A LITTLE craft
IN YOUR DAY
Courtney Chambers shows
entrepreneurial chops with a splash of
color and original content
Courtney Chambers
Lilly Blomquist
Elon News Network | @elonnewsnetwork
As a kindergartner, while
the children played on the play
ground, Courtney Chambers sat
on the side, occupied with cray
ons and coloring books.
Courtney’s
kindergar
ten teacher
approached
her parents
and suggested
their daughter
see a thera
pist. She was
concerned the
child’s insis
tence on coloring was replacing
social interactions.
Now, as a sophomore at Elon
University, Courtney has gone
from coloring in between the lines
of coloring books to thinking out
side of the box with the develop
ment, creation and promotion of
her ideas. Since her freshman year
of high school, she has been man
aging A Little Craft in Your Day, a
do-it-yourself (DIY) business and
blog that provides her site visitors
with affordable craft ideas and tu
torials geared at teenage girls.
Encouraging others to craft
Courtney decided to launch
her blog with Tanner Bell, the
co-owner and executive producer
of the company. At the time, DIY
companies were only geared to
ward children, so she was eager to
create a platform that gave teen
agers the ability to express them
selves.
“We want to provide our gen
eration with a place to go to find
inspiration ... and feel capable of
creating things,” Courtney said.
content for her
iiog
In her studio room, shelves are
lined with vivid hues and various
shapes of previously-made crafts.
Boxes, bins and containers hold
her paint brushes, scissors, yarn
and glue, all ready for use.
Courtney said since crafting is
a process of trial and error, she is
prone to making mistakes — but
she views them as learning op
portunities.
“I don’t know that everything
I do is going to work, but I just
go about it in the way I think will
work the best,” Courtney said. “If
it doesn’t work, that’s OK.”
Once a week, a profession
al photographer meets with her
to photograph her crafts for the
blog.
In addition to the visuals on
her site, Courtney writes craft
tutorials with an introduction,
a supply list and tips and tech
niques to create the product.
Ylie creation process first
begins when Courtney devises
her project ideas. Whenever she
shops, her mind is programmed
to view products as potential
crafts.
“I see in black and white when
I shop now because I realize that
I can pretty much paint or spray
paint or change the color or shape
of anything,” Courtney said.
Project manager and editori
al director Rachel Hensley said
Courtney is not satisfied focus
ing on only one project. She said
Courtney has high expectations
for herself and strives to exceed
them by producing many metic
ulous crafts.
“Sometimes, it takes her a little
while longer to finish a task be
cause in her mind, she wants to
start four or five so that she can
get four or five done,” Hensley
said. “She can’t just start one and
finish one.”
Once Courtney updates her
blog with the new craft, she mar
kets it on social media to reach
her target audience; female teen
agers. She aims for an authentic,
personal and relatable online
presence, and to acknowledge her
followers’ opinions.
“The feedback from visitors is
always so fun to read,” Courtney
said. “Seeing results from them is
always exciting.”
Creating is only part of the
process
In addition to the blogging
process, Courtney also commu
nicates and collaborates with her
employees around the country,
manages finances, creates content
for sponsors and media compa
nies and travels to conferences.
Six contracted sponsors and
other advertising companies fund
her business and pay her based on
the number of people who visit
her blog.
Her sponsors also send her
products for her to use for blog
posts and as product placements.
Courtney said she secures
long-term sponsors by network
ing at crafting conferences.
“When the company is on the
line, and we’ve got some people
to impress, she pulls out all of the
stops and does a great job,” Hens
ley said.
“A startup is so much work,
so you must be on your game
and show up on time and think
through things very meticulous
ly’ said Doherty Emerging Pro
fessor of Entrepreneurship Sean
McMahon, who has Courtney in
his entrepreneurial finance class.
According to McMahon, busi
ness owners succeed when they
constantly perfect their ideas to
effectively accomplish tasks. Mc
Mahon said he notices these traits
in Courtney.
Sophomore Amanda Berry
agreed that Courtney’s strong
work ethic and dedication to her
A Little Craft in Your Day gets
500,000 page views each month.
business determine her success.
Courtney’s mother, Eileen
Chambers, is impressed by her
daughter’s willingness to step
outside of her comfort zone for
her blog.
“She really pushes herself be
cause thats where her passion is,”
Eileen said. I never put anything
past her because once she sets her
mind to something, she really
sticks with it."
atEion
Elon’s business school in
forms Courtney’s knowledge
of the field as she is majoring
in entrepreneurship.
She said her business was
financially successful enough
that she did not need to attend
college, but she decided to pur
sue an education for a stronger
knowledge base.
McM^on has taught her
about the struggles of managing a
business and given her strategies
to overcome financial and techni
cal obstacles, Courtney said.
McMahon said Courtney’s’
performance and wit impressed
him. Her kick-starter business
presentation was at the top of his
class.
She also led a workshop with
Hal Vincent, lecturer in com
munications, at the Co-Op
erative, a nonprofit business
startup incubator in Graham.
She discussed her blog and ex
plained how she attracts and
communicates with stakehold
ers while producing content.
Developing throughout the
years
Chambers was born and raised
in Philadelphia. Her crafting pro
gressed from scrapbooking and
card-making in middle school to
DIY in high school.
Now, Chambers’ creativity
includes making DIY crafts,
developing creative ideas,
teaching her ideas and promot
ing her creations.
Chambers said she hopes to
continue expanding her blog in
the future. After graduation, she
said she will run her business full
time to continue sharing her pas
sion for creating with others.
“I’m always ready to move
on to the next thing or take on
the next thing in addition to the
things I’m already doing,” Cham
bers said. “I’m always out there
looking for new opportunities
and creating them.”