Meet Savannah Watson | Artist & Owner of Crafty Savvy’s

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

Hi Savannah, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
1. I knew I wanted to be a business owner of some kind, but I wasn’t quite sure of the route I wanted to take. I was scavenging biz buy sell and I was actually heavily debating between a female boxing studio or electrician company. Art has always been my passion, and after talking to a few friends and mentors, I finally decided to take the leap and start my own business that heavily focuses on art and all of my other passions. It’s like I get to go to my own personal hobby house every day.

2. A lot of people don’t realize when they walk into the store that everything on the shelves was made by local artisans.

3. Sometimes I think I am a terrible example when it comes to taking risks because I like to jump head first into everything I do, however, I am also pretty meticulous when it comes to budgeting beforehand to make sure I can afford the risks I am taking since I don’t ever want to be in a position where I’m risking the security of my home life. So the idea of not making any money doesn’t scare me since I’ve budgeted for that possibility, then anything I do make is a benefit.

4. This definitely depends on your personal definition of success. My business is still very new, so I still haven’t made a profit yet, but I’ve gotten to meet so many beautiful people through this venture that I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to otherwise, and I am a creative outlet for the community and I will never underestimate the value of that. But honestly I don’t really know how to answer the question, I just believe God is guiding me through this journey, and no matter what, it’ll all work out for the better through Him.

5. Some good advice I received was that I needed to have a daily driver to bring people in, and for my store that is Boba Tea. A lot of our artisanal goods are purchased as gifts and occasional buys, so having the boba is a really great thing to bring people in daily and still get eyes on everything else we have. That helps the success of the store; success of the brand comes from always staying true to my original principles of having a God honoring haven for creativity. I love and care about every person that comes through these doors

6. Leaving the military. I loved my job. There were so many aspects of the military that I appreciated, like the comradery and the financial security, but ultimately I knew it was time for me to move on to new and better things for myself.

7. Work life balance was pretty tough at first. I had just come off of months of saved up leave, so all of my time was dedicated to my home and fiancé. Through the start-up phase, it was really difficult for him to adjust to me not only being at work throughout the day, but also having every other thought (if not more) while at home being about the business. Once that initial phase was over, I had to learn how to turn off my business brain once I got home and focus on us. Now, unless it’s something urgent, I don’t answer any business related messages when I am home. That gives me time to relax and recharge, and lets him know that he is worth more to me than this business, because he is.

8. I don’t know the exact quote or who said it but “see your friends, see your future” was a phrase I was raised on, which has more or less shifted to “surround yourself with people you want to be like”. This was crucial growing up because kids, and people in general, are very moldable through the situations they are put in. I’ve only ever had a handful of close friends, but I was lucky to have a mom with good principles, and I made sure to put myself in situations that I knew would make me uncomfortable so that I could grow. When the idea of starting my own business popped in my head, it was extremely important to me to find multiple mentors to help me through the process. I learned so much from them and am still learning.

9. I pursued art because for me it’s always been the thing I go to. Anything and everything artsy or creative has always captured my attention and brought me joy. It’s definitely scary when people are constantly saying that you’ll never make money as an artist, but I think I was able to successfully capture its essence while also finding a way to make it profitable (at least I hope). It does weigh on me some days, but overall I am happy to show up to work every day knowing I can do or create anything I want in between meeting all of amazing people who come in.

10. I think I just want to be someone that brings people joy. Someone people can look back on and say she made my day a little bit brighter.

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 like to consider myself an experience collector. I’ve always loved art, but that’s something I can do anytime. I spent six years in the military as a Farsi Linguist and got to check a plethora of experiences off of my list from that. While I was in the military, I went to school for Neuroscience to appease that intellectual curiosity, and I even did an internship at IHMC in Florida for it. I found out it wasn’t for me, so I decided to finally check off my business ownership box. I am very happy to have experienced everything I have up to this point, and I am excited to start the next chapter of my life in settling down and starting a family. None what I did was easy by any means, but what helped my the most, which may not be a ton of help, was to stop caring so much about whether or not I’ll be successful. As long as I am happy and can afford to keep living I’ll be okay. Of course I want to be successful, and I continue to improve to get there, but in the end it’ll have just been one more experience for me to check off whether I’m successful or not, and that’s all I really care about. It may not the most conventional approach, but it works for me.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
So I am very new to this area. We only moved to South Carolina back in October of 2023. That being said, I would of course go to the Liberty Bridge and walk around downtown. My favorite shop is Plant Stella so we’d absolutely stop in there. I love to go to craft fairs and farmers markets, so I’d probably take them to the Bridgeway market on Thursday. Then I would of course bring them to my store and have them explore our cutest little town Woodruff. A lot of people don’t realize that Woodruff has come a long way and is continuing to improve. Through the summer they have free concerts in the park every Friday evening, farmers markets every first Saturday, and I even have a little craft fair in my parking lot every third Saturday through October. Other than that, the Swamp rabbit trail has been recommended to me for bike riding.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to shoutout my Fiancé Kyle most of all. He has supported me throughout this whole process and pushed me forward when I felt like quitting. He spent countless nights helping me put the store together and still visits me every week to help out, whether it be behind the counter or just cleaning up. He is my rock in this business and in life.

Website: https://craftysavvys.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craftysavvys/%20https://www.instagram.com/craftysavvys/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Crafty-Savvys-61553270980835/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/crafty-savvy-s-woodruff