IAM1239 – CEO Provides Creative Branding for Her Clients

M. Kendall Ludwig, president and principal designer of CurlyRed, believes in good design for everyone. She began her company, CurlyRed, in Baltimore in 2007 with the desire to create usable art. Over the past 14 years, Kendall has provided creative and timeless branding, print, and web solutions for companies and non-profits across the country (and even has a few international clients).

In 2011, CurlyRed was officially certified as an MBE/WBE business by the State of Maryland. CurlyRed is a Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) and a Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) business by the Small Business Administration (SBA). In 2016, Kendall and her husband/CurlyRed vice-president Mark relocated to historic Mountain Lake Park in Garrett County, MD with their two daughters. CurlyRed’s main office is now located in downtown Oakland, MD, and Kendall is proud to currently serve as the president of the Garrett County Arts Council.

• CEO Story: While working and freelancing, she has foreseen the future of having children and the benefits of owning her own time. And so in 2007, CurlyRed was established and since then, it made an impact on her clients.
• Business Service: Full-service creative agency doing branding, making logos and websites.
• Secret Sauce: Working really hard and having the resilience to make things happen.
• CEO Hack: Hand-written notes as a thank you and a response to a project or interviews, with a touch of branding.
• CEO Nugget: Failure is not the worst thing. It's the fear of failure that keeps people from the work that they are called to do.
• CEO Defined: Bringing a positive change. Making things better in the community. Setting a good example for your family. Responsible citizen.

Website: www.curlyred.com

Instagram: curlyreddesign

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/curlyred

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Transcription

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00:22 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEO's without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is to I AM CEO podcast.

00:49 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the  I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Kendall Ludwig of curly red. Kendall, it's great to have you on the show.

00:58 – Kendal Ludwig

Oh, it's great to be here. Thank you so much.

01:01 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, super excited to have you on as well. What I want to do is just read a little bit more about Kendall so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Kendall is the president and principal designer of Curly Red and believes in good design for everyone. She began her company Curly Red in Baltimore in 2007 with a desire to create usable art. And over the past 14 years, Kendall has provided creative and timeless branding, print, and web solutions for companies and nonprofits across the country, and even has a few international clients as well.

In 2011, Curly Red was officially certified as a Mbewbe business by the state of Maryland. Curly Red is a woman-owned small business and a historically underutilized business zone business by the Small Business Administration. And Kendall is proud to currently serve as the president of the Garrett County Arts Council. Kendall, you're doing so many awesome things. I'm glad we could catch a break with you and hear a little bit more about the awesomeness. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:57 – Kendal Ludwig

I am ready, I think.

02:00 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Let's see. Well, it's too late to turn back now, so let's make it happen. So to kind of kick everything off, I know I touched on a little bit. I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story would let you just start all the awesome things you've been doing.

02:12 – Kendal Ludwig

Sure. So, yeah, I went to school for graphic design. I was working at another company as a graphic designer and I started freelancing on the side and really liked the freelance work and decided that I wanted to try doing that full-time. And I really liked the direct connection with my clients. I really liked the fact that every week was different. I got to work on different things all the time, and I liked it, it was alluring, the possibility of being my own boss, of being able to set my own schedule. At the time, I didn't have any children, but I knew I wanted to have children, and I wanted to be able to spend a lot of time with them while they were young.

And so I thought this could be a path to do that and to not have to stop working, but also not have to spend, you know, put my kid in daycare and not see them as much as I would like. So it was just something that I tried knowing full well that I was probably not the most qualified person to be starting a business, considering I didn't go to school for business. But it was. I realized, you know, failure is not the worst thing. I think not trying is the worst thing. So I thought it was a good opportunity to try something. My husband was hugely supportive, and I launched in January of 2007, and it's been a very interesting road since then.

03:38 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I absolutely love that. And I appreciate you, you know, talking about how you got started and, you know, that journey towards being there. I love what you said, and I often say this, too, that we sometimes think that the worst pain is the pain of failure, but the worst pain is actually the pain of not trying, of missing out, of not having something that we want to lean into and never doing that. So I appreciate you so much for sharing that. Of course, leaning into it as well, too, because you've been able to do some awesome things, it sounds like, from there.

04:05 – Kendal Ludwig

Yeah. And, you know, I mean, it continues, right? Like, it never stops. So there's another endeavor that I'm thinking about doing, which I'm not really quite ready to talk about yet, but I'm in that same headspace where I'm like, it's scary. There's some risk. Obviously, there's a lot of question marks right now, and I haven't. Part of the reason I can't talk about it yet is because I haven't really figured out all the logistics yet. But I. It's a dream that I have that I want to try to bring to fruition, and I think that even if I do it and it ends up not working out, I would be sadder if I. It just stayed like a dream, and I never actually tried to see if I could make it work.

04:45 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you so much and sharing that, and definitely, you know, we're going to have you back on as that dream comes a little bit more into fruition. So you could talk a little bit more about it. Yes, I'm actually looking forward to it already, but, um, I think that's, you know, one of the things that we kind of have to remind ourselves. Let me ask you this. As you're going through this process, and, you know, it kind of sounds like that process might have some parallels with, you know, you starting your firm and your business, do you feel like it's been a little bit, quote-unquote, easier with this next, you know, venture you've been trying to think about to be able to, because you've already kind of flexed out those muscles?

05:17 – Kendal Ludwig

I was just really stubborn and determined to make it work and really willing to, like, hustle, and I was willing just to work really hard to make Curly Red a success, and I fought, you know, hard for it. So I feel like that is just something that was already a part of my DNA. And so I think I can bring that to any area of my life, whether it's a business endeavor or personal goals that I'm trying to achieve. I know that I have that resilience within me, I think, to make it happen.

05:49 – Gresham Harkless

Brian? Yeah, I absolutely love that. I like to call that the secret sauce, the thing that you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique, because when you have that. That DNA that I don't. I don't know how else to put it into words. You want it. You want to be able to put it into something and package it because I think that in itself will be a great business. And so I know we touched a little bit upon curly red, but I wanted to drill down a little bit more, a little bit more on how you serve your clients and how you work with them there.

06:11 – Kendal Ludwig

Sure. So I work with both nonprofit clients, and a lot of my business is word of mouth and referral, which is great because I don't like having conversations with somebody about whether they need a graphic designer. Usually, by the time someone is speaking with me, they've already realized that I'm offering something that is attractive to them. So we work as, you know, we're basically a full-service creative agency. So sometimes people are coming to us for a logo, sometimes they're coming for a website. But our favorite clients are actually those smaller businesses that have a bunch of creative needs, and they really want to come to a professional and say, I need to basically outsource my creative needs to someone else.

And I want you to help me with everything from my branding to my web efforts to my print pieces, and any kind of digital marketing that I need. So it's really nice when we can kind of fully take care of our clients and act almost like an outsourced creative department for them. And a lot of small to mid-sized companies really can't afford to have a full creative department on staff. So it's, it's kind of a win-win. You know, it's a, it's a good economic decision for them to outsource. And like I said, we just really, really like being able to walk a client through every step of the creative process and really help them with their marketing and communicating their vision to the world.

07:42 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And kind of sounds like you, you know, you create that partnership and as you said, you know, being able to be like an extension of, you know, their mission, their vision. I imagine things that they want to, you know, showcase to make their own impact in the world as well.

07:54 – Kendal Ludwig

I really agree. And I think that in my experience, a lot of small businesses are under the misconception that they really can't afford to work with someone like Curly Red. And we really try to be as affordable as possible and as fairly priced as possible. If you're really intentional about your marketing and about your creative output, it really resonates with people and people will remember you and they will keep coming back. And so it's really going to help you kind of stand apart from your competition that is not being intentional about their marketing.

08:34 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that makes sense. And to be able to have, you know, lean on, you know, your firm. And I love that you're able to kind of bridge that gap and of course, make that happen. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

08:52 – Kendal Ludwig

Okay, this one's, like super simple, but I was literally doing it today, so I feel like I have to share it. I am a big fan of handwritten thank-you notes. So I have these notes and they're designed to look like my website. And they've got my branding on one side, and on the other side they have space to write a thank you note. And every time I'm done a project with a client or when I'm on someone's podcast or something like that, something that really does need to be acknowledged, I will take the five minutes of time to hand write out a thank you note and send it to them. And the response that I get from these simple notes is really overwhelming because I think so few people still write notes anymore. So to get a handwritten note in the mail, I think really does make an impact, and I think it helps set me apart a bit.

09:42 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I absolutely love that. It's so funny. Like, I remember when I was a kid, my mom used to always make me write notes whenever I got gifts. And it was one of those things where so few people kind of do that, especially now fast forward a lot of years, it doesn't happen on a greater level. So I love that because the gratitude that that shows is absolutely huge. And I think you spend time, you spend energy with people. Getting the opportunity to get something that's in the mail is exciting.

So after we finish up here, I'm going to run down to my mailbox. Not sure how fast it's going to come, but I'm looking forward to it. So I appreciate that. And so I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. And you might have already session on this, or you were starting to touch on this, so this could be a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice, something you might tell your favorite client, or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

10:29 – Kendal Ludwig

I think I'm going to circle back around to where we started and talk about failure again and just remind anyone who's listening and watching that failure is not the worst thing. Failure is not. It's the fear of failure that keeps a lot of people from doing the work that they're being called to do. And so I think it's really important to recognize and understand that fear. And there's a book written by an author named Elizabeth Gilbert, and it's called Big Magic. And it's about creativity. And she talks a lot about fear, and she actually personifies fear. And we just give fear so much power over our lives that when we're scared of doing something, we tend to put it off. We make excuses.

We come up with every reason why we shouldn't do something. But usually, it drills down to, we're just scared we're going to fail, or we're playing out worse-case scenarios. And I do this all the time, and this is not something that, like, I've found some magic cure and I'm no longer scared. But what I do is now I recognize, okay, I'm scared. Okay, what really is the worst thing that's going to happen? And if it's failing, that's really not the worst thing like we talked about before. I think the worst thing is just not trying to begin with.

11:49 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I appreciate you so much and drilling down upon that, because, like you said, you know, fear is something that can, you know, rob people, you know, from so many different things and things that they're called to do. And I think we had somebody on the show before, and they talked about the graveyard being one of the most, you know, valuable places in the world because there are so many people that allow those books, that allow those inventions, allowed all those ideas to never be seen in the world.

And it's kind of, like, one of the most heartbreaking things if you really think about it, because fear is actually robbing us of all these innovations, the creativity, seeing the beauty of others, people being called to do so many things. So I appreciate you so much in talking about that, but also talking about how it doesn't go away. It's something that you, you first can accept, you know, accept that I'm scared, except that, you know, maybe I am letting fear, you know, cloud my judgment and then kind of lean into that, feel the fear, and to some degree do it anyways.

12:43 – Kendal Ludwig

Yeah, I think, again, I think another misconception is that, like, it's fear is just something that you get over and that you just have to stop being afraid. And I would say that you just. You acknowledge it and actually, by acknowledging it and just kind of looking at it objectively and saying, okay, I'm legitimately afraid, and here's why. I think that actually takes some of the power away. I think it's when we deny that we're scared and we come up with other excuses because we're not really being honest about why we're not doing the thing. I think that's when it actually has more power.

13:17 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. And that question that you asked is so powerful, too. Like, what's the worst that can happen? Because I think we don't always spend time and actually inspect that, because sometimes the things that we think are the worst that can happen are somehow misplaced, or I don't. Sometimes I'm not even sure where they come from. But if we really think about it, and a lot of times, we can look at things we were scared to do previously in our lives and we lean into it. And even if we didn't, you know, quote-unquote, succeed the way we wanted to, we may have gotten a lesson. We may have, you know, gotten, you know, ended up in some place that was, again, you know, beneficial to us. So it's just looking at things sometimes from a different perspective.

13:51 – Kendal Ludwig

Absolutely. I totally agree.

13:53 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping now different, quote-unquote, CEO's on the show. So, Kendall, what does being a CEO mean to you?

14:04 – Kendal Ludwig

I think being a CEO is being able to bring about positive change. And I think that can look like a lot of different things. But I'm hoping that by doing what I'm doing, I'm making things better in my community. I'm setting a good example for my two girls. I'm being a good wife to my husband. I'm being a responsible citizen, all of those things. But I think that if I'm doing it right, then the world is a better place because I'm doing what I'm doing. So I hope the people who have worked with me and around me would agree with that because I think that I've tried to bring some light and goodness into the world through curly red.

14:51 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I love that. And Gandhi had the quote, be the change you hope to see in the world. And I appreciate you so much in sharing the holistic nature of that change because I think, you know, if we have children, if we have clients, if we have maybe investors, whatever that might be, or however that looks, we can make that impact. And a lot of times it's by, you know, leaning into who we are, leaning into our mission and making that impact and showing up every single day. So I appreciate you so much for doing that, of course, sharing that as well.

15:19 – Kendal Ludwig

Absolutely.

15:20 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And. And now, I wanted to pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you want to let our readers and listeners know and, of course, how best they can get ahold of you and find out about all the awesome things you are working on.

15:32 – Kendal Ludwig

Well, if you want to kind of keep up with what we're doing, my website is curlyred.com. I have samples of my work and testimonials and other things, pricing, and things like that on there. I'm pretty active on Instagram, so you can follow me at Curly Red Design. And so that's really a good place to kind of see what's going on. And like I said, I hope we can have another conversation sometime soon about more fun things coming.

15:59 – Gresham Harkless

Yes. That's a cliffhanger. If there isn't a cliffhanger, I love it. So definitely looking forward to the next time. Super excited about all the things that you're doing and the next things that you're working on as well. We were going to have the links and information in the show notes but I love everything you said about fear because again, it's such a robber to so many phenomenal things. So I love that you're not allowing fear to thrive you and I'm looking forward to the next time we get to talk even more.

16:20 – Kendal Ludwig

Kendall me too. This has been really great. Thank you very much for having me on.

16:25 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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