We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alex Harrom a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Alex thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?

The job before I started Pop & Dot with my father, had me feeling extremely burnt out and overwhelmed daily. I was the Director of Team Events and Meetings at a local Convention and Visitors Bureau, which I had no prior experience for but my boss at the time saw potential in me and the position and gave me a chance. I am forever grateful for that opportunity, but what my expectations were was completely opposite of what my experience actually was. I thought having the word “Director” as a part of my title as a 25-year-old woman was the coolest accomplishment. However, I did not feel that way showing up to work. I looked up to my boss and thought the world of her. She was in her early 40’s, many accomplishments, people respected her, or so I thought, and I felt she could do no wrong. I still have major respect for her, but I learned that as a manager or leader, you need to help your team. Their success is your success, so if someone is feeling discouraged or under prepared for a task you give them, it is your job to slow down, provide an explanation or support that is tailored to that individual and educate them. Being a leader is not easy, it takes a lot of time, patience, and understanding. So, in my last position when I asked for help, I was given the response of, “Well, I don’t hand hold”, or “I think it will mean more if you figure it out on your own.” I don’t think staying was ever going to be the right decision for me, leaving that job led me to starting a business with my father. However, if I would have felt more supported, more comfortable to approach my boss and ask for help and received that help, I think my memories of that chapter in my life would be a much happier one. My learning lesson is that people need support, no matter their skill level or expertise, as a leader you need to be there for them, bottom line.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My father and I started Pop & Dot Graphics and Fabrication (used to be Pop & Dot Design and Fabrication) in January of 2022. We are a graphic design and metal fabrication business located in the beautiful lakeside city of Duluth, MN. Both my father and I have a large skill set; some skills we didn’t even know we would be able to use with our business but have found out can be extremely beneficial. Our main project type we receive for graphic design is logo, visual identity and brand design. This is my favorite – to be able to learn about someone’s business and interpret that visually for them in a functional way that still relates directly to that person and their profession is the best kind of creative puzzle. My father has over 35+ years of engineering, construction, management, and operations experience. I like to think he can make just about anything. Recently, we have been working on modifications two older military vehicles, converting them into overland campers. We have a small shop, and a small team, but we are able to accomplish a lot. That is the beauty of Pop & Dot in my eyes, we operate like a well-oiled machine, maybe slightly traditional in a business sense, but the way we communicate and collaborate with our clients is unlike most businesses I would say. We care about the projects we receive and the products we make and send out the door to our clients. We are a transparent, creative, problem-solving team that is eager to take on any project that comes our way.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I will speak personally to my inspiration and role models for graphic design. Hoodzpah is a California-based design studio that is tiny but mighty. As a four-person design studio, they have accomplished so much and worked with incredible clients like Disney, Hulu, Los Angeles Lakers, ESPN, and Facebook, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This studio is woman-owned, which is incredibly refreshing in this industry. I have taken a few courses with them now, and the amount of information they offer and share is a testament to how they conduct business. It is notorious for the graphic design community to withhold tips, tricks, or information that another graphic designer would find helpful, but because they think it’s “taking a piece of their pie” or fear they will lose clients because of sharing, they avoid it. Hoodzpah and I have a similar mentality: community over competition. We can accomplish great things together, especially when we are open to collaboration and sharing ideas. Their work is amazing, but how they operate their business and celebrate other designers in their field has impacted me and our business in the most significant way.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

At Pop & Dot, communication is a brand pillar. Communication is where a client relationship can either grow or die, to be quite frank. Our work speaks for itself in my opinion, but what sets us apart from other businesses that are in similar industries, is the effort we take to make sure our clients are in the loop, and their expectations are being met when discussing timeline, our capabilities, and what they want to get out of their project. With practicing and implementing good communication, there has to be a balance for it to remain successful and that starts with only responding to calls or emails when scheduled, or during business hours. We respect our clients have personal lives, they get busy, and we understand they cannot respond to us at all hours of the day, but we need to reflect that same methodology. Drawing boundaries and transparency have been important building blocks to good communication with our clients. This takes consistent effort, and I believe that effort is positively received amongst our client base and has given us a pool of repeat customers that we respect, and in return they respect us.

Contact Info:

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

Image Credits

CCBoyle Photography (CeCe Boyle)