Conversations with Amy Taylor

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Taylor.

Hi Amy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I have a rather typical career story – I went to school for one thing and wound up doing something completely different once I discovered my true passion. I actually began my career in the fashion industry, which lead to working as a women’s magazine editor where I honed my skills as a writer and graphic designer.

Eventually, I began designing as a side hustle and opened an Etsy shop. From there, things just progressed slowly. It went from selling digital party invites to selling baby books (which I decided to make when I found out I was pregnant with my third and couldn’t find a book I liked). When the baby books started selling well, I began expanding on the idea of memory-keeping for the infant-childhood years.

Soon, I had a line of memory-keeping products that would help mamas document their pregnancy journey and each of their children’s school years. Milestone cards were a great way to capture quick photo memories, and quote books were a fun spot to jot down the hilarious things children said each day before their words were long forgotten.

I fell in love with the idea of simple memory keeping; founded on the reality of a young mom of 3 (me) with little time and energy to devote too much beyond keeping her kids alive and dinner on the table.

This became the heart of Nuts & Bolts Paper Co. A memory-keeping company for all moms who want (and need) easy documenting for the years they never want to forget – the hard years, the weird years, the fun years, the years that were formative in their family’s history, the years where they felt alone, and the years where everything changed for the better.

Ten years later, I am still solo-owned and operated. In fact, I only just hired my first part-time production assistant last year so I can keep up with packaging and shipping, but I’m still the only full-time employee. I run Nuts & Bolts Paper Co out of my studio in the basement of our Colorado home and just about every order still passes through my hands (I’m a Type-A control freak, so I like it this way).

I’ve been able to maintain and scale my business by outsourcing the largest pieces of my production (for our best-selling pregnancy journals) to a local commercial printer and his team. This allows me to keep the largest units of inventory elsewhere and avoid having to hire my own employees or increase my workspace.

I eventually launched my own website (nutsboltspaper.com) and also added my products to Amazon.com, which is where things really took off for me. Amazon has been a very successful marketplace for my pregnancy journals, where tens of thousands of units have sold over the past few years thanks to their large customer base!

Sales are still steady, ideas are still flowing and there is still plenty of room to grow. I’m constantly working to learn new things about my industry and sales in general (I just completed a Certificate of Digital Marketing from Denver University, which was very helpful!) and test new creative ideas. The ability to try and fail and create and invent is what keeps my day-to-day interesting.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
When you commit to being an entrepreneur, you quickly learn that struggles are everywhere! I struggled with having to learn the business side of things – what licenses are needed, what taxes to pay, and how to manage my books (I outsourced that eventually because accounting is not for the faint of heart!).

When you have a product-based business, there are inevitably production struggles. I’ve wasted thousands of dollars on materials that didn’t meet quality control or products that just didn’t sell or mistakes made in the production process. You have to learn to work these costs into your overall structure so they don’t become the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I’ve struggled with others copying my designs and having to hire an attorney and go through that process; which is just as much of an emotional struggle as it is mental.

And of course, I struggle with imposter syndrome all the time! As a creator, it’s impossible not to compare your work to others, and as a business owner, it’s impossible not to feel like a failure when you see competing companies surpass you.

The trick is picking yourself back up and being able to pivot and learn from your mistakes or accidents. I also suggest having a strong business partner or life partner who picks you up when you’re down – a therapist doesn’t hurt either!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Graphic designers tend to have a creative specialty, and mine is layout design. I love taking a design idea, turning it into a book layout, and then seeing that digital layout design turns into a physical product.

I also love paper! (is that weird?) I love getting paper samples and selecting the best quality, the prettiest texture, and the perfect color. My college degree was in product development, so perhaps that’s why the process of testing and choosing materials that eventually come together for a perfect finished product is my favorite part of the creation process.

As a mom, I design from experience; all of our memory-keeping products are things I would use as a busy mom of three who wants to remember these precious years. I’m also a lazy memory keeper in my own personal life, so I try and make our products as simple as possible – so that they help preserve the biggest and best memories, but not EVERY memory (there simply isn’t time).

Finally, I pride myself on making Nuts & Bolts Paper Co a memory-keeping company that offers tons of customization options. We purposely bind our books in-house so that you can pick and choose what types of pages to include in your book when you order. Every order we fill is different and unique, and we try to offer options for all family types: single moms, same-sex couples, adoptive families, and heterosexual couples.

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
Owning a business means knowing you can’t do it all and being willing to accept support and delegate. I’m always looking to pay others to do the work I either don’t have time for or don’t enjoy – whether that be accounting, social media, marketing, or production.

I have also collaborated with other makers in the past to create products that speak to our shared customer base. We all have something unique to give and it’s so special to be able to bring those skills together!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nutsboltspaper.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nutsboltspaper/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nutsboltspaper
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nutsboltspaper