and patterns. “Color is my favorite component to explore and to get inspired by,” Haylee shares.
Similar to many aspiring entrepreneurs, Haylee was waiting for the right timing to start her art business. Inspired by other women-owned businesses, she saw the opportunity to start her company during the pandemic and made the leap.
“I’ve always wanted to start a business that would allow me to share my creativity, something that was a job but didn’t feel like a job,” she said. “I had my daughter right after graduating college and decided to put my entrepreneurial journey on hold for a few years to help take care of my growing family.”
In this blog post, Haylee Watson shares what inspires her and how she continues to grow her art business.
Where do you find creative inspiration for your artwork?
Color is my favorite component to explore and to get inspired by. I find a lot of inspiration in Hawaiʻiʻs flora. We live in a place with such a historic flora scene how can you not get inspired? I get a lot of inspiration from interior design as well. Both the old and the new. I like to look at pictures to see what colors, texture and shapes they use to create space, all these components affect your mood. I always strive to create comforting pieces whether large format like a wall art print or small formats like a greeting card.
Who/what is your biggest motivation to pursue your entrepreneurial goals?
Since graduating College in 2015 I’ve always wanted to start a business that would allow me to share my creativity, something that was a job but didn’t feel like a job. I had my daughter right after graduating college and decided to put my entrepreneurial journey on hold for a few years to help take care of my growing family. It took me a very long time to finally build the courage to take that first leap. When COVID-19 started I had a chance to focus more on my entrepreneurial goals. My biggest motivation for starting my business was the community of Wāhine Hawaiʻi who took initiative to start their own business. They were instrumental in beginning this entrepreneurial journey and continue to inspire me everyday.
How did you continue to strengthen your skills as an artist?
The best thing to strengthen anybody’s artistic skills is to be in and around your community. Building connections is the most important skill. Being in art school was a really great experience because you are constantly surrounded by creative minds. I try to sustain that communal feeling by surrounding myself with friends and family who love to create with different mediums and platforms. Aside from that, YouTube University has been helpful these days with specific expertise. Otherwise, I tend to look back at notes from school and continuously practice those skills.
How do you collaborate with other businesses?
I’ve only collaborated with two other businesses/artists so far and it's been so fun! Collaboration of design is exciting because we get to see what we come up with from our own independent skills. My first collaboration focused on complimentary color palettes with our own floral design while another was a study on a type of flora while exploring both of our styles. You don’t know what you will come up with but you will definitely know when you got the final piece. The process is the product, and the journey is definitely where the fun is.
Where do you plan on taking your business in the next 5 years?
I hope to expand more with my art skills and practice in materials outside of paper/stationary. I’m hoping to move into the interior décor realm.
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