2019: A Business Year in Review

As I sit down to write this post, I’m winding down my busiest season in business ever and feeling so very grateful for all of the work and opportunities that 2019 has afforded me. This year was the second full year of running Lindsay Scholz Studio and while I’ll always be learning, I feel like I’ve found my groove when it comes to project management, working with the right clients (more on this later!), implementing efficient systems and more.

If you’ve visited the blog before, you might remember that I published a recap of my first year in business in 2018. This year in review will follow a similar format, sharing with you the things that did work, didn’t work, a review of this year’s financials (yep!) and my future plans for 2020.

Ready for a full recap of what I’ve learned in business and 2019? I hope that this post encourages you and connects you with helpful resources that will push the needle in your own work next year!

What worked:

• Processes, systems and workflows
Like last year’s recap, I can’t reiterate enough how setting up efficient processes and systems has saved me so much time while running this creative studio. At the start of 2019 I upgraded all of my former systems to the ones that I currently use and haven’t looked back.

Did my monthly operating expenses increase from making this change? Yes, but in exchange I won back valuable time that I was able to pour into serving more clients, launching the shop, hosting speaking engagements and more.

This year I invested in Dubsado as my CRM for everything from contracts to invoices and creative briefs and it’s been everything. If I’m being honest, I’ve only scratched the surface in terms of the automations Dubsado offers, but plan to spend more time getting these up to speed next year. If you’re a creative business owner, I highly recommend considering making the switch to Dubsado – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard feedback from clients that the onboarding process feels smooth, professional and clear to them. Plus, you can keep all forms, contracts and invoices that you send from the tool fully branded to your business!

I also switched to Quickbooks Self-Employed for accounting, which I love. My favorite feature of Quickbooks is the fact that it automatically tracks my mileage when I’m on my way to and from business-related meetings, which is something that I was terrible about tracking in 2018. I have a feeling that my accountant will be much happier with me when tax season comes around!

Note: the Dubsado and Quickbooks links shared above are affiliate links, which means that I make a small commission if you choose to sign up through them.

• Raising my rates
I know, you’ve probably heard it from everyone to raise your rates, but take it from me – it will be worth it. For much of 2018 I still felt “new” in my business and grappled with self-confidence and impostor syndrome. As a result I charged accordingly, and when I look back at my financials from last year I cringe seeing what I made on projects that took significant time and resources to complete.

This year, I made a plan to raise my rates twice – once in January and once in June – as the business continued to grow. I stuck to that goal and as a result I grew my income by 60% (yep!) this year.

As I raised my rates I also found ways to polish and add more value to my client experience. New clients now receive a welcome package during the onboarding experience, and my branding and web design process has been refined even more to provide clients with the most seamless creative direction possible. I continually work to provide above and beyond client service, which is why I’ve retained so many clients who continue to work with me in a retainer capacity for a year or more.

Am I happy with my rates as they stand? Yes. Will I raise them again in 2020? Also yes. With every client, every project and every new course that I complete I become a stronger designer and creative, and will charge accordingly – you should, too!

• Going with my gut and saying ‘no’
In last year’s business recap I dedicated a whole portion of the post to how I had a hard time saying no, and as a result, worked with a lot of clients who were not a fit and added immense stress and unhappiness to my day-to-day. Although there were still a small handful of not-ideal partnerships this year (if you’re in a client-facing business, it’s going to happen!), it was like night and day compared to 2018.

So, you may be wondering: how exactly did I exactly go with my gut and say no?

For every new client inquiry that came my way this year, I required an initial phone call to connect on the project before any next steps. These calls served as a great way for both the potential client and myself to determine if we were a fit for working together.

To hold myself accountable to my values I kept a running checklist of potential red flags, and if any of these came up on the call, we were not a fit for working together: the project is a rush job, budget is repeatedly brought up as a point of concern and contention, pushback with adhering to a contract, pushback on our design process and timelines and more.

Remember: for every low-paying or non-ideal project you choose to work on, you’re robbing yourself of the income or partnership that will bring you joy.

Because I believe in leaving no business lead empty-handed, if we weren’t a fit for working together, I would kindly refer these leads to industry peers who I trust and value. Even if a potential client isn’t a fit for working with me, they certainly could be for someone else!

• Investing in hiring help
In 2019 I invested in hiring two integral team members to help keep Lindsay Scholz Studio running – Madison of Keeping The Creativity and Katharine, my righthand gal for all things content and design! Both of these ladies have been invaluable to me and have helped my weekly emails go out, have designed brand assets for clients, plan and create social content and more.

I’m still learning to trust and let go when it comes to my work, but looking back on this year has proven to me that amazing things can happen when you loosen the grip on your business and make smart hires.

• Opening the resource shop
Launching the resource shop on my site in March was a big step – I knew that I had wanted to create a collection of digital products, but didn’t know exactly where to start. Thankfully, selling my Pinterest keywords was the kick that I needed to then expand into email templates, apparel and more!

Although I don’t dedicate nearly has much time as I’d like to growing this shop, it consistently generates income month after month and I’m so grateful that I put the time in on the frontend to bring it to life. If you’ve ever thought about launching an online shop, I’ll be publishing a blog post soon that breaks down how I got started along with the drop-ship service I use for my printed goods. Because if I can do it, you can, too!

• Using ‘we’ instead of' ‘I’
I’m just going to say it: referring to this business as a ‘we’ rather than an ‘I’ in business-related communication has been a game changer. Not only did it help lend an additional layer of credibility to the business, but it’s also true – Lindsay Scholz Studio became a team of we this year, but more on that later!

What didn’t work:

• Working while traveling
If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw that I spent three weeks in Europe in June. Two of these weeks were spent in Tuscany at a retreat with an amazing group of 16 other women, and one week was spent with my husband in Lisbon.

Prior to this trip I had planned for 6 months to be as unplugged as possible while on this trip, but when it came time to leave, I still had work on my plate. I hate to even admit this, but much of my two weeks spent in gorgeous Tuscany were actually spent in my apartment room where the wifi was strongest, and I so strongly regret missing out on daily excursions, conversations and memorable moments with the women I was there with. I’ll never get those moments back, but I can certainly vow to not mix work with travel in the future. I think it’s safe to say that the digital nomad life isn’t for me – and that’s ok!

• Social media management
When I founded Lindsay Scholz Studio in 2017, I was fresh out of a corporate social media role for a household name brand where I managed the brand’s Instagram and influencer marketing efforts. At the time, it made perfect sense to offer social media management as a service in the business – it would be a seamless transition and I had the professional background, so why not?

As of the end of 2019, I’ve made the decision to not bring on any new social media management clients for the foreseeable future. I love my clients in this space and sharing this change with them was difficult, but it’s for the best. Weekly social media content creation, paid campaign management and community moderation for multiple brands at a time burned me out in ways I never knew were imaginable, even with a social media team member assisting me.

I feel at peace with this decision and shift in the business, and can’t wait to see how much space it opens up for new and exciting work in 2020!

• Allowing scope creep
I’m big on over-delivering. I think it makes for an amazing client experience, and I truly love and want to give the studio’s clients the very best end result. However, I often allowed scope creeping to weasel its way into the business – and that’s going to change next year.

So…what’s scope creep?

Basically, it happens when clients request deliverables or services outside of a contract’s terms. And while this isn’t inherently bad (it’s actually a good thing!), it’s up to us as business owners to respond accordingly. We can’t blame clients for scope creep – we all want it all – we can only blame ourselves for handling or not handling a request appropriately.

When this happened to me this year, I was scared that pushing back with ‘Yes, we can do this, and it will be $X, as this currently isn’t covered by our contract,’ would result in an unhappy client or push a project off course, so I continually said ‘yes’ and over-delivered time and time again – for free. Looking at my financials, I would have hit six figures this year had I not gotten in the way of myself and set boundaries. And wow, does it hurt saying that.

In 2020, I’m going to be clear and kind when it comes to requests that fall outside of a project’s scope. Because when a client is happy and I’m happy too, that’s when great partnerships happen!

My 2019 Income

Yeah, I’m calling you out: you probably scrolled down real fast to this part – right? It’s ok, I do it, too! I’m huge on analyzing other business’s financials and seeing exactly how they structure their income streams for success.

I broke down my year-one income in last year’s recap post and I’m doing the same this year. I do this because I believe in radical transparency in my business, and truly feel that sharing a peek into the operations of my own business will only help others in their own endeavors.

In 2019 I set a lofty-yet-attainable income goal for the business in comparison to 2018: $80,000. This may look like a big, scary number to some and a totally laughable income to others, but for me, this figure felt good because it was significantly more than I made in my last corporate role and also allowed me to bring on more help in the business. With the launch of the shop, I also felt that this goal was attainable thanks to the passive income that the shop would bring in on a monthly basis.

As of writing this post, I’m pleased to share that I exceeded this year’s income goal and currently stand at $83,800 for 2019! Here’s the full breakdown based on source:

• 38% came from content creation work
• 28% came from design work
• 25% came from email marketing work
• 9% came from the shop

2020 is currently tracking to be my first six-figure year and I can’t wait to see how the next year pans out. I look forward to continuing to expand the shop and its income-generating power while also continuing to partner with and serve ideal clients with the best experience possible.

So, if you’ve made it all the way to the end, thanks so much for reading. Now I want to hear about how I can help and encourage you in 2020: let me know what content or insights would be helpful to you in the comments below!