Meet Gayle B

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gayle B. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gayle below.

Gayle, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

Creativity is funny because it can be quite fickle. Any graphic designer or artist would tell you that it’s so extremely important to figure out the specific thing that inspires you the most or it becomes so hard to keep up with the demand for creativity.
Like many other artists, things like new experiences, nature, and even other people’s work can inspire my creativity a great deal. I have learned over the years though, those types of inspirations don’t keep my creativity alive and thriving. After years of struggling with these fleeting inspirations, I finally realized that people’s stories give my creativity endless life. I love hearing about peoples’ lives and their passions, especially when it comes to their business and the art that they want to see. Hearing people discuss the reasons why they built their business and the drive that they have for their product helps me see the one-of-a-kind qualities that they should be showing to the world. From there I can create such fun and unique designs for their specific needs and purposes. After I learned that that’s where my creativity comes from, I structured my whole business around it. And that helps me to never lack on inspiration or creative thinking.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I own and operate a creative graphic design and art business called Fat Crow Creative. This business truly focuses on developing work that is unique, creative, and has purpose.
The reason I started this business is because I’ve watched the industry over the years become flooded with almost repeat designs across the board. Even though it makes jobs easier for designers, it has always felt wrong for me to do. I think design is so much more than what the industry has boiled down to now. I believe that designs for your business should publicize your unique qualities while having fun in an eye catching way. The more I create designs like this, the more I’ve seen businesses get to be their genuine selves and attract the customers they really want to serve. I love being able to serve my wonderful customers in this way!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I think the qualities that have helped me the most with my journey of starting and running my business are being a hard-working individual, being flexible, and self reflecting.
I think when you tie flexibility and hard work together, you’re able to roll with the punches. From my experience, it can be very tough sometimes and a lot can go wrong all at once. But if you’re able to use these qualities, you can find a solution to most things.
Then the self reflection comes in handy when you look back and are able to see and admit to your failures as well as your successes. Being able to admit that to myself has allowed me to see where I have truly grown so much and where I still need to grow. That really helps me to always be pursuing better work from myself.
If I had to start over at the beginning, I would hone these qualities by putting myself in uncomfortable situations more often. I think I would’ve done really well by taking the jobs I didn’t quite feel confident about. I thought my skills weren’t quite good enough yet for some jobs but if I taken them, my skills and knowledge would have risen to the occasion. So if you are just starting out, take the risks! Yes, it is terrifying, but you can do more than you realize!

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?

Although my business has always been about being creative, in the last 12 months I’ve actually branched out and changed the business a bit. Previously, it was directly focused on graphic design, but the more I’ve worked with people the more I’ve seen the need for growing the business to be focused on art as well.
Honestly, this step took a lot of processing for me personally. I have always been an artistic person who loves creating illustrations, paintings, murals, and anything else I can get my hands on. But I’ve always struggled with accepting that as a way to make money. I have always heard people say that the moment your hobbies become your job you will stop liking them, and that made me nervous to fully jump into with art. After really processing and accepting that I will always enjoy it because I truly am an artist through-and-through, I change the business to also offer art. The best part is I don’t regret it for a minute. I love being able to create new things for people and challenge myself to become an even better artist along the way.

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Image Credits

(headshot) Endless Autumn Photography

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