Episode 119 From Designer to Business Owner with Annette Walter

Carina is joined on Make + Design today by brilliant business woman Annette Walter. Annette shares her career trajectory with us and then gives us great advice on how to run a business. Anyone who becomes good enough at their trade will eventually need to shift into business administration and leadership. She tells us how we can stay grounded as business owners when we have less time to do the thing that originally brought us success because we are spending so much time working on the business instead of on production.    Annette also tells us about a tool called the “Core Values Index.” It’s a tool that allows you to discover your strengths and learn to surround yourself with people who make up for your weaknesses as you build a team.   Carina and Annette continue the conversation by looking at things to consider when building a team for the first time. As you build a team, you’re really creating two audiences for your product: the internal team and your external customers. Building a team will allow you to get rid of the tasks that you don’t like to do. Annette also walks us through the beauty of using a T-chart to decide how to grow your business. The advice that Annette shares is essential for anyone looking to start or grow a business. About Carina Gardner: Carina Gardner is a fabric designer, paper designer, and design educator who is passionate about helping other designers fulfill their creative dreams by teaching them her strategies for making money as a designer. She has a Ph.D. in Design and taught design at the University of Minnesota before starting Carina Gardner, Inc.   Carina Gardner, Inc design brand has been featured in dish ware, holiday decor, sewing patterns, and more. Her exclusive Design Suite Program helps creatives make money designing as they learn to design. Her programs include Illustrator and Photoshop training, surface pattern design, paper design, Silhouette & Cricut file design, and running a design business. She started the Make and Design Podcast so that she could share inspiration, stories, and experiences about design and life with crafters and designers.   Find out more at https://www.carinagardner.com Check out her most popular program, Design Bootcamp, here: http://www.carinagardnercourses.com/designbootcamp Download Carina’s free guide: The 7 Tips Nobody Will Tell You About Becoming a Surface Pattern Designer here: http://eepurl.com/dN2RcY   Watch this episode as a video at https://www.makeanddesign.com/   About Today’s Guest Annette Walter is a brilliant business owner, consultant, and podcaster. She got her career started in the banking industry and then founded a full-service real estate company in 2008 that was later acquired by Berkshire Hathaway. Today she owns two companies, Timber Industries, which is the world’s largest woman-owned palette distribution company, and a business growth operational strategy coaching and consulting firm called iEvolve Consulting.  Get my free gift to you here: https://www.designsuitecourses.com/intentional