Today we’d like to introduce you to Vanessa Rogers.
Hi Vanessa, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My journey started in 2017 when I was 17 years old and just discovered my passion for Interior Design. I started refurbishing furniture as a gateway into this newly found passion and career path (interior design). I quickly became obsessed with the process of designing and creating furniture. In 2017, I went from refurbishing used furniture to handcrafting my own pieces from scratch.
In 2018, I graduated high school and went onto college at Austin Community College. During my time in school, I continued to design and create pieces ranging from makeup vanities to side tables, coffee tables, and desks. Later, in 2019 I created a side table (a resin river table, one of my signature designs) that went viral on Twitter. This caused my business to skyrocket, I received tons of orders for this table design, on top of gaining 10,000 followers within just a few days. I remember sitting in math class with a classmate who is now one of my close friends, and we were watching the number of my followers go up by the second. During that class period, I refreshed my Twitter account right when my page went from 9,999 to 10K followers. It was a moment that I will not forget because it was the moment I decided that this was it, this is what I wanted to do with my life.
Although I tried the school thing for a few more months, I just knew it wasn’t going to take me where my dreams wanted me to go. So, I dropped out of college and continued to grow my furniture business online. Later, in November 2019, I had to register Vrogers Designs as a business because of the amount of orders I received from that side table. So, at 19 years old I became the owner of a sole proprietorship.
Fast forward to 2021, I was able to go full-time with my business on my 21st birthday. I have expanded from only creating furniture to now creating fine art and home décor as well. I have made it a goal to grow locally in the Austin art community while simultaneously growing my business online. My work has been shown and featured around the city including, Georgetown’s 14th annual Art Hop exhibition, Almost Real Things Magazine, and Contra Common’s West of West gallery event. My work is also owned by amazing people all around the world. I have worked in every state in the US as well as Canada, The United Kingdom, The Philippines, and Europe. I create so many pieces ranging in different sizes and price points because I want people all around the world to enjoy my work. I also started offering payment plans for orders over $50 because it is so important to me that my work is accessible despite budget limitations. I’m so grateful for everyone who has collected my work.
My mission as woman woodworker, artist, and business owner is to inspire people to do what they love. I’ve been told by people within my amazing online community that my work has inspired them to start writing, painting, and creating again. While others tell me that my work has inspired them to try woodworking or resin art. It’s truly a beautiful thing when you’re able to inspire others by just being yourself and doing what you love. Lastly, I touched a little bit on my second mission in the previous paragraph, but it is very important that those who prioritize collecting art or shopping small are able to do so within a budget that works best for them. So, offering work in various price ranges as well as offering payment plans allows anyone to become a collector of my handcrafted furniture, fine artwork, or home décor.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There is a misleading concept that people have surrounding entrepreneurship. I have heard many times, “I don’t want to work a 9-5, I want to own a business so I don’t have to work.” What a lot of people don’t understand is that owning a business requires your attention 24/7. You’re always working and always thinking of what is next.
As for my own personal experience, starting a business has always been a fluctuating growth. However, I have trained myself to understand that even my “loses” are wins because I’m learning something new and teaching myself everything I know about business along the way. Even at times when I’m feeling like this is too hard to continue, I remind myself that growth is a process. If running a business was always a smooth road everyone would do it.
In the past, I would focus on social media likes and followers and equate that to my real-life growth. If my views or likes are low or if I’m losing followers, I would convince myself that I was also losing money. In reality, that was not the case at all. My collections would sell out within just a few days, and I still was so hard on myself because I was losing Instagram followers, it was ridiculous. I had to teach myself that social media likes, follows, and views does not define my real-life success.
At the end of 2020, I struggled with the taxes aspect of owning a business, I had to hire an accountant and he was appalled by my accounting system. I literally just threw all of my receipts into a folder and categorized them by the type of expense. I had no idea how much money I spent or profited in 2020 because of my lack of bookkeeping skills. After a hefty bill from my accountant, I spent 2021 learning how to keep track of my income and expenses (shoutout to QuickBooks).
Another thing I struggle with, and I’m sure my fellow artists can relate, is burnout. In 2020, I would be burnt-out every other week. I was dropping new collections weekly, then decided that was too much, so I switched to biweekly, which was STILL too much. It wasn’t until 2021 when I learned the importance of rest. I now only drop collections once per month, so I have time to rest and recoup before the next drop. I also plan my collections out months ahead of time so I’m not scrambling for ideas last minute.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I handcraft furniture, specifically tables. Most of my furniture designs consist of coffee tables, side tables, entryway tables, etc. I started creating resin home décor in 2019 when I first started to gain leverage online because I didn’t know how to affordably ship my furniture so I would create smaller pieces that resemble the type of work I’d do with my furniture. Doing this allowed me to ship a lot of work around the world while I learned how to ship furniture. I now have a system in place, so I am able to ship large and small-scaled work.
In 2021, I got into fine art because I fell in love with the concept of one of ones, one of a kind pieces, themed collections, and luxury wall art. I already had the woodworking and resin art skills, so it was an easy transition to add fine art to my shop. Although it took about a year of investing, learning new techniques, and introducing these new works to my audience, I am very happy with the way these pieces complement my furniture and I am also very happy with the response I’ve received from my online community, they really liked the idea of mini fine art pieces.
I would say I am known for my nature-inspired furniture. One time I was at Firehouse Subs in Round Rock and one of the employees asked, “Do you make the ocean tables?” It made me so happy to know that someone from online recognized me and instantly knew what I created. I also love meeting my Twitter followers in person, it motivates me to continue doing what I do.
I am so proud of myself for taking time as a young teenager to figure out what I am passionate about. Starting my journey at 17 years old is my biggest blessing. I have been able to put in the work over the years and now I am still super young and already reaping the benefits of my hard work. What sets me apart from others is my one-of-a-kind pieces, the way I am able to offer so many different styles of artwork and homewares really makes me stand out. My audience isn’t just rich art collectors, my audience is very broad, younger and older men and women enjoy my work because of the various styles and price ranges I offer.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
My ability to problem solve.
My kindness towards my customers and community. I am very helpful not only to my clients but to other business owners and artists as well. I’m very passionate about helping others succeed, so in return, I am blessed with success.
Pricing:
- Coffee Tables $1,000-$1,400
- Large Scaled Fine Art $1,000+
- Side Tables $300-$800
- Mini Fine Art $200-$800
- Home Décor $15-$200
Contact Info:
- Email: vrogersdesigns@gmail.com
- Website: www.vrogersdesigns.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/vrogersdesigns
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/vrogersdesigns
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/vrogersdesigns
Image Credits:
First Image (sitting in flannel, white + green river art piece on wooden easel) taken by: @pmuirart (Instagram)
