Ep. 40: How Taylor Paladino Turned Watercolor into a 7-Figure Art Brand

Summary

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Art + Audience, Ep. 40

How Taylor Paladino Turned Watercolor into a 7-Figure Art Brand
Host: Stacie Bloomfield
Guest: Taylor Paladino
Date: March 3, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode features artist and entrepreneur Taylor Paladino, who tells the story of how he transformed his watercolor hobby into a multi-million dollar art brand. Paladino shares actionable insights into building an art business from the ground up—including the power of farmers’ markets, the importance of in-person connections, managing product creation at scale, and the ever-evolving balance between creativity and operations. The discussion is candid, revealing both challenges and wins in the journey from side hustle to seven figures.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Origin Story & Business Structure

[02:14–05:27]

• Taylor is based in Dallas, Texas, and started by selling watercolor greeting cards at local farmers’ markets during a gap year from Stanford (where he studied public policy).
• Everything begins as a watercolor on paper, gets scanned, and is applied to diverse products: cards, notepads, frosted cups, tea towels, custom ornaments, etc.
• Early collaborations (notably with Oh My Mahjong and The Container Store) helped put Paladino on the map.
• The Container Store partnership began after a buyer noticed his products at the Dallas farmers’ market.

Quote:
"We put my greeting cards out at the Farmer’s Market... If you can’t grab them and, like, get them, you’re not going to sell anything." — Taylor Paladino [04:04]

2. The Power of In-Person Markets

[05:47–08:15]

• Selling in-person was essential for learning to talk about his work, gauge customer reactions, and determine what sells.
• Most customers were friendly, but he notes the importance of developing a “tough skin” for inevitable odd or negative feedback.
• In-person events provide critical market research and customer loyalty.
• Stacie agrees that markets give insights online metrics can’t.

Quote:
"It really forced me to learn how to talk about my art, learn how to sell the art... Most important part of starting my business by far was doing the farmer’s market." — Taylor [05:08]

3. Retail vs. Wholesale Income Streams

[09:02–11:42]

• Taylor splits his business into:
  • Wholesale (selling to 1,000+ boutiques, large accounts like Dillard’s and The Container Store, via catalogs and trade shows)
  • Retail (direct-to-consumer online, markets, and shows, with Christmas markets being especially profitable)
• Wholesale is consistent but lower margin; retail (especially holiday shows like Houston’s Nutcracker Market) is high energy and generates significant profits in a short window.

Quote:
"In that five days, I do a tenth of my business. It’s a sprint... it’s just incredible." — Taylor [11:24]

4. Product Management, Team & Manufacturing

[12:29–19:03]

• The brand now features ~800 unique designs, spread across 6,500 SKUs.
• All inventory is managed via Shopify, which Taylor recommends for scalability.
• Team: Started solo, now assisted by his godfather (advisor and early investor), an office manager, retirees sourced from the Senior Source nonprofit (mainly former teachers), and specialists in digital marketing and printing.
• Unique approach: In-house printing using commercial presses (a skillset and network inherited from his godparents’ paper business), letting him maintain low inventory and high design variety.
• Some items (like drinkware) are still outsourced due to equipment costs.

Quote:
"If anybody wants the pump jack I painted in 2019, they can have it... Each one of those products comes in multiple different designs, so it kind of multiplies pretty quickly." — Taylor [12:51]

"We lease the equipment... but you’re not stocking inventory. And that’s the key." — Taylor [18:21]

5. Growth Trajectory & Financial Transparency

[19:35–20:36]

• First year at the farmers’ market: ~$40,000 sales
• Now: “Well over a million,” projected $2–3 million annual revenue depending on year.
• Most profits come from retail markets rather than wholesale.
• Advice: Start with retail and markets to build audience, then expand to wholesale for scale.

Quote:
"Now we’re well over a million, looking closer to two or three this year, depending on how things go." — Taylor [19:39]

6. Knowing Your Audience

[21:53–23:23]

• Core customers:
  1. The “lady who lunches”—affluent, seeking unique, custom items.
  2. “Regular ladies”—teachers, art lovers, buyers of cards, notepads, etc.
• The brand’s demographic is overwhelmingly women, with men primarily buying as gifts.

Quote:
"The lady who lunches, who does not mind dropping $500 on a mahjong tile set... And they like things that are unique and custom." — Taylor [21:57]

"For those who haven’t seen my stuff, it’s a lot of, like, champagne bottles and dogs playing mahjong and stuff like that." — Taylor [23:06]

7. Managing Creative Output

[23:32–27:32]

• Taylor spends only about 10% of his time painting; the rest is running the business.
• Designs are released every six months in concentrated, high-pressure marathons (producing 60–100 paintings in two weeks).
• He admits this creative process is “horrible for your mental health” and aims to manage creative work more sustainably.
• Wishes for more personal art time, not just commercial output.

Quote:
"The amount of time I actually get to paint is significantly less than what people think...I just have to hold myself up and crank these things out...and that is horrible. Horrible for your mental health, horrible for everything." — Taylor [23:44, also repeated near [00:30]]

8. Dreams & What’s Next

[27:32–30:49]

• Dream collaboration: Designing a scarf for Hermès.
• Five-year vision: Larger scale, bigger retail network, stronger social media presence, and—critically—delegation of operations so he can focus on creativity over logistics.

Quote:
"I want to design a scarf for Hermès. Like, that’s what I want to do. That would be, like, the crown achievement of my career. I’d pack up and go home if that happened." — Taylor [27:41]

"What I’d really like is to get to the point where...I am very much like creative director and not creative director, operations director, fulfillment director, sales director." — Taylor [28:54]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On selling at markets:
  “Putting yourself out there, you’re gonna do great. Most people are gonna love it.” — Taylor [07:56]

• On managing growth:
  “You have to fall in love with what you’re doing because it is a hard road to build your own business.” — Stacie [11:54]

• On process pain:
  “Now that we’re on Longhorn number 12, it’s starting to get a little painful to keep painting the little longhorn and making it different each time.” — Taylor [25:34]

• Advice for emerging artists:
  “Start in retail...get out in front of people and then be selling at retail prices...then once you have the scale, then go into wholesale.” — Taylor [20:00]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:14–05:27] — From college to farmers’ markets to wholesale deals
• [05:47–08:15] — The importance of in-person market testing
• [09:02–11:42] — Wholesale/retail breakdown, Nutcracker Market success
• [12:29–13:40] — Managing SKUs and inventory
• [14:05–15:47] — Team building and community hiring
• [16:13–19:03] — In-house production: why/how
• [19:35–20:36] — Sales evolution, starting retail vs. wholesale
• [21:53–23:23] — Customer demographics
• [23:32–27:32] — Balancing creative work and business
• [27:32–28:36] — Dream collaboration
• [28:46–30:49] — Five-year vision, scaling operations

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Conclusion

Taylor Paladino’s journey demonstrates the critical value of starting small, learning directly from customers, and adapting the art business model with a mix of retail, wholesale, and personal branding. He’s candid about the pressures of scaling, the challenge of balancing creativity and operations, and the ongoing pursuit of both profitability and passion. For artists and creative entrepreneurs alike, his story offers practical insights and inspiring takeaways.

Find Taylor online: TaylorPaladino.com and @TaylorPaladino (Instagram)

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[C]

Every style, every home.

[B]

The amount of time I actually get to paint is significantly less than what people think. Things tend to focus around our wholesale releases. It's usually somewhere between 50 and 100 designs. If I was smart, I would be doing this over the months leading up to this. But usually what happens is it'll be like two or three weeks before my catalog is due and I just have to hold myself up and, and just crank these things out and I'll crank out like 60 to 100 paintings in like two weeks. And that is horrible.

[C]

Wouldn't it be nice if your art business loved you back? Hi, I'm Stacey Bloomfield. After years of trial and error and late night doodling, I went from being

[D]

a coffee shop manager to running a

[C]

vibrant seven figure art business that I love. And now I'm on a mission to help more artists create an art business that they love. Love too. So I invite you to find a cozy spot, pull out your favorite sketchbook and listen in.

[D]

It's never too late to chase your creative dreams.

[C]

Welcome to the Art Plus Audience podcast. Hi Taylor, it's so good to meet you. I'm Stacy. Thanks for being on the art Audience podcast.

[B]

Thank you so much for having me. So nice to meet you, man.

[C]

I am loving everything in your online store. I was scoping it out a little bit ago, the mahjong tile sets, which I have questions about all the cards and the Christmas items. You know Madison, who is on this podcast, is the one who told us about you and said that you are the king of Christmas. That Gayle King has featured you on her Oprah Daily segment. You've done like the Junior League shows, Nutcracker Market, Jackson, Mississippi's Mistletoe Market, everything. And then you do these custom ornaments. This is an incredible operation. Where are you based out of?

[B]

So I'm here in Dallas, Texas. You know, everything is my watercolor paintings on paper and then I'll scan them into my computer and then we put them on all sorts of products. So everything from paper products like greeting cards and Notepads to home products like frosted cups and tea towels. And then we've started doing fun collaborations. You mentioned the mahjong tiles and ornaments and all kinds of other just fun things. Pretty much any vessel to share my art, I will give it a go.

[C]

I love that. And you said a collaboration with the mahjong tiles. Who's the collaboration with?

[B]

So the collaboration was with oh My Mahjong. Oh, My Mahjong is one of the two really, really big mahjong brands. Both happen to actually be here in Dallas. And so that kind of worked out well for me that I happened to be friends with Megan, who owns oh My Mahjong. It's about a year old at this point, and it was a year about from when we first started talking about it to when the tiles actually launched. You know, everybody has fallen for the mahjong craze. And so those mahjong tabs really put me on the map in a lot of ways.

[C]

Oh my goodness. I mean, even made it to northwest Arkansas. I was in a coffee shop two weeks ago and there was a mahjong party happening in the middle of the day and I was like, this is wild. So of course, that's an incredible collaboration. And you've collaborated, it looks like, with the Container Store too, right?

[B]

Yes, yes. I have a pretty large wholesale operation. So for all of my little products that you can find them in over a thousand boutiques around the country. We've worked with the Container Store and Dillard's and some supermarket chains. And of course we're always looking to grow. But with the Container Store, the fun story about them, they're also a Dallas based company. So when I first started my business, I took greeting cards out to the farmers market in downtown Dallas. I took a year off of college and that's what I did during COVID and the Buyer at the time for the holiday segment. You know, the holiday shop that the Container Store puts up actually found me at the Farmer's Market, which is just.

[C]

That's such a.

[B]

So coincidental. And yeah, and so we've been working with them for the last five years at this point. And so we do gift wrap and all kinds of like holiday themed stuff for them every year, which is a super fun project.

[C]

So Taylor, you mentioned this was a Covid project, so let's back it up a little bit. Before 2020, you were a college student. What were you studying?

[B]

Yeah, so I was studying public policy at Stanford. I'm quite the nerd. You know, I always kind of paint it as a little, you know, way to relax, a side hustle kind of thing. And during the first few years of college, we had a couple boutiques in Dallas that, you know, we were, like, friends with the owners, and we'd put some little greeting cards in their stores. But then during COVID I certainly wasn't going to do online school, and I took my greeting cards out to the farmer's market in downtown Dallas, and I did that every weekend for a year. I would say rain or shine, but paper doesn't do well if it's raining, so it was really only shine. But it really forced me to learn how to talk about my art, learn how to sell the art. You know, if you have a little table at a farmer's market, people are walking by, and if you can't grab them and, like, get them, you're not going to sell anything.

[C]

I know, right?

[B]

Yeah. And I'm a terribly introverted person. And so it really forced me to, like, get over that hump. And, yeah, I would say, like, it's the most important part of starting my business by far was doing the farmer's market.

[C]

You know, I. I agree with you. In person markets, if you have the ability to get in front of people with your products, first of all, you're not fighting with everyone online for attention in the beginning. You can vet and see what people are actually interested in, what people are stopping and going, oh, I love that. And it will inform you and help you make far fewer mistakes if you can start out in person.

[B]

So.

[C]

So I'm super impressed that you committed for a year. A lot of people don't have that stamina. Did you sell out your first farmer's market?

[B]

Absolutely not. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's very much. The farmer's market was one of those things where I would bring. I'd get up at like 5am every morning. I'd have packed the night before, and sometimes it felt slow. I'd pack that morning. But, you know, I'd bring two of everything. You know, two boxes of greeting cards of this design. And we'd probably have 30 different things that I would bring out. It was really funny because after the first month or so, you really caught an understanding for what people actually wanted to see. You know, nobody was buying the ugly little roses, but everybody was buying the golden retriever. And so you just really got an understanding of what people actually wanted to see. And like I said, it forced me to talk about it, which. Getting out of your comfort zone. And like, people have the most odd questions. But those questions might be really insightful if you think about. That was the best part. I will say, of course, it's a lot of work. It's a lot more work than just, you know, posting on Instagram. But if you don't have an audience yet. Yeah, like, it's how you get an audience. You can post outrageous stuff on social media and, like, maybe something will happen or you can just get out there. And so I really think that even to this day, you know, five years later, I'll do Christmas shows around dfw and people will come up to me and be like, I met you at the farmer's market. And so it's really sweet.

[C]

Yeah, I love that. I would have really asked you weird questions. What's the weirdest question you've been asked at the farmer's market?

[B]

I would say the ones that are, you know, and this is just human psychology, the ones that, like, I remember the most are the ones that are the most unpleasant. And that is one thing. You just have to be willing to have a tough skin sometimes, you know, because often, especially when you're with the general public, you never know what's going to come out of their mouths. And like, the thing is, 99.9% of people are awesome and so complimentary and sweet. And of course, you get the 0.1% who are just like, you know, shooshu, get out. Then you just have to. You just have to be okay with that. So, yeah, every now and then you get the odd remark. But again, what are you going to do?

[C]

Share your work. Whether it's on products original, you have to be vulnerable.

[B]

Yes, you do. And it is being vulnerable. It's something that you spend a lot of time on. And so when somebody, even if they're just not thrilled about it, and sometimes that hurts, you know, because I want everybody to be thrilled. But I would say in general, you know, putting yourself out there, you're gonna do great. Most people are gonna love it.

[C]

You've been at this now for five years. And it's weird because I feel like cycles are going faster and faster. I feel like there's been a huge shift this year to going back to shopping in stores. Fortunately, your products are in lots of stores. You're still doing markets. Heck, I'm thinking about doing a market this Christmas, too, for gingerbread. I haven't done one in a few years either, but there is a huge, intense craving for one. Being together and to getting to touch and feel things, creating together, shopping together. And I'm happy for that because like, I have a lot of wholesale clients too. So seeing maybe a positive move from like, I guess it's a really, it's a horrible time right now in America. Like, it's really, really difficult.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And people are sort of like retreating from their phones more and more and, and engaging a little bit in real

[B]

life, which is not a bad thing.

[C]

Not a bad thing. In fact, where would we be if we had never gone this deep? Alas, my business has been benefited from online sales, but I'm a huge believer in having multiple income streams because things do shift. So what income streams do you have?

[B]

Yeah, so I kind of look at my business in two ways. One is the wholesale business, which we do trade shows and gift markets and things like that. And that's where we're selling to little boutiques, mom and pop shops, but then also kind of the, the larger accounts, Dillard's and the Container Store and stuff like that. So that's, honest to God, where I spend most of my time because it is a lot of work. Like I have a, I have a catalog and this catalog, you know, it's 100 pages long and you know, every item has to have a barcode and that's where I spend a lot of my time. At the same time, it's, it's a volume business, so you're not making as much per product. So it's a lot of work. But it's really nice to have your stuff in stores. And it's pretty consistent too. Right. You know that every six months it's going to be the trade show season and you're going to get like money in the door. And I would suggest people also look at like fair. Fair is like an online wholesale platform. That's also a great like consistency thing. I think you're always going to get better orders from meeting the store owners and in person and being able to talk about them and get them excited rather than someone just coming online and just buying what they want. So that's, that's wholesale and then the other side of the business is retail and that's in kind of two places. One is of course online and then the other person is all the in person stuff I do online is where I probably struggle the most and have the most room to grow. It is personally a challenge to like keep up with making sure everything's on the website and you know, all that's really hard. But in person is where I think we really thrive. So, so we do Christmas markets like you mentioned earlier. And you know, these are often run by junior leagues and the cities, so we'll do one in Fort Worth. But the Junior League of Fort Worth has a great show. The kind of super bowl of these Christmas markets is a market in Houston called the Nutcracker Market. The Nutcracker Market is put on by the Ballet of Houston and they run probably a hundred thousand people come through this thing, you know, over the course of five days. And the ladies at the Nutcracker Market are very nice to me. And I'm at the front door, which works out quite well for me. And in that five days, I do a tenth of my business. It's a sprint and. But it's just incredible. And like I said, getting in front of people, like, that's probably the funnest part of what I do. Like, I love nothing more than getting to like meet people and see what they like and what brings them joy in my booth.

[C]

You know, Taylor, you probably are a little bit like, we have this in common because people think I'm very extroverted, but really it's only when I'm talking about my business. Yes, when I'm talking about my business, I'm like, I can talk all day to you about anything, but if you were to put me in a room with people who really love cars, I'd be like, I'm gonna go put my head in the corner. You know, I'm not gonna be. Because it's just whenever you love what you're doing, the passion comes through and like you have to fall in love with what you're doing because it is a hard road to build your own business. It seems like for you, once you found proof of concept, farmers markets, you committed to it, you just took off from there. Like you said, you have a hundred page catalog. How many SKUs do you have currently? It can be a guess.

[B]

It's about 6,500 or so. It's really hard. So for context, you know, most designs come in a notepad and a list size notepad and a greeting card and a box set of greeting cards. You know, so I've got about. I think we're in the 750, no, eight hundreds in terms of the number of designs I sell. Yeah, you know, some of those have been quietly pulled down and stuff like that. But of course, we do all the manufacturing ourselves. So if anybody wants the pump jack I painted and 2019, they can have it. But each one of those products comes in multiple different designs. So it kind of multiplies pretty Quickly. And I would say that's the one thing I struggle with the most personally is just the data management behind it.

[C]

We've been through that. So we've gone from inventory management system to inventory management system, trying to keep up with everything. And we found something that we really like. So we should chat later. What are you using for inventory management right now?

[B]

Everything's in Shopify.

[C]

You know what Shopify is? It's great. Like Shopify has really become a place where if you want to run your entire business there. Yes, it's very good. When I started 10 years ago, we didn't have all these capabilities. So people who are starting now have a huge advantage. Yeah, I'm glad you're on Shopify.

[B]

Definitely. I definitely think that Shopify is probably the market leader right now if you're starting your own little business because it can scale with you. It worked out well when I was at the farmer's market and it's working out now well when we're doing lots of orders, you know.

[C]

So when you say we tell me about the team you have, because I'm assuming there is a team, you are obviously the creative force, the CEO, the operations, everything. Who else is there with you?

[B]

Yeah, I definitely wear all the hats. And anybody who has their own business like in the beginning, that's just the way it's going to be. But we've got a great team. So the person who actually helps me with the business is my godfather. And my godfather was kind of the initial investor. And you know, he didn't, he's a surgeon. He didn't come into the office, but he's always there to like talk through questions and things like that. So I would say he's kind of the, the partner in crime in a lot of it. But then in office we've got, you know, an office manager who's putting in orders and things like that worked out really well for us is when we first hit our like first really busy holiday season. And this is a fourth quarter industry. It just is when we hit that of busy time, we were like desperate just for extra hands just to put cards and boxes and things like that. And so we reached out here in Dallas. There's a nonprofit called the Senior Source and they have an employment division. And so we found two people from the Senior Source that come in and help and they're retirees. And then, you know, from them we met, you know, one of them's wife came to work for us and she's a retired school teacher. And then her Friends came and worked for us and so now we've got a team of mostly retired school teachers.

[C]

Oh my gosh, I love that Taylor.

[B]

Yeah, it is so fun. You will never find anybody who like works harder than a school teacher. And you know, it's really fun. There's a lot of Comic sans on the walls, but I love it. I love it. I think we've got a great team right now. We also have someone, you know, who does our digital marketing and social media and someone who's running the print shop full. You know, like I said, we do a lot of manufacturing. So all of the paper products we do in house. We've got somebody who's just running the printers all day long.

[C]

So can I ask a little bit about that? Let's dig in and share what you feel comfortable with and leave the rest. That's fine. But a lot of people, you know, when they're starting out, finding suppliers is kind of where they start. They, they're starting printing with like a local offset printer or digital printer and then once they reach a certain volume, you know, they're thinking immediately go overseas. So you have done a lot of things in house. Was that overwhelming to figure out that process in the beginning or was it something you already understood?

[B]

Well, you know, we have some experience in that. Our family business, my godparents business for the longest time was a paper distributor here in Texas. So we kind of already knew people in the printing world, which helped out really great. Now when we first started, we were like, we were never going to print it ourselves. Like the machines are too costly, the there's upkeep and all the maintenance and all that kind of stuff. And we were really, really scared of it. Now what happened? So we worked at the print shop here in Dallas. Great guy, he worked with us, kind of gave us special pricing and just so we could make it work. And unfortunately he passed away due to a pretty sudden cancer and it was really tough and a scary time because we, we really relied on him. But before he passed away, he kind of gave us and taught us the ropes on how to work these digital presses. And so then we were able to kind of do it ourselves. And so huge thanks to Helm for that. But yeah, so now we do the paper printing ourselves. And so we've got the big digital presses and we've got the paper cutters and the glue machines that do the notepads and all that kind of stuff. I will say it's a lot of work and upkeep for sure, but you get To a scale where you can either choose to go and buy a bunch of inventory and hope it sells. Yeah. Or, you know, if you're like me, I've got, like I said, thousands of skus. Or you can just print to order, depending on what people want. And for us, that was definitely the move. It means I don't have to keep stock of the random designs, but I can still offer them. Yeah.

[C]

So incredible. First of all, I can't believe that this is what you do. I have not met a lot of people who are thinking this way. And obviously if your family business was printing. This is funny. My family business was printing too. And my dad is from Dallas and he was a printing broker back in the day when it was just the big things of paper and would make paper deliveries. So who knows, maybe our families like crossed paths at one point.

[B]

I'm sure, I'm sure.

[C]

Five years in Dallas. That's so funny. A lot of people don't have access to that. But what you've done is you've lowered your overhead tremendously. Obviously the upfront investment in equipment is something, but.

[B]

And we, and we lease the equipment. It's a monthly just base overhead. But you're not stocking inventory. And that's the key.

[C]

To me, when we have to do our inventory counting, it is like, you know, because we have a lot, we, we produce and hope it sells because that's where we're at right now. Brilliant. Taylor. I want to come visit and tour.

[B]

Yeah, no, absolutely. It's. Now there are lots of things we do stock. Right. So a lot of the home products like the prostate cups and the towels and stuff like that, you know, I don't have the equipment to do that. The Frost and cups especially is about like a million dollar machine, like not going to have it. And so there is stuff that we do have to stock, but at least on the paper stuff, I can offer, you know, thousands of designs and not

[C]

have to hold on to it and print to order. That's incredible.

[B]

Yeah. Which is huge.

[C]

Oh, I am so happy for you. I think one shop owner to another, I'm so happy for you. Because that's such a limiting factor for so many people tying up your money in inventory whenever you need the money to operate and pay yourself and your team. Can I ask, you don't have to give exact numbers, but you grew pretty fast, it feels like from the time you like figured out your watercolor could do something to where you're at now. Like what's your volume like in a Year?

[B]

Yeah, when we first started, like the first year I did at the farmer's market, I think I did $40,000 in sales. And that was over a year. And that was frankly a lot of work, a whole lot of work to get out there every morning and stuff like that. Now we're, we're well over a million looking, you know, closer to two or three this year, depending on how things go. I'd say a lot of that. A lot of the volume, of course is wholesale, but a lot of the profit is Christmas show retail.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And so I would suggest that people who are just now starting to kind of get into the world very much like start in retail. I kind of started in wholesale. I mean, I did the farmer's market, but I started in wholesale and that took a long time to grow. And the margins are just slimmer. It's a lot more stressful and a lot slimmer margin. And so I would suggest people, you know, one, get out in front of people at a farmer's market or holiday boutiques or little pop ups at local stores, but get out in front of people and then be selling it at retail prices and then once you kind of have the scale, then go into wholesale. Yes, that would be my, that would be my suggestion.

[C]

You know, I think because of your background, I mean, I'm not saying that like Stanford's not nothing. Okay. Right. You obviously have a very smart mind. And then you watercolored as a hobby and it was a side hustle and then you turned it into something a lot of people start as the artist and then the leap into product and sales can feel very scary. So a lot of people I know, they want to stay and they want to start with wholesale because it doesn't require like showing up online as much because that's, you know, what they're thinking. They're like, if I'm going to sell direct consumer, that means, you know, driving traffic to my Shopify store. And then they also don't want to pay for ads because, you know, there's a lot of reasons why either we don't support the companies, although I do use ads. I'm not lying about that. Maybe people like, I don't want to support Meta or I don't want to put my money there, but it's going to cost you one way or the other. It's either going to be your time in person, hitting the ground, getting in front of people like you did, or, you know, time is money or it's going to be an investment of money. In marketing. So I think that it's hard for people to wrap their head around that. But you spend a whole year getting to know your ideal clients and what their tastes are. If you could, like, describe your customer in a few words, tell me who that customer is, I would say, like,

[B]

we kind of have two main customers. The first one is the lady who has, you know, let's just put it frankly, the lady who lunches, who does not mind dropping 500 on a mahjong tile set, who has a golden squirrel, you know, just, you know, doesn't work, just enjoys life. So that's definitely one customer. And they're definitely the higher income bracket. They're a little bit of an easier sell. However, that customer is also very distinguishing, so you have to, like, set yourself apart. And so that's one customer. And they like things that are unique and custom.

[C]

Unique and custom and limited, right?

[B]

Yeah, exactly. You can't. They can't go buy it in tardup. Now, the other customer who we have a lot more of are like your regular ladies. You know, they're a school teacher or something like that. People who appreciate art and crafts and cute things. I would say those are kind of our two. The two audiences that we're looking at. We often get asked for guy things, especially from our stores. But the truth is, is that the only guys who are buying from us, our guys. So it's like 90 gals who may or may not buy something for their husbands, but it's really for them or it's like, you know, 5% gays. So I would say, like, that's. That's kind of the demographic breakdown for us. But, you know, it's entirely dependent on your art. For those who haven't seen my stuff, it's a lot of, like, champagne bottles and dogs playing mahjong and stuff like that.

[C]

We'll link to all of your social media and websites whenever this episode goes live so everyone can check it out. It's incredible. Your website is beautiful. And your watercolors, obviously.

[B]

Thank you.

[C]

Well done. You are a busy person keeping up with all of the design work. How do you manage balancing the design and product ideation versus everything else that you do?

[B]

Yeah, well. So this may not be the most inspiring thing for your audience to hear, but I would say this business is probably 90% of my life. I pour my heart and soul into it, and it's what I do almost every minute of every day. So I would say, unfortunately, the amount of time I actually get to paint is significantly less than what people think, you know, I. Things tend to focus around our wholesale releases. So every six months, I do a whole new release for wholesale, and it's usually somewhere between 50 and 100 designs. Now, if I was smart, I would be doing this, you know, over the months leading up to this. But usually what happens is it'll be, like, two or three weeks before my catalog is due, and I just have to hold myself up and just crank these things out, and I'll crank out, like, 60 to 100 paintings in, like, two weeks. And that is horrible. Horrible for your mental health, horrible for everything. I will say I paint better under pressure, but, like, the art is better when it's under pressure, but it is not fun. And so that's one of my big resolutions this year, is to really kind of work on spreading it out and being more intentional about giving myself deadlines that are realistic and ahead of time. So on the creative process, you don't have a running list of, like, designs that I think people might like, you know? So a lot of the designs I do are very much, like, customer forward. It's what I think that people want to see, which can sometimes, on a artistic level, be a little frustrating. You know, stores especially, always ask, what's new? And so every six months, it's a what's new? And here in Texas, they love that longhorn design. But every six months, it's like, what's new? I don't want to buy the longhorn I bought six months ago, but if you have a new longhorn, I'll buy that. So now that we're on Longhorn number 12, it's starting to get a little painful to keep painting the little longhorn and making it different each time. So I will say so. There's that part. What if I had all the time in the world, I would just sit around and paint oceans and flowers, and, you know, someday I'll have that time. But, you know, for now, it's longhorns.

[C]

Well, you're in the building phase, and I. I mean, you look happy. You look like you love what you're doing. And I think it's a misconception that at the scale that you're at, that you can do it in, not clock in. You know what I mean? Like, you're the force that's keeping it moving forward, and it is an extension of you in many ways. You know, Like, I was the same way. My husband would have to, like, lock me in my bedroom, and I'm like, it's time to get my Christmas designs done, Nathan. And he'd be like, here's your tea. Locking the doors. Kids aren't coming in. Get it done. You know, because when you are trying to juggle everything, it's not like you can have this daily practice necessarily. Like, I can't do it every single day. And I'm okay with that. In fact, I've learned that that's not how I operate. I'm like you. I will do better under pressure. So instead of being like, oh, I should be doing this, I've just decided this is who I am. I'm not going to be able to. It's going to drive me crazy feeling like I'm behind or doing something bad. So I'm just letting myself do things at the last minute. And I actually feel pretty okay with it because that's how I work. And so I think everyone has to figure out what they're willing to do, how much they love it, and, you know, put in the time. Put in the time and the energy. Right?

[B]

Yeah. I definitely feel this year, for me, for my own mental health, I need to, like, plan ahead a little bit better. But I'm still very much figuring out exactly what the best strategy is for kind of staging my art making, because I'd really wish it's the part I love the most. And so I want to make sure that I'm not squeezing it only into, like, two weeks every six months and being stressed out about it, because I'd love to get more enjoyment out of it.

[C]

So, Taylor, I have two more questions for you before we wrap up. So, first of all, if you could have any dream collaboration, who would it be with and why?

[B]

I think this is very much like a dream because I don't think they do a lot of this. I want to design a scarf for Hermes. Like, that's what I want to do. That would be, like, the crown achievement of my career. I'd pack up and go home if that happened. So, like I said, I don't think they do a whole lot of it. I think there's only been one American that has designed scarves with them, and that was, like, in the 1900s. So I don't know, but that would be. That would be awesome.

[C]

That sounds like a great dream. There is a UK artist. I don't think she collaborated with them, but I think she collaborated to do a scarf with maybe Chanel. I remember when I saw who she collaborated with, I was like, whoa. But that's amazing.

[B]

Yeah. So that's a dream. That's a Brand that I've always admired for their creativity. You know, a lot of the luxury houses are sort of in my. I mean, they're all owned by LVMH or the conglomerate, and Hermes has always been very creative, and they're not going to sell out to anybody, which I love.

[C]

I like that, too. My last question for you is five years. A lot has happened in your business. So you're in year six right now. Where would you like to be in five more years?

[B]

That's a good question. I think in five more years, I'd certainly like to be at a grander scale. Of course, I'd love to have more stores buying the product. I'd love our social media to be bigger. Social media is not something I really put a whole lot of effort into until the last year or so. But I think, you know, aside from, like, number goals, which I think are somewhat hard to pin down this year, far out. What I'd really like is to get to the point where I can have a lot of the operational stuff, you know, managed not by me, because it's frankly not my strong suit, and it's something I don't derive a whole lot of pleasure from. And so I'd really like. Yeah, I'd really like to get to the point where I am very much like creative director and not creative director, operations director, fulfillment director, sales director, you know, and I think that's where I'd like to be. Of course, knowing that in that case, I'm. I would still probably. I'd still probably end up doing a lot. Yeah.

[C]

Well, honestly, I'm not joking. After this, I'll talk to my sister because she does mentoring for people in operations. That's something that she does like a lot, and she's very good at it. And so if. If we want to connect you two for a little chat. Chat. I'm volunteering her on air on the podcast.

[B]

Angie, I appreciate it. Thank you.

[C]

Yeah, we really love to help people with that because I think that creatives can take their business so so far, especially with passion and hard work. But once your operations are settled, I mean, it was like night and day difference. I thought I was killing it with my operations until we actually, like, got someone else in there to help tidy it up. And now I'm a little embarrassed because I thought I was doing so good. And then I realized there's so much more we can do. So I think that that's gonna just. You'll have way more time to create, Taylor, when you get that off your plate, and it'll be so good for your mental health. I mean, I sound like I'm telling you what to do. I'm sorry. I just think it's just you have so many opportunities, and it's so great.

[B]

Yeah. Well, I appreciate it. Well, thank you for having me on, Stacy.

[C]

I'm so glad that you were able to be here. And where can everyone find you online so they can follow you?

[B]

Yeah, it's TaylorPaladino.com that's 1L and Palladino, and then it's just Taylor Palladino on Instagram. Yeah.

[C]

Everybody keep an eye on Taylor Palladino, because his brand is just getting started, and I can't wait to see where it goes next.

[B]

Awesome.

[C]

All right.

[B]

Thank you.

[C]

Of course. Well, everybody tune in for the next episode of Art plus Audience. And thanks, Taylor, for being here.

[B]

Thank you.

[D]

Thanks so much for tuning in. Hey, could you do me a favor? Could you subscribe to this podcast and then share it with one of your best art friends? I'd really appreciate it. And then head on over to Instagram and follow me at the leverage your art account, and you can keep up with all of our future episodes. Thank you so much for your support. It means everything to have you here listening and learning.

[B]

Bye.