Blog: Lessons Learned - DaveiaOdoi.com

Daveia Odoi
August 16, 2025
Art Biz Lessons, The DynaSmiles

Learn Through Failure, Even When it Hurts

Failure stings in the moment. We all know that feeling when things don’t go the way we hoped. But over time, I’ve learned that failure isn’t the end of the story. It’s just a teacher pointing us toward the next step forward. Four years ago, I took on something...

Daveia Odoi
October 25, 2024
Art Biz Lessons, The DynaSmiles

Pre-Order Your Way (2024)

If you’re an artist or brand owner hesitant to run pre-orders for your physical product launches, this is for you. I’ve been using pre-orders for years, and I’m currently running one for my 2025 Calendar Cards. Let me break down what I’m doing, and I hope this behind-the-scenes look...

Daveia Odoi
January 4, 2019
Art Biz Lessons

Learn To Say “NO”

‘When people show you who they are, believe them.’ That’s a popular quote attributed to Maya Angelou. And after offering freelance design services for over 12 years now, I’ve come to realize that these words are very true. Especially when working on a project with someone who exhibited major...

Daveia Odoi
February 22, 2018
Branding

Logo Design: Bet On Black

Would Amazon accept 👍🏾 or reject 👎🏾 your logo? ******************************* This past Saturday I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel at an entrepreneurs summit. I was there sharing my insight on visual branding and how it relates to social media marketing. 😊 At some point in the...

Daveia Odoi
June 21, 2017
Art Biz Lessons, Branding, Illustration, Portfolio

Niching Down To Level Up

I learned long ago that when it comes to your business, understanding how to leverage your brand goes a long, long way. However, knowing and doing are two totally separate things. I for one didn’t fully embrace my brand of being an illustrator (and nothing else) until the beginning...

Daveia Odoi
May 10, 2017
Art Biz Lessons, Graphic Design

Marketing Tips for Your Brand

When you take your business to the next level it takes work and more attention to the details used in how you present your products and services. Case in point… these lovely Thank You cards @ChristinaTorianMUA (on Instagram) asked me to create for her. She wanted to genuinely show...

Daveia Odoi
March 1, 2017
Art Biz Lessons, Illustration, Social Media, The DynaSmiles

“OMG, She Reposted It!”

So… this just happened! —It happened on 2/28/2017 to be exact after declaring that February was GREAT and March would be GREATER!! That’s right… The amazingly talented, beautiful and accomplished Viola Davis (who recently won 2017’s best supporting actress at the Oscars) just reposted my artwork! Excuse me for a...

Daveia Odoi
February 3, 2017
Art Biz Lessons, The DynaSmiles

Sales Strategy: Scarcity Tactic

For the most part, I sell print on demand products which means my items are always available for sale (or can be). So I would post a product and leave it up for months, even years because of time constraints mixed with a healthy dose of laziness. haha! Now...

Daveia Odoi
January 4, 2017
Art Biz Lessons, Social Media

Brand Up! It’s 2017

In today’s online world your website and digital products can get stale very fast. To avoid looking outdated, add the following to your to do lists: Update the copyright on the bottom of your website to 2017. (If you have no copyright date then add it.) Why? Because people...

Daveia Odoi
December 15, 2016
Brand Reveals, Illustration, Portfolio

Illustrations & Packaging for ConfidentGirls.net

This particular brand reveal has been in the making for weeks and I’m so happy I can finally share it with you! Introducing the new brand personas and packaging design for the bath and body collection found at ConfidentGirls.net “Confident Girls is not only a bath & beauty brand, but...