We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katell Schmitz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Katell, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?
The creative business industry is unique in the sense that it requires both its core elements to be equally mastered for real impact and profit. On the one end as the service providers we must be both at our creative peak while being business savvy. On the other, anyone contemplating investing in a creative service or product must overcome the usual spending resistance along with minding the level of creative alignment with the service provider. This constant duality makes for a much more convoluted decision process in the buyers mind, which in turn can be challenging for us creative entrepreneurs to sell to them. When it comes down to it, the challenge to profitability is one of articulating the value of intangible benefits — inherent to any creative output — to build a seamless and smooth sales machine without losing our creative integrity. In my experience, creative business owners and particularly designers tend to focus either on the flowery part of creativity which is too abstract to convert, or to become too literal pushing the deliverables and failing to differentiate themselves from all the other providers delivering the same practical elements. A logo is just a logo, unless I can show what and how that logo can revolutionize your business, you have no reason to hire me specifically over the designer next door. It took me probably a good couple of years to strike the right balance of selling the outcome over the deliverables and emphasizing the strategy behind my creative work as much as the designs themselves. As a result of that shift, I started to work with much better aligned clients and a lot more them too.
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.
Twelve years ago I landed in Boston fresh out of university in France not sure about what I wanted to do with my life, feeling all the anxieties and fears about my future as a young mixed-race immigrant woman. Amid the internal storms, I knew three things then: I had always had a fondness and deep connection to dreamers, I had to find a way to align my creativity with my purpose, and I had a degree in international cultural project management to fall back on if all failed. Over a decade later now, although I never had to use that degree to find a job, I have used everything it taught me and more to manage hundreds of my own clients’ projects while building brands for founders who dare to dream and then do something about it. Strategic branding was a god-sent answer to me! It beautifully and satisfyingly combined passion and purpose, allowing both sides of my heart to flourish and serve those who dream big. I feel very fortunate and privileged to have found this very specific industry in my early twenties, and to have been profitable through it. I named my business ‘Reverielane’ for that reason: it’s my own dream to have this space where dreamers come to freely imagine what could be, and together we get to build a brand to support and propel those ideas. A process taking them from dreamers to founders! I am still baffled everyday that I get paid to let my imagination run wild and free, and to see my designs set others up for success in their own purpose. It does not escape me that it is a great honor to be invited in and trusted by other dreamers with such a key element of their business — their branding! With every brand strategy session, every brand story we craft, every design I create, I feel so much pride and gratitude, and I infuse every once of experience, skill, and knowledge I have acquired these past twelve years in my work.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Everything I do in business is about and for daring dreamers. I believe every idea should be given the chance and assets to flourish and accomplish its intended and ideal goal. Ultimately, my mission is to put my creative and storytelling skills at the service of our clients to create environments which are conductive to the level of impact their dreams deserve. From that belief I have applied myself to come up with creative solutions for business challenges. I want everyone to confidently dream, to confidently put themselves out there, and to successfully see impact and profit from their efforts when they do start their entrepreneurial journey.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
I recently read something along the lines of “80% of your ability to succeed at any job is based on how to deal with people”, I think any brand success and brand loyalty is rooted in that statement. How you treat people marks them and lingers with them much longer after you have delivered the actual work they hired you for. Understanding this concept is priceless in terms of building relationships and fostering loyalty in any setup. Even back when I couldn’t have articulated that way, it has been the very approach I have used from the beginning — which allowed for a high level of satisfaction from our clients and for a rather healthy referral system. It would also seem that I can’t help but become close friends with many of your clients, that help with keeping in touch and continuing to work together through the years. I suppose that is a testament to how well aligned we have become with our ideal clients and managing their expectations.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://reverielane.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reverielane/