Three sophomores brought their heads together over the summer. Sarah Grace Stafford, Clara McKay and Whitney Westbrook decided to start a small art business selling handmade items.

The idea came about when the girls took a trip to the lake.

“It all started when we decided to go to my lake house,” Stafford said. “My family was doing [the destination signs] and hanging them on a post outside.”

Since then, the three girls started creating destination arrows for the Decatur community. The arrows represent places that customers choose that have individual meaning.

“It’s really cool because when these people give us their orders, they’re giving us a place that’s special to them,” Westbrook said. “It’s sorta like a part of their life story.”

With the creation of the business comes budgeting and business management. With the help of Westbrook’s dad, the sophomores learned to evaluate costs, profits and other business techniques.

“He taught Clara how to talk to customers,” Westbrook said. “Like how to approach them and make it seem like our products are something they want to buy.”

Stafford agrees.

“We’ve learned a lot about how to manage money and costs that go into [the creation of the arrows] and net profit,” she said.

For Stafford and McKay, the art business doubles as their sophomore personal projects. They find that business to be fun but also challenging enough to use about the subject for the project.

“[The art business] killed two birds with one stone,” McKay said. “ We knew we were going to [start the business] so I was like ‘why not make this my personal project’. It would be cool, and I could learn some more stuff than I was originally going to.”

Two Saturdays ago, the girls sold their art at the Decatur Marketplace. They started the vending with 75 order forms, and by the time the Marketplace ended, all of the order forms were taken by customers.

After the Marketplace, a small art shop in Decatur, Wild Oats & Billy Goats, offered the girls to sell their art within its store. Surprised by this opportunity, the sophomores took the offer and will be selling their art there in the near future.

“It’s a big opportunity, but it’s also a big commitment,” Westbrook said. “We need to make sure that we can find time to dedicate [to the offer] every week, but we’re excited.”

Photos by Emmie Poth-Nebel