Welcome to the CHALK BOSS BLOG
So this has been a long time coming.... about 3 years now! BUT I'm super excited to put out my first blog post & tell you a little bit more about how I started Chalk Boss. I want to put the disclaimer out there right now..... I am not an English major or wiz in that category, so bear with me! I hear that the more you do blogs... the better you become at the writing part. I guess time will tell! :)
Here we go.....I get asked all the time how I got started & what type of art degree or background I have. So here's the full story... a little added details that I never really go into depth about with everyone....here’s the scoop!
I was always creating art or scrap booking growing up. In fact, my mom still has some of my artwork from 1st grade all the way up to my senior year framed & hanging in the home I grew up in, out in good old Shelton, WA. I can remember writing notes to my girlfriends in school, and I always stylized my writing.... So you could say I have been doing this for about 20 years now! Who knew hand-letting would become a "thing".
Cut to after High School, I moved up to Bellevue, WA & enrolled in Bellevue College to study Interior Design. I graduated in 2009 & started working for a company we all probably know.... Ethan Allen. It was great, but after 3 years I needed a change/challenge in my life. So I made the decision to go back to school & get my Bachelor’s degree. To say the year 2012 to 2013 was a challenge, would be an understatement. It was intense, a nightmare sometimes, overwhelming & of course sleep deprived! But I did it!
While putting myself through school, I worked for a cafe in Bellevue making coffee. So Seattle of me! My boss told me that she hired someone a couple years ago to create the chalkboard menus displayed there & I thought.... I CAN TOTALLY DO THAT!!
So I did!!!! I started gradually making signs for family & friends while I was working for a design company in Seattle. In January 2015 is when I started Chalk boss full time, converted my extra bedroom into an office, created an Instagram account.... and the rest is basically how I got to here.
So that's it! Nothing fancy, but I realize now that as much as I loved Interior Design (and a part of my still does) I feel really lucky that I have created a career for myself that I wake up daily excited about. How cool is that?!? My business journey thus far has had its ups & downs, but I wouldn't change a thing about how I got here!
Here's a little throwback to some of my first chalkboards officially as Chalk Boss. It's totally true.... practice makes perfect.......or almost!
My first chalkboard made! #embarrassed
This was my very first wedding "show". I found a listing on craigslist that was looking to showcase vendors at their property out in Monroe, WA. Sooooo.....I created some pieces, stood with my hubby in about 100 degree weather that day, and sold myself to about 5 brides!!
Hope you all enjoyed a little inside scoop to how Chalk Boss started. I'm excited to share even more about myself, probably some stuff about my husband, travels & dog...... and of course more from Chalk Boss.
XOXO,
Katie
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