Latest / The Unfiltered Tea with Evie / How to Know When Your Branding Has Hit a Ceiling with Ashley Wyatt
Transcript
- Evie Tavares: I'm Evie, and you're listening to The Unfiltered Tea with Evie. I'm a business owner, a copywriter, and a storyteller at heart. And over the years of building my own business and growing my own community, the thing I've loved the most is hearing people's stories, the strategies that they swear by, the mindset shifts that changed everything for them, and the honest truth about what it takes to grow a business from the ground up. Every person has something that makes them different in their industry. And finding that thing and amplifying it is basically my whole job. And this podcast is just another way I get to do that. In this podcast, I'm bringing on incredible guests from my community, experts in marketing, business growth, and mindset to share the real, unfiltered version of what building a business looks like. There's no polished highlight reel in these episodes, just the tea. So let's get into it. Welcome back to another guest episode of the Unfiltered Tea with Evie. Today I'm sitting down with Ashley, who is the founder of Monarch Design <unk> Co. Ashley, thank you so much for being here. Ashley Wyatt: Thanks so much for having me. Evie Tavares: Yeah, I'm excited to chat with you today all about branding and everything that you do for your work because what you do is incredible. for those Ashley Wyatt: What? Evie Tavares: of you who don't know Ashley, I'd love to give you an opportunity to kind of introduce yourself and who you are and what you do. Ashley Wyatt: Yeah, so my name is Ashley Wyatt. I'm the founder and creative director of Monarch Design Co. And we are a full service micro agency based in Barrie, Ontario, but kind of servicing clients worldwide. it's myself and a team of incredibly talented subcontract designers and experts that I kind of concierge and bring on per project. and we really work holistically together for the best outcome for the client. So I love that I'm able to support other entrepreneurs along their journey and really bring the client's vision to life. Evie Tavares: you've mentioned that you usually work with established business owners who are good at what they do, but maybe their brand hasn't quite caught up yet. I'd love to know, in your opinion, how do you know when somebody's kind of hit that? ceiling in their branding. Ashley Wyatt: A couple things. So some red flags that they might come up against are maybe they want to raise their rates or switch up their services and they don't have the visual brand identity and brand strategy behind it to back that up. So there's a mismatch there. sometimes it is embarrassment when someone ask them for like their website URL and they like kind of cringe with sending them to their website or maybe they're like, like it's a work in progress or I need to update it. It's not reflecting like their current version or like where they're wanting to go. and they've just grown and evolved, right? Like their current brand might have got them here. But it's not gonna get them there. And usually we don't have to burn it all down and start from the very beginning. Sometimes it's really about getting clear on their vision, their mission, their positioning, making sure that everything flows and is in alignment with their brand strategy. and refreshing it for that next level so that it is positioned in a way that supports those premium pricing jumps or maybe like a slightly different clientele or new services, new offerings. Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. And did you always operate as an agency or how did it kinda get started for you? Ashley Wyatt: So I actually started very differently to what we are now. So, my roots are I grew up in branding and graphic design. my dad owns an advertising studio, and I worked there for a couple years, bounced around a couple other corporate jobs, working at like larger agencies and big household name brands. but then I was kind of hitting Burnout where I wanted to get off of the computer and I was always freelancing like branding and websites on the side and business cards, smaller projects. But I kind of started my business accidentally learning calligraphy and that kind of launched me into teaching typography at Humber College, which is a college in Toronto. which also led me into offering luxury wedding stationery. At one point, we had a hundred-year-old letterpress printer in our garage. So I have like a very robust printing background as well. and my husband's background is in illustration. So we both actually met at Sheridan College, which is known for their arts and creative programs. So I did design there, he did ill ill illustration, and we started our business very differently. he's working more in like a corporate design setting right now, but it's kind of nice to bounce ideas off of someone else who is creative too. and then of course everyone knows what happened in 2020, the pandemic hit. all of our wedding stationary clients postponed overnight. And that was kind of the time where I had to sit back and figure out like what are we gonna do to make money, keep going, because at the time too I was teaching, but the teaching term was coming to an end. My husband was laid off a couple times working in printing for retail spaces. Of course, retail spaces were closed for some time. so I was supporting other fellow wedding pros with their branding and their website. And I saw the direct relation that that had on, you know, growing their business and their livelihood, that impact. And I was like, you know what, I need to go all in with brand and web design. I love paper and stationery, but I wanted to have that greater impact. So I'm back to my roots. Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. And I love that both you and your husband are kind of creative because usually there's like one in each family. Like if I tried to have my husband do anything creative with me, he's he's in sales, he's a people person. and he's also not very techie. So like it's it's nice to have kind of like somebody that you can bounce ideas off of for that. I can bounce ideas off of him for other stuff, but when it comes to the creative thing, that's really nice too. Yeah. Ashley Wyatt: Yeah, it's fun. Evie Tavares: And I know the name of your business, Monarch Design and Co., also has a lot of meaning behind it. would you be open to sharing a little bit about that as well? Ashley Wyatt: Yeah, sure. so when we first started, I didn't know what to call us. So we were Tane and Ashley Illustration and Design, and that's still kind of the legal business name. but back in twenty nineteen, my mom was actually diagnosed with breast cancer, stage three And at the time, you know, my family and I were all kind of like rallying together and My mom had a F cancer barbecue and we saw these monarch butterflies fluttering about. And I was like, I've been seeing these everywhere. And my sister was like, Me too. My mom said me too. My aunt, me too, my grandma. And we looked up the meaning and it was a sign that everything was gonna be okay. It's a sign of transformation and rebirth. So I just felt like that was so beautiful and reminiscent of also the transformation that I bring my clients through too. And it was kind of like this weaving thread through all these different points in my career too. Because when I started teaching at Humber, a butterfly flew by my window and I was like, whoa. Or when I was deciding to go all in with stationery, I was doing flat lay wedding invite photos and I came across these monarch stamps. So it's always been kind of like that symbolism and sign. I love kind of like that transformation process, right? Like a lot of us start out as like caterpillars and things really have to get messy and evolve before we kind of transform and emerge out of the other side. Evie Tavares: I love that. And kind of along with that, with the transformation, you mentioned earlier that you noticed that branding has a direct impact on people's transformations, on their strategy, on their revenue even. whereas I think some people maybe think, it's just there to look good. But what's the reality behind that? Ashley Wyatt: I kind of like to compare it as like you're putting on your favorite outfit and you're stepping out in full confidence and like that confidence is magnetizing. People notice that. And that's kind of the shift and the gap that we help to fill is it's stepping into that newfound confidence. where you feel confident enough to raise your rates or go after opportunities. So it's never about, you know, creating a one-off like logo. It's really about diving into the strategy of everything, making sure that it is in alignment with their goals and where they're headed so that that bridges that gap and gets them there. And our main focus is that ROI. At the end of the day, like why are we doing this? Right, it's so that you reach your goals. Like, we've had clients raise their rates by upwards of over 138%. Or we had one client she recently told me, like, a few weeks after launching her branding, she actually booked a $25,000 project as a result that like she wouldn't have felt comfortable pitching otherwise. So That's really what it comes down to. Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. And what would you say kind of separates like we've talked about a business who's kind of hit that ceiling of they're good at what they they're doing, but the brand doesn't really reflect that. What would you say to somebody who's kind of on the fence of taking that step of kind of going all in and like rebranding? What would you say to them? Ashley Wyatt: So I know that it's easier said than done and at the end of the day it's costing you more to stay where you are than to invest in your brand, your website, your visual presence and brand strategy. And I'll give myself as an example because I literally just went through the process of refreshing my brand. So I had my second baby last year and I had this time over maternity leave and maternity leave. I I use that very lightly. I took three weeks, Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Ashley Wyatt: But I had some time to like reflect and really figure out and get clear on where I wanted to go. So I refreshed my branding, my color, palette, my typography. I worked with a copywriter, as you know, is so so important to get clear on your messaging, your positioning, your tone. That is such a catalyst to everything else. Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Ashley Wyatt: and that was life changing. Like I saw results right away. Like people started inquiring. I raised my rates. I kind of stepped into this colorful, like newfound confidence. where yeah, before I was confident, but I wasn't caught up from the level of growth that I experienced over the years. So I think if you know if they're on the fence, I would just ask yourself like what will it cost me to stay where I am now? Or what could happen, like, based off of reaching those goals? Evie Tavares: I like that you mentioned that you hired a copywriter as well. Like and you specifically work with a lot of creative entrepreneurs. And I think when we're creative, we think we can figure everything out on our own. We think that, you know, we're creative in one thing, we can be creative in a lot of things. What would you say is the benefit of understanding what your skill set is and trusting that you should have somebody from the outside and something that maybe you're not as skilled in. Ashley Wyatt: I think for many creative entrepreneurs, we're also solopreneurs or we're very much working in a silo, right? So having that outsider expert advice or feedback or support really helps us to get out of our own head because we ourselves get too close to it. I knew that I was too close to it. And I also know what my strengths are versus what I'm not so strong with and like copywriting and words are not my strengths. So I outsource that or different parts of my team, right? and I think collectively when you pull in those resources it really helps to like elevate even though you know I'm still like paying someone to do my copy. Like that is a return on my investment, but also my time. Because chances are it's taking them a lot less time. I'm getting results faster because I can get it out into the world faster and have it start working for me quicker and more efficiently, right? Evie Tavares: Mm. Ashley Wyatt: so I think a lot of creatives, they get stuck in this, I can just do it myself. And, you know, it gets put on the back burner and and before you know it, six months have gone by and it's like, you know, if you were to just hire the person to do the thing, you would have already been seeing results by now, Evie Tavares: Yeah. And I'm curious because you talked about strategy and how even going in with that outside lens on somebody's business, what's kind of your favorite way to dive into that and to really get to know them and their business so that you can make sure that their design really, really matches who they are? Ashley Wyatt: Okay, so I don't know if you're into human design, but I am a projector which Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Ashley Wyatt: is I kind of like look at it from a bird's eye view and I love to kind of like gather up all the pieces and like build the puzzle, right? So essentially like our processes, we dive into something called brand visioning questionnaire where there's some some soul searching questions in there, but it's totally worth it. So we dive into some of those questions. We look at direct and indirect competitors. We look at visual markers, like color psychology, the look and feel of typography. Like I I'm such a type nerd, like I just know way too much about typography. Evie Tavares: Yeah. Ashley Wyatt: but we basically like all those details are are really looked at closely so that we bring it all together. and it's kind of like a filtering, right? So we cast this wide net, we gather as much information to understand them, their business. as possible and who their ideal client is and also like what their goals are like as an individual and a business owner and we tailor it down so that we land on that best possible solution. so that's like one way of it. But like in terms of just being inspired, like I can be inspired by all types of things. Sometimes if I'm in a rut, like I'll just go and like walk around a bookstore or like home sense or something and like look at packaging design on the grocery store shelves because like inspiration can literally strike you anywhere. It's all about just attuning to that lens and drawing in those details. Evie Tavares: Mm. I feel like that's like the catch twenty two of being a creative entrepreneur is like you literally think about your projects all the time. Like Ashley Wyatt: yeah. Evie Tavares: there's no nine to five here. If we're like trying to think of like for you the perfect design, for me the perfect headline, like it's like inspiration is gonna strike when it's gonna strike. And sometimes it's at home sense, sometimes it's in the shower. Ashley Wyatt: Yeah, I literally have Yeah. Evie Tavares: You never know. Ashley Wyatt: Yeah, I literally have like a folder on my phone of just like random pictures that I see when I'm like out and about for like things that I'm inspired by or things that catch my eye that I can maybe like pull into different things, right? Evie Tavares: Mm. I love that. something else that I wanted to talk about that I feel like has already impacted both of our industries and will continue to impact it is around AI. and you have mentioned that you see it as a tool rather than a than competition. Can you kind of expand on that and how you've y started using it as a tool instead of completely taking over anything? Ashley Wyatt: Yeah. Yeah. So I think we're seeing a lot of AI slop just out in the interwebs. Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Ashley Wyatt: you know, anywhere from like posters and social graphics and copy especially, right? And I think AI is a fantastic tool, but it's more about using like your expertise and discernment. to filter through that and use it properly to your advantage. So for us, we use it in organizing files, some like productivity ways, managing our schedules, mapping out our calendars. we also use it creatively for mock ups. So a big thing is we always create like these visually styled mock-ups for our brand clients to kind of showcase their brand in a new light so that they can kind of vision cast what it's gonna look like and how they can use it. But there's so many mock-ups out there that are just so generic, like a screen or like a plain business card. So we like to dream up some new ideas a little bit more with AI. And one example is I just created a mock-up today wrapping up a brand client. She's like an interior designer who is very much a maximalistic, very eclectic style fashion guru. And I created this mock-up for her of a tote bag and I set the scene as her sitting at like a Vibe coffee shop and I was shocked with what it came up with. But that's just a tool, right? Like I'm envisioning what I want, I'm prompting it, what I want to do, and then I'm bringing it into Photoshop and manipulating it and using my experience and expertise to paint that picture and bring it to life. So I'm not just being like, hey Chat GPT, make me this logo with I don't know, a flower. Like that is just that's not the way. And people spot those things right away. But it's if you're using it as a tool, like I think a lot of designers and creatives, like if you're not using it and you're not adapting, you're not jumping on board, you're kind of gonna be washed out, right? looking at like the internet and like the evolution of the internet, like people who were afraid of it got washed out. basically right that's just the way of our times. and even looking at the evolution of design in general too, even Adobe creative suite, before that was even a thing, there was like curl draw. There was literally so this comes back to like my background of like my dad being in the industry too. Like he had all these hand drawing tools for type setting like physical pens, papers, these circle things, because everything was so hand done, right? they would set things on paper. they would print things, I don't know what it was called like lectrographs or something. But like if you were stuck then and didn't adapt to Adobe, you became extinct, right? So I feel like Evie Tavares: Yeah. Ashley Wyatt: The same thing has happened with the internet and is now happening in our day and age with AI. So I don't fear it. I know it's like very controversial. and there's like environmental concerns. I think Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Ashley Wyatt: it's all in how you use it and how you're adapting to using it in your business so that it's not gonna replace you because at the end of the day, you have to use your discernment and your experience and expertise. to drive that car, right? Evie Tavares: Yeah, exactly. And I think there will always be people who are gonna use AI and are gonna be okay with it, but and then I think there's always gonna be people who are gonna trust in the experts and kind of trust that it'll be better in the long run if they're not completely relying on that for all of their creative work, right? Ashley Wyatt: Yeah. Evie Tavares: so you did say that you also rebranded recently yourself. Ashley Wyatt: Mm-hmm. Evie Tavares: And so I'm curious how this ties into like yourself, but then also your clients. Like when would you say is the right time for somebody to invest in a rebrand versus like do they wait? Like what was it that for you kind of like finalized the decision, like, okay, now I'm gonna dive into this rebrand and do it for myself even? Ashley Wyatt: So there was like two things really. I was just sick of what I had, and I knew that I had grown so much since launching my old brand, because I I did my old website when I was pregnant with my son. And so my son is three. my daughter's 16 months, I had my kids very close in age. It was just kind of like a blur, right? So Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Ashley Wyatt: during that time I was still doing the work and working through things, but it was very much client facing. I wasn't walking the walk, right? So, and I didn't go like 360 change. my brand and my business has evolved over the years. And I wanted that to be a reflection of my growth too. And in this season that I'm stepping into. And I think for a lot of us, beige was a whole vibe a few years Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Ashley Wyatt: ago, right? And which is fine. Like it was very clean, aesthetically pleasing, and I really wanted my work to stand out more. But I feel like at some point I kind of got lost in the beige. And I was just the sad beige mom getting lost in the sea of beige. So that was one thing. And then when I was I wanna say I was like seven months pregnant with my daughter, my friend actually brought to my attention that there was another designer in the US who was also named Monarch Design Co and kind of ripped off my style completely. So I went through this whole process with A lawyer register my trademark as Monarch Design Co. Because I've been doing this way longer than that person was. it it was a whole process. Like that registered trademark just got finalized. And it really Evie Tavares: Mm. Ashley Wyatt: comes down to me wanting to be unique and sticking out and standing out from the beige crowd and also staying in my own lane and and owning what I'm doing moving forward. Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. I love that. and you've talked about your kids a couple of times. I'm wondering if you would be open to talking about motherhood for a second. Ashley Wyatt: Yeah, Evie Tavares: how do you kind of balance like you've got younger kids too, you've got younger kids than me and I'm assuming you work full time in your business. What does that look like for you? Ashley Wyatt: it's crazy. not gonna sugarcoat it at all. it really comes down to just I don't know any other way, right? we bought our first home back in twenty twenty four a couple months after moving in, my son was I think fifteen months old. We found out we were pregnant again. And then while I was pregnant, my husband actually lost his full time job. So I became the sole income provider for our family. and so I just needed to make it work. And then after my daughter was born, instead of taking three months maternity leave I had planned, I got hit with an unexpected tax bill and ended up taking three weeks off. So a lot of people would say, I don't know how you do it. I I had to do it. Like that was Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Ashley Wyatt: just my resilience and passion for what I do because at the end of the day, even though you know this business pays my bills, I truly love what I do and I love working with my clients. And I think that really feeds into why I've been able to do this for so long and Find those pockets of time. So last summer I had two under two at home. It was crazy And I would literally work while they napped. eventually I brought on a a part-time nanny. We finally got full-time care for my son. My daughter just started part-time daycare, so they're both in daycares, Evie Tavares: Yeah. Ashley Wyatt: But it's just working with whatever capacity that I had and also leaning on my team for support too. So I love my team. I started growing my team very early on. I still work with a lot of the same subcontractors that I did back in twenty twenty one. and a lot of my clients are understanding a lot of them are moms. They're doing the balancing motherhood and business and And that really fuels into my why too, because the corporate world is not set up for working moms. And I really started this to be flexible and be there for my kids. So yes, I'm happy that I have more capacity now with reliable childcare, but at the end of the day they're really young and sometimes you know, daycare calls and they're sick or they have a fever or they need to be picked up. So It's about balancing that and and setting your expectations for that and and working with people who understand it, but just knowing that you know, sometimes after they go to bed at night, that just means me pulling up my laptop and Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Ashley Wyatt: getting a couple more hours in of work if my day went sideways that day or calling up my in-laws to say, like, Hey, do you mind like taking Grace into soccer? or you know, picking up Charlotte or spending the day with her so that I can get some stuff done. So it's really about leaning on those supports, finding those pockets of time and just making it happen and then building in the support with team if you can. for me that's taken some time to rebuild back up, but making sure that my pricing is profitable enough that I'm supporting my clients still. Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. Ashley Wyatt: I'm profitable in like what I'm bringing in and my team is well compensated too. Evie Tavares: Mm. I think there's an important point in in that. Like you mentioned that sometimes you have to work evenings. I think we so often we say that we do this for the freedom, but it's not necessarily the freedom of like getting to do whatever we want whenever we want. It's having the freedom to have that flexibility that if our kids need us, we can be there for them. If, Ashley Wyatt: Yeah. Evie Tavares: daycare falls through, we can make it work. That does sometimes mean working in the evenings. But that's okay. Sometimes I get my best work done in the evenings too, so I'm okay with it. But I think that's kind of like a misconception that some people have looking in from the outside is they have the freedom, but it's more the freedom of flexibility that is the big benefit of being a mother and having a business. Ashley Wyatt: Yeah. And I think early on in my motherhood journey, because with my son I took three months off and I had all these mom friends who were on these cushy mat leaves with the government. They you know, had twelve, eighteen months off because we're in Canada. I had three months, they were like, What do you mean you can't, you know, meet us for coffee at this time middle of the day? But now They're all back to work and I'm still flexible and can do things throughout the week. So it's kind the trade off, right? Evie Tavares: Yep, a hundred percent. Well, I think that pretty much covers all the questions I had. I'd love to give people an opportunity to find out where they can connect with you, where they can find you and how they can work with you as well. Ashley Wyatt: Yeah, for sure. So I'm most active on Instagram. So you can find me at Monarch Design Co there, on my website at the so T H E monarchdesign dot C O. And then you can also find me yapping away on my podcast, And that is the Self Made Life podcast. And I'm also on LinkedIn too. Evie Tavares: Perfect. And before we finish up, I'm wondering if I can ask you some rapid fire questions too. Ashley Wyatt: For sure. Go for it. Evie Tavares: Okay, perfect. The rapid fire questions that never end up being rapid, so don't worry if you like go off on one of them. okay, so first one, what's your go to coffee or tea order? Ashley Wyatt: Ooh, I love a good lavender matcha. Evie Tavares: person I just had on the podcast this morning said the same thing. That was her second choice. Literally. Yeah. Ashley Wyatt: Да. Evie Tavares: Something lavender. I'm like, okay. You guys need to get together for a coffee. what's a book that you recommend to almost everyone? Ashley Wyatt: how to do the work by Doctor Nicole Le Pera. Evie Tavares: Okay. I haven't heard of that one yet. So I'm gonna add that to my list too. what's something that you believed about business when you started that you don't believe anymore? Ashley Wyatt: That it has to be hard. Evie Tavares: Mm, mm mm. I like that. as a mom, I like this question. If you had a free afternoon with zero obligations, what would you do with it? Ashley Wyatt: Ooh, I would go to Starbucks, I would grab a lavender matcha, Evie Tavares: Mm. Ashley Wyatt: I would go over to HomeSense, I would do a nice stroll through HomeSense or go for a nice waterfront walk. Evie Tavares: Mm, I like that. if your business had a theme song, what would it be? Ashley Wyatt: It's hard one. I'm gonna say Taylor Slive Opalite. Evie Tavares: I love it. Okay. And last question. what's your dream partnership or collaboration or dream client for twenty twenty six that you're calling in? Ashley Wyatt: I would love hmm. It's hard because a lot of like my clients that I'm working with right now seem like dream partnerships or clients. I would love to like work with like a really, really like rad brand, like a fashion brand or like a retail space. I feel like that would be so fun. Evie Tavares: Mm-hmm. That'd be awesome. Okay, awesome. Well, thank you so much, Ashley, for coming on. Ashley and I, like we said, we're both on Instagram. Our DMs are always open. So if you enjoyed the episode or you had a key takeaway or anything that you wanted to chat about, feel free to DM either of us. Everything will be in the show notes as well. And yeah, thank you so much for coming on, Ashley. Ashley Wyatt: Well, thanks so much for having me. Evie Tavares: That's the tea for today. If something in this episode landed for you, I would love to hear about it. And if you're curious about working together, whether that's finding your own unfiltered tea and bringing it to the front of your marketing, or writing copy that really sounds like you, reach out. I'm always open for a conversation. And before you go, hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you're feeling extra generous today, leave a review. It really helps this show to reach more people who need to hear it. Thank you so much for listening, honestly. And I will see you next time.