KP and Jessie share their experience in Bethany’s mentorship program for designers and how it was the best investments they ever made for their business.

BIO

KP and Jessie are the color-obsessed design duo behind Inkpot Creative® who love supporting creative photographers who are building anything-but-ordinary brands. They know exactly what it’s like to be the loud, bold, colorful outliers in the industry. That’s why they partner with creatives who aren’t afraid to express themselves loudly and go boldly against the grain. In a world where first impressions matter and attention spans are shortening by the day, they’re focused on building strategic, personal brands and websites that people can’t look away from.

“Throughout both of the mentorships, I learned so, so many important things. I feel like—especially mindset wise—I learned so many things that I even continue to implement today. I feel like the number one that I really walked away with was boundaries and that it is completely okay to have boundaries in my business. And that it is okay to fail at something.”

– KP

Transcript

Hey there and welcome back to another episode of Unbreakable Brands, the podcast where we dive into the resilient strategies and mindsets behind successful women led businesses. Today I have KP and Jessie, pronouns she/her on the show, and this is a special bonus episode where we’re going to chat about their experience in my mentorship program for designers.

So KP and Jessie are the color-obsessed design duo behind Inkpot Creative who love supporting photographers that are building anything but ordinary brands. They know exactly what it’s like to be the loud, bold, colorful outliers in the industry. And that’s why they partner with creatives who aren’t afraid to express themselves loudly and go boldly against the grain.

In a world where first impressions matter and attention spans are shortening by the day, they’re focused on building strategic, personal brands and websites that people can’t look away from. Welcome back to the show, KP and Jessie.

Jessie: Thank you.

KP: Hi, thanks for having us.

Okay, let’s talk about your mentorship experience. So KP and I met, we had a mutual client at the time and I was doing their like visuals and graphics for a couple things and I think you were an intern at the time. Am I wrong?

KP: No, you’re right. I was doing social media.

Yes, you’re doing social media. Okay. Initially, I of course thought KP was great and it was cool to connect at that point where you were like still figuring it out in the beginning. And then I didn’t even have a mentorship program, like an official anything. And two people within the same week were like, this is back in, was this 2020? I think it was 2020. 2020 or 2021. They were like, “hey, do you have a mentorship program? Could you make one?” And KP was one of those folks. And I was like, “yeah, I can.” I mean, I was a teacher for five years. So yes, let’s do this. So tell me a little bit about how you decided to reach out and make that first question.

KP: Yeah, of course. So at the time I was struggling so hard with trying to figure out what I actually wanted to do. I was doing social media, tried doing graphic design, I had like an interest in doing brand and website design. And I was like at the point I was still kind of like on that learning kick from college because I graduated from college in 2020. And I just like knew the power of being able to like have somebody else kind of like help me really set everything up in the beginning.

And you were someone who I saw doing like really well and I was like, no, like she knows what she’s doing. She, you know, has a strong client base. Like, how do I get to that point? And that’s kind of what inspired me to reach out. Cause I also had seen so many other designers doing, you know, different like mentorship programs.

And I was like, oh my gosh, Bethany would be the perfect person that like, if she could offer this, I would 100 percent make that investment.

Yeah, and I’m so grateful that you asked because it was something I was toying with, but with a client base, I was like, should I really add this to my thing? And I had some of the same feelings that folks have in, in the business world in general, like, Oh, but there’s so many other designers out there who are offering things.

So like, is this something that I really should do? And then I was like, you know, yeah, I think I should. Cause I have like, a strategy that works. And I want to share that with whoever I’m, you know, I’m not here to gate keep. And I think that bringing industry and education into the mentorship was an important piece for me.

On top of, I always want to learn from someone who’s like actively doing, not necessarily someone who did once and then is going to teach that. But maybe it’s not a repeatable strategy. So that was like such an important push. And then since then, you’ve done the mentorship program another time. So tell me about your experience with either or both the process. Share it all with the people listening.

KP: Yeah, absolutely. So I remember there being like pretty clearly defined goals, which you were great at with both of the mentorships. So I think the first one was more so about, you know, really just kind of like getting myself set up, making my packages.

I remember we spent like quite a while on and also just like trying to decide what I want to actually offer and who I want to work with. And then the second mentorship was, I was finally at that point, I think it was like six months after we had finished the first mentorship. I was at the point where I was like, okay, I’m like interested in adding other avenues to my business.

And that one was all about helping me launch my template shop, which was also a lot of fun and was really like an interesting process. And like just throughout both of the mentorships, I learned so, so many important things. I feel like, especially mindset wise, I learned so many things that I like, like even continue to implement today.

Like, I feel like the number one, one that I really walked away with was boundaries and that it is completely okay to have boundaries in my business. And not only for like my own mental health, but clients normally also appreciate having those boundaries too. Like it’s very much two sided. And then also that it is okay to fail at something.

I remember I used to feel like so bad whenever I would try something and like, no one would invest or like, I thought it was going to be like, The next greatest offer and nobody was really interested in like working with it or working on it. Um, but just learning that like pivoting and being able to readjust is really what is going to make you a good business owner over time.

And that’s something that even now, like we’ve had, you know, offers that we put out that maybe like weren’t super successful. And just being able to take things from them and actually learn from what we did and being able to move forward and then make like something even better the next time has been something that’s really stuck with me.

Well, you came with such a great mindset to be constantly learning. And I love that you brought that because you’re like, okay, well, we’re going to try it, you know, and I think having that like perspective at the beginning can be super helpful to figuring out all the bits and pieces.

So in terms of expectations going into either one of those, what were your initial expectations? Did you have monetary expectations? Like what were some maybe fears attached to those?

KP: I feel like my biggest expectation was really just hoping to have someone in my corner that would almost like not giving you like the tough love, but I guess kind of like, tell me like if I’m moving in the wrong direction, like it’s so helpful to have someone else kind of looking at your business and tell you like, Oh, like I wouldn’t necessarily suggest doing that.

And here’s why, especially cause you’d been there, like you’ve done everything like already pretty much. So just having you be like, Oh, like, you know, that might not be the best option. Like, here’s what might like work better for you. Like, let’s go this way instead of was really, really helpful. And that was like one of my main things I was hoping to get out of it.

And I remember too, like, I think the first month I worked with you, I had $10k, which was like crazy. Cause up to that point, I think I had been hitting like $4k pretty consistently. And then at the end of the second mentorship, even like it wasn’t even a goal. Like, I think you and I talked about it at the beginning, was hoping to be able to get Jessie to leave her job and work with me.

And by the end, like it had already happened. And that like was something that I thought was going to happen, so, so far from. Like after the mentorship ended and I remember one day you DM’d me and you were like KP, Jessie joined you already. I was like, yeah, I know it’s so exciting.

You’re hitting monetary goals and lifestyle goals, which I think was always something that I hope was put front and center in our conversations of like, how are you taking care of yourself? Like what’s the type of life that you want to have? And if you’re going to build your own business, like you might as well make sure it’s around those things too, which I think is so important.

KP: Yeah, 100%.

I’d love it if you shared, like, if a new designer is in the space their first couple years in and they’re like, Oh, I’m considering a mentor. I’m not sure what I need. What would you tell them? What would be your pieces of advice? And not just like, Oh, join my program, but like, what would you say are good questions to ask and considerations and things that you would. maybe even put up as red flags or risks, just from your perspective of going through my program, but also other, I know you’ve done a lot of other education programs in this space.

KP: Yeah. First off I have gone through quite a few and yours is still one of the ones that I always say it was like one of the best, easiest investments like I’ve ever made. Um, but when it comes to like, even just investing in another designer or a mentor, the main thing, I know you mentioned it a little bit was I always look for if they’re actually actively still doing what they are teaching on.

To me that’s always like a huge red flag. Because again, it’s one of those things where you don’t want them to have like, you know had one time success and then that’s what they’re now like monetizing off of and trying to teach other people to do because it’s something that like I want to continue to see that mentor like, you know actually like doing the same things with their clients and everything like that And then also I’m very much a silent lurker like I’m the kind of person that like I’ll consume content for like a year sometimes before I’m like, Oh no, like this is it.

Like, this is the person. Like, I don’t even need to start, like get on a call, like just send me the contact and invoice. I’m ready to go. So I think just being able to take the time to actually like watch people that you’re interested in working with and really just like consume their content. See if they’re even like marketing a way that really, in a way that really resonates with you and like makes you feel good, um, is another thing that I think is really important.

Yes. Oh, I’m the same. I am such a lurker, like nine months is my lead time where I’m like, I’m just going to stare at your stuff and figure out if we’re actually going to vibe and how that’s going to work. Okay. So I want to talk, go back and talk a little bit more about the program itself in terms of what was your experience like start to finish in terms of my process and my approach. I know we talked about your results and some of the key insights you gained, but what was the process like for you from start to finish in terms of the middle part and that experience?

KP: I’m the kind of person that I love accountability. It’s one of my favorite reasons for investing in programs and mentorships. And one of my favorite, favorite things about like, each of our meetings was you always had a plan and somehow we always like fully went through everything on the agenda and then some like you would get through things so fast and that was something that was really, really helpful to me. And then also like having the accountability even through Voxer because you would always like.

We would always like catch up on Voxer and like I’d be able to ask questions or anything like that was also incredibly helpful. So just being able to kind of have that accountability and having someone like actually check in on me and making sure that I was, you know, doing the things that I had said that I wanted to do was something that was incredibly helpful to me about your process, especially being like the kind of overachiever person that I like to be.

That’s definitely the main thing that stands out.

Okay, beautiful. And I’m going to ask you to like brag about yourself and all the cool things for a second. If you’re listening and you haven’t caught their earlier episode, they talked about the power of a niche, uh, on season four, but I want to hear like, okay, tell me the, where you were at the beginning.

You can tell me in terms of money mindset. And then where we were after the second one. And then where we were now, because you guys have like done some really incredibly cool stuff. So just brag about yourself for a minute here.

KP: Jessie, you’re welcome to like hop in on this too. But for me, when like we first started, like I was really, pretty much consistently sitting at $4k months.

Then we very quickly got to $10k from the first mentorship. After the second one I had a fully launched template shop that I’d actually sold a few templates from. And I remember like one of my main concerns was like, what if I put all the work into this and I’m not able to sell any, but I was able to sell some from that.

I was able to launch a sort of like semi-custom website design service using the templates, which then got more people interested in the templates over time, which was also really cool. And then over the past few years, I mean, we’ve like grown and changed a lot with like our services, our offers, we’ve launched.

So we have launched two summits in the past year. We’ve launched a podcast. We actually just went and spoke at an in-person retreat in April, which was really, really cool in Vegas, right after we moved, it was a lot of fun to go back and visit. What else have we done, Jessie?

Jessie: I think one of the biggest things too, is we’ve been able to work with fewer clients at a time while also still increasing, like the overall revenue that we’re bringing in and like keep up the multifigure months consistently but not having to feel like we have to have you know xix clients going on like starting every single week and packing people in like we can you know space them out.

We can give them time we can take vacations and take breaks, which I think is one of the biggest things that’s come out of you know, everything is not feeling like we’re super overworked. We definitely still overwork ourselves and it’s something that we’re, we’re working on and trying to get better at, but you know, not necessarily having to be in that burnout, you know, feeling all the time just to make sure that we’re able to stay afloat and like feel confident in, in what we’re doing and in the business and in like financially how we’re, how we’re doing, like we’ve, we’ve been able to, you know, stay steady and, and keep everything really reliable, which has been really good.

KP: With that too, I left your mentorships with a lot of confidence too, that I still find myself carrying a lot throughout my business as well. And a lot of that too, like a lot of the confidence too, I know we spend a lot of time talking about like, when is the appropriate time to raise rates? Cause I know as a new designer, your first thought is like, Oh, like I’m only charging, you know, $1500 for a brand.

Like when am I able to like finally get like you know, the $5k pricing and everything like that. And you really taught me like, when is the right time to raise rates? And I’ve been able to consistently raise rates ever since we worked together, like using everything that you had taught me using all of those skills.

And each time I raise rates, I still find myself sometimes leaning back into like the same fear I had back then of like, Oh, well, what if I raise them and I get no inquiries, but because of what you’ve taught me when I raise the rates, like it doesn’t slow down. Like it just, it just keeps going, which has been amazing.

Ooh, okay. That’s, that’s so good to hear. That, that is something that I think in my mentorship, I really strive to make happen is that no matter what the designer’s business structure is going to look like, because you guys have a very different structure than I have. I don’t have templates or some of these like offers and product suite structures that you guys have.

But I still like, my goal was no matter what structures we have, that it provides, uh, a blueprint essentially that you can continue to apply to other launches offers and your growth over time, not just like a one and done kind of answer. So it sounds like that has gone through with confidence to which I love to hear.

KP: Yeah. And speaking of launching, I love that you mentioned that because when I launched my template shop, you took me through one of our mentorship calls was literally going through an entire launch plan. Like you helped me come up with everything step by step. And to this day, I still use like that same exact launch plan.

So, I mean, since then we’ve launched so many things like different offers, like the summits, the podcast, like everything. Like I pretty much always go back to like, okay, like how did Bethany teach me to come up with content ideas and like things like that. So it like literally it still has shown up in so many ways still today.

And then something else you didn’t even mention is where are you guys right now?

Jessie: We are currently in Italy. So we’ve been able to take some time off and travel through Europe. We, we both studied abroad together in 2019 in our junior year of college. And it was one of the best experiences for us. We got to visit, I think, 13 different countries while we were In abroad for that semester.

And it was so much fun and our goal was to always come back to Europe. And originally we were gonna go back to Ireland ’cause that’s where we studied. And they had a working holiday visa that you could apply for right after you graduated from college. And you know, we were gonna go live in Ireland for a year and do all this traveling and.

That was our plan. And then we graduated in 2020 and the entire world was shut down and all the visas got closed. And so it never really happened. So we got to the point where we’re like, okay, we still want to do this. We want to be able to take time off and travel and go see all the places that we want to see.

And so it’s been really nice being able to, you know, not have to be completely enveloped and work and be able to come over to Europe and travel and you know visit new places visit some places that we went to when we were abroad because we were very much the, you know we’re here for two days that we’re gonna to speed through everything I think we probably saw the outside of every single historical landmark in all of the cities that we went to but we didn’t go inside anything We didn’t pay to, I mean, we were also college kids, and not we didn’t really have that much money.

I think we both saved $5,000 for the entire semester. So, we weren’t necessarily paying to go into any museums or on any of these excursions or anything like that. So, it’s been really nice to be able to, you know, flip that on its head and come back and, you know, experience all these things, live in these places for longer than two days and, You know, get to relax and not be totally focused on, on work 24 seven and enjoy all that Europe has to offer because who doesn’t love Europe?

Oh yeah, exactly. Who doesn’t love Europe? Okay. And I want to kind of wrap what we’re chatting about here by saying that I, as your mentor, like I’m not here to take credit for your work or like the incredible things that you’re doing. I’m here to help you. navigate your next best steps and build structures and plans that are going to help your growth over time and support you.

And, and honestly, I’m like biggest fan, like cheerleader, like you guys are fucking great and killing it. And I’m obsessed with all the stuff you do and seeing your drive and everything you built. Like every time I turn around, I’m like, Oh my God, look at them. They’re killing it. And it’s, it’s been so rewarding and fulfilling on my end, too. And then also being able to like, since then I’ve had other mentees go through my mentorship and it’s so beautiful to see that on repeat. So I’m thankful for you to like posing that question to me back in 2020 because now it’s this piece of my business that’s so awesome.

And you both brought drive and curiosity and really great skill sets that were Like completely undervalued and I just love what you guys have done with that and then how you have built so much impact from your company and your business and all the people that you work with and serve. I mean, it’s phenomenal.

So I’m just so, so proud of you guys.

KP: Thank you.

You’re welcome. You’re welcome. And thank you for trusting me initially and then coming on my podcast to like share your experience.

KP: Oh my gosh, of course. Yeah. Thanks for having us too. Yeah. Yeah.

So if someone wanted to find you and ask you questions about my mentorship. Are you open to that?

KP: Oh, yeah, 100%. We’ve I’ve even been known to like hop on a zoom call if someone has questions.

Yes. Okay, beautiful. So where can folks find you and get into your circle and watch the incredible stuff that you guys are doing?

Jessie: So you can find us on all the different social media platforms, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, all of that is Inkpot Creative.

Uh, our website is inkpotcreative.com and we also have a podcast, Unexpected Entrepreneur podcast that you can check out, um, anywhere you listen to podcasts, but we’re totally open. DM us, ask us questions, anything. We’d be more than happy to answer it. Amazing.

Okay, well thank you so much for your time today and sharing your experience.

*KP: Yeah. Thank you for having us.