We were lucky to catch up with Sydney Cummings recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sydney thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

The mission behind Creative Forces Design Co., LLC is two-fold. I’ve been a freelance photographer since college, and my drive behind that has always been the joy of capturing people’s memories—from “I do’s” to baby bumps. Photos are so precious to me and am a big advocate for printed photos!

Then amid the pandemic in 2020, I started Creative Forces Design Co. (CFD) with one thing in mind – helping small businesses. As I was creating my own website, I was thinking of the other small business owners out there—florists, welders, boutique owners—that had to do this on their own and how difficult it would be for someone with no experience in technology and how expensive it can be to get a new website. Small business owners wear multiple hats, and their first instinct is sometimes to throw something up on a website and run with it just to get it out there.

That’s where CFD comes in—I love taking a company and giving it structure in the marketing world whether that be with a consistent color scheme, a logo, a website, marketing collateral or a company branding photoshoot. I believe that just because you are a small business doesn’t mean you can’t have great branding.

I’ve always had a soft spot for small businesses; my father has been a small business owner for over 27 years now and his mother also owns her own business and still enjoys working while in her 80’s(!) —so you can say it’s in my DNA to want small businesses to succeed.

Sydney, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Photos have always been a big part of my life, since I can remember! I have fond memories of going to the grocery store with mom to drop off my disposable cameras in the bin and spend the rest of my allowance on a new one. I took photos of everything—I mean everything. I still have some that I look back on that make me laugh (and cringe). In high school I took Yearbook as an elective and started teaching myself the Adobe Suite. By college I was self-taught in Photoshop and decided to major in Mass Media and minor in Graphic Design. I was the university newspaper editor for three semesters and used my design skills to lay out the paper every week. I then took a job as a Graphic Designer out of college and worked there for nearly five years before going out on my own. I realized I had a passion for website and graphic design and there is a need for it! So many business owners don’t have the time capacity or knowledge to create their own site or brand.

Creative Forces Design Co. offers multiple services such as website design, web maintenance, graphic design, branding, creation of logos and marketing collateral. We also offer photography services such as professional headshots, branding photo shoots, family, maternity, engagement, senior portraits and more.

There’s so much I want future clients to know about CFD but the main thing would probably have to be that I find so much joy in seeing your company and brand succeed! I love helping bring your dream to life, and to see you doing what you love! Life is too short to work somewhere you don’t absolutely enjoy.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Yes! My side hustle game was strong for almost 7 years before I went full time. Please don’t let that discourage anyone who is working towards going full time in their own side gig now—I wasn’t looking to go full time in that period. After 5 years of working “in the real world” I was let go during the pandemic. I searched for jobs for a little over 2.5 months before I had the epiphany that I could go full time. I’m approaching the second-year anniversary of CFD opening and honestly, it’s been the most fun experience. I don’t think a lot of people can say they don’t get the Sunday scaries, but I really do love what I do. Don’t get me wrong—it’s really tough, especially in the beginning—I was constantly on Instagram trying to network (it was impossible to do in person via the pandemic), and working easily over 40 hours a week just trying to find clients. Over time with a little word of mouth, some support from my sweet husband and a LOT of Jesus, I’d say making the leap and founding my own company was definitely worth it.

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

I think the most beneficial thing for me to grow my clientele has been word of mouth. I believe that kindness and integrity go a long way!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.creativeforcesdesignco.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativeforcesdesigncompany/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/creativeforcesdesigncompany
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydney-cummings/

Image Credits
all mine!