How One Woman Went From Selling Painted Canvases In High School To Creating Her Own Branding Agency

Karen Spears was always creative, but she didn’t initially realize that her personal talents could lead her down a path down entrepreneurship. After selling painted canvases in high school and on Etsy in college and becoming self-taught in graphic design, Spears eventually decided to start her own agency, Kareacter. “I told myself, I could either go and work for someone or try to work for myself,” said Spears. We spoke with Spears to find out more on how she became a successful entrepreneur, her signature mind-mapping strategy, and her advice to others who want to start their own business. 

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1. What inspired you to start your own branding agency?

I’m an alum of the University of Missouri. I'm based in Chicago, Illinois, born and raised from the South side. And, ultimately Kareacter was built out of my life experiences and is truly an extension of who I am. I was always known as a girl growing up as the one with the neat handwriting. And with that, just being the person that everyone trusted with their creative ideas and projects. I've always been told that I should sell my handwriting and that wasn't necessarily something that I thought people could do. It wasn't until senior year in high school where a girl actually commissioned me to create her favorite Dr. Seuss quote on a canvas. She gave me like $16 and I went to Michael's and that same day, it was a sale on canvases. I came home with a bunch of them and my mom was like, oh, you should sell them, and I'm like, okay, cool. ​​So this was around the time that Instagram started to become popular and I would make the canvases. I’d paint them all pretty, post them on Instagram, and be like, Hey, I'm bringing this to school tomorrow. Who wants it? And it became like a thing. So that was my first taste in entrepreneurship, taking my personal talent, and packaging it. ​​

So that was my first taste, but then I brought my talents to college. In my freshman and sophomore year in college, I was still painting in my dorm room, and pursuing journalism. I found the craft studio on campus, and I was on Etsy as well as our consignment shop on campus. But at that same time painting wasn't the route that I enjoyed anymore. I had to really focus on pursuing my journalism degree and also balance painting, and it became too much. And so I decided to switch to learn how to digitize my handwriting. I just picked up learning Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and really understanding the basics just to learn how to digitize my handwriting. And so that's when I became self-taught in graphic design. And from that and working with different students on campus, I developed what was my first acrylic on canvas business to a digital design service. So that's how Kareacter was born. I really wanted to learn how to save time, still maintain what I was naturally good at, which was handwriting, and develop a new business that could really just help people make a logo. Like that was my only thing. And we're still doing that to this day: creating handcrafted logos for people that want to start businesses.

2. What were the biggest roadblocks you encountered starting your own business, and how did you overcome them?

I want to preface this by saying that going into business, I didn't have a business plan. I didn't have a clear path on how I was going to start and finish. I didn't overthink it. It was really just passion. It was passion that really drove this renewed vision of how I could really work on my craft. And I went into it like really bright-eyed and bushy-tailed like I really just want to create, and that was the basis of how I started my business. And I think the roadblocks initially weren't necessarily apparent because I didn't try to psych myself out of it. I didn't consider all the things that would go wrong.

I was really just creating, for people that wanted to do their own thing. And I saw myself more as a vessel to helping other people achieve what they wanted to start. So it became working on projects with close friends to finding mentors in the space that had their own startups. I was also really curious and asked a lot of questions around how they're building their business and how I can support them creatively. And that became my world.

So my senior year right before graduation, I was really preparing to go back home, and start a career in advertising or in a creative space. I only applied to two jobs and I had told myself that Kareacter was my passion. I was still doing it and had a roster of clients by the time I graduated. I told myself, I could either go and work for someone or try to work for myself. And I only applied to two jobs so I really set myself up and I didn't get them. And I was like, okay, plan B is I'll give myself the summer to try to do entrepreneurship, and see how it goes. And if I could move out, then I would continue with it. And that was like my first milestone or measure of success. I didn't know if I could really do that, but I pulled it off. ​​And so that was when I knew that I was onto something. Again, I still didn't have a business plan. The only way that I was kind of measuring if I was doing well was if I could pay my rent, and didn't have to ask my parents for money. So I was dealing with issues as they came up and setting a goal for myself and seeing if I could get there and like succeeding it.

3. You describe yourself as a brand architect. Can you further explain what that means?

Being a self-taught graphic designer, I didn't necessarily feel comfortable like owning that title because I wasn't taking formal classes that taught me text hierarchy or color theory. So graphic designer wasn't necessarily the role that I most identify with. Outside of that, I think always knowing that I've had a creative side to me that loved color and loved helping people actualize their goals. That was more of what I identify with, and I think then coming up with the title brand architect, I kind of think of it as like a regular architect. One that envisions how a building would look without actually building the building. So having the power to visualize what could work, like how colors or wording really reflect our true personality is like my superpower. ​​And so seeing it through not only the branding lens, but also how does this really play into the larger story that you want to tell? That's based off of who you are. And I think a brand architect is broad enough to tackle things like brand management and producing events that I do for clients.

4. You and your agency swear by the visualization tool, mind-mapping. Can you explain what mind-mapping is? How does it compare or contrast to vision boarding?

I think mind-mapping is something that is a result of what I said earlier about me, like writing creative notes to my friends. So that is like the origin of the story. I've always been a big advocate and a big lover of pen to paper. Like drawing things out, sketching out my ideas, writing my lists, drawing diagrams, that's always been my jam after really pivoting in business, right. Like, coming from the first business of being the person when I was selling canvases. I've always been a visual person when it comes to planning out my finances and my personal goals, and drawing things that could get me excited about tackling them.

That was always my theme. And it was always the first step of me actualizing what I wanted. So I can give a brief example, but I had a vendor table at an event one time and I was still selling canvases. I remember that week drawing out every part of my vendor table, like I drew out how that whole event was going to go. And it happened just like that. I can look back at my mind map or my notes or my drawings that could really show like this was truly the first step. Mind-mapping was just a derivative of that. I will always start with pen to paper. ​​It was really me sitting with myself like, okay, what do I not like, and what do I really want? And how can I figure it out on paper before I actually press go or say go? And so that was always my personal process, but it wasn't until the pandemic last year where everyone was kind of up in a frenzy, right at the time I had clients that, contrary to a lot of businesses and also by the grace of God, they were thriving during the pandemic. They had not only optimistic ways of running their business, but also products and services that were in high demand during the pandemic. And so in that process in 2020, that was like my best year on record, because I was able to not only help my clients succeed, but also scale my team so that we can just get it done. So in that process, it was me on paper, really figuring out how to scale? How can I help my clients? What happens after the pandemic? How do I want to structure my business? How many clients can we take on? And in that process, mind-mapping was my crutch and it helped me figure out things in a quick period of time. 

But the difference between vision boarding and mind-mapping is vision boarding happens for most people at the beginning of the year. They cut out their images from magazines. They're like, oh, I want to lose however much weight, I want to make however much money, but it's not technical. And they don't explore the possibilities of how they're going to get there. Like it's just glued on a piece of paper, maybe they hang it up and likely never revisit their goals. As for mind-mapping, it’s actually asking the questions that you don't have the answers to, and really facing things that scare you in a way that is fun and creative and also engaging. In the pandemic, I had my client's side of my business, but I also had a budding online audience that we were trying to engage with. ​​A lot of my followers felt uninspired or stagnant. And so mind-mapping was something that in the back of my head, I'm like, why did everyone feel uninspired? Like I'm always feeling inspired, right? I'm always talking to clients, and I'm always seeing the brighter side of things. I want to also share that process with other people. And so as a result of the pandemic, I started these sessions called Write it down, Make it real, which were 90-minute, mind-mapping sessions that I would have one-to-one with people that would sign up and then share with me a creative mood. And then from there, I would literally draw their thoughts. A lot of the comments and feedback that I would get from those sessions were that it feels like creative therapy.

​​In the end, the goal wasn’t to sell an idea or to get them to buy something else. It was really just to help them gain clarity around what it is that they really wanted. And so everyone came in with a different goal in mind of what they wanted to achieve. And I was just there to help them visualize it and bring it to life. Like really being the first step in them seeing what the possibilities are to get to this goal. And so that's how mind-mapping became a service that I wasn't offering before the pandemic. But it became like an integral cornerstone of how we even work with our clients. And so now mind-mapping is done with us through a branding lens. So people would come to us and be like, Hey, you know, I have this  business idea that I'm starting with my co-founder. I definitely want to know how we can get there, And a lot of times, people think the first step of starting a business is a logo, which is in my opinion, not the first step. You should have some sort of passion or purpose behind what it is that you're doing so that we design something that works for you, and not just what you like. So mind-mapping is a great first step that we include in all of our client experiences that help us get on the same page, but also help them see a clear path to where they're trying to go. We also have Kareacter Academy, which is strictly mind-mapping and helping people who are just starting off really find their footing through mind-mapping and really helping them become experts of their own brand in a fun and engaging way.

 

5. If one wants to use mind-mapping to help visualize their dreams, how can they start?

I love my iMac because it's so accessible. You don't have to pay to learn how to do it. You don't have to have a certain skill to do it. Anyone that can write and can draw a circle, a square or triangle, they can mind map as well. If you go in curious enough, knowing that whatever thoughts that you may have are valid, anyone can mind map. I would say that the first step of how we do it is to definitely follow our Instagram. We're always sharing events that we'll have. We like to have at least one monthly free event, where we’re showing people how to mind map based on a different topic. So like earlier this year we had a really popular event around quarterly planning. A lot of people went into the year wanting to really use 2021 as like a reset. I would first say follow our Instagram so you can stay posted on our free webinars or seminars on how to get started with mind-mapping. The second thing is getting your favorite writing utensils or papers. I'm a big stationery buff. So I have to have a certain type of paper and a certain type of notebook and a pen for me to really get excited to mind map. So I would say whatever your choice of paper and pen is. Find whatever makes you happy and gets you writing, and write it down. If you're eco-friendly and want to save the environment, an iPad does the trick as well. I have two favorite apps I recommend, Procreate and Paper by WeTransfer. 

6. Can you explain how your agency helps build brands, and why one would benefit from utilizing your services?

I would say the first step is booking a mind-mapping session with us. Again, a lot of the times when people want to start a brand, the fun part is to do the logo, but I've gotten so many people who have worked with graphic designers who either didn't really reflect what they wanted, or they just didn't like it anymore. ​​I've had my logo since I started and I haven't had a need to change it because I started from a place of passion. I knew that whatever I was creating was intentional, and it was going to be the best reflection of myself. I want people to start their own brand or business the same way that I did while avoiding the pitfalls of working with the graphic designers. It's not really understanding who you are or capturing the vision or listening to you or responding to your emails. Separately from that, our agency prides itself on just being very responsive and being human-centered. We like to know our clients personally so that we can anticipate their design needs. That's something that is just a part of our process. And I think anyone starting something new, it's really easy to get intimidated by all the things that come with starting a business and managing a business. 

I think the first step in branding is having a mind-mapping session with us to understand what your fears are, what you're most excited about and really understanding what your best first step should be. That's also like a diagnosis of, maybe you should be a part of the academy before you actually invest in branding or maybe having a mind-mapping session with us before you be a part of the academy. So it's a chance for us to get to know them and also for them to really assess their needs with someone who brings ideas to life for a living. This is for people who are really in a space of readiness. Like they know that they are excited to start their brand, but are willing to slow it down and really become an expert at what they're trying to do because they know once they start, it’s going to be something that they commit to for the long haul and that's who we serve best in the academy, because they come with the level of stability and curiosity and intrigue that this is a ongoing process. You don't just get a logo in, it's done and your brand is going to be successful. It's the part of mind-mapping that can help you not only craft your brand, but help you manage and build your brand as well. When you really break down mind-mapping through the lens of branding, it's also something that once you understand it, you can apply it to managing your business even after the academy. What makes our branding course different is that you get to not only think about your brand personally, but you can see through live examples. And I share my personal experiences and you also learn from other people in the cohort from different industries and learn how they tackle problems and apply it to your own business.

 

7. The Life Currency audience is primarily made up of recent college graduates and 20somethings who are navigating career and life. What would be your biggest piece of advice to them?

I would say if they are a person who is interested in starting a business, the first thing is mind-mapping your why? Really getting it down on paper and really having a true passion for what you're doing outside of yourself. I think a lot of times when I think about passion, and I like to define passion as something that you can do for the rest of your life that is of service to people. Like leveraging your personal talents and your personal skills to help other people. And that's what brings you joy. So really assessing what your passion is and being confident in that is the first step. Another thing is in entrepreneurship, there's not really rules to it. ​​You can do whatever you want. And I think oftentimes we're so caught up on, oh, I don't have enough money to do this. Like, it's a lack mindset, but entrepreneurship can offer you everything that you want. Just have fun with it. And lastly, don't get intimidated by being young. I think the best advantage you do have is there's no shortage of money out there, but there is a shortage of great ideas. So if you feel like you're a person that has a great idea, there's way more people in this world that will have the capacity and money to support you.