An Agency Story
An Agency Story
How Motherhood Forced Her to Build a Better Business - Perspektiiv
What if building your agency meant more boundaries, not more burnout? In this episode, Alison Gardner, Founder of Perspektiiv Design Co, shares how she transformed her solo design practice into a collaborative agency without sacrificing her creativity, identity, or personal life. You'll hear how she built a system that supports her, even through major life changes like motherhood.
Key Takeaways
- Why documenting and delegating specific roles is key to stepping out of day-to-day work
- How to use slow seasons to strengthen systems, processes, and relationships
- What it really takes to trust your team and build autonomy
- A repeatable method to evaluate what to remove, automate, delegate, or own in your business
- The power of running a business with joy as your focus.
Welcome to An Agency Story podcast where we share real stories of marketing agency owners from around the world. From the excitement of starting up the first big sale, passion, doubt, fear, freedom, and the emotional rollercoaster of growth, hear it all on An Agency Story podcast. An Agency Story podcast is hosted by Russel Dubree, successful agency owner with an eight figure exit turned business coach. Enjoy the next agency story.
Russel:What if the secret to building your ideal agency wasn't more hustle, but more joy? Welcome to An Agency Story podcast, I'm your host Russel. In this episode of An Agency Story, I'm joined by Alison Gardner, founder of Perspektiiv, a full spectrum design studio that's redefining what success can look like in an agency. We dive deep into the realities of entrepreneurship... from burning out in pursuit of doing it all to regaining control by building systems, trusting our team, and even preparing for a four month maternity leave without missing a beat. Allison reveals how she balances motherhood, autonomy, and growth while holding tight to her Estonian roots and her agency's true north, perspective. This episode is a refreshing reminder that sustainable success doesn't have to mean sacrificing yourself along the way. Enjoy the story. Welcome to the show today, everyone. I have Alison Gardner with Perspektiiv Design Co with us here today. Thank you so much for being on the show today, Alison.
Alison:Thank you for having me. Excited to be here.
Russel:Excited to have you and would love to just get started right off the bat, what does Perspektiiv Design Co do and who do you do it for?
Alison:Perspektiiv Design Co provides graphic design, brand identity design, packaging design, website design. Really a full spectrum creative studio, um, for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Russel:Wonderfully put, very succinct. You've practiced that a time or two, I'm guessing. We're gonna figure out a lot more things about, uh, the wonderful agency that you've created and the work you do. But I'm curious to start with, I wanna know about young Alison. What were her hopes, dreams, goals, and aspirations?
Alison:I was always an artist from a young child, had an art room when I was like five that my mom made for me in the basement where I could just go wild and express myself. That really, yeah, set the precedence. I've always been artistic, always, um, really appreciated beauty and art and, um, yeah, led me to this place of finding graphic design is my career and then growing an agency. I also have always been someone who doesn't follow the traditional path. Doing things on my own and finding my joy aside from maybe what others have expected of me. So that started from a very young age and, um, probably gave some problems to my parents, but here we are now and following the non-traditional path is really created some alignment.
Russel:I'm guessing you really hated math class.
Alison:Oh my gosh, yeah.
Russel:I can see that. My daughter's very similar. When it comes to creative and writing and just all things in that realm. Can run circles around someone, but to, to the math stuff, just, oh, that is, that is a beating.
Alison:That's where delegation comes to play later.
Russel:Yes. Give the math to someone else. A smart path to go. Talk just a little bit about the early days of your career. What were you doing? How were you molding yourself? We'll eventually get to how you started the actual agency.
Alison:Totally. I went to college. I have a graphic design and business art degree. I also spent some at, from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, and also spent some time at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, studying fine art and graphic design. Really focused my education there. Spent some time in Germany and Czech Republic in the Baltic area studying history of art and design and, um, with, specifically in Germany with what was going on, um, with, in Berlin. I've always been a lover of education, so, um, pursuing my degrees was a lot of fun. I really found the path there. Had an internship in college for a brand design studio in Durango that worked with a lot of small businesses, and that really, um, sparked the interest for that type of industry. She worked with a lot of wellness style clients, so chiropractic studios, um, a few restaurants in town, and I just really loved watching her have that personal experience with her clients. That was a wonderful experience.
Russel:First off, I wanna know what, I think you said this, business art degree. What is business art?
Alison:Yeah, so I feel very grateful to have had this degree. It's exactly what you've said. It's a mix of business and art. A lot of marketing and strategy, um, and advertising focus. I took an entrepreneurship class, so a lot of those business essentials. Yeah, really, um, Different degree than I saw that was available. I had considered going to CU Boulder. I'm from the front range area of Colorado and Fort Lewis College had this business art degree, which felt really cool. I wanted to get the basis of understanding, okay, how do I run a business? If I'm going to be an artist, how do I make this successful? How can I be really strategic and smart about it? That seemed like a very fitting degree.
Russel:Okay, I'm liking this.
Alison:And so yeah, I got the business background and then the art side of that was the graphic design. Focusing on the graphic design major. Understanding how we can communicate with design, because art and design elements are just a form of communication. How do we use color, typography, texture, layout, all of those, all of those elements to communicate a message? That's really the core of what I learned.
Russel:That's amazing. It really just feels like a great degree program to combat this notion of a starving artist. We want to create the artist, but we also want to create the skills that allows them to make some money with their art.
Alison:Yes, totally.
Russel:Remind me real quick. So you, This job that you were talking about a little bit and then you went into a freelancing mode. Was that after that or?
Alison:I had my internship during college in Durango and then moved to Denver where I got my first official graphic design job at Shane Company. And It was a great professional experience. I got to learn really firsthand how to work with a larger team. I was brought in to brainstorm on TV advertisements. It was a really interesting space to be in, um, and collect all of that information as to what it is like in that type of environment. It also wasn't quite fitting for my personality. I was overworked and my creativity was overlooked. It just wasn't a fit for me. I felt, yeah, like I couldn't truly express myself there. And so the hardship that I had had, and I hear this story amongst many of my clients where they have this point in their corporate job or whatever the career path that they've started on and it just doesn't, it's just not aligned anymore. It's not feeding their soul. I was thankfully young enough, I was, let's see, 23 and so, um, really had the risk tolerance to say goodbye and go and be a freelancer.
Russel:I always am envious of my 23-year-old frugality and living expenses. I'm guessing that helped a lot in that, being able to jump off on your own as well.
Alison:Yes, it sure did.
Russel:I wish I could 40, 40 some year old Russel to have a 23-year-old financial mindset, man. It's just amazing what you could do with a relatively small amount of money back then. Jealous.
Alison:Less overhead, too.
Russel:Yeah, well, I mean, it sounds like very natural or desired path, right? I can just see this, this creative person that you said, not to be contained and, and really gotta blossom and bloom in your own right. I mean, obviously we all know you've, you went from freelancer mode to agency. What did that path look like for you?
Alison:At first it was a challenge. Thankfully again, I was young, so had a lot of risk tolerance and really just went after my local community and used social media as it was in that early time and let everyone know that I was available for hire for graphic design services. I at that point started the official business, Perspektiiv. It's spelled in Estonian as an homage to my heritage. My great-grandmother fled Estonia with three young boys after Russian occupation and landed here in the US and I carry her, her diamond in my wedding ring. It's always a reminder of her strength and, and perseverance. That felt really fitting to respect that.
Russel:That's amazing, one. And I'm a history major too, so I just, I love the homage and, and history. Where's Estonia?
Alison:Estonia is in the Baltic area. It is, um, west of Russia, north, uh, or south of Finland on the Baltic Sea area. It's very small.
Russel:Is this still a country or It's gotta be like a small country, I'm guessing.
Alison:It is still a country.
Russel:All right. Geography lesson for the folks at home and for me, so thank you for that. All right, continue.
Alison:I named the business Perspektiiv as an homage to my heritage, um, and also as a reflection of creating in other perspectives. Specifically focused on others and how do we perceive what they're offering in a different way, in a way that's going to connect with, um, their audience or their target demographics. That's why it's named the way it is, spelled the way it is. The jump from freelance to agency, I mean, I started it like I mentioned in 2014, so it's been a while. It's been a journey. Started off slow as a freelancer. Collected clients from my local community, friends and family. Had a really unique opportunity where, as I was doing networking in Denver and really just getting the word out there and doing everything I could to get clients at that beginning phases. I was connected with a company in the cannabis industry, and this was back in, yeah, in 2014. Recreational cannabis was legalized in 2012. The first shop started opening up in 2014. And so I got the opportunity where it was like a great timeline where I got to be the graphic designer for one of the core edible brands in Colorado called Sweet Grass Kitchen. Worked with, um, Julie and Jesse, the owner and marketing director who pulled me in as a new designer. Not super new, but newer on the journey. I got to be involved in the cannabis industry. Met a lot of people that way. Really grew my skillset, especially with packaging. Had that gig as a freelancer as like my core client along with a few, you know, just small projects, t-shirt design for events.
Russel:Good product testing, I assume?
Alison:You know, at that point I hadn't really explored too many edibles. I was like a little fearful of them after one bad experience in college. But there was a lot of education around it. They have like slogans start low, go slow. I remember designing graphics to really make sure that we weren't so much in this, like cannabis stigma of what it had been in the past. That was really one of the biggest goals with working with them was, okay, how do we create a brand that's not stigmatized, that allows your mother or your grandmother who's suffering from pain to walk in, feel comfortable? How do we create that experience in an industry where it's like hippies and tie dye and the classic vibe?
Russel:I love that vision. Make cannabis accessible to your grandmother. That inspires a lot of marketing ideas.
Alison:As it should be. They need it the most, probably. It was a unique opportunity to really shift that, have that perspective and be integrated into that community, get a lot of experience there and I worked with them for a long time.
Russel:Okay, nice.
Alison:Eight years or something. That was a long-term client. Um, and Then from there I ended up moving to Tahoe. Created the foundation in Denver and then, um, took off for Tahoe.
Russel:You're just going to the best cities, um, the most beautiful, best cities, parts of the country. What was the motivation from,'cause I know right, when you ended up in Portland. What was your motivation to move?
Alison:I was ready for something new. I had grown up in Colorado. I just needed to be somewhere on my own. Tahoe is really enticing because I love nature. I love to ski. There's some water there, there's not much water in Denver. Was really craving some, some access to that. They have the lake and San Francisco is there as well, which was a really inspiring city to visit while I was there. Made the leap and was nervous about it for my career because I had created this foundation of clients in Denver at that point. But really it just expanded things for me.
Russel:I know at some point you decided to kind of up, up the ante in terms of your business and moving beyond that freelancer mode. What was that process for you and it sounds like you, you went about it in a pretty intentional, diligent way.
Alison:All of my growth has been organic. My main vision has been to follow my joy, and I really think that that's led me down the right path. After being in Tahoe for a year, I was ready for something new. I had done a lot of foundational design work in that community because they had just legalized storefront signage. South Lake Tahoe had rules and regulations with the community before I moved there that they weren't allowed to have like new branding, new signage outside. They wanted to keep it as the, the like sixties ski town it was. So yeah, Had the opportunity to do a lot of foundational brand work there. Southlake Brewing Company, Melena, which is a yoga boutique. And so yeah, grew my portfolio there. Started to get busier and busier and then met my now husband in Tahoe and we moved to Portland, um, for new opportunities. Tahoe was small and we both love a ski vibe, but it was hard being surrounded by people who just wanted to ski and just wanted to party. There wasn't too much of a community there at the time that was business oriented. I did join a coworking space that was at the bottom of Heavenly, which was pretty ideal. Could ski for lunch and come back and work on the business.
Russel:That's my kind of day. This is amazing. I gotta get outta Texas here. I gotta live this Alison life. Ski in between calls that I might have, I'm inspired.
Alison:It was ideal.
Russel:Sorry to cut you off. I just had to share that jealous moment of the life you're living here.
Alison:Love it. I definitely miss that lifestyle. We try and integrate it as much as possible now with a, a larger business and a child. But, um, yeah, so moved to Portland because I had been here when I was younger. I knew that there was a big artistic community here. We were near the ocean, near the mountain. A lot of community, culture and nature really inspired us to move up here. That move really grew things for my business because Portland is a mecca for others following their joy. Really going against the status quo and have the boldness to create their own businesses, follow their own joy. I really found that community here and after a few years became way too busy. I was burnt out. I was working 7:00 AM to 2:00 AM with small breaks in between. It was a lot and it was a big lesson for me in learning that I couldn't do it all myself. I think I had a hard time generally asking for help and that there wasn't people that would have the heart, have the passion that I did in the business. I probably waited a little too long to ask for help, um, but at that point I was burnt out and found a fantastic business coach that was able to really support me in creating a foundation and creating more structures to where I could start bringing in a team at that time, because it was just me, I was working in my own systems. and so. I needed a lot more to create that foundation. Hired a business coach was which was a fantastic decision at that early stage.
Russel:I couldn't agree more. I'm a little biased, but, we found a coach very much, earlier on, in, in our business. Pretty much I've had one ever since for even myself in business. I'm a big advocate. I think it's always great to just have someone over your shoulder and, or on your shoulder, however you wanna look at that, and help you guide through just the, the little things, the big things that you're going through your business. I'm just curious because, I think definitely a lot of folks probably wait till they get stuck, in terms before they go, oh, now I want to go find someone. And you kind of said, you maybe waited too long, but did you go actively seeking a coach or did you just happen upon someone and connect the dots to say how this is can help me get to my next stage in business?
Alison:That's a great question. I'm reflecting on this, it feels like a lifetime ago. I think I was organically, I think I just met her and it was kind of a right time right place. Could see how much support she could offer and yeah, said yes.
Russel:All right, so, so a little serendipity, but it sounds like it worked out really well for you. Obviously, that sounds like that was effective for you. What did the, let's just say within a year of that timeframe, how different did the business actually look?
Alison:Within a year, I hired a bookkeeper. I hired an accountant and these were all things that I was doing on my own, which honestly, I do believe is a benefit for agency owners to have done things on their own in the past because they have a core understanding of what that work is and aren't so detached from it. So, yeah, I had done my own taxes. I'd done my own bookkeeping. Hired that out. Created more structure with project management to where it was really clear when I was hiring a team, um, what the project management would look like, where projects would be stored. Kind of really organizing the backend, getting prepared for people to come on board. Yeah, created an employee handbook, hired an HR person to help me really understand what that looked like. Did a lot of research and listened to a lot of podcasts about leadership because at this point this was a really big transition, like going from a freelance designer solely working on my own to then, and I guess before I hired a full-time designer, I did work with some freelancers, so it did give me a taste of collaboration, which I did really enjoy. I also found that I, at that point was a better creative director than I was designer. I think that's been a beautiful, um, journey to witness in myself is my growth alongside my business' growth. Starting as core designer and then doing some collaboration, moving to more of a creative director role and now an agency owner. I call myself a founder. I do creative direction work still, um, on certain projects that come through, but I have a really fantastic team that I fully trust with our clients at this point. So yeah, really discovered the love for the collaboration and witnessed that others could bring their skillset and could be just as passionate. It was really challenging during the hiring process, and I think forever it probably will be. There's so many talented people, but there's also a gap with artists where you need someone that's creative, but you also need someone that's organized and communicative. That was my biggest challenge with finding a designer that I wanted to invest in as an employee. That was a really scary thing to do, invest in a full-time employee. I had never had a payroll before. That was a big commitment and thankfully I found someone fantastic. She's been with us for four years now. Her name is Emma and she runs all of our brand design, um, clients. Started slow with her as a collaborator, as a freelancer. Hired her after six months and um, really grew together.
Russel:That's amazing. It sounds like your, your research, your effort, getting resources and help, uh, paid off. I would imagine a lot of agencies, I've heard of both ways where one of their first hires is still around and I've heard it where, their worst first hire was very not good situation and didn't last very long. I imagine it has something to do with that preparation. Something I wanna highlight that you were talking about here is, is this thing of you, I think you were saying like kinda like accounting and bookkeeping and I totally agree that it's important to just get in there, figure it out, understand it, right? We can't just pretend to something that doesn't exist, but also very quickly, like if it's something that's$20, let's just say$20 to$50 an hour, uh, especially at those early stages, get rid of it. Once we know it and understand it, your, your time, your value is$150,$200 an hour, some cases,$500 an hour, maybe a thousand dollars an hour. And, and how important it is just to not be doing those kind of admin things indefinitely in, in the business. Unless I guess you really, really love it. I don't know. But didn't sound like you didn't sound like that was your flavor.
Alison:No, that's definitely something I learned, I've learned. Something that I practice frequently in my business to really assess everything that we're doing, I have a method that I use where it involves a lot of colored expo markers and a big whiteboard. I do this usually, I guess I've done this like every other year to kind of refresh what's on our plate as we grow, and you organize it in ways where you write everything that you do down in the business, everything that needs to be done, it's really surprising to see how much goes on this board, and you organize it. First section you organize is a remove, so anything that's not important, anything that's not aligned with your goals or aligned with your values, aligned with, um, the growth that you're hoping to achieve, you totally get rid of it. The second one is automate. Anything that can be automated and that is done easier these days with AI and Kajabi and all of these great um, access to applications that we have. So we automate. Next one is delegate, and then the last one is anything that's on my plate. Ideally it's like those really core pieces, and so for me that looks like business relationships and, um, yeah, for me, I'm more of like business development and business relationships.
Russel:I imagine, just haven't seen a lot of your artwork, but I imagine it's amazing and I imagine this, this, not only right, has a very practical, great business function, but I imagine it looks pretty cool too.
Alison:Thanks. Yeah, check it out.
Russel:Wonderful. I love that process. And speaking of which, there's something, uh, that I remember you'd shared before was that you've, seems like you've created almost a unique process behind when slow times that naturally occur in a business, how to get the most out of that, or how to still make that not just be slow time, but meaningful time. Tell us a little bit more about that, if you don't mind.
Alison:I think it's inevitable that there will be slow times in business and it's not something that you can necessarily, you don't, you don't necessarily have control over. Learning how to trust and take deep breaths, and if you've been in business long enough, look back at the data data and let yourself, like, be confident that things aren't gonna end. Everything will be okay. You just have to keep showing up day after day and that's something that I've learned is to like not give into that scarcity or that fear that comes up, um, when you do have a slower phase and utilize that time for business development. For me, it looks like reassessing my systems, updating pitch decks, updating pricing, really looking at all the stuff that we don't have time for when we're really busy with working with clients. I also take the time now that I have a team to really focus on team building. We go out to dinner, we have coffee dates, and really talk about what's working, what's not working, and yeah, use it as a time to reflect and refine.
Russel:We can pick up so many little nuggets from each other and just like you said, coffee dates and things like that, just to see, just kind of having it front of mind of just what can I learn from this other person or, or just how do we make meaningful conversations and the value from that. It sounds like that's been beneficial in your journey.
Alison:And just generally relationship building. To have those strong relationships with your team and with your clients, um, has been one of the most pivotal things in my business. Really making sure I'm utilizing that time and investing in my community and in my relationships.
Russel:Again, living, living the sweet life there, Alison. Another thing I wanna talk about, and you know, it's not a subject that comes up a lot on, on the show or whatever. We tend to talk about the agency and the business, but we do have lives outside of business and a big transition in someone's life is parenthood and, and in your case, motherhood. As I understand, relatively new to the parenthood game, what was that like and how has it changed just your perspective and what you do in the business?
Alison:Great question and I think it's so important to talk about this, especially as more women are owning businesses and primary providers in their families in this day of age. Um, and bringing a child into this world is another full-time job. Witnessing the transformation of becoming, I mean, Perspektiiv was my, my focus. So when Atlas joined us, I had to take a step back and that was really scary and it was a great time for me to practice and flex my trust muscles of the team that I had built. During my pregnancy, really focused on training them to take over for, I believe I was gone for four months, which was a, a, a blessing, um, to be able to have that with him during those first few months. Focused on providing them with everything they needed to be confident while I was gone and when I came back, also just had the realization that I had built a team that could really support our clientele without me, and that was a really proud moment. Beyond that, different seasons of parenting have been very different, but I've very much learned that boundaries are extremely important as I practice what my role looks like as a mother and as a business owner. Prior, I didn't have many boundaries to business. I worked an average amount and, um, sometimes on the weekends. Now that's really shifted for me where, um, having him be almost three, he's my, my primary focus, so really making sure I have boundaries a alongside when I work, when I'm done with work. I work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I'm done at 5:00 PM. Yeah, Just being really clear and kind and creating a culture where that's accepted and where that's really looked up to, that I can be both roles, um, and that we have a clientele that really respects that too.
Russel:I imagine there's, uh, a lot of folks out there that are like, oh, man, that sounds awesome. I wanna be there. Maybe it is boundaries, but my, my next question was just gonna be what's, what do you think is the secret sauce that's allowed you to set that up? And talk to me through, right, whether you're preparing for, you know, maternity or paternity leave, or just want to have a little bit more autonomous team and units set up in your business. Maybe just share a little bit more specific about, what you actually did when you were preparing for your own maternity leave.
Alison:At that point, I had my full-time employee, Emma. I had my bookkeeper who's running payroll. She's got all of that on lock. Continuously, we work with about six freelancers so there's about seven of us that are continuously collaborating. That looked like setting the precedents and saying, hey. We've got nine months. This is what it's gonna look like. I created training systems. Really hit it hard in Google Docs and created trainings for everything that I was doing that I needed to outsource. I hired a project manager that could keep things. I hired someone that could help me with discovery calls, so new clients coming in. Just trained them all. I think finding the right people was really important and so our our hiring process was really diligent as well, I guess to really back up to the beginning, where we had a defined checklist of what we were looking for and, they had to meet that criteria. We definitely had some transitions within that. But thankfully I had, I had had a hiring process like going for a few years, so I had had people in my roster already. I had built relationships, I had trust. There's people that had been working with me for a while, so they had the foundation of knowledge, and at that point it was really just like me trusting, giving them everything they needed to succeed, putting it all in Google Docs, writing everything down and, yeah, handing it over.
Russel:Wonderful. Something I think kinda speaks to what you're saying there that I think is important is it's pretty hard to just find a one-to-one replacement for yourself in an owner role, but you know, it sounds like what you did is you broke some of the things you were doing down into bite-sized chunks and, and then found a great resource or, or hire or whatever to do that one specific thing. I think that is so important. We take these needs and rather than trying to find a unicorn or something like that, can we just, can we find just little things and if we can set these up, train someone on these specific little things, then as long as it's not in our bucket anymore, then that is a strong win for the business. Sounds very similar to what you did there.
Alison:And I think after that too, once I returned from maternity leave and I saw that the business was still running, I witnessed how powerful it could be to give more autonomy to my team. We all had, um, a meeting after I had returned, and my team really enjoyed the autonomy. I really enjoyed the autonomy, and so because of that mutual, um, value, it led us to more autonomous roles as well. I was able to actually, um, stop doing creative direction on some of these projects. For example, um, before my maternity leave, I was on every kickoff creative meeting for new clients. That was a lot of work and something that, um, I needed to learn that I could trust my designers to do without me on the calls. That was a great learning moment to say, oh, to see, oh wow. They were really great at this and I don't actually need to be here. It was also a learning moment to, um, I thought I needed to be there. I thought the only way that the business was going to work is if I was on every client call. I was a part of every touch point and really had to let go of that and trust. That has created a lot of autonomy for me to now focus on, again, business development, business relationships, my community creative direction on projects that I'm really inspired and lit up by and time with my family.
Russel:Maybe someone should just write a a business book on, hey, if you wanna grow your business, have more babies. I don't know. There's something there. I dunno. Million dollar idea take you that run with it if you want.
Alison:Yeah, totally.
Russel:We'll switch gears. Wonderful subject and, and insight you shared there. One of the things I was fascinated by is you got a little side hustle going of recently. What's going on there?
Alison:Saturday cabin. My husband and I have always had a dream of renovating a cabin. We've always been really into interior design and architecture. We had been curious about investing in real estate, and we decided to go the duplex route at first. But after a really bad inspection and a terrifying tenant that was going to be included in that, we looked at each other and were like, okay, the core here is that we need to follow our joy. That's what's led us to this point in business and in life, to get to Portland. Let's continue doing that. Life is short. What do we actually wanna do? We started looking for a cabin to renovate and create a short term rental, but also be a primary space for our family to retreat to outside of the city. We wanted to purchase on the coast, but that became very challenging with permits and yeah, very scary with all of the flood and tsunami insurance and everything. We, uh, decided to head to Mount Hood and, um, yeah, just very aligned with our lifestyle, considering we're both, lovers of the mountain and we're both snowboarders. Atlas is on skis now, and so we found a 1969 cabin that was just real rundown, but such opportunity and found the, the joy to renovate that. My husband was a big part like he did a lot of the interior work. We totally gutted it and transformed it into a boutique Airbnb and we now offer retreats, specifically wellness focused retreats and just general short term rental on Airbnb. It's been really fun.
Russel:I bet. Creatives, entrepreneurial, relaxing, check checking all the life boxes here. Alright, well we've gotta wrap things up here. Real quick before we get to the last big question is, what does the future of Perspektiiv look like?
Alison:I think that answer changes, um, with each season of business. Right now we're in a really great place where we have a core team. We have wonderful clients that we work with. We really, um, love working with the diverse clientele that we have. We work, like I mentioned, um, in the cannabis industry, but we also work with restaurants and hospitality and doctors and lawyers. We worked with the city of Portland recently to do the downtown signage for the holidays, and so really, really happy about where we're at now. We have autonomy. We, um, have flexibility. We have a coworking space that my team is at and everyone has a great work life balance and we get to work with incredible passionate clients. I'm really happy with where we're at and I don't really need to grow at any point. Something that I am interested in is doing more community events and bringing more value to our entrepreneurial community. Last year I hosted something called B2B brunch with the business coach that I had hired and we brought together 10 entrepreneurs all from different backgrounds to be referral partners and support each other in business. We'll be doing that quarterly. Just leading into like value and community and yeah, continuing to have a nice work life balance and work with selected passionate clients.
Russel:Can't ask for anything better than that. Sounds like you're in a really great place. Done a lot of hard work to get there, but, um, living the sweet life. Last big question for you, Alison. Are entrepreneurs born or are they made?
Alison:Great question. I think it's a blend of both. I think that people are born with creativity, with resilience, but I also think that you learn a lot along the way that makes you a good entrepreneur, like the finances. I think it's a blend.
Russel:All right, I'll take that. Very wonderful thought. If people wanna know more about Perspektiiv, where can they go?
Alison:You can find us on Instagram, um, at Perspektiiv P-E-R-S-P-E-K-T-I-I-V Design Co. You can find us on our website Perspektiiv.com and sign up for our email newsletter list and you'll receive a monthly update from the studio.
Russel:Love that. Perspektiiv in Estonian, if you know how to spell that or if you know, you're Estonian. Thank you so much today, Alison, for sharing so many wonderful things about your agency, tips on setting boundaries for yourself and making the business really work for you and your hopes and dreams and goals. Just really appreciate you taking the time to share that with us today.
Alison:Thank you, Russel.
We hope you've enjoyed this episode of An Agency Story podcast where we share real stories of marketing agency owners from around the world. Are you interested in being a guest on the show? Send an email to podcast@performancefaction.com. An Agency Story is brought to you by Performance Faction. Performance Faction offers services to help agency owners grow their business to 5 million dollars and more in revenue. To learn more, visit performancefaction.com.
Alison:We once had someone show up at our home with a care package for someone that said that they were a designer at Perspektiiv and they weren't. Their story was, I'm sick, I can't make it for our date. I work at Perspektiiv. He brought a care package of like tea and honey and flowers so yeah, someone had like, totally catfished him.
Russel:I mean, That's fascinating, right? The real sad part that I'm hearing in this is it sounds like they found a really great person, or maybe this was, maybe this is a bad form of catfishing or whatever, but they lied and they ruined it. That's a very interesting.