We recently connected with Shuvonta Smalls and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Shuvonta, thanks for joining us today. Has Covid resulted in any major changes to your business model?
COVID has changed things DRASTICALLY. Especially still in the Apparel side of what I do. When it comes to Ordering Blanks the shipping time takes longer and because factories are backed up or short staffed, inventory numbers are inconsistent. Certain brand Tshirts are out of stock that I’ve never seen be out of stock before COVID. The issues with this is that I’d have to do research and test new brands or make limited edition items. This isn’t the case for everything, but it happens often enough.
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’m a Freelance Graphic Designer who specializes in Small business branding/marketing and I’m also an Apparel specialist. By Apparel specialist I mean that I design and produce custom clothing. I first learned Graphic Design and how to Screen print in high school (2005-09) and from there I knew what I wanted to do in life. My very first order was a group order of custom shirts for our schools Dance Team.
While in undergrad at Francis Marion University, that’s where I really learned and focused solely on Graphic Design. A year after graduating Dec. 2014 I decided to start freelancing to keep my skills sharp. Within the years of 2015-present I acquired various skill sets, learned different design markets and print styles.
The type of Graphic Design services I offer are logos, layout design, flyers, photo editing, web images, apparel mock-ups, social media banners or filters and (at times) design bundles!
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
Within the last year one of my top (and favorite) clients have been the Zeta Phi Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. They mostly order Group items and we bounce ideas off each other well. They had a well known event coming up and wanted long sleeve Tshirts for it. They needed 51 shirts, designed and printed (3 color front and 1 color black) under a shorter turn around time than expected.
Though I was nervous, I knew I could get the job done, which I did! The order was completed and shipped in 2 days!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The biggest thing I had to unlearn was working on other peoples time. I use to do this so that I could please whatever client/customer but realized later on how draining and (at times) inconsiderate to me it was. Because of technology many people expect things to turn around or be done instantly, but for small businesses like myself with one sole person, maybe two, that’s just not possible.
Of course clients have deadlines to meet in which they’re always met, but as time went on I put specific time frames on certain services so that the Customer still receives their product or design in a timely fashion and that I was able to take the correct amount of time so that the quality is superb.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sasmalls91.wixsite.com/vonsmalls
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/veritable_graf_x?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shuvonta-smalls-30b454a7
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/veritablegrafx?s=21&t=kYACbcxg23pti-FOIRu03g
Image Credits
(In order) Goddess Nuturing, Doula Logo Splat Ops Paintball company logo All Clean auto detailing company shirt and design Souf Cak Neon Design for apparel Cross High School various merchandise and apparel Zeta Theta Chapter of Gamma Sigma Sigma National Service Sorority, Inc; custom Tshirts and design Beta Delta Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. Centennial Step Show contestants, custom lightning shorts and design Checking Off the List Webseries poster design