My 5 Biggest Mistakes as a Digital Entrepreneur. Tactics #3
And what I’ll do differently this time.
In my earplugs while writing this issue:
My 6-year journey in digital marketing was a success. It aches me to say it like I am someone with high work self-esteem (who I’m still trying to be), but I trust numbers. I’ve reached over 7 figures within 12 months, sold more than 7.000 products to 5.000 clients, and built a small, but highly engaged audience that trusted me (this last one makes me so grateful and is worth more than any money!). All that with no supervision nor guidance, coming from a completely different work background. It wasn’t a Marketing degree. It wasn’t the help from rich parents. It wasn’t luck. It was just me, working my ass off for endless hours, for years (until I burned out, but that’s a topic for another conversation).
I had already had many careers before; a degree in Architecture and Urban Planning, owning a thrift shop, creating a brand of healthy sweets, teaching English, and producing a radio show. My success was the harvest of what I had sown for years. Getting smarter by the time and the challenges I put myself into, I got a lot of things right from the beginning. But I also made A LOT of mistakes that had a massive impact on revenue, business growth, and my mental health. Without further ado, here they are. Take notes and leave your comments, this is a class that can save you money and time.
My 5 Biggest Mistakes as a Digital Entrepreneur
Total lack of self-knowledge.
It wasn’t until recently that I discovered I am an introvert. Despite loving talking and sharing stories with people, I get drained from too much interaction and need a long time alone in silence to recover. Ignoring myself I chose a business model that depended entirely on 1:1 consultations, as I started as an Ayurveda health coach. I thought I could have an agenda full of clients, 5 days a week, 8 hours a day. I managed it for three years until I realized I was not made for that business model; I was completely drained.
What I’m doing differently this time: Fewer clients, and more quality time with each of them. Multiple revenue streams since month one. Content as business, and digital products that will be launched shortly.
Taking too long to launch.
I launched my first online course two years after I’d started creating content online. It was too late. I hadn’t felt ready before because no one ever is. We have to get things going and we perfect it on the way. A digital product - and it can be an eBook, a Notion template, or affiliate links, anyhow you can pack your (true) knowledge and expertise - is an asset. It is like compound interest, it works for you 24/7. Selling an online course allowed me to charge higher for my 1:1 consultancy and have a freer schedule to create more.
What I’m doing differently this time: Building my new business based on freedom of time. The digital scalable product (this newsletter/ blog) came first; specific posts will soon be under a paywall. I’ll let organic content do the growing job while I work on the next revenue stream, and so on.
Low-ticket and only product - without any client retention strategy.
Pricing is a pain point for me, it has always been. I find it difficult to see how much I know and what differentiates me from the competition, even though I don’t believe in such a thing. My first online course was launched in 2020 and was 8 hours long, contained an eBook with over 100 pages of practical knowledge, cookbooks, a comment section, and extra bonuses. I charged R$ 168 for it, something around 30 dollars, totally below the market. Can you believe it? I look back and I just can’t. I had gathered the full script of my 1:1 consulting with broader knowledge to serve different people. It still is a great content and I am proud of it. But 30 dollars? Crazy and unsustainable.
Pricing is an important pillar in Marketing; it says a lot. Without words, pricing will tell your audience how much you value what you are selling. If you don’t value it, they sure won’t. Pricing can attract the wrong customer while it pushes away the right one. Bad pricing will put the operation in danger.
I had put all my eggs in one basket. One big product, with all my sharable knowledge, and at a very (very!) low price. The client would come, buy it and it was over.
What I’m doing differently this time: pricing based on market data, the value I bring to clients + launching products for different stages of the funnel.
Staff: overpaying and bad hires.
For the first 18 months, I was completely solo. As demand grew, a friend became a do-it-all assistant as her side hustle. 8 months later, more than two years into the business, my fatigue started to get in the way. I was already in the process of burning out, but I couldn’t recognize it at the time. I thought hiring people to delegate multiple tasks on my scope was a good idea. I ended up with 3 permanent employees and 3 freelancers who weren’t fit for the job. I didn’t have any hiring process and closed the deal with people based on other’s indications and a single interview. I paid their salary expectations, without making sure it matched their expertise and my own expectations.
What I really needed was a break, a review of the business model, a better product strategy, and pricing. You can’t make good decisions when you are tired.
What I’m doing differently this time: I am going deep into the Solopreneur business model. I’ve been perfecting myself in project management to perform optimally, focusing on what is important and letting go of what isn’t. When needed I hire highly qualified (and more pricey) freelancers for very specific scopes. It is easier to delegate a whole project instead of random tasks. I know, that by not having a team, I might slow or limit my growth and I am okay with that.
No business strategy for the long run.
Of the previous mistakes, you can imagine I didn’t have any strategy. I created a job when I should be creating a career within my business. The only goal for the 1:1 consultations and the digital products was to make immediate money to pay the month’s bills. And when money was coming big, I used it poorly.
What I’m doing differently this time: I started with a basic Business Plan. At the center of it is the professional I want to become. As for the products, I’m designing them according to my natural abilities; it’s much easier to perfect something you are naturally good at. How will my products help my branding and support the lifestyle I want? That has to be on any Creator’s mind. For the revenue, less 6-figures-a-day-launch madness, more solid 5-figures months. Consistency in the long run over light-speed one-shot growth.
Maybe you can avoid these. If you can’t, my 1:1 Consultancy will be launched shortly.
New on the blog:
See you next Saturday.
Bisous,
Tati.
I just needed to read this so much! Your help is unmeasurable and also the way you fire in the rockets. Happy to found you in the way. Learning A LOT from it and from you! Looking forward to more. xoxo
Tati, querida! Coisa boa te reencontrar por aqui (escrevendo em português por preguiça mesmo haha). Me vi tanto nesse teu texto. Cometo alguns erros por aqui e ando tentando aprender a concerta-los. Anotei muitas informações para por em prática! Beijos