Progress thread: Writing my own success story

[NatashaW]

I've hesitated writing this due to my own self-confidence issues I have when I'm in a room with people I admire. I'd read Fastlane about a year ago and found Unscripted on my bookshelf last week, which for whatever reason I'd never started. I've spent the last few days doing nothing much but studying the book and making notes.
There's a section that's given me the courage to speak up, page 334 "Environment is everything" "You are free to choose - not choosing makes you a victim to your circumstance" So, here I am in this wonderful room of people I aspire to, and I have to choose to get involved. I really hope that everything I learn on my journey, and as I share it, may just help others in turn.

The past few years I've spent trying varying business ventures, some were not so good decisions but one seems to have taken a little more shape and progress, and that's what I'm moving forward with now. It simply started by making one website, for one lady I met in a FB group. She asked for help, and I knew how to help her. It all seemed far too simple! There's also an annually recurring cost which feels so great because I can forecast ahead for my income next year.

I've a few more websites created now from her recommendations, and from promoting my services. I could feel things picking up steam for me, which is when I realised I needed some guidance, and dusted off Unscripted .

As I've been making these websites, my customers have started to trust me and ask for help with other things. These are things that are so super simple to me - setting up a business email, social media templates, sales and marketing (my Slowlane background is in sales) - but these are things they don't want to, or can't do. I've just been charging a little bit extra, case by case, and doing the work.

At the moment, I've created myself a job where I'm trading time for money - but as I'm doing this, I'm recording content to educate them on how to do these things themselves. Fastlane goal is to turn into a membership site / online courses, plus the recurring income from the websites. I'm personally a member of some such memberships, and see how I can put my own take on this, to make it better. Yes, it will take time to grow, time I'm committed to give now, in exchange for the future I want.

The business brand is aimed at career mums. I'm having difficulty deciding if I'm too niche, or should open out to all women in business.
Task: Search the forum for topics about niching.

Other opportunities I can incorporate

• Expand the web design side into a franchise
• I'm learning to code as have ideas for an app that would serve my audience well
• A yearly goal setting/focus journal
• Annual in-person conferences / family events
• Networking / Mastermind groups
• Business introduction service - accountants / VA's / lifestyle help such as childcare, travel agents...anything that helps an entrepreneurial mum (or women in general, if I don't niche on mums)

I'm reminding myself to focus on one thing at a time so I can make each part great, before the next phase !!!

Thoughts I've noted down while reading Unscripted

• Named days of the week: I 100% agree with what's written, but my life is structured this way with 2 children, school is Monday-Friday, family activity is weekends, although I can still dedicate weekend time to growing my business.
• Page 84: Fake FTE, yeah - I think this was me with a previous employed situation I was in. Although, apart from that I don't feel like much else has changed, just my own firm decision to finally prove what I'm capable of. I've said this many times before. I have to choose that this is it.
• Husband: Worry's about money, but supports my ventures. He's Slowlane and we've talked over the books and my goals, it's taken time because he's a natural worrier. He feels trapped in his job and after all these years of him supporting me, it's going to pay off.
• My purpose: Is much more important than I'd realised. I want to help women like me that have felt so stuck, so alone, wanting things but not knowing how to get them! I can do (or outsource) the techy stuff for them. They need to bring their own ambitions. I've made notes of the emotional journey she goes through, and this needs to come across in my messaging.
• Perhaps selfish - but yes, while my love for helping is very real, I do want to live a financially great life. Watching a programme about the wealthy in Monaco last week reminded me of this. I used to get jealous. Now, I see possibility. Besides, I've pinkie promised my family a few nights in the Hotel de Paris.
• Female focused entrepreneur groups I'm in are not always the best environment for me. There's a lot of talk about 'money blocks', 'work/life balance'. I feel like an outcast, they tell me to slow down, but there's not enough talk about action and it just doesn't inspire my growth. I can be shy in male dominated environments, but I also know they support me and push me to achieve.
• Page 224 - It's okay to fail. I am learning. This brief chapter made me feel so understood.

Mission

• Get debt free, asap
• Build a Fastlane business

Current, SHAMEFUL, Situation
Uurrgh this is so horrible to see in the cold light of day, but I can't fix it if I don't face it head on.

• Overdraft: -£1691.37
• MBNA: -£5244.28
• Virgin CC: -£10,630.84
• Halifax: -£11,100.39

Total debt: -£28,666.88
With minimum payments will take me 3.5 YEARS! to clear. No way am I going to let it take that long!

Income over the past couple of months has been steady, but goes straight to paying off debt, so I don't see any of it. I'm okay with that, but I do need to track my income a lot better so I can celebrate the progress.

Pretty sure I've gone on long enough now, thanks for having me
I intend to update daily - I promise not to be as lengthy as this! - but I'd like to at least declare what action I've taken so I can keep my momentum going.

Rebecca

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[NatashaW]

Closing off day 1, 23:12, UK time.

1. Lady struggling to set up a coming soon landing page - I did this for free and now she's taken me to on design her whole site.
2. Previous customer (tutoring business) got in touch, she's wanting to create a promotional flyer for parents, at schools she works with. I've said I'll have a template with her tomorrow.

The flyer making type work is what I intend to outsource in the future and I'll keep a share of the profit. My mind at the moment thinks about the money I lose, by outsourcing, rather than just keeping the full profit myself. Feeling very small here in a pond of big fish, but I'm so happy to be earning something at last, plus sense of pride that people value my service.

I know I need to re-think my own site and marketing message, so that's on my agenda tomorrow. Also, want to keep promoting so I can keep clients coming in, in the meantime. x

 

[NatashaW]

Day 3

• Found sooo much useful information in this gold thread, even though some if it dates back years, there's lot's I've been able to consider and see how it's still relevant today
• Decided too loosen off my niche of focusing on career mums, and speak to female entrepreneurs in general. I still imagine a high percentage of my clients will be mums but it seems the right decision to widen the net further
• Really struggling to come up with a new brand name! This thread has helped and also someone recommended The Naming Book by Brad Flowers, 1/2 way through that and feeling more positive that I'll uncover the answer

Have done some online networking but I am holding back a little until I've got my new brand nailed down. That's really my priority because I'm itching to getting back out there with promotion.

Uncovered that I have an issue with setting my prices. Because the work I'm doing I find easy, and enjoyable, I'm undercharging. Working on re-framing this to the value I'm giving to my clients, rather than the amount of time or effort it personally takes me to complete.

 

[Stargazer]

Hi Rebecca

What's with the mum thing?

If I was female and ran an engineering company for example, what does me having a child or not have to do with how you would be approaching me and discussing how you could help my business grow? If I was a serious businesswoman I might be rather miffed.

And if by entrepreneurial woman you simply mean a woman with an idea, eg I know someone who says she wants to sell Indian streetfood, most would baulk at the idea of spending £1000+ on a website

Back to the serious business woman bit. If your previous client with the tutoring company wants to go regional in the next 3 years and national in 5 because she has proven her model in Chester over the last 2 years, then you can see how you helping her will payoff as she will be thinking bigger. Her being a mum or not does not come into it.

Does that make sense?

Dan

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[NatashaW]

Hi Rebecca

What's with the mum thing?

If I was female and ran an engineering company for example, what does me having a child or not have to do with how you would be approaching me and discussing how you could help my business grow? If I was a serious businesswoman I might be rather miffed.

And if by entrepreneurial woman you simply mean a woman with an idea, eg I know someone who says she wants to sell Indian streetfood, most would baulk at the idea of spending £1000+ on a website

Back to the serious business woman bit. If your previous client with the tutoring company wants to go regional in the next 3 years and national in 5 because she has proven her model in Chester over the last 2 years, then you can see how you helping her will payoff as she will be thinking bigger. Her being a mum or not does not come into it.

Does that make sense?

Dan

Hi Dan,

Thanks for this, I appreciate your time and comments.

I focused on mums initially because I read so much about niche, niche, niche that I got it in my head to be really specific. I know a lot of mums in business started out because they didn't want to go back to work after maternity leave. I do still want to work with this audience very much, but be open to working with people that don't have children. I don't want my messaging to repel people. Still struggling with my new brand name, but I know it will come.

I charge really really low at the moment and am struggling to get that balance with what I could be charging, what my value is worth vs how much the client has / is willing to spend

Your comments have given me food for thought. Thank you so much

 

[Keith15203]

Hi Rebecca

What's with the mum thing?

Rebecca,

While I understand what Dan is saying from an eagalitarian business owner point of view, in my opinion what you are doing focusing on working/entrepreneurial moms makes sense. You are going to be tailoring your messaging and your solutions to their SPECIFIC problems as moms around lack of time and competing priorities and interests (kids, home, husbands, no time to learn and implement). If that audience, and that messaging, are what’s authentic for you and they are who you want to serve, then you should do it.

Marketing your services and products to working/entrepreneurial Mom is a specific message to a specific audience.

Marketing your services and products to the heads of engineering companies (male or female in Dan’s example) is a DIFFERENT specific message to a different specific audience.

The choices of audience and messaging that you make for your business are yours and yours alone. As long as the audience is large enough and the problems are significant enough to need a solution, your business will succeed.

The important part is to be authentic in offering value and solutions to your audience.

 

[Stargazer]

Let's say you had a cleaner come round once a week. A one woman outfit. She would charge you a very low price too as she would think you wouldn't pay £20+ so she would say £10 for the hour. Which less petrol and things would be a loss for her.

Anyway, point is that £10 a week is £500 a year with a couple of weeks off for holiday.

So; that is for you to understand that a cleaner starting out with no customers thinking people haven't got money to pay would essentially be asking you for £500 a year with no qualms.

I have a feeling you ask for less than £500 even though you are helping someone with a business.

So you should have no qualms asking for more than that total figure in one go even if you are just starting out. Ok?

Dan

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[NatashaW]

Progress update

I've been working on my new site which I should be able to get launched tomorrow. Social media content drafted, but needs typing up and images made, batch creating that in the morning.

Networking event also tomorrow which is usually leads to some work.
1 x lead has been back in touch with me after radio silence for about a month. Zoom scheduled for later this week.

 

[NatashaW]

Update

• Took on an extra client - still not big money but to be honest at this stage, feeling a bit desperate, so I'm celebrating every win, no matter how small.
• A client that had previously been chatting with me, has gotten back in touch. Zoom call set up for next week. I've already quoted and I feel ethically bound to stand by that price now but also recognise it's a shame I hadn't quoted more. My confidence in my work is certainly rising.
• The big one for me, joined Fox Web School - some resistance at first because I'm really trying to avoid spending more money when I'm already in debt. Really working on being team producer, not team consumer. However, I do feel I'm often just trying to find my way in the dark especially when it comes to finding higher paying clients. The advice and guidance is really appreciated. So far I do feel this has been a good investment.
• Mastermind group organised with some other business owners. I've been really specific about the type of people that I'd like in the group (ambitious/focused/willing to help others not just themselves) and first zoom scheduled for Thursday

Thanks for reading