In this week’s episode, we try to help regular listener Teresa McGregor with her design business. Teresa is currently feeling totally lost. Her clients are underpaying her, she doesn’t know how to attract a higher quality of client and she doesn’t know how to focus her website and brand in order to move her business forward. There was a lot to discuss in this episode, but we hope that our suggestions not only help provide clarity for Teresa, but for many listening at home going through similar thing.

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Show Notes for This Episode:

[2:00] Due to technical difficulties we couldn’t have Teresa on the show but we’re keen so share her story with you and find some solutions for her challenges
[2:30] Many designers share the same struggles as Teresa
[2:45] Please have a look at Teresa’s website prettig.co.za
[3:20] Her company does web design, custom design, stationery design and much more
[3:40] Teresa also has dirasi.co.za where she sells merchandise including baby grows
[4:00] You can find her on Facebook as Teresa Roelofse McGregor and on Instagram over at @dirasi.za and for also over at @prettigdesign
[5:00] Teresa’s been doing design work for 12 years but still struggles to make ends meet
[5:45] Teresa is hoping to make $3,500- $4,000 a month
[6:20] She feels lost and doesn’t know how to brand and position herself
[8:00] We would love to have Teresa in the show soon
[8:30] The feeling of being pulled in so many directions
[9:00] Not being paid enough and on time
[9:40] Teresa recently fell in the wedding design industry
[10:00] But she is not enjoying some of the clients as she should be
[10:30] Lisa’s suggestion is to focus on the wedding work but find better clients
[11:30] Ian mentions the $8,000 rule and the 5 ways of getting to this amount
[12:30] It’s hard to get one client to pay $8,000 but it’s much easier to get 4 clients paying $2,000 each
[13:00] The difficulty of handling multiple clients paying small amounts
[13:40] The benefits of working with a small number of clients on higher paid projects
[14:00] It’s scary cutting back on clients, especially when you’re treading on water with the existing ones
[14:50] Collecting clients and feeling scared to let them go
[15:30] You need a dramatic change if you want different results
[16:30] Dustin increased the cart value for each customer
[16:50] Better quality clients means better rates
[17:40] Teresa comes from a rural area in South Africa, and Lisa suggestion is to think as she would if she lived and worked with clients from the city
[18:10] Approaching high end wedding planning companies and offering her services
[19:15] Redoing the website to aim it at the wedding market
[19:40] Gain confidence or fake it till you make it
[20:10] Thinking you’re not good enough and being intimidated by high end clients
[21:00] The wedding industry in Cape Town is massive, so Teresa has a huge advantage
[22:40] Lisa suggests charging $2800 for a 3-4 pages website and around $650 for a logo design
[23:20] Teresa will need to change her clients to be able to increase her rates
[25:00] If Teresa were to increase her prices, she could cover the wage for the whole month from one client
[27:00] Tom’s suggestion is niching down on the wedding design and a bit of the baby design
[28:00] He also thinks she should incorporate her websites and focus on selling customized products
[29:30] Rebranding the website so it speaks to the clients: e.g. brides and wedding organisers
[30:40] The hosts think Teresa could rebrand herself as the ‘Wedding Girl’
[31:10] And dedicating a week a month to the rebranding of the website
[33:00] Tom thinks it’s best to first rebrand and only after start cold calling the clients
[33:45] Also going to wedding planners instead of brides, as they will bring more work
[34:20] Pick up the best work and include this in your portfolio
[35:00] Don’t push traffic to a website that is not ready
[35:40] Add a message on the website to let your customer know what they should expect
[36:40] The hosts agree on adding wedding designer and a photo of Teresa on the website
[38:00] And a positive testimonial from a happy bride
[38:40] Dustin suggest using usabilityhub.com to test your website or asking your friends to check it out and give you some feedback
[39:40] People looking at Dustin’s website and thinking he sells t-shirts
[40:30] Teresa could free up a lot of time to focus rebranding, direction, marketing and client’s relationships
[41:40] Lisa suggest making up a plan and allocating how much time she could spend on each activity
[42:50] When your business model is built against you and it’s a barrier on increasing your revenue
[43:40] Teresa being encouraged to give up her business and getting a different job
[44:00] The hosts suggest Teresa should use her free time to focus on rebranding and networking
[45:00] The hosts would love to help and give feedback on Teresa’s new website
[45:40] Lacking the confidence to pitch your work when your website misses focus
[46:20] The hosts admire Teresa’s courage to have her website critiqued on the podcast
[47:00] Please follow Teresa and provide some encouragement on her work
[47:50] We would love to have her on the show soon and see the progress on her rebranding
[48:20] Do you like the new format of the show and having listeners as guests?
[49:00] Thanks so much for listening to this week’s episode


“A must for every creative freelancer (or those aspiring to freelance). Thank you for being so… honest! Such a wealth of information from people I admire who have ‘been there and done that’. Listening to the podcast every week feels like I’m among friends. Can’t wait for more episodes!”AG_GD