Meet Kirsten Deibel: Graphic Designer & Creative Agency Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kirsten Deibel and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kirsten, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?
I inherited the base of my clients from another young mom who was about to have her first child. She decided to pass on her client base to me. Some would define that as quitting. To me it was the most selfless act I’d ever seen. She gave up everything she worked for to help someone else like me get their start, and ultimately she was doing it for her baby on the way. It gave me a whole new perspective on “quitting”. I think there are times to “quit” and it can be beautiful. It can be a pause in your own career while helping someone else get their start. This is the premise for how Graphted was started. I wanted to pass on that same legacy and knew that someday I’d want kids of my own and would need to take a pause on work. This is why I started taking creatives on under my wing, giving them creative direction, training them in how to get clients, how to work with clients, how to write contracts, and how to bill. I’m so glad my old friend “quit” long ago. I’m sure she’s back in the design game by now, but that pause she took gave new life to me and eventually all the creatives who would work for us at Graphted.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Graphted is a business I started out of a blessing of too much work. I decided to start hiring people to bring on and help with extra graphic design work I had on my plate. My clients began asking for more, like web development, copy writing, photography, branding, videography. So I went through a hiring process of bringing on more talent. We soon grew to a small rag tag team that could take on anything. We are learning how to accomodate all different types of clients and grow along the way. I love getting to work with my team because I’m constantly inspired and learning from them. I also love how I can bring value to them in coaching them on client relations, contracts, billing, and the creative process at large. Doing work with others is so much more gratifying then when I was doing graphic design on my own. I feel so lucky to have a business that can grow and shrink as I need it to with my own growing family.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We love living here in Southern California. Dang it’s expensive, but dang it’s worth it. We love hanging at the beach all day and getting food at The Pocket Burger in Sunset Beach. It has the best food and the nicest family that operates it. We love doing dinner at Prime in Long Beach. It’s a little house that got converted into an outdoor restaurant, and on Tuesdays they turn all their menu items into Tacos!!! If you have kids the best spot is Golden Road Brewing where you can get a pizza and drinks and sit on the lawn next to it and play bocci ball and let the kids run and play on the climbing area. But our favorite thing about southern California is frequenting the Goodwill’s in the area 😉 We never leave without at least one treasure. Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There was a very important person who gifted me her clients, before the birth of her first child. Her name is Shani Griffis! Forever grateful.

Website: https://www.graphteddesign.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/graphted/