Andy Kopietz explains making the leap from employee to employer
Andy Kopietz made the jump from employee to self-employed with fairly typical motivations. He thought he could do it better.
"I always felt like if it were me in charge I could have done a stronger job," Kopietz says. "I always felt a little bit stifled working for other people."
Which is kind of funny because he designed his way out of his last job.
Kopietz has spent the last decade working in Detroit’s local design circles since attending the College of Creative Studies. His last stop was as the design director for
D:hive, an organization serving as a welcome and help center for all things Detroit.
Earlier this fall, D:hive announced it was splitting into two different organizations because it had been so successful. That also meant neither of the new organizations could afford its own design person. So Kopietz decided to launch his own company,
Good Done Daily. The Midtown-based company is doing work for
New Economy Initiative, the
Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan,
Midtown Detroit Inc (the branding work for
Dlectricity), and the
Hudson-Webber Foundation.
While Kopietz thinks he can effectively compete with other local design firms, he credits his experience with them for getting him to where he is today. Working with those company, such as
Trent Design in Rochester Hills, taught him the basics of running his own boutique agency.
"I learned how to negotiate for jobs with companies," Kopietz says. "How to speak with them. How to stay organized with my business. I also learned how to collaborate with a lot of people."
Those are the tools that are now allowing him to call his own shots at his own company. To make the creative decisions he has yearned to make for most of professional career. For that to be sustainable, Kopietz knows he has to produce well consistently and build his company's reputations as well as its staff and client base.
"I want people to trust me and feel like they can come to me to get solutions," Kopietz says.
Kopietz wants
Good Done Daily to make its first hire over the next year and grow to a handful of people not long after that. However, he doesn't have big ambitious of becoming the next large design house in Detroit where he manages lots of people. He prefers to remain active in design work.
"I think we're more interested in the craft of design than the state of the advertising industry," Kopietz says.
- Written by Jon Zemke