We’ve all heard the narrative that you can’t make any real money in your first few years of starting a business. It’s going to be tough, difficult and you’ll be working non-stop for hardly any profit. BUT I’m here to tell you that’s not true. Your mindset and the way you show up for your business everyday will make the difference and today you’ll find out how. 

In this episode, I am chatting with the founder and creative director of Studio Danu and student of the Modern Marketing Collective, Michelle McCarthy. Michelle has built her graphic design studio in Melbourne and has brought together over a decade of experience in Australia, America and Europe to create a truly admired business that specialises in strategic design and bespoke branding. 

We chat about Michelle’s first year of business, leaving her corporate job, and branching out on her own. Michelle shares the challenges, lessons and most importantly, the mindset change she adopted to grow her business and bring in more clients. Michelle went from her lowest month to her highest month yet by shifting the way she consistently showed up for her business!  

I’m so happy to say that she’s even on track to reach her corporate salary within 12 months of going out on her own! Michelle absolutely loves working with female-led businesses. We dive into her priceless learnings from this amazing first year of entrepreneurial life and the lessons she has learnt from the Modern Marketing Collective, the retreat, and our community. I also have some exciting news for you! To make it even easier to join the Modern Marketing Collective and grow your own business, I am giving you access to pay the program off over 12 months! Click here to get started today!

Topics we discussed:

[1:56]: Join the Modern Marketing Collective now and you can pay off the program over 12 months. 

[4:40]: Michelle talks about leaving her corporate job to start her own business and how it felt to branch out on her own.

[7:05]: Michelle turned 30 and decided now is the time to start her entrepreneurial journey. 

[8:53]: Michelle shares how her mindset has changed over the year to critically reflect on how she was showing up for her business.

[10:19]: Michelle went from her slowest and lowest month in July to her best month in August!

[11:13]: The biggest change was her mindset shift and giving herself tough love. She learnt to show up consistently for her business. 

[13:26]: Michelle shares how she showed up everyday on stories for a week and advertised to book a free call to see what happened. By day 5 nobody had booked in, by day 9 she had booked out for the entire month. 

[15:05]: Her biggest learnings from the past year was to let go of the expectation of what her business ‘should’ look like, to disengage from the outcome, and to have the flexibility to try everything out. 

[16:38]: She used a poll on her stories to find out how long her audience were in business, using the results she learnt what services they actually needed. 

[18:23]: There’s a barrier when you are in your first 3 years of business. You don’t have large sums of money for marketing and design. Michelle learned to tailor her products to her audience’s needs and they will grow alongside her business. 

[20:04]: Michelle’s confidence grew after she changed how she showed up for her business and found such amazing results. 

[21:06]: When she was getting 10 calls booked in a week, the feeling of desperation disappeared because if callers fell through or weren’t aligned she had plenty more opportunities. 

[22:17]: Michelle didn’t understand in the beginning that she’s not for everybody and everybody doesn’t have to buy from her. The abundance mindset has slowly developed overtime and has taken the pressure off. 

[24:28]: Michelle came to my retreat and shares what she got out of the experience. The community is amazing and she came away incredibly motivated and focused.  

[25:40]: Michelle talks about what she has planned for the future of Studio Danu. She is even on track to match her corporate salary this financial year!

[27:12]: Making your own money means each dollar is valued more. 

[27:40]: Michele gives her recommendation on the Modern Marketing Collective and the community that we have built. 

[28:30]: Where to find Michelle. She absolutely loves working with female-led businesses.

Book mentioned: Chilpreneur by Denise Duffield-Thomas

Website: Studio Danu | Graphic Designer (studio-danu.com)

Instagram: @studiodanu