Celebrating 1 Year of Running An Art Business

August 28th 2025 marked exactly 1 year since I launched my online shop Nini Mart.

Starting my own shop was a dream for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, I always imagined I’d be a shopkeeper selling handmade knick knacks, paintings and art supplies. For some reason, I also always thought this little shop would be somewhere in a small European town. The reality of Nini Mart so far has looked very different from that vision - running the online shop on Shopify, lugging trunk-full of products to markets all over town, drawing on the commute to my day job, and making content from my home office. But in some way, the dream was always more about the idea of being self-sufficient as an artist selling her work rather than the vague vision of a physical storefront. Nowadays I often have to remind myself in the hustle of everyday life that I am actually living my dream. I’m doing it! And it’s surprisingly and thankfully doing alright!!

<Shop launch announcement in 2024>

Allow me to be more vulnerable with you here - I could not have imagined any of this just 5 years ago. I had dropped out of graduate school and was back in my mom’s house, with student loans, depression and no prospects of a “real job.” Looking back, I’m quite grateful for this period of uncertainty and desperation, because it gave me a real push to pivot, reevaluate my values and purpose in life. It took a lot of courage and work to then actually carve out a road closer to my goals and happiness. I’ve learned along the way that this story is truly not unique to me and have found comfort in listening to others who have walked similar paths. If you are also chasing a dream and you feel stuck in a dark place, I feel for you and I genuinely hope that you can find the courage to go after it despite all the external pressures and self doubt.

<An early experiment with stickers in 2022>

I certainly could not have come so far by myself. I have support from my friends and family who have my back. This year alone, I've heard "We're so proud of you" from so many different friends and acquaintances, and each time it took me by surprise as I tend to keep my struggles and thoughts to myself. I didn't realize that so many people around me had been rooting for me. I'm also learning to be proud of myself as I find it challenging to believe in myself and even harder to celebrate the moments of success and accomplishment. I always feel like I need to do more, constantly look forward and prove myself. At least for now, on the 1 year anniversary, I'm able to slow down and reflect on the incredible memories I have from just one year of running this business. 

Now with that rant over, I want to share some fun new things I made to celebrate the anniversary. One of the first things I ever made for the shop was a postcard with an imaginary Nini Mart, inspired by convenience stores as the name was a play on Mini Mart. I printed a new postcard that continues the story with an imaginary Nini Mart Delivery Service. With this one, I paid extra attention to the details and colors and wanted to really animate the scene with some action - I'm so happy with how they came out and they'll be really great to draw my cute pet portraits on! 

I also couldn't pass up the opportunity to draw Nini celebrating with a cake and made it into a new sticker design. I left the cake pretty blank with just one candle on it, hoping this festive sticker can help you celebrate your birthdays, achievements and other special events! 

<Check out the new sticker here!>

And last but definitely not least, I'm SO excited to show you this new Nini Mart hat! This is an idea I've been thinking about since the beginning of the year as part of a bigger Nini Mart Merch project, and the anniversary felt like the perfect time to jump on it. Personally, I find apparel to be kind of a scary area to venture into. I got just a handful of these made to give to friends and family who have been my biggest supporters, and the feedback from them has been great! I'm hoping to turn this into a product I can carry on the shop, which will require some more research into manufacturing and some cost analysis. For now, I'm super excited to rock this hat at markets and pop-ups. 

If you've made it to the end of the blog, thank you so so much for reading and for following my journey so far with Nini Mart! A lot has happened in 1 year and I've learned so much. I can't wait to see what Year 2 holds for Nini Mart!