April 11, 2023 • 30 mins
Maura Kelpy, founder of Veggies & Vodka and Maura K Creative, joins the show this week! Maura runs her own successful graphic design business (in addition to her wellness community under the Veggies & Vodka umbrella) and shares with us specific actions to take when crafting your own visual brand. You know, the look and feel of your business where customers can recognize you in an instant.
Here's an excerpt:
"So when I take on a branding project for a client, I often start with a Google questionnaire. I ask a lot of questions about the person themselves if it's a personal brand or more about their company as a whole and their values. I do a deep dive into what they're trying to express through their logo first, and who their audiences are that we're trying to attract. Your visual brand really encompasses so much more than just a logo, right? It's also your colors, your typography, and even your imagery - how you use your photos, or how you take photos of yourself. You really want this whole consistent look between all of these elements, because it creates this reliable and solid experience for your customers as they start to know and understand what to expect from you. That way, when they see your brand everywhere they will start to recognize you, and that builds trust."
Connect with Maura on her website for Maura K Creative or her wellness community, Veggies & Vodka.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Erin Geiger (00:02):
Welcome to the Small Business Big mindset
podcast, where we dive intotactical strategies to grow your
business and make an impact onthis world. A huge part of
success is keeping your mindsetand vision on track. So this is
a major part of our process. Andthis podcast. Let's do this Hey,
(00:25):
everybody, welcome to the SmallBusiness Big mindset podcast
this week we have Maura Kelby,founder of veggies and vodka and
Maura Kay, creative welcomeMaura.
Unknown (00:35):
Hi, Erin. Great to be here. Thanks for having me.
Erin Geiger (00:37):
So, so happy to connect. So Maura and I are in.
We've been friends for a bit andwe haven't had been able to
chat. So it's so cool to haveyou on the show. And we could
catch up a little bit before westarted to record. More I want
to hear from you. Before we jumpin to your area of expertise,
(00:59):
which listeners, it's going tobe amazing today, because more
is going to talk to us aboutbuilding our visual brand, which
I know we can all we all needhelp with that. But can you give
us a little bit about yourbackground? How you got started
and your area of expertise,please?
Unknown (01:16):
Yeah, absolutely. So I have been a graphic designer
running my own business foralmost two decades now. And I've
worked in everything from visualbranding to producing entire
magazines and brochures or 100page books to do an email email
campaigns for for SIG Matic Ikind of cover the gamut when it
comes to design, whether it'sdigital or print. But yeah, I've
(01:39):
been very lucky to work withlots of amazing clients in the
outdoor industry in the healthand wellness industry. It's been
a blast.
Erin Geiger (01:45):
That's awesome. How did you get started?
Unknown (01:48):
Oh, man, back in the day. Well, I was a fine arts
major in. So I had an emphasisin graphic design. And when I
got out of college, I wasn'texactly sure if I was ready to
jump straight into the full, youknow, agency situation. So I
started just doing somefreelance projects while I was
working in the restaurantindustry, including lots of
restaurant menu designs for therestaurants I was working for,
(02:08):
which worked out really well.
And had before I knew it, I hada full roster of clients. And
it's just kind of taken off.
I've been really fortunate tohave, like I said, great clients
over the years, just keepreferring business my way. So
it's all been a pretty strongword of mouth style of business.
And that's just, and it was justkind of like one day I woke up
and I was like, I don't need afull time job. This is great.
(02:30):
You know, I worked in an agencyfor like a year at one point,
but went straight back tofreelancing. I just love
connecting with people, you kindof lose that when you have a
middleman. Yeah,
Erin Geiger (02:39):
that's so cool.
Well, yes, it was meant meant tobe. So yeah, so I, I'm so
excited to have you on because Iwould love to have you kind of
like walk us through, like howto create a visual brand,
because it's not just likepicking out a cool logo, or
someone else goes along with it.
(02:59):
So like, how do you how do youget started? When you're working
with clients? Like what do yousuggest? Like when we're like,
Okay, we've got this businessand you know, what we're doing?
Now what how do you how do webring it to the world and and
the design sets?
Unknown (03:15):
Yeah, that's a great question. So when I take on a
branding project for a client, Ioften kind of start with this
sort of almost like aquestionnaire that basically the
Google questionnaire honestly,it's a few pages long. And I ask
a lot of questions about theperson themselves, if it's a
personal brand, or more abouttheir company as a whole and
their values to really try to dolike a deep dive into what
(03:37):
they're trying to expressthrough their logo first, and
who their audiences who we'retrying to attract what kind of
people and such to. And excuseme, because your visual brand,
really encompasses, like yousaid, so much more than just a
logo, right? It's also yourcolors, your typography, even
your imagery, like how you useyour photos, or how you take
photos of yourself. I mean, youreally want this whole
(03:59):
consistent look between all ofthese elements, because it kind
of helps to create this reliableand solid experience and for
your customers, they start toknow and understand what they're
going to connect what to expectfrom you, because they see your
brand everywhere and they startto recognize you and that builds
trust. You know, like if youthink about, like a great way
actually explain to clientspretty often is like Target or
(04:21):
apple or something like that.
It's consistent. The experiencethat you have, like visually
with their brand, like targetsalways gonna have that red
bullseye, the red iconseverywhere, when you're walking
through their store, or Apple islike, their brand is super nice
and clean. Their stores arereally nice and clean. It's
building that consistency buildstrust with your customer. So
that's kind of the first step isreally asking those big
(04:43):
questions and trying to get anunderstanding and you can even
if you're working on it foryourself, ask yourself that
question. You know, yeah, whatmatters to you?
Erin Geiger (04:53):
Yeah, no, that's great. And so what do you once
you kind of have Ah, you know,baked, you know, okay, this is
kind of like, what matters. Thisis sort of the mission or the
culture or the field that I wantto get across like, what? What
do you? What do people do that?
And then so do you even to getto that point? So it sounds like
(05:13):
you're saying, like, look atkind of like what other top
brands are doing in your space?
Is that something that you wouldrecommend?
Unknown (05:23):
Yeah, so there's even to be more specific. So I like
ask these kind of more specificquestion. So What brands do you
gravitate towards as yourcompany or as a person with a
personal brand, like payattention to things that you
love that the things that you'regravitating towards, and maybe
even start like a folder on yourcomputer or on your phone and
just start taking pictures andsaving things, you're kind of
(05:43):
starting to build this visualidentity without even realizing
it? One of my favorite things,actually, to tell people to look
in their closet, if they'rebuilding a personal brand and
being like, is your closet justfilled with polka dots, maybe
you need some polka dots in yourbrand, you know, like starting
to bring in do love teal, do youlove green like me, or like I
love earthy colors, you know,like bringing those colors into
(06:04):
your brand. And you can eventhink about the overall mood is
like I said, like Apple has thisreally clean and simple vibe, or
like anthropology has that moreeclectic and urban site kind of
vibe, you can kind of startpaying attention to what brand
mood you like. And again, starttaking those pictures building
that almost like a basically,you could even start a Pinterest
(06:26):
board and start throwingeverything up on Pinterest. And
what's crazy is when you startto put all of that on like one
in one place, whether it's afolder on your phone, or on
Pinterest board, you'll start tosee the themes, you'll start to
see you could even start takingpictures of logos or icons that
you like to throwing that upthere. Yeah, and even like you
(06:46):
could look at great, kind ofcheaper, more affordable
dockside, like Creative MarketEnvato elements, Google Images,
start just searching alldifferent kinds of logos color
palette, and just throwing it upon that board. And you'll when
you come back to that board,after stepping away, you'll be
like, Oh, I really love green,or oh my gosh, there are polka
(07:06):
dots everywhere, I've got toinclude this, you know, it's
like finding those commonthemes.
Erin Geiger (07:12):
It's so funny that you say that, because I would
never have thought of you know,looking in my closet, you know,
for inspiration for my, mybusiness brand. But when you say
that it makes total sense. So Ilike neutrals. And so I just
redid my website, I say read it,I used I mean, I use Kajabi. So
I just pick from such awaybecause I'm the designer. But
(07:39):
the colors that I had to use itfirst for like, browns, blacks,
why, you know, that sort of athing. And now I just, you know,
redid it and now it's likeGray's black with a pop of pink,
you know, and it's like, whenyou look at it, and you look at
my closet, you're like, oh,yeah, it's, you know, it's,
there's like a relation there.
You know, it's just sointeresting. And I love like
(07:59):
dwell magazine, right? So Imean, like, open up dwell, I
will live in any of thoseplaces. So it's all very clean
lines, modern, you know, thatsort of like no clutter, you
know, and then that's how kindof how I try to make my website
and my logo as well. So that'sso true. Like, even if you even
(08:19):
if you're not realizing it,you're probably you're going to
gravitate back, you know, to thestyle that you personally like,
like, so that's also a term wehear a lot is brand identity.
Okay, so can you explain that alittle bit? Like, what is a
brand identity? And how do wefind it? Maura, how do we?
Unknown (08:43):
Where is it? It's out there. It's out there, it's more
obvious than you think. And Ijust have to say too, I love I'm
like, looking around your hometoo. It's actually great
inspiration to you said that Iwant to echo that. Like that's a
great idea. And even like ifyou're looking at your closet,
now I have to go look at yourwebsite. I'm like so excited
that you have this like hot pinkaccent and stuff like what's
great is if you're pullingcolors in from your closet, when
(09:05):
you go to do your photoshoot,you're the colors that you're
wearing will mimic the colors onyour website, which will tie it
all in together so nicely. Sothat's your step ahead. That's
great. So, with a brandidentity, they're kind of what I
mean. Yeah, there's a few like,I kind of think of it as five
(09:26):
elements that kind of make upyour total brand identity. You
have the very obvious your logo,and your logo can be a word
mark, which is just likestraight font and a word. Like
think of, oh gosh, now I'm likethinking well, even if you take
that icon off of Apple, like theword Apple like that's like
their word mark, and then thatApple is the icon. So usually
(09:47):
there's like kind of two partsto a logo. And you want to
generally speaking when it comesto the logo, biggest tip of
advice, keep it simple. Likesometimes you think, Oh, it's
just too simple. It's too big.
Basic like the most basic, mostbeautiful, most popular logos in
the world, Apple's Nike, like atarget. You know, even whole
foods, like their icon like allof them are really simple. And
(10:09):
you because you want it to beable to be blown up really big
and still understand what it is.
And you have to fit really teenytiny in that top corner of your
website and still berecognizable or business cards
if you use those two. So youneed that like scalable factor
is really important when itcomes to logo. So that's one,
number two would be yoursecondary logos. And that could
(10:31):
be if you have a horizontalversion, or a vertical version,
maybe where the icon to the leftwith the word mark, as opposed
to above it. And again, thatcould actually work really well.
If you have that space in thetop corner of your website, you
want a horizontal logo, becauseyou put your vertical logo up
there, it's going to be supertiny to fit in that space. So
it's nice to have that option.
You could even have a monogram,which is a great thing to have
(10:51):
for a personal brand, like justyour initial that you can use as
almost like a seal on, you know,like even a Instagram post or
something like that, but just inthe corner. So it's branded to
you, for people that are like,again, building that familiarity
and trust and like seeing thatconsistent brand showing up
everywhere. So that secondarylogos would be to third would be
pretty obvious won't be yourcolor palette, then looking at
(11:14):
your closet, looking around yourhouse, what are you drawn
towards. And it's also again,with this one, you don't want to
go overboard with the colors,like think of like two to 3123,
even primary colors. And thenmaybe especially when you're
building out a website, you'regonna need like four to five
secondary colors to kind of keepthat all intact. Because
(11:35):
sometimes it's even helpful ifyou have those three primary
colors, you might do a fewshades lighter, that become part
of your secondary colors, sothat you can build the different
layers on your website withlike, you know, I think on top
of like gray versus black orsomething. Number four would be
your font. And with fonts, it'slike you're typically going to
(11:57):
have a font that's in your logo,you can keep, I mean, there's no
set rules really here like, thisis your brand, you got to make
it work for you. So you couldhave that same logo font be a
font that you use throughoutyour brand, and your headlines
and your body copy whatevermakes sense. Or you could also
have your logo font, and maybeit's a really unique script,
(12:17):
like you found a really coolfont on Creative Market. And
that's your logo right there.
And so you keep that it's justyour logo font, and then you
have a headline font and a bodyfont. And again, trying not to
get too overboard with findingmultiple fonts, like you can use
different weights, like maybeyou use one font, and it has a
(12:38):
bold weight or an italic weight,because that can help you build
like variety in the wayeverything looks and the
appearance. And then sometimesit's great to have an accent
font to like, if you're a reallyexpressive personal brand, maybe
you have like a handwrittencursive, that can be part of it
as well. And then the lastthing, the fifth thing would be
any kind of additional elements.
Or sometimes people call themdevices or accent patterns,
(13:00):
graphic things that are justreally unique to your brand. And
it could be you have kind of anocean vibe, maybe there's a wave
graphic that you kind of use inthe background, or again, those
polka dots, maybe you justreally love the dot pattern. Or
maybe it's kind of like a phototreatment that you always do
(13:20):
like a filter, you could evenconsider that part of your brand
as well, or a torn edge aroundall of your images to kind of
give that more antique look likepicking out these really unique
elements that when you put allthese things together, it
becomes very unique. Excuse meto your brand.
Erin Geiger (13:39):
Yeah, no, that's perfect, because I think the
theme I'm getting here issimplify. And there's that
saying that a confused mind saysno. And so you want people to
show up to your website. Andthey got five different fonts
coming out of 10 differentcolors, they're like, I don't
(14:00):
even know what to focus on here.
So so this is all great. So thenit's like, just simplify
everything, make it true to youso that it's clear to the
visitor on your website, youknow, they can see the actual
information and not be like hitover the head with you know,
your color aesthetics orwhatever. And as a writer, I do
come up with like an editorialstyle guide, right? And so it's
(14:24):
very specific as to you know,it's great. It's great resource
for anybody who works with mewho works for me to kind of like
pull from that. It's like, Okay,do we use title case? Do we use
the Oxford comma? Do we, youknow, whatever, right? Like, how
do we handle these certainsituations? Right? And I'm like
style guide. So what is theequivalent with brands? You
(14:44):
know, like when you're, you'rebuilding a brand guide, like
what does that usuallyencompass?
Unknown (14:53):
Yeah, great, great question on that too, because it
is important that it becomesyour cheat sheet. Like I'm sure
with writing to like getsbecomes your clients cheat sheet
like this is like, Oh, I have aquestion, I'm going to refer to
the, you know, guide that Ericgave me and I do the same thing,
I build a brand guide forclients. And even if you're just
doing it on your own, buildingit in Canva. And in that you can
have all of your logos, yoursecondary logos, your color
(15:17):
palettes, your font, maybe a fewgraphics, like I said, maybe if
you have a WAV accent that youuse throughout or something, and
you just have that all ready andwaiting for you in Canva. And so
when you go to create anInstagram post, there's so much
less thinking involved. Youknow, you're like, what color Am
I use what I have these sixcolors or four colors to choose
from? What font Am I getting, aswell, I have these two or three
(15:39):
fonts to choose from, you know,it's right there. And it's
great, because even if you buy,you know, there's so many
amazing templates you candownload these days, you can
download any template that'sready for Canva or whatever
software you prefer to use. Andthen just instantly apply all of
your brand elements and boom,done. Consistent look right
there for you. So having all ofthat laid out in handy is like
(16:02):
the best cheat sheet. I lovehaving.
Erin Geiger (16:05):
Yeah, and you can even get, you know, detailed as
far as like, this logo optioncan be used for transparent but
this one can't. And this one,you know if if you're going to
use an all white version of thelogo, use it in these
placements. Right, you can getvery specific as well to make
sure that your brand isrespected and taken care of in
(16:25):
the way that you envision.
Unknown (16:28):
Right? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. When I build out a
brand guide for someone, Idefinitely put in more details,
you know, like keep as muchspace around the logo, don't
stretch it don't you know, tweakit and do funny things with it.
Like all the specifics, likeyou're saying or like what,
which colors can be on laid ontop of other colors? Like you
can definitely get into thosespecifics. Because sometimes
(16:49):
your brand might get in thehands of someone else, you'd be
like, What did you do is thatlogo? It's not at all what it
looks like. So yeah, good tooutline that stuff ahead of
time.
Erin Geiger (16:57):
Yeah, exactly. And you can even be like, that was
an accent color. And you used itfor the entire thing. What
happened?
Unknown (17:03):
Exactly? Yeah. Yeah.
Erin Geiger (17:07):
Okay, cool. So you're, you've done all these
steps, which are so superhelpful. So what's next? Like?
How, how do you then kind oflike put it all together? You
know, how do you organize it?
How do you? You know, how do youmake sure that it's all where
all the information you need iswhere it's supposed to be? It's
(17:28):
easy to access and all that goodstuff? Because this is a lot.
Unknown (17:37):
Yeah, yes, absolutely.
I totally get it. Like whetheryou have a PDF document that
maybe a designer or you createdfor yourself with all of these
five elements, or you put it inCanva, like just, it's like it's
your brand go to, it's whatyou're always going to start
whenever or refer to every timeyou go to build something. And
you can even start reallyputting those colors, wearing
(17:59):
those colors when you're onInstagram lives and things if
you want to really tie it in.
But you could even start puttingthose elements everywhere like
in your email footer, in your onyour LinkedIn profile, you know,
like you have that banner imageabove your, your profile photo.
So you could customize that tofit your brand and your colors
(18:19):
and your fonts and everything toand even on Instagram posts
again, like you could mark themwith like maybe you have a
monogram that you put in thebottom corner that helps to
identify all of your posts orjust using those colors. So it's
consistent for Facebook and anysocial media really. And then
even when it comes to creating,like, downloadable PDFs for all
(18:40):
of your offers, you could buildthem in a Google Doc, if you
google doc or Google Slides andstart building out some
templates. Again, based on yourbrand, your colors, your photos,
using your icons or graphics,whatever you can sneak in there.
And you just again, what reallywant like the biggest thing I
can say I guess too, is like,like you said to is keeping it
simple. And just making sureevery time someone interacts
(19:03):
with your brand, they're gettingthe same visual experience.
building that trust and yourwords are a huge part of this
too. So like I don't obviouslydo the copywriting part but them
hiring someone like you, it'd befantastic because then they'd
have consistency with all oftheir messaging too. Because
that really, really does itbecause you can build all these
(19:24):
beautiful elements and have thisgreat brand but it's also how
you use it that matters. Youknow, you have to be consistent
with it. You have to have theright words and be consistent in
your home message. And like Isaid to the photoshoots a fun
one to like bringing in all ofyour brand colors and details
into your what you're actuallywearing or where you shoot your
(19:44):
photograph and stuff like twogreat way to tie it all in.
Yeah, I
Erin Geiger (19:48):
love that. You mentioned that because there was
one time where I was doing thisphoto shoot. And in some of the
photos I was holding up kind oflike this leather book and like
a Journal or something. And sothen I got the photos back. And
I was like, I really love thatcolor. It's like a caramel
leather, you know. And so Ithink it was Canada that I went
(20:09):
on to, and it can actually pullout the colors from the photo.
And I was like, Oh, this isperfect, because it could pull
out that, that exact are veryclose to that kind of caramel
leather color. And that becamepart of my color palette, you
know, to which was like us sogreat. But yeah, so this is so
(20:31):
super helpful. I wondering,like, you have so much so many
areas of expertise, you'retaking care of all these big
clients, you have a lot going onin your life, like, and then you
know, you have this otherveggies and vodka. I mean, I'm
like, Oh, how does she do it?
Also, and you have mentioned tome in the past that you, you
prioritize your downtime, youknow, and then I even remember
(20:52):
you mentioning that you will, itwill kind of take two months off
a year and like you'll try notto bring your laptop on trips
and stuff like that. Can youjust share your wisdom in that?
Because I think so many of uslike, we want to get to where
you are. So please tell us, KimoSabe.
Unknown (21:14):
I know it's an ongoing, you know, journey, right,
because there's always like, Idefinitely have busy seasons
where I will be cranking on 100page catalog. Like, I eat so
much chocolate during that time.
It's ridiculous, like mychocolate stash has been. But
you know, that's what gets methrough. But I just I tried
really hard. It's a huge, hugepriority in my life to balance
(21:37):
that, like, I just have to note,there's an end in sight, it's
good for my psyche. And for mystress levels, you know, and I
like I guess I do. If you wereto jam it all together, I take
about two months off a year,which is feels so crazy. And my
husband's a high school teacher.
So I like to be off when he'soff, we love to go outside, we
love to play and it's justsetting those expectations with
(22:01):
your clients really is thebiggest, biggest thing for me is
like I tell my clients months inadvance, when I'm about to go
when I have a trip planned orsomething. And I tried really
hard to build a schedule aroundthose breaks, because you have
to take breaks. If you don'ttake breaks, it just becomes so
relentless, right and and justand then you don't get to enjoy
(22:23):
everything that you're creatingand building and what was even
more wild as I think back onthis journey of being like
building this business. Now I'mlike I have clients through
September and such right now,like I have plenty of work lined
up for myself. But there havebeen so many times over the
years where there were low. Andthere were times when you didn't
have a lot of clients. And Iused to for so long would stress
(22:47):
so much about those loans. And Iwould just force myself to sit
in front of my computer, as ifsomehow that was going to make
it all happen, you know. Andwhat I finally started to
realize was actually, when Iwould take the break, and I
would walk away and I would go Ilove to mountain bike and
snowboard and be outside. And Iwould take those breaks and go
do something, I would come backand somehow be like, Oh, I could
(23:10):
email this person or Oh, I couldreach out in this way. It's like
you just have this less stresstake and I mean, it's not not a
hard basketball, obviously,there are moments when just you
have to really try to dig upclients. And I've definitely
been there too. But when I can,that's the key when I can I take
the breaks. And I try really,really hard when I'm on the
(23:32):
breaks to disconnect to I likejoke, I'm like no laptops on
vacation, like a joke that I sayto my husband, you know, if it's
like, I mean, obviously, ifyou're gone for weeks at a time,
it's kind of hard to becompletely disconnected. But at
least a long weekend, I'vemanaged to pull off no laptop
for two weeks vacation years ina row. Now I just I am precious
(23:55):
with my breaks.
Erin Geiger (23:57):
Well, and I think the main thing is, like you
said, it's setting expectations,you know, so it's working with
your clients and letting themknow well ahead of time and so
that they feel comfortable withit. And they feel like, no,
she's got me, you know, like,we're, the my stuff will be
taken care of like this is it'sjust fine. And then they can
kind of like, manage it withintheir own schedules too. You
(24:19):
know, so if you do it that wayahead of time and you're
managing it like you say, thenyou shouldn't be able to do
that, you know, and it kind ofdefeats the purpose. Yeah, if
you're bringing your laptop withyou, then it's like you're not
really recharging. You're stillburning yourself out, you know?
So it's like
Unknown (24:32):
Yeah, yeah. Yes, exactly.
Erin Geiger (24:37):
Where can people find you online if they want to
connect with you?
Unknown (24:43):
Yeah, so I am Mark a creative.com. That is my graphic
design site. I have also startedanother business that is called
veggies and vodka.com where Ilove to talk about this balance
and taking breaks and findingspace for yourself and taking
care of yourself. And I do Dolots of sketches and weekly
newsletters through veggies andvodka.com. And both of them are
(25:05):
on Instagram, but I am a masterat email. So feel free to reach
out via email, reach out throughInstagram. Both are great. But
yeah, those are the two sitesthat I'm spending all my time on
these days.
Erin Geiger (25:18):
And I love that you have the two because, you know,
I there was something else I wasworking on where I was like, You
know what people can havedifferent interests. And it's
like, if you want to have asecond business of something, or
even if it's a hobby, whateverit is, like, that's okay. You
know, I think that sometimesit's drilled into our heads of
like, you've got to focus on onething, you know, and mastering
that thing before you move on tothe next and it's like, no, you
(25:39):
can have different interestslike we're, we're four
dimensional people here. So
Unknown (25:45):
yeah, I, it's so I have to, I had, well, thank you, I
Sorry, sorry, I just have to saythat I had an aunt that was an
artist, and she wants that to mewhen I was younger, and it
really stuck with me, she'slike, No one job is gonna
fulfill every part of you. Likeit's okay to have multiple jobs.
And for years, I was like, I'm agraphic designer, this is all I
(26:08):
do. And then I was like, Ireally miss writing and just
creating for the fun of it. AndI've had a massive health and
wellness journey. And I've hadpeople ask me about it for
years. And once I finallystarted writing, and sketching
and sharing that all of asudden, I felt the most fully
utilized that I have in thelongest time it was this outlet.
(26:29):
It was this released. And I waslike, not having to put all my
eggs in my graphic design basketand spreading it out. It's just
been incredibly fulfilling.
Like, I had no idea what I wasmissing. And all of a sudden it
was like, Well, I'm not as, likeburnt out with design anymore.
Because I'm doing this otherthing. Like it's just been.
Yeah, but it's hard to remindyourself. Yes, we can we can be
(26:51):
what is Marie Forleo say likemulti passionate, we can do
multiple things. No, that'sokay.
Erin Geiger (26:58):
No, and that's a good point to like, taking on a
secondary thing could actuallyfuel your primary thing, you
know, could like open upthere's, you know, inspiration
facets that you've been closed,you know, and like, kind of like
free you up and not have youfeel so stressed. So you can you
know, have a whole otherOutlook, you know, so that's
yeah, that's smart. Okay, so onequestion I asked everybody on
(27:21):
every single episode is, if youcould only listen to one music
artists for the rest of yourlife. Who would it be?
Unknown (27:30):
I've heard you ask this. And I've been thinking
about it. I'm like, oh, man, Ilove love music. So this is a
very hard question. I mean,everything from like the 40s and
50s, the 60s and 70s 80s and90s. I like I seriously, I love
it all. Play it constantly. Butthere is one artist and it feels
(27:51):
almost cliche, but I am wheneverI just like no need to put music
on and I can just just keepfunctioning in life as Jack
Johnson. It just bends me out. Ithink in another life. I was a
surfer. I had a stint where Idid it for a minute. And I think
that's just there's a part of methat would love to embrace that.
So I just I love Jack Dawson.
Erin Geiger (28:10):
Yeah, he is a good one. I like him too. He's a he's
a good one to have on in thebackground to just kind of like
Yeah, yeah, he has a good vibe.
I used to play him for my kidsto because he has a kids. Yeah.
It's like a kid's album. Right.
And I don't have that on. Youknow, I'm like, Oh, okay. This
is really cool.
Unknown (28:28):
Yeah, yeah, I think it was like the Curious George
soundtrack or something. Yeah,sure. Yeah.
Erin Geiger (28:33):
Something Yeah.
used to play that all the time.
Because I was we were really myhusband. I are huge, and music
and he's a musician. And sowe're big on trying to like
expose our kids to music, musicand not just like, Humpty
Dumpty, or whatever, you know.
And there was this show calledYo Gabba Gabba. And it has the
best musicians on it. Like theshins were on it, like all these
(28:55):
great artists run and we'relike, This is amazing. And like
the main character had like aboom box. I mean, it's just
like, it's so we're like, wow,so it was really cool. We're
that's what we're trying to do.
So Jack Johnson. Yeah, he'sright up there. So that's
awesome. Maura, thank you somuch for taking the time to chat
and catch up today. It was justmade my day seeing your face pop
(29:16):
up on Zoom earlier. So
Unknown (29:21):
great to see you Erin.
Thank you so much. It's been ablast.
Erin Geiger (29:26):
Thanks for tuning into the Small Business Big
mindset podcast. To keep the fungoing. Check out our Facebook
group. Start and scale an onlinebusiness For even more free
trainings and resources fromfellow entrepreneurs. If you
haven't already, head on over tomuscle creative.com and click
subscribe. Join our email listfor weekly updates. And if
you've enjoyed this podcastepisode, check us out on your
favorite podcast platform tofollow us and give us a review.
(29:48):
As always be authentic bringinginsane amount of value and keep
crushing it
Unknown (30:00):
You
Welcome to the Small Business Big mindset
podcast, where we dive intotactical strategies to grow your
business and make an impact onthis world. A huge part of
success is keeping your mindsetand vision on track. So this is
a major part of our process. Andthis podcast. Let's do this Hey,
(00:25):
everybody, welcome to the SmallBusiness Big mindset podcast
this week we have Maura Kelby,founder of veggies and vodka and
Maura Kay, creative welcomeMaura.
Unknown (00:35):
Hi, Erin. Great to be here. Thanks for having me.
Erin Geiger (00:37):
So, so happy to connect. So Maura and I are in.
We've been friends for a bit andwe haven't had been able to
chat. So it's so cool to haveyou on the show. And we could
catch up a little bit before westarted to record. More I want
to hear from you. Before we jumpin to your area of expertise,
(00:59):
which listeners, it's going tobe amazing today, because more
is going to talk to us aboutbuilding our visual brand, which
I know we can all we all needhelp with that. But can you give
us a little bit about yourbackground? How you got started
and your area of expertise,please?
Unknown (01:16):
Yeah, absolutely. So I have been a graphic designer
running my own business foralmost two decades now. And I've
worked in everything from visualbranding to producing entire
magazines and brochures or 100page books to do an email email
campaigns for for SIG Matic Ikind of cover the gamut when it
comes to design, whether it'sdigital or print. But yeah, I've
(01:39):
been very lucky to work withlots of amazing clients in the
outdoor industry in the healthand wellness industry. It's been
a blast.
Erin Geiger (01:45):
That's awesome. How did you get started?
Unknown (01:48):
Oh, man, back in the day. Well, I was a fine arts
major in. So I had an emphasisin graphic design. And when I
got out of college, I wasn'texactly sure if I was ready to
jump straight into the full, youknow, agency situation. So I
started just doing somefreelance projects while I was
working in the restaurantindustry, including lots of
restaurant menu designs for therestaurants I was working for,
(02:08):
which worked out really well.
And had before I knew it, I hada full roster of clients. And
it's just kind of taken off.
I've been really fortunate tohave, like I said, great clients
over the years, just keepreferring business my way. So
it's all been a pretty strongword of mouth style of business.
And that's just, and it was justkind of like one day I woke up
and I was like, I don't need afull time job. This is great.
(02:30):
You know, I worked in an agencyfor like a year at one point,
but went straight back tofreelancing. I just love
connecting with people, you kindof lose that when you have a
middleman. Yeah,
Erin Geiger (02:39):
that's so cool.
Well, yes, it was meant meant tobe. So yeah, so I, I'm so
excited to have you on because Iwould love to have you kind of
like walk us through, like howto create a visual brand,
because it's not just likepicking out a cool logo, or
someone else goes along with it.
(02:59):
So like, how do you how do youget started? When you're working
with clients? Like what do yousuggest? Like when we're like,
Okay, we've got this businessand you know, what we're doing?
Now what how do you how do webring it to the world and and
the design sets?
Unknown (03:15):
Yeah, that's a great question. So when I take on a
branding project for a client, Ioften kind of start with this
sort of almost like aquestionnaire that basically the
Google questionnaire honestly,it's a few pages long. And I ask
a lot of questions about theperson themselves, if it's a
personal brand, or more abouttheir company as a whole and
their values to really try to dolike a deep dive into what
(03:37):
they're trying to expressthrough their logo first, and
who their audiences who we'retrying to attract what kind of
people and such to. And excuseme, because your visual brand,
really encompasses, like yousaid, so much more than just a
logo, right? It's also yourcolors, your typography, even
your imagery, like how you useyour photos, or how you take
photos of yourself. I mean, youreally want this whole
(03:59):
consistent look between all ofthese elements, because it kind
of helps to create this reliableand solid experience and for
your customers, they start toknow and understand what they're
going to connect what to expectfrom you, because they see your
brand everywhere and they startto recognize you and that builds
trust. You know, like if youthink about, like a great way
actually explain to clientspretty often is like Target or
(04:21):
apple or something like that.
It's consistent. The experiencethat you have, like visually
with their brand, like targetsalways gonna have that red
bullseye, the red iconseverywhere, when you're walking
through their store, or Apple islike, their brand is super nice
and clean. Their stores arereally nice and clean. It's
building that consistency buildstrust with your customer. So
that's kind of the first step isreally asking those big
(04:43):
questions and trying to get anunderstanding and you can even
if you're working on it foryourself, ask yourself that
question. You know, yeah, whatmatters to you?
Erin Geiger (04:53):
Yeah, no, that's great. And so what do you once
you kind of have Ah, you know,baked, you know, okay, this is
kind of like, what matters. Thisis sort of the mission or the
culture or the field that I wantto get across like, what? What
do you? What do people do that?
And then so do you even to getto that point? So it sounds like
(05:13):
you're saying, like, look atkind of like what other top
brands are doing in your space?
Is that something that you wouldrecommend?
Unknown (05:23):
Yeah, so there's even to be more specific. So I like
ask these kind of more specificquestion. So What brands do you
gravitate towards as yourcompany or as a person with a
personal brand, like payattention to things that you
love that the things that you'regravitating towards, and maybe
even start like a folder on yourcomputer or on your phone and
just start taking pictures andsaving things, you're kind of
(05:43):
starting to build this visualidentity without even realizing
it? One of my favorite things,actually, to tell people to look
in their closet, if they'rebuilding a personal brand and
being like, is your closet justfilled with polka dots, maybe
you need some polka dots in yourbrand, you know, like starting
to bring in do love teal, do youlove green like me, or like I
love earthy colors, you know,like bringing those colors into
(06:04):
your brand. And you can eventhink about the overall mood is
like I said, like Apple has thisreally clean and simple vibe, or
like anthropology has that moreeclectic and urban site kind of
vibe, you can kind of startpaying attention to what brand
mood you like. And again, starttaking those pictures building
that almost like a basically,you could even start a Pinterest
(06:26):
board and start throwingeverything up on Pinterest. And
what's crazy is when you startto put all of that on like one
in one place, whether it's afolder on your phone, or on
Pinterest board, you'll start tosee the themes, you'll start to
see you could even start takingpictures of logos or icons that
you like to throwing that upthere. Yeah, and even like you
(06:46):
could look at great, kind ofcheaper, more affordable
dockside, like Creative MarketEnvato elements, Google Images,
start just searching alldifferent kinds of logos color
palette, and just throwing it upon that board. And you'll when
you come back to that board,after stepping away, you'll be
like, Oh, I really love green,or oh my gosh, there are polka
(07:06):
dots everywhere, I've got toinclude this, you know, it's
like finding those commonthemes.
Erin Geiger (07:12):
It's so funny that you say that, because I would
never have thought of you know,looking in my closet, you know,
for inspiration for my, mybusiness brand. But when you say
that it makes total sense. So Ilike neutrals. And so I just
redid my website, I say read it,I used I mean, I use Kajabi. So
I just pick from such awaybecause I'm the designer. But
(07:39):
the colors that I had to use itfirst for like, browns, blacks,
why, you know, that sort of athing. And now I just, you know,
redid it and now it's likeGray's black with a pop of pink,
you know, and it's like, whenyou look at it, and you look at
my closet, you're like, oh,yeah, it's, you know, it's,
there's like a relation there.
You know, it's just sointeresting. And I love like
(07:59):
dwell magazine, right? So Imean, like, open up dwell, I
will live in any of thoseplaces. So it's all very clean
lines, modern, you know, thatsort of like no clutter, you
know, and then that's how kindof how I try to make my website
and my logo as well. So that'sso true. Like, even if you even
(08:19):
if you're not realizing it,you're probably you're going to
gravitate back, you know, to thestyle that you personally like,
like, so that's also a term wehear a lot is brand identity.
Okay, so can you explain that alittle bit? Like, what is a
brand identity? And how do wefind it? Maura, how do we?
Unknown (08:43):
Where is it? It's out there. It's out there, it's more
obvious than you think. And Ijust have to say too, I love I'm
like, looking around your hometoo. It's actually great
inspiration to you said that Iwant to echo that. Like that's a
great idea. And even like ifyou're looking at your closet,
now I have to go look at yourwebsite. I'm like so excited
that you have this like hot pinkaccent and stuff like what's
great is if you're pullingcolors in from your closet, when
(09:05):
you go to do your photoshoot,you're the colors that you're
wearing will mimic the colors onyour website, which will tie it
all in together so nicely. Sothat's your step ahead. That's
great. So, with a brandidentity, they're kind of what I
mean. Yeah, there's a few like,I kind of think of it as five
(09:26):
elements that kind of make upyour total brand identity. You
have the very obvious your logo,and your logo can be a word
mark, which is just likestraight font and a word. Like
think of, oh gosh, now I'm likethinking well, even if you take
that icon off of Apple, like theword Apple like that's like
their word mark, and then thatApple is the icon. So usually
(09:47):
there's like kind of two partsto a logo. And you want to
generally speaking when it comesto the logo, biggest tip of
advice, keep it simple. Likesometimes you think, Oh, it's
just too simple. It's too big.
Basic like the most basic, mostbeautiful, most popular logos in
the world, Apple's Nike, like atarget. You know, even whole
foods, like their icon like allof them are really simple. And
(10:09):
you because you want it to beable to be blown up really big
and still understand what it is.
And you have to fit really teenytiny in that top corner of your
website and still berecognizable or business cards
if you use those two. So youneed that like scalable factor
is really important when itcomes to logo. So that's one,
number two would be yoursecondary logos. And that could
(10:31):
be if you have a horizontalversion, or a vertical version,
maybe where the icon to the leftwith the word mark, as opposed
to above it. And again, thatcould actually work really well.
If you have that space in thetop corner of your website, you
want a horizontal logo, becauseyou put your vertical logo up
there, it's going to be supertiny to fit in that space. So
it's nice to have that option.
You could even have a monogram,which is a great thing to have
(10:51):
for a personal brand, like justyour initial that you can use as
almost like a seal on, you know,like even a Instagram post or
something like that, but just inthe corner. So it's branded to
you, for people that are like,again, building that familiarity
and trust and like seeing thatconsistent brand showing up
everywhere. So that secondarylogos would be to third would be
pretty obvious won't be yourcolor palette, then looking at
(11:14):
your closet, looking around yourhouse, what are you drawn
towards. And it's also again,with this one, you don't want to
go overboard with the colors,like think of like two to 3123,
even primary colors. And thenmaybe especially when you're
building out a website, you'regonna need like four to five
secondary colors to kind of keepthat all intact. Because
(11:35):
sometimes it's even helpful ifyou have those three primary
colors, you might do a fewshades lighter, that become part
of your secondary colors, sothat you can build the different
layers on your website withlike, you know, I think on top
of like gray versus black orsomething. Number four would be
your font. And with fonts, it'slike you're typically going to
(11:57):
have a font that's in your logo,you can keep, I mean, there's no
set rules really here like, thisis your brand, you got to make
it work for you. So you couldhave that same logo font be a
font that you use throughoutyour brand, and your headlines
and your body copy whatevermakes sense. Or you could also
have your logo font, and maybeit's a really unique script,
(12:17):
like you found a really coolfont on Creative Market. And
that's your logo right there.
And so you keep that it's justyour logo font, and then you
have a headline font and a bodyfont. And again, trying not to
get too overboard with findingmultiple fonts, like you can use
different weights, like maybeyou use one font, and it has a
(12:38):
bold weight or an italic weight,because that can help you build
like variety in the wayeverything looks and the
appearance. And then sometimesit's great to have an accent
font to like, if you're a reallyexpressive personal brand, maybe
you have like a handwrittencursive, that can be part of it
as well. And then the lastthing, the fifth thing would be
any kind of additional elements.
Or sometimes people call themdevices or accent patterns,
(13:00):
graphic things that are justreally unique to your brand. And
it could be you have kind of anocean vibe, maybe there's a wave
graphic that you kind of use inthe background, or again, those
polka dots, maybe you justreally love the dot pattern. Or
maybe it's kind of like a phototreatment that you always do
(13:20):
like a filter, you could evenconsider that part of your brand
as well, or a torn edge aroundall of your images to kind of
give that more antique look likepicking out these really unique
elements that when you put allthese things together, it
becomes very unique. Excuse meto your brand.
Erin Geiger (13:39):
Yeah, no, that's perfect, because I think the
theme I'm getting here issimplify. And there's that
saying that a confused mind saysno. And so you want people to
show up to your website. Andthey got five different fonts
coming out of 10 differentcolors, they're like, I don't
(14:00):
even know what to focus on here.
So so this is all great. So thenit's like, just simplify
everything, make it true to youso that it's clear to the
visitor on your website, youknow, they can see the actual
information and not be like hitover the head with you know,
your color aesthetics orwhatever. And as a writer, I do
come up with like an editorialstyle guide, right? And so it's
(14:24):
very specific as to you know,it's great. It's great resource
for anybody who works with mewho works for me to kind of like
pull from that. It's like, Okay,do we use title case? Do we use
the Oxford comma? Do we, youknow, whatever, right? Like, how
do we handle these certainsituations? Right? And I'm like
style guide. So what is theequivalent with brands? You
(14:44):
know, like when you're, you'rebuilding a brand guide, like
what does that usuallyencompass?
Unknown (14:53):
Yeah, great, great question on that too, because it
is important that it becomesyour cheat sheet. Like I'm sure
with writing to like getsbecomes your clients cheat sheet
like this is like, Oh, I have aquestion, I'm going to refer to
the, you know, guide that Ericgave me and I do the same thing,
I build a brand guide forclients. And even if you're just
doing it on your own, buildingit in Canva. And in that you can
have all of your logos, yoursecondary logos, your color
(15:17):
palettes, your font, maybe a fewgraphics, like I said, maybe if
you have a WAV accent that youuse throughout or something, and
you just have that all ready andwaiting for you in Canva. And so
when you go to create anInstagram post, there's so much
less thinking involved. Youknow, you're like, what color Am
I use what I have these sixcolors or four colors to choose
from? What font Am I getting, aswell, I have these two or three
(15:39):
fonts to choose from, you know,it's right there. And it's
great, because even if you buy,you know, there's so many
amazing templates you candownload these days, you can
download any template that'sready for Canva or whatever
software you prefer to use. Andthen just instantly apply all of
your brand elements and boom,done. Consistent look right
there for you. So having all ofthat laid out in handy is like
(16:02):
the best cheat sheet. I lovehaving.
Erin Geiger (16:05):
Yeah, and you can even get, you know, detailed as
far as like, this logo optioncan be used for transparent but
this one can't. And this one,you know if if you're going to
use an all white version of thelogo, use it in these
placements. Right, you can getvery specific as well to make
sure that your brand isrespected and taken care of in
(16:25):
the way that you envision.
Unknown (16:28):
Right? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. When I build out a
brand guide for someone, Idefinitely put in more details,
you know, like keep as muchspace around the logo, don't
stretch it don't you know, tweakit and do funny things with it.
Like all the specifics, likeyou're saying or like what,
which colors can be on laid ontop of other colors? Like you
can definitely get into thosespecifics. Because sometimes
(16:49):
your brand might get in thehands of someone else, you'd be
like, What did you do is thatlogo? It's not at all what it
looks like. So yeah, good tooutline that stuff ahead of
time.
Erin Geiger (16:57):
Yeah, exactly. And you can even be like, that was
an accent color. And you used itfor the entire thing. What
happened?
Unknown (17:03):
Exactly? Yeah. Yeah.
Erin Geiger (17:07):
Okay, cool. So you're, you've done all these
steps, which are so superhelpful. So what's next? Like?
How, how do you then kind oflike put it all together? You
know, how do you organize it?
How do you? You know, how do youmake sure that it's all where
all the information you need iswhere it's supposed to be? It's
(17:28):
easy to access and all that goodstuff? Because this is a lot.
Unknown (17:37):
Yeah, yes, absolutely.
I totally get it. Like whetheryou have a PDF document that
maybe a designer or you createdfor yourself with all of these
five elements, or you put it inCanva, like just, it's like it's
your brand go to, it's whatyou're always going to start
whenever or refer to every timeyou go to build something. And
you can even start reallyputting those colors, wearing
(17:59):
those colors when you're onInstagram lives and things if
you want to really tie it in.
But you could even start puttingthose elements everywhere like
in your email footer, in your onyour LinkedIn profile, you know,
like you have that banner imageabove your, your profile photo.
So you could customize that tofit your brand and your colors
(18:19):
and your fonts and everything toand even on Instagram posts
again, like you could mark themwith like maybe you have a
monogram that you put in thebottom corner that helps to
identify all of your posts orjust using those colors. So it's
consistent for Facebook and anysocial media really. And then
even when it comes to creating,like, downloadable PDFs for all
(18:40):
of your offers, you could buildthem in a Google Doc, if you
google doc or Google Slides andstart building out some
templates. Again, based on yourbrand, your colors, your photos,
using your icons or graphics,whatever you can sneak in there.
And you just again, what reallywant like the biggest thing I
can say I guess too, is like,like you said to is keeping it
simple. And just making sureevery time someone interacts
(19:03):
with your brand, they're gettingthe same visual experience.
building that trust and yourwords are a huge part of this
too. So like I don't obviouslydo the copywriting part but them
hiring someone like you, it'd befantastic because then they'd
have consistency with all oftheir messaging too. Because
that really, really does itbecause you can build all these
(19:24):
beautiful elements and have thisgreat brand but it's also how
you use it that matters. Youknow, you have to be consistent
with it. You have to have theright words and be consistent in
your home message. And like Isaid to the photoshoots a fun
one to like bringing in all ofyour brand colors and details
into your what you're actuallywearing or where you shoot your
(19:44):
photograph and stuff like twogreat way to tie it all in.
Yeah, I
Erin Geiger (19:48):
love that. You mentioned that because there was
one time where I was doing thisphoto shoot. And in some of the
photos I was holding up kind oflike this leather book and like
a Journal or something. And sothen I got the photos back. And
I was like, I really love thatcolor. It's like a caramel
leather, you know. And so Ithink it was Canada that I went
(20:09):
on to, and it can actually pullout the colors from the photo.
And I was like, Oh, this isperfect, because it could pull
out that, that exact are veryclose to that kind of caramel
leather color. And that becamepart of my color palette, you
know, to which was like us sogreat. But yeah, so this is so
(20:31):
super helpful. I wondering,like, you have so much so many
areas of expertise, you'retaking care of all these big
clients, you have a lot going onin your life, like, and then you
know, you have this otherveggies and vodka. I mean, I'm
like, Oh, how does she do it?
Also, and you have mentioned tome in the past that you, you
prioritize your downtime, youknow, and then I even remember
(20:52):
you mentioning that you will, itwill kind of take two months off
a year and like you'll try notto bring your laptop on trips
and stuff like that. Can youjust share your wisdom in that?
Because I think so many of uslike, we want to get to where
you are. So please tell us, KimoSabe.
Unknown (21:14):
I know it's an ongoing, you know, journey, right,
because there's always like, Idefinitely have busy seasons
where I will be cranking on 100page catalog. Like, I eat so
much chocolate during that time.
It's ridiculous, like mychocolate stash has been. But
you know, that's what gets methrough. But I just I tried
really hard. It's a huge, hugepriority in my life to balance
(21:37):
that, like, I just have to note,there's an end in sight, it's
good for my psyche. And for mystress levels, you know, and I
like I guess I do. If you wereto jam it all together, I take
about two months off a year,which is feels so crazy. And my
husband's a high school teacher.
So I like to be off when he'soff, we love to go outside, we
love to play and it's justsetting those expectations with
(22:01):
your clients really is thebiggest, biggest thing for me is
like I tell my clients months inadvance, when I'm about to go
when I have a trip planned orsomething. And I tried really
hard to build a schedule aroundthose breaks, because you have
to take breaks. If you don'ttake breaks, it just becomes so
relentless, right and and justand then you don't get to enjoy
(22:23):
everything that you're creatingand building and what was even
more wild as I think back onthis journey of being like
building this business. Now I'mlike I have clients through
September and such right now,like I have plenty of work lined
up for myself. But there havebeen so many times over the
years where there were low. Andthere were times when you didn't
have a lot of clients. And Iused to for so long would stress
(22:47):
so much about those loans. And Iwould just force myself to sit
in front of my computer, as ifsomehow that was going to make
it all happen, you know. Andwhat I finally started to
realize was actually, when Iwould take the break, and I
would walk away and I would go Ilove to mountain bike and
snowboard and be outside. And Iwould take those breaks and go
do something, I would come backand somehow be like, Oh, I could
(23:10):
email this person or Oh, I couldreach out in this way. It's like
you just have this less stresstake and I mean, it's not not a
hard basketball, obviously,there are moments when just you
have to really try to dig upclients. And I've definitely
been there too. But when I can,that's the key when I can I take
the breaks. And I try really,really hard when I'm on the
(23:32):
breaks to disconnect to I likejoke, I'm like no laptops on
vacation, like a joke that I sayto my husband, you know, if it's
like, I mean, obviously, ifyou're gone for weeks at a time,
it's kind of hard to becompletely disconnected. But at
least a long weekend, I'vemanaged to pull off no laptop
for two weeks vacation years ina row. Now I just I am precious
(23:55):
with my breaks.
Erin Geiger (23:57):
Well, and I think the main thing is, like you
said, it's setting expectations,you know, so it's working with
your clients and letting themknow well ahead of time and so
that they feel comfortable withit. And they feel like, no,
she's got me, you know, like,we're, the my stuff will be
taken care of like this is it'sjust fine. And then they can
kind of like, manage it withintheir own schedules too. You
(24:19):
know, so if you do it that wayahead of time and you're
managing it like you say, thenyou shouldn't be able to do
that, you know, and it kind ofdefeats the purpose. Yeah, if
you're bringing your laptop withyou, then it's like you're not
really recharging. You're stillburning yourself out, you know?
So it's like
Unknown (24:32):
Yeah, yeah. Yes, exactly.
Erin Geiger (24:37):
Where can people find you online if they want to
connect with you?
Unknown (24:43):
Yeah, so I am Mark a creative.com. That is my graphic
design site. I have also startedanother business that is called
veggies and vodka.com where Ilove to talk about this balance
and taking breaks and findingspace for yourself and taking
care of yourself. And I do Dolots of sketches and weekly
newsletters through veggies andvodka.com. And both of them are
(25:05):
on Instagram, but I am a masterat email. So feel free to reach
out via email, reach out throughInstagram. Both are great. But
yeah, those are the two sitesthat I'm spending all my time on
these days.
Erin Geiger (25:18):
And I love that you have the two because, you know,
I there was something else I wasworking on where I was like, You
know what people can havedifferent interests. And it's
like, if you want to have asecond business of something, or
even if it's a hobby, whateverit is, like, that's okay. You
know, I think that sometimesit's drilled into our heads of
like, you've got to focus on onething, you know, and mastering
that thing before you move on tothe next and it's like, no, you
(25:39):
can have different interestslike we're, we're four
dimensional people here. So
Unknown (25:45):
yeah, I, it's so I have to, I had, well, thank you, I
Sorry, sorry, I just have to saythat I had an aunt that was an
artist, and she wants that to mewhen I was younger, and it
really stuck with me, she'slike, No one job is gonna
fulfill every part of you. Likeit's okay to have multiple jobs.
And for years, I was like, I'm agraphic designer, this is all I
(26:08):
do. And then I was like, Ireally miss writing and just
creating for the fun of it. AndI've had a massive health and
wellness journey. And I've hadpeople ask me about it for
years. And once I finallystarted writing, and sketching
and sharing that all of asudden, I felt the most fully
utilized that I have in thelongest time it was this outlet.
(26:29):
It was this released. And I waslike, not having to put all my
eggs in my graphic design basketand spreading it out. It's just
been incredibly fulfilling.
Like, I had no idea what I wasmissing. And all of a sudden it
was like, Well, I'm not as, likeburnt out with design anymore.
Because I'm doing this otherthing. Like it's just been.
Yeah, but it's hard to remindyourself. Yes, we can we can be
(26:51):
what is Marie Forleo say likemulti passionate, we can do
multiple things. No, that'sokay.
Erin Geiger (26:58):
No, and that's a good point to like, taking on a
secondary thing could actuallyfuel your primary thing, you
know, could like open upthere's, you know, inspiration
facets that you've been closed,you know, and like, kind of like
free you up and not have youfeel so stressed. So you can you
know, have a whole otherOutlook, you know, so that's
yeah, that's smart. Okay, so onequestion I asked everybody on
(27:21):
every single episode is, if youcould only listen to one music
artists for the rest of yourlife. Who would it be?
Unknown (27:30):
I've heard you ask this. And I've been thinking
about it. I'm like, oh, man, Ilove love music. So this is a
very hard question. I mean,everything from like the 40s and
50s, the 60s and 70s 80s and90s. I like I seriously, I love
it all. Play it constantly. Butthere is one artist and it feels
(27:51):
almost cliche, but I am wheneverI just like no need to put music
on and I can just just keepfunctioning in life as Jack
Johnson. It just bends me out. Ithink in another life. I was a
surfer. I had a stint where Idid it for a minute. And I think
that's just there's a part of methat would love to embrace that.
So I just I love Jack Dawson.
Erin Geiger (28:10):
Yeah, he is a good one. I like him too. He's a he's
a good one to have on in thebackground to just kind of like
Yeah, yeah, he has a good vibe.
I used to play him for my kidsto because he has a kids. Yeah.
It's like a kid's album. Right.
And I don't have that on. Youknow, I'm like, Oh, okay. This
is really cool.
Unknown (28:28):
Yeah, yeah, I think it was like the Curious George
soundtrack or something. Yeah,sure. Yeah.
Erin Geiger (28:33):
Something Yeah.
used to play that all the time.
Because I was we were really myhusband. I are huge, and music
and he's a musician. And sowe're big on trying to like
expose our kids to music, musicand not just like, Humpty
Dumpty, or whatever, you know.
And there was this show calledYo Gabba Gabba. And it has the
best musicians on it. Like theshins were on it, like all these
(28:55):
great artists run and we'relike, This is amazing. And like
the main character had like aboom box. I mean, it's just
like, it's so we're like, wow,so it was really cool. We're
that's what we're trying to do.
So Jack Johnson. Yeah, he'sright up there. So that's
awesome. Maura, thank you somuch for taking the time to chat
and catch up today. It was justmade my day seeing your face pop
(29:16):
up on Zoom earlier. So
Unknown (29:21):
great to see you Erin.
Thank you so much. It's been ablast.
Erin Geiger (29:26):
Thanks for tuning into the Small Business Big
mindset podcast. To keep the fungoing. Check out our Facebook
group. Start and scale an onlinebusiness For even more free
trainings and resources fromfellow entrepreneurs. If you
haven't already, head on over tomuscle creative.com and click
subscribe. Join our email listfor weekly updates. And if
you've enjoyed this podcastepisode, check us out on your
favorite podcast platform tofollow us and give us a review.
(29:48):
As always be authentic bringinginsane amount of value and keep
crushing it
Unknown (30:00):
You
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