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

Hi Amber, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I started Color Me Well Graphics after spending lots of time in other printing and marketing companies and feeling like there were things I could do differently. I wanted to create a more positive atmosphere, better customer service and have the chance to see the design process from beginning to end. I wanted to create not only exceptional design work but also create marketing and promotional goods that benefit my clients so they can reach their own business goals and dreams. I wanted to work mostly with up and coming/small businesses because I wanted to share in the excitement with them as they were able to create exactly what they wanted their business to represent. Since we opened about 4.5 years ago, we have now really expanded our clientele. Although its still mostly small business we have also worked with numerous corporations around the US. From their logo to their shirts, marketing goods, signage and printing, I feel that my business stands out because I make sure to take great care in everything that we do. I want to be sure that the process is painless for my clients and create quality graphics, apparel, signage and promotional goods that demonstrate how much we care. I have enjoyed watching the small businesses we do work for grow and achieve amazing accomplishments. It all makes it worth it to know we had a small (sometimes big) part in that. I know how important my business is to myself and my family so I know that when clients come to me looking for help with projects big or small, that I treat them just as I would like to be treated. We are all deserve to feel important and empowered by those we do work with. It makes business culture so much better! I look forward to growing my own business and seeing what new services we can provide. We are always looking for ways to be creative in our approach to design and also what we offer for apparel and printing services.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hi! I’m Amber from Color Me Well Graphics. I would describe myself and my business as uplifting and positive. I created my business to better the overall process for printing and design. I have worked hard to create an atmosphere of positivity and empowerment. I wanted to help business owners feel excited about what they were creating and presenting to the world. I know that my business is really special and important to me so I wanted to be sure I showed that same amount of care to my own clients.

While my life does circle mostly around my business I do make time for my little family. I am mom of two sweet kiddos! My husband and I love to be outdoors, rock climbing, hiking, camping, biking, scuba diving and just spending movie nights with our kids. I find that owning my own business has provided us the amazing opportunity to be flexible with our lifestyle which we are so grateful for.

I started working in design about 8 years. I graduated from Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL with a Bachelors in Science of Graphic Design. I loved attending school in Florida because I also got the opportunity to intern for Walt Disney World where I worked as a Lifeguard but took design classes at their own Disney University. It was amazing opportunity to see the design world at such a large well known corporation. It provided me with a lot of skills like leadership, better customer service, understanding of business practices and so much more. That experience has been a big part of why I lead my business the way I do and why I approach clients and projects with large amounts of care and attention.

As a business owner I have always had the goal in mind to take the time to understand my clients goals and dreams on a personal level. For example I don’t want to see projects coming in as just another job on the list. This is a person who worked hard for their business and are looking for representation of their business so it has to be amazing! I want to succeed expectations, give what we can and provide a service that helps them do more with their own business.

CMWG is one stop shop for apparel, printing, graphics, web design, signage and more! We provide services for many types of businesses and enjoy working with all types of people. I find joy in bringing services to businesses that they may have thought wasn’t available to them. For example we have no print minimums on shirts, so that a company with less than 10 employees can get custom apparel as well as other gear. We know how important and more professional a business can look with branded gear! And who doesn’t love wearing their business/designs on shirts for the world to see!? This is one of the many reasons we started our business, we want to provide services to everyone and not discriminate against any people or their businesses. We have also worked with nonprofits where we offer specials and opportunities they may not have received from other print companies.

It’s important to me as we grow our business that my values of a kind, approachable and understanding business is what keeps us unique from others. I want to keep creating amazing designs and graphics for lots of businesses and people. We have been really enjoying our work and what our business has done for others over the last 4.5 years. We hope to keep getting creative with services we offer and even creating new opportunities for our clients to do more with their branding and products for their business.

I’m excited to see what the future holds and what we can keep providing to not only our small West Michigan community but also the world.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I feel that we have a good reputation within our market because of how we treat our clients. We make sure that we are communicating the process effectively and treating clients with the upmost care and respect. We right wrongs and own up to things we may not have gotten right the first time. We take care in making sure that the prints we do are high quality and have great attention to detail. We pay close attention to design needs and expectations. We are not only dealing with a business that means a lot to our clients but also their money. Which especially right now is limited for some so its important to provide them a service that is worth it to them. I have had some amazing clients over the years who have referred me to lots of business owners and individuals. I pretty much own my success to them. They have stood by my business from the beginning and support me in so many ways. I can’t thank them enough for what they have done. So I guess the best way to build a good reputation is to find amazing clients who love your business just as much as you. Which I know isn’t always easy. But if you give them care and attention they will also feel it and want to let others know how they felt working with you. I feel when someone isn’t just happy with the product but happy with you and they way you made them feel that goes a lot longer. I know how easily I can get turned off by business or people when things don’t feel right. So I want to be sure that I am always approaching a new client (or previous) with exactly what I would want from the business. For example that can be as simple as be honest with your process, letting them know proper timelines, being understanding when things arise that were unexpected and still being kind.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Having a print company there is always a chance things can go wrong. Printing isn’t always perfect, vinyl signs can get messed up and designs sometimes don’t exactly meet expectations. These are all normal business bumps but it’s really how you handle them after that matters the most. I have had to be resilient in my business a lot. I have had to shift our focus and attention and sometimes even completely redo an order because of a mistake that was made. We have worked hard to fix processes in our business so we can eliminate these issues. But because we are humans and working with not always reliable technology sometimes things can just happen, even to be best of us.

I have learned to not shy from admitting when something was wrong. To not blame but just move forwards. There have been a lot of moments along the way that felt impossible to come back from. But we did and learned from them. It’s important to not focus on these moments but to move forwards and do better. I’m not always great at this, because I take things very personally and with a lot of heart. But I also find that to be a strength of mine.

One example of when times have been hard, is a large project we did probably our first or second year of business. I was out of town and had a great crew working. I had made the mistake of labeling a shirt order with the wrong business, which lead to the wrong design being printed on 100+ shirts! And they of course needed to be done by the weekend. I thankfully was home two days before they were due and printed all day and night to be sure we met their deadline. It was a large event for their business and we couldn’t let them down. In that moment I definitely had a moment of wanting to just give up and claim defeat. But we did it! I wanted our clients to know that they were important to us, even after a mistake like that. Because mistakes do happen but we have to show our clients that through it all we will make it happen one way or another.

Running a small business has been very rewarding in so many ways but also challenging. It really digs deep when times feel rough but we have to remember the big picture and do what we can do make the best out of every situation that comes up. That is what I believe my clients feel when working with me. That I am here to do what I can, provide them with the best service I possibly can and to do the right thing.

Business can be done with lots of heart and care! This is what I have always been set out to prove when starting Color Me Well Graphics.

Contact Info:

• Website: colormewellgraphics.com
• Instagram: /colormewellgraphics
• Facebook: colormewellgraphics
• Linkedin: /amberdarsch

Image Credits
Hannah Ziegeler Photography hannahziegeler.com