Natacha is the founder and Director of online stationery, graphic design, and illustration shop, CoconuTacha Ltd. You’ll find her nestled in a small town deep in the South Wales valleys, sipping copious amounts of tea and creating bright, uplifting greeting cards, desk planners, and more. Starting her self-employed journey in 2015, CoconuTacha has grown slowly but surely over the years as Natacha has found her feet both online and offline. After her success in Spring Fair 2020, illustrated CoconuTacha products are now stocked in boutiques and independent shops around the U.K. Of course, soon after, the pandemic hit and sent things crazy for all business owners both big and small, Natacha found ways to keep her business afloat and stay connected with CoconuTacha’s audience. Creating uplifting illustrations and greeting cards sent directly to recipients in a world of uncertainty and horror, CoconuTacha’s clientele often found comfort within the designs. Being the face of CoconuTacha, Natacha set up a Patreon account in June 2020, allowing her audience to subscribe and gain access to extra, exclusive content. Including things such as behind-the-scenes videos and photographs, product mockups, free downloads, podcasts, tutorials, and more, this helped grow her audience and explore different ways on how to run a business during strange, unprecedented times. You can follow her work and the behind-the-scenes content on YouTube, Instagram, and Patreon.
Tell us about who you are and what you do?
I started as a freelance Graphic Designer and Illustrator after graduating from university with a degree in graphic communication. Fast forward a good few years and I’m now the Director of my own company, CoconuTacha! I specialize in creating uplifting, bright, and happy designs and sell these as art prints, greeting cards, notebooks, clothing, and more in my online shop www.coconutacha.com. I also create behind-the-scenes content over on my Instagram and YouTube channels which people seem to love – especially the foiling process that I often feature! I also started a Patreon channel last year which gives subscribers exclusive access to videos, tutorials, podcasts, and physical monthly goodie boxes full of CoconuTacha goodies – some available in the shop but some exclusive to my Patreons.
Tell us more about how you first created CoconuTacha?
CoconuTacha was born whilst I was studying at university as a way to fund my studies and earn a little extra cash on the side. My design style has changed over the years as I’ve improved and gained more clients, however, my ‘vibe’ has remained the same – always positive, bright, uplifting, and colorful! I struggled with anxiety during my late teens and early 20’s and so creating these lovely designs was a way of escapism and telling myself that everything would be okay – fast forward to the pandemic and 2020 and these designs appealed to hundreds of thousands more people experiencing similar feelings. Whilst the situation was/is horrible, it was reassuring to know that my illustrations and designs were helping make people feel a little less alone in their struggles. I also delved into organizing, creating new planners, notebooks, and to-do lists as the demand grew for work-from-home offices. I noticed that my audience had changed and I needed to meet their demands, and so stationary was at the top of my priorities. Of course, these had to be bright, colorful yet functional, and serve their purpose. Next was comfy clothing and a whole new project began…
We’d love to hear a bit more about the behind-the-scenes runnings of CoconuTacha, go into detail and tell us about how everything works:
As I am the creator of CoconuTacha, I’m very involved in my business and like to make sure that I have a ‘personal touch’ so that CoconuTacha never seems faceless. I like to know the person behind the brand and know who I’m buying off, so I try to do that as best as I can. When noticing the needs and wants of my clients were changing last year, I took a chance on a project that I’ve always wanted to try – clothing! I set up a Kickstarter and advertised it everywhere. It was fully funded and more so and I got to design my dream sweaters featuring 4 different designs. They are perfect to lounge around in (which a lot of us got to do last year!), staying comfy whilst also looking cute and colorful. They did so well that I decided to add 2 t-shirt designs to CoconuTacha’s collection this year!
What are the challenges you go through daily?
Oh, there are SO many! Today, for example, I’ve been trying to stay on top of finances; sorting my pension, my student finances, my tax savings, national insurance contributions, insurances, personal income, etc. the list goes on and on! I have hired an accountant to help me with everything financial which is a huge relief, but I still like to do my best and stay on top of everything so that I know what’s what. There are also other challenges such as Imposter Syndrome, which I think we all go through at some point. Sometimes it’s hard to push the creativity out there and feel worthy. But you just have to look back at how far you’ve come and silence that little voice in your head.
How do you manage your finances? Any fundings received?
I’m not sure whether I’m proud or ashamed, or perhaps feel a bit silly when I say that CoconuTacha was funded purely by myself and my hard work. I know now that there are grants available out there to start-ups, but I was very unaware of this at the time. I had a full-time job when I started CoconuTacha, which meant that I had a stable monthly income and a lovely safety net to fall back on. I also think I had the benefit of being young and naive when I decided to go completely full-time self-employed! It’s such a scary thing and I’m still learning that as time goes on. It never gets easier! It takes guts and good calculations, savings, and more to go from being employed to self-employed. As for managing my finances now, I use a Starling business account to keep track of all my expenses. I recently opened a Penfold pension account too – something that I only recently learned about and highly recommend if you are self-employed! As I mentioned previously, I hire an accountant to keep track of my monthly expenses, incomings, and outgoings. It makes things a thousand times easier for me and I can spend more time focussing on designing new products for CoconuTacha.
Tell us your future vision for CoconuTacha. How far do you want to take it? What is your dream about taking it to the next level?
Well, my first dream was to be able to do this full-time. I did that. My second dream was to be able to buy my first house and get a mortgage. That was so TOUGH! But I finally managed to do that recently. I guess my next goal is to just stay afloat for a while… but that sounds boring, haha! My ultimate dream is to have a studio space elsewhere, perhaps even a co-working space where I and my best creative buddies can all group together and work on our things simultaneously whilst bounding ideas back and forth. Sipping tea and coffee together, collaborating on big, creative projects, and creating the most amazing things. Right now, my studio is in a spare room in my house which I love! But I do see myself moving into something bigger elsewhere in the future. I also see CoconuTacha expanding its product ranges even more, especially within the clothing and accessories category!
What message would you like to give to anybody who has a plan of creating something of their own and making a living through it?
Don’t let anything or anyone stop you from doing what you love, be true to yourself, and don’t shy away from putting yourself, your designs, brand, etc. out there! You have to start somewhere.
You can follow CoconuTacha on Instagram, YouTube, and Patreon here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6sALfhCrKdMjBijIINL8Nw
https://www.patreon.com/coconutacha
Company Name: CoconuTacha Ltd.
Email address: coconutacha@gmail.com
Website URL: www.coconutacha.com
