Meet Jake Mlnarik

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jake Mlnarik.

Jake, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Hi, I’m Jake. I started Payday Pennant Co. after leaving my first ad agency job of 6 years. I was feeling burnt up and sold out, just counting down til payday on repeat. But when the direct deposits would hit, they started feeling less and less worth the stress.

So, I left my job without a backup plan (Ha!). I at least knew I wanted to make real stuff, and the kind of stuff that I thought was cool. At least for a little while, until my money ran out. I figured if I could pull off a few sales, I’d at least earn a kind of payday that made me feel good again. I took up sewing and screen printing with zero prior experience. I started to make pennants and banners that shared my sentiments of the overworked, the underpaid, and the downright deserving of a proverbial payday.

So, I’m making these felt banners and pennants out of my home office and garage. I researched ALL the things. I scoured the Facebook marketplace to find unloved equipment I could get and use on the cheap. I made a makeshift dark room, nabbed a screen printing washout booth, set up a printing bench and grommet press, a sewing station, and cleared out a closet for all my felt. I’m still out here slinging felt until my money runs out (frighteningly soon!) and still holding out for that next payday, but having a lot of fun doing it this time.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It felt smooth because it felt right. But, less smooth in many other ways. The main challenge has been one of trust. I had to trust myself to hit the pause button on a pretty promising advertising career. Trusting in my own abilities to think I could ever turn out little pieces of screen-printed felt that would even begin to pay off the enormous list of supplies and equipment I had to invest to be able to make them in the first place.

Also, the dialog that follows a life shift like this is very unnerving. If you’ve ever done something like it, you know the fatigue of reciting your script of “I quit my job to make arts and crafts” with friends and family who are politely smiling and nodding while subtly giving away their own private thoughts and concerns.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
So, by trade, I’m kind of a brand nerd. Working as a communications strategist in an agency wasn’t necessarily the wrong fit for me, but the timing to take a break and make Payday felt really right, once I figured out that was what I wanted to do.

Originally, my first products borrowed a bit equally from both worlds. I knew the sentiments and culture of an average ad agency or marketing firm employee, so my first products really aimed to reflect some of the malaise and insider sentiment they were already feeling. I am a person that craves context and is self-aware in situations, so I wanted to nudge my agency experience as the first foot in the door and make things that the intended audience (and really, my only personal audience) could really GET.

From there, I’ve been rolling with a similar playbook. I have a lot of little special interests and am a big fan of being a big fan. If you can find a community or niche that operates in its own little fiefdom– language, culture, references, passions, challenges, etc., and you really understand these facets, then you can make bespoke trophies that spark their dearly held interests, and you can make it feel a bit more special than a money-making scheme or marketing campaign.

It’s the same muscle I flexed in my career, but suddenly my medium changed from what could be communicated in a brand’s email, commercial or social feeds, to instead what I could burn onto a silkscreen and print on a felt banner for the Etsy algorithm to determine my ability to pay the next bill that comes along.

For example one of my favorite shows is this cartoon called The Venture Brothers. Don’t get me started! But the show has all these different heroic and villainous factions that intertwine throughout the show. I was binge-re-watching the show while I was first learning to sew and I thought– I’ve got Facebook Groups full of other die-hard fans, and there’s a subreddit full of even more fans, and I get what they get out of this swell little fandom. So, let’s make something they will want to get! And so I set out to make pennants representing each of these factions, and they’ve been some of the most loved pieces I’ve made yet.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out.
Of course in hindsight, I just wish I had a bit more of a plan. I had no idea I’d be doing this right away after my last day on the job. Payday was a shower thought that came to me after like 3 weeks off the job.

This was purely an experiment, so my advice would be to treat these types of pursuits accordingly. Make note of your controls, and the variables in and out of your own control. What did you change? Truly dwell on this, because it’s probably more than you think. What were your perceived effects? Which skills grew, while others atrophied? What and how did you feel throughout? Was it any different than how you felt before?

You can’t buy a thrill– so reflection is really important. If you’re gonna let it rip and hit that career evac button, take notes and get every penny of your emotional money’s worth!

Pricing:

• Classic Felt Pennants (8″ x 20″): $25
• Felt Tiny Banners (12″ x 6″): $25
• Felt Mini Banners (14″ x 10″): $40
• Felt Pentabanners (14″ x 20″): $50
• Complete Custom Pennant (8″ x 20″): $50

Contact Info:

• Website: PaydayPennant.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/paydaypennant
• Facebook: facebook.com/paydaypennant