From Artist to Entrepreneur: Navigating the Creative Business Landscape

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of Women In Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women In Motion, we have Katie Weber with Demetre Design. Welcome.

Katie Weber: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about your firm, how you serving folks.

Katie Weber: Yeah. So, Demetre Design, I started in 2020, and we are a design and animation studio located in Los Angeles. So, we have two primary branches of our service offerings. We are a full-service motion design studio and we’re also a traditional graphic design studio. So, that’s more B2B stuff. And yeah, everything that graphic design entails, from web design to consumer package design to digital marketing. So, that’s us.

Lee Kantor: So, what’s your backstory? Have you always been involved in design?

Katie Weber: I have, yeah. I started in the motion design world, which for people who don’t know that term, that’s basically design plus animation. So, it’s usually for commercial or web products or television as opposed to feature animation, like what you would think of Pixar doing.

Katie Weber: So, I started that back in Chicago in 2007, and I did that for about 12 years or so, and then I started branching more into traditional graphic design, so static design, not moving. And I started my company in 2020.

Lee Kantor: Now, as a young person, were you, like, the person who drew and was into it at that age as well, or did this come like as you kind of got older?

Katie Weber: No. I’ve been drawing and doing art my entire life. I come from a very creative family, so my dad is a painter. I had a great uncle who was an architect. Several of my uncles are craftsmen, you know, working with wood and sculpture. And, you know, I have a lot of chefs in my family. So growing up, we were very much encouraged to be creative. And I’ve been drawing ever since I can remember.

Katie Weber: Now, what was it like growing up in that environment? Because a lot of young people, especially when they’re really little, you know, art is, you know, a passion. That’s something part of their personality they do. But as they get older, a lot of people just kind of gradually outgrow it. And then there’s some peer pressure and parental pressure to get a real job that’s more normal. How did you kind of fight that and can you share that experience?

Katie Weber: Yeah. Well, so I was very fortunate that both of my parents really encouraged me to pursue whatever interested me, whatever I was passionate about. So, there was never any doubt, you know, when I expressed – well, I actually went to school for creative writing and film, so not exactly what I ended – well, both of them relate to what I ended up doing, but I was always just encouraged to explore my creative passions.

Katie Weber: And, you know, my dad had a traditional 9 to 5. He worked in the insurance business, but he would come home and he would paint or play the guitar. But I think that he always dreamed of – he sort of regretted not having a creative career. So, you know, he always pushed me towards that, towards doing what I loved.

Katie Weber: But I also grew up, you know, watching parents that worked really hard. And so, I have that Midwestern work ethic that’s been instilled in me my whole life. So, it was never a question of, okay, I’m just going to dawdle around with this and, you know, my parents will support me. It was always, I have to make a living at the same time. So that was what really inspired me to try to find a way to make a living with my creativity.

Lee Kantor: As you were growing up, did you find that there were some people that you thought were talented, but were dropping off and not pursuing kind of a creative career because of pressures?

Katie Weber: That’s an interesting question. I suppose so. I think most of my friends – actually, not a lot of my friends from high school and college did go into creative careers. I have a lot of people who went into the nonprofit world or teaching or health care, all different things. But everyone kind of pursued their passion. Since going into this field, of course, I’ve met tons of extremely creative people who have made that their career, so I feel like I’m – and especially living in and working in Los Angeles, I feel like I’m really surrounded by hard-working, ambitious, creative types.

Lee Kantor: So, it was you fell into kind of a community and you’ve been able to kind of collaborate and work together and learn from each other.

Katie Weber: Yes, absolutely. The motion design world is such an incredible community. The field itself was very young when I started. I didn’t even really know what it was back then because it was in its very early years. And we were all kind of learning and developing this new art form together. So, there was so much collaboration and teaching of each other. People would put free tutorials up on the internet like, hey, I don’t know how to do this and that someone would make a tutorial about it and sharing tools and resources. So yeah, it’s really been an incredible community.

Lee Kantor: Now, how did you make the transition into, you know, being super creative, obviously, and then kind of the business side of it, at some point you have to sell somebody something and persuade someone to buy something? So, how do you kind of wear both of those hats? Because sometimes the selling part is tricky for a creative.

Katie Weber: Yeah, that’s very true. I would say that I love all aspects of running my business, but the sales aspect is probably my least favorite because I never want to persuade someone to do or buy something that they don’t believe in. So, I guess I still would say I’m not the strongest salesperson, but the way that I do sell is just by sharing my own passion about the work and really feeling confident that I have a good product to offer. So I don’t feel like I’m, you know, selling snake oil. It’s like I’ve worked my entire career to hone this skill set, and I know what I can do to help a smaller business succeed. And I want to use my skills to help them, so just trying to share that passion with others.

Lee Kantor: Now, I find a lot of people in the creative fields they have difficulty in pricing or pricing because it’s so subjective. How did you – do you remember kind of maybe an early project to how do you come up with a price? How do you, you know, even kind of want to quantify your, you know, how much things cost and how much? Because if you’re getting paid for your brain, basically, and ideas and as well as the execution of them, it’s hard to really, you know, have a kind of a more direct way of quantifying, okay, that’s X number of dollars because it took X number of minutes because, you know, it’s creative. The idea can come in a minute. It could come in a week, you know.

Katie Weber: Yeah. Well, that is a tricky thing. And I’ve found that the easiest way to do it, and people have different philosophies about this, you know. Like, if you’re designing a logo for a giant corporation and, you know, it might take you a week to do the logo but it’s gonna live with them for decades and it’s gonna help them earn millions and millions of dollars, you’re going to price that differently than if you’re working with a small business and they have a fixed budget and they’re just trying to amp up their social media or give themselves a brand refresh.

Katie Weber: And we tend to work with smaller businesses. So, we are working with those startups and we’re always conscious of cost. And of course, we factor in our expertise. So, I raise my rates every so often to reflect my growing expertise. But I tend to really think about it in terms of how much time it’s going to take, including the time when I’m thinking. So, you know, I might spend a day just hunting for inspiration and in the back of my mind I’m developing ideas so I would charge that as a day, and then how many days it takes me to do the sketches and all the different and then the freelancers that I bring in or my staff designer who’s going to help and their hours.

Katie Weber: So, I really do look at my actuals from similar jobs and do it by how much time I think it’s going to take because it is just really hard. It’s kind of an abstract thing and it’s hard to quantify otherwise and also to keep the prices consistent. But certainly, if I do start working with really giant companies, I will take into consideration more than just the hours.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, absolutely. It’s a value you provide. It goes beyond. That’s why the hours is probably not the best way to calculate it. It’s what kind of value you’re delivering. And like you said it could be a multi-billion dollar organization like the Just Do It with three words. But, you know, it’s generated a lot of money for them, you know, more.

Katie Weber: Absolutely. Yeah. Luckily or, you know, depending on how you look at it, we do tend to work with the small businesses. And as a small business owner myself, I always want to be conscious of their budgets as well. But certainly, that pricing model will change as we grow.

Lee Kantor: Now, what’s been the most rewarding part of the journey thus far?

Katie Weber: The most rewarding part, I would say, is the ability to have control over my life basically because the creative fields, you know, they’re so competitive and they can be cutthroat. And there’s so – you can easily be taken advantage of as a creative person and just really work, you know, for a slave driver. This has happened to me in my career, and I’ve seen it happen to other people where it’s not uncommon for people to put in 12, 14, and 16-hour days. And that was just not something that I ever felt comfortable with. I’ve always valued a work-life balance and mental health and physical health, so I found that the best way to do that is to construct my own business.

Katie Weber: And yeah, having your own business, you can be a really tough boss on yourself and you can make yourself work around the clock. But the whole reason I’m doing it is so that I can control that and I can say, these are my office hours, and unless there’s a really urgent thing, I’m signing off at this certain hour. And also, you know, having control over the clients. And if there’s a client that you’re really just not gelling with, you can move on after that project and not work with them again. And you just – you can construct the business however you want, which gives you a lot more freedom and control over your own life.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you decided to go out on your own, was that something that you were looking forward to, or was that something you were kind of nervous about? Like how, you know, taking that leap is a leap. You know, it’s a little bit of the unknown.

Katie Weber: Absolutely. I was definitely scared, you know, as you always are going into the unknown. But in my field, it’s very common to be a freelancer. So really, I’ve been in the business for about 16 years, and I would say I was just thinking about this the other day. I think I’ve only worked full-time for another company for maybe about six of those years. So, I’m very used to being on my own. And this company was just an extension of freelancing, and it was just making it more official and bringing in other people to help me. But essentially it’s just still, you know, the freelance life. So, yeah, I guess it’s something I’ve gotten used to.

Lee Kantor: And any advice for that young creative entrepreneur out there that’s, you know, maybe a little apprehensive about taking the leap?

Katie Weber: Yeah. So, I would say, you know, whether you work for yourself or you work for someone else, you are going to encounter stress in your job. Especially if you’re an ambitious person and you keep climbing the ranks, you’re going to have some difficulties. So, you have to think about what type of stress you want to deal with. And working for someone else, as I mentioned earlier, you have the stress of not having as much control over your schedule and your life, and also you can be laid off or lose your job at any time.

Lee Kantor: Working for yourself, it’s a whole different bag of stresses and it can be, you know, you might have some sleepless nights. There’s some really difficult times. So you have to decide if that type of stress is for you, the uncertainty and really hustling constantly for new clients, new work. And you also have to decide if you’re passionate enough, not just about your craft or whatever, you know, if you’re in retail, whatever you’re selling, but all the different aspects of running a business. Because as a small business owner, you’re going to be – you have to know a little bit about, or a lot about, all these things. So, admin and legal stuff and marketing and client relations, you have to, I would say, not only be able to tolerate but actually find some enjoyment in all these different areas because otherwise, it’s going to be really tough to persevere.

Katie Weber: So if you’re interested in learning, you know, you don’t have to know all this stuff as an expert going in. But if you have a creative or curious mind and you are passionate about learning and growing in these areas, then I would say it’s the right path for you. But, you know, it’s not easy, but it is so rewarding because all of these successes, you know, they just feel so earned and they feel so much greater because you’ve done it for yourself.

Katie Weber: And, I have two more pieces of advice. I wrote a list, actually, because this is really important, I feel like. So, another thing I would say is let your business grow organically. Don’t grow too fast. I will say I’ve worked with other small businesses where I’ve seen them grow a little too fast because they got really excited. They got that one huge client that allowed them to double in size and hire a whole bunch of people, or take out a big loan or something. But that’s really risky because you never know when that one big giant kahuta of a client is gonna go away or something unforeseen is going to happen.

Katie Weber: So, my strategy has always been to grow organically and sustainably. And for me, that meant slowly, which is okay, because, you know, I’m not trying to be the biggest agency in the world. I’m trying to have a sustainable company that will last for a long time.

Katie Weber: And then, my final piece of advice is to find a good accountant and listen to them.

Lee Kantor: That’s great advice. Thank you so much for sharing that.

Katie Weber: Yeah. Thank you.

Lee Kantor: Now you mentioned community, early on how – like how did you get kind of hooked into the WBEC-West community? What kind of drew you to them? And how have you leveraged that relationship?

Katie Weber: So, I forget how exactly I found out about WBEC-West, but I think another business owner might have told me about it, but I’m a pretty new member. I just joined last December, and I’m definitely planning on continuing because it’s really been – it’s such a great community. I’ve already met so many amazing people through it. And I hope to really leverage it more. You know, I’ve done some of the training sessions and some have gone to some of the digital seminars, and there’s just such a wealth of offerings from WBEC.

Katie Weber: But I feel like by far the most important are those interpersonal relationships that you develop through it. Because being a business owner and being a female business owner is, it can be really lonely. And it can – you know, a lot of it you’re kind of it learning by trial and error and you feel like, okay, especially if you’re the sole owner of the business, you don’t have a lot of people to bounce your thoughts and ideas off of. So, just being able to come together with so many successful women from different industries and learn from them and hear, you know, what’s worked and what hasn’t worked for them, and just provide support for each other is really priceless.

Lee Kantor: So, what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Katie Weber: I mean, I always need more work. I always need more clients. You know, networking and, um, business matchmaking, I think would be really great, and job fairs and stuff and just introductions, you know, to bigger corporations because sometimes – and I’ve talked about this with other small business owners in Quebec. Sometimes, it can be really hard, you know, when you have a very small business and I have a very small business. It’s just myself and one other designer and then we bring in freelancers as needed. But, you know, we have worked with some world-class brands. However, it’s sometimes hard to convince the really large brands to trust a small, very small business. And so just having an organization like WBEC-West to sort of vouch for you and help make those introductions would be really helpful.

Lee Kantor: Now, what is that ideal client look like for you? Who is kind of that client you’d like to clone and get more of?

Katie Weber: Well, I have to give a shout-out to my longest client who’s been with us since we started. We actually both launched our businesses at the same time. And that is Monika Blunder Beauty. They are a beauty startup and they do cosmetics and skincare and they’re just fantastic. And we love working with other, you know, small female-owned businesses, especially in the beauty and wellness space and, you know, other businesses like that, or even larger cosmetics or wellness companies. That would be awesome to get more of them.

Lee Kantor: And then the work you do for them, that could be branding. It could be logo. It could be packaging. Like, you do the whole gamut of anything design-related.

Katie Weber: Yeah. We built their website. Yeah, we do all of their packaging. We have done trade show booth design. So, everything from that to the smallest, you know, social media ads that go on your phone. So yeah, all of it.

Lee Kantor: And if somebody wants to learn more and connect with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website? What’s the best coordinates?

Katie Weber: demetre.design is our website. There’s no dot com, just demetre.design. And it’s spelled a little funky, D-E-M-E-T-R-E dot design. So, that’s where you could find us.

Lee Kantor: Well, Katie, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Katie Weber: Thank you so much. It’s really been a pleasure speaking with you.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women In Motion.