We were lucky to catch up with Kate Christy recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kate, appreciate you joining us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

I go back and forth about this all the time. Would it have been easier if I started my business sooner, before I had kids? Watching other folks on the internet doing cool things, sans kids, as a business owner kept that question quietly nagging in the back of my mind for years.

After design school, I got my first ‘real job’ and worked there for almost eight years. Striking out on my own was not even a blip on the radar in the beginning of my design career. I thought I would work the real job, do a good job, prove my worth, and keep moving up the ladder. Turns out it was a pretty short ladder. About seven years in, I’d just had my second child and began asking myself – “Is this it? Is this all there is? Is this how I’m spending my time away from my kids?” Over the next 6-9 months, the questions slowly shifted to – “Could I run my own design studio? And make my own rules?” The answer was – “Why not?!”

At this point, I had one toddler, one baby, no job, and no plan. So, the first few years were pretty messy – but we figured it out! And kept figuring it out. About three years in, when things felt like they were falling into place and getting more predictable, we had another baby! I’m now seven years into running my own business and about one month shy of having all three kids in full-time school.

I often think if I had started my business sooner, had more experience, and worked out more kinks before I had kids – I’d be further along and have more goals ticked off the list. Building a business alongside motherhood has meant a slower go at some things – working on a single goal at a time, or putting something on the back burner for longer than I’d like. But, it has also allowed me to build a business around my life and my kids. I’ve always been a mom AND a business owner. I can now see (and appreciate) the strength in that.

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?

I’ve been a designer pretty much my whole life.

As a kid, my go-to version of make-believe was dreaming up a business and ‘branding’ it. I used my craft supplies for brochures and flyers, scrap pieces of wood for signage, and scotch tape to laminate my business cards. In high school, I join the Yearbook and OMG I was in heaven and knew I wanted to do this forever. So, off to design school I went with my sights set on a career at a magazine.

I did start my career as a print designer, but never made it to the big city to work at a magazine. After working as an in-house designer for a local print shop for nearly eight years, I opened my own studio, Folk Founded, in 2018. And in 2019, a client asked if I did websites too, I said “Yep!” I did not. But, I figured it out and fell in love with web design and development.

After a lot of trial and error as a business owner, I really found my groove when co-creating with my clients. I ditched that whole ‘wizard behind the curtain thing’ and started pulling my clients into the design process with a candid, collaborative approach. I will literally share my screen and work real-time with my clients. As a mom, this is great – no more wasted time back and forth in the inbox. As a business owner – it’s so fun to see the joy my clients get from being a part of their project.

When I say I offer brand design, web design, and everything in between design—I’m not kidding. I absolutely love helping my clients with their bigger vision and using design systems and creative problem solving to connect the dots.

I’m a maximalist at heart and love designing bold, vibrant digital experiences that create memorable moments of delight and connection. Whether it’s a subtle button hover or expressive typography – every detail matters!

I’m a mom of three and talk about the intersection of motherhood and entrepreneurship on my podcast Raising Kids and Running a Business. When I’m not working or wrangling my kids, you can find me dabbling in pattern design/type design/interior design, adding things to my cart that I will never buy, devouring fiction books, and, when I’m really lucky, hiking.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

I’m not a big social media gal. For a while, that felt like the only way to market online. I do get a lot of clients from word-of-mouth and past client referrals. But, I really struggled with how to show up online in a way that felt good. And showing up on Instagram was not it. I decided that my marketing strategy was going to be showing up in communities and building relationships with people.

I joined Slack channels, shared a few workshops inside other creative communities, kept in touch with my clients, built relationships with other creatives who offer adjacent or complementary services to me (like photographers or copywriters).

This strategy has worked two-fold. I’ve made beautiful friendships with other creatives who don’t hesitate to refer folks to me. And, as a solo business owner, I’ve built a genuine community that I can lean on.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My standard timeline for brand and web design project used to be 6-12 weeks. This seemed to be what everyone else was doing – so, that’s what I tried. It felt like a big enough container for creativity to flow and feedback to not feel rushed. But, what actually ended up happening was I stacked projects on top of projects, timelines got longer, and everyone lost momentum towards the end.

As a mom of three, I thought by padding more time into projects, I’d have a safety net for the inevitable illness, babysitter cancelling, or school closures. I didn’t think I could shrink the timelines without compromising quality (and my sanity). But, here I was drowning in longer timelines. So, I thought – what the heck, let’s give it a whirl.

I started offering 1-week brand or web sprints (2-weeks for both). And holy guacamole, what a game changer. I’m able to book one project at a time, get hyper-focused, ride a huge wave of momentum, and only ask my client (who is also a business owner who without a doubt puts their stuff on the back burner time and time again) to give me one week of their attention.

With shorter timelines, I’m able to close the loop on projects quicker, make my projects more profitable, and work in a way that feels good for the season of life I’m in right now.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.folkfounded.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/folkfounded/

Image Credits

Mushaboom Studio (mushaboom.studio)