Today’s success interview is branding expert Kimberley Pickett. Kimberley is the Creative Director and Principal of KIMBO Design, one of North America’s leading branding and graphic design companies. Welcome Kimberley.

Thanks Johnell, thank you for having me here today.

I am excited to learn about you and your business and talk about what you do. I like to start the conversation with my guests asking you to explain to our listeners how you started your business and how it has evolved over time.

Sure; so I started KIMBO Design 15 years ago and I’m originally from Oshawa, Ontario. I moved across Canada to Vancouver, British Columbia and set-up shop. I started freelancing here and slowly built up the agency now known as KIMBO Design. It evolved over time as it was originally more focused on the design projects and now we’ve grown into a full-service advertising agency. In terms of my name, KIMBO has always stuck with me since I was small since my dad used to call me that. It was my nickname. And I kept that nickname because I thought it worked really well and people just loved to say it.

Interesting. So in the beginning, you were doing one-on-one consulting in this company.

Yes; so I was doing everything at the time. I was even programming.. So I woke up early and ready to work like every entrepreneur does when they first start a business.

So how did you start to make the transition? Because a lot of people are thinking I’m doing it all and then they want to be where you are. So how did you make the transition from doing everything to really focusing on your area of expertise and doing the things that you love doing and kind of building up your agency.

In terms of transitioning into a bigger creative agency, you have to sort of set limits for yourself. You can only do so much as you’re human and you have to really make the time to enjoy this life that you are given. So I soon realized that I needed a team to go where I wanted to go. Basically, I started to chop myself in half. Every time I would get too busy doing one thing, I knew that I needed to hire someone to fill that position. So if I was doing a lot of designing and it was taking up the majority of my time, when I knew I also needed to spend time programming, it was time to hire for that position. And that is when I slowly began to build KIMBO.

Was your long-term goal to have a business like KIMBO that you now have today?

My long-term goal was to always have a studio. So I would dream about creating an agency and having my own office which I had put on my list of goals to achieve. I had a notebook and knew what I wanted in life, so I wrote it down and made a plan to one day get there.

To be honest, I think that life very rarely goes the way we plan. I’m not doing today what I thought I would be doing 5 years ago. But I love what I’m now doing. I love the way things came together, but I never could have envisioned doing what I’m now doing. So having a really clear vision of what you want is very important. I recently did an interview with Kerry Connolly who talked about vision being so key to your success so I love that you shared about yours and that you didn’t necessarily know how it was going to play out. I believe that if you know what you want and you get into that action of achieving it, all of the pieces will surely fall together.

Yes, exactly. But you also don’t want to set yourself up with overly high expectations or plans and then not get there and potentially give up. I often see that happen to a lot of people unfortunately. You’ve really got to be resilient and just roll with the punches because it isn’t going to go your way most of the time.

You have to be really flexible. I absolutely agree and realize that you may have thought it’s supposed go in a certain direction but in reality it goes left when it’s supposed to go right and vice versa. Being resilient is so important. You also talked about outsourcing and I support that when you get to the point of doing so much, you realize the need to seek support. A lot of people want to get help or say they need to outsource or build up their team but they’re so concerned about how to find someone and the costs associated with this that they simply don’t. Do you have any advice on how to get through that?

Yes, the mentality that you can do it all yourself and why you would have to pay somebody to do that is all wrong. You truly have to spend your money in order to make your money. You are not going get far if you keep track of all your nickels and dimes. You do however need to be comfortable spending the right money and the right time and in the right place and I personally feel good about it because the moment I made this decision was the moment I started to see more profit. That mentality helps a lot. Because then you aren’t afraid to say I’m going to let this go and I’m going to concentrate on something that’s going to make me more money. Why concentrate on something that is not actually your expertise? That is a waste.

I remember a story from my coach who talked about having a conversation with her coach. She was at the time making around $100 or $125/hour and was doing a lot of tasks that she could have easily outsourced at $25/hour. Her coach then asked her, at the end of the day, would you hire yourself again based on the quality of work that you did? She then stopped and thought about it and said absolutely not. So not only was she doing work that could have been outsourced at a lesser cost, but it wasn’t even being done effectively. So that was kind of a lightbulb moment. Once you focus on the things that you’re really good at and your expertise level, you start to see your business grow. And that’s a great reminder.

Exactly. That’s what it’s all about; letting go. Letting go of business so you can then begin to grow your business.

I think a lot of people forget that we are so busy doing the things that we do. I’m guilty of sometimes doing things because I know how to do them, or I’m comfortable doing them, and they start eating away at my days. I really pay attention to where my time should be, and its made a huge difference as a result.

For sure, I definitely agree.

We’re going to take a real quick break. When we come back, I want to continue this conversation and I’d love to have you tell our listeners a little bit more about branding and graphic design. I think this is an area that people seem to get confused over when they’re building a business and knowing how they can help their customers.

Welcome back. You’re listening to Turn Knowledge to Profit. I’m your host, Johnell McCauley. Today’s success interview is with Kimberly Pickett, the Creative Director and Principal of KIMBO Design. And before the break we were talking about how you can grow your business by leveraging your resources and really focusing on things that you do well personally and not trying to do everything yourself. Kimberley, I know that there’s been a lot of confusion around when to know to ask an agency for help with branding and design services.. Perhaps you can provide us insight and explain the difference in the value between someone trying to do this service themselves and choosing to have an expert assist in building their brand image.

Sure, in terms of what’s happening online and marketing, a lot of businesses are now seeing the results of having a great website because it’s just like having the prefect business card when you give it to somebody who wants to know a little bit about your business. It’s really all about image; this whole world is about image and having high-end branding is key for businesses to grow and for them to survive. There are some companies that have survived not having a website and that mentality is changing now because you need to have a website and great logo or somebody will come along and steal your customers or clients. I think a big concern with organizations is knowing what is a good website and what is a bad website. You first need to look at your advertising budget and figure out what you can afford. In terms of what we do, we create high-end custom websites as well as brand design, so our typical clients are small to medium-sized businesses as well as larger organizations that have a good budget for advertising and are in need of reaching specific target audiences. Many customers who knock on our door often offer to pay a few thousand dollars for a customized WordPress website and be upset once turned down for not getting what they had asked for. But we are a full-service agency and not a freelancer. So I think knowing the market and realizing what an agency can do for you and your business really adds value in the long run. Furthermore, if you’re looking to grow or rebrand, it’s best to have an agency as a partner because they’ll help you get there.

Do your clients come to you with a fairly good understanding of who their target audience is or what their demographic is?

Some clients come to us with an understanding of their target audience, it’s just more of a matter of us collaborating and getting into their business and really knowing who they represent. Our initial process is to conduct early-on research and focus group testing on certain products or branding ideas. Our work is essentially about taking an existing identity and logo and rebranding it. We sometimes deal with start-ups but that tends to be rare. We more so deal with companies that are already well self-branded and established.

Interesting. Do you find that companies come to you with a set budget or are they often open to listening to what your agency can provide for them and to help them grow?

The clients that come to us and end up being a good fit are the ones who already knew in the first place that they needed an agency’s expertise to help them with their business goals. We can always tell right away whether or not a company is a good fit for our agency. When businesses understand that this is a competitive industry and that technology is ever-changing and evolving, properly and successfully getting your brand out there through various channel advertising is of great importance. Otherwise, you might as well just stay stuck in the phonebook roster, because nowadays you really have to explore further and look at ways in which you can connect with your audience on that targeted level effectively, which is never easy to do when you’re doing it all yourself. So a lot of our clients soon come to realize they too need to let go of what they’re currently doing themselves and rebuild their company from the ground up. And I assist in helping them get there.

I know that you were recently named one of Canada’s Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs. What do you think helps you get that distinction? That is something to be very proud of.

With that award, I started to apply 6 years ago. And every year I didn’t seem to get in. So I always followed up, took deep breaths and studied the annual winners, looking at what they have personally accomplished and kind of figured out what I needed to do in order to get there myself. So I set a personal goal after reading these different women’s articles and finding them so inspirational that I put it down on my to-do list and finally, last year, I got there.

That’s a great story because often people will try to do everything and when it doesn’t work out the way they had anticipated, they tend to give up. Some will try a second time, but most will not. So I think it’s a good reminder, whether you are reaching for a new business opportunity or something like an award, everything happens for a reason so you just have to take it, learn from it and improve on it. I like the fact that you looked at those women who continued to win and saw what they were doing to achieve their goals and take their business to the next level. It took some time, but you also got there. Congratulations.

Thank you. It’s also about resilience. When people give up, they do not build up their resilience so they in turn do not grow in either personality or drive. I think I was lucky enough to have this trait when I was young, but of course certain situations over time allow you to build on this and become even stronger, just as I am always trying and never giving up. I can recall when I was little getting cut from the high school play or sports team, which would only make me try harder the next time around. You really just need to take a step back and look at the whole picture, and then start over again.

Thank you so much for sharing your story and sharing what you have accomplished. How can our listeners get in touch with you to learn more about the services you offer?

In terms of my story, you can go to my website at kimbodesign.ca where there is lots of information about me and my business, services, clients and the work that I’ve done. I also write a blog every month so you can check that out and stay updated on the latest insights and trends of advertising.

Thank you so much. Can you give our listeners just a small piece of advice that will help them build their own business?

The one piece of advice I would give to anybody wanting to build their business is to focus. Focus on what’s going to get you there and not get sidetracked with other things going on. Also, making decisions quickly. Don’t let your decision-making process take a long time or somebody else in your competition will steal it away. Rapid decision-making and focus is how you are going to strive.

These are great reminders; talking this morning about decisions and how people often think that making no decision at all or putting off the decision is not taking any action but it really is taking an action. So that’s important to remember. I like that; make decisions quick and move forward. Thank you so much for your time. I really enjoyed our conversation.

Thank you for having me.