So as you all know I love to support local and started a segment where we could share, learn and inspire! It is so important to support local and share your findings with others.
I love art. I did art all the way up to Matric at school, and my love for art is a big part of who I am. When we travel overseas, we spend so much time in Art Galleries as I just adore staring at the pieces, looking at the brush stokes and colours. Locally, I am a huge fan of Irma Stern, visiting her museum/gallery often in Cape Town when I go home to visit. Blogpost here for those who missed it! And Van Gogh makes me go weak at the knees, spending many hours in the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam.
So when I discovered Paint by Numbers SA, I knew I had to share! You don’t have to be creative or an artist, you just need to have the passion and drive to give it a try and I promise you will not be disappointed. It will be so fulfilling to paint your very own piece of art for your home. These would also make great gifts! And for those of us staying home and social distancing, this would be a great way to fill your time.
There are many pieces to choose from on their website – from easy to challenging to suit any level.
Please check out their website and shop online! And show some love and follow them on both Instagram and Facebook. They would appreciate the love.
We chatted to the lovely Wineen Swart and she had this to say to us!
Tell us a little bit about your business.
My first Paint by Numbers was a gift – The Frog with Glasses. After that, I was hooked.
I have an interest in art and related topics, but I have always been too intimidated to start painting on my own. Paint by Numbers changed that for me.
I enjoyed painting Mr Frog so much that I wanted to try more, but had trouble finding pictures I wanted to paint.
That is how this shop came about, it was born out of my passion to share what I found with everyone here.
We started with a few stock pictures, but have been able to extend our range to include a few typical South African images as well as images from South African artists. We would like to bring art and painting to kids and adults alike, who would normally be too afraid to try or explore the subject.
What are the top 3 learnings you have had to find out the hard way since starting your own business?
Everything I learnt was new, and we are still fairly new, so there is still a lot to be learnt I believe.
Starting a business is inevitably full of challenges, but one thing I learnt that stands out is that there is always someone who can help, reach out to the business community and your friends. I was amazed by the support I received from friends and family and to discover the amazing platforms out there focussed on helping small businesses.
Although time does not always allow – double check everything. Making sure is always worth it!
When you find a good service provider look after them. Small connections and relationships are important. The people I saw the most during this lockdown are my couriers. I have worked on building a relationship with the guys collecting my parcels because every interaction is important and them caring about my product and parcel is just as important as me caring about it.
Where do you see your business in 5 years? Once we have gotten over the effects of the lock down.
Wow, I haven’t thought about 5 years down the line in a while, it is almost as if the lockdown narrowed my focus quite a bit. Hopefully in 5 years’ time we would have grown to a nice size, being able to provide employment to a few people and with a range of local photographers and artists images added to our range. I would like to believe we would have contributed to building art appreciation in more people and off course, I would also like to believe that there would be a lot more people experiencing the joy and benefits of painting in 5 year’s time than there is currently!
What is your advice to individuals out there wanting to start their own businesses but are too scared?
The best thing is to just start. The prospect of starting something was also daunting to me, but then I broke it down in smaller bits and added a timeline to each goal. It is not new advice, but it certainly worked for me. Each small goal you achieve motivates you and takes you a step closer. Just do what you can in the time that you have, step by step you do get there. Also, join platforms like Insaka and Yoco and many others, there is a lot of help and advice out there for people looking to start a business.
Tell us 2 things that are the BEST part about owning your own business and make it all worth while?
One of the best things in my day is when people are amazed by their own abilities.
We show people that they are able to do something they never thought possible and that hopefully builds their creative confidence, or confidence as a whole.
I never tire of getting feedback from customers telling me how they love their canvas and cannot believe they painted it themselves.
There is a deep satisfaction for me in working for myself. Owning my own business has taught me so much and another great thing is that the learning does not stop!
How has lock down affected you, your business and your team?
We are thankful that our sales did fairly well after e-commerce was opened again. I suspect people had a bit more time not having to commute to work and looked for something fun and creative to do, or a good way to reduce screen time now that we stare at screens even more. We hope this will stick and people will get used to doing a creative hobby they enjoy. Another benefit from lockdown was that more people were willing to shop online. Seeing that we don’t have a physical store, this boost in e-commerce confidence helped.
There were delays in our orders being delivered, and a few other difficulties, but again, we could learn from these and have been able to apply these learnings and adjust our processes. I believe we will have to continue finding creative ways to adjust to the changing times, but we are up for the challenge!
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