Easy answer. Because kindness.
Because everything that I do is done IN kindness. Not just with kindness or with the intention of being kind... it's more than that.
Almost a decade ago, when I first dreamed of building this company, the passions that drove me were a love of helping small businesses and the hope of bringing quality design to business owners who didn't have any other way to access it affordably. You have to remember... 10 years ago, Canva didn't exist. Vistaprint wasn't even a thing yet. No 99 design, no fiverr, no nothing...
There weren't really any good platforms for small businesses to access good design without hiring someone like me. And I wanted to be a "someone like me" who small businesses could actually afford.
Because kindness.
And as someone who talks all the time about the brand lifecycle, I'll tell you this: I spent a good couple of years questioning whether or not I should keep the name. And that's a BIG call to make, right??
I had been inKind Design for 5 years when I first started questioning if inKind and Design really still fit. Because I still wanted to be kind... but I also felt like raising my prices and stepping into my power as a business owner somehow... dimmed that? Like if I was really being kind, I'd just give all my work away for free... right? And, as of the 6 year mark, the design part didn't feel quite right either, for a couple of reasons. 1. Design could be anything (interior design, product design, closet design, insert-literally-anything-here _ design...) and 2. if the "product" is Empathetic Brand Building... design doesn't really tell the whole story. Yes there's design in it, but it's SO MUCH BIGGER than that.
So, now, the question is: Why STILL inKind?
And I'll tell you. All those years ago, when i picked "inKind", I looked it up first:
Merriam-Webster defines “In-Kind” as “consisting of something other than money”. And that's what it is. That's what my work is. It's not about money. Kindness isn't about money. Empathy isn't about money. When you run a business, it's easy to think that money is THE thing. Yes it is A thing... we all need it, we all work toward it and it's absolutely NOT a dirty word. But it's not the point of what I do.
I know that life is bigger than money, so I choose to focus on kindness in stead.
So. Allow me to reintroduce you to inKind Design inc.
inKind because the work is still, absolutely, about something other than, and much more meaningful than, money. And not just for kindness or with kindness, but inKindness. Steeped IN kindness. Oozing with empathy. Personally and emotionally and deeply connected to everyone whose lives I get to touch.
And I am confident that no matter where my life and my business take me, that will always be true.
