Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sarah Wells. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Sarah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

The name of my business, Swell Design, was a happy accident. Before I branched out into business ownership, I worked a corporate job as a Graphic Designer and Social Media Coordinator and during this time, I also got married and changed my name. After my name change, my email address also changed from [email protected] to [email protected]. This was the first time I saw that there was a sort of “play on words” with my first initial and new last name.

Once I decided to begin doing freelance work, I needed a name to work under and decided to continue with this coincidence and quickly branded my business as Swell Design in 2016, and 6 years later it still works perfectly for my brand.

Sarah, 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?

Throughout high school, I always thought I wanted to go into Interior Design, watching HGTV any chance I had and even noted “Interior Design” as my prospective major when applying to colleges. However, during my senior year of high school, I took a Computer Graphics class in our Art Department, and that was it – I was sold. Four years later, in 2015, I graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor’s Degree in both Studio Art (with a focus in Graphic Design) and in Telecommunications (with a focus in Marketing).

I started Swell Design in 2016 at a pivotal moment in my life. I had just relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina after living my entire life in southern Indiana. I had to say goodbye to my corporate design job that I thought was exactly what I always wanted and I started applying for other corporate design jobs in the Charlotte area, and nothing was working. I took this as a sign to try to build my own business as I continued sending out applications. I went ALL IN. I worked on my brand, I started networking in a city where I knew no one, and I started to get clients.

After two years in Charlotte, I was able to confidently say that my business was serving me as a “full-time” job, and I had consistent clients coming in.

Working with entrepreneurs and small business owners became the perfect clientele for me. I love hearing people talk about following their passion and building a business, just like I did. And being the first visual element to their brand is such a special feeling. I love seeing a client connect with a design I create for them and know that it will represent everything they do for years to come.

I’m most proud of having figured most of business ownership out on my own. I had the technical skill to provide a valuable service, but I didn’t know anything about being a business owner. I had to figure out taxes, expenses, how to pay myself, how to start saving for retirement and eventually becoming an LLC and setting myself up on payroll. Now, as of 2022, I have 5 part-time subcontractors that are working for me, and I’m learning how to delegate, lead a team, and serve more established clients.

I’m grateful for what my business has given me: Financial freedom, the ability to be home with my kids, to do creative work that I love, and experience something different every single day. I hope that each client I work with feels truly cared for, not only as a client, but as a person no matter where they are in their business journey.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

After having my first child in December of 2019, I remember sitting down at our dining room table with my husband to talk about my business. I had all of my pricing printed out, notes I had taken and we were going to talk about my goals for the year ahead.

I had far less “work” time with a newborn at home and knew that some things needed to change in my business in order to maintain some semblance of a work/life balance, while still being able to serve my clients with the top-tier customer experience they had come to know and expect (and deserve).

This was the first time I really began investing in my business, and in myself. I signed up for a CRM software and spent hours setting up automations, contracts, proposals, and email templates. I purchased additional software and resources to help me serve clients even better, and did one other thing I was the most fearful to do… raise my prices.

I think I had always known that my work reflected a much higher price tag than what I was charging, but I struggled to raise my prices, even slightly. However, after becoming a mom, I truly began to realize that my time had value and was finite. My time, my expertise, my skill and the deliverables I was providing was worth something. I decided to raise my package prices, knowing that if it failed, I could always lower them again.

This was my first step into really believing and seeing what potential my business had monetarily. I was still booking clients, I was able to take on less clients, spend more time devoted to each one, and maintain my work/life balance because of it. Growth is rarely comfortable, it’s when we step out of our comfort zone that the most growth can sometimes happen.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

After working as part of a team in the corporate world, I really knew what I appreciated about my managers there, but also what I would do differently. I try my best to communicate with my 5 team members as exactly that, part of my team. They are doing equally important work for my business, and deserve to be treated the same way I’d want to be treated. I try my best to offer criticism in a polite and constructive way that allows for collaboration, questions to be asked, and feedback.

When talking to a potential new team member, I express to them how important open communication is. I try to always give adequate timelines for projects to be completed, but also make sure my team knows that if something comes up, as long as they communicate that to me, I can be flexible.

I enjoy sending them small gifts and tokens of appreciation throughout the year, in addition to being sure I’m paying them a reasonable hourly rate.

I am so grateful for the team I’ve been able to cultivate over the last two years and wouldn’t be able to take on a lot of the work I have now without their help.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.swelldesign.co
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/swell.design.co
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swelldesignllc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/swell-design/

Image Credits
Kate Lynn Imagery William Ray