We recently connected with Alyssa Zwonok and have shared our conversation below.

Alyssa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?

Contrary to popular opinion, I believe that the hustle culture is toxic. Many people feel that in order to be successful you have to hustle. Meaning you have to work long hours, not take weekends off, skip your lunch break, work on vacation etc. Over the years corporations have set unrealistic standards and expectations for their employees, making them feel the need to push past healthy boundaries in order to be noticed or appreciated for their hard work.

I believe that it’s important to work hard and remain focused in order to reach your goals, but at what cost? The cost of your social life? The cost of your personal relationships? The cost of your mental health? There is nothing to glamorize about being overworked and exhausted. There is strength and power in taking time off. Down time is essential to your daily productivity. Seeing your friends and family and connecting with others outside of work should be a non-negotiable. There is such a thing as balance and I am a strong advocate for ensuring myself and my team maintain a healthy work-life balance.

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

Nomad Cre8tive is an entirely remote team of fearless creatives that brings unparalleled passion and drive to every project to help brands exceed industry standards. We bridge the gap between traditional creative agencies and freelancers through a win-win structure that combines the best of both worlds: the freedom of freelancing and the reliability of an agency. We value work-life balance, choosing when, where, and how much we work. With a vast and growing roster of clients who trust Nomad Cre8tive to bring their brands’ vision to life, our reach goes from local to global and everything in between. We specialize in branding startups and re-branding small to mid-sized businesses.

We offer services in marketing, branding, graphic design, and social media. Our mission is to bridge the gap between traditional agencies and freelancers, providing teams of specialized remote creators to businesses locally and globally.

In direct alignment with my values, I created a business to suit my life and not the other way around, empowering others with the same dream.

At Nomad Cre8tive we strive to provide clients with an agency-like experience, without the overhead costs of a traditional in-house agency. By supporting mission-based brands, and growing with them, our mindful, millennial team helps companies make a difference while realizing their goals, across a sea of industries.

We produce excellent creative work for businesses, bringing value to their companies and empowering entrepreneurs by providing them with the tools and collateral they need to launch and seamlessly run their businesses.

We personally curate teams for all our clients based on their diverse industries and our team members’ individual experience. Our team is comprised of Canadian freelancers who work on a per project basis. We aim to provide them the freedom to determine when and where they work, and on which projects. This brings an unparalleled passion and drive to every project.

Personally, I started my career in 2011 as a Graphic Designer, and over the years expanded my knowledge and skill set in the creative and marketing industry. I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with many talented individuals during my school years and through my employment with other companies and agencies while also building a reputation as a freelancer.

In 2015, I lived in Bordeaux, France studying design. While there, I continued to freelance and took my work with me as I traveled and visited new destinations regularly. I loved the flexibility freelancing provided me and naturally fell in love with travel too.

In 2016, my then boyfriend, now husband, joined the RCAF as a pilot, and I knew my dreams of building my way up in a big city agency were no longer realistic given the nomadic lifestyle that was ahead of us… but that didn’t mean I still couldn’t achieve similar goals. Queue the entrepreneurial spark.

I formally launched Nomad Cre8tive in 2018 from a side hustle I started while working as a flight attendant in 2016 to satisfy my intense desire to innovate, create, and work from anywhere. This deviation proved invaluable, as I collected further evidence that I could successfully work from anywhere as a designer, even soaring 30,000ft above the ground. The open skies created space for my idea for Nomad Cre8tive to come forth into life, and while the passengers slept, I laid the groundwork for the business plan that would change how agencies operate for the better.

Having always seen myself as a leader, I wanted to have a positive impact on the creative industry and drive change, so I decided to take my career’s fate into my own hands, transforming my passion and creativity into a successful business. The concept of Nomad Cre8tive came from a personal desire of wanting to work from anywhere while combining my passions for design and travel. That quickly grew into so much more as I now have impacted over 50 freelancers’ lives and an increasing number of businesses each year.

What started as a dream of mine while working on an aircraft as an airline attendant has turned into an incredibly humbling reality.

Any advice for managing a team?

Trust is definitely #1. If you don’t trust your team, you will find yourself micromanaging, which is the opposite of what you want when growing a business. Finding good talent you can trust takes time, but when you hit the jackpot and find a gem of an employee or contractor, your goal should be to keep them around as long as possible.

When I first started Nomad Cre8tive, every penny mattered. I sourced cheeper talent to get the job done, and as a result, the quality of the work suffered. Not that it was horrible, but it definitely could have been better. I found myself having to re-do or tweak creative work that freelancers started because I was lacking patience in the revision process and felt like I could get the job done myself, better and faster. Having a strong graphic design and creative director background, I was fortunate enough to be able to bring the quality of work up to a standard I was happy to share with my clients, however this took away from my valuable time of which should have been dedicated to growing the business.

Five years into the business, I’ve learnt that great talent doesn’t come cheap, and if I want to continue to scale Nomad Cre8tive, I will have to invest more into my team to exceed client expectations and build a system that works. I’ve restructured my team and given more responsibility to senior talent to oversee all projects and accounts.

I have freelancers that have stuck with Nomad Cre8tive since day one, many of which have been consistently working for the last five years. How do I retain my team? I keep them happy. How do I do that? I make sure that work doesn’t become their lives and that what they do at work brings them value.

I have an ‘open door’ policy that encourages all team members to reach out with any concerns regarding clients, processes, systems etc. They’re encouraged to bring fresh ideas to the table, regardless of their role or position within the company. I take their feedback seriously and often take immediate action to show them that I’m listening and that I care.

Ultimately, they are the ones doing the work. They are the one’s talking to clients every day, onboarding new freelancers, designing collateral etc. Why wouldn’t I listen to them? I think a big fault larger corporations have is that they’re stuck in their ways and they aren’t open to change. The way I operate Nomad Cre8tive is the complete opposite. We are every changing, flowing and growing. We are always working as a team to make processes smoother and the client experience better.

I also let my team in on larger business goals. I think transparency is key when growing a business. Get your team excited about the future and let them know that they are playing an important role in the company. Share your pain-points, and get them involved in working out solutions. Show them you value their opinions and expertise. You can never say thank you enough – gratitude goes a long way. A little bonus or gift from time to time also shows people they’re appreciated, which in turn motivates them to want to do go by you and the business.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

My team and I.

At the end of the day, there are a tremendous amount of agencies that do the exact same thing we do, just as well as we do. What’s the difference? The people behind the company. At the end of the day, people want to get involved with individuals they resonate with. I’ve always made it a point to be very genuine, authentic and honest in my client pitches, which is what I believe has helped me build my clientele and reputation over the years.

When I first started Nomad Cre8tive, I felt the need to to put up this facade. Like I was some professional business woman, at the young age of 25, and would put on an act to appear more professional that I thought I really was deep down. In doing so, I limited my self expression and acted in a way I thought people wanted and expected of me, instead of just being my quirky young self.

After some personal development, and a couple of years into the businesses, my confidence grew and I decided that the only person I had to be was myself, and that being anyone else was simply dishonest and doing everyone a disservice. After all, I think I’m pretty cool just the way I am.

I encourage my team to do the same and I believe that our authenticity is what sets us apart. Clients keep coming back to Nomad Cre8tive because they want to work with us, the people. As serious and important as business could be sometimes, it’s important to have a team you feel comfortable to speak freely with, and who will in turn, do the same with you.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://nomadcre8tive.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nomadcre8tive
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/nomadcre8tive
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nomad-cre8tive