How To Grow Your Brand While Working
When it comes to starting a new eDesign business you have so many things to do such as figuring out how to grow brand while also working on other tasks and even client work.
Without drinking tons of caffeine, there's a way to get everything (or at least most everything) done and you may find that you've got more time to accomplish other tasks! I know, it sounds far fetched but there's a way to this glorious land of extra time.
Before we get into my tips to help you grow your brand while working, there's an exercise I'd suggest you do. This is going to be tedious, but I can tell you that it is very eye-opening.
Document what you do every 15 minutes of the day. Oh yeah, it's a pain, but you will find that you waste more time than you think! I know I did when I did this exercise.
I was floored to see how much time I was spending on stupid social media. Scrolling for more than a couple hours every day. What a waste!
I'm sure you're going to find somethings that really open your eyes to how much time you actually have in your day to grow your brand while working on everything else you need to get done.
Know What You're Building
When you're first starting your eDesign business, you may have ideas that you want to be a completely service-based business.
Once your business grows and you'll find that you can only grow your service-based business so much without expanding your business with employees or contractors. If that's exactly what you want, go for it!
However, if you never have any dreams of hiring employees then you'll find, like many of my clients, that you'll want to work less and make more money. Client work gets tiresome and difficult at times, right?
That's why you'll most likely want to diversify your income streams and figure out what your best income streams are.
But if you're at a point where you haven't created additional income streams and are only working one-on-one with clients, you need to figure out how much time you spend on your projects. Which goes back to documenting your time for each and every task.
You may think a room design only takes you 8 hours and when you document it, you may find it actually takes you 40 hours. Knowing this will allow you to see for yourself if your fee is set correctly and give you an idea if you need to streamline your design process.
All of this is to layout for you that you need to know what you're building and what your goals are so you can make sure you're focused on the right work so you can work smarter, not harder.
Do Client Work First
I remember being told when I was a kid to arrange my tasks by starting with the homework I liked least and finishing up with my favorite subjects.
That's not to say I don't love my clients, but at times working through a project, you will find yourself doing some tedious tasks that aren't glamorous. Right? We both know how design projects don't run like an episode on HGTV.
And frankly, futzing with my website or creating graphics is something I could do forever and love countless hours.
You'll want to schedule a block of time every day, first thing, to work on client projects.
Answer Emails Later In The Day
Checking your email first thing in the morning is not the best thing to do. Once you open those emails, your time and attention is being demanded by all of these other people who popped into your inbox.
There's really no emergency with interior design that is going to be waiting for you in your inbox. Pick a time like 11AM and 4PM to check your emails.
Checking email throughout the day will kill how much work you can actually get done.
Letting your clients know, in your welcome packet, how long you take to respond to emails will set a nice healthy boundary.
And if you decide to let your clients text you, set a boundary around that, too.
The last thing you need is feeling that you need to respond immediately to every message you get, unless you've sold a package where you're available immediately to your clients.
Be Choosy With Your Clients
When you go back and look at how your design process flows you'll probably find some tasks in there that you don't love or maybe even dread. Here's my advice on that... you don't have to offer everything your competition does.
When it comes to taking on clients, 99% of the time even if you have a "BUY NOW" button on your website, your clients will contact you first to talk about their project. Then you'll direct them to purchase on your website, but when you have this opportunity to talk to your clients (or maybe you'll have your purchase funnel designed this way where a consultation is required before purchase).
Either way, be selective with your clients. You don't want every client available on the planet to hire you.
And if you do have a way for clients to purchase an eDesign service without having to have a call with you first, you can help clients self-select themselves out by explaining your design process, who you love to work with and who isn't a perfect match on a sales page on your website.
Turning down a client is essential so you don't get burned out.
Batch Your Work
Batching your work is critical. There's a course about batching in the Society that shows you about all of the tasks that you can batch to improve your productivity.
Batching similar tasks together keeps your brain from having to shift gears, which slows you down and causes more stress. You'll find that batching is a glorious thing.
Schedule Social Media
Consistency on social media can be difficult to achieve if you're making a point to post everyday day directly to the platform.
Scheduling will help you stay consistent and allows you to share some older content. You can pick certain times of day that your items will post and then make a point to head over to that post to interact with your audience for 10 minutes. Then back to work!
Grow Your Brand While Working The Smart Way
When it comes to grow your brand while working trying to get everything done isn't for the faint-hearted. But it isn't impossible.
Growing a brand and business requires discipline. Not that dreaded hustle shit that everyone talks about.
Hustling feels like being on hamster wheel of doom. Running and running, finding yourself more exhausted than a hooker at a truck stop. 😅
And no one wants to be that tired.
Hola!👋I'm Alycia. I help eDesigners land dream clients + get profitable with smart online marketing methods. Want in on the only membership group that will help you get organized, get visible AF, and get majorly PROFITABLE? Hell yes, you do. Follow me.
Hola! I'm Alycia Wicker and I help online interior designers grow their business.
Disclaimer: The Blog posts contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I will earn a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only recommend products and services that I have found to be helpful and trustworthy. For more information, see my terms + conditions page here. Thanks for your support.
