Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Eich.
Amanda, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My career started out working as an architect in both Chicago and San Francisco. I always had a subconscious sense that I wanted to work for myself someday, and as I moved through my career in architecture, as much as I loved doing that, it didn’t feel like that was going to be my path to entrepreneurism. Simultaneously, I was working for a firm creating a lot of its marketing materials and print art and although at the time I wasn’t thrilled that I wasn’t actively designing buildings and 3-dimensional spaces, I was essentially training myself and honing in on my 2-dimensional graphic design skills. Add in that I was in my mid-20s and a lot of friends were getting married- one thing led to another and I found myself offering to design their wedding invitations as my gift to them (living in San Francisco with my then-boyfriend also meant that we were broke, it was a convenient way to gift something to my friends!).
When Tony and I moved back to Chicago, we got married, and it was only about a year into settling back into Midwest living that we decided it was time to just go for it. So in 2006 we officially started Spilled Ink Press, in 2008 we officially cut the employment rip cord and went full time.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s certainly been fun and interesting, but I wouldn’t say it’s always been a smooth road. My husband and I both being creative people struggled with the “business” side of things. We learned early on to pay others to do what we couldn’t fake… like a good accountant who set up our bookkeeping system… and a good business coach who helped us when we were faltering a bit on who we were (that’s when we created the website we have today and our official mission statement). You have to learn that it’s ok to let your company evolve and grow.
In 2015, we had our son and our lives changed again as Spilled Ink Press was and has always been our first baby. We put off growing our family almost unintentionally because our lives were so wrapped up in self-employment. A 2nd major shift happened around that time- Tony moved on to work outside of Spilled Ink Press. We felt for the first time the “all eggs in one basket” approach wasn’t going to work for us now that #babyspilledink was coming along.
In 2016 another major shift happened. After 10 years of self-employment and creating the brand of Spilled Ink Press in the Chicago bridal market, I was recognizing the company was yearning to evolve in a way I couldn’t quite put my finger on. A friend, Rachel Cherny, who owns Rachel Street Press answered the call by asking me to come on board to help manage Rachel Street Press. I knew right away it was going to be a great fit. In January of 2016 we essentially merged Spilled Ink Press with Rachel Street Press and collectively rebranded. We are now a division of RSP Printing, the official exclusive provider of Spilled Ink Invitations.
Please tell us about Spilled Ink Invitations.
RSP Printing, Exclusive Provider of Spilled Ink Invitations, offers a wide range of services. Spilled Ink still is doing what we do- creating unique, custom hand-crafted wedding and social invitations. We specialize in tailoring the invitations to really reflect the vibe of the client, capturing their personality and the tone they want to set for the event. We do that in a way we like to call “invitation architecture”, form follows function- our invitations are little three-dimensional pieces of marketing that are organized in a way so as each piece has its own place and function. Graphic hierarchy, proportions, and balance are very important to us.
RSP Printing offers corporate design and printing services, from business cards, promotional postcards, to brochures and marketing booklets. I love designing for both the corporate world (technically where I started all those years ago doing the marketing for the architecture firm I worked at) and the wedding world. It’s a really nice balance.
We strive to be the creative home people can go to when they want a unique invitation, and also the personal go-to printer for companies that want efficient great service that isn’t just ordering from an anonymous online printer.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
My husband and I would have taken more vacations. It’s hard as an entrepreneur to step away and take a break- those days you aren’t working are days you aren’t making the rent- but looking back, we could really have benefited from building in some recharge time. Plus, as parents of a bouncy toddler now, we catch ourselves saying… “Why didn’t we go out more before we had kids? Oh yeah, we were always working” (insert sad trombone).
Contact Info:
- Website: Spilledinkpress.com (invitations)
RSPPrinting.com (printing) - Phone: 3123768880
- Email: orders@rspprinting.com
- Instagram: spilledinkpress
- Facebook: spilledinkpress
- Twitter: spilledinkpress
- Yelp: spilledinkpress
© Miss Motley Photography 2016 | www.missmotleyphotography.com
Image Credit:
Amy Boyle Photography
Wade Chandler Photography
Dani Phaneuf Photography
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