Meet Melissa Oesch | Artist and Small Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Melissa Oesch and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Melissa, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Before I began this business, I was working full-time on an organic vegetable farm. I was working alongside and managing other workers in the greenhouse and fields as well as putting together and dropping off the CSA boxes and running a couple of farmer’s market booths most weekends. I worked through November and was going to have several months without work before I could start back up at the farm. I decided to try and sell handmade journals on Etsy for income during the winter. I quickly learned about small art shows and was accustomed to selling that way because of the farmer’s markets. I really enjoyed the quiet act of creating as well as getting to meet customers at the markets and began to wonder if this could be a legit way to make a living. Initially, I considered trying to do both- creating and selling as well as working on the farm. I quickly found that you can only have one full-time job as creating and selling took up the majority of my time that winter. I knew I wouldn’t be able to set aside creating business when the farm got busy and just pick it back up without having to rebuild it. I decided to give this business venture a real try by putting my entire focus and efforts that direction. I took a nanny job part-time for 6 months (4 days nannying and 3 days working my business as well as evenings) as I figured out how to build the business and sell before pursuing it full-time. When I did go full-time, I looked into every revenue stream possible so that I could make it work. I sold retail at art festivals, online, and direct as well as wholesale to galleries and boutiques.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I create handbound journals and sketchbooks and leather bags out of reclaimed leather. I’ve been full-time for 14 years, creating and selling at art festivals all over the region and retailers all over the country as well as online. When I started this business, I really wanted to make it work and wanted it to be sustainable. To me, that meant growing slowly in a way that I could keep up with. The fact that I’ve been able to rely on this for my sole source of income for over a decade is what I am most proud of. I have worked really hard, oftentimes 7 days a week and easily over 12 hour days at many points. For the first few years, I spent a lot of time educating people on what a handbound book was and why it was special and different than what they would find in a store. It took about 5 years to build a really solid foundation by traveling and selling at art shows, connecting with wholesale buyers, and building an online presence for both retail and wholesale. Since then, it has been largely a matter of keeping up with what I started and pivoting when necessary. It has not been easy. There was one fall season where I did 10 weekends in a row of art shows, which involves creating enough inventory beforehand and creating what I can between each show, setting up a tent, display and product on Friday, selling for the weekend, and tearing it all down and driving home on Sunday night. When Etsy kept expanding its reach, my online sales went down considerably. The first thing I did when the shut down happened in March of 2020 was created my own online shop on my website to sell direct instead of through Etsy. Social media has had many challenges as the algorithm is always changing and making it difficult to reach your followers. Also, the internet is just loud and full with so many things pulling on people’s attention. That may be part of why I prefer selling in person and appreciate art shows and being able to connect with people one on one. Figuring out how much to create has also been a challenge. In the early years, I spent most of my time in the studio outside of selling. I basically just made as much as I possibly could and worked really long days. As I kept records of what tended to sell at different shows and stores, I began to have a better idea of what I needed to make and by when. I also added a part-time assistant, Megan Morgan, about 10 years ago who has helped with some aspects of book making as well as other odds and ends over the years. She has been incredibly helpful, hardworking, and flexible. Our work load has ebbed and flowed over the years and she has been really wonderful about taking on extra work when needed and being understanding when the work load gets a little light. Obviously, the pandemic and shut down was incredibly difficult as many of my main sources for income shut down or closed permanently (art shows and galleries/stores). One of the biggest lessons over the years has been to stay agile. There are many times and situations that I’ve had to quickly pivot from, but because this business working completely depends on me, there is not the option to stall out or freeze. I have to keep moving, to keep making, to keep connecting. Knowing that is the only way this will work has helped pull me forward.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend wanted to check out Nashville, I’d convince them to come and help me with the Tennessee Craft Fair. It will be a long weekend and a little different perspective and experience of Nashville. They can plan to come with me either for the spring or fall fair. We will be spending most of our time in Centennial Park near the Parthenon. While I’m working at the show, they can explore Nashville, check out the inside of the Parthenon, or even hang around the park as their is always some kind of fun being had on the Great Lawn as well as plenty of walking to do. The art show itself has about a couple hundred artists from around the region (spring) and country (fall) showcasing fine craft from clay, jewelry and leather to wood, glass, painting and more. It takes place on the Great Lawn adjacent to the Parthenon. We’ll likely be staying with one of my artist friends though we could also stay at the Scarritt Bennett Center, which has a walking labyrinth and the property and builings themselves are interesting. We’ll set-up for the show on Thursday and grab a salad at Radish for something healthy, quick and easy after all that work. Friday, we’ll be at the show by 8am to set-up and open at 10am. It goes until 6pm and then we have to put product away. By the time we leave around 7, we’ll be hungry and ready for some comfort food. I’ll suggest Woodlands Indian Cuisine. We’ll be so hungry that we order too much, but the leftovers will be delicious for lunch the next day. Otherwise during the day, we are eating from food trucks at the art show and what we bring ourselves. Saturday will be a very long day and by that evening, we will want something nourishing and delicious. We’ll head over to Miss Saigon where I will order Pho and hot tea and they can get whatever Vietnamese food they’d like. Sunday is the last day of the art show. The show closes at 4 and then it will take a few hours to break the display and everything down and load up the car. We’ll stay one more night before heading back home. Because we don’t have to work the show the next day, we will go somewhere where we can enjoy good food, drink, and atmosphere. We may go to the Frothy Monkey and have a long, relaxing dinner. Knowing there are so many great restaurants, bars, and music venues, we consider coming back some time when I don’t have to work at the art show, but that is a bit hard to do with my schedule. Besides, the art show is pretty interesting. Not only are there high quality artists from all over, but you get to meet customers from all over the nation and even other parts of the world. The local Nashville people are also really great about supporting artists and small businesses. The whole vibe is pretty wonderful. Also, if you are able to book far enough in advance, you maybe able to score a place in my friend Audry Deal-McEver’s pottery class. She’ll be at the Tennessee Craft Fair as well.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to shoutout to the Kentucky Arts Council. They are one of the reasons I decided to stay in Kentucky once I moved back here and started my business. They are very supportive of artists and care about supporting artists as they grow. Their program, KY Crafted, has been incredibly beneficial for me over the years. It allowed me to participate in a national wholesale show at a discounted price, offers an annual wholesale and retail state art show, has given me multiple free advertising opportunities through radio, magazines and tv interviews, and has such an amazing reputation that I am able to get opportunities other places by saying that I’m one of their artists. I’ve also taken workshops, taught workshops, and have been able to mentor other artists and organizations through them. The people who run it are very dedicated to supporting and promoting KY artists. They care deeply about supporting and creating opportunities of many kinds for artists in KY.

Website: www.reimaginedonline.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/reimaginedbyluna

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Image Credits
Megan Morgan Melissa Oesch Audry Deal-McEver