Clothing Designer Samantha Ives on Why Instagram Is Her #1 Marketing Tool

Samantha Ives has always had the creative bug. As a 17-year-old, she was already selling her homemade designs at local crafts fairs. After finishing college, she soon decided to start her own business, Maker & Mineral.

The brand has since morphed from selling bags to clothing, and with Sam’s work gaining in popularity, she’s looking to expand her customer base beyond her native San Francisco. 

We talked about the benefits of working for yourself, the difficulties of defining success and the confusion of completing tax returns! 

Name: Samantha Ives   

Business: Maker & Mineral 

Started: Spring 2015

How did you create your business?   

It's been a long time in the making. I’ve wanted to be a designer and creator since I was a kid. 

I started a t-shirt business when I was a teenager and when I went off to college I studied fine art. Once I got home, I was trying to figure out how to be creative again, so I started taking fashion classes in San Francisco. For my major, I designed and crafted sculptures out of fabric. I combined this with my interest in clothing design and decided to make something happen out of it!

I also always knew I wanted to work for myself. There are a few businesses that I thought about applying to join, but I like having total say over what I do. I like every part of the process of running my own company — from designing and printing to sewing and selling.

When did you *know* your business was working?   

I don't think I'll ever totally know that it's going in the right direction! 

Getting feedback from strangers was a good sign that things were going well, though. For a long time it was just my close friends and family who were giving me feedback, so having people I don't know participating in my brand now is pretty cool. The business itself keeps changing and I'm excited to see that.    

Who was your first customer?   

In the beginning, friends were my first customers. But my first sale through my website was a stranger who found me on Instagram — which I thought was awesome.

Instagram is how I do most of my publicity, as it's a really amazing tool. It can be hard to stand out on the platform, but I try to let my products speak for themselves. 

I also have talented photographer friends I rely on because the images I use have to be great. I try to contact other artists on Instagram, too, to make new connections and it's worked out so far!

What has been the biggest surprise so far after starting your own business?   

I guess I wasn't sure what to expect at the beginning, but being contacted by strangers telling me that they like my work is still shocking! Getting to be a part of the creative community and making friends has also been really special. At first it was surprising, but now it's something I very much foster.

I'm still figuring out the business side too, especially taxes. I'm looking towards the point where I can hire people  to help, because even though I like having my hand in every part of the business, I know I'll eventually have to let go. 

The first person I'll hire is someone who can deal with my taxes!    

How do you price your products?   

My pricing is often based on labor, as I get a lot of my materials second hand. So, those costs aren’t too high. I like to be sustainable in creating my products — it's a big part of what I do and I hate producing waste. 

I base my prices mainly on the time it takes me to make a piece. Then, I use the standard markup of double or triple the hourly rate. I find pricing hard, though, because I want my products to be accessible to a person like me — but it turns out that hand-making clothes is not cheap.

What does your typical day look like?   

I have another job that I work at two days a week to pay my rent. Living in San Francisco is really expensive and relying solely on Maker & Mineral right now would make me hate it because I would need to put so much pressure on making my business successful!

Usually, I get up in the morning, go to the gym, then I deal with emails. Afterwards, if I'm not at work, I'll head to my studio. I separate my home from my studio, which is another reason for having a steady job because I pay double rent. 

I like to work on tasks all at once, so I'll either do a lot of printing — I'll print for five or six hours at a time — or I'll sew for about five hours. I get very focused on one job and then I'll do another one the next day. 

I'm a night owl, so I get a lot of my work done in the evenings. I find myself becoming most productive at around 7pm. I can often work until 3am, so I have very long days which are focused, but then I'll also have days off and not go into my studio.

If you could go back in time, is there anything you would do differently when you were starting your business?   

I would have tried to get more advice from people who have been here before. 

At the beginning, I wanted to start something so badly that I just went for it. For the first nine or ten months, I had no idea what I was doing! I should have had more of a structured plan or taken some sort of business class, because I had to figure out everything as I went along.

What would you like to learn today from a community of other small business owners and self-employed professionals?   

I'd be interested to see how other people who have small businesses approach their publicity. 

I love Instagram, as I said, but I don't do much other marketing! I want to see if there are other effective methods of self-promotion or other social media channels I should be paying attention to. 

I'm planning to move out of San Francisco this year, and I want to build a customer base that can follow me to another part of the world.   

Let's all help Samantha out!

Do *you* have tips Samantha can take with her when she moves her business to a new location? What other marketing channels or social media platforms should she be using to the word out about her gorgeous designs?

Share your recommendations with us in the comments below! :-)