BUSINESS BRIEFS: Tri-County Regional Chamber Member Recognized as a Top 100 Innovator & Entrepreneur

Tri-County Chamber member Mahsa Ghavmian and owner of the local paint studio, Canvas n Cup,
recently got awarded a spot on the Top 100 list of Innovators & Entrepreneurs! And for good reason too.

After leaving the corporate world to start a brand new business in 2019, the pandemic hit and Mahsa had to get creative to keep bringing the painting fun through Canvas n Cup painting classes.

Her million dollar idea? Virtual paint and sip parties!

We sat down with Mahsa to learn more about her business and how she was able to pivot in a challenging time to come out on top.

Q: What motivated you to start Canvas n Cup?

A: I started painting at home with my young daughter! It was as simple as that.

I was still in the corporate world and started painting with her as a hobby! We started painting together after school and before dinner and I watched as my daughter began to blossom into an artist right before my eyes. I saw how much she began to love to create and started to prefer doing that over spending time in front of screens. It was amazing!

I figured, if my daughter and I can do this together and have so much fun, why not create a space where other parents, children, friends, community groups – basically everyone – can do the same. If my daughter and I can become artists, so can everyone else! That’s how Canvas n Cup was born.

Q: How did you rise up to meet the challenge your business faced during the pandemic?

A: This is a great question! It was a crazy time because I had this brand new business that was located in a studio doing in person art classes and then the pandemic hit and everything we were building up in person had to pivot.

That’s when I realized we could offer the same amazing art classes to people online! It really turned out to be a great way to unify co-workers, family and friends all over the U.S. in a time when we couldn’t be together in person.

We started offering live zoom painting classes as well as pre-recorded virtual classes for all types of events ranging from virtual paint & sip for birthdays and bachelorette parties to corporate team building for hundreds of people. We ended up doing huge virtual team building events with companies like Google, Pfizer, Zoom, Yahoo, Amazon & more!

It was a huge success because it provided a way for people to be together and have fun painting no matter where they were.

We offer In-Person, Virtual,
Hybrid
or Paint at Home (pre-recorded) paint parties. Something for everyone!

Q: What’s your business like today?

A: We’re back to in-person classes, hybrid classes, kids classes, and camps and virtual paint & sip parties are still going strong!

Having to pivot during the pandemic gave Canvas n Cup so much flexibility to offer our classes at the convenience of our customers. We even travel to host in person paint events at university campuses like Umass Amherst! It’s been a blast to see how things have picked up again after the pandemic ended.

Here are some popular painting ideas. Read our blog to learn more.

Q: How have you been able to network and expand your business locally?

A: I love being a member of local business and networking groups like the Tri-County Regional Chamber! Being a member here has introduced me to so many other business owners, created great partnerships and helped me get the word out about Canvas n Cup. The chamber even introduced me to Olympia Caswell of Local Business First who designed my website and does my SEO!

Learn more about Canvas n Cups’ in-person, hybrid or virtual paint & sip parties here.

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SPONSOR OF Business Briefs in the Franklin Observer

The chamber serves the communities of Bellingham, Franklin, Holliston, Hopedale, Hopkinton, Medway, Milford, Mendon, Millis, and Upton. More information is available at https://www.tricountychamberma.org

1st Q Deeds Down at Norfolk Registry

Norfolk County Register of Deeds William P. O’Donnell reported that Norfolk County recordings for the first quarter of 2023 (January-March 2023) indicate a continued decrease in overall real estate activity, with significant drops in mortgage activity and property sales as compared to the first quarter of 2022. “During the recently completed 2023 first quarter, real estate activity fluctuated in line with seasonal trends, but showed an overall decrease compared to the first quarter of 2022,” said Register of Deeds William P. O’Donnell. The Norfolk County Registry of Deeds recorded 22,704 documents in the first quarter of 2023. This was 34% less than the first quarter of 2022. “Property sales have decreased compared to the previous year, however, they are trending closer to the numbers that were seen prior to the pandemic, with property sales in the first quarter of 2023 being 4% lower than the first quarter of 2019,” said Register O’Donnell. The number of deeds for the first quarter of 2023, which reflect real estate sales and transfers, both commercial and residential, was 3,252, a decrease of 18% from the first quarter of 2022.

Home Remodeling Market Projected to Contract by 2024

After more than a decade of continuous growth, annual spending on improvements and repairs to owner-occupied homes is expected to decline by early next year, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) released recently by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The LIRA projects that year-over-year expenditures for homeowner improvements and maintenance will post a modest decline of 2.8 percent through the first quarter of 2024. “Higher interest rates and sharp downturns in homebuilding and existing home sales are driving our projections for sluggish remodeling activity next year,” says Carlos Martín, Project Director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Center. “With ongoing uncertainty in financial markets and the threat of a recession, homeowners are increasingly likely to pare back or delay projects beyond necessary replacements and repair “Homeowner improvement and maintenance spending is expected to top out at $458 billion in the coming year, compared with market spending of $471 billion over the past four quarters, said Abbe Will, Associate Project Director of the Remodeling Futures Program. “However, strong and steady growth in the number of homes permitted for remodeling projects, as well as a slew of federal incentives for energy-efficiency retrofits may yet buoy remodeling expenditure from steeper declines.”