Design a creative business that works for you

“I want my business to work for me.”  I hear that statement all the time. But no one really knows how to make a creative business work for them. I mean, this type of business requires your creativity every day. It’s not like you can put it on autopilot, right?

Wrong.

You can easily put all of your marketing and administration work on autopilot.  This leaves time to concentrate on the things you actually love doing.  The thing you started this business for anyway.

And it allows you to spend more time with your family, travel, or watch Netflix on the couch with a glass of wine.

It just takes a bit of strategy and work up front.

Below, I mention my methods and strategies inside 90 Day Dream Biz. If you want more info , here’s the link! 

Step 1: Decide your dream salary.

To have a business that works for you, you HAVE to have it set up to make money. There are only so many hours in a day that you can work.  This is especially true if you’re trying to create a business that doesn’t require all of your time and energy and allows you to have more freedom.

Decide your salary and then create a budget around it that will help you reach your salary goal. Things you need to know to create your budget are your costs to produce what you sell, your cost of doing business, contractor fees, merchant fees, etc, and your own salary.

And then once you have a business budget, create your pricing guide with your budget in mind.

A pricing guide is absolutely not built on a whim or based on your “competition.”  When creating your pricing guide, it should be based on YOUR data and YOUR numbers to reach YOUR goals.

Nothing else.

If you’re priced higher than others in your field, that’s great! Pricing lower is okay, too!

Your budget, salary, and pricing guide have nothing to do with anyone besides yourself, your business, and the work you do.

After creating your budget and your pricing guide, it’s best to review it at least monthly if not more often. You want to make sure you stay on target to reach your goals.  If  you aren’t, you want to know quickly so you can pivot as needed.

Inside 90 Day Dream Biz, the Budget Blueprint and the Magic Pricing Guide help quickly and efficiently determine your budget and create your pricing guide so you can quit stressing about those decisions.

Step 2: Attract your dream clients

Attracting dream clients is a two step process.  First, you have to create a brand that attracts the client.

A “brand” is not just the logo and colors you choose. It’s the messaging behind your brand, how you speak, how you write, all the little details. Nail that down from the get go and you will be so many steps ahead!

Once you have created your brand, you have to design a marketing strategy that’s effective.

Today, everyone is online, so your marketing strategy is going to need to be as well.  You can no longer get by on word of mouth and a Facebook page alone.

Let’s start with a high converting website and a blog that sets you apart as the expert.

A high converting website is set up to make it a fast easy yes for your prospective client.  It’s set up to talk to one person and answer all of that person’s questions without even realizing  they had that question.

It also cuts your work down immensely because you don’t have to constantly be answering email/phone or trying to talk clients into booking/buying.

A great blog sets you up as an expert because you’re going more into detail to answer common questions you get, while also being super SEO friendly and helping your rank on google.

It’s also important to build your email list on your website. Why? Because email marketing has a crazy high ROI. Like 3800% no joke.  It’s the easiest way to nurture and convert your audience into clients and the best use of your time in marketing a creative business.

Social media is obviously important and something you just can’t avoid, even for those of us who want to. Instagram and Facebook currently are the best places to be to market your creative business. But the good news, automation makes social media SUPER easy.

Brand ambassadors, affiliates, business referrals, or whatever you call them it’s important to partner with other businesses for mutual referrals. In 90 Day Dream Biz, I call this my Dream Partner Kickstarter and it’s the easiest and fastest way to get clients.  If someone trusts a business, they will also trust the businesses they refer.

Step 3: Automate your creative business to live your dream life.

Automate your creative business so you can work less but make more money and spend more time with people you love doing the things you love.

How is this possible?

Well, you already have a marketing strategy in place, so all you need to do is automate that strategy.  Then spend some time automating all the admin systems possible in your business.

Once you have everything that you possibly can automated, then you’ll be able to spend your working hours doing the things that you’re actually getting paid to do(and that you enjoy).

And while you do those productive tasks, you’ll have clients coming in on autopilot.

Conclusion

Design a creative business that works for you by first designing your dream salary, attracting dream clients with a strategic marketing plan, and then automating it so you can live your dream life.

Follow these 3 steps in order so you can live a life you love.

I mentioned it a few times, but in 90 Day Dream Biz, there are also bonuses that help you think like a business owner by prioritizing you and your family. The bonus also includes my Full Time Formula, which you can learn all about here.