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

Darnay , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?

If I were to start over I would do a few things differently. Biggest one for me, which is probably scary for some, is I wouldn’t have gone to university to get my degree in design. Practical learning is at our fingertips these days with courses and workshops and they’re usually a fraction of the price and time. In addition to that, I would’ve focused on understanding and implementing marketing as well. This is where I find most creatives struggle, myself included. We all have the eye for creative design, that’s why were in the space we are, but putting our work out into the world and knowing our worth is a hurtle to move past. Had I taken time sooner to work through a marketing course specific to my industry I know I could’ve moved along in my journey faster.

Darnay , 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?

My name is Darnay. I live along the Gulf Coast in sunny Florida with my husband and three boys. My husband and I both grew up in Virginia. Our heart is in the mountains and we are big outdoor people. By the end of our Florida summers we crave travel to go somewhere cooler to meet the changing of the leaves. I went to university about a decade ago and got my degree in graphic design. I originally was going for education but my creative side knew better, I made the switch and never looked back. I currently specialize in visual brand identity through logos, patterns, illustration, and web. I pride myself on partnering with my clients to make the design process enjoyable and easy. I also offer premade Squarespace websites designed with the creative entrepreneur in mind to help them skip the overwhelm. Each premade Squarespace website comes with personalized training videos to ensure they can update their site with ease, leaving them feeling like a pro so they can show up confidently online doing what they love most.
My main goal when working with a client is to take the burden off their shoulders and deliver something that visually helps them tell their story to the world.

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 in my industry has to do with money and knowing my worth. I had a great upbringing but we did not have a lot of money. I was always aware of staying on a budget and as I got older this translated into how I started and ran my business. I figured everyone starting out who needed design work also needed a break in how much they were going to pay for that. While that is true most of the time I had to learn that I didn’t need to carry that burden and that’s not a sustainable business model! So I really had to begin to work through knowing what my worth was as a designer and being okay with not falling into everyone’s budget. I’ve found over the years that a lot of creatives struggle with this. Knowing your worth and what to charge has no hard and fast rules, but if we don’t take time to figure that out it can cause burn out really fast. At my core my heart is to provide quality work for everyone, so this fueled my desire to create alternative ways to serve those who maybe didn’t have the budget for custom work but still needed a quality designed website – which is why I created the premade Squarespace websites and have a few other things I am currently working on behind the scenes.

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

Financial freedom, location freedom, and time freedom are what drive my creative journey. These are the core things that keep me grounded in the decisions I make in my work for myself and my family. When these things are aligned it allows the freedom to be generous with my time and money, which is important to me. It also helps me to slow down enough in my decision making to know how it will effect any of these categories. That’s not something I practiced well when I was first starting out.

Contact Info:

• Website:thecreativemotif.com
• Instagram: thecreativemotif

Image Credits
Rachel Bonney with RC Creates Photography