We recently connected with Ashlyn Symone and have shared our conversation below.

Ashlyn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

Is being a business owner rough, yes. Is it worth it, ABSOLUTELY! For some reason when you become a business owner people tend to thing things become easier for you and money seems to flow freely and that’s completely the opposite. In my case, I had college and my internship to help shape me into the quick thinking, problem solving and innovative business owner that I am now. I studied my supervisors management styles and figured out which ones I could adapt for myself because I knew that they were the ones that understood the business in full !

Early in my entrepreneurial journey, I actually went once and got a regular job part time because it was a position that would teach me how to actually launch the next phase of my company. I got into the role, learned as much as I could and retained what I knew to understand how I could apply it in my company as well. I am a huge advocate for furthering education, this option just happened to be through part time employment. As I stayed in this position, I just felt the demand of my business pull on me which made me have to make a decision to stay where I was or go ahead and focus solely on my company. In some cases people would choose the stable money without hesitation, however for me the exact thought in my head was “Im just going to have to make this happen because my business can’t afford any set backs”. From there, I set up my proper channels, did some sales forecasting to set realistic goals and hit the ground running.

The biggest thing I have learned about running this business is that discipling is the most necessary characteristic you have to adapt and sharpen because all of the accountability is on YOU. You have to make sure you are up and ready to go every morning, you have to make sure the sales are coming in, you have to make sure you are fully equipped with everything you need to operate, every job function that a company has an employee for is on YOU until you begin to build a team to assist you! Once I put good systems in place and consulted with the right people things have been a lot smoother. For even further encouragement for beginning entrepreneurs or potential business launchers, it took me 3 years to finally be soundly operational where I can turn good profits. It takes time, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Use the job you have to understand how to run the company you want !

Ashlyn, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Ashlyn Symone. I am a Youngstown State University Alum with a degree in Communications and marketing. I am I graphic designer by trade and a marketer by degree. My company Signatures by Symone is passion turned profit. I entered my industry in 2019 by casually designing for peoples businesses and events. After I began to see an eye for these projects I decided to see how far I could take it and where I could branch into next. I eventually began offering minor services that became largely in demand because of the quality of the product I produced. I began to research my market so deeply that I created an algorithm that only showed business related topics for my industry so I was inevitably surrounded by it. It bacame so apart of my nature that it was no longer just a hobby it began its begining stages and elevated from. there. OI created a brand around bringing an individuals or company unique and individual style forth for its market. There began Signatures By Symone.

Signatures By Symone is a graphic design, branding and marketing agency that specializes in branding businesses to build a creative, unique and uniformed identity that will help promote a brands reach, exposure and engagement from its consumers. We look at each client’s specific market and determine how their digital portfolio can generate revenue, gain new clientele and promote to an expanded market. We also specialize in custom and branded apparel for organizations and individual events. From non-profits, sports organizations & work uniforms, all the way to parties, events and gatherings, Signatures by Symone provides a variety of services that help to promote in each of these areas. In addition to branding , we do many events within our demographic to increase entrepreneurial exposure, network and education. We hold events throughout the year that teach entrepreneurship to our youth, promote entrepreneurial and financial literacy to community members and business owners, promote business to business networking and organizational planning. We aim to bring as many ventures and avenues to our local and online community. The unique trait about Signatures by Symone is that we are a full service one stop shop ! We assist with each step from planning, to execution, to strategy to implementation. While most designers only produce digital graphics, we desire to design and produce all products for our customers. It is always fulfilling to know that they are in good hands and can get all they need from one place.

I am most proud of the path I have paved for myself and how I can now reach back and share it with my community. I spend so much time researching and developing my skills so that I am an available resource to those who I serve. I teach an entrepreneurship course in the Youngstown City Schools teaching children the fundamentals of running a business and giving them insight on the accountability that comes with running one of their own. I also hold multiple networking events throughout they year to encourage inclusion and connection between the various industries and levels of business. My most passionate component of my business is helping people understand how their brand shows up in the marketplace by being educated on the many ways they can present themselves.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

There’s a huge mantra going around that basically says “I don’t want to work for anyone because I want to work whenever I want and set my own hours”. That is such a half truth. When I first began, I thought it would be easy to set my own times when I felt like working and even work from my bed sometimes. I was completely wrong. Although I was my own business entity, al of the other businesses observe “business hours”. That is the standard for the majority and I had to soon learn that needed to be the standard for my business as well. I got much better response from my vendors and other businesses I was connected with earlier in the morning. When I worked in corporate America, the pattern I noticed is that at the beginning of my day I would set the place for my day and lay out the tasks that lie for the day which included email communication and followups After a certain hour of the day , I would be so wrapped up in projects or anything else that I began at the beginning of the day that sometimes things that came through later in the afternoon may wind up being tomorrows task.

There’s just something about taking the initiative to get out of the bed, get your self dressed for success and getting out of your normal comfort zone and take care of business. It puts you in a complete different mind state. Take care of it early so that if any issues arise, you have the rest of the day to solve them. It also gives you the opportunity to finish up early! Just as much as you have to learn to manage your office time, you have to learn a new system of managing your personal time. If you become an entrepreneur to work less, you’re doing it completely wrong, I work 200xs more for my business than I ever did at my normal jobs. The mindset has to completely shift for you to be successful.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

Being a design studio, all of the preheats that come through my office have to be designed by and approved by me before any production can begin. Since we are a full-service shop, after design is done, we move into production. Our biggest perk of service is that we want to fully see all of our clients projects through to completion. Sometimes , even still that may mean we have to outsource the products that we do not service in house. That is perfectly fine to an extent.

In the beginning I had to outsource everything I designed. I would do the digital aspect of it then have to send it all to a print shop, pick it up, repackage it in my branding and then (at the time) deliver to my clients. I would always deliver them because I was operating out of my house and didn’t have a location to have them come to. I would be losing so much time and money (mostly time) trying to operate that way. There were a million steps I would have to go through to complete projects, but never the less, I wouldn’t stop until the project was complete, I was committed to it.

Now this phase of business has been completely dedicated to scaling and bringing that equipment in house. I have really cut my time down about 40% by being able to manufacture my own products. Although this luxury is glamorous now, I wouldn’t be able to appreciate the ease of production now if I hadn’t went through the struggle of production before. I learned so much from the print companies I worked with and built amazing vendor connections with them. I know the people at 3 different print centers by name and a lot of personal information about them as well. That helps a lot now because sometimes I will be completely booked and don’t have the capacity to complete projects in house and I can still outsource them and they will have them done for my very quickly. The humble beginnings were definitely necessary for me to be where I am now.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.signaturesbysymone.com
• Instagram: @signaturesbysymone
• Facebook: Signatures By Symone

Image Credits
Deon Stubbs (HYER Society)