Meet Mimi Purnell | Digital Artist & Content Creator

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

Hi Mimi, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I’ve always wanted to have a creative job, and as someone who loves to travel to new places I knew that the most practical way to have creativity and flexibility in my career was to have my own business.

I worked as a freelance graphic designer for several years which gave me a little bit of the flexibility that I wanted but I never loved it and always knew that I wanted to transition away from working for other people to my own creative projects as an illustrator.

Ultimately I decided to start acting like I was already an illustrator by drawing everyday so that I could learn the skills I needed, until eventually I had developed my art skills and grown a small community along the way. I knew from the beginning that having an audience was going to be key to my success so from day one I was sharing my journey and progress on Instagram, and growing my community has been a key foundation for my business.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am so proud of the kind community of artists that I’ve built over the past few years across YouTube, Instagram and Patreon. It feels rare on the internet to have a supportive, encouraging comment section and I love that my community are so kind to each other (and to me)!

I’ve always tried to be authentic and genuine in everything that I share, and I think that something that has helped my success is actually not trying to be exceptional at anything – I’m just another creative person who enjoys making art and sharing that journey, but my style isn’t very advanced so I think it feels quite attainable to reach where I am. People can tell when you’re being genuine and yourself and they really appreciate that.

From the beginning I’ve taken a long-term, sustainable approach to building my business which means that it’s taken quite a few years to grow it from scratch, and there have been plenty of times when I’ve wondered if the growth has been too slow. It’s sometimes hard to continue showing up and persevering when you aren’t getting fast results, but I think you end up understanding your community better when you’ve grown it slowly rather than having overnight success.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I love to travel and currently don’t really have a home base, so a little adventure somewhere new would be on the cards! Personally, I think you see most places best by walking because you have so much time to take everything in slowly rather than rushing through, so a long walk in nature with a picnic lunch from a local bakery is always a nice way to spend the day.

There’s more space for thinking and for new ideas when you’re outside, so it’s a good idea to take a sketchbook and a few art supplies to be able to make art along the way.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’ve been so fortunate to have supportive people in my life who didn’t question my many attempts at starting a creative business, even when most of those attempts failed. It makes such a huge difference to feel supported when you’re having doubts or start to worry about what other people will think, so I wouldn’t have made it as far as I have without my partner and my family cheering me on.

My audience is also the loveliest community of artists who lift me up and motivate me to create more art content, so their support is really the whole reason I do what I do.

From a practical point of view I’ve learned so much about business and entrepreneurship from books like ‘The $100 Startup’ and podcasts like ‘The Colin and Samir Show’, because hearing other people’s stories and how they overcame hurdles is a huge inspiration for me.

Website: www.mimimooillustration.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/mimimoo_illustration/

Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/MimimooIllustration