Meet Amy Taylor | Nuts & Bolts Paper Co Owner & Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amy Taylor and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amy, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
I think the most important factor behind “success” is to remember that success is relative and fluid. My success may not look like someone else’s. As a small business, I often struggle with imposter syndrome or watching competitors grow while I feel like I am sitting still, despite working so hard.

So I’ve had to create my own definition of success. For me, overall success was to bring in an income that was impactful for our family. Over the years, I’ve been able to do that, and it helped me to set a benchmark that, as long as I hit it or come close, I feel like I’m successful.

I also redefine success every year and set goals accordingly. One year, I wanted to increase sales so I began selling on Amazon – success! This year, I decided to go after a marketing degree (I’m almost done!) – success! Next year, who knows?

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I remember the day I landed in Colorado.

Just me, 2 kids under the age of three – hungry and tired from the flight – and my dad, who came along as a helper. We met my husband at baggage claim, who had arrived ahead of us in our only vehicle, filled to the brim with our belongings.

I remember saying goodbye to my dad at the airport a few days later, sobbing as I drove away; knowing I was now alone in a city full of strangers.

I remember taking a pregnancy test 6 months later, uttering a 4-letter word when it said “positive.” I had made one friend so far in Colorado, I had two young kids, my husband worked full-time and traveled often, and I had no idea how I was going to grow and raise another human being without a support system.

I also worked long hours trying to grow my little stationery company, which at the time only made me a few hundred dollars each month; but I had a dream to turn it into something bigger.

It was somewhere around month 6 of my pregnancy that I began looking for a simple baby book. Documenting was important to me; we had just started a new journey in our life and this child would be our first native Coloradan. I didn’t want to forget this time, as frightening and foreign as it was.

With 3 kids, little help, and a business to run, I knew that whatever documenting I did with baby #3 had to be simple. Unable to find something I liked, I decided to just make my own.

And that’s when Nuts & Bolts Paper Co was truly founded.

I designed what I knew. A baby book that fit my own needs; something short and to the point, but still pretty (I hate cheesy). It covered the necessary details for each month of baby’s first year, with space for a few highlights and a photo.

This baby book was intentionally designed to work with the memories saved on my phone… so I could easily open my photos, print my favorites, grab their dates and recall the moments that accompanied them to jot down in my baby book – whether it was one week after it occurred or 3 months. It was going to be a foolproof way to document my baby’s first year of life, and I was determined to actually finish it (third babies always seem to be forgotten about in the world of memory-keeping, after all).

I found a local printer and spent hours looking for the best place to find the materials I needed at a cost that would make sense for resale. I wrote content, designed color palettes and graphics, spent hours revising and learning how to bind a book. And eventually, the first 3 baby books for Nuts & Bolts were born (pun intended).

As the product line grew, so did the ideas. Soon, I had memory books and products that would help mamas document from pregnancy through their child’s high school graduation.

I fell in love with the idea of simple memory keeping; founded on the reality of a lonely young mom in a foreign place, and with little time and energy to devote to much beyond keeping her kids alive and dinner on the table.

This became the heart of Nuts & Bolts Paper Co. A memory-keeping company for all moms who want (and need) easy documenting for the years they never want to forget – the hard years, the weird years, the fun years, the years that were formative in their family’s history, the years where they felt alone, the years where everything changed for them.

This is still the mantra and the mission. Every item I design is created to fill a need, to help a mom simplify, to help her remember it all.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I grew up in Orange County, CA and went to college in Los Angeles, so I’ve always loved taking a trip to the city. When we moved to Colorado, we choose to live just north of Denver in a smaller town, but we often make our way downtown to enjoy the food and the atmosphere. As baseball lovers, we never a miss an opportunity to watch the Dodgers play the Rockies (we’re sporting blue, sorry Rockies!) and maybe catch a bite to eat at The ViewHouse. I love the quirky parts of Denver, where small eateries are tucked into corner neighborhoods – you’ll find some of the best food here! My family loves going to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, because there’s something for everyone to enjoy. I like to suggest to out-of-towners to take a tour of the Denver Mint – it’s fascinating!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
From the start, my husband believed in my ability to create something out of nothing. He was my biggest cheerleader and our breadwinner for many years while I figured things out. I always encourage young women to find themselves a partner who will support them and believe in them at all costs! Even though I run the business, it belongs to the both of us.

Website: https://nutsboltspaper.com

Instagram: instagram.com/nutsboltspaper

Facebook: facebook.com/nutsboltspaper

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6OpZ1B-5FwwLF39twMhDGg

Other: https://www.pinterest.com/nutsboltspaper/