Unique consulting businesses make us smile and we were grinning ear to ear when we found Braid Creative & Consulting.  Run by two awesome sisters who love to help other creative small businesses share their passion with expert branding, we knew we had to interview them and share their advice with you.  You’ll definitely enjoy this interview with Kathleen!

In case some people don’t know you already, do you mind sharing a little bit about you and your amazing business?

My sister and I own a business called Braid Creative & Consulting. We do branding and business visioning for creative entrepreneurs like photographers, life coaches, graphic designers, and makers. We help our clients narrow in on their niche, embrace their expertise, blend their personal passions with the professional, and better position themselves to attract their own dream customers. We do this by taking them through a collaborative process we call The Braid Method – it might end at just a visual consultation or with a brand platform that includes a logo, positioning statement, and brand story based on the client’s needs. But we’ve also recently launched a series of Braid ECourses and our first 1-Day Braid Workshop.

You and your sister teamed up to create Braid.  Are there big benefits to partnering with someone you know so well?
The benefits to partnering up with someone you know so well are huge. The kind of shorthand, trust, and mind reading that comes from a life time together has allowed us to grow incredibly fast. Tara is very methodical and logical, this is what we call the “slow burn”. She helps me make sense of my grand ideas and actually bring them step-by-step into fruition. Meanwhile I’m the “hot spark” – the one who is always coming to the table with a bold vision of where to take our business next (scalability! reach! impact! empire!). Our skillsets also really complement each other. Tara has more of a background in upper management, creative direction and copywriting for clients whereas my background lies more in freelancing, graphic design, art direction and blogging.
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How do people know they’re ready to work with you?

Creative entrepreneurs often feel paralyzed by opportunity (or uncertainty) and are scattered or overwhelmed with ideas that never find their way into execution. Or they might feel like they can’t find the words to say what they really mean – especially if they’re a creative who offers a more intangible service like life coaching or consulting vs. selling a product that you can click “buy” to purchase. When these creatives stumble upon our blog and read something that resonates, they know we’re for them. After a few more “ah-ha” moments they might register for a Braid ECourse or email us about a one-on-one engagement. But my hope is that we continue to be a resource and champion for creative entrepreneurs everywhere – regardless of whether or not they become a paying client.

What have YOU gained from working with so many imaginative people?
We’re so grateful for our dream customers and everything we’ve learned from them. Most importantly, we’ve learned that we don’t want to work with anyone BUT these imaginative visionaries and solopreneurs. The lawyers and car dealerships may be able to pay a larger sum but the idea of working with them makes us want to throw up in our mouths a little bit – it’s just not worth it. Something magical about working with a narrow niche is that you start to uncover patterns and trends – so I’ve gained almost a psychic ability to understand both the stress and dreams that come with working for yourself. And each creative we work with shares nuggets of work / life wisdom that we carry with us to deepen our own expertise and better serve our next creative client.

The business has come such a long way since you started it!  Have you ever feared you wouldn’t make Braid a success?  And if yes, how did you deal with those feelings and fears?

Oh, gosh. I wake up every morning with that fear. Right out of the gate we invested in a life coach to help us navigate our feelings of fear and uncertainty. He made us get very clear and specific on what success looks like – that way we’d know when we reached it. It’s so easy to move the bar a little higher and reach a little farther – which we do in healthy doses. But as much as I love Braid, I try and detach my self-worth as a human being from it. The higher purpose is about helping others live what they love – if I keep that front of mind there is no room for fear.

Ready to up your branding?  Want more advice from these amazing sisters?  Be sure to check out their site (and new e-course) at Braid Creative & Consulting.