WOW, I cannot believe H Creative Services has now been in business for five years! I went full-blown freelance in the summer of 2019, which meant Covid-19 hit in year 1 which was a disaster! In March 2020 I lost literally all my clients overnight due to the uncertainty of lockdown. I had to start again, building my client base up from zero (and losing my best travel sector clients due to the virus).
So to make it this far feels like a real win and I thought I would celebrate by…. Writing about some of the things I’ve got really wrong as a business owner!
'Cause let's face it, no one really wants to read a list of my five greatest moments (if you actually do, please let me know and I’ll consider writing a follow-up!).
Enjoy reading through some of my big ‘fails’, each not quite stupid enough to sink the business but provided a massive learning curve (and I’m sure there’ll be plenty more in the future). Without them I’d be much worse at running my company, so secretly I’m grateful for everything they’ve taught me.
1. Setting my prices way too low (because I didn’t see my own value)
Unfortunately, when I first set up my business, I was given some sketchy advice in terms of what would be an appropriate amount of money to charge clients - and I blindly took that advice. This meant that for several years, I had to slowly increase my fee for existing clients in line with what I later realised my time and skills were actually worth. I am not money-driven or materialistic or greedy as a person, but I am self-employed and have my own bills to pay within my business (as well as personally) before the company makes even £1 of profit. The original pricing system I had was simply not sustainable for me to live on long-term - let alone pay into a pension pot or save any cash to reinvest into the business. In hindsight, I wish I had taken more advice from those in the industry rather than someone I trusted but who perhaps had their own reasons for not wanting me to be too successful. Now I am very much of the opinion that if a client says I am too expensive to work with (which is almost never), they probably aren’t the right fit for H Creatives right now.
2. Working from a crap home office
Before dreaded Covid hit us, I was working in my ex-partner’s office most days and had a pretty good work/life balance as I had a separation between my business and home life. Fast-forward to a couple of years later and my office consisted of a small desk in my dog’s bedroom (yes, he has his own room) which was too hot to think straight in during the summer months. I was finding my days interrupted by random bouts of housework, an inability to be sat at my desk by 9am sharp and workdays starting to lengthen into dinnertime, or even later. Something had to shift as I wasn’t flourishing and neither was the business. So I made the big decision to start going into a shared office space in my town for two days a week (which I split into four half days because of the aforementioned dog).
This changed things for me almost overnight. I would log off and go home at 5pm and not work again until the following morning. I made some great connections and friends in the new office, where there were so many perks such as free heating in the winter, and air con and ice creams in the summer, saving me a small fortune.
Now I work there full time and I am lucky enough to be able to bring my dog in with me too. It’s given me almost complete separation between my home life and work stuff, provided some much needed social interaction (by which I mean, other humans to either moan to or celebrate wins with), and my productivity has gone through the roof.
The lesson learned is that if your workspace isn’t cutting it, cut it up and change things straight away.
3. Trying to do it all by myself for too long
When I first set up H Creative Services, I had no idea if the business would ever be more than just me, myself and I. But after things started ramping up in year 3, when I also decided to become a yoga teacher as a side hustle, I could tell I was getting close to burning out. My clients deserve the best service for their money so I had to get some external support.
Luckily, I was able to hire an incredible intern through a scheme run by the University of Lincoln. She became so invaluable to me that I extended her contract twice. This success led me to make the bold step of employing a permanent member of staff on H Creative Services' payroll. It’s almost impossible to imagine how I used to do all the client work, all the admin and all the business development on my own. And every time I went on a holiday or was unwell, the clients had to sit quietly and await my return.
I have been incredibly lucky in finding talented and hard-working staff to support my business; the amount it has lowered my stress has been amazing. It even allowed me to take a whole two weeks off work this year in the knowledge that things were still moving along in my absence - I didn’t even need to take my laptop with me.
The bonus of having several creative brains on a client or project rather than one has added so much value for my clients and for me personally as well. I’ve learnt as much from my team as they have from me, and I’ve now been confident enough to reposition the business as a ‘Micro PR Agency’ rather than just little old me on a laptop!
4. Skipping contracts and working on trust
This is a mistake that can go both ways when working for clients or engaging external services, and I will never make the mistake again of not getting in writing an agreement between my business and another business.
During my first year of operating, I used to often work with people without any sort of contract in place (shocking, I know). I soon realised this was leaving me completely unprotected, so I now always agree contracts with clients when we first begin to work together which outline their fee, what they get for that money, and the break clause (for both sides). It’s as much about giving them peace of mind and managing expectations as making sure they don’t disappear from my books overnight. It’s nice to think we can do everything on trust and goodwill, but sadly it doesn’t always work that way.
I’ve made mistakes on the other side too, engaging contractors to carry out work for me but not asking for a contract or the agreed scope of work in writing. Because people are often recommended to me or are someone I have met at an event, I am liable to trust them. Unfortunately, this has led to me sometimes not receiving the level of skill or service I thought I was paying for - but I only have myself to blame for not making sure it was in writing from the get go.
Not putting your agreement in writing is the WORST way to do business; it’s not only unprofessional and kind of lazy, but it means neither party has a benchmark to manage their expectations and ensure their contract is being fulfilled satisfactorily.
5. I didn’t realise my niche skills for way too long
Take a look at my website today, and you’ll hopefully pick up on the theme of sustainability, renewable energy and all things green. This is a recent development for the website - it used to be almost totally generic and was only really there as a nod to a professional online presence rather than an actual marketing tool.
I was lucky enough to have a brilliant business mentor a few years ago who gave me the best advice:
“Find your passion and your skillset, then keep dancing beautifully in that little box.”
As someone who’s worked in the renewables industry since 2016, I had an absolute wealth of knowledge to share from my involvement with various nationally significant projects. I also loved working in this space, finding it endlessly fascinating and feeling motivated that I was doing my own tiny part to tackle climate change. Plus, I was attracting lots of clients within the energy or infrastructure space anyway - it was becoming my niche without me even particularly trying to climb inside the box.
Some people would argue niching is a mistake as it could turn clients away from you, but I haven’t found this to be the case either. I have some great and interesting clients outside of this space, who are a great complement to the ‘green’ projects I work on a lot of the time.
I love having a real brand identity now and something I feel really proud of, which hopefully my clients do too!
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