We were lucky to catch up with Sierra Cranford recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sierra, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

I wanted to be a photographer since I was in middle school. My senior year of high school I got an internship at a photography studio and worked on and off in the industry through all of college. I completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in Photography. I booked a couple of my own photography gigs afterwards, but it just no longer felt exciting. Looking back, I think it was a mixture of burnout and imposter syndrome. If you’re familiar with the Dunning-Kruger Effect, I was stuck in the “Valley of Despair” and too overwhelmed to climb out. Like most millennials, a college degree was treated as some type of magical ticket my whole life, but I wasn’t prepared for how to actually leverage that, especially in a creative field– long story short, I gave up.

I started working odd jobs, but steadily doing creative work on the side: art festivals, jewelry-making, watercolor paintings, logos for friends, whatever I thought might make a little money. I never did any research to figure out what could actually be a sustainable creative career, I just kept throwing myself fully at random ideas and getting frustrated when they didn’t work out. I knew something had to change.

I always really enjoyed making logos for friends and I was very interested in illustration and package design. I’m not really sure how or when it all clicked, but I fell into the world of branding. I did take a few graphic design classes in college, but I didn’t know a lot so I had to do a real deep dive on my own. I started teaching myself Adobe Illustrator and watching any Youtube video I could find about building a business, marketing, and social media. I knew the town I was living in would not be a viable place to run this business, so I focused heavily on attracting clientele outside of my area. My partner, Alex and I spent close to six months building the blueprint for my business. I went back over old design projects I had worked on and revamped them with my new skills. I reached out to my sister in law to ask if I could brand her business as a trial run. I strung together enough projects to build a simple portfolio and clearly present my offerings. This was the most organized attempt I have ever had at starting a business or offering a service.

With the backend of my business solid, my website complete, and social media content scheduled I finally felt ready to launch Sierra Dawn Design Co. on March 6, 2020. That day passengers of a California cruise ship tested positive for COVID-19, a week later the WHO declared a pandemic, and a few days later America officially entered a state of emergency. At the time I was living in a semi-off grid situation with no internet access. Before the pandemic, I would use public Wi-Fi at the library or coffee shop, but that was no longer an option. It was definitely a really rocky time to launch, but I did end up booking a few clients within the first six months. With each new project I learned so much and I would update my portfolio with better work.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I own Sierra Dawn Design Co. and I offer brand design and direction for the sustainable, natural, and adventurous through branding, illustration, and creative direction. This will be my fourth year in business! I’m located in Asheville, NC but I work with clients throughout the states and many in Georgia, my home state.

One thing that sets me apart from other designers is that I have a rather generalized Fine Arts degree, I completed classes in many different mediums, both 2D and 3D, and I concentrated in Photography. Because of this, I’m good at zooming out and seeing the bigger picture (no pun intended). How will this brand function as a whole, what type of photos would support the design, which paper texture is most in alignment with the brand values? I also have extensive print knowledge from previous jobs throughout college.

What I’m most proud of is my life outside of work. I spend a lot of time outdoors hiking, rock climbing, river-hopping, and just general frolicking in the woods. Because of this, I work primarily with others who have similar values. I prefer to work with brands that are sustainable, natural, and adventurous because I personally place immense importance on these values. It’s natural for me to speak to these target audiences because they are my friends, family, and colleagues in real life. These are also the areas where I most often spend my own money.

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

A lesson I’ve had to unlearn is to always make the client/customer happy. Many times in my life this mentality has led to me doing things outside of my area of expertise, interest, or skillset. Sure the client may be happy with the outcome, but it will leave me growing in the wrong direction and spinning my wheels.

I am always learning to be the professional. People pay for your expertise, they expect you to drive the process, to define the boundaries, and share your opinion when needed. No matter what your imposter syndrome may tell you, it is necessary and beneficial to show up as the expert you are and know when to walk away when that is not respected.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Just this past year I had to majorly restructure my business. This time last year, I had three main clients accounting for about 90% of my income and time. In May, one laid off over 500 corporate employees and cut many contractors (including me) “ahead of a recession.” In October I made the tough decision to “break up” with a long standing client for the first time ever. In November my last client of the three hired someone in-house and no longer needed to outsource to me. I immediately enrolled in a business class because I knew that the business model I had accidentally found myself in was not working financially or personally. I spent the latter half of the year restructuring everything on the backend, redefining my ideal client, refining my processes and systems, and adjusting my pricing, offerings, and contracts accordingly.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sierradawndesign.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sierradawn_design/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sierradawndesign
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sierra-cranford/