Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kelci Buss. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Kelci thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Yes and no. Approximately 8 months into my first year of business I had my first truly profitable month as a designer and muralist. From there, I began to feel the effects of building my clientele, social media marketing, referrals, and organic inquiries in general. Although I was never booked out more than a month in advance, I managed to maintain my creative business as my full-time job. Over time, I stopped waffling on sending out the big invoices, I learned out to put myself and my business out there with email outreach to businesses I wanted to work with, and I learned to diversify with multiple services so that when one service was not in demand, I could always fall back on another. If I were to do this all over again, I would find a mentor early and get input on my career goals and my portfolio. The faster I could have polished my portfolio, slim as it may have been back then, the faster I could have started email outreach and connected with businesses I wanted to work with right off the bat. I would also get my social media page in order so that my business had clear messaging, easy steps to inquire and book, and photos of my best work. Then I would start following businesses I wanted to work with. The time I could have saved!

Kelci, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m Kelci, owner and designer of Kelci Buss Design based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I am a graphic designer and muralist with a BFA in Graphic Design. I specialize in branding design, creating brand identities rooted in strategy for small business owners (often women-owned), and branded custom murals for companies of all sizes and industries across the US. I work remotely on digital work and I travel for murals and hand-painted works.

I chose graphic design and hand-painted signage as a career path when I started working at Trader Joe’s as a sign artist in Tulsa at 19 years old. I decided I really loved designing for a company and I had a knack for hand lettering and painting. So, I enrolled in a graphic design BFA program, graduated four years later, and began taking on signage projects for local businesses here and there without much guidance.

Because I offer a range of services for businesses, I can fulfill quite a few roles. I have branding services that address the core values, mission, brand personality and tone, target audience as well as develop a custom, thoughtful brand identity kit they can grow with. I can custom design and build their website to align with those goals and craft their web strategy around their brand strategy as a whole. I can handle the signage aspect of their business, whether that be print or hand-painted, or create a whole branded environmental design with impactful murals in a physical space, indoor or outdoors. All of these services deal with a harmonious brand identity and marketing tools.

What I have to offer is the experience of working one to one with a branding professional who will not just create a great looking design, but one that is backed by strategy. Even for one-off signage projects I take the extra time to ask deeper questions about the company to make sure the design aligns with the existing brand and its future goals. Every designer also has a unique perspective and capabilities, so when people look at my work and choose to work with me, they are choosing my brain and individual talents- I never take that for granted!

I am most proud of staying rooted in my passion for branding. My murals all build upon the value of the business, increase their brand visibility, and create a more immersive environment. My branding and web design is always crafted with a lot of love and thoughtfulness, and tons of resources to help the brand use their designs as tools and resources. I am proud that I never feel like I am selling my services, I truly feel like I am offering solutions and I’m excited about the potential outcome every time.

I just want people to know where to find me if they’d like to follow along or talk about potential projects! I do my best to share my experience openly with others, so creatives are always welcome to connect and ask questions.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

As freelance muralist and branding designer, I want to raise awareness about the value of creatives work. I do my best to encourage fresh designers to raise their prices, stop working for free (even if you are still learning or enrolled in a program!). Alternatively, I try to educate those who attempt to solicit designers for extremely low-budget logos and designs. Designers deserve a living wage and this idea that custom design should be incredibly cheap is and always has been unrealistic. Let’s get louder about a more realistic budget for custom design so that potential clients are more primed for the real cost of design, and let’s get more resilient as designers in turning down work that is low wage, and usually low quality. The more designers of all skill levels start turning down extremely low budget clients, the better chance all creatives have at booking higher quality jobs and income.

Secondly, as a muralist, I detest public art and mural contests that ask for spec work upfront. The worst of which (usually the big companies with lots of brand power), may lock contestants into a contract that relinquishes the distributing rights of the contestant’s artwork to the company, whether they are a finalist in the contest or not. Many of these companies, through the process of bypassing the artist’s abilities to lead the design process, but also miss out on crucial insight into the average cost of their mural and end up drastically ‘low-balling’ large scale projects. I am really passionate about public artists speaking out against free spec work and educating these companies on the average cost per sq ft of public artwork. Design is hard enough, but man, people forget about the tough environmental factors and labor of painting technical designs!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Challenging my money mindset. I know, media is oversaturated with the term and advice to overcome negative money mindset, especially regarding entrepreneurship. But it is so true that it must be challenged. I often struggled sending invoices for projects that I deemed ‘expensive.’ What is expensive to you is not always expensive to someone else. You have to set aside your own experiences with money and stick to the value and other factors that shape your pricing structure. If you don’t have a pricing structure, that may be key to helping you back your pricing with logic rather than emotion. If it is a fear of rejection holding you back, think in terms of statistics. The more proposals and quotes you send out, the more ‘yeses’ you’ll receive. Finally, I asked myself why I am offering the services I offer. For me, I believe whole-heartedly that I help people and bring them joy seeing their designs come to life. I work with a lot of business owners who are putting their ‘baby’ out into the world, and I am helping them do that. Find your ‘why’ and be brave!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kelcibussdesign.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelcibussdesign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kelcibussdesign/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelcibuss/
• Other: Pinterest:
  https://www.pinterest.com/kelcibussdesign/

Image Credits

Real Age Works Photography. Katherine Rivera Photo.