We recently connected with Katharine Postal and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Katharine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later?

When I first started by business, I was working full time as a Social Media Manager at a local boutique in Charlotte, NC. I had a few other clients on the side, and I always knew I wanted to eventually venture out on my own. When COVID-19 hit and we were all laid off – I was kind of forced to finally go for it.

In the very beginning, I wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted to offer. I loved both graphic design and social media, but wasn’t sure how to merge the two into tangible offers for my clients. I was honestly just taking any project that would come my way because I didn’t think I had any other choice. I eventually decided that I wanted to focus solely on brand & website design, and in the beginning I was totally crushing it! However, eventually I found myself feeling lost, uninspired, and really missing social media management. I decided to take a leap and pivot back to “my roots”, which is where I am today!

Looking back if there was one thing I would change, it wouldn’t be when I started — it would be to take my time. I am someone who rushes into things and it’s something I am working on. I think if I had just taken my time and really sat with my thoughts and figured out where I wanted to take my business from the beginning, I wouldn’t have made so many pivots and could be in a different place than I am now.

However, I don’t want to have regrets when it comes to anything in life. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason – I see being laid off as a blessing because it pushed me out of my comfort zone into what I truly wanted to do, which is own my own business. Diving head first into the brand & web design world has taught me SO much about graphic design and branding that I can now apply to my Social Media Management clients.

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?

My name is Katharine Postal, I am the owner of Wild Soul Studio – a Boutique Marketing & Design Agency based in Charlotte, NC. We offer Social Media Management, Graphic Design, Email/SMS Marketing, and Content Creation services to lifestyle brands.

I have always been inspired by brands in the fashion, beauty, home & events space, so when deciding on what types of brands that I wanted to serve, it was an easy decision. I like to say that we know what the consumer wants in these industries because we are the consumer.

What sets Wild Soul Studio apart from other agencies is that we look past vanity measures — social media is a long game and it is our goal to help you build a raw & real community that lasts. Because ultimately that is what is going lead to the success you desire.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

As I mentioned earlier, I have done a lot of pivoting in my journey — which led to literal crickets in my business.

There were many times where I considered giving up and getting a regular 9-5… I even went as far as sending in applications (but never heard back, hah!) I got a part time job for a few months at the end of 2021 because I was bringing in no money and me and my husband decided that it was something that had to be done for a little while. It was a tough pill to swallow and shame definitely followed (even though there was nothing to be ashamed of!)

Anyway, I guess I just want other aspiring entrepreneurs to know that it is okay to get a part time (or full time) job while your business is still growing. I once heard on a podcast that you can’t expect your baby business to provide enough to pay the bills -taking that type of pressure off your new & growing business is key.

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

There have been so many lessons that I have had to unlearn as a business owner, but one that I always go back to is fear of saying no.

Saying “no” is the most powerful thing you can do in your business — whether it’s saying no to clients that don’t align with you or saying no to a last minute request from a client, a networking event, coffee date, whatever the case may be! You have to set boundaries and not feel any guilt about doing so. Saying yes to everything is only going to lead to burnout, and as a creative, that is one of the worst things to deal with.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wildsoulstudio.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildsoulstudio_/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/wildsoulstudio_
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/wildsoulstudio_/_created/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wildsoulstudio_?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

Image Credits
Brand photos: Vanessa Venable https://www.vanessavenable.com