We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katie Thompson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Katie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?

The most important lesson I learned that has helped me as a business owner is to under-promise and over-deliver and focus on your “zones of genius.”

As business owners, we are often taught to “fake it ’till you make it.” I understand that sentiment to a degree; however, I also believe in working hard at your craft and only taking on clients you know you can deliver amazing work to. For many months before I started charging clients, I did work in exchange for testimonials and bartering with other creatives. This helped me build my skills and confidence while also understanding my “zones of genius.” Sure, there were many things I could probably do well, but I wanted to offer a few things that I could really be excellent at.

Once I began to take on paying clients, I could confidently offer them services that I knew I could over-deliver on. New business owners might be tempted to offer an abundance of services so that they seem attractive to a large group of potential clients. That might get you into hot water down the line when you deliver mediocre work because you are trying to be good at everything. My advice would be to take a step back and really nail down 3-5 services that you are confident in so your clients will always be impressed rather than underwhelmed.

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?

Katie Thompson is a strategic marketing & branding specialist, author, speaker, course creator & podcast host. She is the founder of Modern Darling Media, a full-service branding, marketing & design agency for creative entrepreneurs who want to make a bold & meaningful impact. Katie helps build bold brands & craft strategic marketing campaigns that provoke emotion, have personality, and help build your tribe. Modern Darling Media’s goal is to make sure you communicate the right message on the right platforms to the right people. She also was the host of the Hustlenomcis Podcast, where she released over 100 episodes of interviews with inspiring female entrepreneurs. She lives in Georgia with her husband and her daughter.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

My entrepreneurial journey started right after I graduated from grad school. I was super excited to get out in the world and find a cool job, work with fun, intelligent people my age, and make a difference in the world!

I was sorely disappointed when I got ghosted from hundreds of companies that I applied to, and the job offers I did get were underwhelming, to say the least. I ended up in a few jobs that didn’t challenge me creatively or intellectually, and I knew I was made for much more.

So, I started small with a photography business as a side hustle. I slowly grew, expanded my network and service offerings, and rebranded my business in 2018 to include marketing, branding, and design service for creative entrepreneurs.

I am super passionate about shaking up the status quo and finding ways to help others craft the life they want, not the life they are settling for.

One of the key milestones that I am so proud of is the fact that I was able to give myself a paid maternity leave for three months after having my daughter. I don’t have a team to hand things off to, so I was able to work with my clients ahead of time and take those first few months with my daughter without worrying about my business bottoming out.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

The majority of my clients come from referrals, so building and maintaining a good reputation is very important to me. I believe that I built a good reputation based on a few essential qualities; good communication, strategic thinking, transparency, and commitment to high-quality work.

The key is to give each client the same attention to detail and respect no matter how big or small a client they are. I also believe that setting and sticking to boundaries early on will keep the client relationship in a good place. If you allow clients to cross your boundaries, then the relationship will ultimately suffer.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.moderndarlingmedia.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moderndarlingmedia_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moderndarlingmedia
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moderndarlingmedia/
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/ModernDarlingMediaLLC/_created/