We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Teresa Kelly-Saxton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Teresa, thanks for joining us today. Too often the media represents innovation as something magical that only high-flying tech billionaires and upstarts engage in – but the truth is almost every business owner has to regularly innovate in small and big ways in order for their businesses to survive and thrive. Can you share a story that highlights something innovative you’ve done over the course of your career?

One of the most innovative things I’ve done in my career has been taking the loss and pain of others, and turning it into something memorable and beautiful. What do I mean by that? I am a graphic designer and I service all sides of the industry. However, serving the funeral service industry is my primary business and income. It was not a specialty I ever considered myself to be a part of or even desire to be a part of for that matter. Just by me providing services for my family whenever a loved one passed, my work got noticed by a local funeral home. From there, things blossomed into a full business with several different funeral homes utilizing my services. Therefore, my mission and goal was to not just provide a program that people would discard with no thought after the service was over. I wanted to create such beautiful products that were unique and set apart, and that would also give the family a comforting lasting memory of their loved one. We started with just programs, but now our product selection has grown tremendously within the last few years.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve always considered my myself to be arts and crafty and wanted to enroll in art school right after high school. However, I talked myself out of it because all of my other classmates were going into the medical field, business or the military. So, I followed suit because I didn’t think doing anything related to art would be a lucrative career. I enrolled in a local college in my hometown and received my degree in business management. In between college work I taught myself how to use graphic programs like Microsoft Publisher. This gave me the opportunity to create programs, flyers and newsletters for my church. This is also where I started making funeral programs. Once I learned Publisher, I moved on to Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. I found that Adobe programs were more complicated to learn on my own and I realized I needed more training and experience to really be effective. By this time, I fell in love with art again and was fully invested in making this a lifetime career. I enrolled in college at Full Sail University online and completed my received my degree in Graphic Design.

I am a graphic designer who specializes in marketing, branding and for companies and individuals. I provide flyers, business cards, logos, t-shirts, banners, signs, stationary, and much more.

In my industry, it’s important to take the ideas of your clients and conceptualize it into a way that represents them. Our goal is to make them and their brand look good. In order to help them look good, you have to have an open and honest relationship with your clients. Honest enough to let them know what does and doesn’t work for their overall image.

I’m most proud of not allowing fear to talk me out of pursuing my dreams. Fear of the what ifs and what people may say. Everyday I wake up thankful that I get to experience being employed with passion and not working for a living. I absolutely love what I do!

I want people to know that I take what I do seriously and never take for granted that someone trusts me with their dreams. Therefore, I’m always keeping my skills and trades up-to-date with the latest software and trends to remain relevant and competitive. I always want to do better than my last greatest design.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I tell people all the time that it’s so refreshing when I do a logo for someone and I see that logo on websites, t-shirts, billboards, social media, or even the tv screen. It provides you with a great sense of accomplishment and legitimacy. All the time, tears, and money invested into yourself was and is worth it. A client trusting you with branding their business is telling people, “TKS Graphics is the real deal.”

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

The local college I attended and received a degree in business management from, I actually worked there before, during and after going to school. I was there for over 12 years. After I realized that graphic design was more than just a side hobby, I made the business legal and operated in my business name. I continued to work at the college and I took my work check and put it into my business. I’m grateful for my husband because he believed in me so much so that he took care of us financially by himself while I worked towards my goal. By him doing that, I was able to save and invest into my business enough to purchase and own all of my equipment debt free.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tksgraphics.com
• Instagram: tsaxton25
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tksgraphics
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresa-saxton-4a5350289/
• Other: email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Brian Saxton