We recently connected with Alice Buswell and have shared our conversation below.

Alice, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

Growing up I have always wanted to own my own business. I have always wanted to open up my own archer range, which I very much have been thinking about more and more! But with this in mind, I have been thinking of names since I was a kid. I came up with Nature’s Arrow.

Later when I was coaching archery, I was using that name. It was a comfortable name for me to use. And it really embodied who I was.

When I started my website design business, I kept the same name, but added ‘design’ at the end to show that this was a design entity.

More recently, after some self-evaluation, I realized that the name Nature’s Arrow Design, encompasses the main aspects of my life. Nature, because I love the beauty of the outdoors, and being able to spend time outside. Arrow, because I have spent more e/4 of my life as an archer, and it holds a very special place in my heart. Finally, Design, because I have always been involved in some sort of art.

All of these elements I find peace in, and I want to be able to share that with as many people as possible. For others to chase after their dreams, and to make them their reality. As life is to be enjoyed doing the things that you love, with the people that you love.

Alice, 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?

Nature’s Arrow Design is a branding and website design business, one that I started in 2020, in the middle of the Covid-19 Pandemic. I had just graduated from Florida Institute of Technology with a major in Global Management and Finance. At this point, my boyfriend and I had just moved to Texas. I was looking for a job, but I couldn’t get any responses back. Before we moved I had a few people talk to me about creating some websites for them.

Now, how does Global Management tie back to website design? It honestly doesn’t. I remember when I was 11 years old, my dad was teaching us a lot about computers and what they can do, from taking one apart to putting it back together, to the different applications that can run on it. I remember talking about websites, and how some were functional, but lacked design, and others had the design elements, but were not functional at all. From then I started playing around with different website builders, mainly Wix and WordPress. So when I wasn’t shooting my bow and competing, I was generally playing around with websites.

Fast forward to High School, I’m in all of the art classes that I can possibly take. I was looking at different electives to take, and I saw that there was a website development class. I decided to take it to learn more about the development side of building sites. I really enjoyed the class. At that point, I was thinking about Web Development being my major in College. However, all of the colleges that I applied to, all of which had collegiate archery, did not have that as a major, so I subbed for a Business degree.

Throughout college, I was building my own sites, from a live coaching website to archery coaching, so that I had a two people reach out to me to build their sites for them, and to manage them. I’ve always had the ambition to start my own business, be it an archery range or to be a website designer.

Once I graduated college, I had a few more people contact me about creating sites for their small businesses. I was so happy to accept these projects, that I decided to take the leap of faith. I started my own solopreneur business. 6 months into starting my business, I hired a business coach, Laura Livingston(https://www.lauralivingston.co/). I learned so much from her. She helped me narrow down my offerings, solidify my packages, and truly helped me find out who I serve.
Now I can proudly say that at Nature’s Arrow Design, I offer creative marketing solutions for dream-catching entrepreneurs ( and small businesses)!

These past 2 years have given me so much joy. I love the work that I do for my clients, and my clients enjoy the process. I mainly work with WordPress using Elementor Pro as the builder, but I also work on Squarespace. I meet my clients where they are and help guide them through the process to get their dream site.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

There are 2 things that really drive my creative journey. First, it is being able to help others. I have always been the type of person to come up with different solutions to problems that people are facing. I was seriously considering becoming a life coach because of this. The second, is that I love having freedom with my time. I am flexible to know when I need to work, but also when to listen to my body to rest, which ties greatly into my other passion of being an archer.

A large part of of I started my business was because I wanted to have the freedom to shoot, which has lead me all across the country, which meant that I needed something that allowed for remote working.

So this mix of wanting to help others, and wanting flexibility with my fascination with website design is what continues to drive me.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

In the 2 years that Nature’s Arrow has been around I have found that referrals has been the number 1 source of new clients for me.

Being able to talk with people through a Discovery call and really learning about them, and their goals really makes a difference.

Trust is built faster when talking to the individuals, and when someone they know refers them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://naturesarrowdesign.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alicebuswell.naturesarrow/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AliceBuswellNaturesArrowDesign
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alice-buswell-nature-s-arrow/

Image Credits
Photos of me are by Winship Photography