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

Alright, Meghan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Someone once told me, “if you’re good at something, and you enjoy it, then you should go for it.” That has always resonated with me. I feel very lucky to be in a creative career – something that I always envisioned for myself even as a child. I don’t feel that success is solely determined by the outcome of what other people think, though. I feel like success is determined by how you feel with what you do. It’s one thing to be good at something and to have people lining up to purchase your products or services, but it’s another thing to actually enjoy what it is that you offer. Being able to sell is definitely a huge part of creating a sustainable business, but the most important part of your success should be that you are happy and feel fulfilled by what you do.

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

I am a wedding and event florist based in the Midwest, and I am a logo designer. I always tell people that floral design is my main passion, but I’ve always had a hard time settling on just one medium of art, which is why I also create logos. I find that logo design is my creative outlet for my creative outlet.

I got started in floral design in 2018 when I took an introductory course in college. I immediately fell in love and couldn’t believe that I hadn’t thought of this as a career path before! So that semester I applied for a job at a local floral shop, worked there for about a year, found my passion for designing wedding flowers, and then started my own wedding and event floral business! As for the logo design side of things, my husband and I had just moved from Utah to the Midwest, and I one day came across an advertisement for this course on Adobe Illustrator. It was an online course, and usually I just skip through those kinds of ads, but I was super intrigued! So I clicked on the ad and felt very strongly that this was something I should pursue. So I talked my husband, enrolled in the course, and learned how to use Adobe Illustrator! I had been interested in learning to do logos for some time, but the Adobe products can be very intense and overwhelming if you are trying to teach yourself with no experience. This course really opened the door for me to explore this other career path that I might not have been able to otherwise.

I am very passionate about making sure all of my clients have the best experience. It’s disappointing when you find someone you are super excited to work with, and then the communication is lacking, they don’t really listen to your needs/ideas, or the final product is not what you were expecting. I work really hard to make sure that everything I do enhances my clients’ experiences. Clear communication and flexibility are two key components of my business. Another one is full-transparency. I want my clients to trust me, and to feel like they are able to relax/focus their energy on other things because they know that I’ve got them covered and will do a great job. I am also constantly thinking and practicing what I do so that I can improve my skill.

Have you ever had to pivot?

From a young age I had envisioned myself in a creative career. I wanted to be an artist, then a fashion designer, then an interior designer, and then I want to be an accountant – wait, what? That’s right, I wanted to be an accountant. Boy was that a mistake haha. When I first went to college, I still loved all things creative, but somewhere between high school and university I didn’t think that I’d be able to make money in a creative career. I had always loved math though, so I figured I would go into college as an accounting major. I really enjoyed the classes and studying a more practical field, but the job was so boring! I constantly felt this need to create – which was enough of a sign to me that I needed to go back to my roots and change my major to something in the arts.

I switched my major to graphic design, but the college I went to was super competitive. You had to complete prerequisite courses for each major, and then apply for enrollment to that major. If your application wasn’t accepted, you could either wait a year until enrollment opened again, or you could switch your major. I didn’t get into the graphic design course, so I switched my major to experience design management – which helped me to discover my love for floral design! However, the same thing happened as with graphic design. I applied to the program after completing my prerequisite courses and was put on the waitlist. The next day, I received an email telling me that I hadn’t been accepted. I was devastated! At this point in my life I felt very lost with school and what my future career should be. I made the decision to take a break from school and just focus on my business of doing flowers for weddings. Business was good, but then my husband got a job in the Midwest and we moved. After we moved, my business totally blew up! It was incredible!

Eventually I got to a point where I felt ready to go back to school and try my hand at studying graphic design again. So I enrolled at the local university and I am currently working to finish my major. While my progress was certainly not linear, I am grateful that I took that time off of school because now I have a thriving business and a clearer idea of where I want to take my career.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Just start posting – anything related to what you want to do! I was nervous to start my design page on Instagram because I thought people would judge me for putting my work out there, but it really doesn’t matter what other people think. I was proud of the things I was creating and I love to share the things that I am proud of with others! Once you start, you’ll discover different ways to reach more of an audience. Don’t be afraid to ask others that you look up to for advice either! Making connections with other people in your field or people that you might need to interact with in the future is so helpful.

I joined a lot of Facebook groups with other professionals in similar fields and geographical areas as me too. I found a lot of clients through those Facebook pages, and then pretty soon I started to find most of my clients through word of mouth.

Also show your face on social media! People connect with people. It’s helpful to see who is behind the business. I think that it creates empathy for your viewers.

Contact Info:

• Website: I don’t have one yet, but hopefully later this year!
• Instagram: @megkathleen_designs
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/megkathleen.designs

Image Credits
Christa Scheissl Photography, Kalli Jo Photography, Bailey Buschelman Photography