#57 - Tap Into Your Purpose: Building Value-Driven Brands with Katie Mont

Your brand is more than just a logo or a pretty website—it’s the soul of your business. 

But how do you make sure your visual identity truly reflects your purpose?

In this episode I'm joined by Katie Mont, a brand designer who specializes in helping mission-driven business owners connect their purpose with their visual identity. 

Katie discusses her journey from aspiring artist to entrepreneur, battling fibromyalgia, and her experience in corporate social responsibility. Throughout the conversation, she emphasizes the importance of aligning brand visuals with core values, providing practical advice on how to start and refresh a brand. The episode also touches upon overcoming limiting beliefs and the significance of social and environmental responsibility in business. 

Katie shares tips on conducting a brand audit and the necessity of consistency and purpose in branding to build meaningful and lasting client relationships.

Find Katie, read up on her current projects, join her newsletter and download her super helpful Brand Checklist at KatieMont.com!

Mindset to Market is a Luminous Creative Production. If you'd like to learn more about our business coaching program and group coaching container, please visit us online at DeborahcSmith.com.

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Mindset to Market is produced by Deborah C. Smith and designed to inspire and support big-hearted creatives in finding their own unique path, building a sustainable business, and creating financial, spiritual, mental wellness and abundance.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. I have a special guest today with me and I'm so excited to introduce you to her. Her name is Katie Mont and she's a brand identity and web designer. Hell yeah. Let's talk about brand and brand identity and how to implement those things in your online presence.

So Katie specializes in working with mission driven, passionate business owners to bridge the gap between Your why like why you're doing this why the heck you started your business in the first place and your visual identity How you can implement that through colors and pictures and images and all the things about brand identity So really the visual brand representation of that passion that you have, right?

 And she helps people to strategize what really matters most which is Connecting with the people who you're going to work with and serve. So I am so excited for this conversation because that's such an interesting aspect of marketing for me and it's not my area of expertise. [00:01:00] So I'm excited to have an expert to talk to about that.

Um, Katie has a BFA in graphic design, so she's done the work. She went to Texas women's university. She's been building her design studio for nine years. And she's taught college courses on design. She's given talks on the importance of values and corporate social responsibility, which yes, please. I love that.

Um, she's hosted charity events. She's worked also as the vice president of marketing for a renewable energy startup. That she's been working on for the past seven years, which I'm also really excited to hear more about So without further ado welcome katie to the podcast. Hey, thank you so much for having me.

You're welcome so Let's dive into a little bit of your background just to kind of get started. I'm sure that the audience listeners would love to know a little bit more about your journey to becoming an entrepreneur. So if you can tell me just a little bit about your [00:02:00] journey to striking out as an entrepreneur and working as a brand design agency.

Yeah. , so I always dreamed of being an artist, right? Like, I was just, I was a creative soul. I was a creative kid. And I always saw art as just this amazing thing and thought like, what if you could do that for your future. Yeah. Like how amazing would that be? But I also went to a very, um, like grew up in a small town and it's very much like, you're going to do this.

You're going to get good grades, go to college. You're going to get a good job. And I just kind of believed in that limiting belief of art. Isn't the path to get a good. Career, because it's not reliable if you just become an artist. So that's kind of what led me. And I know that was a limiting belief, right?

Like there are plenty of artists that are totally crushing it and killing it in their careers. But that's what led me to go into graphic design and sit. I just kind of [00:03:00] saw it as a more like, this is a more professional path to get to that kind of lifestyle. Um, in the end, I was very glad that I made that decision because going to Texas women's university, 

that college was awesome. My professors were awesome and they were really able to like, even let me adapt the classes that were required because they knew that I personally wanted to take more art classes in my mix. So I really got like a solid foundation of design in all of the design classes.

And then I got to take all of the fine art classes and dive into that side of my creativity as well. And I've just kind of gotten to bridge that and like create this career that lets me do. Both all of those things, like these are all of my favorite things. And now I get to do them. My first in house creative job, , was when I was a junior in college, I actually, I had developed fibromyalgia.

And my illness was just kind of getting to the point where like. Carrying trays and carrying all [00:04:00] the things. It was like getting to be debilitating. And I was thinking, what am I going to do? Like, I don't want to go into a retail job, met this guy that was just eating at the restaurant and was talking to him about doing web design and doing design.

And he ended up offering my first in house job. And I thought, what a saving grace. And then that kind of ended up being a blessing and a curse. Um, but it taught me a lot about who I wanted to be professionally. , getting into, what led me to be interested in mission driven design.

And getting into where I am now and like the purpose that I have behind it. Is that, that job. It's while you're still studying to get your degree. So you think I'm just, I'm just lucky to be here. I'm lucky to have this opportunity, but I worked for a man that, uh, was running these businesses. He was wealthy.

He could afford anything he wanted. And he was the most miserable person that I'd ever met and been around. And it was just [00:05:00] the. The business model, the way that they operated, I was with them for two years and like their sales consultants, um, selling deals and, and making deals and doing all these things.

And I kind of positioned myself in my mind as, well, it's okay. Cause I I'm aside from that. I'm the, I'm the creative. So it's not me that's making the bad deals. It was just a company that was devoid of morals and values. And the way that they were operating was, was very, yeah. Very predatory and, and a bit negative and um, it taught me a lot about, hey, no amount of money is going to make you happy if you're not proud of how you made it.

Yeah, yeah, oh my god, I hear that. So you had basically kind of stumbled into an opportunity to do a one off and then that became you realizing I could do this? Is that kind of? Yeah, I. Basically, I tripped and fell [00:06:00] into freelance design, um, because when I had enough kind of when all of that working, working for that lifestyle and figured out, no, I, I can't work for somebody that's like values don't align with my own.

So, so I have to leave. And then I was looking for a job is going to join a design agency, filling out resumes and somebody hit me up like, Hey, can you design a website for us? And then while I was designing that website, somebody else reached out to me and said, Hey, can you design? And then I just kind of realized, Oh, I don't need, I don't need to go find something.

People are finding me. And I think that's the thing is they, they tell you don't go freelance straight out of college. That's what they tell you all, all throughout school. They told us that, and I did exactly that. And then I understand why later it's because, um, My degree taught me a lot about design.

It didn't teach me enough about business. Yeah. Oh my God. That's like, I mean, unless you study business in college and undergrad or get a master's in business. I think a [00:07:00] lot of us strike out. With this passion right this mission to do something that will help transform lives I know for me when I got started it was like okay I'm gonna be a holistic health coach, and I'm gonna teach people how to eat You know switch off of the standard American diet stop putting toxins into their body I'm gonna coach them how to eat plants and how to teach them how to cook and I did that for many years, but the business part of it was like trial by fire.

You know, I had to learn by doing so many things. The lessons were harsh and then they came fast. But, uh, here we are. But it's something that you said I wanted to just touch upon is I like that you introduced the idea of, , like an artist can't be a financially viable job for somebody as a limiting belief.

I feel like so many passionate You know, creatives that are, the world is full of, we're just funneled into these very, uh, small, , buckets of thinking when we're young people, , we're sort of lined up and marched towards these [00:08:00] end goals for jobs that, you know, feel safe and secure and that's sort of like the lie of capitalism, right?

It's like, We live in this world where we're trained from a young age to believe that like being creative Which is I think everyone's birthright and really truly natural Expression of self is unsafe, right? like being different is unsafe being creative is unsafe and I Very much related to when you said that because and I think it's also the voices of our parents the voices of our teachers society at largest is saying You know, you might want to be a tattoo artist, but you're never going to make any money.

You might want to be a painter, you might want to be a songwriter, but you'll never buy a house, and it's I, more than ever before, that's not true anymore, right? We have this thing called the internet where we can like do anything. So, um, but I like that you kind of called it out as yeah, that is a limiting belief.

And I feel like so much of entrepreneurial growth is identifying those things and rewriting that story. So, um, [00:09:00] I wanted to just give you a little space to talk about when we were getting prepared for this interview. You mentioned to me that you are working on building your business while managing a quote invisible illness.

And there's a millions of us out there coaching and teaching and training and consulting and doing all the things.

 And I think many, many people have. A vulnerability and or sort of an Achilles heel that is an invisible illness, whether that be a mental health issue, whether that be, , something that like along the lines of what you're dealing with, which is a true diagnosed, but not visible, like, it's not like your leg was cut off.

 So it's not something that people, what I see when they look at you and they see this bright, beautiful woman, they're not going to be like, oh, she must be suffering. Um, I would love to just, if you don't mind sharing a little bit about what that is and that journey for you, I'd love to hear a little bit.

Yeah, no, I don't mind at all. Um, and I think a lot of it is If you're, if you're an [00:10:00] entrepreneur, right, you're, you're out there and you're trying to be seen as this, like, I'm strong, I'm independent, I'm reliable, you can count on me. So, do you, does it feel safe to be loud about the fact that you have an invisible illness?

Because what I struggled with, , earlier in my career, it's like, I wouldn't. Wouldn't say anything about it. Like I would skirt around it. I would find ways to manage it without talking about it or for God's sake, mentioning it to a client because you don't want them to think, Oh, well, why would hire somebody if they're, if they're sick and, and then.

Yeah. If they have a weakness, like I, I need them to be dependable. I need them to be strong. But in reality, I think that being open about vulnerabilities makes you more human, makes you more authentic, makes people want to connect with you. And that's just kind of another limiting belief that you have to get over.

Have you been talking about, uh, this more in your marketing messaging? Have you been more like transparent on [00:11:00] social media or how have you been sharing it? I've mentioned, um, so, well, I've mentioned it in different interviews, , and I have mentioned it in, in posts on social media, just kind of whenever I'm getting over the, uh, the hump of, hey, my social media accounts, like they need to show more of my, my personal self to go along with.

Just my, here's how I can design. And here's how I can help you. Like, here's some of me so that you can connect with me. So kind of sitting around and being grateful for like, yeah, I did. I suffered, from like a debilitating illness. Like I still suffer from fibromyalgia, but I'm one of the people that through diet and lifestyle changes, I was able to overcome to a point where I'm.

Practically in remission now, like I wake up feeling normal again, and that's something that doctors told me that I would never do. And that's crazy. So, um, I think twisting that and sharing it more as an [00:12:00] inspirational message to show someone else, Hey, whatever it is that someone said to you in the Past that you're holding on to in your mind that's keeping you from thinking that you can overcome whatever it is That's happening to you.

Like you can figure out a way to fix it yourself You can overcome it and it will make you stronger. It'll make you more appreciative Hmm. Yeah, I love that so much. I feel like It's a service to other people who feel terrified to talk about the things in their life that are not, like, perfectly shiny and, and, you know, exuding strength and confidence 

 I feel like as we step deeper into kind of this like authentic online marketing that's happening, which I love I love this like rip the veil back stop pretending that you're some perfect person and be you and Because you still have the skills and the tools to help somebody else make progress, right?

Like, you know, your clients are going to work with you because you can help them get a result. That's it. Yeah. And these, , the obstacles, , that you overcome make you stronger, [00:13:00] make you more capable. I like to look at, um, so like, you look at skill set as, for branding.

, you learn how to do a, B and C and then you carry those skills with you. But I like to look at skills like along the gamut of life as just, there are these cross supporting things. So , for example, whenever I wanted to get better at public speaking, cause I wanted to start doing talks, I was like, I want a way to make this fun.

So I started doing standup comedy. Like I'm always trying to find these ways to, Hey, how can I like, you can have it. All you can be the hustler. You can be the caretaker. You can be the going out and having social time and you can find ways for those other things to strengthen your different practices and especially your professional practices.

So I would say that the level of empathy and care that you're developing on having to take such an important role like that on is just going to make that like. come into [00:14:00] the other areas of your profession and the offerings that you have to your clients and make them more powerful. Yeah. I love that.

So, I have been developing this amazing audience, largely of solopreneurs, largely I think female, although I have some great feedback from some men out there, so shout out to my guys, , who are basically new ish or still working on building out their online presence. So I'm actually really excited to talk a little bit with you about your specialty, which is bridging that gap between a client's passion and kind of what they believe they're called to do, you know, their mission and, and then their brand visual identity.

 I guess let's start sort of at the very beginning of this, if it's okay. I just was wondering, When you sit down with a client, let's say a brand new client. Let's say it's a client who doesn't yet have an established brand.

Like somebody who's had an idea for a business. Their goal is to attract clients that they can help. , and they're working on building out their visual brand identities.

And , it's a lot of really overwhelming decisions for them. [00:15:00] Like, they're very caught up on things like colors and images and fonts. So I'm curious, where would you start with this person? Like when you sit down with them, is there a specific set of questions that you take them through or how would they, you tell them to prepare for a meeting with you?

Yeah, um, so I start off whenever I have a potential client, it always starts off with a discovery meeting. That's just like a let's meet face to face, usually virtually, but let's meet face to face. And I just like to keep it like. Like right now, how we're doing. Keep it casual. Um, just ask them about their business and get to know, like, why do you feel passionate about this?

Like what, what are your goals? Where do you see yourself growing and getting into, uh, what are the. People that you like to work with and why, and then, and then also start diving into, okay, project scope, what do you need? But whenever we decide to work together and we see it as a good [00:16:00] fit, I like to just also, I take that discovery meeting to make sure that we mesh because I feel like the best client work is going to come whenever.

We vibe with each other and, you know, we're riding the same wave. We're passionate about helping each other out and, uh, we're going to be a good fit. And then that's just going to make the whole experience better for both of us. Um, when we get started, I do have a questionnaire and it's kind of touching on like the who, what, when, where, and why, but with a lot of purpose packed in.

So like, first we're going to talk about what do you do? Why do you do it? Why do you think it's important? And, and dive into that, who are you trying to reach? And then like, I want you to think long term what's like the biggest goal, because that goes into building out that brand foundation. That's like your mission, your vision, your purpose, your values, all of that starts up front because any design decision that you make [00:17:00] is going to come from being tied directly back to that.

Cause that's kind of like the guiding principles that we're building the house on top of. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. That actually makes me feel better because all of module one of my coaching program is, is answering those questions. Like really, really. Don't lie to yourself. Don't say what your mama said.

Don't do what your teacher said. Like, what, what lights you up? What is the thing that's going to get you to leap out of bed? Because as we know, entrepreneurship is a pain in the ass. There's like a never ending list of things to do. And so you have to want it because you're going to be getting up every day and you have to do mundane automated tasks inside your business to keep it growing and moving forward.

You have to check the links. You have to update the copy. You have to do sales calls. You have to post on social. You don't have to, but you should. And there's a lot of stuff that people feel like sort of like even just some sense of resistance to what overcomes that resistance is the question, who is who needs me to show up today.

And that mission [00:18:00] and that that's a big part of what fuels my business is like I know there's somebody out there who is going to benefit from me showing up and doing my job. Yeah, , we like so vision statement that's why I feel like it's it's so important to have a vision and to be thinking. Just to the farthest, like, grandest idea of a goal that you have, we call it the, the BHAG, it's Big Hairy Audacious Goal, but it's like, when you have a goal like that in mind, and you're, you're visualizing it, like, in, in my brand, in my business, And just in my life in general, I have a picture of where I want to be in 20 years.

I have a picture of where I want to be in 10 years. And I wake up every day and there's not like a day that goes by that I don't think of it and think of like how that life will feel whenever I get there. And that makes all of the milestones and all of the tiny things that you do so much easier because.

You're always tied to that bigger, like, North Star that you're headed towards. Can you say it [00:19:00] again? Beehag? What is that? Beehag. Big, hairy, audacious gull. Slow clap. I love that. That's so good. That's so good. So, okay, so they come in, they give you, like, you know, you rap about passion and vision and those goals, and you call that from them.

And then, how do you transition into sort of the more, like, concrete, like, aesthetic questions? Is it Is it, do you give a lot of space to your client to say like, I like pink, I like, you know, sans serif fonts, or are you more in the driver's seat of like, here are some things that typically relay those types of visions and passions?

How, how does that vibe? Yeah, so there's kind of a mix. There are clients that I work with that come in and they're like, Hey, like, This color palette, this design style, I I'm set in stone. This is the direction that I want to go. And, you know, sometimes those. Um, [00:20:00] sometimes those goals that they have are, like, rooted in foundation, rooted in strategy.

Sometimes they're just, like, a little bit biased, like, uh, it's my favorite color or it's this. And, um, there are times when that's gonna make sense to bring that in. There's times where it doesn't make the most sense. But when I'm working with you, you know, I have two goals. It's Designing and, you know, building something that's rooted in brand foundation, bridging the gap between your brand story, your brand foundation and your target audience in like meeting them there in a strategic way.

But also I'm here to make my client happy. So if there's something that they've already kind of, they're headed in this direction, they know that they want it. Then at that point I helped them find a way to build that out. It with strategic choices that are purposeful and kind of flip that. [00:21:00] No, that's really good because I feel like you're right.

Like as a person who does a lot of work with branding and design and color and image and all that stuff, I'm sure you have great insight as to how to guide the. The potential end result. And so it's like a dance. That's another reason why it's important that you vibe with your client, right? So you guys can do that dance together and they're open to receiving your, your expertise.

I provide my, you know, my expert insights of Hey, here's, , here's why this makes the most sense. Here's why we would bring in like this color palette or go in this design direction as an option. And then every time I have like a design decision, if I'm sending a logo concept to someone, I'm breaking out, Hey, the symbol, like this is where that comes from.

And this is how it ties back this typeface. This is why we chose it. Uh, and I've laid all of those out. In very particular ways so that I can kind of and I usually it usually guides like that because you're you're painting a [00:22:00] picture of building that you're working with them to build their brand story out and then you're showing them like the purposeful decisions and it's turning their brand identity and the visual design choices is.

into like a narrative of that story and it ends up connecting with them and then whenever they know it, it's kind of like this, like you're in on it and, and you feel it and you feel the purpose and the passion behind it and how it's helping you achieve your goals. So it kind of gets them excited and like wanting to go in a specific direction, but really there's.

So many different ways that you can kind of I mean designs all about following the rules But great design is about knowing when to break the rules So there are there are reasons and in ways that you just decide hey, let's do it. Do you like it? Let's go there I love that so much great design is about knowing when to break the rules Beautiful.

So what about you know, I was thinking about this [00:23:00] pre interview. Do you find that your clients get stuck or hung up on these visual decisions and that it's holding them back at all? And if so, in what ways? And I, I mentioned that because again, not as a brand and graphic designer, but 

 The typical entrepreneur right now is like becoming a Canva expert and is learning to do all this stuff on their own because it's DIY central. But lacks that sort of higher level of aesthetic, tying the story together, tying the passion together, like the things that you just described. Um, I have found having conversations with some of my clients who are building out aspects of their brand visual identity, that they're getting really caught up on things that are, to me, less important than making those connections.

, I'm curious if you find people get caught on stuck in that visual side of the decision making.

And then how you, how you, uh, inch them back towards understanding how it's going to connect them. Uh, [00:24:00] designing, designing and building something that's your baby, like your, your brand is always going to be harder. So, and, and designers say it all the time. It's like, I can step into a project for my client and I know exactly the way to go.

And then whenever it comes time for my brand needing something, it's 10 times harder. It's because you have that emotional connection and that, that personal bias to feel like this has to be perfect. It has to go the way that I want it to go, that, that it was meant to go because it's this idea that you created and you fostered and, and you're watching it grow up.

So I always. tell people, , at a certain point, if you're a perfectionist, you have to ship at 90%. So it's all about like being able to, to look at things because it's like, if you sit on a You had a logo designed for you, and you kind of [00:25:00] leave it in that pause moment, and you're like, I'm gonna take a few weeks, I'm gonna go back to it.

You'll see something that you want to change. I'm going to take a few weeks. I'm going to go back to it you'll see something that you want and it's always that like nitpicky kind of Vibe of is there something better out there and that's I think that's just the perfectionist and people feeling like I've got to get it in my mind to 100 percent and it's like it will get there in your mind as soon as You put it in action and you see it actually start to help you accomplish your goals So that's kind of when, when somebody gets caught up on something like a small detail, you kind of just have to give them that nudge that is, uh, a timeline or a milestone or like, Hey, we've got to get this decision made so that we can move forward to helping you get this thing launched because you could just sit on an idea forever.

Yeah. Yeah. Especially. Yeah. Perfectionism ship it at 90%. I love that so much. So let's talk about, I want to tap in a little bit [00:26:00] to your, uh, your passion about corporate and personal and social responsibility and building brands and relationships that better the planet, better society. Um, this is, this is a huge, huge, I would say more than half of my reason for even getting into business.

, when I started my first business, 

 We started, , as a touch point for people, we opened a juice bar and it was a mobile food truck. And we were the first business in New York city to actually like individual business to buy biodiesel fuel from this company that was making it.

Everything that we did was sustainable, renewable, and we plastered that all over our, that was our marketing. Like we were the juice truck, everything was fresh, organic, renewable, whatever, and also we were We built in that give back, uh, model from the get go to do sort of like that conscious capitalism, right?

So we're making [00:27:00] money, we make a profit, but we're giving a percentage every single day, every month, every year to businesses that are environmentally, , doing the right thing. And we're only using products that Have that ethos and we're only and we're trying to teach it as well as live it and It was a big part of the first decade of my life as a an entrepreneur And so i'm i'm curious from your point of view.

How do you try to build that into? Um, and then I'm going to show you a little bit of the process of creating a brand design or how does that look in terms of working with a client? That sounds awesome. Yeah. That sounds really cool. It was great until it nearly broke my back and then I sold it. Oh no.

The phases that we go through. Yeah. That's so fun. Um. Yeah. So I, I just, uh, believe that as entrepreneurs, there's a responsibility for us to create something that adds value to the world and to consider our impact and our [00:28:00] influence on our surroundings. And it's just in branding, I kind of, I bring it in a few ways.

Like I'm not going to turn a client away because I'm like, Oh, you're, you're not using sustainable practices or you're not doing this right. I really look for clients that are passionate about what they do because they're. Their adding value in some sort of way, either like to the music community or through the merchant, like the messaging that they use is like positivity, different things like that.

So I feel like I bring like corporate social responsibility and just these different practices and from the language that I use, whenever I talk about branding with my clients, like I'm always touching on the importance of brand foundation. And also the finding a way to tie that back in their minds to being as important as profit and to leading to [00:29:00] more profit.

So it's like people kind of see this it's because. Operating with values, like operating sustainably, operating, um, by enacting these different practices that, like, add value to the community and to your employees and to your customers, it's, it's more of a patience game because you're not, you would, you would be able to grow faster if you cut corners, and that's kind of where a lot of our problems in today's society exist is, is that capitalism problem of um, I can grow faster.

I can get more money quicker if I cut corners here, here and here. And then you just end up value extracting from these different areas of your business. And over time you value extract away until, until you're actually causing more problems than you're solving. So through Connecting that in their minds of, Hey, the path to building meaningful relationships is through branding.

That is authentic. That ties back to your why, and you [00:30:00] need to think about your mission and you need to think about purpose. You need to think about values and you need to let those guide your business decisions. I feel like it's just kind of. And can go into that kind of like pay it forward of if I can change one person's mind about that, and then they can talk to somebody and change their mind about that or that that can influence their business practices and the decisions that they make, how far can like that positivity spread and then just.

With like the work that I do for the sun company, um, which is renewable energy and clean tech company. We're always enacting different business practices that are like sustainable resources or eco friendly I'm ordering eco friendly merch. I'm switching us over to digital business cards and like learning that I need to look up if I'm considering partners for us, I start with like certified B Corp companies because they're, they're constantly being graded on the impact that they have on society.

Then I bring those things and it's [00:31:00] kind of that cross supporting values. I start to bring those things and kind of offer them to my clients. So I've started offering like, Hey, um, do you need to have physical business cards or would it benefit you to have, to switch over to a digital business card or kind of do like a balance of both?

Or if we're going to set up a, a merch store for you. Let me offer you these sustainable solutions and and sustainable print on demand so that you don't have extra materials that aren't being used and wasted things like that. It's interesting because, you know, thinking back to making all those decisions at the start of that other business that physical in person product based business.

We, we were unflinching in our decision to do, you know, biodiesel and recyclable and or, you know, You know, the bio plastic cups, which were really expensive at the time because they were new and just all of these things that were like, [00:32:00] we added a huge cost to our product, right? And the bottom line in, in, in a food based business, there's a large amount of turnover at not a very high profit.

So, you know, you've got perishable goods if you don't sell them that day, especially with like a fresh fruit and vegetable juice bar, it was just like, but, uh, we just, we just folded it into the cost because we didn't feel like we could. It would not work for us to be serving these organic fresh juices in a plastic cup.

Like it just could not do those things. Yeah. And so we rewarded people for bringing their own cup. We gave them a huge discount. We, and we, we infused it into all of our marketing, , and chose brand colors and everything that would kind of reflect the green. Choices that we were making and so I, I, but it wasn't less intense.

I mean, I guess technically we thought about it, but we didn't have a brand advisor. We were just like, okay, it's gotta be like this and we have to educate people why. So I feel like that really, it's really important, like you said, to kind of get clear about your values and then [00:33:00] infuse those values into your brand visual presentation.

Yeah, and the good thing about everything is that I bet if you did that same business model, things would be, there's a lot more affordable, eco friendly offerings that are coming out, too, so you'll see like a lot of, um, like a lot of the bars in our town have switched to those, like, Corn straws and things like that.

And it's kind of becoming more mainstream to care and have more empathy for the impact that you have. And I think that's great. And partially thanks to just people being more loud about it on social media and younger generations demanding change, which is nice to see. Yeah. I mean, it's a critical we're, we're past the critical boiling point, I think, in terms of the environment.

And I believe like. Yeah. There's a lot of really interesting socially conscious, uh, capitalists who are in business for profit, working within the system that exists here in the United States and also abroad saying, [00:34:00] I want to make money. I want my business idea, this genius idea, this creative, unique thing I came up with to be profitable, but I also want my efforts to contribute to the greater good, you know?

And I think that honestly, I believe that's the only path. So like, I. Raising the standards of what's acceptable and, and holding people accountable for their impact. So I love that. Mm-hmm . I'm glad that you, I mean, I think it's amazing. Even if you were to meet with a client, you know, to do some type of a, just a brief interview, even just by asking them what their values and their purpose and their mission is, you're bringing them to that part of themselves that needs to ask those questions.

What are my values? Yeah. And, and just showing that. If you want to make like the difference between a customer and a meaningful relationship that turns into a lifetime customer and like , a cheerleader for your brand, they're like, it turns into [00:35:00] like a walking billboard and just the best marketing that you can have.

Yeah, absolutely. And you just, you listed a few things that were, um, means of being more conservative about.

Wasteful products and things like that. So one was a digital business card, but you named something else that was interesting and I'm trying to, so certified B Corp. , when I'm considering a marketing partner and. Us like with the sun company we're working on moving into that certification and it's really seeing the back end of it.

It's these companies are every year they're being graded on everything from governance to the way they treat their employees to like customer business practices, sustainable business practices. There's so many things that they're getting considered on and like opening up to be transparent about.

So you know that if you find someone off. There, there's someone that's actually like taking the extra step to care. Um, there's digital business cards. I think [00:36:00] that in certain instances, if you can find the right partner print on demand, uh, if that makes sense for your like merch store, because it's this, I've done the clothing brand thing before and I still have like a stack of old Two XLs and like some extra larges that I just never sold of specific designs that are just like in the back of my closet right now.

But if you set up a print on demand merch store, then you're only, you don't have to hold any of that. And none of that's going to waste because you're not just kind of sitting on extra sizes that you're, that you're not getting rid of. And it, and actually it allows you to offer more things in your store and it allows you to cherry pick eco friendly and more sustainable offerings for your store.

Amazing. Yeah. You're just making me laugh right now. I'm thinking about the four boxes of CDs that I had printed in Canada in like 2012, sitting on a shelf, someplace wasting the same with business cards. Like I love going to [00:37:00] a creative conference, going to a trade show. But then you, you come back and you just have that bag and half of the bag is business cards.

Maybe there's like three that you're interested in, or maybe you do the thing where you do go through and digitize them, but it's like, Hey, now you can just go ahead and skip that part, cut it out of the middle and send someone a digital business card. Cause they're going to be finding you on their phone and online anyway.

So I'm wondering, I went through your, you have a great freebie, which is a brand checklist. And if anyone out there is listening and has not, Kind of done just a high level overview check in on your brand elements and from a visual standpoint Um, this is a super handy. It's a simple one page checklist And it's just 16 questions and I went through it before we met today and I was laughing out loud because I was like, I told Katie before we started the interview, I [00:38:00] basically failed the checklist.

Like I was like, Oh, I'm going to have this nailed. I've been at this for so long, but if you see, you can just see, no, no, no fail. No, no, no. And so I wanted to just like check in with you because I think this is, this could be relevant for anyone who's been in business for a little while who might be listening and is either refreshing their brand or has evolved like I have from in person, you know, product based service based business to coach to only online coaching with nutrition and health to only online coaching with, , small business owner clients in the wellness sector to now basically I'm like a marketing and mindset coach for solopreneurs.

And so I've had multiple evolutions and along that process, I've had every variety of colors and fonts and all that stuff. And so it's all kind of like a big soup and kind of messy now. What, if anything, would you advise somebody who's in a rebrand or a refresh of their brand in terms of how to approach it?

Is it different than somebody just starting out? Or is there, [00:39:00] or would you say it's the exact same? Like start with your values. Get clear on your purpose and take it from there. Is there a nuance for somebody who's been in business for a really long time and has a lot of straggling content on the internet?

 The biggest thing I'd say to somebody that's considering a rebrand is to get very specific on why they need the rebrand. So as I conduct a brand audit, you know, you can download the checklist, go through it, or just kind of see online. Um, like. What are different things that I should do in a brand audit?

You get all of your, you know, your marketing collateral, your materials, pull up your social accounts, start looking through everything and just checking for consistency, check your brand guidelines. If that's something that you're missing, then that's probably a big piece of it is I feel like it's, Vitally important for a business to have brand guidelines.

It makes it easier for you to work with partners, for you to bring people onto your [00:40:00] brand, because you're basically handing them like a big vocabulary for how to get to know you. Yeah, but also it's very important because it's supposed to set those standards and those guides. If you're seeing that a lot of your, um.

That things aren't working out for your brand from a visual perspective. It probably has to do with some sort of inconsistency and not being able to build that brand recognition enough with your audience, or maybe it's just that you have. Switch paths, like you said, like you, you start off with a, with a mission and a purpose and like plenty of businesses change and adapt those over time because when you're you're one in your business, you are in a different phase of your life, you might have different driving forces behind you.

And then as you start to offer your services or your products. You see that, Hey, um, people are actually really interested in this, or you spot a gap that you want to fill. And then you look up three years [00:41:00] later or a year later, and you say. This isn't where we thought we were going, but this is the path that we needed to go on.

And sometimes your branding just needs to adapt and kind of meet with that path again. And at that point, I would go back to the foundation, look at your materials and, and check to make sure that things are up to date and actually, uh, reflecting your current offerings and your current direction, and then dive into what that new direction is.

And then you can start to build some strategic design choices around like adapting and changing and what your rebrand needs to be. Is it an entire rebrand? Is it an entire different look? Or do you just need to make a few very specific strategic changes and then you'll be good to go? Mm hmm. That's good.

That's really helpful. If people want to work with you, what is the best way for them to find you? Ooh, You can find me at katiemont. com. [00:42:00] That's just K A T I E M O N T. And you can find me the same way on TikTok. Actually, I have two accounts on there. Um, my design account and then I have an artist account.

But both of those, you can just look up katiemont. Okay. What about, so what are you doing for your artist account? Is it visual art? Yeah, I do, um Mixed media. It's a lot of acrylic and resin and like very like trippy trippy psychedelic vibes. I kind of, because you know, I, I talked about that artist vibe at the beginning of this.

So for me to fit art into my schedule, what I do is I usually like every year or two years I'll, I'll plan an art show and then I'll just spend months like pumping out works. 

I kind of treat it as more of like artist free flowing. Yeah. Oh, I love that. Just have fun with it. I love that. We'll link to that in the show notes. I love that you have a space that you're cultivating for you to be freely be [00:43:00] creative. I feel like that's like, So important, uh, for everyone really, whether you identify as an artist or a maker or not, like this space to be creative is what like frees us to evolve, you know?

I mean, we are creative by nature. It's so important. Well, with design, everything is so strategic and purposeful. So when I go to paint or to make art, I just want it to be about no rules, whatever I'm feeling, what it like, no, nothing has to be a smart decision. It can just be whatever. So I love having that space to be able to do that.

Yeah, I love that. Do you have any upcoming events or opportunities for people to connect with you online or is basically go to your website and set up appointments? Um, I have an email newsletter that I send out every Tuesday, um, that I've, Just started building, um, this year and I'm [00:44:00] loving it.

And then I like kind of recap and do different spins on that value on my blog. If you just want to kind of dive into some resources, but you can connect with me on like any of my social accounts. If you have any questions just about branding or brand identity in general, I'm an open book. So that's good.

Actually. Yeah, that's great mention. Guys, check out Katie's blog for really useful resources on brand questions. Like this is, if you're not a graphic designer this stuff is really helpful.

It helps you start thinking about. The importance of color, the purpose of color, the expression that you can really get into with visual stuff. So, super helpful. Um, I have to ask you my all time favorite question, which is, what is something right now in your life, Katie, that is just lighting you up? Like, what are you most excited about and looking forward to right now?

Uh, two things. Sophie Tucker, the bread album, uh, [00:45:00] for music. We saw, we got to go see them in a concert in Dallas and it was seriously one of the most amazing and like high energy shows ever. And I, I'm just playing that album on repeat. It feels my fire. And then another one that. It's just cutesy, um, game night.

We started doing Monday night. We have game night and we have friends come over and we just, we play board games for like four or five hours and it's just, it's like adding so much value to my life that I didn't know I needed. I love that. That's so fun. It's such a good, like, wholesome way to have social connection and, be with people and create. I feel like coming out of the pandemic, like, that's what we lost, right? We lost community. Yeah. Yeah, I got, I got weird after that because I'm very extroverted. And then I had, I think a lot of people did that moment where you're like, I don't know what I am anymore.

And yeah, getting back into this is having that. On Monday, I stopped working [00:46:00] and I have game night. And it's just so nice to have that break to be like, turn it off. That's so important. , no amount of money can give you connection with other people, community, a connection to your higher power, creativity, like the arts, music, that's got to be in your life.

You got to have healthy food going in your body. You've got to get a good night's sleep. You got to move, like all of those things on the holistic wheel of who we are like really matter and we spend so much of our cerebral reality Thinking about these bottom line things like making the mark, making the deadline, meeting the financial goal.

And I feel like too often our businesses are like just driven by financial gain and missing this thing where it's like. You know, your business should serve the lifestyle of your dreams. It should set you up all the free time that you need to have game night. I love that so much. That's such a big, um, thing that I vibe with is just crafting a career [00:47:00] around your lifestyle and not the other way around.

Is it needs to be the things that you're doing for profit because you spend so much time on them So these things need to be things that are adding value that are adapting to your not everybody is meant to wake up at 6 a. m Not everybody is meant to say like you got to figure out your flow And then it also goes back to like the thing they tell you on the airplane like you got to put your you got to Take care of yourself First, put your mask on before you turn around to help somebody else and that'll help your business in general.

As you have to like not view rest as not doing anything because it is resting. So like the days that you take to just like rub out on the couch, those are positive things for your life because that is rest and that is doing something that's going to add value to you later. And that's a big thing that I struggle with yeah, no, I've, I've, this past year I've gotten really good at it, 

so I [00:48:00] love talking with you about this stuff and , do you have any last thing that you want to share with a new ish entrepreneur who's building their brand visual identity? Um, yes.

I would say Tap into your why, just like keep it at the forefront whenever you're going into a brand, whenever you're making decisions, come back to that foundation, because if you are making decisions based off of that, wherever you end up in five years, 10 years, you're, you're going to be proud of yourself.

And you're going to feel that sense of fulfillment that came with chasing that. Purpose and that passion also just find designers online that you vibe with, follow them, join a newsletter, start, start learning about branding on your own as well and kind of start adding that to your toolkit because it's valuable in so many different ways.

It's valuable in like your personal life, your networking, your connections, your business, and just knowledge is power. Yes. Awesome. [00:49:00] Amazing. Katie, thanks so much for being with me today. Thank you.

 Wow, that was so wonderful to get to talk with Katie.

I'm so glad that we had that conversation. I love talking with people who are brand experts. It's really amazing to get insight from somebody who works in the visual arts and works as a graphic designer. Definitely go to Katie's website and download her brand identity checklist. That is really eye opening.

Like I was saying on the interview, I definitely did not have as many of these boxes checked as I would like. And it's a great little organizational tool to help me go look at those things and take them one piece at a time and decide where I want to put my focus to kind of clean up my brand. So. Thank you Katie for that.

And all right, you guys, as always, I hope this was inspiring. I hope you learned something. I hope you're thinking about how your brand can reflect your [00:50:00] values and your purpose. And if you have not done sort of a values check, I think that's a really powerful place to start with any aspect of your business.

If you're starting a new business and you're thinking about things like the name and the brand colors and the fonts and the, and the logo, the idea that you tie that back to your purpose. To your values and how you want to show up in the world. You really can't go wrong with that approach. So get out a piece of paper and just start making notes.

What are your values? What is the reason you're doing this? And that's going to help guide your decision making. So I hope that's helpful to you. And I look forward to getting back together with you again next week. And until we meet again, as always, may you be vibrant.