019: Erin Dollar of Cotton and Flax

Find Erin here:
Website //  Facebook // Instagram // Twitter // Pinterest

Erin Dollar is the designer and maker behind Cotton & Flax. With a background in fine art printmaking, Erin brings a simple, modern aesthetic vision to Cotton & Flax, which she founded in 2012.

After studying fine art printmaking at UC Santa Cruz, Erin continued her studio practice and produced artworks on paper in Portland, Oregon. She began a series of experimental printmaking projects on textiles in 2010, and spent two years refining her aesthetic vision and perfecting printing processes before founding Cotton & Flax as a permanent home for her designs.

In today's episode Erin shares her definition of success, her fear about finding fellow handmade shop owners when she moved to Los Angeles, CA, why meeting other small business owners is so important and so much more.

"For me feeling successful is feeling like you're moving in the right direction or feeling like you are making progress. Being able to look in the rearview mirror and say, oh you know, I've gotten a lot done. Even just today or this month. Those small moves forward build into something a lot bigger."

Erin shares why she thinks it is so important NOT to compare yourself, or your business to others.  This is something we all need to be constantly reminded of.

"Don't compare your business and your life with the perception of what you think others quality of life is."

While Erin is a bit more introverted than most may think she shares why owning your business means you need to be more of an extrovert and why making connections, networking, and collaborating is good for your your business.

"When you're running a business you have to be more extroverted. You have to be willing to kind of network and connect with other people in your community and in your field."