Creative Jaime Edmondson has a head full of creative ideas for businesses in Traverse City. She began her creative path as a student at Michigan State when she switched from studying zoology to digital media with an initial interest in video game design. However, put off by the hostility in the game industry towards women and a desire to be close to family, Jaime instead followed a path into graphic design.
Jaime fell in love with graphic design and took on roles in marketing and design in different industries over the years, both as an in-house designer and a freelancer. In 2023, her son was born, and although she had applied for daycare early during her pregnancy, she didn’t hear back about an available spot until her son was almost a year and a half old. Lack of childcare and a toxic work environment pushed her to take the leap into full-time business ownership, which was more flexible. She founded Spellbound Creative Studio, a design firm that offers brand guidance, brand design, and web design, with more creative services to come.
20Fathoms spoke to Jaime about her creative path, her involvement with Women in Tech, and her experience with a necessary jump into entrepreneurship.
The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
20Fathoms: What do you do? What makes Spellbound Creative Studio unique?
Jaime Edmondson: When I say I bring stories to life, I mean that when I talk with a business owner and go through all their questionnaires, they give me their full story. I want to be able to help other people at least understand that story, if not experience it.
That might look like supporting a service provider like 8bit Insights by making the visuals fun and nostalgic, which appeals to a very specific demographic, or I might help businesses to find the best wallpaper to create that sense of immersion and physical escapism.
That’s the kind of storytelling I love to do, to live a different life for a bit.
Your brand is more than a logo or colors or typography; it’s the entire experience a brand offers to someone. I focus on “experience guidance,” helping people define how they want their customer to go through their journey with their brand.
20Fathoms: What’s your vision for your company?
Jaime: Within the next 5 years to get Spellbound to a point where I have consistent clients coming in, where I’m able to really bring out the best of their stories in their visuals so that people who see them can look at these visuals and understand immediately, “I’m 95 percent certain this is someone I want to work with.”
Beyond that, at some point I would love to bring full-service marketing, copywriting, and 3D visualization in house, to offer all that creative necessity together.
20Fathoms: What has been the biggest challenge you have faced as a startup founder?
Jaime: The biggest thing I am almost constantly dealing with is marketing myself. I don’t like comparing myself to other people but there are designers who haven’t been doing it as long but are better at marketing, so they are more advanced in their own entrepreneurial journey.
As someone who did not study business in school, I also don’t know what I don’t know. There’s this fear in the back of my mind around the little details I’m less familiar with – yeah you have a CPA, but is the IRS going to come after you because you forgot, am I legally operating, etc.
20Fathoms: How did you get involved with Women in Tech? What made you decide to come out for the first time?
Jaime: I didn’t have money to spend on advertising, and I didn’t want to just start cold emailing people – it feels so invasive and disingenuous. But I needed to get my name out there.
The Ticker/ Recess, Women in Tech, and the NoMiWoman networking series; those are the ones I started with. I’m very introverted and going to events was a huge step. I was always very proud of myself for going!
Women in Tech specifically I ended up at because at my previous job I was doing software testing, and I was a woman in tech. Seeing the effects of being a woman in a male-dominated industry, I wanted to connect with other women who are trying to break through that glass ceiling. That was my target audience before I rebranded my business, and I’m still very passionate about working with women who are trying to break the ceiling.
I was so nervous going to the first Women in Tech meetup; I don’t do the best with meeting strangers and selling myself. But it was such a casual and comfortable event; Gretchen made it so easy to just talk. A year later, that’s still my favorite event to go to.
20Fathoms: What has come out of your involvement with Women in Tech?
Jaime: Clients and community.
First and most obvious, a client—I booked not my first client, but my first paying client as a business owner! The relationship that I formed with Sabrina [Jordan, Founder of 8bit Insights] is so great. We immediately hit it off at Women in Tech and I knew right away that if she inquired with me, that we were going to work really well together.
I have all my clients go through pretty involved questionnaires. We hadn’t even had our strategy kickoff yet when she texted me, “I’ve only done this one thing and I already have so much more clarity about my business than before we met.”
Hearing that from Sabrina gave me a new sense of confidence. I’m thrilled I can do that for people. Being able to support other people in pursuing their dreams and make their passions a reality; that to me felt incredible. It gave me the confidence that I’m doing what I should be doing.
Outside of that client relationship, I made a new friend in that client and I’ve gotten along so well with all of these women that I have met at Women in Tech. It has given me that bigger sense of confidence for other networking events that I go to.
It’s still really hard for me but I am more confident now approaching people and speaking to them about what they do and what I do.
20Fathoms: What piece of advice would you offer other entrepreneurs?
Jaime: Just start!
It’s so easy to sit there and look at everything, to make a list of everything that needs to be done and try to pluck away before doing anything.
But you will potentially miss opportunities, and it’s just going to mess with your confidence too. The longer you put it off, the more you’re going to. Action begins by taking a single step. If you’re wanting to start a business but feel like you can’t go out and try to meet people until you do x,y, or z, just go out and try to meet people! I would definitely recommend networking events. I still get anxious, but it’s my favorite way of connecting with people because you can actually make new connections. Take action to build motivation and momentum.
My biggest motivator was having my son, which played into the work I was doing at my last job. It was not work I was passionate about or excited about, so I had wanted to get back to doing something creative for a while. But after having my son, I realized on maternity leave that I wasn’t excited to go back. I loved the people I worked with but the work itself didn’t make me look forward to going to work anymore. I really wanted to be able to set an example for him; that you don’t need to settle for something when you’re not at least excited about it, and that putting in the hard work is always worth it.