We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katie Getman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katie below.

Katie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today f you needed to find a key partner or facility – how did you find them, what was the process of striking a deal like and what would you do differently knowing what you know now?

When we start off on our creative journey, a lot of times we are focused on our passion and not necessarily how to reach our end goal.

Having a coach work with me to fine tune my purpose, and highlight the parts of my work I really enjoy allowed me to see my unique capabilities, my “super powers” which others may not have.

Some of these “super powers” are in personality traits, or character values I think are incredibly important. These are fundamental truths to me and impact how I work with each of my clients, my friends, my fellow business partners. They’ll never go away because they are ingrained in who I am also as a person- and they are deep values i bring into my work and relationships.

Realizing I work best in relationship based projects, not transactions, I enjoy supporting other women business owners, I love working on new builds and having the support and collaboration of a builder; realizing each of these things allowed me to focus on connecting with others with the same interests and goals as me. After that business flows almost naturally because we are pursuing the same destination together- we have similar goals and when we are working together we feel this special “me too” feeling that brings us closer together and helps us problem solve like never before.

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.

Im an interior designer by trade. I took an online course for this, and my work has afforded me a lot of wonderful gifts.

Getting into the industry felt difficult in a saturated market. How do you make a name for yourself? How do you find your ideal client? Must I be the most creatively bold person in my city to be noticed?

I realized I have a gift for listening to people, visualizing, and helping my clients remove overwhelm. Those were things I enjoyed doing- so I focused on those. One of my clients calls me her “interior therapist” as she feels she can tell me something and I just “know” how to bring to life the feeling or essence she is describing.

I’m very grateful for the act of my trade- among travel and enjoyment in the arts, this work has given me a space to serve others in a way that transforms live; interior design makes me this small background of my clients story, and part of the foundation for their future. Im so grateful for everyday I have of serving my clients and honoring who they are by transforming spaces.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I work with a team of highly qualified professionals, and sometimes of them are very different than me!

One of the struggles I’ve had is a colleague who is much more task oriented, and a linear thinker. He sees actionable steps when I’m seeing a big beautiful open pasture to run free. Ha!

Ive realized some people can give us creatives a bad rap because our minds are everywhere (or hyper focused!), but neither of us or wrong or different. Learning his priorities and why they are important or impact the team have helped me be more organized, communicate more thoroughly, and grow as a professional. Instead of pushing against each other because we are so opposite in how we work, it’s been incredibly helpful to set regular meetings, learn to ask more questions, speak with kindness, and laugh about how we each are instead of let our differences drive us apart and create division.
Figuring out what I need to work, and what communication items are most necessary or helpful for others has been a big turning point of success for both of us.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Early in 2024, I went through a separation from my spouse and had to say goodbye to 2 of our foster children.

There was so much devastation and true heartache that left me hurting and confused everyday.

Maintaing my business was a huge struggle as some days I was just physically not capable from the grief and trauma of what I had experienced.

While I’m passionate about serving my clients- my own health and story become increasingly more important to my business.
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I realized if I didn’t survive, my business wouldn’t either, and my story would become the opposite of everything I’ve worked towards. I would literally have lost everything important to me.

My goal and mission to see my business survive has become so personal- in my darkest days this “business” held me up. It gave me a reason to keep going, the relationships I made through my business were the people who were calling to check on me, and my clients were beacons of gope telling me I would make it. My peers were there supporting me and without all the work in connection building, networking, helping others, the opportunity to bring spaces to life, I would have been lost.

My business is something I did to serve others, but it has come back to gift me tenfold. What you put in will surely come back to you, and it might not be the way you expect!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.kgetmandesign.com
• Instagram: https://Www.instagram.com/katiegetmandesign
• Facebook: Katie Getman Design