We were lucky to catch up with Andrew Ordway recently and have shared our conversation below.

Andrew, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear from you about what you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry and why it matters.

I think in general businesses underestimate the power that branding plays in the success of their business. I think larger businesses get it, but smaller and new businesses that are perhaps making it work on a limited budget don’t plan enough of their startup costs towards their branding. I’m talking about the businesses that get their cousin’s daughter to design their logo (just a logo – no other branding elements) and they think that is good enough.

I’m very much interested in behavioral psychology, and I am interested in how people act based on the data they have. When someone is looking for a supply or service to solve their problem, and they see a company that can potentially solve their problem but that has an amateurish logo, I think they perceive that business as lower quality (though often subconsciously). People are visual creatures, and they do judge a book by its cover (despite the age old adage instructing us not to). I think business don’t consider that as much as they should.

It’s a dog fight out there to gain and retain customers, and I think branding is a giant part of that, and I wish businesses across the board understood that.

Andrew, 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’m Andrew Ordway and I run Impossibly Awesome Design Co. I create clean, colorful, and distinct branding to help my clients create a killer first impression that’s memorable and creates trust. I’m passionate about creating that critical match between their quality offerings and their outward appearance.

I focus on logos and branding, but also enjoy digital illustration and whatever graphic design needs my clients may have.

One thing that sets me apart from others is my business background. A lot of artists may bring just the art skills, but I also bring business advice as it ties into the visual aspect of the client. I have both a marketing and finance degree, and am able to act as more of consultant and problem solver than a lot of artists can.

I definitely had a circuitous route to where I am now. When I was in college, I wanted to work at an ad agency, and therefore pursued a marketing degree. I had extra room in my schedule, so I added finance as a second major. When it came time to graduate and get a job, the job I found was dealing with Government contract proposals, and definitely used the finance part of my degree rather than the advertising part.

After many years in a day job with little creativity, I began trying out some creative endeavors in my free time. After some experimentation, I stumbled on graphic design. I always considered myself creative with my ideas, but never had any analog art skills, so I never considered myself an artist. However I learned over time that with the aid of a computer, I was able to bring my creative ideas to life in a compelling way that I couldn’t do with my hands alone.

I dove head first into the world of graphic design, and soon realized thats what I was always meant to be. It’s the perfect outlet for my creativity and my fascination with behavioral psychology. And, frankly, I just love logos.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategy for growing my clientele has been getting involved in local groups. When I decided I wanted to pursue graphic design, I started attending any local event or meetup that I could, most of which were hosted my local AIGA chapter. I met like-minded people and was apparently networking without even knowing it. Getting involved in that community has led to numerous jobs and opportunities, and has also allowed me to share the knowledge i’ve learned – I’ve done multiple student portfolio reviews and a career panel in the hopes of sharing my knowledge and expertise.

On top of that, I have been involved in some personal hobby groups and gotten many jobs that way. Once you become known as the “graphic designer” in the group and make friends with people, they tend to recommend you for any job they hear about. This was mainly through a few local whiskey clubs I am part of. As a result, I have designed a few whiskey labels for distilleries around the country.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn was the idea that I had to say yes to every job that came my way. At one point I had the thought process that jobs are few and far between and I needed to say yes to all of them or my business would fail, even if they didn’t pay well or were not creatively interesting. This was scarcity mindset.

This led to me being constantly stressed about jobs with minuscule budgets. A large portion of my thoughts went toward small jobs.

A few people in my life turned my thinking around on this. I took a 12-week coaching class with Scotty Russell, and he taught me that jobs that come in are either a hell yes, or a hell no. There is no in-between. This thought process allowed me the freedom to turn down mediocre and bad jobs because it didn’t cross the high barrier of being a stellar potential job.

My buddy Dave Probst, who is an amazing motion designer who had been freelancing for essentially his entire career, made it clear to me that taking every job that comes to you is scarcity mindset thinking; this is the last job you’ll ever get offered so you better take it. I learned that it’s ok to turn down jobs you don’t want to do, even if you need the work, because another job is always around the corner. And by turning down that bad job, you have the availability to accept the next great job that comes your way. I saw this play out firsthand in his career, an I saw his calmness throughout the entire thing. I knew I needed to have the same mental toughness and trust.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.impossiblyawesome.design/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/impossiblyawesomedesign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ImpossiblyAwesomeDesign
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-ordway-55ba9a199