Today we’d like to introduce you to Rene Kauder.
Hi Rene, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My path to Savvy & Style was anything but straight. I spent 13 years in higher education, took a leap into corporate, and lasted exactly four months before I realized I’m just not built for someone else’s rules. So I did what felt right: I built something of my own.
Savvy & Style started in 2016, not as a design studio, but as a VA role I created for myself. I was in the social selling world at the time and kept noticing the same thing: women were building real, legitimate businesses, and nobody was helping them look the part behind the scenes. I started doing that, one project at a time.
From there, it evolved. When the pandemic hit in 2020 and everything went online, visuals suddenly mattered in a way they hadn’t before. Your brand was speaking before you ever got the chance to. That’s when I started weaving visual brand styling into the work. And then in 2021, after saying no three times, I finally said yes to websites. Once I invested in the right training and built my first Squarespace site, everything clicked.
Now, ten years in, I run a design studio that creates websites and visual brand styling for women service providers. I also offer ongoing design support through a monthly partnership for clients who are done doing it themselves. The through line across all of it has always been the same: design should make your business feel easier to run, not harder.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth? Not even a little. And I think that’s actually part of what makes the work meaningful.
The beginning was a lot of figuring it out as I went. I didn’t come from a design background. I came from higher education, then a brief and very clarifying corporate detour, and I was essentially building the plane while flying it. There were plenty of moments of “am I actually qualified to do this?” And the answer, over time, became yes, but it took a while to feel that way.
Adding websites was its own learning curve. Clients kept asking, and I kept saying no because I didn’t feel ready. I finally said yes, invested in real training, and had to trust the process before I had the proof. That’s uncomfortable when you’re a perfectionist who wants to do things well.
There was also the chapter where I outgrew my own visuals. After years of helping other women elevate their brands, I looked at mine and realized it no longer reflected where I was. I had to hand my own business over to another designer, which, as someone who does this for a living, felt vulnerable in a way I didn’t expect. But it was one of the best decisions I’ve made. It reminded me why clients come to me in the first place.
And honestly? Running a solo business for ten years has its own quiet challenges that don’t always make the highlight reel. The seasons where work slows down. The pivots in messaging. The moments of “is this still the right direction?” The answer has always been yes, but getting there isn’t always clean.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Savvy & Style is a brand and web design studio specializing in cohesive websites and visual brand styling for women service providers. (Coaches, consultants, therapists, personal stylists.) Women who are really good at what they do and want their online presence to finally reflect that.
What I do is build visual foundations that make showing up online easier. That looks like logo styling, color palettes, typography, and brand direction through The Styled Brand. It looks like strategic, polished Squarespace websites through The Styled Site. And for clients who want ongoing support, The Styled Subscription is a monthly design partnership where I handle the updates, the templates, the newsletters, and all the little things that eat up time they don’t have.
What I’m known for, and what I think sets me apart, is that I don’t treat these as separate projects. A website without a cohesive visual foundation is just a pretty page that doesn’t hold together. So everything I build starts from that foundation first, then grows from there. It all works as one system, and that’s where the real difference shows up.
The other thing I hear consistently from clients is that the process feels different than they expected. I don’t hand down design decisions. I collaborate. I ask questions. I want clients to understand the why behind every choice, because at the end of the day, it’s their business. I’m just here to make it look and feel like the real deal.
What I’m most proud of? Honestly, that 99% of my clients come from referrals. After ten years, that’s the thing that means the most to me. It tells me the work is good, yes, but more than that, it tells me the experience is good. People don’t refer someone unless they genuinely trust them.
And I think that’s what I most want people to know about Savvy & Style. This isn’t a transactional, get-it-done-and-move-on kind of studio. It’s relationship-based, it’s collaborative, and the goal is always a result that feels unmistakably you.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
A few things I wish someone had told me earlier:
You don’t have to have it all figured out before you start. I built this business one project at a time, and a lot of the clarity came from doing the work, not from planning it perfectly in advance. If you’re waiting until everything feels ready, you’ll be waiting a long time.
Invest in looking the part sooner than feels comfortable. I know that’s a little on the nose coming from a brand and web designer, but I mean it genuinely. Your visuals are often the first thing someone sees before they ever read a word you’ve written. A scattered or outdated online presence can work against you even when your actual work is excellent. The disconnect between how good you are and how you’re showing up online is more costly than most people realize.
Stay in your zone of genius and find people to handle the rest. The hours I spent early on trying to do everything myself were hours I wasn’t spending on the work I’m actually great at. Learning to hand things off, whether that’s design, tech, or anything else, is one of the best things you can do for your business and your sanity.
And this one took me a while to really believe: your prices should reflect the value of what you do, not what you think people will pay. When I stopped positioning myself as the affordable option and started showing up as the experienced, collaborative, results-driven designer I actually am, everything shifted.
The last thing I’d say is let your brand evolve with you. I outgrew my own visuals after years of helping other women update theirs. It happens. It’s not a failure. It’s just growth. Give yourself permission to change.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.savvyandstyle.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/savvyandstyle/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/savvyandstyle
