The Design Business Show

Nancy Badillo has been in the digital space for 12 years, helping small business owners build and scale their businesses by leveraging the power of online marketing. With a focus on e-commerce coaching as well content creation, she is able to provide her clients with valuable expertise from start-ups all through growth stages - making sure they're equipped with everything needed so that success can thrive. If you're serious about creating a full-time income with your passion, so you can spend more time with the people you love and enjoy the freedom of being an entrepreneur can offer, Nancy can help!

Here's what we covered on the episode:

Nancy's Start to Digital Marketing

• Nancy shares that she started working in digital marketing 13 years ago out of necessity
• In 2007, Nancy purchased a home, was a full-time student, and also worked full-time — which was too much to take on all at once
• When the recession hit in 2009, the company Nancy was working for went through bankruptcy, and Nancy went from making 6 figures to barely making 15k/yr.
• Nancy says she was looking for ways to save her home and Googled how to make money online, which is how she got into digital marketing
• In the beginning, Nancy did not make a lot of money, which resulted in her working 3 jobs, losing her home, filing bankruptcy, and not being able to continue school
• How Nancy ended up working at a call center for 7 years and pursued digital marketing as a side hustle but did not make much money from it for many years
• When Nancy started in the digital space, she started a blog and was making money through SEO, affiliate marketing, and Google AdSense, so she decided to start a blog all about SEO
• One mistake Nancy feels she made when first starting out is being all over the place and trying to do it all — one minute she was a blogger teaching about digital marketing, the next she was creating a blog, flipping it and selling it, she tried freelance, eBay, and many other things
• Even though Nancy was all over the place, doing all those different things helped her get to where she is now — but she also believes niching down and growing her authority in one area would have led to her success quicker
• Nancy was making money in digital marketing but wasn't making enough to quit her full-time job
• How Nancy decided she was going back to school to get a master's degree in business and a minor in marketing because she loves digital marketing and thought if she couldn't make money online, she could always work in a digital marketing agency, which she did for 5 years to have the experience

Digital Products + Becoming an Etsy Coach

• In 2014, Nancy got engaged and was told by a friend to purchase her wedding items from Etsy; she did and ended up purchasing digital files, and many other items for her wedding
• When Nancy downloaded the digital files from Etsy, she thought about what a great idea it was and decided to do a case study for her blog
• Nancy took on another thing and opened an Etsy shop without really understanding it or without ever doing e-commerce; because of all her experience in the digital space, Nancy made 21k in her first year, which is how her Etsy Coach began and how she was able to niche down and grow her business
• Nancy explains that her blog was about SEO, how to make money online, growing your social media, etc.
• When Nancy started her Etsy store, she didn't know how to do anything crafty, so she researched digital products and saw that a lot of people were selling quotes, which is what she started with
• Nancy shares her biggest mistake was seeing everyone else in this market selling quotes and thinking it was okay to do too — she, unfortunately, was hit with infringement notices from Etsy
• Again, Nancy had to start all over and started learning more about intellectual property and clip art and learned that you don't need to be a graphic designer to buy premade clip art that people sell to you with a license that you can use to create something then sell
• How digital products didn't start as a passion for Nancy but has since turned into a huge passion of hers
• Because Nancy had just gotten married and was in the wedding mindset, she started creating digital products for weddings, and after she had multiple products that matched, she started creating lookbooks to get upsells, which led her to triple her income the second year
• Nancy shares that she was always working or going to school while pursuing her side hustle; she would get home from work and work on digital marketing until 1:00 am; she would sacrifice weekends, time with family and friends — 2020 was the first year that Nancy stopped working and took her business full-time
• Because Nancy had consistent success with Etsy, she thought becoming an Etsy coach to teach people how to sell digital products would be a good niche because she noticed there were not a lot of Etsy coaches
• Nancy started offering free critics of people's Etsy stores on her YouTube channel, which is how she was able to build trust, credibility, and her email list
• For the first year and a half, Nancy did not show herself in her videos because, as an introvert, it was hard for her, but she says once she started, it was the best thing she's done for her business
• All critiques on Nancy's YouTube were free, but she shared that she started a smaller store with tutorials and sharing how to do Etsy related things where she put a listing for $100 private critiques that were more in-depth than her free, public ones

Balancing Multiple Platforms + Staying Available to Audiences

• Even though Nancy had a lot of digital marketing experience, she still struggled with imposter syndrome
• Nancy's first store was very public, which created some problems because people would copy and steal her work, so she created a second store where she makes money and is much more private
• In 2019, Nancy created a course for printables and gave it out for free because she thought no one would buy it — the following year, she redid the course and shared that in the last 10 months, she's made $400k from it
• Because Nancy's audience has grown to be so large, she now has an assistant who helps her manage them
• Nancy shares one of the best things she has done for her business has been implementing funnels — they have helped her understand nurturing her email list and have helped her get more sales consistently
• How Nancy suggests getting an assistant if you can and how her assistant helps with her social media and email
• In Nancy's course, she has a pinned thread at the top of the group, so anytime people get stuck, they can ask questions in the thread and get a response directly from Nancy within 24 hours
• The reason Nancy tries to make herself available to her audiences is that she doesn't want to be another course creator where you buy from them and never talk to or see them again — she admits this can be a challenge since so many of her platforms have large audiences
• Setting boundaries has been an important tool for Nancy because she tends to be a people pleaser

Blogging, YouTube, Pinterest + Nancy's Etsy Course

• If you're just getting started or want to start a side hustle or business, Nancy says it's important to niche down to something you are passionate about or something where you are passionate about the outcome
• The second tip Nancy has for getting started is making sure you get yourself out there on videos and your platforms — if you are overwhelmed with being on every social media platform, make sure you have a blog, podcast, YouTube channel, or some main platform that is always driving your traffic
• Nancy shares that the great thing about YouTube is, yes, she makes money, but her content is always being viewed
• Why blogging is so important and how Nancy has a blog about health where she is averaging $37k/mo through affiliate marketing
• Nancy says blogging is the best thing because people are always looking for content, so you can put out whatever you are going to sell, and then you can add other things to it like affiliate marketing to start generating money
• How Nancy loves Instagram and TikTok, but she knows they aren't going to give her the same results as YouTube or a blog
• How Pinterest is Nancy's #1 platform even though it has the least amount of followers because it is a search engine and drives the most traffic
• Nancy shares that when it comes to starting, make sure you niche down, build your credibility and choose evergreen platforms like YouTube, blogging, and Pinterest that always drive your traffic because to get more sales, you need a high volume of traffic
• Email marketing is also a powerful tool, Nancy explains, because if you plan on building a sustainable business, that's how you're going to be able to promote your products and services
• If you're not ready to put your face out there for your brand, Nancy says you can build your business without doing that and shares that she doesn't show herself much on her health blog but still makes money through affiliate marketing
• In Nancy's course, you learn how to start, manage and scale your Etsy business, and she shares that it's good for anyone who is a seasoned seller or for people who are starting out
• What makes her Etsy course different is that in addition to the 5 module course, you get 8 additional bonus courses, including how to grow your Facebook group for your Etsy store, How to use Instagram, How to grow on Pinterest, etc.
• Nancy stresses the importance of being intentional on social media — don't try to tackle all the platforms at once and become just another user because you aren't using them correctly; master one, and then move on to another one
• If you go to Nancy's website, you will find everything from her course, her YouTube channel, free resources to paid content, as well as everything you need to know about her

Links mentioned

Nancy's Etsy Mastery Course

Nancy Badillo Website

Connect with Nancy on Etsy

Connect with Nancy on Instagram

Connect with Nancy on YouTube

Connect with Nancy on Pinterest

Like what you heard?

Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes.

Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

Let's connect on Instagram!

Hey friends! Melissa here. If you're new or if you've been engaging with the podcast for a while, as always, I'm grateful you're here.

I want to try and produce a few more solo shows than normal this year - because I'm in the midst of a big transformation in my business and career and I can actually articulate a few things to share that may or may not be helpful for you.

I do have a quick ask first. If you like the show or have learned something from it, leave us a review on whatever platform you listen and/or engage? It helps share our message far and wide, and I would so appreciate it! I also wanted to let you know that I'm speaking again at the Simply Profitable Designer Summit, hosted by Krista Miller, and it starts this week! This week is March 21, and my presentation goes live March 22, and is accessible for free for 48 hours. The Simply Profitable Designer Summit is a free event all about streamlining and improving what you're already doing so you can be more efficient, profitable, and stress-free.

My presentation for this year's summit is brand new, and the official title is: "Produce a Blockbuster Design Offer That Attracts Dream Clients Who Can't Wait to Work With You"

It's the first place I'm sharing a behind-the-scenes look at my process for creating my new business model.

My presentation goes live on Tuesday, March 22 at 10 am CDT on day 2, which is all about simplifying your marketing. You can visit thedesignbusinessshow.com/178 and sign up via the links in the show notes. As I mentioned in episode 169, in 2022, I was really craving something different for my business.

The thing I was craving?

New design projects, in new industries, that didn't include the words "sales page design."

Quick backstory: I built a tiny brand around sales page design. After 7 years of sales page design-ing for my awesome clients, I decided it was time for something new.

I'm still in the thick of making the things I want happen - but thought I could share 3 things that worked to help me land a few new projects in new fields, with specifics on how it's worked for me, so you have inspiration on how it can apply to your business / career.

1. Aligned connections lead to the best opportunities.

Funnels, emails, and social media are great for building your brand, sharing your ideas and selling your products. Building and nurturing 1:1 relationships, sending referrals, giving testimonials, and connecting with other collaborators you work with can lead to the best opportunities.

I recently finished a branding + web design project for a new social impact brand who's mission is to empower AAPI women. I got the opportunity as a referral from a friend who owns a web development agency, and now I'm having conversations with them to work with the brand doing more strategic projects.

2. Get really clear about what you want. And tell your connections about it.

There's a whole big world out there. I was so entrenched in sales-page-design-land I never stopped to think about the bigger things that I wanted to do. So, dream big. Write it down. Think bigger. And then test out the thing to see if you like it.

One of my current dreams? Work with global beauty brands on their big brand campaigns. Right now I'm working with a global nonprofit who partners with a wide variety of beauty and fashion brands. One step closer to where I want to be!

3. Show up and do your best in every project, even if it isn't the dream.

When you're hired for a specific thing, let's pretend it's sales page design, make sure you provide as much value, along with the deliverable as you can. Get things done on time. Let your expertise shine. And communicate the project details often with your client.

Doing that was how I landed design projects with the clients I was buying courses from early on in my business.

I had an offer that delivered what they needed: a sales page that converted, and more clients and sales. That created lots of referrals. That lead to launch strategy and launch management clients. And now I'm managing a campaign for the global nonprofit I mentioned above. I got that project through an aligned connection, too!

These 3 things are timeless business strategies that helped me get to where I want to be. The key here is not worrying about it being perfect, but instead making it happen and being consistent.

Everyone starts somewhere. Nothing happened for me overnight. And not all of it was pretty or perfect. There's no secret strategy. I'm not exactly where I want to be yet, but I'm excited for what's coming my way!

In episode 169 I shared my "Branding Advice That Goes Against the Norm" - which in a nutshell is, testing my offers first to see if I like them. And after that, investing the time and money in the sales page + branding for them.

One way that I got here, and here is not exactly where I want to be yet, was doing a lot of thinking and observing what has worked and not worked FOR ME in the past.

Here's a really Easy Way To Move The Needle Towards The Thing You Dream About

And It involves doing one of my favorite things: Making a list!!

1. Create a success list that documents all the things you've accomplished.
2. Do a quick check in with where you're at right now. What's working? What's not?
3. Circle all the good things from both lists you'd like to keep.
4. Then, make a list of the big picture things you want to do.
5. Make a decision on the next best step for your dream - that will get you where you want to be 5 years from now.

Everyone starts somewhere. Make a list. Go for it. See what you like. Get rid of what you don't. It's that simple.

There's one more thing I want to say about moving toward the place you want to be. It requires owning your expertise in pursuit of your dreams. Owning your expertise can be tricky when you're not looking at your business from a 360 degree view.

I've said for years that "I'm not good at branding."

I stayed in my little sales page design lane.

I told everyone who came to me wanting brand design and/or web design projects "thanks, but no thanks."

When I stepped back and looked all the value I was giving (but only charging for the sales page design as a deliverable, not the strategy) that's when I realized I was, um, wrong

The next time you tell yourself you're not good at something, I want you to do me a favor and pause.

Is this really true?

Or did you just tell yourself this?

Are you being nice to my friend?

Signed, your friend who said they were "not good" at something for years. :)

And remember, be nice to my friend. :)

Thanks for reading / listening. I hope all your dreams come true.

Links mentioned:

Episode 169 of The Design Business Show

Sign up for The Simply Profitable Designer Summit (affiliate link)

Like what you heard?

Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes.

Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

Let's connect on Instagram!

Gio Marcus is copywriting mentor who teaches high-converting copy to entrepreneurs who want to reach millions and make millions.

Gio's copywriting clients are guests of Oprah, Marie Forleo & Sir Richard Branson; regularly featured on major TV shows and magazines, stars of their own Netflix documentaries, and winners of Oscars nominations. Between them, Gio's clients have written over 35 New York Times bestselling books, translated into 190 languages. She lives in Berkeley, California.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

How Copywriting + Design Work Together

• How Gio and I met in 2020 working on a landing page for a client together and how we've stayed in touch ever since
• We talk about the process of working together and how you should connect with other creators during projects because you never know what kind of relationships might be born or what you could learn about their craft that goes hand in hand with yours
• Gio shares that she really wanted to write for a living and decided to write websites in 2008 but didn't know what copywriting was and felt like she was making it up as she went along
• How Gio fell in love with marketing and discovered digital marketing where she realized she couldn't just write copy, she had to think about how the words would look on the page
• Gio has a huge love and respect for designers because the design can change the whole meaning of the copy, and she loves to see how those two work together on a page
• How some creators, whether on the design or copy side, think that their part is more important than the other, and I love that Gio is a creator that wants to mesh the copy and design together well
• Gio believes that you can't have design or copy without the other and because people rely on visuals, the design is so important, and the copy help supports it

UX Design in Copywriting + Working with Clients

• Gio explains that UX design is about making the text really easy for people to read and consume by having headlines, boldface copy, or breaking up the text into smaller chunks which are all things she learned very early in copywriting
• UX design has become more important, Gio says, because people are quickly scrolling on their phones, you need to know how to give the information to the scanners who just want the main ideas and how to give it to the people who want a little more information
• I share that when I write copy for my sales pages, I always give it to a copywriter to look through because sometimes it can be a lot to look at the same page constantly during a project
• When working with clients, Gio first likes to get all the background information - that might be through doing research on her own or having her clients answer questions
• Gio says one pitfall to being super close to your business is that you might think, for example, that the pain point is a certain thing, but it turns out people aren't willing to pay money for that to be solved, so it helps to have someone as an outsider to the business come in and give clear feedback
• Overtime Gio has learned to ask bold questions and be more daring, which is important for copywriters, but she also says it is important for designers

Copywriting Tips for Sales Pages + When to Build a Sales Page

• When it comes to writing copy for your sales page, Gio suggests using a template or going off someone's copy that you love and respect, but be mindful that what works for someone else might not work for you
• Gio suggests working with a messaging expert because what works for a larger company vs. a smaller company/brand is not going to be the same and gives us an example to show that
• It can be good to look at other copy and sales pages for inspiration, but Gio says to make sure you aren't copying what someone else is going through - it's really important to go through the process yourself to come up with those creative ideas
• Writing your first draft of copy and then getting feedback from a copywriter can be super helpful because sometimes when you're so close to it, it's hard to bring that outside perspective
• Another suggestion Gio has is to do some kind of inner work, whether it's through meditation or affirmations, whatever works for you that will help you through creative blocks
• Gio explains that for most people, it makes sense to have a professional sales page designer come in when they have a solid offer that they've tested
• Because it can take a while to build a sales page, you don't want to put it off Gio says
• I touch on how I think it's important for people to build a sales page after they have sold and proven their offer
• Gio says that if you're doing a version of an offer that you've done before and you want to have something to show to people, creating even a simple sales asset like a Google Doc is beneficial
• The purpose of a sales page is to make sure it's easy for our customers to buy from us by making sure the offer is clear, the messaging speaks to them, the copy outlines the offer, and that the interactive process is also smooth
• Gio shares that she likes circling back with people after having an initial call with them so they can have a few days to decide if they're going to move forward
• How having something simple is better than having nothing at all when it comes to copy assets

Gio's Copywriting Mentoring Business + Building Credibility

• Many years ago, one of Gio's clients introduced her to some other people which contributed to her landing some big clients, along with the strong reputation she had built over the years
• Gio explains that she put in a lot of work into learning and studying everything about copywriting and marketing - people started to notice that she really cared and wrote copy that converted
• How Gio was able to build her business on referrals and how that works for design too, because you become known as someone who puts out quality work
• Gio says there is no shame in asking for referrals and that there's always room to go after your dream client that could help catapult your business and give you credibility
• Sometimes money is not the most important thing, sometimes it's about building and using your credibility - Gio shares an example of how she did extra work on a project for the credibility
• For a long time, Gio didn't flaunt her credibility, which held her business back, but once she started owning the caliber of clients she was working with, it allowed her to raise her prices so she was able to do the best quality work for clients
• As a business owner, you have to learn how to take care of your clients and yourself
• Gio's Revenue & Reach Mentorship is for online business owners who need their copy written for a lot of different business assets - the program takes them through each asset and helps them apply what they're learning about copywriting to these assets
• Whenever you're more visible, your copy pops, you get more direct responses to your copy, and you apply UX copy design techniques, your business will completely transform
• As creatives and business owners, Gio says we have a chance to impact so many people, and being able to write copy is the key to unlocking that
• How Gio weaves UX design into what she teaches for copywriting because it's so important to understand what your audience wants and how they like to consume information
• Go to Gio's website to connect with her and check out her blog - she encourages everyone to look at her copy for inspiration and to see what's working right now in the world of copywriting and marketing
• How it's important to connect with people who are in a similar field to you because you can get inspiration, understand how your fields complement each other, and then you can refer each other

Links mentioned

Gio Marcus Website

Gio Marcus Blog

O.M.G.! 5 Copy Lessons For a High Converting Sales Page

Like what you heard?

Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes.

Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

Let's connect on Instagram!

Larissa Bodniowycz is a traveling attorney with over a decade of diverse legal experience. She is the founder of Bold City Legal, a digital law firm that provides DIY and custom legal services to small businesses. Larissa prides herself and the firm on providing professional legal representation in a casual atmosphere. She's passionate about helping teach small businesses how to use the law to grow and protect what they've worked so hard to build.

On weekends, you can find Larissa in the woods – hiking, camping, and taking photos. She attributes her ability to juggle a lot at once to the time she spent in the circus while in college. (Yes, you read that right.)

Here's what we covered on the episode:

Larissa's Start to Law + Starting Her Own Business

• When Larissa was at orientation for Florida State University, she saw a brochure for circus classes and decided to take a class, where she got to perform in some circus shows at the end of the year and then spent a summer with a circus in Georgia
• Larissa graduated law school in 2009 and struggled to find a job but eventually found one at a more traditional, corporate type law firm where she was doing insurance defense but shares that she hated it and it wasn't what she thought it would be
• After moving to California and while studying for the California Bar Exam, Larissa was doing freelance legal research for other attorneys and realized about a year and a half in that she was running a business, so she formed a business entity instead of operating at a sole proprietor
• Larissa shares that she went through many ups and downs as a small business owner and has gone through a lot of trial and error that taught her many things
• How Larissa was underpricing herself at $35/hr when she started but has learned a lot about pricing since then
• We talk about the competitive feel that traditional design and legal environments have, and Larissa shares that as she's done more in business, she's been lucky enough to find people who want to collaborate and help, which has been encouraging

Finding an Attorney + Types of Agreements

• As a starting point, Larissa's advice for most small businesses when looking to hire an attorney is to hire someone that focuses on freelance or small business work and someone who is typically local in your area
• Larissa suggests searching keywords like freelance or small business + attorney + your area across Google, Facebook, and Instagram to see what comes up for attorneys, doing some research on your own, and then asking friends and family for referrals
• When we have a legal need, we can feel very rushed to pick the first person we come across, but Larissa doesn't recommend that or only considering the attorney your friend referred
• In a design business, most of the time, you'll have a little flexibility in the drafting of the contract, so Larissa says to take your time and do your research and form the questions you want to ask when looking for the right attorney for you
• Larissa explains that you want an agreement with whomever you're working for and says if you're working for an agency and they give you a contract agreement, make sure you read it before signing and don't be afraid to ask for changes
• You also want to make sure you have agreements with people who are doing work for you, whether they're contractors or employees, and Larissa says talking to an attorney about this can be helpful because you don't want to misclassify anyone or use the wrong agreements
• When you are in any creative field, Larissa says it's important to think about intellectual property, which should be on both agreements; whether you're working for an agency or someone is working for you, you need to outline what you own and what they own
• I give an example of a work for hire agreement, and Larissa explains that a work for hire agreement means you hired someone and you're going to own the work that they are producing for you, which is important to protect the copyright of the person contracting out the work
• Larissa suggests having a master contract that has some of the major key terms that don't change from project to project and then having a statement of work, which are smaller, one-page documents that lay out the specifics for a certain project, like deadlines or payment schedule, or a certain process you need used
• Larissa explains some of the standard terms that attorneys include in all contracts

Terms + Agreements for Launching

• When creating an agreement for an offer such as a VIP day, Larissa says to think of it more as brainstorming or a consulting session and spell out what the expectations are and are not and be clear about what you are going to do for them and what you are not going to do for them
• If you have someone like a project manager or a brand strategy contractor who is providing more of a service than a deliverable, Larissa says you might only have a general paragraph outlining what service they're providing since the relationship and service will continue to evolve
• How distinguishing a contractor relationship from an employee relationship is important
• Larissa explains that when you're launching a new course, many times you're using a third-party platform that already has some terms built-in, and it allows you to add additional terms
• Larissa adds that any agreement is just a different language for contract
• For launches, it's important to have your master contract, terms of use for your website (which is different from the terms of your service or deliverable), and your privacy policy
• Another thing you need to think about is being aware of the promises you are making and making sure that you are not using any tactics that could be arguably be considered deceptive
• How Larissa believes it's important to be upfront about your contracts and not try to hide them and to have a check box during check out so people can confirm that they agree to your terms of service
• We talk about how true testimonials are not deceiving people because it is a fact but if it feels borderline, talk to an attorney - Larissa also adds to have in your agreement that results are not guaranteed
• When it comes to using marketing or messaging that promises a financial gain, Larissa says it's generally low-risk as long as they're taking other approaches with it, such as presenting the truthful statistics but also stating that results are not guaranteed
• A great goal for most small businesses is to have an existing relationship with your attorney so they already know you and can answer you quickly when you can ask questions or need advice
• Larissa encourages people to have an initial consultation with a small business attorney before needing their services so you can check in and get some answers to your general questions and says to think of it as an investment in your business
• Sign up for Larissa's monthly law firm newsletter at the bottom of the Bold City Legal website, and connect with her on Instagram

Links mentioned

Bold City Legal

Connect with Larissa on Instagram

Like what you heard?

Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes.

Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

Let's connect on Instagram!

Shar Biggers is the creative director and founder of Provoke Design, a branding studio. A native of Atlanta, by way of St. Louis, she holds an MBA in business management and is a graduate of Miami Ad School's Portfolio Center of Design. In her extensive experience, she has worked with Fortune 500 companies, led design for Amazon rebrands like Amazon Fashion and Amazon Diversity, and helped more than 10 million Americans say "I'm with her" for Hillary Clinton. Here's what we covered on the episode: Underrepresented Populations + Provoke Design

• How we originally met Shar on Episode 170 of The design Business Show and why I invited her back on to discuss how a lack of investment in banding can create limitations for underrepresented populations
• Shar's created her agency, Provoke Design, to provide branding for all different types of businesses – specifically, businesses led by color, businesses led by women, and businesses led by people who may come from backgrounds who may not have the funds necessary to succeed in their business
• Just because you come from one of these three groups doesn't mean you don't have a good business concept, idea, product or service, or leadership
• Shar expresses how much of a struggle it can be to see these businesses come in but not have the resources or funding available to get them to where they need to go, and not have the awareness needed to have a strong brand and marketing presence that they need to succeed
• Too often throughout Shar's experiences, she would see those businesses not be able to approach the agencies she knew of or were so well known, which created a massive gap that Shar saw needed to be filled because she could see how it affected the economy and diversity in business
• How there are so many examples of where representation for these 3 groups does not exist
• Many people who do not fall into these groups usually get money from friends and family for their first investments when starting a business, which is the first stumbling block when it comes to underrepresented people because they don't usually have people they can turn to
• When you come from an underrepresented group and are starting a business, Shar says you are probably the breadwinner - the reason they are trying to launch a business is to try to help the family and leave a legacy
• Shar says she is thankful to have gone to school for an MBA because being educated in psychology and business first and design second has helped shape the type of way she wants to do business
• Once Shar sees those businesses that have a need, she tends to consult them on business overall - product design, product name, digital presence and asks questions like, what's customer service like, do people like your company, is your product/service actually strong and solving a problem, or do you need to pivot
• Sometimes when people come to Provoke, they don't have an idea at all, or they have a failing idea and need help figuring out an idea that will do better – they are coming at different phases, Shar says, some need a rebrand, and some need help with their overall brand to make it stronger

Using Design to Help Solve World Problems

• Shar explains there are some things in place that make it really hard for these underrepresented groups to qualify or get approved; that's why she created a business where some of their biggest blocks can be solved through the branding and design work they do
• Why Shar believes design thinking is the way of the future and the way businesses should be led - she believes if the world's biggest problems were in the hands of designers, they would be solved
• Shar's advice for designers is to think about the things you are passionate about and would like to see solved and think about how you can help solve that thing in a beautiful way
• Another great suggestion Shar has for designers is to think about including a certain number of pro bono projects or discounted projects per year for underrepresented groups so they can have more accessibility
• Sometimes designers don't think their work is that serious when it comes to branding, but Shar explains that it can help determine how great of a legacy these underrepresented groups can leave their families, which impacts the nation and is why were need to be more thoughtful and empathetic towards finding a solution to this problem
• If you don't see anyone solving the issue that you feel needs to be solved, you should think about how you can solve it
• Even if you aren't an expert in something, that doesn't mean you can't make a difference in that area with the skillset and knowledge you do have
• How the majority of people don't realize how social, economic, or racial problems aren't just limited to health care or housing, but how it stretches into business
• Shar wants to make sure people are aware, so they can begin to think of solutions and little things they can do in their personal lives to help solve this problem in branding
• As designers and problem solvers, we can help figure out ways through what we're passionate about to help solve these world problems
• We hope this conversation ignites inspiration - make sure you check out Shar's agency website and connect with her on Instagram

Links mentioned

Provoke Design Website

Episode 170 of The Design Business Show

Connect with Shar on Instagram

Like what you heard?

Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes.

Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

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Shayla Boyd-Gill (Maryland, US) juggles being an entrepreneur with being a wife of 24 years and mom of six homeschooled children.

She went from bankruptcy to a multiple six-figure business. Now Shayla is a Family Freedom and Affluence Mentor and creator of the Luxe Your BusinessTM Sales System and a sales strategist who shows women entrepreneurs how to have it all – family, freedom, and affluence – while doing what they love.

She teaches her clients - service-based businesses - to restructure their businesses and lives by boosting their high-ticket sales so they can make more money in less time without a heavy client load.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

Shayla's Journey to Coaching

• In 2003, Shayla left corporate America as a project manager in construction engineering to homeschool her son
• Shayla needed to make an income, so she and her husband had a conversation about what she's good at, which was having babies
• When Shayla started speaking to friends and women in her community, she realized they had bad birthing experiences and that her experience was good because it had been different - she had a doula, a midwife, and had taken natural birthing classes
• Shayla became a childbirth educator and a doula and built her first multiple six-figure business but became burnt out because she wanted to help everyone and didn't know how to say no
• What Shayla discovered was that her peers in the birthing industry struggled because they didn't understand how to do business so, she decided to help women run their businesses which is how she got into coaching
• Shayla first started by supporting her birthing clients who didn't want to go back to work - she would help them start businesses from home, and she would coach other doulas and childbirth educators until she was able to niche down and find out who she wanted to work with
• How Shayla started working with clients one on one but says, as a giver that easily exhausted her, so she started incorporating intimate groups
• Shayla describes her business as a boutique-style because she likes intimacy and says she never wanted a group of thousands of people, which is why her business morphed into a high-ticket model because it doesn't require her to have a lot of people but rather just the right people

Shayla's Clients + Qualifying Leads

• When Shayla first entered the online space, she used the ascension model but realized quickly it wasn't a good fit - Shayla found it more effective and a better fit for her to do speaking
• Shayla would speak on other people's stages or host events where she would get people into discovery calls or sell them into a workshop to eventually move them into her higher-ticket offer
• What Shayla has realized about her customers is that they don't have the patience to crawl up the ladder - her customers know what they want; all they have to do is decide if it's something they want to stick with long-term or if an intensive would fit them better
• Shayla tends to attract women who have made 75k - 250k in revenue - most of the women Shayla works with have made their first hundred thousand but get caught in a loop of consistently being at that level and struggle to scale without wearing themselves out
• Shayla's clients typically come from speaking, referrals, or possibly a lead magnet, but Shayla explains that they are very strategic with filtering out people and says they may use a quiz to segment what kind of emails are going where
• How Shayla only focuses on having discovery calls with highly qualified clients and says you could use an application process to qualify your clients
• To help qualify leads, Shayla says you want to go deeper than identifying questions and suggests asking if the applicant has ever invested in coaching and how much because it helps you understand the conversation you might have to have with them
• Shayla also evaluates investment readiness in her applications by asking how ready applicants are to invest and also filters people out by asking about their current revenue
• You can put questions on your application that will identify the people that you really want to work with
• If someone fills out an application that is not a good fit, Shayla says it's okay to send them an email thanking them for their application and explain that you were not able to approve it - make sure to include other resources that would be helpful or refer them to someone else
• Shayla explains that you can embed your links throughout your social media platforms but stresses the importance of knowing where your audience lives online - being where your clients are is super important
• The platforms Shayla likes to use are Facebook and Instagram but shares that she's been doing more on LinkedIn

Tips for Creating a High-Ticket Offer

• For a high-ticket offer, Shayla says you want to focus on one area you're good at and work from that basic framework - where people make mistakes is having multiple frameworks and too many offers
• You can use your framework for an expansive, long-term, or short-term program – like a mastermind or an 8 – 12 week course
• Build your framework on your knowledge base and what you are good at, in Shayla's community, they call it their Luxe Spot
• What you can't teach is bullshit Shayla says, because people will not buy BS - it needs to be something that works
• How adding value does not mean stacking bonuses - Shayla's belief is when you start stacking bonuses on top of your offer, you're trying to justify a price point or trying to make it seem like it's worth more than it really is – the offer itself should be yummy enough that people want it
• Shayla explains that typically, high-ticket entry-level offers will be anywhere from 5k - 20k and a higher level offer could be 20k - 100k+
• Shayla's 7 Luxe Touchpoints are points they make sure to hit when creating offers with clients so they create something they can be proud of and that works
• One myth about high-ticket offers is that it's going to take much more of your time because you're charging more, but Shayla says it's the complete opposite- when you have a high-ticket offer that does what you say it's going to do, you attract qualified clients who are looking to solve their problems quickly – they don't typically associate time with money
• When you're moving from a lower ticket model to a higher ticket model, Shayla explains it's all about completely restructuring your business and letting your audience know
• Shayla suggests segmenting your audience on your email list if you're going to offer high and low-ticket offers so you aren't confusing them
• If you're already doing high-ticket offers and what to do something different, you need to ask yourself, are you looking to scale and go higher, are you trying to take yourself out of parts of the puzzle, or do you want to bring in a team
• How if you're eventually looking to sell your business, Shayla says to make sure it's a sellable model, you're creating systems and creating assets by trademarking your way of doing business

Myths About High-Ticket Offers + Shayla's Current Offers

• One myth Shayla shares about high-ticket offers is that people believe it will take too much time to nurture a high-ticket lead - the truth is if you nurture properly, no matter if you're offering high or low-ticket offers, the people who are ready to say yes will say yes
• Another myth is thinking people won't want to pay for high-ticket offers - Shayla says people will pay for what they value, and if your offer speaks to their problem, they will pay
• People thinking they need to be an authority figure to charge for high-ticket offers is another myth - Shayla says you already have the authority, but you also need to make sure your offer is proven and make sure your pricing makes sense
• Shayla shares that it's important to her to not be left at the bottom when it comes to her business and life - it's important to create the freedom she needs to care for herself and her family while rising with her business
• When you figure out what's important to you, Shayla explains that the next step is making sure you honor that and shares an example of a client who wanted happiness by having more time, so she decided to track her 'me time' to make sure she was honoring that
• How partnerships are working well in Shayla's business today and how she likes finding other women who have messages and audiences that she aligns with and doing business with those women
• Shayla's current offers include an entry-level Luxe Business Workshop to help create your high ticket offer, the Luxe Sales System Accelerator, which is a 12-week group program, and the Luxe CEO Inner Circle, which is a high-level 12-month program
• When it comes to design, Shayla has a team member who supports her in bringing her creative ideas to life
• Shayla's team includes an administrator and shares that she has contractors for graphics/design, accounting services, event planning, and marketing
• If you know what you want to do, Shayla suggests just going for it and figuring it out while you're doing it because if you wait until it's perfect, it will never happen
• Connect with Shayla on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, or check out her website

Links mentioned

Luxe Your Business Website

Luxe Sales System Accelerator

Luxe CEO Inner Circle

Connect with Shayla on Facebook

Connect with Shayla on Instagram

Connect with Shayla on LinkedIn

Connect with Shayla on YouTube

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Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes.

Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

Let's connect on Instagram!

Hunter Niland Welling is a professional organizer turned luxury marketing expert and the founder of The AgenShe. For the past 6 years, she's created exceptional marketing strategies for high-end service providers who want to scale without losing their "special touch." Her private coaching and membership community help you turn the business you have into the business you want. A cat mom + plant mom + dog mom + human mom, she lives in a tiny bungalow in Fort Worth, Texas.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

Hunter's Background in Marketing

• How Hunter and I first connected in Erika Lyremark's Mark'd Women Mastermind, now called Marketing Crush, when I posted in our Facebook group that I was looking for some accountability partners
• Hunter shares that she worked for a trend forecasting firm in high school, where she got to do a lot of marketing and copywriting, and says she leveraged that job into other marketing positions
• After graduating college, Hunter was offered a lot of head of communication or marketing positions but felt burnt out from college due to personal circumstances and needed a breather
• To reset, Hunter decided she needed to do something with her hands and body instead of sitting in front of a computer screen, so she started a professional organizing business that she loved
• Hunter decided to go back to her zone of genius - she started making connections and started mentoring and doing marketing for luxury home organizers, which has expanded to other industries over the years
• How Hunter got her job at the trend forecasting firm and how saying yes to that opportunity gave her the confidence she needed to leverage that job at college, where she started freelancing, blogging for the university career services, and started figuring out the online world
• Working at the trend forecasting firm gave Hunter hands-on business experience and says she was teaching herself how to run QuickBooks, what tax filings were due, and what you had to do to stay in compliance, all of which made ownership seem less scary and like something she could do for herself
• After graduating in 2010, Hunter started joining some online Facebook groups, which are where she found this whole world of people who were building online businesses
• The first thing Hunter did when she started her marketing business was manage social media because she realized a lot of her business owner friends would ask her advice about social media, and she was giving that information away for free
• The first social media management job Hunter had was for a friend who was a fine art photographer - her job was to help sell his fine art book through social media, and she ended up helping him build a thriving online community of tens of thousands of people
• Hunter gained confidence after successfully helping her friend, so she reached out to a high-end professional organizer and said she wanted to get to know them and collaborate, and that relationship led to Hunter mentoring hundreds of professional organizers

Changing Business Models + Personal Needs in Business

• For the last two years, Hunter shares that she's been primarily working with her clients through recurring intensives
• In 2019 Hunter burnt out again after running her business for 3 years and shares she was doing traditional marketing on retainers where she felt that she was on call for clients all the time - after being put on bedrest, Hunter knew she couldn't keep running her business the same way
• Hunter shares she was selling strategy and consulting sessions, but when she started offering VIP days, her clients loved it, and it helped Hunter feel like she wasn't on call so much
• Hunter realized the sales cycle for selling VIP days to earn the revenue she needed was as exhausting as the retainers, so she talked to our mutual friend, Erika, who suggested keeping VIP days but signing clients up to come back every month
• Next, Hunter created her service, The Exceptionelle CMO, where she would meet with clients once a month to work on their marketing strategy, map out their plan, and then spend the rest of the day working in an intensive format, building out their social media or copywriting, whatever they needed to move the strategy forward
• How Hunter got her first round of clients by sending an invitation to her top 5 favorite clients, most of which took her up on it
• Each month, Hunter works with anywhere from 3 - 6 clients but says right now, she's setting herself up to take a sabbatical in her business to refresh herself but will pick back up in 2022
• How Hunter has had to learn to work with her own energy needs and chronic illness because she knows she is susceptible to burnout and speaks about ways to avoid it for people on their journeys
• When it comes to planning her sabbatical, Hunter says she's been able to save up the cash reserve she needs, hire another team member, and has planned for the upcoming year and plans to take about a month off
• Women tend to think they need to do it all, but Hunter shares that she has always leaned on teams for support, a housekeeper, and a stay at home partner to help her as well because she knows she can't do it all
• By implementing recurring intensive, Hunter was able to focus on her business with the extra time she had instead of solely focusing on her clients business
• The most important thing business owners can do is ask themselves how they want to do work, what they want it to feel like, what they want to be doing with their time, and then get creative and experiment with business models to fit that
• We talk about how it can be good to expand where you're getting your information and inspiration from

Adapting Your Business for Your Future

• Hunter shares that she has had a hunger for creativity and mentions that she loves Martha Stewart and the lifestyle magazine style, so she and her team are working on ways to prioritize that
• The magazine has been brought to life through Hunter's membership called, The AgenShe Club, and it includes weekly emails, best practices, strategies, ideas, and questions you can use to make your business a little kinder to your body and turn the business you have into the business you want
• I discuss how and why I will be shutting down my sales page service - no one will be able to hire me for a sales page project alone, but there will be other services that could be bundled into the new offer that I'm working on
• How it's scary to be getting rid of my sales page offer, but it makes sense with the direction I want to go
• I share that some of my dream jobs include creative directing photoshoots for SNL or working with The Kardashians on a photoshoot, along with so many other things
• Hunter shares that they've been reimagining what it will look like and the way she will work with clients when she comes back from her sabbatical
• How you can go on over to the AgenShe on Instagram, where you will find a link to join The AgenShe Club, and if you use the code: design, you can join for your first year for free
• Hunter talks about her workshop called the Recurring Intensive Workshop, where she teaches you everything she knows about running a business and selling
• Connect with Hunter on Instagram or check out her website

Links mentioned

The AgenShe

The AgenShe Club

Connect with Hunter on Instagram

Recurring Intensive Workshop

Like what you heard?

Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes.

Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

Let's connect on Instagram!

Adrian is the Creative Director of Dragonfruit Media

Dragonfruit Media's mission statement is to make the absolute best content in the world to make the world a better place

He worked with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic for 2 years and lived in Botswana for 6 months.

He loves theater & acting, especially musicals.

He loves basketball & he's a Blazers fan.

His favorite books are Setting Free the Bears by John Irving & Banjo by Claude Mckay.

His role models are John Cassavetes, John Coltrane, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

He believes that human behavior is deeply impacted by fear of the unknown.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

The Creation of Dragonfruit Media + YouTube Benefits

• How Adrian sent me a creative pitch and is here to talk about video is the future of content and how design plays a role in that
• Adrian shares that he came back to the United States because of the pandemic after being in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic and always knew he wanted to do something in video production or visual storytelling
• After returning to The United States, Adrian began working with a friend from college making YouTube videos for businesses or other creators
• When they started seeing a lot of content about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), they thought about all the business surrounding outsourcing blog optimization and articles to build an organic audience and realized they could do that on YouTube
• The idea behind their agency was to use the organic promotion algorithm on YouTube to help businesses, brands, and creators really grow powerful, organic audiences on the YouTube platform through optimized video content
• There are many benefits to YouTube; Adrian shares that it is the second most used social media platform, and there are so many people on it that you can niche down and repurpose your YouTube content across all other platforms
• Adrian explains how organic promotion and discoverability is built into YouTube's algorithm, which means the supercomputer behind Google and Youtube is more powerful than other platforms and actively takes your content and puts it in front of potentially millions of people and is trying out to see if people will engage with it
• If you are a small business owner, you have a brand or are trying to become an influencer or online creator, Adrian says YouTube is one of the best places you can go to get in front of people as quickly as possible
• One of the biggest benefits to YouTube is the brand value it has by creating an archive of content that communicates your brand position, unique value proposition, brand identity, and the voice of your business in a way that Adrian believes other mediums can't

Content Creation + Retention

• Dragonfruit Media thinks of YouTube content in 3 different levels; discoverable-focused content, community-focused content, and conversion-focused content
• When you're growing a YouTube channel, you want to start with the discoverable content, trying to reach as many people as possible, and as you move down the funnel, focusing more on speaking directly to your subscribers and then eventually showing features or tutorials of your offer
• If you are feeling overwhelmed by the video production process, Adrian says to start by systemizing your content creation as much as possible so it can be efficient as scalable
• One way to make content creation easier is by batching - Adrian explains this is where you block off 2-3 hours of your time and record multiple videos, so you have content to push out for the whole month instead of feeling like you have to record a new video each week
• At Dragonfruit media, they work with clients to identify their ideal target audience, leading into their value proposition which is where you think about how you want to help your audience, leading into content buckets and breaking up your valuable content into categories, and finally leading into video concepts
• Design in video content is super important for retention - you can use design in videos through B-roll footage, transitions, text effects, animations, stock footage, etc.
• Adrian shares one easy way to optimize for retention that anyone can do is through faster cutting or jump cuts, where you throw your video into any basic video editing system and cut out all the pauses as you're talking

Dragonfruit Media Offers + Using Videos in Sales Funnels

• How Dragonfruit Media breaks its services up into two categories: production and analytics
• Adrian explains for their full production clients, they start with the initial ideation of video concepts, build out a long-term strategy and content plan, create titles and thumbnails, write the scripts, help with recording and production design and handle all the post-production like editing, sound design, color grading and finally manage the publication and monitor the analytics
• The analytic side of Dragonfruit Media is for people who are already producing and editing their videos but want someone to deep dive into their data and take a look at what's working, what's not and suggest adjustments
• When you're starting to use videos for your business and sales funnel, Adrian says step 1 is to build your organic audience on YouTube and focus on discoverable content that delivers free value
• Once you have built your organic audience, Adrian says step 2 is where you can start directing people off-platform and start promoting your newsletter, for example, or you can create more community-oriented videos about what you do and tie it back to the discoverable videos you've been making
• Step 3 is to create conversion-focused content where you break down exactly what your offer is to really convey your service or product in a way that is more compelling, colorful, and convincing than a normal landing page or blog post
• Adrian gives an example of a client who wasn't necessarily trying to make sales on YouTube but saw they could build authority and become a thought leader in their niche on YouTube through video content to convey their brand value

Creating Brand Value

• Dragonfruit Media is all about longevity when it comes to YouTube and focuses on building the right audience and building brand value
• Adrian explains that revenue is important, but it also can be hard to track how on YouTube, so he says your mindset when investing in your YouTube channel should be more focused on getting in front of more people, increasing the value of your brand, and growing your business
• If you are investing in your YouTube channel for six months and your profits are stalling, maybe it's not the best time to be investing in a channel, Adrian says, but if you have the cash flow to put towards your channel, you're receiving a positive response and your business is growing, you know you're doing something right
• The best way to see your immediate ROI is to look at the comment section, see how many likes you're getting, see if people are sharing your videos, and look at the overall feedback
• When you're thinking about what kind of videos to create, Adrian says it comes down to what your ideal audience wants to see, how much time you have, and the resources you have to put into it
• Adrian reiterates the fact that YouTube doesn't have to be scary, and says with just a couple extra hours a week, pretty much anyone can build a trusting, significant subscriber base on YouTube who will have the highest probability of investing in you
• Go check out the landing page Dragonfruit Media created for The Design Business Show listeners at dragonfruitmedia.co/melissa to get some freebies, including a YouTube guide and an optimized checklist of video best practices

Links mentioned

Dragonfruit Media

The Design Business Show Freebies

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Danielle Hayden is a reformed corporate CFO (chief financial officer) who is on a mission to help rule-breaking female entrepreneurs understand their numbers so they can gain the confidence needed to create sustainable profits. After spending 10+ years in the boardroom as a corporate finance officer, Danielle is now in her sweet spot as the co-owner of Kickstart Accounting, Inc. where she helps business owners with bookkeeping, financial analysis, and education, and as the author of the Profit Planner book series. When Danielle isn't crunching numbers on her clients' behalf or crafting the next iteration of the Profit Planner, you can find her hanging with her two kids as she inspires them to lead their fullest lives or doing any, and almost every fitness-related activity ranging from Spartan races to pilates.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

Danielle's Background + Career Pivot

• How our mutual friend, Angie connected us and why I wanted to invite Danielle on the show to talk numbers because her expertise is one we've never really talked about before
• Danielle shares that she went to school to be a hairdresser and was working in a salon but taking classes so she could someday own her own salon - she realized she loved the numbers behind the salon that had to do with data and goal setting, which was accounting
• The pivot from hairdresser to accounting and how Danielle received her master's degree in accounting and financial management
• The story of how Danielle started working in the global department for Ernst & Young, where she analyzed accounting software and worked her way up to being on the executive team where they were looking at the numbers to figure out how to make better business decisions overall
• How accounting and bookkeeping roles are important because if the data is not entered correctly, you can't use it to accurately analyze the business or make business decisions
• Danielle shares that she worked at a few midsized companies as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), where she was able to work with teams that had the goal of building the business and then sell it to a private equity firm or set of investors, which taught her a lot about maximizing growth as fast as possible with an exit strategy
• As entrepreneurs, we should be thinking about how we can grow our business and how it can still operate without us if we ever want to sell it or if something were to happen to us
• Danielle did volunteer work at a local entrepreneurship hub in Cleveland, Ohio, where she would hear business owners say they didn't understand the numbers and felt frustrated because they didn't know where to go for help or how to put a bookkeeping system into place
• After hearing so many business owners' struggles, Danielle was motivated to find a way to help them and make an impact because she understood that they couldn't make solid business decisions without the data needed to grow the business
• How Danielle went on a mission to help small business owners get bookkeeping in place, get organized, help them understand the numbers, and never put the bookkeeping back on them because it's usually the last thing creative entrepreneurs want to do
• What's important to find in a bookkeeper is not someone who just puts in the numbers, but someone who will have a conversation with you about what's going on in your business and wants to help hold you accountable Danielle explains
• Danielle explains that her favorite way she and her team are making numbers sexy again is by giving their clients beautiful charts and a dashboard with their financials that are easy to read rather than their clients having to dig into every number and every excel spreadsheet
• Kickstart Accounting's goal is to create a safe place where clients don't feel judged on their financials and can ask the questions that they've been embarrassed to ask in the past

Business Systems + Business Planning

• Danielle's advice for entrepreneurs is to separate business and personal finances, have a tracking system like QuickBooks, and then make sure all your transactions are in your system and categorized correctly
• When it comes to reports, Danielle suggests starting by reviewing your numbers each quarter; this includes looking at the profit and loss, the balance sheet, and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that matter for your business - some KPI examples are revenue retention, number of leads, closed leads, revenue, profit, or net income
• Not all bookkeepers are created equal, so it's important to find a firm that has the background and resources to give you all the information you need or have a conversation with your current bookkeeper and ask if you want to see your financial statements monthly and review with them if that would be included in your fee
• When clients want to make a pivot in their business, Danielle will have a planning session or a budget session with them which can be in a group session or one-on-one.
• During planning sessions, they look at the last 12 - 24 months of the business with clients focusing on where revenue is coming from, where expenses are, and see what worked and what they learned - the next step is to plan for the next 12 months
• When planning for your next 12 months, Danielle says you need to think about where you need to invest and who you need, when you need them, or how much money you need to save to make this pivot in your business
• Danielle advises her clients to use the 48-hour rule when they see something they'd like to invest in - she says wait for 48-hours to give yourself enough time and space to consider the investment; after you've waited for 48-hours, Danielle says to email your bookkeeper and ask them how it would impact your financials and goals for the year
• If you're new to starting a business, Danielle says the first thing you need to do is create a business and financial plan because any bank or investor is going to want to see your business plan - in it say why your business is unique, how you plan on growing the business, layout the cash you need and why and explain when and how you'll make that cash back
• Once you have your business plan in place, Danielle explains again that you need to separate your business and personal finance and have a tracking system because how can anyone invest in your business if you can't track where you're going to spend that money
• Danielle shares different options you can use for funding, such as banks, debt financing companies, and even suggests going to local small business groups and hubs because they usually have several resources that can help line you up with investors who might be willing to invest in your business
• If you're starting a business and don't see a profit within the first year, Danielle says to give yourself a break because she doesn't see very many of their clients start their business and are profitable for those first 1-3 years - go easy on yourself, you're investing and growing a business

Creating a Sellable Business

• We mention a book we've both read called, Built to Sell by John Warrillow that transformed our businesses - the book is about a marketing agency that was offering everything under the sun then met with a consultant who said become really good at one thing so you can build your business and sell it
• Danielle explains that in order to have a sellable business, have the standard operating procedures in place, know how your company does it and ask yourself if every piece needs to touch you
• Think about how you could create systems and processes so that when you hire your first contractor or employee, they can come on and be effective and do it with the same level of care as you do
• Anyone who wants to invest or buy your business is going to want to see how you're making money and where you're making it, which is why Danielle says it's so important to have those accounting systems in place
• Danielle says to start small if you need, you can take one thing you learned from today's episode, implement it and then build on it - remember to go easy on yourself and don't be afraid to ask for help when you need help
• Visit their website and check out their resources or connect with Danielle on Instagram

Links mentioned

Kickstart Accounting, Inc.

Profit Planner

Built to Sell by John Warrillow

Connect with Danielle on Instagram

Like what you heard?

Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes.

Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

Let's connect on Instagram!

Shar Biggers is the creative director and founder of Provoke Design, a branding studio. A native of Atlanta, by way of St. Louis, she holds an MBA in business management and is a graduate of Miami Ad School's Portfolio Center of Design. In her extensive experience, she has worked with Fortune 500 companies, led design for Amazon rebrands like Amazon Fashion and Amazon Diversity, and helped more than 10 million Americans say "I'm with her" for Hillary Clinton.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

Shar's Background + Design School

• How Shar initially reached out to me on Instagram and how we've stayed in contact ever since
• As a child, Shar was creative but ended up going to school for neuroscience, where she received her bachelor's degree in psychology - she started her PhD program but quickly realized it wasn't what she wanted to be doing even though the work itself was valuable.
• Shar explains that she changed paths to pursue an MBA instead and tried to get into marketing and advertising agencies for about a year with no success and says she felt very discouraged
• Finally, an agency that Shar had sent her resume to reached out and asked her to do an internship with them - she accepted and worked in SEO and SEM but says that she was fascinated with the graphic design department there and realized that's what she wanted to be doing
• Shar Shares that she went to Portfolio Center of Design and did a 2-year program and after moved to New York, where she began working in an ideation firm
• We talk about how in high school, we didn't know there was this creative world that you could be part of where you didn't have to be considered a starving artist and how our country has been more accepting of creativity
• Shar recommends a TED Talk called, Do schools kill creativity? given by Ken Robinson

Getting Into the Design Industry

• How Shar found such strong differences between working in design houses vs. working in advertising and says she learned a lot from working in marketing and advertising but felt more comfortable working in design
• Shar explains that it took her a couple of years to figure out her design identity and says she tried working in print, advertising, branding, packaging, etc.
• How Shar was able to get into agencies to work in things like media buying, SEO, or social media but couldn't get into graphic design right away because she didn't have a portfolio even though the agencies agreed she had raw talent
• Shar shares why she thinks it's hard to break into graphic design work at agencies as a self-taught designer because they typically think that if this is your job, you should go to school to study your craft, and they want to rest assured that you have the training and knowledge needed to design because they take it seriously
• Why we need to bridge the gap between people who took the traditional design route and the people who are self-taught designers or who just graduated from school
• When thinking about building a portfolio, Shar says it's important to figure out what you love doing first because you want your portfolio to be relevant to the work you want to be doing
• How you should focus on specializing to a certain extent instead of being a jack of all trades because once you master a certain area, if you want to pivot, people will believe in it, and you because you showed them you mastered something already
• Shar thinks people should perfect the craft they want to be good at and think about what kind of designer they want to be because everything takes a different route and gives the example of her best friend who also went to school at the same time as her, but took a different route into advertising
• The story of how Shar worked very hard at school, which even meant sleeping there most nights because she lived an hour away - she shares that she was eating, sleeping, and breathing design to prove that her work was just as good as anyone else
• Shar's advice to those listening is to think about what you want, how badly you want it, and where you want to go - and if people are not seeing it, you have to take a step back and say, is everyone picking on me or am I missing something?
• The story of how Shar wasn't able to pay for her last year of school and had to move back home with her mom had no money to her name but launched an online store on Etsy store selling pop culture-focused phone cases that went viral and helped pay for her last year of school

Creating Your Portfolio + Provoke Design

• If you want to build your portfolio, study your craft, and take on free projects if you need to - Shar shares that she took on some very low paying projects so she could master her craft
• Shar says as a new designer; you shouldn't be so eager for money because you still need to understand the industry and learn but says, if you master your craft, you can charge whatever you want
• When you're trying to learn, Shar recommends finding a small, local agency that puts out better work than your own and saying, hey, I want to learn, and if you have the capacity to teach me, great
• Another piece of advice Shar gives is, be willing to intern for free so you can learn the skills you need, especially if you are self-taught; that way, they can be your teacher, and they can help you master your craft
• Shar created Provoke Design because she saw an unmet need of the market - after working at a lot of different places, she noticed one consistent thing was that she was usually the only person of color and one of the only women, and also noticed the clients she worked with or the products they would put out lacked diversity
• When Shar worked for Hillary Clinton, Hillary was an advocate for change, and if you didn't see the change you wanted, she encouraged to do it yourself, so that's what Shar did - Shar didn't start Provoke Design because she wanted a design firm, she did it to start changing the design industry
• Shar says she works with all types of businesses but works to keep her business accessible to brands that can't afford to go to the best branding houses
• For the first couple of years, Shar was the only full-time person, and she worked with other partners from writers and strategists to art directors and producers based on project budgets
• Shar is currently working on the logistics of building an in-house team with the primary focus of staying accessible
• Shar wants to remind you that regardless of your situation or circumstances, you can make a path for yourself - do what it takes to get there and don't be afraid to do the things that may be seen as unconventional
• Connect with Shar through the Provoke website or follow them on Instagram

Links mentioned:

Provoke Design Website

TED Talk - Do schools kill creativity?

Connect with Shar on Instagram

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