The Game Has Officially Changed
When we exploded onto the scene, women working from home blew shit up. Literally. Then dads started. (We were copying the model of millennial nomads, so….thanks, kids.)
One could throw in a blog post voila! They had a gazillion followers. Oh shit, now what do we do?
Learn content marketing of course.
Then graphics so we could make our sites beautimous enough to show the world and hope those people would continue to find us interesting and so the goddamn pattern goes.
And now it’s broken.
Only it’s not.
What’s broken is us.
Those of us who believe this is enough and that they are just doing wrong so they’re not gaining traction.
It’s not because you posted the wrong content on the wrong channel at the wrong time.
It’s not that your freebie was feeble.
It’s not that you’re part of the wrong groups (which is a whole other fucking Iliad in itself.)
It’s that you haven’t realized that doing it alone is a hobby, not a business.
Does that mean people - solopreneurs specifically - are not out there killing it?
No. Of course, there’s one out to prove me wrong. I wish we all could. But the fact is you cannot survive support and you cannot thrive without a team. Period.
I will say it again.
Thriving happens when you’re allowed to get into the mental flow of creating your best work for your clients.
Coaches, that means where you are fully present on your calls and are giving your client 110% of you and your creative solutions.
Product based businesses, this means when you are fully into creating products for your customers (or delivering them.)
Service-based peeps, you are in flow when you are able to sit down with what you do and immerse yourself fully into what you’ve been commissioned to create, so you can stop competing for pennies and your name speaks for itself.
Flow is your goal (if it’s not, you’re in the wrong business.)
But how do you reach that point?
By putting together a team.
What? You were hoping to get some formula or schedule that told you what to post, when and where?
No.
When I hired a set of brains smarter than me two years ago, it wasn’t easy at all.
I was scared.
I didn’t know what to expect.
I didn’t know how it would work.
I didn’t know how I would pay the next month’s invoice.
It turns out, your gut knows what you need.
My gut had been telling me, Danielle was the game-changer for Badass’D Digital Ink.
I finally listened.
She knew what I needed.
I needed a more powerful site because my picmonkey graphics cheapened my project fees.
I needed pro shots so people would look at me and say - “Yes, she’s no joke trying to make a quick buck.”
I needed to put myself out there and stop waiting for referrals.
So she helped me do all of that and we exploded. I became THE copywriter people were tagging when others asked for referrals.
We’ve steadily and swiftly grown since the day we started together.
We’ve hired a VA who happens to be the reason you’re reading this because I have sat on my ass at the desk on a Saturday morning and HAND-WRITTEN this out for him to transcribe. (Sorry Dru, but thank you. I couldn’t create half as much as I do, if you didn’t do this)
We finally have a proofreader - YAY!! - as well.
Why?
Because I need Danielle’s
- Customer service savvy on handling some of the finer nuances that go on after the sales do
- Brains for refiguring (most) of my wild ideas because many times they don’t align with the brand or are just giving away a for a shit
- Brains to help me know what our next steps are
- Tech smarts to keep up with this (gorgeous) site (yeah, I know - I’m biased and rather obnoxious - but I have a decent heart.)
- Ability to stay on top of what is going on in the online world, in BUSINESS world, everywhere seriously, her ear is UnderGround it’s so close to the ground and we use new techniques and ideas all day long.
- Her tolerance of my creation method.
- Her guidance on brand strategy.
- Her ability to listen to what I want for this business and tell me what we need to do to make it happen.
This, surprisingly, was not an ode to Danielle. But an unveiling of what entrepreneur needs to thrive.
And, dude, this doesn’t even come close to all the ad and growth strategy needs. If Danielle wasn’t proficient in ads, Facebook advertising, graphic design, tech master and so much more, we’d need people for all of that.
I just freaking realized how grossly underpaid Danielle is. Goddamn it.
The game changed a long time ago and if you’re trying to swing along on your own, you are going to move about in a year.
If you want to truly change WITH your industry, so you can multiply that growth factor by about 1,000 times, at least join Fire of the Diamond Society (where you are a part of a support community LEAD by a powerful copywriter with deep chops, a mage of a business leader who knows it all) or get an accountability partner who kicks your ass on the daily to make sure you’re not making excuses.
Because if you can’t invest thousands and thousands in a team that’s reaps your tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, you need to rethink the goals of your business.