Amy Balliett is the founder of Killer Visual Strategies. They’re a design studio in Seattle, Washington helping clients efficiently and effectively create meaning through design.

Amy got a head start with entrepreneurship by owning her own ice cream parlor at age 17. Since then, she’s gone on to work as a video editor, film trailer marketer and—after several pivots later—founder, author and public speaker.

She and Chris discuss how to know when it’s time for you to make that big pivot with your business and the risk of not doing anything. They also get into the impact of COVID-19 on the creative service industry and what they are both doing to prepare for the future.

Before there was Killer Visual Strategies, Amy ran Killer Infographics, where she and a team of designers created infographics for a variety of businesses. As Amy put it, her agency was comparable to a fast-food spot. If a business was hungry for a design, Killer Infographics would make them full, yes, but it wasn’t entirely good for them.

Over time, around 2012, Amy decided it was time to make a pivot and hone in on visual communication as a service. She and her team had gone from being reactive to proactive, reinvented the company, and changed the name to Killer Visual Strategies to reflect this shift.

So, how does running an ice cream parlor at the age of 17 fit into running a creative agency? Well, this unexpected entrepreneurial journey actually jumpstarted Amy’s creative career path.

She found herself creating promotional material and expanding profit opportunities for the parlor through posters, t-shirts, and more. Creating these physical pieces of content exposed Amy to the possibilities of creating visual content for businesses.

Now, at Killer Visual Strategies, Amy leads a team of designers specializing in every aspect of visual content. Her story is an impressive one, and if you’re curious to learn more about her entrepreneurial spirit, you’ll just have to listen to the full episode.