CityScope Magazine

Annual Business Issue

Full transcript below

Though Gabrielle Blades never imagined one day owning her own business, she’s always had an entrepreneurial spirit. “When I was a kid, I would pretend to have a greeting card business in our sunroom and tried to sell art classes at recess,” she explains. Early in her career in design, Blades supplemented her employment with contract work, which made her realize her passion for helping entrepreneurs build and visualize their dreams. Eventually, Blades realized that she had reached the point where she was working full-time for herself. “It took a long time to even realize I was a business owner, but when I got my own office space, it felt real, and I was ready to grow,” she shares. 

Now, Blades is the owner and lead designer for her own business -- Blades Creative Design Studio. She and her team offer branding and packaging design to businesses of any size and pride themselves on the creative partnerships they maintain by collaborating with their clients. 

As Blades’ background is in the field of design and not business, her ability to problem-solve really helped her to go places starting out. “Using that skill, I was able to teach myself how to run a business. I had to learn to create project proposals, invoice my clients, implement contracts, and take on administrative tasks as I went,” she explains. 

To Blades, taking control of her business also equated to taking control of her life. “I get to have full control over the business, molding and shaping it into what it needs to be over time. Knowing that I have built something from the ground up and that I can continue to do so without having to stay the same is so incredibly satisfying,” says Blades. 

She’s also grateful for the confidence she’s gaining from running her own business. While she used to doubt herself often in the beginning stages of her career, she’s learned to trust her own intuition and decision-making at an earlier age than most. 

Blades’ words of wisdom for other young aspiring entrepreneurs center on the importance of hard work and empathy. “It’s a lot of work. You have to go through really hard work and hard lessons for several years before you get to relax,” she advises. “However if you’re doing your best work and being kind, then you will always be okay.”