{"id":22333,"date":"2025-01-01T00:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T05:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/?post_type=essay&p=22333"},"modified":"2025-01-06T12:17:49","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T17:17:49","slug":"crystal-frye-owner-of-the-ez-easel-paints-a-non-traditional-picture-of-success","status":"publish","type":"essay","link":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/essay\/crystal-frye-owner-of-the-ez-easel-paints-a-non-traditional-picture-of-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Crystal Frye, owner of The EZ Easel, paints a non-traditional picture of success"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ashley Daniels<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cYou have to do what you have to do sometimes until you can do what you want to do,\u201d says Crystal Frye, owner of The EZ Easel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the trajectory her journey toward her artistic entrepreneurship has morphed into over the past 20 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduating from Aynor High School in 2003, Frye went on to receive her associate\u2019s degree in business from Horry Georgetown Technical College while simultaneously working at Horry Telephone Cooperative (HTC), where she worked until 2012. After her next stint working for the Horry County Engineering Department and the county\u2019s Clerk of Court\u2019s office, she decided to paint full-time in the summer of 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was born very artistic, and when I was little, I loved art and I was very much always painting, drawing, doing all the crafts,\u201d she says. \u201cBut at the time, there was really nothing you could do but be an art teacher or something, and I just did not want to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frye stopped doing what she loved in high school but picked the hobby back up in 2012 when she hand-painted a stool for her nephew. Soon, she began painting Christmas ornaments as gifts to friends and posted photos of her canvas art on her Facebook page under the business name ABC\u2014Art By Crystal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015, she crafted a business plan, obtained an LLC, and secured a domain and email for her new business name, The EZ Easel, starting with mobile paint parties, with the first one for her cousin\u2019s kid\u2019s birthday party. Next up, in 2016, Frye met a woman cutting wooden door hangers who sold them to her at wholesale prices. Frye jumped on that trend by hosting door hanger paint parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe catalyst to me going full-time as an artist was basically that I had lost an engagement, my grandmother died, and my family split over money, and I hated my boss at the county \u2013 and all of it happened within three months,\u201d says Frye. \u201cI was just absolutely done with that, and I loved painting. \u2026 It led to me feeling like I should just do me. I should do what I want to do and live my dream because we won\u2019t be here forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that is exactly what Frye is doing today with The EZ Easel. She is busy painting outdoor wall murals and window painting for commercial clients, abstract walls for residential and commercial clients, sensory paths, school spirit rocks, custom art projects, and her newer service she\u2019s offering and playing around with: EZ Wallpaper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy style across all of the mediums I provide for my clients is mainly abstract,\u201d says Frye. \u201cI painted my first abstract wall in 2022, and I\u2019ve been known for it ever since. I do a lot of abstract and very whimsical things \u2026 It\u2019s like a modern take on Lily Pulitzer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The growth of Frye\u2019s business and her clients has been exponentially crazy after a couple of her abstract walls went viral (She has 31K Facebook followers). That, and her client referrals, organically build off one another from her time teaching afterschool art classes for kids, leading to referrals for spirit rocks, more abstract walls, door hangers, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver the years, my local clientele has stayed a lot of the same people, parents and kids, which I find is very God-appointed and God-ordained,\u201d she says. \u201cThey trust me, they know me. So it has always been a stepping stone to the next big thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always pushed the envelope,\u201d continues Frye. \u201cI am more of an entrepreneur than an artist. I mean, true\u00a0artists are very left-brained and not the business person. And I am very mid-range: business and artist. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve been successful because not only did I know how to paint, but I could also morph with the trends throughout time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frye says she loves what she does now, and there\u2019s never a day when she gets tired of painting. \u201cI am filled with love by my admirers and people constantly telling me that I am inspiring them to create things or to start their own business,\u201d she says. \u201cI have women that have messaged me from other states that follow me on Facebook and say that I have inspired them to step out and do this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frye says she also feels fulfilled by the more time she has been able to spend with her family, thanks to The EZ Easel. She credits her dad, Shelley, as being her biggest helper since 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m making memories with my little family,\u201d says Frye. \u201cI have learned over the years that where I truly lie is in my little group: my mom, my dad, my brother, my sister-in-law, my niece, and my nephew.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for her advice to others who may be inspired to follow her inspiring, albeit unconventional, career journey?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you really want it bad enough, you will do it,\u201d says Frye. \u201cThere is nothing out there that you can\u2019t do. \u2026 I encourage people to dream big. If you\u2019re sitting behind a desk or doing something every day that you hate, knowing that you could be doing something different, you\u2019re wasting your time and your talent. And God has given everybody a talent; the world needs what you have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information or to book a service, visit www.theezeasel.com<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ashley Daniels \u201cYou have to do what you have to do sometimes until you can do what you want to do,\u201d says Crystal Frye, owner of The EZ Easel. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22334,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_gspb_post_css":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":""},"essay_type":[76],"essay-category":[101,100],"class_list":["post-22333","essay","type-essay","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","essay_type-sasee-gets-personal","essay-category-businesses","essay-category-local"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay\/22333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/essay"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay\/22333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"essay_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay_type?post=22333"},{"taxonomy":"essay-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay-category?post=22333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}