Today we’d like to introduce you to Krystianna Pietrzak

Hi Krystianna, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?

My story begins in the world of book publishing. I grew up being a huge reader and wanted to design layouts for books! I interned in multiple publishing houses around Boston in college. However, graduating during 2020 wasn’t the easiest. I struggled to find a job and ended up creating my own business instead that year instead. I haven’t looked back since!

Inkpot Creative® started as a social media management brand but morphed into design when I went back to my roots. I studied media arts and graphic design in college and it’s what I’ve always loved. Website design in particular is something I grew a big interest in because of how layout-oriented it is. It feels a lot like designing interior pages of a book but in a way that the reader can interact with what they’re reading even more.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

It definitely hasn’t. As with all businesses, there have been a lot of ups and downs through the years, but that’s one of the things I love about entrepreneurship. I love having to think on my toes and find ways to continue to serve my audience.

One of the biggest struggles for me as a business owner was getting to a point 2 years into business where Inkpot was growing so quickly but I didn’t have the capacity to keep up with it on my own. I knew I had to do something or I was going to very quickly burn out. Luckily, Jessie was able to come and join me and has since become half of what Inkpot is, which I’ve been so grateful for.

I’ve also definitely gone through burn out a few times through the years. I’ve definitely learned as a business owner that it’s so important to make sure that you’re taking time for yourself. It’s so easy to want to put all your time into your business but you have to remember to take time for yourself, too!

As you know, we’re big fans of Inkpot Creative®. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?

Inkpot Creative® is a queer-led design studio building unconventional, impactful brand and website experiences for photographers who are leading their industry by creating something different.

We specialize in personality-driven brands and websites that are scroll-worthy. Photographers spend SO much time with their clients in person, so we really stand out from other design studios because we know how to bring a photographer’s personality to the forefront of their brand and website. This means that by the time someone inquires and hops on a call with a photographer, they already feel like they know them! It’s a win-win.

We also stand out in our industry because once we craft a brand and website for a client, we don’t stop there. We offer blogging retainer services to help grow traffic, too. We’ve helped to grow traffic for our clients up to 500% from before they worked with us. I take what I learned from growing my travel blog to 70,000 monthly pageviews and apply that to my clients’ sites.

Our signature offer is called The Intentional Changemaker Experience. This is a complete rebrand that includes everything you need to stand out in your industry and actually get eyeballs on your work, with a new brand, website, and a bulk set of 6 blog posts to kickstart your traffic.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?

I love this question! I was an athlete for 10 years of my life, all the way through college, and I’ve learned a lot about risk from sports.

I think in order to continue to evolve as a business, it’s important to take risks. Continuing to do the same thing year in and year out is not great for longevity.

The biggest risk I’ve taken in business was offering website services only. I offer branding and website design now, but for about 1.5 years of business, I was so busy that I offered just web design. I hadn’t seen any other studios do that successfully in my little bubble online, so I wasn’t sure how it was going to work out.

I had a lot of mindset blocks to work through and really wondered if anyone would work with us for JUST a website. It honestly ended up being one of the best decisions ever! Now, our audience really sees us as experts in websites. I really think it helped us in the long run, even after adding branding back in as a service.

Another risk I took was stepping into blogging in my design service. I’ve not seen anyone really do a blogging retainer as a designer. Most designers offer some type of ongoing maintenance package to their clients for design needs. However, I didn’t want to do something everyone else was doing.

I really was starting to see a gap with our clients – they’d work with us, get a great website, and then not always utilize it. I wanted to help them continue to get traffic to their website so that they could start to see an ROI. Blogging felt like the perfect solution for that. Since I started offering it, it’s become one of our most popular services, and many of our clients stay with us for more than a year with that retainer.

Pricing:

• $500/month for monthly blogging
• $8900 for Intentional Changemaker Experience

Contact Info:

• Website: https://inkpotcreative.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/inkpotcreative
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/inkpotcreative
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@inkpotcreative/

Image Credits

Images by Kylee B Photography