A creative partnership built over six years
What started as behind-the-scenes support grew into a trusted partnership spanning six years, adapting alongside Katie's business through growth, change and new chapters.
Founded by Katie Chappell, Illustrated Live creates live illustrations and graphic recordings that help businesses capture conversations, ideas and events through engaging visual storytelling.
Trusted by organisations including Apple, Adobe, Netflix, Google, Meta, Dove and Nespresso, Katie helps clients communicate complex ideas in a clear, engaging and memorable way.
But as her business continued to grow, so did everything happening behind the scenes.
Every business reaches a point where doing everything yourself is no longer sustainable.
When Katie and I first started working together in 2020, Illustrated Live was growing quickly.
As more enquiries came in and exciting opportunities followed, so did the day-to-day work of running a successful business. Client onboarding, follow-ups, newsletters, social media, website updates and all the small but important jobs that keep everything moving.
Like many growing business owners, Katie found herself juggling it all.
She wasn't looking for someone to simply tick tasks off a list. She wanted someone she could trust to become part of the team, bring structure to the business and provide consistent support.
A partnership that evolved
Over six years, our partnership evolved alongside Katie's business.
In the early days, I supported a wide range of areas including newsletters, blog content, social media, website updates, client onboarding and managing enquiries. As the business grew, we refined systems, streamlined processes and found more efficient ways of working.
As Katie expanded into an agency and began building a team, I helped create onboarding systems and operational processes to support that next stage of growth.
Later, as she chose to return to a smaller, more focused business, we adapted again. We worked together to refine client workflows and introduce a new enquiry and referral process, making it easier to manage incoming work while providing a consistent experience for every client.
That's one of the biggest benefits of ongoing support. As a business evolves, the support evolves too.
Support through every season
Throughout our six years working together, my role adapted not only to Katie's business, but also to life beyond work.
When Katie took maternity leave, I kept everything ticking over behind the scenes by managing her inbox, following up enquiries and making sure nothing was missed while she focused on her new baby.
Knowing the business was being looked after gave Katie one less thing to think about during an already busy season of life.
For me, that's what ongoing support is really about. Being someone a client can rely on, whatever season of business or life they're in.
How my role evolved
By the end of our partnership, my role focused primarily on managing Katie's inbox and client enquiries, making sure every enquiry received a prompt, professional response and that opportunities weren't missed.
Alongside that, we regularly reviewed and improved the systems behind the scenes, finding simpler and more efficient ways of working whenever they were needed.
Although the day-to-day tasks changed over the years, the goal remained the same: giving Katie the confidence that everything was organised, in hand and moving forward, leaving her free to focus on the creative work that only she could do.
What Katie says
When I asked Katie to describe our working relationship, she chose three words:
Streamlined. Trustworthy. Reliable.
She also shared:
"I can't imagine running my business without Emma now."
"It's such a weight off my shoulders to know that everything is organised and in hand."
"Emma is a first-class VA, and she has really transformed my live illustration business and my client onboarding system (before Emma came along... there was no system, haha). Super organised and responsive with an amazing eye for systems and simplifying things. Since having Emma on my team, I am more consistent, my newsletter actually goes out, and everything runs smoothly."
Could your business benefit from this kind of support?
Every business grows and changes over time.
That's why I don't believe in offering a fixed list of services. Instead, I provide ongoing support that adapts alongside your business, helping you create more time, more headspace and the reassurance that someone you trust is there whenever you need them.
If you're looking for calm, organised support from someone who'll get to know your business, grow alongside you and become a trusted part of your team, I'd love to hear from you.
Find out how I work or book a discovery call if you'd like to chat about what support could look like for your business.
You might also like
If you'd like to explore more about the benefits of ongoing business support, these articles are a great place to start:
Supporting Katie and Illustrated Live for six years has been a privilege. I'm incredibly grateful to have played a small part in the business's journey and wish Katie every success in the future.
If you'd like to find out more about Katie and her work, you can visit Illustrated Live.
