Wonton In A Million: 2016 Year In Review
By The Numbers
All of my free time in 2016 was spent building Wonton In A Million. On weekends, weeknights, planes, trains, everywhere and every free moment in between. I couldn’t have worked so hard without you, so I wanted to share a glimpse of what we built. Yes, we — as in, you and me, Wonton Fam. 🙂
Over 8K of you found me on Instagram
… forming the most genuinely and BUNderfully supportive community I’ve ever had the joy to be a part of.
Over 1.4K customers from 47 states and 20 countries
… purchased more than 1.8K dimsum greeting cards, 3.4K stickers, 3K washi rolls, and more, allowing me to believe that maybe, just maybe, a living can be made building this business that I love (more on this later!). 🙊
Not only did we find each other from all over the internet…
14 wholesalers and retail partners joined us to spread the dimsum love
… across New York City, the United States, and the world.
In New York City
- Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
- Museum of Chinese In America
- Planet Cute
- Pearl River Mart
- Museum Of Ice Cream
- Nom Wah Tea Parlor
Across The World
- Hawaii — Paper Creations Hawaii
- Hawaii — Planners & Things
- Hawaii — Nicole A
- Hawaii — Valerie A
- Texas — We Are 1976
- Canada — Front And Company
- Philippines — Berry’s Treats
- Hong Kong — Sweet Memories Scrapbook
And while the Wonton Fam was growing…
200+ new products were launched
… with 8 entirely new product lines inspired by suggestions from you, including stamp sets, notebooks, gift wrap, phone cases, scarves…
AND an iMessage Sticker Pack! Featuring 48 shrimp dumpling emojis…
… about which dumpling lovers everywhere (or at least on iOS) rejoiced! For they had been wondering for far, far too long why there was nary a dumpling emoji on any operating system to be found. 😏
Of all the wonderful things that have happened to Wonton this year, one of the most wonderful had to have been when…
70 friends & fans contributed to the Plushie Fund
… AKA the sweetest gift that I’ve ever gotten 😱 via a GoFundMe organized by a few of my best friends to help kick off the production of Wonton In A Million dimsum plushies. Ha Gao and Siu Mai are in their final, final stages of prototyping and I can NOT wait to share them with you. Below is a sneak peek:
As some of you know, my hope for Wonton In A Million is not only that it spreads the love of dimsum throughout the world, but also that it helps to bring people back into NYC’s Chinatown, which has seen a drastic outflow of residents and restaurant patrons to the outer NYC boroughs.
So I also had some wonderful opportunities to share Wonton’s story and raison d’etre this year when…
I was invited to give 3 interviews
… one to Sinovision TV, the Chinese American TV channel that my parents have been watching since they immigrated to the U.S. 30 years ago. Cool didn’t even begin to describe the experience of being on air to talk about puns and dimsum and my hopes for Wonton In A Million and its impact on the Chinese American community in NYC.
I also participated in NAPAWF*NYC’s photojournalism project celebrating Asian Pacific American women of New York City.
Thirdly, I spent an afternoon with Divya, an NYU journalism student, chatting about why Etsy has been a great platform on which to build Wonton In A Million, alongside other Etsy sellers making the most creative products (see Vilma who turns coffee filters into lampshades).
And we made a teeny tiny bit of headway on reviving Chinatown when…
Over 180 of you joined me for my dimsum parties
… both times overrunning the capacity of our venue — Oriental Garden, the dimsum restaurant my dad has managed for over 30 years and the site of inspiration for Wonton In A Million — leading me to believe that dimsum can bring people back into the neighborhood and necessitating that I now look for a larger event space to hold all you dimsum lovers for future events. ;)
In addition to helping revive the neighborhood I grew up in, one of the most important things to me is passing along what I know to help other aspiring entrepreneurs bring their businesses to life, so this year, I got to…
Give 2 workshops on how I built my Etsy store
One, an online Skillshare class on “How To Design Your Own 365 Day Project,” teaching the “little bit everyday” framework I used to get Wonton In A Million off the ground in April 2015 while holding down a full time job.
And two, a workshop on “How To Start Your Own Business 101” given at the Chinatown Youth Initiatives’ Youth Conference to a group of high school students, who blew me away with their business ideas and their creativity.
I also wrote 3 Medium posts on the same thing
… although I fell short of my target of 12 posts for a mini MBA series on lessons learned in my Etsy journey. As it turns out, building a business takes up a lot of time ;)
All of that to say… working on Wonton has been the greatest creative joy of my life. I love that I get to flex my creative muscles in so many different ways—producing plushies, designing iMessage stickers, even giving workshops. I love the collaborations I’ve been able to have with New York City institutions that I grew up with. Most of all, I love the community you’ve given me and I love that I now count as friends dimsum lovers from all around the world. I love what we’ve built. I hope you do too.
Lastly. Before you go. One more thing. :) 2016 marks the end of an era for me, and the beginning of a new one… because, as we speak, there are now only…
2 more months until I go full time on Wonton!!!
Yes! You read that right!
Many of you have asked me at various points over the last two years whether I planned to eventually work on Wonton full time. I’ve always said no. I loved my full time gig (and still do). I thought working full time on Wonton would take away the joy of it — compel me to focus on maximizing revenue instead of maximizing interesting opportunities, creative work, and the happiness of my customers.
But I still remember the first month I made more revenue than my paycheck. Note, it was only revenue — not profit! But still. I started to wonder if it was possible.
And in October of 2016, I woke up one day and just… decided I would do it. I think I can balance making a living with all of the other things I care about. Heck — I’m at least going to try. There are so many things I want to do with Wonton. Publish a children’s book. Produce an animated film. Start a fast casual dimsum restaurant. The only way for me to do all of these things at the pace I want to do them is to do them full time.
So starting in April of 2017, I will be Chief Dimsum Eater of Wonton In A Million 40 hours a week (or, if I were being real, probably 80 hours a week 😉). At the same time, I will be helping my dad to promote Oriental Garden, tackling the issue of revitalizing Chinatown from multiple sides and fulfilling a life goal of mine to work alongside my dad before he retires from the restaurant.
I’m taking two months to reset and build the infrastructure for going full time. I can’t wait to share with you all the ideas I have and hear what you think. In the meantime — please let me know what YOU would like to see me work on over the next year! New designs, new products, entirely new projects? Email me, message me on Etsy, or leave me a comment on Instagram!
Your support means the world to me, and I’m beyond excited to see where our journey takes us from here. Onwards and upwards we go, Wonton Fam!! See you on Instagram. ❤
Love,
Cyn
If you’d like to be kept up to date on the latest in new products, new projects, and my transition from side project to full time, sign up for my newsletter at www.wontoninamillion.com/newsletter.
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And please email me at cynthia@wontoninamillion.com anytime. Have suggestions or want to work together? I’d love to hear from you!
