We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tiera Turner a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tiera, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?

The world will always need graphic designers, but only to a certain ability. That’s the biggest challenge for freelance designers now days, if you ask me. There are so many cookie cutter design sites where one could easily “brand themselves”. The new generation knows the basics of graphic design, so for them to indulge in actually paying for a service it has to be showcased as an experience. We’ve shifted from being service providers to being experience creators.

Tiera, 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?

TSG is a graphic, branding, & web design agency, based out of Detroit, Michigan. Owned by Tiera LaVin, whose only purpose is to bring premium quality work to you. TSG was created in 2016 and since then it is working tirelessly to take its client’s mission towards accomplishment. We have a vision to introduce innovation in the website design and branding services. If visual solutions is the problem, TSG is here to help. TSG tries to focus not only on the full branding experience, but also the education for the customer to carry their brand when done with TSG. I am most proud of TSG keeping afloat for 6 years, going on 7. This year was pretty rocky, but still keeping afloat! My loyal customers are to thank for that!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Currently, we live in a world that gives almost all answers at your fingertips; instant satisfaction! This has resulted into me having to constantly pivot my business. Word of mouth use to fuel my business, now majority of my referrals come from them seeing a reel of mine or an advertisement across social media. Social media has created a forceful pivot for most freelancers, but definitely me! When the times change, businesses have to adjust.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

My first Mac computer was purchased with income tax funds! I didn’t take my return and blow it, I invested it. From there, I did a month worth of free designs to build my portfolio and build my word of mouth; that was in 2016. Since then, since graphic design doesn’t require much to start with, the rest was funded from my lovely customers. TSG stays afloat fully now thanks to my consistent clientele.

Contact Info:

• Website: TStylesGraphics.com
• Instagram: @TStylesGraphics
• Facebook: T Styles Graphics
• Yelp: T Styles Graphics

Image Credits
Photos by @PhotosByKPG & @DreDotty (instagram)