Buddha Doodles

Molly Hahn hit rock bottom in 2011. She'd lost a $10,000 freelance contract she desperately needed for rent, her boyfriend's father had committed suicide, and her grandmother passed away shortly after. Professionally and personally adrift, she was freelance illustrating but felt creatively drained and out of alignment with her purpose. Rather than give up, she started Buddha Doodles as a daily meditative sketch practice—not as a business, but as medicine for herself. Inspired by a mentor's advice about affirmations and channeling that guidance through her visual, kinesthetic nature, she began sharing these hand-drawn doodles online.

Molly had been sharing work online since 2001, so turning to the internet felt natural. She started posting Buddha Doodles on Tumblr around 2011 and was stunned by the response. "Suddenly I had 3000 followers and I was like just just exploded," she recalls. The growth was exponential—nothing she'd shared before had attracted an audience at that rate. What made this different was consistency: she gave away free sketches daily starting around 2008-2009, building an email list from scratch. By 2013, her email list had grown to around 13,000 daily subscribers (15,000 total across all lists), and her Facebook community—launched just two years before the interview—had ballooned to over 160,000 fans.

Molly's first gift shop launch came in May 2013, five years after starting the doodles. That first month, she made just $582—proof that her early audience was genuinely interested in the work itself, not necessarily a product. She kept it simple: Squarespace for $7-8 a month, Mailchimp for email (free up to 2,000 subscribers), and a daily commitment to showing up consistently. Her strategy was intentional: "Start simple. Start with a daily sketch practice. Start building an email list by giving away your art." The free content built trust and community; the shop converted that community into revenue.

Molly's biggest breakthrough came through patience and platform diversification. After finding initial traction on Tumblr, she expanded to Facebook (160,000+ fans), Instagram, and later Periscope. Her peak months showed what was possible: November 2014 hit $29,000 in revenue (holiday season), and March 2015 reached $22,000. She later switched from Squarespace to Shopify for better e-commerce tools. The gift shop—selling prints, throws, pillows, tote bags, and decks of cards—became her revenue engine. She expanded her team with a part-time assistant in Australia and added an administrative assistant and animator as business grew. What didn't work initially was trying to force monetization; the real turning point came when she focused on community first and products second.

By the time of this interview (2015), Molly had achieved what she set out to do: she was fully self-supported by Buddha Doodles, no longer relying on freelance contracts. She had landed a book deal with Andrews McMeel Publishing (the publisher of Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, and Dilbert) with her first hardcover launching in January 2016. Her 200,000+ person community was growing steadily across multiple platforms. She emphasized to other creatives: "It's okay for things to take time." From rock bottom in 2011 to $22,000-28,000 monthly revenue by 2015, Molly proved that consistent, authentic creative work—shared freely at first—could build both a thriving community and a sustainable business.