Handcrafted Artisan: Meet the Maker: Kaitlyn Timms

Hi, friends! Welcome back to another post in our Meet the Maker series. How are you? How has your week gone? I hope well. We have had a different week than expected with two of our kids getting sick. It certainly can change the flow of life.

Today, I am sharing my interview with Kaitlyn with you. This interview will be different from the others in the series so far because Kaitlyn does not sell products on-line but actually is a product reviewer. Kaitlyn approached me about reviewing one of our products and I thought it would be interesting to interview her about what she does. Not only does she review products but she is a young homeschooled girl who is helped by her parents to take on this job.

Kaitlyn is from upstate South Carolina and currently lives there. But she dreams of moving to Tennessee when she is older.

I asked Kaitlyn "How long have you been a tester and reviewer of handmade crafts, and products?" Kaitlyn shared this "I started contacting different companies about one or two years ago!"

I also asked if she crafts herself and she resoundingly said "YES!!! I absolutely love creating things homemade, I especially love to make things for my family!!" That's great Kaitlyn. I love making things for my family as well.

I was curious to find out what drew her to become a tester/ reviewer. Kaitlyn shared with me "Well, when I started contacting people, I had big hopes and dreams, so I started contacting big business, business that you would see while shopping, well, let's just say my dreams were busted when they never replied. So then I sat down and started thinking, I wonder if I could help smaller businesses? And then I contacted a few people here and there, and amazingly, they were super happy to send me items to review! I remember the first small business that I contacted, agreed to send me items to review, and I was so happy and surprised! The one thing I always think to myself when I review smaller businesses is if I could be the person to give them that little boost, that would be amazing! I personally am really glad you started working with smaller businesses. I am looking forward to our collaboration together.

I asked Kaitlyn when did she start posting on YouTube and Instagram? She shared "Well, I started YouTube when I was maybe ten years old, and my mom managed my account, so, I have been doing YouTube for about 4 years now! As far as Instagram goes, I just started it about 2-3 months ago!" Wow, that is very interesting. Welcome to the world of Instagram.

When asked "what drew you to do this kind of work?" Kaitlyn shared this fun story. "Well, when I was little, I always watched all these videos of people doing different things on YouTube, and it looked so cool! I remember my first video I watched was a girl opening things she had received in the mail to review, and I thought that was so cool!! So, I asked my mom and dad if I could do videos on YouTube as well, like all these other cool kids, and they said yes! And I was so happy they did!" That's great Kaitlyn.

Another question I asked was about her future hopes for her business, Kaitlyn shared this. "My hope is that one day I will get to meet all my amazing and sweet viewers! And I would love to be able to walk into the mall, and just have people come up to me and say, 'hey, aren't you that girl on YouTube?'. That would definitely be a dream come true!"

I was curious to find out what her most favorite piece to review was and Kaitlyn said "Well, all the items I have received have been absolutely amazing and beautiful, so that would be a really hard one to say... I really couldn't decide!!!! I love all the items that I have reviewed so far! That is so great to hear.

I asked Kaitlyn what advice she has for others that want to become a tester, she shares. "Well, I would have to say, make sure you have the best interests at heart, don't just be contacting people so they send you free stuff, contact people, so you can help them grow their business! And also, I would have to say, if you want to get into the YouTube world of making videos, don't be scripted, just turn on your camera and have fun!!" Thank you for this great advice, Kaitlyn. It has been great to get to know you better. I wish you all the best in your endeavors.