build your foundation
$500 → $1,500
Let's say your business is generating around $500 every month and that’s about 500x better than $0, but you know $500 can’t pay all your bills, so you’re looking to grow. What do you do?
If you missed it in the previous lesson, we’re going to use our fake business Oodles of Poodles π©π¨ Design Studio (a company that does Squarespace website design for health and wellness businesses) as our ongoing example.
β‘οΈ Tip #1: From your first few customers, can you look for patterns and identify a clear customer profile?
One of the most important ways you can grow your business is to get crystal clear on WHO your target customer is.
Even with our Oodles of Poodles π©π¨ business, we've narrowed in on “health and wellness” clients, but even that niche can be very broad.
Using the tips from the previous lesson, hopefully, you've been able to take on a few clients by this point, but since you're still in that early stage you may have felt the need to say YES to each and every client inquiry.
That's totally okay! But if you really want to grow, it's time to get laser-focused on attracting a specific type of client. Think back to which clients you enjoyed working with the most, and try answering the following questions:
1οΈβ£ Is there a pattern to what these clients do? (Instead of “wellness companies” are most of your favorites actually yoga instructors?)
2οΈβ£ Is there a pattern to why they are looking for a [insert your business here] to help them? (Multiple clients have said they "don't consider themselves creative" and "they are frustrated by trying to design their own website”.)
3οΈβ£ Is there a pattern to what they're asking for? (Maybe you started out thinking you’d design 10-15 pages per website, but the best clients are happy with 4-6 pages.)
Just by answering those questions, you can paint a much clearer picture of the IDEAL customer you want to attract and how to speak to exactly what they want.
And where do you apply that lovely business-paint? You spell it out clearly on YOUR website and in all your promotional copy!
β‘οΈTip #2: Develop a clear expertise.
Back when Caroline π©π»π¦° started her first online business in 2014, a design studio called Made Vibrant, she marketed herself as a do-it-all-designer (hand-lettering, logos, graphic design, print design, branding, websites, etc.) She could apply her design skills to all these different projects, so why not cast the net as wide as possible, she thought.
After working with the first few clients of Made Vibrant, Caroline went through the questions we just posed in #1 and found there was a more focused approach she wanted to take.
Instead of being a do-it-all-designer designer, she realized her favorite projects were designing brands for first-time creative entrepreneurs. She loved the feeling of confidence she could see in her clients after they had a clear and unique brand identity they were proud of.
This decision to stop being a jack-of-all-trades and instead develop a clear expertise in brand design is the point where clients finally starting seeking out Caroline instead of her always needing to go out and find them. It marked a turning point in the success of her business.
It illustrates what we call the 𧲠Magnet vs π₯
Net approach to branding your business.
π𧲠Magnet Approach: This approach is about being specific in stating exactly what your expertise is, exactly who you can help with your business, and exactly what makes you unique (and even a bit weird!). It’s Caroline’s version of becoming a Brand Designer. For Oodles of Poodles π©π¨, it’s about knowing that Squarespace sites for technology-frustrated yoga instructors is the sweet spot.
When you stop being vanilla and "for everyone," you start to ATTRACT your ideal customers and repel customers who aren't a good fit for you (sorry spa and gym owners, these poodles aren’t oodling for you!)
ππ₯ Net Approach: This approach is the ole “spray and pray” idea. You’re hoping if you keep things generic enough in your copy and promotion that the right customers will fall into your lap (amidst all the wrong customers).
Yet, what tends to happen is that you don’t get any customers because people don’t know if you’re the right fit. You get stuck in place and you end up taking on bad clients and doing work you don’t want to do.
By creating more clarity in who you want to help and how you can help them, you’ll 𧲠more of the right customers for your growing biz.
Remember, don’t be afraid to "repel" people at this stage of your business. The more you can become known for doing something specific really well, the better your chances are of getting paid to do that thing!
β‘οΈ Tip #3: Start building an email list... now.
Buckle up, buttercup! It’s time to take control of your business and build an audience of people who care about what you have to offer the world.
β οΈ IMPORTANT: Any existing service-based biz owners might be thinking, “Hey, I’ve made it this far in my business, why would I start an email list and put extra work on my plate??” And the answer is three-fold:
Having a captivated audience you can mostly control your interaction with is extremely important in business and will be absolutely mandatory to grow to the $1,500, $3,000, $5,000, and $10,000+ biz levels.
These three tips aren’t going to immediately help you jump from $500/month to $1,500/month in your business but, spoiler alert, no one has a silver bullet to help you do that.
We’re all about that gradual, sustainable growth π¦ around here. It helps you keep balance in your life and to avoid burnout at all costs.
Next lesson, we’ll jump up to the $1,500/month level of business, with new tips to help you at that stage π.
If you missed it in the previous lesson, we’re going to use our fake business Oodles of Poodles π©π¨ Design Studio (a company that does Squarespace website design for health and wellness businesses) as our ongoing example.
One of the most important ways you can grow your business is to get crystal clear on WHO your target customer is.
Even with our Oodles of Poodles π©π¨ business, we've narrowed in on “health and wellness” clients, but even that niche can be very broad.
Using the tips from the previous lesson, hopefully, you've been able to take on a few clients by this point, but since you're still in that early stage you may have felt the need to say YES to each and every client inquiry.
That's totally okay! But if you really want to grow, it's time to get laser-focused on attracting a specific type of client. Think back to which clients you enjoyed working with the most, and try answering the following questions:
1οΈβ£ Is there a pattern to what these clients do? (Instead of “wellness companies” are most of your favorites actually yoga instructors?)
2οΈβ£ Is there a pattern to why they are looking for a [insert your business here] to help them? (Multiple clients have said they "don't consider themselves creative" and "they are frustrated by trying to design their own website”.)
3οΈβ£ Is there a pattern to what they're asking for? (Maybe you started out thinking you’d design 10-15 pages per website, but the best clients are happy with 4-6 pages.)
Just by answering those questions, you can paint a much clearer picture of the IDEAL customer you want to attract and how to speak to exactly what they want.
And where do you apply that lovely business-paint? You spell it out clearly on YOUR website and in all your promotional copy!
π
βοΈ A note about saying NO: Again, at the $500/month level of business, it can be easy to fall in the trap of taking on any client that comes your way because you're afraid to turn down money. But we found from our own experience and helping many people over the years, saying yes to clients who AREN'T your ideal customers is the quickest way to not enjoy your work and to muddle your messaging. The quicker you can create cohesion and clarity in your portfolio and your website copy, the quicker you will see results of more and more ideal clients coming to YOU.
Back when Caroline π©π»π¦° started her first online business in 2014, a design studio called Made Vibrant, she marketed herself as a do-it-all-designer (hand-lettering, logos, graphic design, print design, branding, websites, etc.) She could apply her design skills to all these different projects, so why not cast the net as wide as possible, she thought.
After working with the first few clients of Made Vibrant, Caroline went through the questions we just posed in #1 and found there was a more focused approach she wanted to take.
Instead of being a do-it-all-designer designer, she realized her favorite projects were designing brands for first-time creative entrepreneurs. She loved the feeling of confidence she could see in her clients after they had a clear and unique brand identity they were proud of.
This decision to stop being a jack-of-all-trades and instead develop a clear expertise in brand design is the point where clients finally starting seeking out Caroline instead of her always needing to go out and find them. It marked a turning point in the success of her business.
π𧲠Magnet Approach: This approach is about being specific in stating exactly what your expertise is, exactly who you can help with your business, and exactly what makes you unique (and even a bit weird!). It’s Caroline’s version of becoming a Brand Designer. For Oodles of Poodles π©π¨, it’s about knowing that Squarespace sites for technology-frustrated yoga instructors is the sweet spot.
When you stop being vanilla and "for everyone," you start to ATTRACT your ideal customers and repel customers who aren't a good fit for you (sorry spa and gym owners, these poodles aren’t oodling for you!)
ππ₯ Net Approach: This approach is the ole “spray and pray” idea. You’re hoping if you keep things generic enough in your copy and promotion that the right customers will fall into your lap (amidst all the wrong customers).
Yet, what tends to happen is that you don’t get any customers because people don’t know if you’re the right fit. You get stuck in place and you end up taking on bad clients and doing work you don’t want to do.
By creating more clarity in who you want to help and how you can help them, you’ll 𧲠more of the right customers for your growing biz.
Remember, don’t be afraid to "repel" people at this stage of your business. The more you can become known for doing something specific really well, the better your chances are of getting paid to do that thing!
Buckle up, buttercup! It’s time to take control of your business and build an audience of people who care about what you have to offer the world.
β οΈ IMPORTANT: Any existing service-based biz owners might be thinking, “Hey, I’ve made it this far in my business, why would I start an email list and put extra work on my plate??” And the answer is three-fold:
- Building an email list helps you future-proof your entire business. The sooner you build an engaged audience (one that's NOT at the mercy of social media algorithms), the sooner you’ll be able to start thinking about transitioning away from trading time for money. We’ll talk more about that in the future Grow It Gradually lessons.
- An email newsletter is the simplest, most vital marketing bridge to your business. It’s a way for you to attract people out in the chaotic catacombs of the Internet and stay connected to remind them how you can solve their problems.
By showing up consistently in someone’s email inbox (where algorithms don’t punish you), you build trust and authority with them. You also give them a constant reminder of Tip #1 (who your business is for) and #2 (what your expertise is) in this email! Read more about Marketing Bridges here. - Your email newsletter is a lead-building opportunity. Using our trusty biz Oodles of Poodles π©π¨ as an example, we’re not just going to say, “Sign up for cute photos of Prism the poodle π©.” Instead, we’re going to have a bi-weekly email newsletter that shares A) a case study of an awesome yoga website and brand we found and B) a hot, new thing we learned in Squarespace. Okay, also C) an adorable photo of Prism doing something suuuuuper cute.
You want to attract 𧲠your ideal customers to your email list and consistently show up in their inbox on a schedule you can keep up with. These subscribers will hopefully become customers as you add in callouts for client availability in your emails!
β‘οΈ You can NEVER start an email list early enough. Trust us, even if one day in the future you were to pivot your entire business model (which we’ve done many times over the years), the right audience will move along with you. β‘οΈ
Having a captivated audience you can mostly control your interaction with is extremely important in business and will be absolutely mandatory to grow to the $1,500, $3,000, $5,000, and $10,000+ biz levels.
These three tips aren’t going to immediately help you jump from $500/month to $1,500/month in your business but, spoiler alert, no one has a silver bullet to help you do that.
We’re all about that gradual, sustainable growth π¦ around here. It helps you keep balance in your life and to avoid burnout at all costs.
Next lesson, we’ll jump up to the $1,500/month level of business, with new tips to help you at that stage π.