for designers
design business mentorship
grow your business, make more money, and feel more fulfilled
You’ve spent half of your project together trying to make sense of her bogus feedback—“the colors need to pop more!” and “make the logo bigger!”—and the other half trying to convince her that she should freaking trust your expertise, despite the fact you just started your biz.
And honestly? You didn’t even want to do this project in the first place, but it’s not like anyone else was banging down the door to work with you, so you felt compelled to make it work.
Truth be told, you thought starting a design business would be so much more fulfilling than this—I mean, all the other designers on Instagram are making bank and being celebrated for their brilliant creative ideas. And you’ve heard the lore that there ARE great clients out there—clients with money, who are cool, and actually trust you—but you’ve yet to experience this for yourself.
pOV: You’re on your
of AUNT CAROL’S KNITTING business WEBSITE AND YOU’VE
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hi, i'm
The 16-hour workdays, the sleepless nights, resenting my clients, 384 revision rounds for every project, making pennies, and taking out all of my frustration on my friends and family when I finally set my laptop down each night.
(I’m also self-taught, so I didn’t even have design confidence to fall back on. Looking back, it’s honestly a miracle that I’m here at all.)
Luckily, I’m a Taurus and I was stubborn enough to see it through, so I learned very quickly that running a design business doesn’t have to feel this way. In fact, it won’t always feel this way—especially when you’ve got the right strategies, workflows, and tools at your disposal.
It’s time to get you out of that existential design business spiral, and I’d love to be the one to help.
And trust me when I say:
i lived it.
Sarah Kleist—
mentorship
design business
Personalized business consulting that empowers you to effectively communicate your creative genius, develop efficient biz systems and workflows, create raving-fan clients who shout your name from the rooftops, and become recognized as an expert in your corner of the internet—so you can make way more money and feel way more fulfilled.
60-Minute Strategy Sesh
4-Week Mentorship Experience
✓ Pre-call clarity questionnaire (priming me to come prepared with insights and ideas for your specific biz challenges & tailored to your goals)
✓ 60-Minute, recorded Zoom call
✓ Personalized plan-of-action with next steps tailored to you, based on what we chatted about during our meeting
✓ Everything in the ← 60-Minute Strategy Sesh, plus...
✓ 4 hour-long recorded Zoom Calls
✓ Unlimited (weekday) Voxer access to me for the entire 4 weeks
✓ Custom Notion portal tailored to your business goals and our work together, with clear action items for you to complete
$250
$1,500
introducing...
✓ Everything in the ↑ 60-Minute Strategy Sesh, plus...
✓ 4 hour-long recorded Zoom Calls
✓ Unlimited (weekly) Voxer access to me for the entire 4 weeks
✓ Custom Notion portal tailored to your business goals and our work together, with clear action items for you to complete
clients featured in
—nasir panjwani, design by nasir
"The amount of information I was able to gain will be a resource that will continue to and then some.
"The amount of information I was able to gain will be a resource that will continue to
and then some.
Consulting with Sarah felt like getting advice from an older sister: her knowledge feels invaluable because she's speaking from experience, but simultaneously she's extremely encouraging and patient, and it felt like she really believed in my capability for success. The conversation felt well-worth my time and money and I left with more tools than I came in with which will be worth ten-fold the cost of the call."
PAY ITSELF OFF
—belle brown
"Sarah is an expert voice of experience and authenticity. I am
in my business vision.
"Sarah is an expert voice of experience and authenticity. I am
in my business vision.
Sarah is such an amazing, genuine, and knowledgable mentor. Sarah addressed all my questions and gave me invaluable insight regarding what to expect as well as tips that I can apply immediately into my design process, from technical questions to general topics. I got so many great insights and tips that have clarified my business vision and erased a lot of my doubt."
SO MUCH MORE
CONFIDENT
—JEN PIERCE, JEN CREATIVE CO.
"I feel like I have a
for my business and I can't wait to start implementing it.
"I feel like I have a
for my business and I can't wait to start implementing it.
CLEAR ACTION
As a new designer, I was nervous that I was TOO new and wouldn't have enough to receive clear feedback on, but thankfully I was mistaken. Sarah was so great to work with and made me feel comfortable and understood. I felt like she knew where I was coming from and truly wanted me to succeed. Her experience and point of view makes her a great resource for beginners and those who have years under their belt who are wanting to clarify their messaging and process."
PLAN
— Marta Fieweger
"Sarah is warm, genuine and generous (in addition to being and design sharp), and she's willing to share that with whomever is smart enough to sign up for her mentorship.
"Sarah is warm, genuine and generous (in addition to being
and design sharp), and she's willing to share that with whomever is smart enough to sign up for her mentorship.
People spend a lot of time searching for mentorship–I know I have–and it's often impossible to find. And then you find Sarah, who restores and amplifies your faith in both creativity and humanity."
IMPRESSIVELY BUSINESS SAVVY
—julia marks
"Sarah helped me realize things I
would have thought of.
"Sarah helped me realize things I
would have thought of.
Before our call, I was unclear about my offers, pricing, and what my entire brand was about. Sarah was very clear and helped me narrow down on the issues I felt I was struggling with in my business. Our call helped me feel confident in my new approach for my brand. Highly recommend!"
NEVER
—josh rivera, artemis design co.
"Sarah has been in the web design space for quite a while and really has some on how the industry works.
"Sarah has been in the web design space for quite a while and really has some
on how the industry works.
She gave me actionable recommendations for changes on my website and she helped me brainstorm the unique qualities of myself and my business. She also has an amazing grasp of social media and how to navigate it. And more than anything she made me feel comfortable and heard. I would definitely recommend Sarah's mentorship!"
DEEP INSIGHTS
custom-tailored
each SESSION is
to your biz goals,
but we can
cover topics like...
Selling your services effectively & creating compelling proposals, contracts, and scopes
Personal branding and establishing yourself as a creative expert (not just a pixel-pusher)
Developing a unique client & project experience that has your clients raving about you to all of their business friends
Identifying your ideal client & knowing what to say to them to get them to fill out your inquiry form
Managing work/life balance and energy, overcoming creative blocks, and dealing with self-doubt
Leveraging partnerships, referral opportunities, and other marketing strategies to continue growing
...so that ultimately, you can make way more money, ditch your 9-5, actually feel fulfilled, make a creative impact, become well-known in your space, and actually enjoy your life outside of design, too.
get a taste of my education vibe
✓ You're a newer designer (or new to freelancing) who is stuck in the hamster wheel of low-budget projects and low self-esteem
✓ You're not seeing the kinds of inquiries you want to be seeing—aka the cool clients who actually have great website content, take their businesses seriously, and respect your expertise
✓ Your project and onboarding processes feel all over the place, and you spend more time on admin each week than you do on design
✓ You're attracting all the wrong kinds of people and you're starting to resent your business in general
✓ You frequently get client inquiries you're excited about
✓ Your project and onboarding processes are solid and your clients are always super happy with both the experience and your design work
✓ Your biz income grows with each passing year and you're feeling super fulfilled
Frequently
asked q's
While I am absolutely able to offer suggestions for how to improve your actual designs and client work, this consulting is mostly focused on the business aspects of your design biz. There are other designers who do design-focused education way better than I ever could! (And that’s on knowing your strengths, bb.)
Nope—I am not a lawyer or an accountant, so it's actually illegal for me to do so. However, I can point you in the direction of qualified professionals who CAN help you with those things!
If you’re interested in exploring the 4-week-long mentorship package further to take your business to the next level, a free consultation my gift to you! Fill out this inquiry form and I'll be in touch to schedule one.
For those interested solely on one-off strategy sessions, I do not offer complimentary consultations. Once we've had a chance to connect there, we can better evaluate fit for more in-depth work together down the road if desired.
I would love to help you! Brand new business owners are some of my favorite mentorship clients to work with.
Other than our weekly 60-minute strategy session, your access to me is unlimited during weekdays, so take advantage when you need to. What you get out of this is directly proportional to the time you put in!
expertise.
leverage your
BETTER CLIENTS.
ATTRACT
prices.
raise your
FASTER.
DO BETTER WORK,