Meet Spencer High of Querkus Creative

Today we’d like to introduce you to Spencer High. 

Hi Spencer, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
During the fall of 2020, I found myself running out of things to do. As a creative person, I usually have to have at least one project going or something that I need to have to focus my thoughts on, but I didn’t have much to occupy my mind. These projects help me meditate in a way and allow my brain to rest in the creative process. But With no projects to work on, and distractions running out, I hit a bit of a creative block which inevitably turned into a time of depression. I wasn’t able to create anything for my own personal satisfaction and felt like everything I made didn’t really have a purpose.

As I tried to figure out what to do with myself, I decided to pick up some books about nature (a personal passion of mine) and discovered the world of native plants. Through the process of researching plants and learning about each of their roles in the ecosystem, I began to look at my own life and consider what value I was contributing to my own community.

From that period of self-reflection, I remembered that 2 years previously, I had served on a planning committee for a local nonprofit’s fundraising campaign, and found it to be a very rewarding experience. So, I decided that I should try to replicate that feeling by volunteering my time and talents to some other West Michigan nonprofits. I cold-called 10 different non-profits, whose work I believed in, and heard back from 3 of them who had immediate needs that I could step in and help with.

By filling my free time with volunteer graphic design and illustration work, I slowly began to find that my depression was no longer leaning on me as heavily, and I was back to my normal self. I got to work on all sorts of fun projects which helped raise funds, advertise or promote events, and began to see that the things I created were making a difference in the organizations.

These organizations were seeing their networks positively engage with my work and the designs I created helped generate a sense of excitement around their programming or services. One of my organizations had their most successful year-end campaigns in their history, which they attributed to my advice and design. This concrete evidence that I was helping these organizations grow gave me a lot of motivation and excitement to keep doing what I was doing. I felt like I was finally filling my role within my own ‘human ecosystem’. It also got me thinking about what these organizations would do for their visual communications without me.

Most nonprofit organizations provide vital resources for our community, but due to budgeting constraints, they don’t always have the ability to have a graphic designer on staff. When they need someone to design something, they either have someone on staff do it (whose time could be spent executing their normal activities), hire a student (who may or may not have the experience to solve their communication needs), or work with a design agency (who charge a high hourly rate – which for many smaller agencies is out of their yearly budgets). So, I had the realization that one day I should try to fix that hole, support these nonprofits on their respective missions, and make this my full-time job.

After 2 years of volunteering, I got to be really busy filling my nights and weekends with all of the visual communication needs that these organizations had. I also found myself not looking forward to having to work on anything for my normal day job as a web designer. I found nonprofit work to be a source of inspiration and it was easy to get lost in it. I could actually see that the work I was doing was impacting lives, connecting people with resources which increased their quality of life and also fulfilled the organization’s missions. In comparison with my day job where that societal impact was much harder to see. It was a difficult time to be productive during my 9-5 when I had so many exciting projects going on after hours.

Luckily for me, I found out that my position at work was going to be eliminated at the end of 2021, so my decision was made for me. So, in August of 2021, I began ramping up my network and transitioning my volunteer clients to paid, and building my client list to see if this dream could become a reality.

And now, as of January 1st, 2022, I am officially a full-time nonprofit consultant! I work with 15 different organizations to help them engage and communicate with their audiences at a rate which is affordable. It’s been great to be able to naturally step into a role and be valued for what I bring to the table. Even though I’m at the beginning, I feel like I have been doing this my whole life and can’t wait to see what sort of positive change I can create within my community.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Ever since I found out that my position at my day job was going to be eliminated at the end of 2021, I have felt like life kicked me off of a cliff, but there has been a series of pillows on the way down to break my fall… I didn’t really have any option when it came to timing, and quite frankly, if I didn’t lose my job, I think I would probably still be there and falling even more disillusioned with it. But the road to shifting to making this my full-time career has been weirdly easy. If I ever got really stressed out about it and thought “I can’t do this” or “how am I going to make enough money to live off this?” – the next day an email would come with good news, the phone would ring to see if I’m available to take on some extra work, or something would happen that reduces a bill for next year. It’s been a huge blessing to have the universe sending little signals that I am heading in the right direction. 

We’ve been impressed with Querkus Creative, 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?
I work alongside nonprofit organizations to create visual communications that engage their audiences in new and exciting ways. I am a graphic designer, illustrator, and nonprofit consultant who has done just about everything in his career – so I know how to do things effectively the first time (which saves time, effort, and money!) 

Since I personally am so interested and invested in conservation and the environment, most of my clients are within the ecological field, but I work with any non-profit who is as dedicated to creating a better community for all as I am.

I have been able to offer many of these organizations a higher quality design service at an affordable rate, which has allowed us to do a lot of fun and unique projects together. I have been able to gain a lot of experience doing a lot of different things over my career, which has been great, and now I can use that experience to help these organizations grow and impact lives throughout Michigan. I have always been a good illustrator and found that I would really have to fight to include that into my design work in previous jobs, but now that nonprofits are able to access a resource that is able to do this sort of work for them, at an affordable rate, that is what is probably what skill I would say is my ‘known for’ skill that keeps clients coming back.

From the first idea to the final execution, I get to walk alongside organizations and help them grow. It’s a very rewarding experience. Having these long-term relationships also builds great relationships with the people who work at the nonprofit organizations. I have spent a lot of time just getting to know these people and discovering what gets them excited about what they do. I care about the work these organizations do, but I think that getting to know and caring for the people who work at these places has been the greatest part of this experience for me. It also helps these organizations trust in the design process, be open to new ideas, and know that their work is in good hands when we are both invested in each other, the community as a whole and the nonprofits themselves.

The fact that I am able to offer professional design-studio quality at an affordable rate is also a huge selling point. I worked with several of my contacts from the nonprofit community to create a rate that is both fair for my skill set and also helps the nonprofits reallocate some funds back into their programming. It helps create a mutually beneficial relationship where we both are helping support each other.

Because I work in such a specific field, I get to really look into the audiences of these different organizations and find out what works well, and what doesn’t. So, a big part of the value that I bring is the ability to make strategic suggestions and say ‘have you considered this?’.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
People don’t choose to work with you because of what you do, they work with you because of why you do. Building real open and honest relationships is the most essential part of being in this world. When you have a mutual trust established in each other, you create a sense of understanding with one another and it makes the process of coexisting much more enjoyable and easy for everyone. 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: querkuscreative.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/querkuscreative
• Facebook: facebook.com/querkuscreative