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

Cary, appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success is a moving target. And rightfully so! I think it was important to start off in the creative field with the broadest and brightest sense of what “success” means and the steps it would take to achieve it. Over time, we grow and evolve and the definition of success does the same. What was once the ultimate goal often becomes one step along the way to a completely separate and different goal! And the realization of that can only come from putting in the hard work toward achieving it.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I studied graphic design at the University of Michigan and moved to Chicago to pursue a creative career. It was never an easy road to travel, given economic downturns and, well… life.

But it eventually lead to me starting my own creative business where I proclaimed that “Z Factory is a creative studio that challenges and inspires businesses to be inventive in their design and marketing solutions.”

It’s a mission statement written over 20 years ago that holds true to this day. The opportunity to help another business or product or service to introduce themselves to the world in a new way remains the greatest reward I can receive.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The pandemic was a shock to almost everyone’s business. For me, it was the realization that the bulk of my client base consisted of industries that were simply not going to be functional for the foreseeable future.

So I drew on what I hoped would be the strong support of my family, friends, colleagues and clients and developed a collection of products under the moniker of “Cary Zartman Originals” that made use of designs I had been developing over time that never really became anything, and hoped for the best.

Several years — and MANY designs later — it lives on as a secondary business for me, and has grown to a collection of well over 100 products. What helped me keep my sanity during lockdown — and created a very welcome income during a period of slow business — continues to provide me with some of my greatest satisfaction.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Constructive feedback is an opinion. It is not a directive.

Creatives can be bold and outspoken, and also be closet people-pleasers. And when you aren’t pleasing all the people, it can dim that boldness.

But it’s important to keep things in perspective. We NEED feedback, input and opinions… but they are all just that. Listen, learn, but leave space for your own beliefs, because that’s part of why you were hired in the first place.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://zfactory.net/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zartman and https://www.instagram.com/caryzartmanoriginals/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cary.zartman and https://www.facebook.com/caryzartmanoriginals
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caryzartman/

Image Credits
Cary Zartman