Selling Greeting Cards with Callie of Sparks of Joy Co
If you love paper products, today I am interviewing an amazing female entrepreneur who specializes in selling greeting cards.
Hi Callie! Can you share a little about yourself and your business, Sparks Of Joy Co?
Sparks of Joy Co was founded during the pandemic and was born out of the desire to bring more joy to the world through handwritten cards.
We design and sell mini cards (perfect for hand delivering), pre-stamped postcards, and flat cards, so you don’t have to worry about tracking down a stamp. Our goal is to eliminate all barriers between the idea of writing a special note to someone and actually sending it.
We also sell recyclable shipping mailers in unique and exclusive designs to make shipping and receiving packages a joyful experience from the moment you open the mailbox.
After the last two years, we realize how powerful a handwritten card could be in a world that has shifted to text messages.
In the last 18 months, we gained over 80,000 TikTok followers and sold over 13,000 greeting cards!
It’s clear to us that others also see the value in handwritten notes.
Our heart desires to see our business grow.
Not just for success, but so we can increase our capacity to bring more joy into this crazy world.
The world could use more joy, connection, and heart. Our goal is to help make that happen, one joyful piece of mail at a time.
As someone obsessed with all things print, I love that you have a successful business selling greeting cards instead of digital products. Did you receive any pushback over this when you first started your company?
We did not! We have found that people really love the opportunity to switch back to handwriting letters and it’s been really well received!
How long did it take you to get Sparks of Joy Co up and running?
I have always loved this question. Sparks of Joy Co was up and running in 4 days – from the first idea to the marketing plan, logo, website, and the first 10 card designs in hand.
When my ADHD allows me to hyperfocus, anything is possible! At the time, I was quarantined after moving, so I had endless amounts of time, and I had a big task I was avoiding – unpacking.
I see that you’re on both Etsy and Shopify, but you push your Shopify store on your social media profiles. Do you prefer Shopify over Etsy, and why?
I love Shopify! About 98% of my orders come through my Shopify website, but I keep my Etsy shop up primarily for my poly mailers.
I tend to sell many of the mailers to other small business owners through Etsy. Etsy takes too many fees for me to push all my business there, plus I would rather people be focused on my product rather than being shown other similar products like Etsy does.
You have over 80,000 followers on TikTok – wow! I’ve been loving TikTok lately. How do you use the platform to market your brand?
We LOVE TikTok! It has brought in a majority of our orders. We love to share behind-the-scenes videos, the story behind cards, mental health checkpoints, and so much more.
TikTok is truly the platform with the most potential right now. We had one of our TikToks go viral last year, bringing in almost 800 orders in 4 weeks. The possibilities are endless!
What is the #1 piece of advice you would give to Shopify stores trying to gain sales via TikTok?
Be authentic and real. Be relatable. Make sure to share your product, but share how it will benefit someone, rather than just a cold sales pitch.
Our most viral video was a spontaneous video shot in Target that showed the price of a normal greeting card in-store and then showed that our cards were $2.00 and included a stamp.
It allowed people to quickly see that our cards were cheaper, included a stamp, and supported a small business.
People saw how it benefited their life (by including the stamp) and went crazy with buying cards. We love that!
I know you’ve mentioned that you run this business as a side hustle to your full-time job. Is the goal to turn Sparks of Joy Co into a full-time job?
To be honest, I’m not sure right now. I truly love my day job. I am a social media strategist for a University, and I’m pursuing my Ph.D. in Communications.
As Sparks of Joy Co continues to grow, my current goal is to hire people like my friend Wil to help run the day-to-day operations. This helps protect me from creative burnout while also being able to create some income for others.
There is always the possibility of selling greeting cards as my full-time job one day, though! I won’t count it out as a possibility!
How much time do you spend selling greeting cards every week?
Depends on how creative I am feeling, how many TikToks I make, and how many orders those TikToks bring in, anywhere from 2 hours to 20 hours.
Honestly, it depends on the week, my day job load, and my classwork for my Ph.D.!
Last but not least… tell us about your favorite Sparks of Joy Co products and where we can buy them!
My favorite Sparks of Joy Co card is probably our “I Lava You” card! Growing up, my dad and I heard a joke: “What does the daddy volcano say to the baby volcano? I lava you!” When I designed this card, I used my dad’s handwriting for the text on the card, so it’s super special to me.
My favorite sticker is our “Text of Hope” sticker. My best friend died several years ago by suicide. I missed several text messages from him that day due to work, so I designed this sticker to represent a message I wish I could have sent him that day.
It’s incredible to hear the stories people have shared with us about how they use this sticker and who they are inspiring along the way. We can all use a little reminder that this world needs the light we bring.
All of our cards, stickers, and poly mailers can be found at SparksOfJoyCo.com!
Author Bio
Callie Goodwin is the founder and human behind @sparksofjoyco! Sparks Of Joy Co was born out of quarantine and created to help bring joy to this dark and crazy world through handwritten notes. During the day, you can find her managing social media for Columbia International University, and in the evening, she’s selling greeting cards while working on her Ph.D. in Communication.
