How I Grew Inviting Affairs Paperie

From $5K to $60K Months: How I Grew Inviting Affairs Paperie in Two Years

Two years ago, Inviting Affairs Paperie was a sweet little stationery brand bringing in about $5,000 a month. It was enough to keep the lights on and keep me designing — but it wasn’t enough to build the future I wanted for myself and my family.

Today, we’re at over $60,000 a month. And while that number still makes me pause, I can tell you this: it wasn’t an overnight miracle. It was late nights, early mornings, calculated risks, and a stubborn belief that I could make something beautiful out of my life.

Starting Over

This business isn’t just about paper goods — it’s about survival and reinvention. I started Inviting Affairs Paperie in the middle of rebuilding my life after divorce. I was a mom of five, trying to keep everything afloat. The business began with custom wedding invitations and personalized stationery, created at my kitchen table, one client at a time.

It was creative and fulfilling… but exhausting. Every order was a one-off. Every month started at zero. I wanted more stability, more freedom, and a way to grow beyond the hours I could physically work.

The Big Shift

In 2022, I made the decision that changed everything: I moved away from one-off custom orders and into products we could create once and sell over and over — stickers, greeting cards, notepads, patches — all with a style that was unapologetically us: retro, hand-drawn, western-meets-bookish with a wink.

Instead of asking, What does the client want? I started asking, What do I want to put into the world? That shift let me design for joy, not just for approval.

Betting on Wholesale

We got serious about wholesale. I built out a full product line, listed on Faire, and began pitching shops directly. That first wave of orders was small — but it proved something: if I could get our products in front of buyers, they would say yes.

And that’s been the story ever since. We’ve grown from a handful of stockists to hundreds, with stores across the country and beyond carrying our products. Wholesale became the engine that allowed us to scale without adding more hours to my already full days.

Confidence in the Product

Here’s the truth — I’m not great at social media. I don’t have a perfectly curated Instagram or a viral TikTok strategy. What I do have is complete confidence that if someone sees our products, they’ll want them.

That’s why we invested in targeted ads. Instead of waiting for people to stumble across us, we put our work in front of them — directly in the feeds of shop owners, gift buyers, and stationery lovers. The ads weren’t just selling stickers or notepads; they were selling our style, our personality, our point of view.

And they worked.

The Lessons That Got Us Here

Design what you believe in. If you wouldn’t buy it yourself, don’t make it.

Think in multiples. Create products you can sell again and again without remaking from scratch.

Get in front of the right eyes. Whether that’s wholesale platforms, ads, or direct outreach — don’t wait for customers to find you.

Reinvest before you reward yourself. Inventory, marketing, and packaging came before a bigger paycheck.

Don’t let “small” fool you. A tiny team (or one person) can still make a huge impact.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

When I look back, I see a version of myself who wasn’t sure this would work, but tried anyway. I see the nights packing orders after the kids were asleep, the stress of saying yes to a big wholesale order before I even knew how I’d fill it, the way I learned to make decisions quickly and trust my gut.

We went from $5K months to $60K months because I stopped playing small — and because I believed the work I was creating mattered enough to be seen.

The next chapter? Bigger reach, more products, and keeping the same heart that got us here.

💌 Thanks for reading. If you’re building something from scratch, here’s my best advice: trust your vision enough to put it in front of people. Because sometimes the difference between $5K and $60K is simply letting the world see what you’ve made.