Making Something From Nothing: Melanie Phillips of Kids Art Box On How To Go From Idea To Launch

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Melanie Phillips, Co-founder of Kids Art Box.

Melanie Phillips grew up in France and always loved art. As a child, she enjoyed drawing, watercolor painting and experimenting with chalk pastels but was encouraged to pursue a more scientific career. She went to school to become a structural engineer and moved to the United States in 2004 to complete a Master’s degree at Clemson University. Shortly after, Melanie moved to Las Vegas for her first engineering job, where she met her husband, Nick. In 2013, they had their first child, Alex, and their second child, Matisse, two years later. When it came time to return to work, Melanie had to search for a daycare center, which is how she discovered a Montessori school and fell in love with the Montessori philosophy. Later on, Nick and Melanie had to move cross country, so she left her job, giving her more time to spend with the children. That’s when she started creating regular art activities for her boys and shared both her art ideas and Montessori journey on her personal Instagram account. A few months later, Melanie gave birth to their youngest son, Theo, and it wasn’t long after that she realized making art with children was her true passion. She decided she wanted to share her love of art with other families, which is how Kids Art Box was born. After brainstorming with her husband, they agreed that a subscription box would be the perfect fit. It allows families to gain exposure to different art mediums and techniques, with everything delivered right to the door. Having been a full-time working mom, Melanie understood the headache of finding quick ideas that work and the right supplies while having limited free time, and Kids Art Box was the perfect solution. Every month, Melanie tests out each subscription box activity with her children so that they can continue to deliver the same excitement they feel to other families each month inside of their Kids Art Box.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I grew up in France and always loved art. When I was a child, I enjoyed drawing, watercolor painting and experimenting with chalk pastels. Although I was encouraged to pursue a more scientific career, I maintained a love for art throughout my life and eventually returned to it once I had kids. It’s been a joy to share one of my greatest passions with my children.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Owning a business is like riding a lion. People think, “wow, that’s really brave.” In the meantime, you’re like, “how the hell did I get a lion, and how do I keep it from eating me?”

This quote is highly relevant in my life. I think it’s as close to the truth as you can get about how it feels to own a small business while bootstrapping. It has been a fantastic experience developing and growing Kids Art Box, but the ups and downs are always a good test of how far we’ve come and what we’re willing to do to continue moving forward.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

The movie Crash (2004) had a significant impact on me; that was the same year I immigrated from France to the United States. The movie shared stories of different people from a variety of backgrounds, and that resonated with me, especially while I was adjusting to the new culture in the U.S.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

My advice — just do it. The only way to get started is to keep at it and not overthink it. You’ll learn as you go. Some people like to plan forever to make the perfect product or the perfect idea. The problem with this is that until someone gives you money for what you’ve made, all you have is a plan. I think it’s better to leap into it, iterate often and get real people to give actual money for a tangible product or service and then improve it based on feedback from real customers. Of course, this is not always practical for every business, but it seems best to me in most cases.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

I’d recommend searching on Google and social media. The internet has everything — if it exists, you will find it there. But if it already exists, that does not mean you shouldn’t pursue it. Sometimes the best ideas come from learning from what is already out there and doing it better.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

I can speak to finding a manufacturer, as that was initially one of our biggest challenges. It takes a lot of online research, emailing, calling and building relationships with the manufacturer. Unfortunately, supplier relationships can be particularly challenging with recent supply chain issues.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

My dad was a small business owner, as is my husband, so I grew up around it and understood a lot about business from a young age. Fortunately, that experience gave me a lot of early preparation for what it would take to own my own business.

A few things to remember:

• There will be a ton of ups and downs. One day, you will feel on top of the world, and the next, you will want to cry.
• Grow slowly and steadily, especially if you are using your own funds.
• Create a community around your product: excellent customer service, a solid social media presence and a place for a customer to turn to for help, like a Facebook group.
• You will be working a lot, but it gets better over time as you’ll start to hire help and can delegate tasks. I remember when my dad used to be on the phone for 2 hours every day, even on vacation, when he started his business. Now, I find myself doing the same thing.
• Being a small business owner means you do everything. For example, I mopped the warehouse floor yesterday because the cleaning lady didn’t do a good job. If you want to succeed, be prepared and willing to do everything, down to minor tasks, because that’s what it takes.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

I’d recommend starting by creating a prototype for the product to ensure it works and can be produced efficiently on a larger scale. Then, test the product on those closest to you who will be supportive and give you honest feedback. The last step is seeing if you can sell your product to others, so I’d recommend selling it to a few people before you produce a lot of it. Always ask for their feedback — emails and polls worked for us!

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

It depends on the person and their experience. For my husband and I, it was not something we considered. We did it ourselves, but using a consultant might be a route some people want to take, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

They both have their pros and cons. Bootstrapping means you get to decide how fast to grow, how much to grow, when not to grow and how to run the business. The catch? Your capital is at risk. Venture capital takes connections, ideas, and proof, and you answer to someone else. The expectation will be to grow, grow, and grow, and their goal is for a liquidity event where they can earn a significant return — potentially 50 to 100x. Venture capital will be challenging if you’re not looking to go public, sell the business, or have a large liquidity event.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

The products that we create allow families to connect through the power of art. It helps families deepen bonds and communicate with one another while helping children to express themselves. Our products are educational and inspirational to our customers. We receive constant positive feedback about what a difference Kids Art Box has made in homes across the country. We’ve used our success in many ways to give back, including our most recent donation of 1,660 art boxes, equivalent to $80,000 in product, to local Chattanooga schools at the time of school registration. Our success means the most when we can share it with others, giving the gift of family time and sharing the power of art with schools, teachers and students.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

If I could inspire a movement, I would want to create more local community involvement for everyone everywhere. Our country is a sum of its parts, and if we all pitch in locally, it will help the country as a whole grow better.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

I would love to sit down with Faith Ringgold because she has interesting art and stories to tell. She is a prominent African-American artist and author born in Harlem, New York City. She is most famous for her story quilts and children’s books and creates striking art and stories inspired by her own life experiences. One of the previous art boxes we offered was, in fact, Faith Ringgold-themed!

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.