Elon sophomore crafts the art of business with a paintbrush in hand and an outlined plan
By Lilly Blomquist
Once the school bell rang, signaling the beginning of recess, Courtney Chambers’ kindergarten class sprinted out the door, eager to escape from the structure of the classroom. While the children played on the playground, Chambers sat on the side, burying her head in coloring books and busying her hands with crayons.
Chambers’ kindergarten teacher began to notice a pattern in this behavior. She approached Chambers’ parents and suggested that their daughter see a therapist because she was concerned their child’s insistence on coloring was replacing social interactions.
The therapist, however, concluded that Chambers’ desire to color was a passion for creativity beginning to unfold.
Now, as a sophomore at Elon University, Chambers has gone from coloring in between the lines of coloring books to thinking outside of the box with the development, creation and promotion of her ideas. Since freshman year of high school, she has been managing A Little Craft in Your Day, a DIY business that provides her site visitors with craft ideas and tutorials on how they can craft practically, affordably and enjoyably.
Encouraging others to craft
Chambers decided to launch her blog with Tanner Bell, the co-owner and executive producer of the company, when they noticed a gap in the DIY market. At the time, DIY companies were only geared toward children, so Chambers said she was eager to create a platform that gave teenagers the confidence and ability to express themselves.
“We want to provide our generation with a place to go, to find inspiration and tutorials and feel capable of creating things,” Chambers said.
The blog was an opportunity for Chambers to share her passion for creativity and teach others crafting techniques. She said she never intended to make money, but the blog quickly evolved into a business once she garnered many followers and frequent offers from sponsors.
Chambers said she never expected to be running a business at age 20, but now, she cannot imagine it any other way.
“It never feels like work when I’m doing it,” Chambers said. “It’s just the most fun ever.”
Producing content for her blog
Chambers spends Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in her studio on Manning Way, planning and creating projects for her blog.
In her studio room, shelves are lined with the vivid hues and various shapes of the crafts she has previously made. Boxes, bins and containers carry her paintbrushes, scissors, yarn and glue, ready for use.
Chambers walks over to a table wrapped in bright blue paper, which serves as the background for her video tutorials. She lays out a wooden box, a rectangular piece of glass, a hot glue gun, plant trimmings, a bowl of soil and a bowl of sand. She turns on two side lights and one overhead light to illuminate her craft and shoot a high quality video for her blog visitors. After setting up her video camera, she begins creating.
With focused eyes and steady hands, Chambers strives to execute the vision she has in mind. She takes the wooden box frame and glues the piece of glass on it. She adds soil and sand inside of the box and plants plastic flowers and vines in the soil base.
Then, she takes a step back and pauses for a moment.
“I think it needs more dirt,” Chambers said. “Yeah, I think I’ll go get some more.”
Chambers explained that crafting is a process of trial and error, so she is prone to making mistakes. She said she never lets the fear of failure prevent her from taking risks because risks often lead to unique outcomes that help her crafts stand out. If she makes mistakes, she said she views them as learning opportunities.
“I don’t know that everything I do is going to work, but I just go about it in the way I think will work the best,” Chambers said. “If it doesn’t work, that’s okay.”
After spending time refining the details and adding the final touches, Chambers holds up the shadow box and smiles.
She carries her creation over to a piece of vibrant paper on the wall that serves as a backdrop for photographs. Once a week, Chambers’ professional photographer meets with her to photograph her crafts to use as visuals for her blog posts.
Chambers also adds videos of the creation process to her blog, which she said is a new skill she has been practicing. When she is not traveling to Tennessee to shoot video with Bell, she takes her own videos. She edits the clips, adds music to the background, speeds up the duration and enhances the quality.
In addition to the visuals on her site, Chambers also writes a tutorial with an introduction to the craft, a supply list, tips and techniques on creating the product and a step-by-step outline.
The creation process first begins when Chambers devises and plans her project ideas. For this project, she walked the aisles of Michaels, looking for inspiration. Chambers said whenever she shops, her mind is programmed to view products as potential crafts she can make at an affordable price.
“I see in black and white when I shop now because I realize that I can pretty much paint or spray paint or change the color or shape of anything,” Chambers said.
Chambers also develops her project ideas through research. She constantly searches trending products and curates ideas that will appeal to her blog’s intended audience, female teenagers.
Chamber’s friend, Amanda Berry, who is a sophomore and biochemistry major at Elon, said Chambers’ ability to think of creative project ideas and execute them drives her business’s success.
“She has such an eye for things that are used or bought regularly and that she can create no problem for a much better deal,” Berry said.
After deciding how to tackle her project, Chambers purchases the necessary supplies at an inexpensive price. For the shadow box, she spent $10 on the utensils.
Chambers follows this process for multiple projects at a time to encourage frequent crafting and learning. Each week, her visitors see five to 10 new blog posts on items from pillows and wall art to scrunchies and pencil holders.
The full-time employee at A Little Craft in Your Day, Project Manager and Editorial Director Rachel Hensley said Chambers is not satisfied focusing on only one project. She said Chambers has high expectations for herself, and she strives to exceed them by producing many meticulous crafts.
“Sometimes, it takes her a little while longer to finish a task because in her mind, she wants to start four or five so that she can get four or five done,” Hensley said. “She can’t just start one and finish one.”
When Chambers posts these tutorials, some of the blog visitors comment on her posts, expressing their gratitude and appreciation. Chambers said receiving these remarks makes running a business rewarding, knowing she is making a positive impact on others’ lives.
“The feedback from visitors is always so fun to read,” Chambers said. “Seeing results for them is always exciting.”
Once Chambers updates her blog with the new craft, she markets it on social media to reach more people who might benefit from the post. Chambers said she establishes an authentic, personal and relatable online presence that acknowledges her followers’ opinions.
On Instagram, she plans 12 posts at a time to upload a steady stream of content and initiate an ongoing conversation with her followers. While she dedicates photographs and captions to Instagram, she uses Facebook to upload videos.
Hensley said Chambers is able to manage the company’s social media accounts because of her efficiency, work ethic and ambition.
“I don’t even know how she cranks them out like she does,” Hensley said. “She just gets in there and does tons of the content.”
Creating is only part of the process
In addition to the blogging process, Chambers also communicates and collaborates with her employees around the country, manages finances, creates content for sponsors and media companies and travels to conferences.
Doherty Emerging Professor of Entrepreneurship Sean McMahon, who is teaching Chambers this spring semester in his entrepreneurial finance class, said running a startup company is a time-consuming, demanding process.
“A startup is so much work, so you must be on your game and show up on time and think through things very meticulously,” McMahon said.
He said business owners succeed when they constantly develop and perfect their ideas to effectively accomplish tasks. McMahon said he notices these traits in Chambers.
Berry agreed that Chambers’ strong work ethic and dedication to her business determine her success.
“When she starts a project, she will not stop until it is complete and she’s satisfied, regardless of how long it may take,” Berry said. “She will put everything that she’s made of into her work.”
Chambers said she is able to complete her tasks with her task manager called Asana. She uses the software to write down goals for the company, hold herself accountable to deadlines and collaborate with her employees.
Bell said Chambers is a goal-oriented person who uses her organization skills to produce quality products. He said Chambers’ dedication inspires him to mirror her tactics.
“We really help motivate each other to achieve our goals,” Bell said. “She strives for perfection and hardly ever misses a client deadline.”
Chambers also schedules FaceTime meetings with her employees and travels to work on projects with them.
Chambers works with Hensley to create and plan written blog posts, and she also refers to her freelance writer who lives in Canada. For visual content, Chambers arranges photoshoots with her photographer and consults her videographer in Tennessee. When her schedule becomes unmanageable, Chambers coordinates projects with Bell’s assistant who lives in the Philippines.
Chambers also keeps track of her company’s finances. She pays her employees and manages the budget. She has assistance from her accountant, but she said she had to understand the financial side of the business on her own when she started the blog.
The money Chambers makes comes from six contracted sponsors and other advertising companies who pay her based on the number of people who visit her blog.
Her sponsors send her products, and Chambers writes blog posts about the items or uses them as product placements in her posts. Additionally, the blog’s sidebar advertisements fund her business.
Chambers said she secures long-term sponsors by networking at the crafting conferences she attends. At these conferences, she approaches other companies’ marketing directors, explains her blog to them and determines whether they should form a partnership.
Hensley said Chambers is a naturally reserved person, but she is willing to make sacrifices to overcome her shy nature so that the company gains more sponsors.
“When the company is on the line, and we’ve got some people to impress, she pulls out all of the stops and does a great job,” Hensley said.
Chambers’ mother, Eileen Chambers, said she is impressed that her daughter is willing to step outside of her comfort zone for the sake of her blog.
“She really pushes herself because that’s where her passion is,” Eileen Chambers said. “I never put anything past her because once she sets her mind to something, she really sticks with it.”
The conferences also hold entrepreneurship classes that have taught Chambers business strategies. She has also listened to speakers and participated in table discussion with other bloggers, who provide her with diverse perspectives and talents. She said she has applied this knowledge to her blog.
“She’s super eager all of the time to go into these classes and learn something new to take the company to a whole other level,” Hensley said.
Studying entrepreneurship at Elon
Chambers also learns about the business field as an entrepreneur major at Elon.
She said her business was financially successful enough that she did not need to attend college, but she decided to pursue an education for a stronger knowledge base.
Chambers said McMahon has been one of her professors who has taught her about the struggles of managing a business and has given her strategies to overcome financial and technical obstacles. McMahon has his own startup company called Knowtro, which condenses research online, so he teaches the class based on his experience and knowledge.
In McMahon’s class, the students formulate a presentation on a kick-starter business. McMahon randomly calls on one student each week to present the project, so he said the students must be prepared.
McMahon said Chambers’ performance and ability to think quickly impressed him. He said her presentation was at the top of the class.
“She had all of the information I was looking for about how to think about the kick-starter project and whether it was a potentially good investment,” McMahon said.
Chambers received feedback from an expert in the field, and the project motivated her to include a service for OnTrend Media, her parent company, that makes presentations for other companies.
Chambers’ business communications class taught her the importance of writing clearly and concisely, which she uses in her blog posts and emails to sponsors. In her accounting class, Chambers learned how to manage finances for her blog.
Chambers makes a schedule for herself to stay on top of her academic assignments. She designates Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays to completing projects for school work.
She takes all morning classes, and even though she does not consider herself a morning person, she said she would rather wake up early to have more time for her homework and blog work.
With Chambers’ commitment to school and work, Berry said she sometimes sacrifices her social life and free time. However, Berry said Chambers is a loyal, dedicated friend who makes herself available to others whenever they need help.
“She’s really good at prioritizing what needs to be done, which is followed by what she wants to get done,” Berry said.
Outside of the classroom at Elon, Chambers has increased her professionalism and experience developing and marketing business ideas.
Chambers presented her blog to the board of directors at the Doherty Center for Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
She also led a workshop with Hal Vincent, lecturer in communications, at the Co|Operative, a nonprofit business startup incubator in Graham. She discussed her blog and explained how she attracts and communicates with stakeholders while producing content.
Developing throughout the years
Chambers was born and raised in Philadelphia. She went to middle school at Saints Peter and Paul School, when her crafting progressed from scrapbooking to card-making. Then, in high school at Villa Maria Academy, Chambers became interested in DIY.
Now, Chambers’ creativity includes making DIY crafts, finding inspiration in a variety of places, developing creative ideas, teaching her ideas to others and promoting her creations.
Chambers said she hopes to continue expanding her creativity levels for her blog in the future. After graduation, she said she will run her business full time to continue sharing her passion for creating with others.
“I’m always ready to move on to the next thing or take on the next thing in addition to the things I’m already doing,” Chambers said. “I’m always out there looking for new opportunities and creating them.”
