You know when people refer to a “snowball effect”? Well, Lauren Hom’s entire career is pretty much the perfect example of how one thing turns into something bigger and better (and then bigger and better, and then bigger and better again…you get the idea).

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So who is Lauren Hom?

Lauren is an ex-art director turned hand-letterer and illustrator. In her last year of college in NYC studying advertising, Lauren started a Tumblr blog for her passion project, Daily Dishonesty, where she hand-lettered and posted little white lies she and her friends would tell themselves. Stuff like “yeah, I’ll be there in 5 minutes” when you hadn’t even left the house yet, or the classic “I’ll start tomorrow” diet. Total early-20-something girl posts- which is why the project worked so well. It was relatable. And just like that it started: the first snowball was picking up momentum. The blog was soon “discovered” (and shared over and over) and Lauren was being featured eeeeeverywhere. That’s when she took a chance on herself and quit her job after ONLY 9 MONTHS! *ghost face emoji* 

“You have to put yourself out there.”
–Lauren Hom

After that amazing success, Lauren moved on to other passions projects such as Ex-Boyfriend Tears, Will Letter for Lunch, Flour Crowns, and a buuunch more. Take it from me- you need to check all of those out.

So what is a passion project?

“A passion project is like a free sample at the grocery store; instead of telling them (your potential client), you are SHOWING them, giving them a little sample.”
-Lauren Hom

Lauren explains that a passion project is a project (personal or not) that you’re not doing for income. Something you do for YOU because it speaks to you and motivates you. Lauren gives it the perfect analogy: a passion project is like a free sample at the grocery store; instead of telling them (your potential client), you are SHOWING them, giving them a little sample. It might not bring in any more money (and you actually miiiight lose some), but you want to give them a taste, and hopefully they’ll like what they had and order more.

With all these successful passion projects under her mega stylish belt, Lauren has learned so much in such a small period of time (ummm, she’s only been lettering for about 4.5 years!). She has done so much leg work and, generously, wanted to share some of the most important lessons with all of you.

Here are some of Lauren’s top tips for successful passion projects:

1. Take your time to choose the topic/theme for your passion project. Choose something that you are excited about, motivated about and genuinely WANT to work on. (She also suggests showing your project to a few friends to see if your message is coming through in the way you want it to!)
2. Have a tagline! Something that will make your project 100% clear on what it is in a few words. It should be very obvious!
3. Set an “end date” or “limitations” for your timeline if you’re unsure how long you’ll want to/be able to to work on this project. That way, you are responsible for a set amount of time! If you want to keep going with it, you can! But you won’t feel overwhelmed by an endless time commitment.
4. Take chances! Be BOLD!

Lauren is so lovely and she is EXACTLY what we see online. Kind, quirky, honest and so, SO fun. All amazing qualities that really show off in her work!

Ready to see/hear that for yourself? Check out the interview here.

I really hope you enjoyed this interview! Make sure you’re subscribed to The Happy Ever Crafter TV to catch the rest in the series! And one last HUGE thank you to Lauren!

Interested in more of these interviews? You can also join the Facebook group, where these Q&A’s are hosted LIVE, and submit your own questions for future guests!