Business: A Fine Letter
Contact information: 630-234-4711, www.afineletter.com
More Top Picks Best Dewalt Drills
Owners: Georgia Williams and Melanie Horwitz
Number of years in business: 15 or 16 years, co-owner Georgia Williams said.
What does this business do? Specialized calligraphy work. “We do wedding invitations, projects, and so much,” Williams said. “We do envelopes and we do place cards. We have had corporate accounts for Christmas cards. Anything that is a party. We also do sympathy cards. Certificates. We do not do ‘one of a kind’ things. Like, we have people call us to put names in a Bible, an heirloom. If it’s a one type of a thing, we don’t do it, just in case. We are human, we make mistakes.”
What was the impetus for starting this business? “My daughter Melanie had just graduated law school and just gotten married and was working downtown, and the commute was killing her. So she decided to quit law. I was still a teacher, but we thought we could surely come up with something (we could do together). And because she had just been married, we thought something to do with weddings. So we came up with addressing invitations, and we came up with eight different scripts. (Melanie) does one of them, I do the other seven. But she does a lot of the emailing and billing. She also has a sister company, which she runs pretty much herself. It’s called Placecard Perfect.”
What is the best thing about being in Naperville? “People are very nice. They really like our product or we wouldn’t have been in business for all these years. We get a lot of business from Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, Western Springs. It’s just a good climate.”
When is your busiest time of year? “Right now. Weddings used to be mostly in June and July. Now it’s more toward September, October and November, so right now, March and April, is when we start getting rolling. And for my daughter’s Placecard Perfect, it’s right now too. She has created invitations for baptisms and confirmations and communions, and she does those all custom hand made.”
What is the most popular thing you sell/service you provide? “Wedding invitations. Absolutely.”
What is a less popular thing you would recommend? “We’ve had letters of marriage proposal or wedding vows calligraphied.”
What service did you offer that turned out to be a dud? “Colors are always fun, and there are different ones out there. But bottom line is, black is always the best. It’s the most elegant, and it shows class.”
Tell us about the scripts. “(We offer) eight scripts. Fine Penmanship is very popular. The Georgian, too. And Victoria has been popular this year. Alexandria is popular because it is a little bit more modern. And then we have one that’s called Classic Calligraphy, which is the most expensive mainly because every stroke has to be done separately. As is Isabella. And then there is Raleigh, too.”
What do you most like to do in your business? “The writing. It’s really very relaxing.”
What is your least favorite thing to do? “Turning customers away. This is our busy time. We usually say we need seven to 10 business days, and etiquette says it’s six to eight weeks (before the wedding) that invitations should go out.”
What is the best thing about owning your own business? “Time at home. We had rented a place on 5th Avenue for a while, but that didn’t help us. It’s not a walk-by place. We tried it, but now we are back to working from home and it gives us more leeway to take appointments.”
What is the biggest downside to owning your business? “Probably some of the sillier requests we may get. Then you have to be diplomatic and let them know what works and what doesn’t. Sometimes we have to turn customers away.”
What is the biggest misconception about your business? “(Customers) really feel like when you are a calligrapher, you can do anything, but we can’t. We will not do anything on glass, we don’t do anything on wood. I think a lot of the requests we get along those lines are from people who have been on Etsy, and see all these cute ideas and projects, but we don’t do them.”
How has your business changed over the years? “We’ve seen the digital age come. But a lot of people still want the beautiful, hand-written invitations, the envelopes. … (Customers) want something original, classy and hand done. And that’s what we do.”
What advice would you give someone thinking about starting a business? “Be patient.”
Daina Saleh is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.