Adventures in Entrepreneurship: Lessons Learned

Hello 2025!

It’s been awhile~

Not gonna lie, it’s hard to be hopeful this year, with everything that’s been going on these last 3 months. But! We’re not going to ignore the reality, but we’re also not planning on slowing down this year. After registering our business 7 months ago, we’ve learned quite a bit in our 2024 venture.

Not all events are a Nat & Kee Event

Over the last year, we had our fair share of bust events. We sought out affordable tables and leapt at any opportunity that said “yes”. However, based on our niche and particular organizers, we realized that was a huge mistake. Our customer doesn’t exist everywhere, and we can’t expect to just create one just by them visiting our table. Learn more about this in our podcast interview with Bonus Points Shop. So we’ve had some losses, but we’re being very critical with how we approach this year.

Marketing… ugh

One of the hardest things to learn as a small business owner with NO knowledge of how to build a brand, getting the hang of marketing Nat & Kee has been no easy feat. From not understanding key indicators like ROIs and poor traction from SEO guides, it’s been extremely stressful. So we’ve found some newsletters and podcasts to start getting into this year, and we’re already seeing a small trickle of progress, so go us!

Material Sourcing

Seeking the best deal on materials was also a challenge. Being made-to-order at the moment, scrambling to find reliable brands with good prices became a bit of a chore. At the start of this year, we sat down and found 3 suppliers for each of our needs, and categorized them by 2 scenarios.

• Best Price - Lowest costs while sacrificing time
• Best Delivery Time - Quickest return while sacrificing cost

Hoping we can plan accordingly while meeting customer needs, it’s been beneficial when making certain financial decisions so far.

Looking Ahead…

What should you expect from us this year? More attempts towards community growth. We want to surround ourselves with you guys this year. More events away from the table. More cosplay. And certainly new products to design for all of you! Our first non-table event this year is looking like GalaxyCon at the end of March. Will we see you there?

Upcoming Events

So far, we have been approved for the following events:

SugoiPopCon June 2025

TineeCon July 2025

We’re still waitlisted for a few, but we’ll be sure to update them as we get approved!

Thanks for reading. Let’s meet again at the Artisan Arcade!