How to Launch a Brick and Mortar Creative Studio

 

I am so excited to share our biggest announcement yet … we have opened a Creative Studio.

Introducing This Hudson Studio.

We’ve always seen expansion for this brand in more ways than one and a brick and mortar was always on the list. We believe in creating impactful and intimate experiences both digitally and physically and it only meant that we were going to bring this experience to life through a brick and mortar location.

We’ve been working on this project for over 8 months and to say we’ve accomplished a lot is an understatement.

This space is the mark of a new era for the HN Brands.

The HN Brands stands for innovating and changing the way we live and work. 

Through HN Haus, a social club meets higher education that helps women owned founders build iconic brands and businesses.

Through HN Consulting, a creative consulting firm that specializes in building and scaling iconic brands through marketing, branding and PR.

And now through This Hudson Studio, your creative haven for visionaries, entrepreneurs, and brands alike. Our studio is dedicated to bringing creative visions to life, fostering community and bringing everything we do to an in person environment.

With many of our clients wanting to expand their brands and some into brick and mortar, it goes without being said that opening up a brick and mortar is a process and one you must be intentional about.

A few of you have reached out on Instagram asking me about what the process was like to open a brick and mortar.

So with that here are my top three tips for opening a creative studio.

#1 See your vision. 

Every great business started with an idea. Allow yourself to really dream and see your vision. It’s not just revenue right away, although that is a part of it. It’s an investment like no other – financially, time-wise, even personally. So take time to dream, write it out, create your vision for your in-person space. It’s the most powerful place to start.

Will this be an expansion of your existing brand or an entirely new business? What does this look like 5-10 years from now? I want you to think BIG.

#2 Create a Realistic Timeline

Creating a brick and mortar location takes TIME. Remember, you are literally building an in-person space. This process takes time and depends on how in depth your build out will take – it’s a different environment compared to building an online brand.

It’s also a financial investment that you need to consider. Before I even decided to move forward with the project I had to ask myself these questions:

1. Am I self funding this or am I getting outside capital?
2. What if this fails? What are my backup options?
3. Who will project manage this from start to finish?
4. How will I monetize this and what are my fixed costs until we open?

Usually with brick and mortar you are navigating construction and buildout, which is where most of your costs will come from. I looped in my husband (who happens to be in construction) who led the construction project from start to finish.

Ultimately, once I saw the space and ran the numbers and built out projections and did a competitive analysis I knew this was an opportunity worth taking the risk.

Like anything in business, everything is a risk.

You just need to be comfortable with risk and trusting yourself every step of the way.

#3 Let your creativity shine. 

This is YOUR place, don’t let anyone or anything stop you from creating and giving it an aesthetic that is beautiful to you. A creative studio is a form of art and design, so let your imagination flourish and bring this baby to life!

When I created This Hudson Studio I knew it would serve multiple purposes:

1. It would be the headquarters for our existing brands, HN Consulting and HN Haus
2. It would serve as a creative space for visionaries and brands alike who wanted to use it for photoshoots, video shoots, brand pop ups, intimate events and overall to network locally
3. It would be a springboard to expand our companies even further (we have bigger plans and THS is just phase 1)
4. It would allow our existing brands to offer a unique advantage having the in person component for retreats and is a space for our clients to use

I knew how I wanted people to feel when I created This Hudson Studio.

Creative

Innovative

Inspired

From there, marrying the design with the strategy is what brought this vision to life.

Building This Hudson Studio, our brick and mortar creative studio has been a long-awaited dream coming to reality and we are so excited to share it with you. To learn more about us click here.