We were lucky to catch up with Emilee Maxwell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Emilee, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

Yes! I am much happier owning my own business and planning my time to be more efficient. It’s empowering to take on more responsibility and I am so much more invested in the success of TwentySix since it is my own. I’ve really tried to take on higher quality projects rather than quantity of projects, which has allowed us to be much more selective with the clients we choose to work with. This has been such a game changer over the past few years and has strengthened our service offerring.

Of course, personally I do have moments where I think of how nice it would be to be a Creative Director on a salary with a steady flow of work I don’t have to worry about. These thoughts only creep in during the brief slow moments. But every time this happens, the next day we’ll have 2 pitches and 3 new business calls that remind me why I have this studio. There are slow times and busy times and you have to appreciate them both whenever they come.

Being a business owner forces you to just go with the flow sometimes.

Emilee, 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?

I grew up in small town outside of Cincinnati, OH then went to Ohio University’s School of Visual Communication and graduated with a degree in Visual + Information Design. It was a unique program that helped me become a well rounded designer and learn business strategy as well. Following OU, moved to New York City where I worked with a few different start-ups doing various aspects of graphic design. My final projects before going out on my own was a full company rebrand. I fell in love with the rebrand process and knew this was what I wanted to do on a full-time basis. I left that company and changed our working relationship to be contractual and searched for other clients through connections. Things took off and we became a flew blown studio in 2017. We follow a subcontractor model and pull in trusted resources as needed when things come up. At TwentySix, our services include but are not limited to brand development, website design, marketing graphics and data visualization.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When we first started TwentySix we were most passionate about brand development which led us to one of our biggest clients in 2017. This was an event marketing software company. This provided steady revenue for a while, but then COVID happened in 2020 and obviously all events were shut down. Our biggest client was ripped away and we needed to figure out a different area to break into. We took a look at what small consumer focused businesses were doing and the majority were trying to find ways to sell things online. So we broke into ecommerce and helped design businesses’s Shopify websites.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for us has always been relationship building. We are very much referral based and have done little no outbound marketing for 7 years while growing our business. If you provide honest, timely and clear communication with people it goes a long way in this industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: twentysixcreative.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twentysixcreative/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/72026854/admin/feed/posts/