I recently had the good fortune of visiting Madelyn Cao’s booth at a local vendor fair. She did such a great job with the esthetics of the booth that I was immediately drawn in. That eye for detail is also evident in her notebooks, which are assembled and stitched together with the same care and attention to detail. Even the paper is of premium quality. As someone who is an avid note-taker and who knowns notebooks, these truly are works of art!

Can you briefly describe what your business does?

I sell journals, notebooks, sketchbooks, and stationaries that are completely handmade. From every single step of the bookbinding process in making a journal to every aesthetic detail of a bookmark’s design, I do everything myself. I make sure to use materials that are visually and tangibly engaging, with bold colors, interesting patterns, and a variety of textures.

My hope is to encourage users to interact with the materials, and even help ground them into their creative spaces. My products are designed to draw people in and inspire creativity.

Where did the idea come from?

Amethyst Atelier was a product of my resilience during a challenging time in my life. To help me grieve and cope with a loss, I taught myself bookbinding. I read a lot of books and watched countless YouTube videos. It was a very therapeutic hobby and I immediately fell in love with it. Before long I couldn’t stop making journals and my hobby became a studio and then the studio became a business.

I started the business because I wanted to inspire others to see the potential for beauty and growth within their own challenges. I believe that creativity is a powerful tool for healing and transformation, and I want to empower individuals to channel their energy into positive outlets: bookbinding, drawing, reading, sketching, writing, and journaling… the possibilities are endless! Through my products, I want to spread a message of hope and encourage others to embrace their own unique journeys.

Can you describe your typical work day?

I am a full-time mom working from home. Initially, I had my own room, but that room is now a baby room so I transformed part of our living room into my work studio. Every night, I organize my workspace into an assembly line of different working stations.

Bookbinding involves a lot of steps that require their own setup, so I set up a small station for each step I plan to do for the following day. That way, whenever I get a chance to work (since my schedule is now determined by my toddler) I can just jump right into it and not waste time. To meet deadlines, I have to be very organized, wise in my time management, and strict with my goals.

I have limited space for product inventory, so I mainly restock bestselling products, and the others are made to order. Since I make my own products I also have to make sure I have enough of all the supplies I need to make them. I do my own bookkeeping, taxes, correspondences, social media marketing, and accounting. It’s a lot of work, and I play a lot of roles, but it’s also fun and rewarding especially when I get customers who really appreciate the things I make.

I always make a prototype of a new product and set it aside for a photoshoot. I think producing great photos is essential in attracting customers to buy from an online store, so I invest a lot of time in taking and editing them.

What would you say is your best-selling item?

People really seem to love my hardcover journal called Granite Thistle. I think because so far it’s the only design in my hardcover collection that is less focused on the visual aspect of the design and is more focused on the tangible aspect. Meaning, less about the colors and the patterns but more about the texture of the cover, the feel of the wavy bookmark inside, and other parts of the journal.

I understand that vibrant colors and intricate patterns are not for everyone, so for the ones who appreciate a simpler design but still want something unique and engaging, Granite Thistle seems to be perfect for them. Actually, I can’t wait to explore and add similar products to the collection, which I plan to do very soon!

My hardcover journals are $35 each. My pricing continues to change based on the cost of materials, cost of sales, and indirect costs. The bulk of my expenses come from maintaining my online store. I have yet to include labor costs in this pricing as I continue to develop my bookbinding skills and find better ways to work efficiently.

What do you think sets your business apart?

Not very many people can say that they’ve made the journals, notebooks, or sketchbooks that they sell. I literally make my products by hand. I print the pages myself, therefore allowing you to custom-choose your own layout (plain, lined, or dotted).

I then fold the pages into signatures, poke holes with an awl, stitch the signatures up into a text block, and add the bookends, the bookmark, the back folder, the headbands (which I also make myself to give me a wider choice of color and design to use), add support to the spine, make the cover using carefully chosen artisan papers, and finally put the cover and the text block together to make the journal. Not very many businesses do it this way because it is time-consuming.

Understandably so, it is much easier and more profitable to design and have it made somewhere else, like from a manufacturer, and then order bulk to sell. However, it requires a lot more patience and hard work to make them yourself, but it also gives me complete control over the design. Having this flexibility allows me to offer more customized options based on people’s needs.

I can guarantee its value because I made it. You can expect everything from Amethyst Atelier to be uniquely, skillfully, and carefully handmade.

How is social media important to your business?

Social media plays a huge role in my small business. It is my main source of communication with my followers and it’s how I generate traffic to my online store. Since I am not selling on Etsy, which has an already established traffic of consumers for vendors, I have to work hard and generate my own leads.

Furthermore, I keep in touch and develop my relationships with craft market coordinators and other small business owners using social media. Basically, without social media, networking would be impossible. I use Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. My Facebook is still in its early stages, but I use Instagram quite often to look for markets, learn from other vendors, and attract customers by displaying my products through posts.

I use both Instagram stories and YouTube videos to show my creative process behind the scenes, provide tutorials on how to make your own journals, and document events in my small business for people to watch. All of my social media accounts are connected to my online store, which I made through Shopify, but they can also be purchased directly from the social media platform.

What are your thoughts about working with computers?

It's more flexible for me to use my phone. It allows me to maximize my work time, I can work wherever and whenever. However, there are some things that are much easier to do using my laptop, like editing longer videos using Filmora on my PC. For shorter videos, I’ve used Vimeo to edit with my phone.

Typically, I mainly use Canva to edit marketing materials like banners, posters, flyers, images for my monthly newsletters, thumbnails, etc. For bigger projects, I use Adobe Photoshop. To minimize expense, I use free apps as much as I can and for Photoshop I am using the Adobe Suite not Cloud with no monthly fees (which is now very rare to find). I use both iCloud and a hard drive to back up my files, but still print important forms, logs, and documents to have physical copies just in case.

What are your thoughts regarding outsourcing work?

I manage my own website and social media and do my own bookkeeping. I have a pretty organized filing system, which makes tax season and keeping track of product and supply inventory much easier.

I do not have an assistant, but sometimes my husband helps me troubleshoot some computer problems if the problem goes beyond my basic technical skills. He actually just introduced me to ChatGPT and I am exploring ways I can integrate it into my workflow and help me save time in content creation.

How do you manage customer retention and Email mailing lists?

Shopify provides a robust commerce website that includes its own email templates and automations. I can request customers for purchase or store reviews, send monthly newsletters, and create custom discounts, all of which help attract more leads.

As I mentioned, all of my social media accounts are connected/synced to my Shopify account, so I can manage and keep track of all my customers on one platform. Before using Shopify I tried Wix and SquareSpace, but Shopify had more benefits to offer in terms of commerce. Especially because I have a wide range of products and variants, Shopify’s features worked better for me.

How do you balance work and personal time?

For self-care, I find some time to create things just for the sake of creating. For example, I try new bookbinding techniques or choose a really old worn-down book from a second-hand bookstore and try to restore it just for fun.

I also take short walks with my family daily and run to exercise and clear my mind. Journaling is also a big part of my life. It helps me streamline my thoughts, brainstorm ideas, regulate or figure out my emotions, and remember important experiences and quotes as I write them down to help encourage me in the future.

What are your thoughts regarding the environment, social issues, and being a partner to the community?

I have a series of vlogs I am planning to release in 2024 showing how you can make a journal using repurposed materials like gift bags, old books, gameboard boxes, etc. In the future, I also want to learn how to make my own paper using paper scraps and integrate them into my products.

Another thing I am looking into is junk journaling, which I don’t think many are aware of, and I would like to get it out there more. My vlogs will definitely play a huge part in all these projects as I plan to document my journey through my explorations.

What is the outlook for the future?

There are so many possibilities in the handmade industry and I am so eager to try different things. I purposely named my business Atelier (which translates to studio or workshop) instead of Bindery because I did not want to limit my creations to bookbinding.

As a visual artist, I love to create things with my hands, this is just the beginning. Right now my main priority is raising my family, so I am taking my time to grow Amethyst Atelier within the next five years. Through outdoor markets and social media, I expect it to grow slowly but surely, and when our kids are a little bit older, I can invest more time and take on more projects and events.

Do you have any final thoughts for my readers?

I think the longevity and success of a small business depends a lot on effective business planning but also on how much you enjoy what you do. If you enjoy it you will keep doing it even through hard times because you have a purpose that will drive you. Also, don’t stop learning because that’s how you will grow. It’s okay to make mistakes but make sure you learn from them. 

To see more items from Amethyst Atelier, make a purchase a notebook, or just reach out to Madelyn:

Email: madz@amethystatelier.com

Website: www.amethystatelier.com

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@amethystatelier.creations

Facebook: /amethystatelier.creations

Instagram: /amethystatelier.creations