5 Changes I'm Making to My Business in 2019

Where has the year gone – really?

As I sit down to write this post I’m on the verge of fully unveiling my refreshed, elevated website and am feeling so many things all at once: nervousness, excitement and anticipation.

Elevate: it’s my word for 2019.

I’m upping the ante when it comes to the quality of my work, my services offered, my client experience from on-boarding to completion, my own brand aesthetic and more. And I feel more confident going into a new year than ever before.

2018 has been a year for the books for this business, and I’m grateful for all of the valuable lessons that I’ve learned along the way. Every little win, wonderful client and project completed has helped shape the direction of my creative studio moving forward, which is why I’m so excited to share five changes that I’ll be making just in time for the New Year.

1. I’m paring down on my social media services – big time.

My business hit the ground running in 2017 thanks to my social media clients, and for that I’ll be forever grateful. However, I recently realized that since 2013 I’ve been constantly plugged in, commenting, liking and scrolling. Five years of that is a long time. While much of my career has been rooted in managing social, I’m taking a step back in 2019 to focus more on content creation.

I plan to offer social content creation services that will still allow me to shape the overall creative direction for my clients, but will be less involved on the management side. I’m also introducing social media photography into the mix, as I see a need for more quality, styled images for brands.

2. I’m introducing email marketing services.

When I launched my business, email marketing was the last thing on my mind. But over the last year and a half, I’ve realized how important building and fostering an email list truly is. After building an email sequence with an insanely high open rate (and subscriber-to-client conversion rate!) for myself, I knew that I needed to extend these services to my clients.

I’m happy to share that I’m now offering creative email marketing services in Mailchimp! I will offer one-off sequence creation or ongoing email management packages to businesses who are ready to leverage their email list and turn subscribers into customers and clients.

3. The Friday Forum is launching soon.

Last month I shared that The Friday Forum would launch in 2019 – an opportunity to schedule a call with me on Fridays to chat about business, creativity or really…anything. I receive so many great emails and messages from women exploring their own creative endeavors, so what better way to serve them with a one-on-one chat? More to come on this soon, but if you’re interested, sign up for my waitlist here!

4. I raised my rates.

…and removed them from my site. Over the last year I’ve realized that a one-size-fits-all package rate wasn’t serving my clients in the best way – each client has individualized needs for their project, which calls for an individualized rate.

Although I still plan to charge at a package rate (hourly is so messy, in my opinion!), this will be personalized for each client based on their unique needs. I’m so excited to see how this goes for my clients as I continue to bring on more large-scale and commercial projects.

5. I identified my ideal client – and I’m pitching them.

This may be the most important one of all: I nailed down who my ideal client is, and I feel incredibly confident about it!

When I first launched my business, I had my sights set on working with small businesses of any kind. With time, I’ve found that mid-sized, woman-owned lifestyle businesses make up the majority of my potential client inquiries, so I will focus on serving a mix of small and mid-sized lifestyle brands moving forward.

Another big change coming in 2019? I’m going to pitch brands who I believe would benefit from my services. My pitch deck is ready and I’ve pulled together a big list of businesses in industries that I’d love to serve, including natural beauty and skincare brands, CBD brands, wellness and self-care brands and more.

I’m so fortunate that this business has thrived thanks to word-of-mouth and referrals (both social media-based and in-person), but I can only image that once I begin pitching and truly putting myself out there, it will grow to the point where I can bring on a team member, which is a huge goal of mine for next year.

What big changes or goals are you making in 2019? I’d love to hear them! Tell me below in the comments, and enjoy the rest of your 2018!