Autumn Alridch’s Sticker Business
Whether they are being used to decorate a water bottle, computer case or binder, stickers have become a popular way to personalize a person’s belongings across the world. The global Die Cut Stickers market was reported to be valued at 179.7 million U.S. dollars in 2019. These are stickers that are cut precisely to the shape of the maker’s design. Sophomore Autumn Aldrich has found that purchasing these stickers have been convenient for daily planners because they cut down the time that one might spend on designing all the elements themselves. After discovering her love for bullet journaling in 2018, she began a sticker selling business in the summer of 2021 on the online marketplace Etsy. Currently, Aldrich’s business is on the social media platform, Instagram, where she operates under the handle @autumnaldrichstudios. Aldrich’s idea to start her Etsy business originally sprouted from her bullet journaling brand on Instagram, which she began in Oct. 2020. After this new journaling brand took off, Aldrich decided to use her newfound popularity as a launching point for her sticker business and has gained 54.9 thousand followers since then.
Like Die Cut stickers, Aldrich wanted to create her own sticker business to help customers save time when decorating their own notebooks. She believes logging information in a journal is very useful for daily life and keeping things organized, and a big part of bullet journaling is the aesthetic value of creating thematic spreads. By creating her uniquely designed stickers, she hopes her customers can decorate their planners without spending time designing their own spreads from scratch. Aldrich finds some of her inspiration for sticker designs from the image sharing and social media platform Pinterest as well as drawings in her own bullet journal.
Although she has a fairly steady setup now, Aldrich has run into many bumps along the road to her success. She ran into her first obstacle when she initially opened her shop on Etsy. Aldrich was not informed that a minor must have permission from a parent in order to get a commission. This is because when a person makes a commission on Etsy, that individual must be taxed for the money they make. Etsy suspended Aldrich’s account for almost one month, bringing her business to a halt. It ultimately led Aldrich to switch to her current platform, Instagram. Aldrich believes that facing these adversities and successes in running her sticker business have given her useful skills for the future.
“I have learned to have a lot of resilience [from operating this business],” Aldrich said. “With social media and keeping up momentum, you have to stay consistent. Things will not always work out, that is just the way it works, but you have to push past those problems. If you keep going and adapting to the different conditions, [then] you are most likely going to make it. Running my business has made my life busier, but has helped me improve my time management.”
Currently, Aldrich is not very active on social media due to school and extracurricular activities, but she intends to continue with her sticker business. Aldrich plans to expand her brand by promoting it on YouTube and TikTok. Even without moving to these other forms of promotion, Aldrich has been getting inquiries from businesses who have expressed interested in working with her. Many of the businesses that she collaborates with are companies that sell office supplies such as pens, tape and desks.Companies like Flexispot ask Aldrich to promote their products on her Instagram account and send her their merchandise to try. Aldrich uses these products when developing new designs for her stickers as well as her personal bullet journal. Her parents, Damon and Shelley Aldrich, believe that these companies want to collaborate with their daughter partially because of her marketing skills since she has managed to utilize the Instagram algorithm to benefit her brand as well as her sticker business.
“The way that [Autumn] communicates with people online and relates to [them] is definitely a new skill,” Damon Aldrich said. “Her customers [are] all over the world. She is learning a lot about how other people in different parts of the world communicate. I [also] think she has grown a lot by being able to distinguish what is legitimate and what is not, in terms of business opportunities.”
Autumn Aldrich views her customers as more than just consumers of her content and creations. Over the past year, Aldrich has been building a relationship with her supporters on Instagram and Etsy, which she does by making her account more personal rather than business-focused or professional to feel more connected to her clientele. Initially someone with a more reserved persona online, being around her supporters helped Aldrich to realize that she enjoys talking to people who share her interest in bullet journaling. For Aldrich, the experience of running a business is rewarding as creating content for a community she has built purely on the basis of being herself is very fulfilling. Aldrich feels that it is especially gratifying when her audience gains inspiration from her work. Stephanie Ramos, one of Aldrich’s customers, loves how Aldrich’s stickers accent her planner in an appealing way. After using her products, Ramos hopes that she can apply more of Aldrich’s functional designs to her bullet journal in the future. “I found Autumn [by] searching bullet journaling on Instagram and loved the aesthetic of her designs,” Ramos said. “As for quality, I think [they are] great in price. I love the designs because there are so many different styles. Shipping was fast in my purchase and I received some freebies, which I was excited about since they were items that were not purchasable yet until she opened her new shop.”
