Exploring Life & Business with Courtney Jones of Little Creative Company

Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Jones

Hi Courtney, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My whole family is full of entrepreneurs and I never thought I would go that route. I went to The University of Alabama where I studied Advertising and Marketing. I learned graphic design and was tasked with starting a blog for a class project. It wasn’t until a year or so after college, in 2016, that I decided to take blogging seriously and knew I needed to upgrade my website. However, I was still on an entry-level salary and paying student loans, so a web designer wasn’t in the budget. With my background in graphic design, I taught myself how to build Squarespace websites. My site turned out so well that I started having friends and acquaintances ask me to design their sites.

Fast forward a couple of years later and I began my business, Little Creative Company, in 2018 as a side hustle to my corporate marketing job. I saw a need for strategic and attractive websites for small businesses that don’t have time to do it all themselves. I knew with my corporate marketing experience and graphic design background that I would be able to bring the extra creative help needed to small businesses.

In addition to web design, I also do book and publication design. I started my career working for Time Inc. in their cookbook department which gave me a niche experience in publishing. The same year I started my business, I also self-published my first book. In an effort to keep costs down, I designed it all myself using my background. Similar to my web design story, others began asking for my help with their books as well.

This led me to focus my business on websites and book design since those are two areas I love designing for most. What started as a way to pay off my student debt, quickly turned into a passion to eventually work for myself. I grew my client base over the past 6 years and in June of 2024, I made the leap to work for myself full time. I love being able to help small businesses with bringing their website to life.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Running a small business always has its ups and downs. There have been seasons when working full-time in the corporate world while running my business on the side where I had to prioritize. Whenever I had a busier season in my corporate job, my business took a backseat. This was hard at times because it felt like losing momentum. However, I’m thankful for the years being able to have trial and error in my business while working a steady full-time job so that I could really discover what I wanted to focus on most. This led me to realize that I wanted to run my business full-time and leave the corporate world. It’s scary to take a leap of faith and give up a steady income, but the flexibility and ability to work for myself has been incredible.

We’ve been impressed with Little Creative Company, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Founded in 2018, Little Creative Company started as a way to help entrepreneurs, small businesses, and Authors with a little extra creative help through graphic design. Today, our primary focus is Squarespace Web Design and Book Design. With over 10 years of experience in design, marketing, and strategy, I have the ability to bring to life designs that convert. I like to call myself a creative sidekick. What sets us apart is that I bring corporate experience with a small business background to help small business owners with their creative needs. I look at all my design work from the customer’s viewpoint to ensure that it resonates.

For our website offerings, we have a 2-week website option that gets the client’s website out in the world faster than the normal turnaround time. Our services range from 4-pages up to large websites. We also offer website audits and day rates for smaller needs.

For our book design offerings, I offer cover design, interior layout/design, and I also have marketing/ coaching services to help authors.

It’s a big passion of mine to help you succeed as a small business or author.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
We are newer to the Columbus area but it has quickly felt like home to us. We moved here last August for my husband’s job. It has been an incredible community for connecting with other small business owners and being able to grow my business. It helps to have a like-minded community that understands the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. What I love most about Columbus is that there’s always something to do and somewhere good to eat. My husband is a big sports guy so being able to go to Blue Jackets games and Clippers games has been a blast. So far we love Columbus and don’t have any dislikes.

Pricing:

• 4 Page Website – Starts at $3,000
• 6 Page Website – Starts at $6,000
• 8 plus page large site – Starts at $10,000
• Book Design ranges $400-$800
• Day rates range from $500-$1,250

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.littlecreativecompany.com/
• Instagram: @littlecreativecompany
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/littlecreativecompany/