Meet April Wier: Director, Sugar Five Design

We had the good fortune of connecting with April Wier and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi April, what habits do you feel play an important role in your life?
Intentionally developing relationships with mentors – I try to serve those who are willing to teach me. I share their posts, I attend their events, and generally make myself of use. People want to invest in those that invest in them. We are never so far along in our careers that we don’t need people at the next level to show us the way. Being my own mentor – Instead of always reaching out for perspective, sometimes we just need to step outside ourselves to see the obvious. Forest for the trees, and all that. I will think to myself, “If I asked Kathy (my longtime mentor) what I should do in this situation, what would she say?” It seems so simple, but sometimes we forget we can step outside ourselves and be our own best mentor. Listening to podcasts and reading, reading, reading – A hungry brain needs food. To stay at the top of our game, we need to be constantly feeding our brains with the stories and processes of successful people. It helps normalize success in our own minds, and gives us the tools to move forward. Creative procrastination – I have a tendency to want to procrastinate. When your job is creative, it is easy to burnout if you don’t allow yourself time to work on different types of projects. I think that is what procrastination is in my world, a push to change things up. To combat that, I keep a “fun” project on the side that I can work on when I’m getting bogged down in my day-to-day work. Doing a limited amount of white-label work for other creatives – This keeps me from getting in a rut and accidentally tailoring my designs for my current skill set. Working for others makes me stretch in ways I might not on my own, because they don’t know what my internal self-imposed limitations are. It also helps to keep the focus off of me and on the work. When you work as an artist, it is easy to insert yourself into the meaning of the work. This strips that away and makes the art completely in service of the client. It’s a good exercise to have on a regular basis. 

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I run a digital marketing shop north of Atlanta. We provide web design, branding, SEO and content strategy. Our industry focus is on medical clinics and law firms. We strongly emphasize design and research in all we do. It is art and science put in service of small business. We get most excited about finding new ways to support our clients. Creative problem-solving is at the core of all we do. My business isn’t just being built by me. I’m being built by my business. I’ve had to grow in many ways to become the person that can lead my team. As a personal development vehicle, nothing besides parenting has provided so many opportunities for growth. At first, it feels like inadequacy. If you keep going, you realize that feeling is just showing you where you need to put reinforcements. The biggest lesson my business has taught me is that every minute spent serving my local business community returns to me tenfold. You need people you can trust, and that trust you, in your business life. You find those people by going out and serving. Many refrain from community because they have a scarcity mindset that they have to be totally focused on getting what’s theirs, or protecting what they already have. Especially in a city like Atlanta, there is plenty of work to go around. Share your knowledge and love with your community. You will be amazed at the knowledge and love you get back.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We love the Atlanta Zoo. It is such a great place to take the family. With the recent expansions, there is so much on offer. We love to visit the pandas and always end up at the Treetop Trails (a zip-line course.) Just thinking about it makes me want to pack everyone up and go right now.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Kathy Drewien – mentor and friend https://conversationmatters.club/

Website: https://sugarfivedesign.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sugarfivedesign/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprilwier/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sugarfivedesign
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sugarfivedesign
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sugar-five-design-woodstock