Frame One, Episode 12: full transcript

Podcast, approximately 45 minutes
For entrepreneurs, designers, and anyone considering starting something on their own.
Hosted by Drysen Carsten, FrameOne podcast

Drysen
Welcome to Frame One, I'm Drysen and today I'm sitting down with Kristi Wire of Wire Design Company. We are talking about your journey and to give a brief synopsis, the way Frame One works is this is completely unscripted, very natural, very conversational. So wherever this goes, we go. But the goal is to talk about your journey, the emotions you felt before leaving the agency world into what you're doing here today.

To recap, I want to make sure I got your story right. You worked in the agency world for about 10 years. You left the agency world to start your own design studio about five years ago, and you've been rocking it ever since.

That's correct. And thank you so much for having me today.

When starting a business, there's always going to be that fear. The fear of: How am I going to survive? How am I going to get new clients? All of the things. It's based off of survival and naturally humans want to be safe.

Yeah. It's a lizard brain kicking in. When I was building different strategies and processes and meeting with clients, I realized over time watching my husband, who is also an entrepreneur, the ups and downs. And one day he said to me, "You're kind of an agency inside an agency. Why don't you go off and do your own thing?" Now, two entrepreneurs in one house is a little scary, but there was this little instinct or intuition of: you should really pursue this. It wasn't something that I actively pursued in the beginning.

So that calling you had right there, was that something you've always had or was it once your husband mentioned it, you're like, oh yeah, that could be a thing?

There was a little intuition before that and the biggest reason why I left was I had a really great friend, and he was just a really bright person, energy wise. I knew him and his wife before they even met. I was friends with both of them and I wasn't their matchmaker, but he was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer and they gave him two years to live. He lived two years beyond his due date.

And I realized, in that moment, life is too short. What do you want to do in life that you want to do?

That's an intense call to action, like a call to yes, I'm going to make a choice and I'm going to move forward. What was your final moment where you're like, okay, I'm ready. Let's pull the trigger tomorrow, next week, next month?

It was his diagnosis. It really was. And his positivity throughout it all. I get teary-eyed when I talk about him, but it's so important to realize that you have no idea what tomorrow brings and go for what you want to do in life. Do the scary things because people regret stuff on their deathbed and I don't want to live like that.

There's something about life in general that... just finding joy even when things are tough. I think that's something, as entrepreneurs, it's kind of a different breed of people. Not everyone's meant to be an entrepreneur because it is hard. You have to be so resilient and there are so many challenges that you don't see, that your employees, your clients don't see, but yet you need to solve these problems.

Talking about that entrepreneur stuff, there's a book I read a little while ago called Entrepreneurial Leap by Gino Wickman, and it was very interesting because it's a self-diagnosis help book trying to figure out, "Hey, do you have the traits to be a true entrepreneur or are you more like a lifestyle business?" Because both are fine, but knowing which one you are helps to grow your business. It was an insightful book for me to read and listening to you talk about, "Hey, do you want to solve the problems and do this and deal with that." Just kind of made me think about that. So I wanted to throw it out for anybody who wants to check that out.

So talk to me about as that diagnosis came to be, you're like, yes, I'm going to start my own studio. As that deadline of I'm leaving my job next week came to be closer, talk to me about how you prepared to make that transition.

I prepared by asking eight different freelance designers who were in the business for over two years: What are the pros? What are the cons? What would you recommend when starting? And there was some great insight from people that I knew for years. My aunt, Kim Rasmussen, ran an interior design business for over 30 years and she worked with multi-million dollar clients. She helped me craft my contracts and also helped me understand QuickBooks. And those two things are really important when you start out.

Got to get the money figured out. And contracts, having it half up front, because in our world we do so much up front as far as work goes.

Exactly. And I imagine that learning curve, figuring out contracts and money, that's a lot of things to learn right off the bat.

What I first did was I took a whole month off. I stopped in the agency world on February 1st of 2019. I'm so glad it wasn't a year later, this would've been a whole different scenario. When I decided on February 1st, that first full month was building out the contracts, building out onboarding, ongoing and exiting strategies with not only clients but also subcontractors.

So the way that I run my business is not as a freelance business, which can be a little confusing to people because they look at me and they're like, "Oh, you're a graphic designer of one." The way that I've structured it is: Wire Design Company is a creative strategy studio where it's a company of one, myself, that does the communication and design and the strategy, but I hire out highly skilled individuals, especially when it comes to websites, as developers and other strategists. I only take on people who I know personally and have a good track record and are business owners as well. So they're not going to just flake out and disappear, which is so common in the freelance world.

For the most part it's working directly with the business owner or the CEO or the marketing manager of a company, mostly leaders who are looking for someone who has a creative vision for them and walking them through the process of what are your pain points, what are your successes, and then visually showing that in their branding, which can be so transformative for different companies.

I don't niche down because I like being an outside perspective looking in and being like, "Has your audience ever thought about this?" Because it's a different perspective that helps understand who they are, why they do the things that they do, and what kind of value they bring to the table for their particular audience.

For complete transparency, we hired you to work with my wife's photography company probably longer ago than I want to admit. And the process that we went through of you showing and presenting how things could be mocked up and how they could be used was unlike anything else that I'd seen before. So when I felt the word leave my mouth, freelancer, earlier and I'm like, no, that's not the right one. It's a studio of one. So I apologize, that was not my intent.

That's all right.

But with that, being a studio owner where you're able to outsource particular parts of the process can also be scary and stressful too. The first time that you had to outsource something, talk to me a little bit about that experience.

When it comes to web development, I outsource pretty much all of that. However, I have discovered a new type of website software where I can actually develop without code, which is really cool. But I also still lean heavily on web developers, especially when it comes to hosting environments because that's a whole world with website hosting, email hosting, all of that.

When you outsource, it's really transformative because you are putting trust in someone else and in their skill set. When you can identify in yourself — I'm not great at coding, but here's someone who is excellent at coding — I don't want to spend the time or energy to continue to try and learn to code like they do, but I can have a basic understanding of coding and lean on them for their expertise and ask them questions, bounce ideas off of each other. That's the really important part of running a business: continually learning and communicating with people in a way that helps not only promote their business but your business as well. And with all of my subcontractors, I give them the opportunity to talk directly with the client.

It's very hands-off in that way, and that's really important for trust. I also have a Slack channel with my different subcontractors. A couple of them I work with quite often, and we have a set time a day that they like to Slack. It's building the expectations and a structure of "okay, this person is available at this time, let's make sure we do the meetings at this time." It's been a really great experience.

And then also printers. A printer that does a hundred tote bags and then a printer who does 10,000. There are different printers that do better work based on those parameters. So it's about being a guide to clients when they're doing print work and saying, "Hey, this company is really good for this because you're looking at doing tote bags or direct mail." Building those relationships and knowing exactly who can do what and what their specialties are.

I want to take it back real quick to that month you took off to put your processes in place. When you took February off and you're getting up to ramp up to March, what was your confidence level?

It was a lot of leaning on my husband, to be honest. He's a very positive person. I'm kind of more of a negative person in the short term and positive in the long term. It's a balance. He's been a major cheerleader.

Maybe there's something we should talk about there a little bit, which is just having that support system when you are venturing off to do your own thing. Talk to me about the importance of having a support system.

A support system is so important. It's a very lonely journey as a CEO, as a founder, as an entrepreneur, whatever you want to put that title on. Your support system, especially if it's people who are in your same shoes, is crucial. If you are with other entrepreneurs, they can put themselves in your shoes too. They've been through a lot of the same things. That's where leaning into people who are like-minded is important, but also having people that have a completely different perspective.

My father is an engineer, but I've reached out to him for advice, especially when talking with CEOs or business owners, because it was something that I was already doing but wanted to improve on.

When starting a business, there's not really a finish line. It's not really a marathon. It's an ongoing, continually improving evolution.

I love that. When you were getting ready to leave the agency world to start Wire Design Company, what systems did you put in place for building relationships and reaching out to people? What was that startup phase like?

The biggest surprise that I had was that all of the business, except for one client, has been all word-of-mouth. It's been someone who knew someone and I haven't done any type of traditional or digital marketing. That's going to change here soon. But at the same time, I wanted to reach out to the network that I had built over the last 10 years in the agency and digital marketing world and just telling people, "Hey, I'm out here doing my own thing now. I'm doing creative strategy, branding and websites, and this is the date that I'm available and would love to work with you."

I crafted up this piece and put it in a bright envelope, creating something more dynamic than a regular postcard. I sent it out at the beginning of the year before I had left, but I had already put in my six-week notice. It was a New Year's resolution card with my business card in it. I sent it out to about a hundred people and got 20 replies back. Even two years later, people were still contacting me.

There's a saying that print is dead, but if it's done with intention, craft and quality, and provides value to the person you're sending it to, that's the biggest component.

And it ended up being where I went from zero clients for the first three months, and about that three month mark, I got really nervous, did I make the wrong decision sort of thing. But what I did before leaving the agency world was I saved up a year's worth. If things didn't work out and I wasn't going to have a single person come through the door, I had a year set aside. I said to Doug, "I'm really nervous about this." And Doug was like, "The worst thing that could happen is you're just going to have to go back into agency world or do something different. What do you got to lose?" And I changed my mindset to: "Okay. I got a year."

The first three months were quite stressful. Every day I went to work and did the habit of reaching out to new people, continuing to send out proposals. I knew that there was going to be a floodgate open at some point, and I kept thinking, "Okay, do I stop now?" And it's like, no, keep doing it, keep doing it. I kept building processes over that time, the onboarding, ongoing and exiting systems.

What happened was almost on the three month mark, I met with Matt Paulson. It was completely by accident because I actually had a no-show at Josiah's. I saw him working and he shared a studio space with my husband at Creative Co-Op years back. I said, "Hey Matt, I'm starting this new venture." And his response was, "I think I have a project for you." That's how we started. We started with The Early Bird and then worked into MarketBeat. For the past four years, I have been building a majority of their brand. They recently hired an amazing in-house designer, and while the torch has been handed off, I'm so happy for them and to see how much their company has grown and being a part of their growth.

Matt was the first client, and within two weeks, 18 people had responded to contracts and said, "Let's go!" It was the floodgate situation of oh no, what am I going to do? Followed by: nope, you just put that hat on of "I'm going to figure it out. We're going to make this work." Some people had to wait a while, which they were open to, and there were some people that were like, "I really need this today." It was one of those moments of, okay, now I need to figure out how much workload I can take on.

I was able to take on 12 to 14 clients and pump out everything in two months. Coming from the agency world, the one thing that was really beneficial is how to work fast and on your feet. It's always been in my nature to do things quickly, but also focusing on quality and getting to the solution as fast as possible.

So when you first started, your services were branding, websites and creative strategy. Have they changed over the years?

It has stayed the same. Consistently. And I think that's because they can be so diverse. When you think of branding, it could be vehicle graphics, it could be internal wall graphics, it can be logos and all of the umbrella items that go beyond that with elements, fonts and colors. And even going into messaging and voice. The way that you talk and the way you present yourself or your business says a lot about you. A lot of times that's taken for granted or is just this kind of hidden visible.

It's almost like a subconscious expectation that when somebody interacts with your brand, it's like a promise of what to expect.

Right. When branding doesn't work is when that promise isn't met or that expectation isn't met. There are a lot of great branding and designers and strategists out there in the world, but there are also a lot of not great ones too. And it's finding what fits with your company.

Talk to me about the role of how to plan for branding, how to think about branding and how to implement branding into a small startup company.

The way that I would recommend would be something very, very simple. Four things. Why you matter, why your product or services matter to a specific audience, figure out who your specific audience is, and then tell your story because people want to work with people that they like, know and trust.

In order to get from like to trust, you have to share what your services are, how your process works, what it's like working with you. And it seems so simple, but what's interesting about the human brain is we're usually either way in the weeds or way out here, and it's finding that middle ground. That's kind of what I do with clients every day, bring it in and just being like, "Okay, what are the biggest pain points? What are you looking to accomplish?"

Sometimes a client will come to me and say, "Hey, I want a website." And it's like, "Okay, what's not working with your current website?" Let's first dive into that because there could be things that are not seen that are going on, and I want to make sure I'm making the right recommendations for you.

One of my favorite goals is to try to talk someone out of buying something, because if they really need it, then yes, we're going to move forward. But if it's something that could be okay, I'd rather they save their money until it can truly benefit them.

I want to cycle back real quick to something you said earlier about the exit strategy, which is something I don't think a lot of people give a lot of thought and attention to when they're starting a company. Talk to me about why you thought that was important and what you did for it.

I thought that the exiting strategy was really important, especially with clients, because if they're leaving, I want to know what was successful during that time, what could have been improved, what types of technologies and things that they see that I should be focusing on.

And also, how can I benefit them in the future outside of doing business? There's one thing to be said about doing a job and just getting paid and moving on to the next one. But there is something to be said about really caring about people and wanting to see them be successful beyond the relationship that you built. And also thinking about how can I connect them with others? There's just something wonderful about building communities and seeing people interact in a way that benefits them.

Have you seen different phases of your company over the last five years?

Yes. And something that I do every quarter is have a review of: What are we doing well, what aren't we doing well, and constantly improving. It's like having a board meeting in your head sometimes, but sometimes you're working with contractors too.

I think it really helps when leaning into client insights during onboarding and exiting, taking those insights and improving your business based on them.

In the beginning it was a lot of setup. It was figuring out the financial, legal and just the system side of: How do I want to track my time? How do I want to introduce a branding package? I had a lot of experience beforehand, but it was fine-tuning it in a way where it was a lot more streamlined. And figuring out who the particular audience I wanted to work with, which are leaders who are looking for visual identity and an online presence that's more clear and concise and unique to them.

How long did it take you to find that target market?

It was an evolution. It was kind of always in the back of my mind, but it wasn't until these last two months that I really crafted it, because for the first four years I was always putting clients first and always making sure their needs were met and I wasn't focusing on my own company's branding.

It's like "the plumber's toilet is always broken." In order to really go to that next step, I needed to take a step back and focus on what I'm doing. I joined the SBA Thrive Cohort, which is a very intense six-month course where you probably spend 10 hours a week focusing on leadership, company culture, IP, legal, finance, all that sort of thing. A lot of it was a refresher for me, but at the same time there were these key points. Even though I know a lot of these things, there's always something new.

It's also about building systems that work really well in the beginning versus trying to do it later. Starting out small and lean and then scaling when it makes sense to. One of the biggest reasons why businesses fail is they scale too fast. That's something that I've always been really conscious of and want to stay small. Especially with AI technology and different things that are coming out, I see a lot in the future where it's going to be leaner and mighty teams.

What does the next five years for you look like?

In the SBA class, we just actually presented a three-year growth plan. What I'm going to focus on is the strategic communication skills that I have currently and really tell people why the business could bring value to you, how it can, and also what services can be provided. That way of thinking and doing it in a public way helps people. It helps build awareness of what you're actually doing and what sets you apart from other people.

As a freelancer, entrepreneur, a company of one or a thousand, it's also figuring out what do you bring to the table that's different than anyone else. Because everyone has different experiences in their life and they have different thought patterns and the way that their brain connects, whether it's with people or technology. I think humans are amazing and it's fun to see when people have those a-ha moments.

For the longest time, because of the creative work that I do, a lot of people think it's subjective. "Oh, I don't need that. I'll just DIY it." And that's fine. Some people do a really great job at it. But I think the biggest thing is having a strong understanding of who you are, who you serve, and what kind of value those two connect with.

So as you were going through the program, what did you discover about yourself or rediscover maybe?

That I was being too quiet. I've been kind of head down doing lots of work, creating great results for clients, but not sharing any of that.

The whole working in the business and not working on the business.

Correct. And that was a pivotal moment of let's balance this. Let's do both. And it's tough. There isn't such a thing as work-life balance. It's just you have a little bit more some days and a little less on others. There are days you're working until midnight, but tomorrow maybe you're working until 11 AM and you're done for the day.

I am curious because your husband is an animator and you are a designer, how often do your projects overlap?

We have done four projects together in five years. We own our own companies and this wasn't by design, but it just happened. And it's healthy too. There's an art in the science to it. The first project I will say did not go very well, and it was more on me than it was on him. You need to separate the wife and husband from the business partner.

When the project was a little bit rocky, we sat down and talked, "Okay, do we want to continue to do this together?" And it was a yes, but in smaller quantities or different ways. I think honesty comes out a lot more with your significant other or family member. And it's like, "No, I need to treat him like a client." Three more projects since then, and he's been amazing to work with. But it's those first humps of figuring out how you work together.

Any advice and tips you want to share? Someone wants to start their own company, their own freelance journey or studio. What would you tell them?

One of the biggest benefits as a freelancer or starting your own company is understanding what the need is that you are trying to convey to someone else. When doing the three-year growth plan, someone had reached out to me this morning and said, "I've never thought about branding before in a visual way. I didn't ever think it mattered. It matters. Because the way that you talked about it and the way you showed me why it matters, it changes my whole perspective."

It's important to remember that branding is not always visual, it's sometimes communicative. At the base of design work, it's about your business goals, your business values, your messaging, and how you talk with your employees and what the expectations are. That's a brand. Design is secondary.

The design comes second and marketing comes second. But sometimes people tend to think that comes first and push it. If you have a good foundation, a system, the way that you talk and how your business and employees communicate, that is a huge benefit. It's so much more than just logos and a color. But if you can visually convey what they're saying into a logo, into a brand, the psychology of colors, fonts and all of that really play into and can be infused into the branding.

How do you take your branding and still have a style that you are known for? Or is it strictly what the client needs and your style doesn't matter?

It took me seven years to figure out my style. It really did. And it's clean, concise, but it does vary. A lot of the same components of understanding color theory stay throughout. For example, I've worked with a one-person tutoring business where it's super colorful and super fun, whereas I'm also working with an insurance company where it's very white and airy, but it always has this clean, concise aesthetic to it all.

The aesthetic is usually the reason why they first ask for work, but then they realize that there's way more to this. It's also about building connections. With the tutoring business, she was looking to get into the homeschool community and I said, here's a person and I'm going to introduce you over email. I was giving more value on top of the design work. She was looking into doing a subscription-based program and I helped craft with her how she would structure that out. It was a better experience for both of us.

I love seeing it when a client is super successful in their business or has that a-ha moment of, "Yes, this is the direction I want to go in and you had the vision to bring me there."

Is there a certain range of business that you like to work with? More startups, more mid-seasoned, more mature?

I would say mid-seasoned to mature. It's working with leaders who have a vision, who want more of a visual communication and strategy behind their vision. "Here's all the pieces and parts I'd like." And then I will fill in the blanks and ask questions where they may have not even thought about a certain part of their business before. "Well, have you thought about..."

For example, I recently had a business owner with a 3D U-line box that they were shipping out for $8. She was looking to save money. Right away I'm like, okay, it's got a sticker, it's plain on the outside, she wants to design this box, but what if we made it flat? I brought it to the post office. I made a mock-up and figured out she could save 66% on all of her shipping.

Having that kind of skillset is way beyond just design work. It's looking at a problem with a new kind of solution.

People think business cards are dead, but if the card has value and a use, people will hang onto it. Otherwise, if it's a low quality printed card, 90% of those go into trash. For the tutoring client, I'm going to get blank pink erasers and do a stamp. It's simple, but it's so effective. A new way of thinking outside of the box, but it's still on brand for her and it's useful. It's win-win all around.

Well, Kristi, I think we hit everything I wanted to talk about today.

Yeah, thank you so much for having me today, Drysen. It's been so much fun. I appreciate it.

Good, I'm glad. And if you guys are still watching and have not liked or subscribed to Frame One, please do so because you're missing out. And as always, thanks for watching.