• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Illustrated Ministry

Progressive Faith Resources for the Church & Home

  • About
  • For Churches
  • For Families
  • Products
    • Complete Catalog
    • Advent
      • An Illustrated Advent for Families: Now in Flesh Appearing
      • Now in Flesh Appearing Advent Devotional
      • Now in Flesh Appearing Advent Worship Liturgy Set
      • Advent Themes ⇨
        • Now in Flesh Appearing
        • God With Us
        • Do Not Be Afraid
        • In Light and Darkness
      • Family Devotionals
      • Coloring Posters
    • Curriculum
      • Mini Revolutions Curriculum (based on the RCL)
      • Compassion Camp
      • The Beatitudes: An Illustrated Curriculum
      • The Lord’s Prayer: An Illustrated Curriculum
      • An Illustrated Invitation: Joining God at Work in the World
      • An Illustrated Compassion: Learning to Love Like God
      • An Illustrated Earth: Celebrating God’s Creation
    • Illustrated Worship Resources
      • Fall 2022
      • Summer 2022
      • Spring 2022
      • Winter 2021-2022
    • Lent
      • New for 2023
        An Illustrated Lent for Families: This is My Body
      • New for 2023
        This is My Body Lenten Devotional
      • New for 2023
        This is My Body Lenten Worship Liturgy Set
      • Lent Resources
      • Family Lenten Devotionals
      • Lenten Devotionals
      • Lent & Easter Worship Videos
      • Virtual Easter Pageant
      • Coloring Posters
    • Pentecost
      • Pentecost Coloring Page & Poster
      • Pentecost Coloring Page & Poster – Spanish-language Version
    • Coloring Pages & Posters
    • Illustrated Cards & Stickers
      • Greeting Cards
      • Stickers
      • 1.25″ Pinback Buttons
    • Spanish-Language Resources
  • Blog
    • Coloring Posters
    • Community Spotlight
    • Curriculum
    • Faith Formation
    • Family Ministry
    • Outreach & Mission
    • Product Updates
    • Reviews
    • Sunday School
    • Tutorials
    • Worship
  • FB Group
  • Contact Us
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Licensing Terms
    • Multi-Entity License Request Form
    • Submit Product Ideas
    • We’re Hiring!
  • SHOP
You are here: Home / Archives for Product Updates

Product Updates

Top 10 Lessons Learned from my First Product Launch

Adam Walker Cleaveland 1 Comment

November was the first major product launch of Illustrated Ministry. To say everything went smoothly would be…well, it’d be a major understatement. But I definitely learned a lot and wanted to share some of that with you. So, here are my Top 10 Lessons Learned from my First Product Launch (in no particular order).

1. Make an educated guess about how long you think it will take to create your product. And then double that.

What I needed was a production calendar. I wrote down everything that I needed to do, all of the illustrations I needed to draw, but I just didn’t think through how long everything would take. Case in point: I spent four hours drawing the three wise men. Now, I really like how they turned out, but did they need to take four hours? Nope. Was I planning on them taking fours? Definitely not.

I also didn’t take into account just how long it would take to put everything together once it was all done. Formatting the documents, getting all of the files in the formats I wanted them in and just organizing everything. So, make a guess and then double it. And that should be closer to being somewhat realistic.

2. Expect problems.

I don’t think I was expecting problems. So when I began to encounter them – it kind of freaked me out. Staples was a little late getting me my order of 125 sets (625 sheets of 4’x3′ posters) and when I went to pick up the 6 cases of packed poster tubes, I was so frustrated to find that they all had a dark black line on the bottom of the poster. Someone at the production center apparently didn’t load the paper correctly. So, it took almost another week to get all of the posters reprinted and delivered to me.

I couldn’t have prepared for that, but realizing that things like that are just probably going to happen…it will help you deal with them a little bit better.

3. If you’re shipping something, do your research and know all of your options.

After this initial product launch, I almost want to stick to strictly digital product launches in the future. Having an actual physical item to ship added SO MUCH time to everything. Getting all of the supplies, driving them to the post office and just dealing with all of it was more work than I had imagined. I did some research into the best way to ship, and I thought that the USPS would be the best way and most economical.

I can’t say that I would have chosen something different initially, but I wish I did a little more research. And even if I had still chosen the USPS, I didn’t realize that I could schedule pickups from the post office. I knew you could do that with UPS, but that would have saved me a lot of time and hassle and who knows, maybe the post office wouldn’t have lost 30 of my poster tubes if I had done that…?

Product Launch

4. Don’t use the USPS.

For now, I’m sticking with UPS. Maybe the USPS is better when it’s not November/December and I may try again with packages that aren’t poster tubes, but I feel much better about UPS (although I’m sure that there are plenty of people with horror stories about the UPS as well…).

5. Support local businesses…when it makes sense.

I’m all for supporting local small businesses. Hell, I’m now a small business. But I don’t think it always makes sense. I definitely buy almost all of my stuff with Amazon – and that is primarily because of the prices and the convenience.

In searching for a printer for my posters, I met with a small shop in Evanston, and they initially thought they could give me a much better price than Staples. However, Staples was able to meet their price AND they were willing to print, collate, roll, stuff the posters and tape up the poster tubes. I couldn’t turn that down. And I was supporting a local Staples store – and I was developing some good relationships with the staff and managers of the store.

Especially when you’re starting out with a new business, I think there are just some things that make more sense to get from a large provider who can give you the type of savings and deals that you might need as you get started.

6. Contrary to popular opinion, all-nighters are not super helpful or productive.

I only pulled one legitimate all-nighter, and honestly, it was the first all-nighter I’ve ever done. The latest I stayed up in college was 4am working on an art project. But I thought I could finish up everything I needed to do in one all-nighter. NO WAY.

And then I was absolutely exhausted the next two days. So it was not very productive for me. It probably also didn’t help that my almost 4-yr old son was having problems sleeping and kept walking into the office and scaring the heck out of me!

All-Nighters-with-a-3-year-old

7. Starbucks Refreshers.

If you do need to pull an all-nighter, let me suggest the Via Refreshers – Strawberry Lemonade. They’re not necessarily the best thing you’ve ever had to drink – but they definitely contain a pretty serious boost in “natural” caffeine. I had two servings of that drink from 10pm-6am and it totally did the job.

8. Get help. No, seriously. Get help.

I needed help. And lots of it. Even just slapping mailing labels on tubes – it would have gone so much faster if I’d had a few friends help me out – or gotten some of the youth from Sarah’s church to make a few bucks and help out.

There’s no shame in asking for help.

Thankfully, I did have help through this amazing community that I’m apart of called Fizzle. I joined this group at the end of the summer at the recommendation of my good friend Kevin (who is also an amazing coach if you’re looking for someone!), and it’s been such a worthwhile $35/month for me. The forum alone has been a huge resource for me. It’s been the place where I could go and share issues I was running into, get support and encouragement, and just have people who have been through launching a business before to talk with.

9. Pay a little extra to make your life easier.

If it comes down to saving a few bucks, or paying a little more to simply make your life a bit easier…pay a little extra. I’m trying to imagine how long it would have taken me to collate, roll and stuff all of the poster sets that I had…and I was actually thinking about doing it myself for a little bit. Next month for An Illustrated Lent, I plan to hire a few people to help me simply get the stuff out the door. Sure, that will cut into the profits from the resources, but I think it will make it a lot easier for me, and it will probably be fun too.

10. Show your work!

I’m a big fan of Austin Kleon’s book Share Your Work. As I was going through the process of drawing the illustrations, shipping poster tubes and everything else in between, I made good use of Instagram to share the process of the creation of the products. It also allowed people who were getting interested in what I was doing to see a little behind the scenes, and get a feel for what this was going to turn into.

Those are my Top 10 Lessons Learned from my First Product Launch. You probably have your own lessons – and I’d love for you to share those in the comment section below.

Product-BehindTheScenes

An Illustrated Advent Update: 2 Weeks!

Adam Walker Cleaveland Leave a Comment

By now I hope you’ve heard the name of the Advent/Christmas resource that I’m launching in two weeks: An Illustrated Advent: Engaging Activities for the Season. I’m both nervous and excited to complete this resource and get it to you! The more time I spend with it, the more excited I am by the possibilities that it brings to churches and families. You see, there will be a Church Edition (for churches) and a Family Edition (for…yup: families!). They can both be used independently of each other, but they will also work really well together. When  you buy the church edition, you’re going to receive a promo code for 25% off the Family Edition. That is a code that you can send out in your children’s and youth ministry weekly emails, and families can purchase the family edition to use at home during Advent and Christmas.

Some people have been asking what will included in An Illustrated Advent. To be honest, that’s probably still a bit of a moving target, but here is what I am hoping to have included in two weeks:

An Illustrated Advent: Engaging Activities for the Season – Church Edition

  • A short introduction to Advent and ideas on how to use the enclosed materials
  • Five Illustrated Children’s Moments (based on the RCL Gospel texts for Advent, and then one for the Sunday after Christmas)
  • Five Worship Activity Sheets for Advent and the Sunday after Christmas
  • One 11×17 Advent poster that can be printed and placed in classrooms or bulletin boards (I know you all have bulletin boards you have to decorate). It can also be used digitally during worship or on your website.

An Illustrated Advent: Engaging Activities for the Season – Family Edition

  • A short introduction to Advent and ideas on how to use the enclosed materials
  • Four engaging weekly family devotions that can be done around the table or at bedtime
  • Four coloring sheets that go through the story of Jesus’ birth
  • Flat Wise Men: think Flat Stanley meets the Elf on the Shelf. Here’s a new, fun way to engage your kids during Advent. Hide the Flat Wise Men in different places around your house – slowly making your way to the Christmas tree (or wherever your presents show up on Christmas morning). A fun way for them to have to look for something around the house that is a little different than a creepy elf watching your every move, ready to report back if you’ve been good or bad. (Full Disclaimer: I own an Elf on the Shelf)
  • Advent Calendar Activity Guide: An Advent calendar that provides daily activities from December 1 – December 24 that children can do on their own, or with their families.

In addition to these two resources, I will be selling the coloring pages and posters that you’ve been seeing and hearing about. We all know the adult coloring craze is most definitely a thing right now – so this could be the perfect opportunity to get your congregation (or your family) more involved in this fun intergenerational activity that everyone can participate in.

Alright…I can already hear what you’re saying right now: “LESS talk, MORE drawing!” Alright, alright. Let me leave you with a few photos of the process involved so far in creating An Illustrated Advent.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Advent Coloring Sheets: The First Sneak Peak

Adam Walker Cleaveland 1 Comment

I’m really excited to be able to share with you a brief sneak peak into the product I’ll be releasing next month, including these fun Advent coloring posters. I’ve just been calling it the Advent/Christmas Product Pack – but it will have a more catchy name by next month. In addition to a new name, I’ve also been expanding what I hope to include in the pack. I’ll share with you the full contents in a few weeks, but I think you’re really going to like it and find it very helpful and useful.

One big change is that I’ve decided to offer both a Church Leader Edition and a Family Edition. When you purchase the Church Leader Edition, you will receive a promo code that you can give out to all of the families that are in your children and youth ministries, and they will be able to download additional materials that can both complement the materials in the Church Leader Edition, or be used on their own by families.

In addition to the materials that will be coming out next month (November 16), I also spent the past four days working on some Advent Coloring Sheets. I am really pleased with how they turned out, and am excited for all of the ways you may be able to use them in your ministries. You can check out these coloring pages, as well as all of our other Advent products for families and churches here.

Advent Coloring Posters

Many Potential Uses for Advent Coloring Posters

In addition to being able to use them as individual Advent coloring sheets, another option will be to download a special file format that I will have available which you can use to print large (4′ x 3′) coloring sheets out at Staples. We did this for my wife’s Sunday School classes this past week, and the kids had a blast being able to color as a group, and have a conversation about the word in the center.

The 4′ x 3′ coloring sheet
Caleb coloring the poster

This will be an exciting addition to the offerings that will be coming out next month. And so whether you’re on staff at a church, or a parent looking for some Advent-themed activities for your kids, these coloring sheets would work wonderfully.

It’s been a lot of fun to work on these Advent coloring sheets the past few days. Especially because I know that people across the world will be using them and finding fun and creative ways to use them in their ministries and families this upcoming Advent season.

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to page 5
  • Go to page 6

Footer

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Phone
  • Pinterest
  • TikTok
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2023 Illustrated Ministry, LLC. All rights reserved. Licensing Terms.