Interview with Branding & Web Design Expert, Destinee Rosemurgy
I think it did a countdown, that's all right. Hi Destinee, thank you for joining me today. I'm so excited to have you.
Tiffny with Spa Business Building. If we haven't met yet, I help solo beauty and wellness service providers attract clients and boost their bookings by utilizing effective marketing and business systems to help their businesses succeed. So in today's episode, I'm sitting down and talking with a branding and website design expert, Destinee, with Destinee Design.
She's also a solo entrepreneur. She has a lot of insight on building your own brand, things to look for, and the fact that she is a solo entrepreneur herself, she has been exactly where most of you have been as well. So I'm excited to share this episode with you.
Without further ado, let's get started. Hi Destinee, thank you for joining me today, I'm so excited to have you.
All right, so I asked you to join me because you are a branding and web design expert, is that right?
Yeah, that's correct.
Perfect, so why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, your business, and kind of how you got started in that industry?
Sounds good for sure. So I'm Destinee, my business is Destinee Design. I create luxurious and elegant branding for those in the beauty, wellness and creative industries.
So it kind of starts way back. I've always had a love for art and photography in high school. And then when it came to college, I just wasn't sure if I'd be able to make a career off of art.
Like it's kind of that stereotype, like, oh, an art degree. So I started as a science major actually. And then I had to take a graphic design class just to fill like a liberal requirement.
And I kind of ended up falling in love with it. Switching my major, just kind of going in head first, feet first. And then I graduated during the pandemic.
So it was kind of crazy. The job market was crazy. So I kind of took some time off.
And then I actually had to have a brain surgery. Yeah, that was crazy. Yeah, so kind of just put things into perspective for me.
And I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna try this. I'm gonna start my own business.
I have no business experience, so it's been a learning curve, but it's been great. So yeah.
That's really awesome and inspiring. That's amazing. Holy cow.
I love that you just were like, I'm just gonna take a chance on myself and I'm gonna start a business. Why not? And honestly, if COVID taught us anything, it was that like, go for it.
Like, time can be short. And a lot of us are trying to figure out how we're gonna make money when we were working for someone else. So I really love that.
I'll have a few questions for you about like building your own business, because I think like, even though, I mean, you're still a woman entrepreneur. And I feel like a lot of the listeners are in the same boat, like starting their own business, and it's always inspiring and helpful to hear other stories of how they got started and their ups and downs and struggles. We'll get to those questions later.
Sounds good.
I wanna know what made you decide to kind of specialize in like the beauty and wellness for?
So it kind of like in a way, like just kind of fell into my lap. But when I think about it, like I always loved like doing makeup, hair, like for prom, I'd have my friends come over, do their makeup. But it kind of started when I moved down to Madison.
I'm from Michigan originally. I went to a networking event down here, and I actually met Lulu with Lux and Lulu. And she was kind of my first client in the industry.
And I just found that I loved working with just women in beauty and wellness and just other creative women in business. But yeah, so that's kind of how it happened.
That's awesome. Yeah, Lulu was just on the podcast. So yeah, I was gonna say, that's how I came to find Destinee, is Lulu had an amazing website built, and I went and looked at the website, and I was like, oh my gosh, this is like so beautiful.
It was like perfect. And then I started following you. So that's how we connected.
Then I reached out to you and asked if you wanted to be on the podcast, because I thought, you know, we should really be talking about branding, because it's so important in businesses. And I think a lot of times is like, you know, those who are in the beauty and wellness industry, that's what we know is beauty and wellness. And we're not like business owners.
We are branding experts. So learning how to do those on our own can be kind of difficult. And so I wanna start with, tell us a little bit like define branding and especially like in the context of beauty and wellness.
Yeah, so branding is kind of everything that makes your solo beauty or wellness business uniquely yours. So this can encompass visual aspects, as simple as a logo or color palette, as well as some of those intangible aspects like tone of voice. Think of it as your business's kind of own form of self-expression.
So it's really what helps you stand out and connect with those dream clients.
Yeah, perfect. So what would you say, like moving from that, what are some misconceptions about branding that you kind of see when you're developing a brand for others in the industry?
Yeah, I feel like some of the most common things that I hear and one of the most common misconceptions I hear when it comes to branding is the idea that branding is just a logo when there's so much more to it than that. So of course, while that logo is an important part of it, there also should be a full logo suite, a versatile color palette, font pairings, tone of voice, kind of all of those items that make up a brand. So don't just stop at the logo, keep digging deeper.
Another thing that business owners sometimes mix up when it comes to branding is thinking that it's all about personal preferences. So just because you have a favorite color or font doesn't necessarily mean that it's the right choice to attract your dream client or that it stays true to your strategy. So while it's great to have that personal connection and love your brand, you have to keep in mind that your taste might not grab that attention.
While they might sometimes align, forming that solid strategy first and kind of clearly defining your target audience can help you differentiate between the two of those.
That's really awesome. Actually, that makes me think a little bit more because would you say, when you're sitting down and talking with a client, are you going over who their ideal client is so that that can help you build their colors and brand?
Yep, so that's a big part of it. So when I start work with a client, I actually send them a huge form that asks them a bunch of questions to get them thinking about kind of digging deeper and part of that is like an audience kind of research. And that kind of helps me make decisions too.
If someone is really, like I really want this color, I'll try to find a way to incorporate it too.
Okay, so there can be colors and fonts and whatnot that wouldn't be ideal for who you're trying to attract to your business, that's important.
Yeah, like if you're like, I work with women a lot who their target audience is women. So if you're trying to target a woman audience, typically you don't want like large masculine, bold fonts, kind of more masculine associated colors. That's kind of like an example.
That's really, that's got my brain going. Yeah, that's really great advice. I love that.
And like something that I would have never thought of, because I think, yeah, most people are like, I love purple and orange, or I love, you know, so, and sometimes that may not be what's going to attract the clients that you want for your business. So, and I think that's also a good lead weight, like into knowing who your ideal client is when you're starting your business, so that you can build everything around that when it comes to promoting yourself and marketing your business. Great, that's really awesome.
So, my next question for solo beauty and wellness professionals who are just starting out, what would you say the key elements that they should consider when developing like their brand identity?
Yeah, I think in those initial stages of building their business, or even those who are maybe going through a rebrand, the best place to start is with that brand strategy. So some of the most successful brands are built off of a strong strategic foundation, which involves those steps like defining and understanding the audience, forming a mission statement, deciding on a brand voice. And once you have that solid strategy in place, you'll gain that clarity and direction that will help you make those decisions regarding the visual aspects of the brand.
Oh, nice. Yeah, there's so much more that goes into like business ownership and building all of those aspects that you don't, you just don't know and you just don't think about. So like going first into business, I know I made the same mistakes, and I still make them in my business is, you know.
Yeah.
Yeah, when you build it from, you know, on your own without a lot of help, you want to make mistakes.
That's part of the fun though, like you learn and then you pivot and yeah, it's all learning experience.
It is, it's, I always tell, you know, my clients, like it's trial and error. What works for somebody else may not work for you. You're going to have ups and downs and you're going to learn from it.
And you just have to take that and like you said, pivot, learn from it, move from it, and just, you know, build your business that way. I think that's how both businesses are built, right?
Right. Just winging it. Right.
Absolutely. Okay, so would you say, how can like solo service providers, how can they differentiate themselves through branding? Like how can they like stand out more by having like effective branding?
So I think one of the number one ways to stand out in like the market right now is by being authentic and injecting some of your own personality into your brand. I think people are really craving like authentic and real connections more than ever these days. So when you share like your brand story from your own perspective, it sets you apart in a special way.
No one else has like those exact same experiences or journey that you have. So make that your strength. I think sometimes it's kind of confusing, like when you're building your brand, like, oh, like I have to be unique, I have to be unique.
And it's not always about like, oh, I have to have a unique logo or colors. It's kind of, I think it's just more about you and injecting you into that brand.
More of your personality.
Yeah.
So I have a, here's a question on that. Would you say, do you see a lot of businesses who try to be like, they see this one aspect of a brand and they feel like that has to be part of their business too? Like massage therapists always seem to do this one thing.
Would you say that you see that a lot when it comes to like certain industries, like being super similar to other brands? Or do you feel like people are like, no, I want to be just like completely different Yeah, I feel like it's a mix of it.
I feel like people are either like, oh, I want to be unique, but they don't really know how to do that. Or it's kind of the opposite where it's like, oh, I should be doing this because everybody else is doing that, which isn't really the way you want to go unless that is what you want to do, and you feel a certain way towards doing things. But yeah.
Yeah. If that makes you feel confident running your business, that's what you want, then yeah, definitely go for it, but maybe not try to just do it because everyone else is doing it.
Exactly. Exactly. Just be yourself.
Don't just hop on kind of the bandwagon if it's not right for you or your business.
Right. Yeah. That's really great advice.
Yeah, perfect. So when it comes to like, how would you say like consistency across like various branding touch points? So like logos, websites, the social media aspect, how would you say like what strategies can you give like tips that you can offer for bringing in that consistency into those certain touch points?
Yeah, for sure. It's definitely extremely important for like the solo beauty and wellness professionals, especially in those beginning stages of business. Like as you're working hard building that audience, you want to be easily recognizable as you.
So for example, if you're constantly using like different colors, fonts, throughout your online platforms, you risk that chance of confusing your audience. So if you think about it when you're scrolling on your phone, like on Instagram, a post pops up, you automatically know what brand that is before even looking at the username just based off of what colors, logos, branding they're using in that post itself. So some ways to stay consistent is to utilize what's called a brand guidelines document.
So if you work with a professional designer, that should always be provided to you. So it's the document that lays out your logos, colors, fonts. If you are DIYing your brand, this is something you can just create for yourself.
So you just lay out everything on a sheet, so it's easy for you to refer back to. And if you are using Canva, you can utilize their, I think it's called brand kits. So you can upload all of your branding into that and makes it super easy to kind of drag and drop on the posts or whatever you're making on there.
Yeah, I know that I made that mistake in the beginning of just not really I was like, oh, brand is my colors and maybe some fonts and stuff, but I didn't think about it as like, I would literally go and just find something pretty on Pinterest. This was like a super long time ago. Yeah, and just like download it and put it on my page.
Like there was just no consistency with the colors and what I was posting. And it was just kind of like, oh, that looks nice. It's got a butterfly.
I'm just going to throw it on.
And like, I feel like when you're first starting to like, you are just wanting to get get the ball rolling and be posting is good, too. But definitely at a certain point, it is important to get that consistency going.
Right. Would you say for someone just starting out in business, do you think it's super important to like hone in, like figure out those branding aspects, or is it something that can be like added and perfected as time goes on?
It's definitely like something that can change as you go. I think it's just important to at least pick something for the time being, like pick a few colors and pick a font. You can always change it, but just stick to one set for kind of as long as you feel comfortable with, just to maintain some sort of consistency.
So then every other post doesn't have a different font and color.
Yeah. What would you say the, why is it important to have consistency? What does that do for your business when you have all those consistent aspects?
Yeah. So again, it's that kind of like being recognizable. So if people are scrolling through and like one day they see a post with this font and this color, and then the next day it's a different font, a different color, they're not going to be able to recognize that that's you.
So you're just kind of going to miss out on that feature.
It's going to get confusing to them. Yeah. Do you think that it builds that like authority with your business, like that trust when they see that you're representing yourself in a consistent manner?
Yeah, that too. It for sure is like building that trust just by showing that like you're putting yourself out there, you're putting your business out there. And it just looks more trustworthy, like to go to a brand that has consistent branding, a good logo, colors, fonts, all of those things.
Right.
It just doesn't feel as like as wishy-washy maybe.
Yeah. Confusing. Like nobody wants to be confused.
They want to know what it is that you're about. For sure. And I think, you know, as new business owners, we don't get it until after a while.
We're like, you start to realize those types of things.
So just being aware of it is good, I think. And just kind of trying is just as much as you can in the beginning, just to stick with something. You can always change it.
But yeah, just stick with something.
Yeah. Great. So do you have any sort of success stories?
And maybe you can share a little bit with Lulu since we both know, but any success stories in the solo beauty professionals that you've worked with? Anything that's... Because I know I've talked to Lulu, and she has definitely said when she launched her website, do you offer SEO as well?
Or is that... I can't remember.
Yeah, I do basic SEO. I'm not an SEO professional. There's people way, way deep into it.
I know the basics just to make sure that the website's set up right, all the naming, the file naming set up right. But that's a big part of it too, for sure.
I remember Lulu saying she was so excited to get her website, and then she had launched it, and she was like, oh my gosh, I'm already getting people looking, and I've got bookings and things. So it is effective. Can you share any other success stories of the beauty and wellness industry from creating that?
Yeah, I'll just talk a little bit more on Lulu, just because that's kind of what we're on right now. When she first came to me, she was just like, I'm just not happy with my website. People are confused.
They're not booking, or they're coming to me for booking, which is making it harder for me as a business owner to deal with that when my website should be converting those to bookings. So just getting like on your website, you want to make sure it's all about that user experience, too, just making sure when your client goes to your website, it's easy for them to book. So it's not confusing.
You want to have that book now button kind of towards the top of the page, making sure it's visible to them. So we did that just aesthetically and visually, making things look just nice, too. And then she also, too, I've seen she's doing her trainings on there now, so that's enabled her to do her trainings.
But yeah, I've been able to work with so many solo beauty wellness professionals. So I did Tal's Beauty Bar, Opal Beauty, Salon Indigo. And I've witnessed firsthand kind of the power of well-thought-out designed branding.
And this can be reinforced by statistics as well. So 91% of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that they recognize over an unfamiliar one. And then 71% of consumers say they're willing to pay more for a product or service if they're getting a better brand experience too.
Yeah, those are high numbers. That's really great. Yeah.
That definitely shows the power of that, of like branding in your business. For sure.
Yeah.
Perfect. So here's my next question. With the rise of social media and like this, you know, we all need to be online.
It's super important to have your online presence, right? How should solo service providers approach their personal branding versus like a business branding? Because for most of us, I mean, we're solo, so we really are the face of our business.
Like, would you consider it more like personal or like business branding?
Yeah, so I feel like as a solo practitioner, you like you said, you already are injecting a lot of your own personality and individual individuality into your brand. So I think that they really just kind of have to make a decision like how much of themselves do they want to infuse into it. So while infusing their own personality can foster kind of strong connections with clients, emphasizing a business or a brand name more might convey professionalism, scalability.
The choice really, I think, depends on their goals, target audience and kind of long term vision for the brand.
Yeah, I agree. Definitely. Like if you if you feel like maybe that you want to grow your business and maybe have employees, and that might be something that you would gear more like a business brand, then more just like a personal brand, would you say have you had experience with people going from personal and switching like their strategy to more just like business branding?
I don't. I haven't. Just kind of I'm thinking like in terms of even my own business, like I think putting your name with your business is kind of tying the two together a little bit.
And like I know, again, talking about Lulu, Lux and Lulu, Destinee Design, you can still kind of build that business separate from yourself while having a lot of yourself in the business. So there's certain aspects of my business that like I operate differently than I would if I was putting myself out there like as a personal brand. So I think it's just kind of combining them, just seeing what works for you.
Yeah, yeah, definitely. For sure. Like we said, trial and error.
Just yeah, yeah.
Yeah, right.
Perfect. So another question that I thought of, like, why ask that? Okay, so would you mind sharing any of your struggles with business, like getting up and going and being a service provider yourself?
Any tips and tricks that you can share?
Yeah, I think two things that come to mind right away. Like the first one is just when I first started, like how hard it was to kind of work for yourself. Like our whole lives were just kind of molded to be a certain way, work a certain way.
Like you go to school, you were told what to do, you're told what to do at a job. So then when you kind of go off on your own, it's just like so different. Like you don't have really that structures, you really have to create your own structure, which like I was terrible at in the beginning.
Just structure and kind of, what's the word, like self-discipline. Whenever some big things. And then another thing, oh, I forgot.
Hold on.
No worries.
Oh, so like when I was first trying to find clients, like I think because there is such a push on social media, I thought that was the only way I could find clients. So I was so stressed out constantly about like, I'm not posting enough, like I need to do more on social media. And then I was like, why don't I try going to an in-person, like local networking event?
And that helped me a lot, like trying a mixture of things, like definitely do online and have a good online presence. Because when people look you up, you want to have that strong online presence. But also going to those in-person events helps a lot.
And I think people are missing out on that these days a lot too.
I love that, honestly. I know that a lot of listeners can definitely relate to that, especially me. We feel like we have to be on social media all the time to attract clients.
And it really... I mean, if that works for you, it's great. But like you said, there are other ways that you can try.
And it's not just about doing one thing. It's about putting yourself out there and trying...
Exactly.
Like you said, going to that networking or event to connect with people personally, especially as service providers, we're one-on-one. So connecting with people one-on-one to attract new clients. I really love that because I think we put too much stress on ourselves when it comes to social media.
I was so scared. I was so nervous to go to that in-person event. And I'm like, I'm just gonna do it.
I'm just gonna go. I just like that quote. It's like, do it scared.
Like still, cause good things came out of it. So yeah.
Yeah, that's really great. I mean, even just like, I mean, you had, Lulu had a great experience and she told me about you and I saw it firsthand. And then like, I reached out to you and now, you know, here you are, my podcast, helping others.
And like, it's just, I'm sure it's probably helped open the door in other ways. And yeah, it's, sometimes it's about, like you said, putting yourself out there in ways that seem scary to get ahead and as like small business owners when we're doing ourselves and we are the marketing team, we have to be strategic sometimes and just go for it.
Yeah, I think for a while too, like I was so scared, like, oh, like I don't fit this idea in my head of like what a business owner is, but then I'm like, there's no way to be a business owner. And like after I've worked with other women and clients, like we're all just doing our best. We're putting our best foot forward.
We're trying. Yeah, I think that's all that matters.
Yeah, I love that. So I'm sure listeners are going to want to know, like, how can they like work with you because you can help anyone in the online space, right? Like you don't have to do in person, you can help.
So how can someone work with you?
Yeah, so you can go to either my Instagram at Destinee Design. So it's D-E-S-T-I-N-E-E, or my website, destineedesign.com. And I have an inquiry form on there.
You can always send me a DM too. But yeah, that's kind of how we get started. But yeah, it's all virtual online.
I can meet people in person too. Like if they like, I can always do that. But yeah, those are the ways to contact you.
What would it look like if someone were to like reach out with you? What would the process be of like creating your branding and like a website? Because you have different packages and things too that people can...
Yeah, so I have a few different tiers. My main things that I do are the brand design and web design. So yeah, they reach out to me, and they just kind of let me know what they're looking for at first, just so I can have an idea if like the project fits into my timeline, like if it's something I want to take on.
And then I schedule a discovery call, just laid back phone call where we just kind of talk a little bit more about their goals and what it is they're looking for. And then I kind of set up like a package option and go through like all the different options depending on what it is they need. And then with my branding packages, that's when we do the brand strategy in the beginning.
So that's kind of that workbook I was talking about where we dig deeper into the brand before I actually get into the design phase. And then once we're in that designing phase, I start with mood boarding just to kind of set that tone. Yeah, and then I kind of jump into the design phase and it goes from there.
How long would you say like the turnaround time would be to do something like that, to create a brand and a website or?
Yeah, so it totally kind of depends. Typically, I like to say like for branding around three to four weeks, I can get them done quicker too. Like if people are on a certain timeline or a timeline, yeah, I can get them done.
Three to four weeks, that's pretty awesome.
Yeah, and then web designs a little longer, can be like six to eight weeks if it's a big website, or if they're doing both, it can kind of be kind of longer, few months.
What kind of website platforms do you usually work with to build on?
So I do Squarespace and Showit. I do more Squarespace because they have, a lot of people want e-commerce and they have those options. And they're just really, they're easy for the client to use.
Like if they need to go in and update things, it's just so much easier for them. Their customer service is great. They have tons of articles online.
Like if you need help figuring something out, and I, you don't, like I do offer web design maintenance, but a lot of clients want to do things themselves, which I totally understand. So yeah, I really like Squarespace for that. Showit's something I just started.
Like a few months ago, because there was some kind of demand for it. They're good too. They're definitely just a little bit more, like you have to, there's more of a learning curve with them.
Yeah. Yeah, I use Squarespace for my website that I built myself. It's just me, but yeah, you're right.
When it comes to user like friendly and someone who has no experience, it's pretty easy. So you can kind of create like a template for them or create their website, and then they're able to go and like manage it and do it themselves.
Yeah, so I actually do it right now. I just do fully custom web design. I don't really do templates.
I did partner with a business who they sell templates, and we just have a kind of a business structure. So I do have kind of templates through them that I can offer, that you'll do it yourself. I am working on kind of more templates for myself and my business to be able to use in that way, just because there are a lot of people who do like to DIY things, and I'm like, I want to be able to cater to that and offer something more DIY-ish, yeah.
Nice. Yeah. That's really great.
Do you have anything else to maybe share for listeners or anything helpful that maybe we didn't cover?
I think we kind of went over everything. Yeah, I think that was... Yeah.
I do have one more question for you that I kind of like to ask all of my listener or all of my guests. How do you define success in your own business? Like, how would you define it?
Yeah, I think for me, like, what I've come to realize is that for me, it's all about, like, how my business resonates with me, like, how I feel about it. Like, do I feel fulfilled in helping other women achieve their brand goals and bringing their dream brands to life? Do I feel excited about where my business is headed?
Do I feel confident in my skills and abilities? I think if I can answer yes to those questions on most days, I know that I'm nurturing a business that will not only thrive but kind of bring me happiness along the way, too.
I love that. That's a really great answer. I mean, everybody has their own definition of success.
And I think sometimes, and I know, I feel like women do this a lot. We try to compare ourselves to others personally, and then we compare our businesses to others. So what we think we should be doing, then we feel like we're not being successful.
So I think I love how you define that for yourself. That's really amazing.
Yeah, I think a lot of people are focused on the money too. But I think if you're building something that you love and you're proud of, the money will follow. It's going to rub off, and people are going to see that, and they're going to want to work with you.
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Thank you again, Destinee. It's been a pleasure having you on the podcast and thank you for sharing all of your knowledge and insight with my viewers. I know that they are going to get so much information and knowledge from this episode.
And that is it for today, my friends. If you found this information helpful, please leave a review. That is how others find me.
And I invite you to share this with your fellow beauty and wellness besties. If you have a topic or a question that you would love answered, please leave that below or you can find me on Instagram. I'm at spa.biz.building.
You can also find me on Facebook and Instagram, my website, spabusinessbuilding.com. But if you would like to continue the conversation, I do have a free Facebook community that is Spa Business Building Community. I will link that in the show notes.
I invite you over and it's a small community, but we are active and we share a lot of information. So go ahead and connect with us there. I would love to have you.
Until next time, my friends, stay inspired, stay fabulous, and happy business building.
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