Episode 13 - Reflecting on 2020 and Shifts in My Business

Full Episode Transcription:

(00:07):
Hello everybody. This is the last episode of 2020. Super exciting. It’s been so amazing to start this podcast this year. Even with all the craziness going on, you know, it’s allowed me to build connections with you guys more and serve you more, which my word for 2020 was “serve”. So this has just been an awesome way to do that. Today’s fun fact is that I am a huge football fan, big Michigan Wolverines girl. I’m the one who’s yelling at the TV during the game. My husband does not. He is a Michigan State fan, so we are a house divided, which hurts my heart. But yeah, I love football. College football. Not really a big NFL fan, but. Okay! So today’s episode, we are going to be diving deep into what 2020 has brought, what challenges that have come with all of the COVID stuff and how I’ve shifted my business and how this can help you guys. So we’re gonna have a little bit of story time today. Obviously running a business in 2020 has not been the easiest thing to do. There’s been a lot of times where I’ve had to pivot my business and just kind of go with the flow, but it’s really led me to where I am today.

(02:14):
And I’m super excited about where this business is going. Yeah. I’m just going to share that with you guys today. In the beginning of this year – Okay, back up <laugh> towards the end of last year is when I started getting into more website and branding design work, which I found I really, really enjoyed, but I was still doing mostly general administration work and a lot of social media management for my class. That was my main bread-and-butter in my business. But then in February, I said, “You know what? This is not where my heart is. This does not light me up.” I say to you guys, and I had to say this to myself. If you’re not doing something that lights you up – like you ditched the classroom to make yourself happier. So if it’s not making you happier, then it’s time to pivot.

(03:07):
So I knew that website and branding was where I was the happiest and I had the most fun in my business at the end of February. I said, “You know what? Peace-out to these clients.” Um, I had a couple clients that I really loved working with in more of the admin role in social media role, but I just told them that I was shifting and gave them referrals if they needed them to someone else to get help. But yeah, in the beginning of March is when I officially shifted into full-time website and branding designer. Now, I’m sure you guys know that March is kind of when went south and COVID just decided to run rampant. That was a bit of a challenge. You know, I shifted my business and now all of this stuff was happening. A lot of businesses were closing down.

(04:06):
They didn’t necessarily have the funds to hire a website designer. So March was a little bit slow and I’ll be honest about that. Income was not great in March at all, but I think after some of the craziness died down – not that it’s ever gone away – but once it died down, you know, a lot of businesses were like, “Okay, we have to look at revamping how we’re running our business. We can’t have people coming into our store, we need to move online.” And so if they, you know, had a really dated site, they needed that updated. Or if they didn’t have a website at all, you know, they needed the home of their business instead of having a brick and mortar, they needed to bring it online. So shifting into website design was actually really the perfect timing because there were so many businesses that needed that help.

(05:02):
So I say this to you guys, to help you realize, you know, so many businesses are going online right now. Even I’m recording this in November and still so many businesses are pivoting their business to match the times with everything going on. You know, if they have a brick-and-mortar, they probably still can’t have as many people in their building as they used to. So they got to figure out what to do online. So they probably need more virtual administration help. So that’s a really good area that you can help them with. You know, maybe they used to run classes all the time, but now they’re doing a podcast to help serve their community. So you can become their podcast editor. They need to be showing up on social media. So you can be their social media manager. There’s so many things that 2020 has really had a lot of craziness, but it’s, it’s helped us freelancers in the fact that so many businesses that weren’t online now are, and they need help. Um, so yeah, I just wanted to say that. So as a website designer, the way that I was running my business, it usually took about three to five weeks to finish one client’s project. So if they were a branding and website design client, it would take me between three to five weeks to actually get that done. But what I found in that three to five weeks, I was not working on their project consistently. A lot of that time time was just me waiting for them to get content that I needed. And they would often, you know, sign on with me, really excited to get their project going. But then they had other things come up in their business during that three to five weeks that would push their attention off of getting me what I needed to do my job for them.

(06:59):
And so I found that it was really dragging out a lot longer than it needed to. When I did actually sit down to design it, it didn’t take me that long. I’m the type of person who I wanna bust something out. Like, if I sit down to work on it, I wanna work on it ’til it’s done. And I found that that was really hard because I didn’t have all the content I needed to get things done. And then I would kind of put what I thought they might give me in there, but then I’d have to go back and tweak and it just took more time. So now I am shifting my business again into VIP days. And I’m going explain a little bit more about what VIP days are, but basically this is going to allow me to design websites and branding for my clients in two to five days.

(07:52):
So we’re going from three to five weeks to two to five days. And the way that this will work for me is my clients will have to get me all of their content, all of their written content, their images, all of that before I start working. So I will already have all of their content. And then I can just go in and build around that. And sometimes that’s easier as a designer. You know, if you’re someone interested in designing, it’s easier to have all the content, ’cause that gives you a really good vision of how to build the site, to fit all of their content. So, two to five days. This will allow me to take on more clients because what I found with the three to five weeks, you know, if the clients were kind of dragging their feet on getting me the content that I needed. I still had them on my plate and it felt more difficult to take on another client.

(08:45):
‘Cause I’m like, “Well, what if this client gets me their stuff tomorrow, then I need to finish their site and I’m not gonna have time to do this other client.” So now I’ll have time to take on more clients, but I’ll be working less. One of these projects will take me 2, 3, 4 days, and then I can take on another. I will also be narrowing down the time that I work during the week. So I’ll really only be working like three days a week and this will allow me to spend more time with my daughter. So she’s in school two days a week. And so on the days, the two days that she’s in school, I’ll be able to work on these projects. And then one other day, when she’s home, you know, if she’s playing nicely, I’ll be able to work on the project. But the other two days I’ll be able to spend with her as much as I want or work on my business and growing it to the next level.

(09:37):
So this just gives me a lot of freedom and I really, really highly recommend contemplating VIP days. You know, especially if you’re someone who is still in the classroom, you don’t have a lot of time after you get a home to do a lot of work for clients in the evening. You can think about doing a VIP day one, one day on the weekend, maybe offering two VIP days a month. If you’re charging a grand or more for V I P day, which you should, because you’re putting all of your attention on their business. It should be a pretty decent price point. You could already be at two grand in income for only working two days a month on your business. A lot of people are really excited about VIP days and what it will allow them to do. And this is just a lot of businesses like it because they get a really quick turnaround on their project and they don’t have to wait weeks for something to get done.

(10:44):
So there are a lot of different services that lend themselves to VIP days. It doesn’t just have to be design. Social media managers could do VIP days. Podcast editors could. Who else? General admin. You probably could, in some respects, if you are setting up systems for your clients, more of like an online business manager type role, you could have a VIP day where you set up, you know, all their systems in one or two days. There’s a lot of really cool things about it. If you guys would like me to go into an episode, like more detailed about, you know, what the different roles could do in terms of VIP days, like “what could social media managers do during VIP days? What could all the different roles do?” I would be more than happy to do that. If that’s something that interests you send me a DM on Instagram or email me and let me know that you want me to do an episode, ’cause I definitely will.

(11:46):
So like I said, this episode is just me reflecting on 2020 where my business was and where it’s gone. It’s been a roller coaster, but it’s been super fun. I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’ve been able to witness my daughter just growing into the crazy little wild, sweet, beautiful, smart girl that she is. And I’m so, so grateful. I’m so grateful for you guys. You know, this episode, I talked more about the VIP days, which is the design part of my business is one side of my business, but then serving you guys and helping you start your “Ditch the Classroom” journey is the other side of my business. And it’s something else I’m really, really, really passionate about. So this year has been amazing in how many women I’ve been able to serve in their journeys out of the classroom. And I’m just really extremely grateful for y’all. So I’m so excited to see what 2021 brings, how many more women I can help become work-at-home moms. And yeah, just – I love you guys so much. Again, feel free to reach out to me any time on Instagram, I’m always there at arianna.vernier. And I hope you guys have an amazing Christmas and New Year’s and any holiday you celebrate. We will not have an episode next week because I’m just gonna take some time to enjoy family, but I will be back at the beginning of 2021.