We recently connected with Morgan Markowski and have shared our conversation below.

Morgan , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I’ve always been a creative person. Though I really started to make money from my creative skills in high school after my aunt was telling me to start charging people for portraits. I remember charging $100 for a wedding. Since then, I’ve always had the entrepreneurial spirit. Once I decided to go to college and get a Bachelors of Arts in Graphic Design, it wasn’t until one of my last classes before graduation that I decided that I wanted to be my own boss. In school they don’t teach you the fundamentals of starting your own brand or business, unless you take those specific classes, which I did unintentionally. After taking those types of classes, I was told I needed “real life” experience FIRST. I believed my professors and people around me who never even owned businesses…I think I was a bit naive. I worked at smaller boutique studios for a little while but it just didn’t feel good, it tired me out, I wore a lot of hats, and I just knew I had so much more to bring to the table. I had so much more potential out there to change my life and someone else’s for the better. I also love to travel, socialize, and live a slower and present life. I needed flexibility and slowness. At least if I started my own business, I could build it around my life to support me. I needed to start a business that could support my dream lifestyle. Once the pandemic happened, just like a lot of people, the hustle and grind was at a halt for a moment. I saw that a lot of people were starting businesses and side hustles and so I thought “If they can, why can’t I?” It was perfect timing and an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I was determined! At first I just kind of hopped on the bandwagon that everyone I saw was riding. I started virtual assisting and it taught me a lot. I got my first client in the first month of advertising my services on Instagram. I think because it was during the pandemic, I didn’t really have anything to lose or be afraid of. It was new and exciting. When I was working with my VA client, I was dabbling into designing a lot. It was like a full circle moment and felt so natural and fun so I pivoted into offering brand design and website design services. I felt like I found a bigger purpose than just doing random admin tasks here and there. I was helping people build their brands, websites, marketing collateral, etc to reach their highest potential AND I was able to be creative. After working with clients on their designs, I thought how cool it would be to start trying to build a creative brand studio where I’d be the one-stop shop studio for all things branding and creative projects. That did not last very long. I was pulling myself into the hustle and grind culture I didn’t want to be a part of. I also felt like my portfolio was more important or valued than my expertise and perspective. In 2023, I started to slow down a bit and really think of how I wanted my brand to be. Though I want to support my clients to the best of my abilities, I also needed support from my brand. So I started a soft pivot. Instead of building a studio brand, I’ve been starting to build my personal brand. Sharing more of my vision for my life, perspective, storytelling, creativity, intentional lifestyle, and more. Throughout the 3 years of collaborating with clients, I’ve been looked up to for bigger visions and planning in their business. I’ve helped my clients in various areas such as social media, branding, web design, email newsletters, business strategy, vision planning, mindset, creative direction, and more. Instead of running like a studio, I’m now operating like a creative partner and strategist. Instead of running my business like a machine, I’m now in the process of making it more human. Filled with connections, community, anti-gatekeeping, education, creativity, and more. I have big hopes for the near future as this personal brand evolves and our community grows. It’s already felt like I’ve finally found the path that I’ve been seeking for the last few years. I think what excites me most about this is how real and authentically ME I can be now. As a creative studio, designer, and director, I had this overwhelming expectation of myself to have everything perfect, even though I know it’s not possible. I feel free and excited to share more of this journey and see what happens! Entrepreneurship is about experimentation after all. After some trial, error, and exploration, things fall into place!

Morgan , 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 Morgan Markowski, a 20-something entrepreneur and creator who specializes in creative business strategy, branding, direction, and design. I currently reside in the suburbs of Chicago though I work with clients all over the world! I started my business in 2020 during the pandemic and have been going strong since!! I’ve helped clients in 40+ industries ranging from interior design, therapy, photography, design, travel, copywriting, e-commerce, and marketing with brand strategy, visual identity design, websites, sales pages, email designs, social media graphics, portrait photography, product photography, and so much more. My clients like to call me a “Brand Building Architect” which by my own definition, means a creative partner who helps you build your brand across many brand touch points and strategizes with you through vision and business planning. I like to break molds, share my perspective, and inspire those who feel lost in their business or not sure what direction to go in — find their path. I help them go from the ideation phase to production and implementation. My skills don’t just stop at design and strategy but I’m a natural problem solver, empath, and intuitive person who strives to work to live and not the other way around. I think it’s important to use productive and optimized systems to support the action taking part of building a brand. And to add — collaboration is key to all of this! We’re so IN our businesses, sometimes it’s hard to see things from a birds eye view and remember why we started our businesses in the first place.. I believe that there’s no better way to move the needle forward with your marketing and business with brand strategy, knowledge, perspective, vision, design, and a creative long-term partnership with experts who know your brand inside and out, motivates you to experiment, break through your boundaries, be your authentic self, and push yourself to reach your goals. Some more tangible things I work with my clients on are social media and brand messaging, marketing efforts, business and vision planning, creative direction, website maintenance, copywriting, elevating your brand image to look and feel good, community building efforts, content planning and SO MUCH MORE!! What I really want people to know about me is that I strive to help them build a sustainable brand around their intentional dream lifestyle while making business fun and brand building feel easy and natural. In the future, I hope to give back to organizations that align with my community’s goals and vision for the future of our world.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Repeat customers and brand loyalty, hands down. Instead of chasing new clients every other week as a creative entrepreneur, I’ve been able to create consistent monthly income through high quality client experiences, monthly retainer packages, using clear communication, exclusive client perks and processes. I think brand loyalty comes from these areas, especially the client experience. For clients to want to come back to you and not go work with your competitors, you have to build trust, dependability, community, quality transformation, and have shared values. You know what’s easier than having to find new clients every month? Working with the same 2-5 clients because they don’t want to work with anyone else since they want you!

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

You have to be persistent in making decisions even if they feel uncomfortable or you don’t know what the outcome will be after. I’ve found myself in the past staying in the ideation or learning phase which kept me from taking action. Maybe it was the fear of failure or straight up self-sabotage. When you are building a brand and business, you have to make decisions. It’s okay to take some time to think about the decisions but you need to eventually decide. Whether you make them yourself or get an outside perspective, decisions need to be made to have clear ideas and pathways to get from where you are now and where you want to be next!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.markowski.studio
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/markowski.studio
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morgan-markowski-311140105/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@markowski.studio

Image Credits
EAZ Photo https://www.instagram.com/emmaazanger/