Some of the custom cards available from Photo Card Cafe, a Web-based business started by an Edmond woman that allows people to customize greeting, announcement and holiday cards online using their own photos. By Paul Hellstern, The Oklahoman
She doesn't spend 40 hours a week away from home, and she can take time off whenever she wants for things like spending a sunny day with her son at the park or skipping town with her husband when he travels on business.
Not only that, but when she does have to work, she likes it.
The Web-based business she started on her home computer 1½ years ago is booming. Sales revenues for Photo Card Cafe — a Web site for making custom greeting cards — grew 1,700 percent during 2007.
"Honestly, I didn't have high expectations at all,” Watterson said. "I've been pleasantly surprised, and I really enjoy it. I get to travel with my husband, and I can work from wherever.”
Watterson, 29, has a background in graphic design for Web sites and has always liked making all types of greeting cards for her friends and family. Since it's something she can do from home, where she also can be a full-time mom, it made sense for it to become a business.
"It's good income right now, but I don't work a 40-hour work week,” she said. "That's wonderful to me. I can take my kid to the park. It's a wonderful day, let's go. I still get to be a mom, which I enjoy.”
Watterson spent much of 2005 and 2006 building her Web site and researching ideas. It was during that time that she and her husband had their first child. When the site was finally publicly launched in August of 2006, keeping the business going wasn't easy.
"It was really a slow start, but it picked up over Christmas of that year,” she said.
Things really got off the ground for Watterson when sales climbed during the 2006 holiday season, but the task of raising a child, custom designing each holiday card and keeping up with growing demand proved a daunting task for her as sole owner and operator. It was time to find some help.
"She had some sample designs but some were very custom from the beginning,” said Sara Hejl, Watterson's longtime friend and former college roommate. "It (custom designing) was very cumbersome and during all this time, when she was developing, she had a kid at home and had quit her job. She became overwhelmed.”
Hejl, 28, joined Watterson in April 2007 to serve as chief marketing officer. Despite living a full six-hour drive away from her friend, Hejl said the two have managed to successfully run Photo Card Cafe from their respective homes via the Internet. Hejl, also a mother, said moving her family from their home near Austin, Texas, simply wasn't an option because of her husband's job.
Watterson said Hejl's contribution has been invaluable. Hejl has used her experience in advertising and public relations to boost the company's online presence on Google. She boasts that Photo Card Cafe is currently the No. 2 listing on Google when one searches for "photo Easter cards.”
"We're working on that pretty hard,” Hejl said of online advertising, which she calls a no-brainer for any online business. "Our top marketing focus for this year is to move up on Google, Yahoo, MSN and various search engines. The key there is it's inexpensive and it's the most beneficial to our business.”
The cafe, like many in a growing market of online greeting card boutiques, relies heavily on their holiday sales, particularly during the Christmas season, as well as selling their cards at a bargain price, Watterson said. The cards cost from 90 cents to $1.99.
Watterson pointed to her company's rapid growth during the past 1½ years in response to questions about how they've handled the stiff competition. The cafe sold more than 33,000 cards in November and December 2007, she said, compared with about 10,000 during the same time in 2006.
"The Saras,” as they like to call themselves, also re-vamped their site in the last several months to give customers more creative control over card designing.
People now can choose from any number of templates — basic card designs — that can then be modified for any occasion from announcing a birth or wedding to just saying "happy birthday” or "I love you.” People can customize their cards by uploading pictures and writing text in a box that will then show up on the card design. Then, they preview their design before they decide whether to purchase it, Watterson said.
In the end, Watterson and Hejl said they still don't make more money than their husbands, but admitted their spouses say they'd be happy to join the photo card team the day it turns into a major market player.
"They like to brag about us,” Hejl said. "They think it's cool. It's great that we've been so successful. It's a lot of fun and hopefully the world will always need cards.”
