Connect
To Top

Meet Nicole Bolin of Stencil Studios in North Phoenix

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Bolin.

Nicole, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, always dreaming about living downtown amongst the hustle and the bustle of the big city. I never would have imagined that a move to the sunny southwest is what would get me there.

Unlike most of my friends who went off to college not knowing what they “wanted to be when they grew up”, I knew EXACTLY what I had wanted to be, a veterinarian. I had known this since I was about seven years old. However, during my final year at the University of Illinois I began working at a veterinarian clinic and to my dismay, realized I did not want to be a veterinarian after all. While my passion for helping animals was still strong, I found the day to day operations of a vet clinic to be less than exciting. Let me tell you when you spend 14 solid years knowing exactly what you want to do only to discover that is not at all what you want to do, it’s quite the tailspin.

I now had a bachelor’s degree in Animal Science and no idea what I wanted to do with it. My parents had moved to Arizona basically the same week I went off to college, so I figured I would at least join my family in Arizona while I figured things out. Science was still my passion so I took a job at an air quality testing lab in Phoenix where I met my future husband. In 2004, together, we started Chromosomal Labs, specializing in Forensic DNA analysis. I thoroughly loved that job for 10 years, but then it was time for a change. While most people tend to have either an analytical brain or a creative one, I have both. While running the lab fulfilled my analytical passion, my creative side was dying to do something. In preparation for the next phase of our lives, we sold our lab in 2012. I stayed on for 2 more years to run it for the new owners and then decided to leave my position in search of a new career path.

Remembering back to my dream of living in the big city, I figured it was now or never, so my husband and I moved to Chicago and rented an apartment smack dab in the middle of downtown. We spent 2.5 years there, during which I went back to school for Interior Design. It was during that time, that I got into creating my home decor pieces. Every time I walked into a store to shop, I always ended up thinking, “I could make that”. So, I did. I bought saws and sanders, crafting tools and supplies. It was becoming an expensive hobby. I found myself wishing there was a place that I could go to build and create things so that I didn’t have to spend all this money on equipment and supplies. At the time, there were canvas painting and pottery studios but there was nowhere you could go to make everything else, so I decided to create that kind of place myself. A place where people could go to express their creative side without having to spend an arm and a leg on all the required tools and materials.

Our stay in Chicago was never a permanent plan, as my husband’s entire family lived in Arizona and being a native himself, Chicago winters were not at all his thing. So, we moved back to Arizona where I spent a year developing my business plan and finding the appropriate space to open up my studio and in November of 2017, Stencil Studios was born. If you visit my studio, you’ll see my science background peeking out in various places: in some of the projects, we offer, to the organization of the studio and even the use of centrifuge tubes as glitter containers. With my new career, I even get to go back to my “veterinarian roots” helping animals, as we host multiple fundraising events at our studio for various local dog and cat rescue groups. Next on my to-do list, open a second location in Chicago.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I don’t think there is such a thing as a smooth road for a new business. Every new business will struggle with various obstacles and challenges. For me, my biggest challenge has been getting my name out there. When I was writing my business plan I debated between opening my studio in a retail location versus a business center. While a retail location gives you immediate exposure to the public, the rent also costs three times as much. Not only would that create three times the stress financially, but I would also have to charge a much higher price for my craft projects. I ultimately decided to open my studio in a business center was the best option for me. Because of this, marketing has certainly been my biggest challenge, but I knew this would be the case when I made this decision. If I had to do it all over again, I would stick with my original decision and stay with the business center location.

Please tell us about your company.
The thing I am both proudest of as a company and what sets us apart from others is our customer experience, which you will see reflected in the numerous 5-star ratings we have on google, yelp and Facebook. From the time I started my first job delivering newspapers at the age of 11, customer service was always at the forefront of my mind. While past delivery boys/girls would simply toss the newspaper on the driveway, I walked every single newspaper up to the door and placed in on the porch. I wanted my customers to be 110% happy with my service and I have lived my entire life with that focus.

We have over 100 craft projects to choose from and what we are best known for is the fact that you can come to our studio with a group of friends and everyone can choose something different to work on. Generally, studios are run in a classroom fashion where an instructor teaches everyone how to make the same project, but at our studio, everyone can pick their project. We have invested an enormous amount of time in creating tutorials for each project, complete with pictures and/or videos so that everyone can work at their own pace. Of course, our staff members are available to help at any step of the process.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have invested more time in marketing efforts sooner and less time in project development. When I opened the studio I felt as though having the largest project selection was the best way to attract customers. Plus, I just really loved the creative part of my job, that is after all why I started the studio in the first place. So, I spent the first nine months continually developing new projects and the tutorials to go with them. I did some marketing, but it probably only accounted for 10% of my time. About a year into the business and being nowhere close to even breaking even I realized I had to stop creating and really start marketing. Once I shifted my focus from project creation to marketing I started to see an increase in business. So, if I had to start over I definitely would invest more time in marketing on the front end, it would have really helped reduce the amount of financial stress I was feeling.

Contact Info:

Suggest a story: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in