Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Rees.
Hi Andrea, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I’ve always been very crafty/creative — hence why I chose a career in Graphic Design and received my Bachelor Degree from Ferris State University in 2008. While I was going to school and pursuing my career, I started taking on the occasional freelance design job for friends, family, and local businesses. I would often have customers suggest that I sell my art and services online. I never considered freelancing as a primary career path, so getting up and running online wasn’t a huge priority at the time.
In early 2012, I created a pregnancy countdown paper chain to announce my own pregnancy to my parents — paper chains have always been thing in my family and we used them often to count down to major milestones/events. I received so much positive feedback and requests for other personalized chains that I finally made the decision to open an Etsy shop. Most of my initial products revolved around pregnancy countdowns (posters, chains, flipbooks, etc.) and nursery decor (birth stats and monogrammed posters.) Over the past decade, my personalized paper goods product line has added deployment countdown chains, school memory scrapbooks, holiday cards, bookmarks, invitations, baby shower games, etc.
In 2017, my mom Vicky Zylstra, a talented seamstress, started developing new products for the shop and officially became my business partner. We both had been wearing Fitbits for several months and were frustrated by the step counting inaccuracy — I wasn’t tracking any steps during my spin classes while she was hitting 10k steps by simply pushing fabric through her sewing machine when working on her quilts. The unique ankle bands she had initially made just for the two of us quickly turned into our top-selling Etsy product and are now offered in over 250 fabrics, 6 standard sizes, and can fit any tracking device.
While manning a booth at a local craft show years ago, my mom and I were chatting about how she used to sell terry cloth towel bibs at the same craft show back in the late 80s/early 90s. In addition to the craft show scene, she’s been making towel bibs for little kids, the elderly, and disabled on a personal level for the last several decades. The conversation quickly turned into plans to “relaunch” that product line on our Etsy page. The spare bathroom in my basement became a mini showroom of racks full of bibs and we currently offer over 300 bibs/shirt coverings for babies, toddlers, and adults.
I love how my Etsy shop gives me the personal creative freedom that is sometimes not available in my corporate graphic design career. I enjoy offering customers both personalized products as well as giving them the opportunity to request customized designs. While my mom manages the production of two of our product lines, I focus on the marketing and distribution of the ankle bands and bibs in addition to my design products. Our Etsy shop/freelancing has offered amazing quality time with my mom and it has certainly been an endeavor we enjoy tackling together.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We ran into a minor bump in the road during COVID when some of our top-selling ankle band fabrics became unavailable. Luckily, we were able to find replacements for most of them over time, but there were a lot of unsuccessful trips to the fabric store for a while.
Our biggest challenge that we have faced for years (and seems to be only getting worse) is shipping. The number of packages that go missing or are delivered to the wrong address (state even) is just mind-blowing. We do our absolute best to keep prices low and turnaround times fast, so it’s incredibly frustrating to have to resend products numerous times and have to eat that cost as a small business. We have greatly appreciated the patience and understanding from most of our customers.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I worked as a Project Manager/Graphic Designer for Zeeland-based Gentex Corporation for 11.5 years and recently made the change to a remote Senior Graphic Designer position for Bestpass that is based out of Albany, NY. My primary responsibilities include maintaining and evolving the company brand, developing both internal- and external-facing graphics, and communicating a consistent message across all platforms. I love my work in the corporate realm — the freedoms with working for a small team and the challenges of positioning manufacturing- and tolling-based companies at technology leaders.
During my time at Gentex, I received several American Graphic Design Awards for both Annual Reports and Brochures & Collateral. The multi-page print projects are my personal favorite. I love working with large amount of type — it reminds me of my love for puzzles when trying to make everything fit within a given space.
Behance portfolio: www.behance.net/andrearees
We’d love to hear about what you think about risk-taking?
I definitely wouldn’t consider myself a risk-taker — I tend to overthink most decisions and play it safe. The closest example of risk-taking I can think of that pertains to my Etsy shop/freelancing business was launching our towel bib line of products. We knew they sold well in the 80s and 90s, but there were no guarantees they’d still be a popular feeding accessory, especially with all of the silicone options nowadays. Investing in all of those towels was definitely a gamble, but we’re thrilled to see steady success, especially in the adult bib sizes.
Pricing:
- $19 — step tracker ankle bands
- $7 – $16 — towel bibs (babies, toddlers, and adults)
- $20 – $50 — school memory scrapbooks (digital or printed)
- $12 – $25 — pregnancy countdown/announcement posters
- $15 — pregnancy, deployment, and other paper chain countdowns
Contact Info:
- Website: www.andreareesdesign.etsy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrea.rees.design
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrea.arch/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreareesdsgn
- Other: https://www.behance.net/andrearees
Image Credits
Trisha Marie Photography
