5 Mistakes I Made in my First Business

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If you have kept up with me, you may know that for 6 months I ran a small design business online. Cielo Creative Studio specialized in web and logo design. I got one client in my first six months that paid me $50 and that was it. Now, I am going to dive into the reasons why this previous business was not a success.

PRICING

My biggest mistake was my pricing. I had no idea how to price myself, what expenses I needed to cover, and how much money I wanted to make on top of that. I saw what other people were charging and what coaches said I needed to charge, and went off of that. To put it simply, I winged it. I did no research and just threw a price on each service I offered and called it good.

Because there was no effort or reasoning behind my pricing and why I had it set the way it was, I wasn’t confident in what I was charging at all. You could tell everywhere that I wasn’t confident, when I showed up on Instagram, on my stories, my website, and when I was talking to others about my business.

I never understood why web designers charged what I thought was an extremely high price. Even though I didn’t understand this price, I did the same thing, thinking that was what would get me the clients I was so desperate to have. When people asked me what I charged, I couldn’t give a clear answer or explain why I had my prices set the way I did.

In effect, this made me appear extremely unprofessional and like I had no idea what I was doing. People did not want to work with me because I could not clearly or confidently tell potential clients my process or my prices, which drove people away from wanting to work with me.

I WAITED FOR CLIENTS TO COME TO ME

Yup, that’s what I did. I created a website, Instagram page, and started posting and doing stories. I thought that was all I needed to get the clients knocking on my door to work with me. I never pitched, I never looked for jobs, nada. I sat back and waited for the clients to come to me.

I thought that by posting stock photos, design projects, and following people I thought would be neat to work with, I was doing everything I needed to get client inquiries. Boy was I wrong! Sitting back and waiting for people to come to you when first starting your business is the opposite of what you want to do.

To go along with this, I had no clear idea of who I wanted to work with. I never decided on who my ideal client was, where to find them, what their pain points were, how to get visible to them, and how to sell my services to them. I followed other designers, coaches, virtual assistants, photographers, and whoever else I thought I would like to work with. I never wrote anything down, had any goals for who I wanted to work with, why I wanted to work with them, and how many clients I wanted to sign each month. I had no strategy when it came to how to get clients and my business suffered because of it.

I WAS LOOKING IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES

On the rare occasion that I was looking for clients, I was looking in the wrong place. The people I was looking at were well established businesses who already had a website, or were doing such a good job bringing clients in to their business that a website wasn’t necessary for them. The people I was attracting on my page were mostly new accounts, business who weren’t prioritizing their budget on a website or were new web designers themselves who were DIYing their site.

The only place I ever looked for clients was on Instagram, and while Instagram is a great place to find clients and how I do so in my business currently, it was not effective for the business I was trying to run. The people I want to work with were not on Instagram and I didn't know where to find them since that platform was all I knew.

I LACKED CONFIDENCE

With the combination of not knowing what to charge and not finding or signing clients, I was not confident in what I was doing. Your confidence can speak for you, people can see it even when you are not talking about your offers or about what you do. When you are confident, people will be able to tell! This was not the case for me, I was lacking confidence and people could tell. When you aren’t confident, people will not see you as an authority or want to buy from you.

By being confident, you can be enthusiastic. You can make better content, do better work, and feel happier and most genuine doing what you do best. You are able to pitch, you can sign on clients, you can show up on camera, film stories, make courses, design websites, coach others, speak clearly, and convince people that they should buy from YOU.

Confidence will position you in front of the clients you are dreaming of having and make them respect you. A lack of confidence will make your ideal clients pitch to you as a potential client, since they can tell that you have some growing room in your business. Because I was showing up, but not showing up confidently, people saw me as an Instagram friend or a potential client, not someone they wanted to hire. My lack of confidence hurt my business and scared off potential clients from wanting to work with me.

I HAD THE WRONG MINDSET

I remember the first time I learned about a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset. I loved learning about it and how a mindset switch can change your perspective on anything. When I was running Cielo Creative Studio, my mindset was that clients would come to me.

I told myself things like: "people will find out you don’t have a college degree”, “you can’t actually design a website”, “there are so many better options out there”, “if only people would hire me, then they would see my real skill”. Even if I never said these things out loud, they impacted my business. Eventually, after I told myself these things enough times and hadn’t signed on any clients, I started saying things like, “No one will ever hire me”, “I can’t design”, “I can’t get clients”, and “This is a waste of time”. Not only did I have a fixed mindset, I also had a serious case of imposter syndrome. I saw what other people were creating and I thought they could do a better job than me and no one was going to hire me because they could see the same thing.

If I had realized the toxicity of my mindset while I was in business, making the switch from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset would have made all the difference. I would have been confident, excited, and probably signing clients!

Enough with the “I would haves”! Let’s talk for a moment about this business and how I have taken steps away from these 5 mistakes to ensure that this business succeeds.

DIGITELLA CO IS DIFFERENT

Digitella Co. is all about going after what I want! I started my business because I wanted to be able to work from anywhere in the world, set my own schedule, and use my variety of skills to get female entrepreneurs from feeling overwhelmed back to the reason why they started their business in the first place.

I have a growth mindset in this business, telling myself that I CAN sign clients, I am worth it, I can do excellent work for my clients, and things such as these. Changing my mindset has been the biggest shift I have seen in my business that has paid off. If you struggle with mindset, reach out and I will recommend some great mindset coaches for you!

In Digitella Co., I am confident. I am confident in what I offer, how much I charge, and the success that I bring to my clients. I am motivated and ready to work, I am able to explain how and why I do things in my business, and don’t have to doubt my words for a second!

Keep on the look out for more exciting blog posts filled with copywriting + small business tips!