Meet Saraphina Churchill

We recently connected with Saraphina Churchill and have shared our conversation below.

Saraphina, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

The women in my family is a huge part of my resilience. I have always been very close with my Grandmother. Luckily I still am, she turned 90 this year but if you ask her how old she is, she will tell you 29. My whole childhood is filled with the stories she told of her own mother’s bravery. My great-grandmother was orphaned and had to care for her younger sister. They left Scotland and moved to America to start over completely. She married and started a family and then the stock market crash of 1928 left the new family in trouble. My great-grandfather had to travel to find work leaving my great-grandmother alone much of the time. My great-grandmother turned to baking for others to make extra money to help the family stay afloat during The Depression. My grandmother was born as the depression was well underway and knew nothing else. Later in her own life my grandmother also had struggles. My grandfather was an alcoholic. Despite being married she was left to raise four children on her own more often than not. My parents worked constantly so I was left with my Grandmother regularly. Through her actions and stories, I learned a woman can use her strengths and willpower to overcome anything.

When I told my grandmother that I planned to be fully self-employed and I had turned a spare bedroom in my house into an office and studio space she told me she was proud of me and that I reminded her of her mother. It was the greatest compliment of my career.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I love to communicate visually. I find that pictures and graphics enhance any story. I am also passionate about small businesses that are vital to their community. I combined these two seemingly very different pursuits into a very rewarding career as a Graphic Designer and Photographer who runs an Art Department that helps small businesses with their branding and marketing artwork. I get to speak with business owners, listen to what they love about their business, and create in the imagery they need to move their mission forward to better serve their clients and communities. I believe I have the best job in the world.

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 have been working since I was 14. My first job was at a video rental store, remember those? (Be kind, rewind!) I learned customer service there. It did not matter what I thought was a good movie, I had to learn how to recommend a movie the customer would like. This skill is most valuable when you are creating someone else’s logo, etc. It can’t be about you, it’s for them.

I went to art school for photography and saw all the amazing artistic work my classmates were doing and I was inspired. But at the end of the day, I was drawn to work that I thought could not just tell the whole story in one image but also inspire action. This is definitely what led me down the marketing path and eventually branding as well. I strive for the “less is more” as much as possible for my clients. People’s attention is always being pulled in 1000 directions so let cut to the chase, asap.

The biggest thing I have learned (and am still learning) is that there are very many different ways to communicate. While I prefer visuals many of my clients have other strengths. That is partly why they have come to me in the first place. So I have to listen, often between the lines, because they can’t show me what they mean. When I first started, I would get so confused by why clients didn’t just tell me what they wanted. Even when we are all speaking the language, you still need to translate different communication styles. I am always adding new “vocabulary” to my conversations with clients.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

My advise is find a system and/or reward that works for you and get it done. I am a list girl. When I get overwhelmed I make priority lists. Usually color-coded. And each task that seems huge all by itself, gets its own list, with steps. I love the feeling of crossing something off the list. So if one task is too big then the steps of that task get crossed off as I go. Before long tackling that task is not so bad because as I look at the list of steps I am already 1/3 the way through the list. I also remind myself, “Future me will be so happy I finished this today!” That mantra really helps. Future me is on a vacation somewhere without a care in the world, meanwhile, I am crossing things off the list until I *am* future me. As for rewards, if the day is going to be a LONG one, I get an extra cup of coffee as a treat at the halfway point. I can be very reward-driven if you can’t tell.

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