Q&A: Running a Small Business
Episode Summary
Taxes are filed and paid, and I’m feeling good! I put up a question box on my Instagram story asking if you had any questions for me about the behind-the-scenes of running a small business because a lot of the time what we share on social media is the very pretty finished product or the polished parts of processes and we don't show the not-so-pretty stuff that's not very fun. So today I’m gonna answer all your questions about the behind-the-scenes parts of running a small business.
When to make your side hustle official (00:57)
The best way to gain traction and get your business out there (05:06)
How to invest in yourself (07:07) and how to know what to invest in, plus what I invested in up until now and what’s on my list!
What I had to teach myself about running a small business (16:17) spoiler alert: the biggest thing was BOUNDARIES
My favorite apps to stay organized (23:04) – links down below!
What I do to keep clients coming back (25:46)
Thanks for listening to Not So Ladylike! If we aren’t already, I’d love to be friends on Instagram – you can find me @EleanorElaineBoudoir. And before you go, I’d be so appreciative if you’d leave a five star review wherever you listen to podcasts and tell a friend about today’s episode! Any friend of yours is a friend of mine.
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Episode Extras
Kalli June Photo – my branding images
Loudmouth Co – project copy
Shelby Moring – brand design
Katie Kurtz – Cultivate
Karsen Murray – Email Marketing 101 course
My Google Calendar: week view (which is what I usually keep it on) and the month view (both feat. some censoring to protect client’s privacy)
Transcription
Last week I filed my 2022 taxes, go me! And I documented it on my Instagram stories and I ended up putting up a question box and asking all of you if you had any questions for me about the behind-the-scenes of running a small business. Because a lot of the time, what we share on social media is like, the very pretty finished product or the nice looking parts of processes and how we do things and we don't show the gritty behind-the-scenes stuff that's not so fun. So today I gathered all of your questions and I want to talk about all of those behind-the-scenes parts of business. I'm Eleanor Elaine, and you're listening to Not So Ladylike.
So let's go ahead and just dive right in. (00:57) The first question we got is how did you know it was time to become an official business versus just picking up gigs. For me, the short answer is: when you're making money and doing it regularly. The longer answer was different for me than it might be for you if you wanna start something on the side to become a full time business. So if you haven't heard my story, I'll give you the shortened version of it as much as I can shorten it. So I started working on my business my last semester of college and as soon as I graduated with my Bachelor's in Art Education, I launched my business. And I just went full time right away. So longer answer for anyone else who's trying to decide when is it time to become an official business versus just picking up gigs or shooting on the side. For me, being a business comes with expectations like having business insurance, sending invoices and contracts, having a website, having a clear client journey. If you're just shooting on the side for friends and family, I don't think you need to be an official business. But if you're shooting regularly and you're making money, then it's time to be a business. And it's time to make it official and add that level of professionalism. And this kind of goes nicely into our next question which is about setting up a business. Whether you go LLC or sole proprietor. And there's other different types of businesses out there: corporations and things like that. But this question focused on LLC vs Sole Proprietor. And I am absolutely no expert. I have my own personal experience with this, but that is very specific to what I need and what my business needs right now. So this question – when you're setting up a business, whether you want to go sole proprietor or file for an LLC – this is a question for your accountant or another pro to get a professional opinion that's tailored to you, your business, and your needs because it's gonna be different for everyone and every business.
(02:51) The next question we got is: what's the best way to get your business known and out there when you first start? In my experience, and in my opinion, word of mouth is the BEST marketing you could possibly get. It goes so far. So the best way to get your business known and out there is to work with lots of different types of people, build a diverse portfolio, and give all of them a really great experience that they want to share and they want to talk about. When I seek out a professional to invest in, I ask my friends for recommendations first. When I wanna try a new restaurant, I text my friends and see if anyone's been there before. Word of mouth goes such a long way, and if someone has a good experience they will rave about you forever. I have clients that I worked with back in 2019 when I first started who I haven't seen in the studio since, but still send their friends my way. Word of mouth is priceless, and that kind of ties into social media too. Everyone is on social media, and if someone has a good time, they're going to share about their service online. You want the Facebook reviews, the Google reviews – not only do Google reviews help you rank higher in Google, but when someone new who hasn't experienced that word of mouth goes to find someone who provides the service you're providing or whatever you're selling, they're gonna go to those platforms and they wanna read about other people and how their experience was with you. That, in my opinion, is the best way to get your business out there when you first start. Now the hardest part of getting your name out there is establishing who you are and what you do clearly and concisely and making that known. Especially as someone who is multitalented or doesn't have on specific niche, it can be difficult to sum up everything that you do in a neat little package to present that to people. Which is part of the reason why I stopped offering so many different types of photography and niched down and now only market boudoir. Boudoir is what I like to do the most, it's what I'm the best at, it's what I care about the most, and that's what I want to be known for. I want to be known as THE boudoir photographer. That makes it easier to package up what I do nicely for people, because I can say – oh, I'm a boudoir photographer, that's what this looks like.
(05:06) Now in my opinion, to get your business and what you do out there, you need to build connections with people – whether that is clients or colleagues, other people in your industry, you want to network with people really genuinely and build those connections and build those relationships. Too many times, I might be going on a rant here, I've been on the end of a salesy cold DM or email, where someone is obviously trying to sell me something, but won't just come right out and say it. And in my opinion, that is a waste of my time. And if you can't tell, that makes me feel really frustrated. I do not want to be on the other end of a cold DM where you're trying to sell me something. I've had people like, ask me questions about myself and try to get to know me. And it became very clear very quickly that they just wanted to sell me what they were offering. And that might work every now and then. But almost everyone can see through that and no one feels good about it. There's a lack of consent there where you're coming into my space, into my DMs, and basically pitching yourself without just saying you want me to buy from you or you think that you can help me. Instead, you're getting this information out of me under the disguise of building a relationship, just to end up trying to pitch me something. And not only that, but I've been on the receiving end of these DMS where someone's pitching me and I didn't ask to be pitched and they aren't just coming out and saying it. And then when I say you know what, this isn't really for me, they never talk to me again. I'm not going to complain about that. BUT you're coming into someone's DMS. And the strategy is to build a relationship so that they buy from you. But you can't build a relationship if you only talk to them when they're buying from you. That doesn't make someone feel good. So that's just my little rant about that. When you're building connections with people, when you're networking, it needs to be really genuine because people know when you're being disingenuous, and it doesn't feel good across the board.
(07:07) Another question we got is how to invest in yourself. And this was one I really thought a lot about because investing in yourself and in your business can be a financial investment or it can be a time commitment, or it can be some combination of both. And I think you need both the financial and the time aspect to grow and to level up. So I'll give you some backstory about some times that I've invested in myself, why I did it, and what it did for me. So in 2019, when I started my business, I invested in branding photos with Kalli June Photo – she is the bomb, I will link, Oh, and I'll link all of these people I'm about to talk about in the show notes! I think they're all fabulous. And I had such a great time working with all of them. So I invested in branding photos with Kalli in 2019. It was the best thing that I did for my business that year. I still use those photos because Kalli captured the experience of working with me so incredibly well. Even though I was new, and I was still trying to get a feel for how I was going to do things and what exactly the experience I offered was, I still use those photos because they're still such a good representation of what it's like to hang out with me in the studio. In 2020. I invested in a messaging project for a launch with Kelly Schmidt of Loudmouth Co. In 2020. I was gearing up to move my business from Bloomington to Evansville. And I needed help with how to launch that on social media and on my website and how to write things out. I'm no copywriting pro, and Kelly really helped me solidify that and really helped me learn how to talk about my business and how to use my brand voice. And that was one of the best best best investments I've ever made. And one of the largest financial investments I've made in my business. And it was just so good for me to get clear on what my voice is, how to speak about things, and really not only did that help with the copy aspect of it on my website and in my social media, truthfully, it helped me get better at talking to myself about my business in the way that right now – I am sitting behind my desk talking into a microphone basically to myself, I know you're on the other end, but in this moment right now for me it feels like I'm talking to myself and Kelly really helped with that a lot so that I didn't feel awkward or weird talking to a group of people that I can't see. Also in 2020, I invested in new branding with Shelby Moring and I was ready to take it to the next level. So I worked with Shelby on a new brand design, new logo, business cards – and she did such a good job capturing my brand and really nailing exactly what I wanted for my business. I still use that branding to this day and I will forever be obsessed with it.
Then in 2021, I invested in Cultivate with Katie Kurtz. So I'm going to take this next bit from Katie's website so that I know what I'm saying is exactly how she would say it herself. So from Katie – "Cultivate is a professional training designed for emerging and experienced space holders who want continuing education to deepen their skill, capacity, and depth of their work, leading to more supported clients, a more robust practice, and more competence as a space holder." So Cultivate was all about becoming trauma informed as a service provider, for me. Katie taught us about trauma informed theory and helped us put it into everyday practice. And that was something I was really really adamant about doing in my business. I wanted to make sure that the way I was holding space for people in the studio, prioritized consent and choice and collaboration. Oh my gosh!! I just scrolled on her website, and my testimonial is on this page. Ahh! Okay, let me read this to you. I didn't realize it was on there, and I'm stoked about this. So this is what I sent to Katie as a testimonial –Cultivate changed the way I view my work and how I approach every aspect of my business. Experiencing trauma informed space holding helped me learn how to not just create space, but how to actively hold space from in person photo sessions to remote email communication. It's helped me consciously honor the humanity and pace of others and myself within my business." And that is so true! That was something I totally forgot about this training. So Cultivate was a six week training. And I could honestly talk about it forever, but I will try to be as brief as I can. But it was an experiential training, meaning the way that Katie led it was putting everything she was teaching us into practice. So when we showed up for Zoom calls, we didn't have to be there live, we could watch them back. We didn't have to have our cameras on or we didn't have to talk. She encouraged us to have some sort of grounding object, whether that was a drink or a candle or a blanket or whatever. She encouraged us to take notes if we wanted to, but we didn't have to. I mean, there was choice infused in every single aspect of it. And truly, when I found Cultivate, I was on the fence. But the way that she talked to us about whether it was right to invest or not, sold me immediately. She wasn't trying to pitch me, she wasn't trying to sell me, she wasn't trying to get me in at any cost, she really wanted to make sure that this would be a good fit for me. Anyway, Cultivate was like the best thing I've ever invested in in my business, it changed everything for me. And I highly, highly, highly recommend it if you're a service provider, it just totally changed my lens on everything. And that's something I'll probably dive into more in a future episode about what it means to me to be a trauma informed photographer. Because what I do, and the space I hold is so intimate, and it can feel really vulnerable for people, that this just... Cultivate totally changed it for me and made my business and my work 10 times better. Easily. So huge shout out to Katie Kurtz for Cultivate. Those are the big things I've invested in, and those were all financial investments as well as time investments. I am always investing time into my business and into myself. So before I started, I had a $0 budget so I invested in a lot of free webinars, books and articles, and anything I could get my hands on that would help teach me. Speaking about the present day and investing, there are always things that I want to invest in financially and with my time. So I want to tell you about a few of those things, because I want to shout these people out, I think they're fabulous. And I want you to know, like, at any given time, there are always things that I would like to invest in and are on my list. I want to tell you where my brain's at and what areas I see that I could grow in. Because this is something I feel like I'm always doing as a person, but also as a business owner. I'm always analyzing and thinking about the areas in which I can grow and what needs my attention. There are so many things that you can invest in when it comes to yourself and your business. And I think it's important to be discerning and really focus on the areas in which you want to grow and prioritize those.
(14:09) So here are just three things that I want to invest in: top of my list is I want to invest in a one on one with Carrie Anne Kelly, who's a boudoir photographer in Oceanside, California. I found her on social media, I think she is a true artist and a true visionary. And I could have more knowledge when it comes to posing and have more education around it because all of the posing that I do is total DIY, like I've taught myself how to direct people through posing and I just think that I could grow my knowledge around that and be even better and Carrie Anne is the gal to go to in my mind for that. Another thing I would love to invest in is Karsen Murray's course Email Marketing 101. I've had some friends in the online space invest in this course. And I've seen their marketing become so much better and I would just love nothing more than to take this course and really buff up my email marketing because, again, very DIY. I am not a copywriter. I don't really know what I'm doing, I just kind of do what I think is best, which so far has worked. But I think this course could really take it up a notch. So that's on my list. And then my biggest dream for when I'm ready for new branding and ready to step into the next phase of my business. I don't know when that might be, but I would love to work with Designed by Shyne for branding and web design. My branding was done in 2020. And it's fabulous. And I love it. My web design, I'm always updating, but I did my entire website myself. Shyne is the definition of an innovator. She is the coolest, all these people are the coolest people in the world. I just, I feel so lucky to be able to know them on social media. Shyne – I was just watching her stories before I recorded this – she is about to graduate college. And I started following her when she was starting college, and I feel like that was yesterday. But she makes the coolest stuff. She designs the most unique brands. I just, I really love the way that she works. So I would die to work with her. So that's on my list when I'm ready to level up my business, she's my girl.
(16:17) Moving right along, the next question we got was: What did you have to teach yourself while running a small business? There are so many things that I had to teach myself. Like, I would probably just list all the things that I do now. The first thing I had to teach myself was Honeybook, which is a client relationship manager. I've used it since the very beginning. And it helps me stay on track with the client experience. I send invoices and contracts through Honeybook and I receive signatures and payment through there as well. That's how I collect inquiries, I mean, everything. And if you don't have Honeybook and you want it, you can check the show notes for an affiliate code for 35% off. I swear by Honeybook, it really helps keep me organized and keep my life together. I had to learn how to price my services to make sure that I get paid and I'm able to pay my bills. I learned what to automate and what to do myself. I had to learn how to market myself, how to use social media for business. But the biggest thing I had to learn was boundaries in my business. When I started, I had zero boundaries. I remember really clearly I would work super late into the night, I would work around the clock, I would sacrifice family time, I just had no boundaries for myself. I was a classic workaholic. So along the way, and over time of like, going through these cycles of getting burnt out, I had to set really clear and strict boundaries with myself. And part of that includes like, communicating expectations clearly with my clients, like one of the biggest things I did was instill office hours in my business, and let people know like, if you're getting ahold of me, these are the times when I will contact you back. Another thing that I've done that's really helped keep me sane is when people DM me about booking a session, I send them to my email instead. Because you can't categorize DMs, I used to have a lot of trouble with inquiries in DMs getting lost because they would just get buried under all the other like, little conversations that I have on Instagram, on Facebook, on social media. So instead – having people email me, fill out my contact form, taking things over to my email – that really helps me keep my business life together. And I want my business and my personal messages separated as much as they can be. I don't give clients my phone number until they absolutely need to have it until we are about to get on a call or until the day before their session if they have trouble getting into the building or whatever. Because again, it's hard for me to keep things organized, and texts ended up getting buried under my personal conversations. So email is where I like to keep things and that is a big boundary that I have to constantly, like, remind myself of I'm really bad about forgetting my boundaries, I really trample my own boundaries more than anyone else. So that was the biggest thing I had to learn.
(19:13) And that flows nicely into the next question, which is: how did you learn to do the little things slash taxes? And I think a lot of the little things, you just kind of learn as you go. A lot of things that I've learned during the course of my business, I didn't know in the beginning and just like, through experience I found out that I needed to be doing things differently. For example, when I first started my business, I would send invoices and I didn't set up automatic payment reminders. So I personally every week would have to remind people of payments and if I forgot to remind them then I would have to chase down the money. And that, in my opinion, is is just such a waste of my time. I could be doing things that actually move the needle in my business that actually like help grow my business and help support my clients that isn't just chasing down payments. So when I switched and started automating payment reminders, I got paid on time every time. I also started letting people opt into auto payments. If people just want it to come out when it's due, that makes it so easy. I can't tell you the last time I had to chase down a payment myself, which has been so great. And it really lets me focus on the parts of my business that need my attention. And reminding people that their payments are due, it's just not something that needs my personal attention, they can get an automatic email that is just the same.
(20:32) But as far as taxes go, one thing that I knew that I wanted from the start was a CPA for my taxes because I don't know anything. When I started this business, I was 23? I want to say? 22, or 23. And I remember scheduling a meeting with him with my mom, and we went in, I don't even remember what paperwork I had. But I went in to talk to him and try to figure out what I needed to do to start my business. And I remember he was like, okay, so what questions do you have? And I looked this man dead in the eyes. And I said, John, I don't even know what I don't know, I don't even know where to start. I don't know what questions to ask. I really don't know anything. And he has helped me from the very beginning, figuring out how to track my revenue, how to track my expenses, what I can write off on my taxes, and what I need to track, like mileage was something that you can write off. He helped me figure that out. Lots of little stuff like that. John has been an absolute lifesaver. So now, since 2019, since I started, I've used the same spreadsheets every year. So every quarter, I send him my updated spreadsheets and he sends me back my quarterly estimates to pay. And then at the end of the year, I take him my completed spreadsheets, any 1099s I have from independent contractor work, I take him the form I have for my health insurance. Any official documents that I need for my taxes I take to him, he does everything for me, I sign it, I pay it. I made my own Google spreadsheets for revenue and expenses. And then I also have a monthly spending tracker that I use for my personal. So I put in what payments hit my account that month, and then I input all of my personal expenses. So then I can see, this is how much money I made this month. This is what I spent on business. This is what I spent on myself. So each year, I opened a new spreadsheet in the same file so I can go all the way back to 2019 and see how I've grown each month each quarter. And that's super helpful in tracking my growth. On that note, though, I'm currently working on templates of all of my spreadsheets: revenue, expenses, and my expense tracker, I made all of those myself. And I'm hoping to have those up in the shop soon. I've sent them out to a few people who asked me for business advice. And I've heard that they're really helpful. They're really helpful for me. So I hope that they will be helpful for you too. But when I put those in the shop, I will include that link in the show notes. And of course, I'll put it on Instagram and Facebook, because of course I will.
(23:04) Speaking of being organized, another question we got was: what are my favorite apps to stay organized? First of all Honeybook, I could talk about Honeybook for forever, it is the most helpful for keeping all of my ducks in a row. And again, there will be a 35% off your first year affiliate code in the shownotes for this if you want to try out Honeybook, Google Calendar really helps me stay organized. Not only do I plan like my month, but I usually have it on the week view and I like block out hours of my time. I'll put a screenshot in the show notes so you can kind of see the week and then the whole month because it looks like my calendar is so full. And it is, but it's because I put all of my tasks inside Google Calendar so I can see like okay, these are the things that I need to be doing today. And then lastly, Google Drive. I put all of my documents, all of my spreadsheets, photos that have been approved to share on social media with signed model releases go in there. Google Drive is like my Bible for business. We have two more questions left. Let's dive into the second to last one, the penultimate question.
(24:09) Someone asked for tips for handling difficult clients. I've had a few difficult clients in my time, and in my opinion, you just have to make people happy within reason. You know, if your boundaries are being crossed, remind people of the boundaries in a firm but friendly way. Something that happens for me when I have a difficult client is of course obviously like at first you get frustrated, but I end up always realizing that the difficulties are coming from me not being clear enough about the expectations and about the boundaries in the beginning. So something that I've changed like, I'll realize that this is happening because of something that I wasn't clear enough about and then I'll change something and do better next time. This comes into play a lot inside the contract and on my website and in the booking guide. Anything that has ever produced any confusion at all is cleared up inside the booking guide. So when I have difficult clients, which thankfully doesn't happen too often, almost all of the clients I've ever had have been great to work with, I just have to reset my expectations and try to do better next time if it's an issue on my end. If it's something where someone's being genuinely difficult, I think it's important to give them a great experience even if you're struggling, You know, within reason. I mean, if someone's being rude or hateful, then that's a different story. And I think that goes beyond being "difficult". But as a service provider, I think it's my job to give everyone the best experience that I can give them. And, you know, that's what I try to do, even if I think they're being difficult.
(25:46) And then our last question, how do you keep clients coming back? And I think this boils down to providing and delivering an incredible experience every single time. Not to promote Honeybook one more time. But if I didn't have Honeybook, and I didn't have a workflow set up, I wouldn't be able to provide the consistent experience that I provide. On top of that, keeping clients coming back comes down to being a real person, not performing some version of you as a business owner, and building those genuine connections and relationships. I find that even though people love what I do, they connect more with me as a person and that's what keeps them sticking around. Because I genuinely care about each of my clients and their lives. I'm excited when good things happen for them, I commiserate with them when bad things happen. There are so many times when we're in the studio that we just kind of vent to each other. And that feels so good to be able to build relationships through this business. And lastly, not doing the same thing every time. Even though I provide a consistently impeccable experience. (Not to toot my own horn.) But I don't have the same like posing flow or workflow for every session. I do it different every time. There are things that I hit like, before we get started I show you the studio and how I pose so that you know what to expect. I'll check in with you about if there's anything you want to try any other poses you want to do or photos you want to get in an outfit before you change. You know, the structure of it is the same every time. But I move furniture around, I try different poses, and I play off of your energy too. And we really, truly collaborate in the studio to make artwork that you really love. And I think that's what keeps people coming back. I've had clients and friends come back for 5, 6, 7 sessions now and every single time the photos are different. My best friend Kate has had more sessions than I can count, and the photos are different every single time. Not only because of moving furniture or having a different setting or different outfits or whatever. But I'm a different person and she's a different person every single time we shoot together. Every single session, even if they're a week apart. We're different people, we're bringing something different to the table. I think just bringing fresh energy and different inspiration to the studio every time I shoot is what keeps people coming back. Because they know that they're not going to come back and get the exact same experience. They're gonna get an incredible experience just like they got last time, it might be a little bit better because I've learned things and implemented new things that make the experience better, like the same day image reveals, but the photos are going to be different every single time. And I think that helps because it's not like – well, I did a boudoir session and I'm never going to do another one again because I got the experience – you know? So I think I think that helps you. There are a lot of reasons that clients come back to you. And I think above all, it's because they like you as a person, they like the experience you offer, they like the way that it makes themselves feel, and they want to support you. Anyway, those are all the questions that we got on social media. If you have more questions about small business and the behind-the-scenes of things, I would love to answer them for you. You can send me a DM on Instagram or shoot me an email. Either way, I would love to hear your questions and I would love to do more of this kind of q&a style episode on the podcast!
