Today’s Guest Expert is Carrie Klassen,
Chief Creatrix at Pink Elephant Communications
3 COMMON MISTAKES GENEROUS ENTREPRENEURS MAKE
(THAT YOU CAN CHANGE TODAY WITHOUT LOSING YOUR NICENESS)
I’m feeling inspired to write about mistakes this week because lately so many of my own have been illuminated for me. I’m not sure if it’s the position of the planets or the change of the season or the barometric pressure but I am getting more and more (and more still) clear about all the beautiful ways I’ve completely screwed up. Let me tell you about three of them because if you’re just getting by, you might be making one or two of them too.
Mistake #1: Fearing the specific
When I first launched Pink Elephant Communications, I, like probably every entrepreneur before me, wanted to have the broadest appeal. Not because I was desperate or too eager (but I was definitely those things) but because I wanted to help everyone! I was good at lots of different things – all under the writing/design/marketing/consulting umbrella – which is a really big umbrella – and I was happy to tell people about them. I was afraid to get really specific because then I might turn people off – people who needed help.
HERE’S WHAT I LEARNED: Having your arms wide open to anyone leaves no one feeling especially cherished.
HERE’S WHAT I DID: I made a list of the work I LOVED to do and the work I didn’t. And I cut everything I didn’t love doing from my service list. It felt really good. Business picked up as it’s bound to do when you’re feeling happy and things were swell. But it didn’t take long before I was working too much. Well empty. Tuckered out. So I did the same thing as I had before, except with clients. I made a list of the types of clients who filled me up and the types that were a drain. And I rewrote my website and service offering to focus on the first group. People love focus. They’re sooooo drawn to it. Once I got super clear about who would be a good fit for Pink Elephant, those gorgeous people started showing up. They recognized themselves on my site and they wanted to work with me. I no longer do any advertising and rely mainly on my homepage to do the bulk of my marketing and sales for me. (You want to have a strong, speaks-clearly-for-you homepage. Critical.)
Mistake #2: Running an unkind business
A year ago, I would have called my business kind. The first e-book I wrote was even called 6 Ways to Attract Clients with Kindness. But I would have been wrong. My business was not kind. And this stung to realize. While Pink Elephant was very generous with her clients, she was not so sweet to me. In truth, I was the worst boss I ever had. (And there were a couple who were really, really bad.) I pushed myself to work long hours for less than minimum wage. I pushed myself to skip breakfast, to ignore my body when it ached and grumbled, to stop getting massages. I thought this was just how it had to be. “If you’re going to do what you love, there’s got to be some sacrifice, Carrie.”
HERE’S WHAT I LEARNED: You only have a truly heart-centric business if it’s good to your heart too.
HERE’S WHAT I DID: I made a long (scary) list of all of my expenses – both personal and business – and I added it up. Then I made a wish list; beside the first column of numbers, I wrote down what I’d like to be able to spend on all those things, like dinners out and gifts for friends, organic groceries instead of macaroni from a box. That was a bigger total. Then I tracked my work hours. In my business, like most, only about 25% of the hours are actually billable hours. The rest fill up with e- mail and invoicing and getting to the bank and all the other things I underestimated when I wrote my business plan. So that meant if I worked 40 hours in a week, I had to cover off all the expenses in the 10 billable hours available. As Dr. Phil says of budgeting, “It’s not magic; it’s math.” And the logic was reassuring. I didn’t have to make pricing decisions based on emotion or competitive analyses (I don’t actually believe in competition – a post for another day)… I could make them based on simple math. Just bringing awareness to how many hours my body and mind can work (during the scheduling exercise, I added in time for breaks, the gym, sleeping…) and how much revenue is needed led to a new-found ability to actually sustain myself. (And while I did lose one or two clients, I gained others. Really, really nice ones.)
Mistake #3: Bringing in reinforcements too late (or not at all)
You’ve heard this one a hundred times. Me too. But I ignored it. At my peril. When you’re working too much for too little, that’s when you need help the most, and when it requires the most courage to get it. I was drowning in e-mail. I did such a fine job with my website that I was getting work requests through it nearly every day. And I couldn’t keep up with the work requests and the work. So invoicing fell to the side. And you know what else falls to the side then? Revenue. I was just a mess. My clients got great work but my husband wasn’t seeing me, nor was my bank. I kept thinking I could get on top of it if I just worked another hour, or tried a little harder, or stopped reading Facebook messages from friends, or….
HERE’S WHAT I LEARNED: If you don’t have the proper supports in place, you don’t have a business; you’re running a hobby. (Ouch!)
HERE’S WHAT I DID: I asked colleagues if anyone could recommend a virtual assistant. In about 5 minutes, I had the name of the woman I’d fall in love with. From our first conversation Jess could finish my sentences. The first thing I did was give her the general inbox to manage. She’s our official “welcome ambassador” and she helps people who are new to Pink Elephant figure out what services might be best for them. It took a little time initially to bring Jess up to speed on everything (I had to get organized about my own processes) but, very quickly, having that extra support gave me more “Carrie hours” back – which I split between personal and business time. I was less frenzied. I could spend more time caring for my clients and the work we were doing together and I had more billable hours available to generate revenue. And my life began to look more like what I hoped it could be. (Gradually…. my husband would probably tell you I’m still a bit of a mess, but he’d say it with love.)
The other piece that has been so big for me is the investment of time, attention and money that I put into my website. My website is where I lean most heavily. Because of how it’s now structured, 99% of the people I hear from through the site have already decided they want to work with me when they get in touch. That feels great but it also saves so much time.
Other “supports” I’ve put in place are better processes. I now block admin tasks together (interrupting creative time to write an estimate was a drag). I’ve written specific intake forms for specific project types (instead of rewriting or re-asking the same questions with every client). I got help with a simple bookkeeping system. I bought a subscription to an invoicing program that saves me hours. I’m automating where I can because what I’ve learned is that I come alive when I’m doing the writing, the creative briefs, the meetings with clients. That is where I want to spend my time.
SO THERE YOU HAVE THEM… 3 OF MY MANY, MANY MISTAKES. I’m looking forward to this conversation with you all today and am happy to get more specific about anything above, to answer any questions you have (nothing is off limits) and to hear your ideas for each other (and, if you want to share them, the mistakes that kept your output and input out of balance).
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Carrie Klassen
Carrie Klassen runs two creative businesses dedicated to supporting women entrepreneurs. An award-winning copywriter and marketing strategist, Carrie writes marketing workbooks and runs workshops at Pink Elephant Academy for Entrepreneurs. Over at Pink Elephant Creative, she and her team create smart and beautiful, generous and kind websites (that sell!). Carrie’s mission is to help women entrepreneurs raise their rates and communicate their offerings in a way that’s genuine, compelling, and beautiful.
Carrie loves to answer marketing questions for entrepreneurs at www.facebook.com/pinkelephantcommunications.
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I am an innovative coach and love inspiring you to find soul-satisfying success for your creative endeavors. I am also a writer, author, and "laptop lifestyle" enthusiast.