Ask Mel: A monthly space for you to ask me anything

When I started my business in 2018 I was fresh out of college, green behind the ears, and thought I knew it all.

Boy, was I wrong.

I realized fairly quickly that:

• I didn’t know jack squat about running a business.

• I had a degree but my design portfolio was a mish-mash of projects I had collected over my education.

• I didn’t know where to start, what to learn, or even who to ask.

• Gatekeeping was a thing and no one wanted to share their information unless I bought a course or their services.

• I was frustrated and wanted to quit (but super glad I didn’t).

Over the years, I had to teach myself branding, how to run a business, networking, and basically anything else I didn’t know how to do. Google and Youtube were my colleagues for a long time (and sometimes they still are). When I started my design community back in 2020 it gave me a space to ask other designers the questions I desperately wanted answers to. I love community, sharing, and not being an asshole when someone asks you “What font are you using?”.

If you’re like me, a curious creative business owner or designer, you probably have a lot of questions on your mind too. And I want to give you the space to ask them.

So once a month, I’ll open this space for you to ask me anything.

I’m an open book and will answer just about anything you shoot my way. It can be about your brand studio, your process, how to get your ideal clients, my work life balance, or a very specific question about your brand and business.

How you can send me a question:

• Reply directly to this email

• Leave a comment on this post in Substack.

• Anonymously send a question on this form.

I’ll do a round-up of all of the questions and will send back my answers by next week.

I look forward to hearing from you!