Wonton In A Million: 2016 Year In Review

By The Numbers

All of my release time in 2016 was spent building Wonton In A Million. On weekends, weeknights, planes, trains, everywhere and every free moment in between. I couldn ’ triiodothyronine have worked so hard without you, so I wanted to share a glimpse of what we built. Yes, we — as in, you and me, Wonton Fam. ????

Over 8K of you found me on Instagram

… forming the most authentically and BUNderfully supportive community I ’ ve ever had the gladden to be a separate of .

Over 1.4K customers from 47 states and 20 countries

… purchased more than 1.8K dimsum greet cards, 3.4K stickers, 3K washi rolls, and more, allowing me to believe that possibly, just possibly, a animation can be made build this business that I love ( more on this belated ! ). ????

And while the Wonton Fam was growing…

200+ new products were launched

… with 8 entirely raw product lines inspired by suggestions from you, including stamp sets, notebooks, endow wrap, phone cases, scarves …

AND an iMessage Sticker Pack! Featuring 48 shrimp dumpling emojis…

… about which dumpling lovers everywhere ( or at least on io ) rejoiced ! For they had been wondering for far, far besides long why there was nary a dumpling emoji on any operate on system to be found. ????Search for “Steamie Dumpling” on the App Store to download it to use on your iPhone (iOS 10.1+ required)!

Of all the wonderful things that have happened to Wonton this year, one of the most wonderful had to have been when…

I’ve always wanted a giant check!! [At Wonton’s First Birthday Party]

70 friends & fans contributed to the Plushie Fund

… AKA the sweetest endow that I ’ ve always gotten ???? via a GoFundMe organized by a few of my best friends to help kick off the output of Wonton In A Million dimsum plushies. Ha Gao and Siu Mai are in their final, final stages of prototyping and I can NOT wait to plowshare them with you. Below is a slip peek :The results of an Instagram vote on which members of the Steam Team should be made into plushies!LEFT: Round 1 — LOL weird right? These were the very first samples. // MIDDLE/RIGHT: These two were the second samples. Better, but still not quite there…LEFT: Better!!! Round 3 — Ha Gao’s face is too high up. // MIDDLE: Heyyyy, lookin’ good, Siu Mai! // RIGHT: Round 4 — I think we almost got it!!!

And we made a teeny tiny bit of headway on reviving Chinatown when…

Over 180 of you joined me for my dimsum parties

… both times overrunning the capacity of our venue — Oriental Garden, the dimsum restaurant my dad has managed for over 30 years and the locate of inspiration for Wonton In A Million — leading me to believe that dimsum can bring people back into the neighborhood and necessitate that I now look for a larger consequence space to hold all you dimsum lovers for future events. ; )

In addition to helping revive the neighborhood I grew up in, one of the most important things to me is passing along what I know to help other aspiring entrepreneurs bring their businesses to life, so this year, I got to…

Give 2 workshops on how I built my Etsy store

One, an on-line Skillshare class on “ How To Design Your own 365 Day Project, ” teaching the “ small piece casual ” framework I used to get Wonton In A Million off the land in April 2015 while holding down a full moon time job. And two, a workshop on “ How To Start Your Own Business 101 ” given at the Chinatown Youth Initiatives ’ Youth Conference to a group of senior high school school students, who blew me away with their business ideas and their creativity.

All of that to say… working on Wonton has been the greatest creative joy of my life. I love that I get to flex my creative muscles in so many different ways—producing plushies, designing iMessage stickers, even giving workshops. I love the collaborations I’ve been able to have with New York City institutions that I grew up with. Most of all, I love the community you’ve given me and I love that I now count as friends dimsum lovers from all around the world. I love what we’ve built. I hope you do too.

Lastly. Before you go. One more thing. 🙂 2016 marks the end of an era for me, and the beginning of a new one… because, as we speak, there are now only…

2 more months until I go full time on Wonton!!!

Yes ! You read that right ! many of you have asked me at diverse points over the last two years whether I planned to finally work on Wonton full fourth dimension. I ’ ve always said no. I loved my entire meter gig ( and silent do ). I thought working wax clock on Wonton would take away the joy of it — compel me to focus on maximizing tax income alternatively of maximizing interesting opportunities, creative oeuvre, and the happiness of my customers. But I inactive remember the first calendar month I made more gross than my paycheck. eminence, it was alone gross — not profit ! But still. I started to wonder if it was possible. And in October of 2016, I woke up one day and just… decided I would do it. I think I can balance making a animation with all of the other things I care about. Heck — I ’ m at least going to try. There are so many things I want to do with Wonton. Publish a children ’ mho record. Produce an enliven film. Start a fast casual dimsum restaurant. The only direction for me to do all of these things at the pace I want to do them is to do them wax time. indeed starting in April of 2017, I will be Chief Dimsum Eater of Wonton In A Million 40 hours a week ( or, if I were being real, credibly 80 hours a week ???? ). At the same time, I will be helping my dad to promote Oriental Garden, tackling the issue of revitalizing Chinatown from multiple sides and fulfilling a life sentence goal of mine to work aboard my dad before he retires from the restaurant. I ’ m taking two months to reset and build the infrastructure for going wax fourth dimension. I can ’ metric ton wait to share with you all the ideas I have and hear what you think. In the meanwhile — please let me know what YOU would like to see me work on over the future year ! New designs, new products, wholly new projects ? Email me, message me on Etsy, or leave me a comment on Instagram ! Your accompaniment means the populace to me, and I ’ m beyond excite to see where our travel takes us from here. Onwards and upwards we go, Wonton Fam ! ! See you on Instagram. ❤

Love,
Cyn

If you ’ d like to be kept up to date on the latest in new products, new projects, and my transition from side project to wax meter, sign up for my newsletter at www.wontoninamillion.com/newsletter.

Follow me on Instagram @ wontoninamillion for your casual dimsum cook and join thousands of early dimsum lovers around the world. Shop dimsum goodies at wontoninamillion.com. And please email me at artemis @ wontoninamillion.com anytime. Have suggestions or want to work together ? I ’ five hundred love to hear from you !