We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katie Howie a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Katie, appreciate you joining us today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. So, we’d appreciate if you could open up about your growth story and the nitty, gritty details that went into scaling up.

I think people would be surprised to learn that I work every day, 365 days a year. Obviously not in the sense of a corporate grind, but in the broader sense that I am always looking for ways to better serve my clients and I am always searching for content that will inspire me and my clients and my online community.

I have had my own business since 2011 and I have been scaling up since day one. The last few years I have experienced a great deal of growth because I added an entirely new leg to the business – home styling! I felt the market was missing affordable styling solutions and that I had a unique way to fill that void (which is exactly what I did when I started the photography aspect of my business all those years ago).

Over the years countless people asked me how I do what I do with my home and if I could help them, too. So, in 2020 I started styling people’s homes (a challenging year to do so, but I hit the ground running with virtual styling sessions and some super awesome clients). Styling is different from decorating – I want to make that very clear – There are no to-scale plans drawn up and I don’t work with to-the-trade products (and I didn’t go to school for it!). Rather, I help clients both use what they have, and source both vintage items and mid-range new pieces, to decorate their home. My clients are real people who have real budgets and the trust they put in me is such an honor. Styling is also different from working with a decorator because it is infinitely more affordable – many decorators have $50k and up minimums to take a project on but not me! I’ll help you style anything from one room to your whole house and the investment is simply the initial consultation fee and then an hourly fee after that.

Katie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am an inspired home stylist and authentic portrait photographer. I officially got into portrait photography 12+ years ago when I was a young mom who was looking for artful, reasonably priced family photos for my own family. I couldn’t find what I was looking for so I created it! Similarly, I added home styling to my business when I realized there was a huge market for reasonable, simple, yet artful, home styling services.

I think a big thing for me is helping clients tell their unique stories – both with my camera and through home styling. Above all things, I want my work to be experienced as authentic and I want to connect with each and every client in a meaningful way. I truly consider my clients my friends and have created such a beautiful community of like-minded, kind people.

I am incredibly proud of my By A Thread Pandemic Portrait Project – I photographed and interviewed over 150 Minnesotans during the first year+ of the pandemic to both highlight essential workers and the human spirit, Ultimately, I created a living history of a 21st century American community exploring what it means to be human during a global pandemic It can be found in it’s entirety at katiehowie.com.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an Artist for me is that I am living out my childhood dream. When I was seven or so I filled out the Dr. Suess book My Book About Me By Me Myself and in crayon I wrote on the line next to What I want to be when I grow up “artist and mom”. I have accomplished both of those things! And I feel incredibly lucky to have done them together, as one has informed the other.

My home is my biggest canvas, where I learn and test ideas and play, day after day after day. I don’t foresee myself retiring, because making art is like breathing for me. It’s everything to me. And making functional art, like photos and styled homes? Well, there’s nothing better.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing my clientele is simply: building and maintaining strong relationships with my clients and community which translates into wonderful word of mouth recommendations. Just today I received an inquiry from a potential client that learned about me from a current client who recommended me on a neighborhood Facebook page! My clients and community have been such great supporters of my work and I am so grateful for each and every recommendation. In the 12+ years I have been doing this I have not once done any paid advertising, it’s been grass-roots from the beginning and I feel so fortunate.

Contact Info:

• Website: katiehowie.com
• Instagram: @_katiehowie

Image Credits
All images by Katie Howie :)