034 | Adam Smith, Life is Funny Press on pursuing entrepreneurship, juggling family & business and why it's important to not force yourself into creative work that doesn't feel right.

Adam Smith is the founder of Life is Funny Press, a letterpress greeting card company based in Los Angeles. Adam worked a pressman for Sugar Paper before branching out on his own to start Life is Funny Press. Adam's passion for printing, his family and making products with purpose really shines through in this episode.

Adam came to Paper Camp in 2014 before jumping into trade shows. He currently sells his products via wholesale, retail and custom channels.

On today's episode we're talking about leaving a full time job to pursue entrepreneurship, a dad's perspective on juggling family & business, plus why it's important to not force yourself into creative work that doesn't feel right.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE:

• When Adam first grew an interest in letterpress printing
• When and how he started Life is Funny Press
• The benefits of working at Sugar Paper while building his business
• The things that motivate him when he is creating new products
• Printing in small batches at first to test products before printing large quantities
• Pricing letterpress cards with multiple colors
• How he balances his roles as a dad and a business owner
• How Adam defines success and how that has changed over time
• The retail portion of Life is Funny Press
• Transitional times in his business and how he handled them
• The advice he would give to anyone starting a product based business
• What's next for Life is Funny Press
• How often he does product releases

KEY TAKE-AWAYS:

"We need to stay true to who we are and I think that the best work we produce comes from just our natural interests." - Katie Hunt

"I might love an idea and think that it's like the best thing that I've ever come up with but I don't want to print like a thousand and then find out that it's just it's only funny to me or it doesn't work so well." - Adam Smith

"I absolutely love being on the press and wouldn't ever want to take myself away from that." - Adam Smith

"When's going to be a good time for anything? Let's just do it and then adjust on the back end." - Adam Smith

"Choose what you want your brand to represent." - Adam Smith

"If it doesn't work, don't force it." - Adam Smith

"There is a market for everything and you need to be true to what you want to do." - Adam Smith

LINKS:

Website: https://www.lifeisfunnypress.com/

Facebook: @LifeisFunnyPress

Instagram: @LifeIsFunnyLA

Pinterest:

Twitter: @LifeIsFunnyLA

JOIN THE TSBC FAMILY:

Our signature Paper Camp program is back and we're now enrolling for Winter 2018! We're talking about product development sales tools, trade shows, marketing, working with buyers, sales reps and the press. Attend live or online. It's the similar content, available in different formats.

Paper Camp Conference: an intensive 2-day program taking place March 1-2 in Los Angeles.

Paper Camp E-Course: 4-week online program with live Q&A calls starting January 16th.

Get all the details and grab your seat at www.tradeshowcamp.com/papercamp

ABOUT PROOF TO PRODUCT:

Proof to Product is brought to you by Tradeshow Bootcamp and hosted by Katie Hunt. Since 2011, TSBC has worked with hundreds of product based businesses to help them up level, scale, and build profitable sustainable companies. You can find our show notes and additional resources at ProofToProduct.com. If you like what you heard today, please head over to Apple Podcast to leave a five star review and subscribe. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next week with a new episode!