My name is Dillon Hayutin. When I was four, I asked my parents for art lessons
for my birthday. My dad scanned my artwork to share on our family website.
Everyone loved my artwork so much, that my mom started printing my designs onto
cards.
In 2000, I gave my kindergarten teacher my cards for the holidays. She was so
impressed that she asked me if they were for sale! She made a deal with me, that
if she bought my cards, I would promise to learn about starting my own business,
and open a savings account for college at the Young Americans Bank. That was the
start of my business, Hayutin Heartfelt Creations!
In 2001, my sister started taking art lessons, and we became business partners.
Our business includes note cards, bookmarks, coasters, placemats and 11x14
matted copies. Our artwork has won in art contests and been bought by art
collectors. Most recently, we were awarded the Young Americans Center for
Financial Education’s 2006 Young Entrepreneur of the Year. We also have made
donations to charities. We were asked to donate 65 pieces of our artwork for
display at The Children’s Hospital. In 2005, we donated the profits from our
card sales in September to benefit the children of Hurricane Katrina.
We have been commissioned to design original artwork, placemats for the Young
American Center for Financial Education boardroom and the Denver Newspaper
Agency and a Wedding Collection-invitation, bookmark and thank you notes.
We figured out our best selling products are our cards. Instead of selling
individual cards we decided to package them. We now package our cards into three
different collections: Award-Winners, Favorites and Recent Works. This makes
selling much less complicated and the customer’s decisions easier which lets us
sell even more!
And best of all, our card business grew so much that we hired a professional
print company instead of printing the cards on our home computer. While each
card costs a few cents more, it sure cuts down on our labor, which allows us
even more creative time!
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