April 2, 2025 • 11 mins
Starting or restarting your creative business in 2025?
Here are the 5 things I’d do completely differently—and the 2 things I accidentally nailed from the start. If you feel like you’ve built your business backwards or wasted too much time on the wrong things, this is for you.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brenda Eckhardt (00:00):
If I were to start my creative business over
in 2025, I would do things verydifferently.
I would put my energy in muchmore useful places.
I definitely gave a lot ofbrain space to things that I
should not have been worryingabout.
We're all very guilty of it.
I do find that every five or soyears I kind of fall back into
(00:20):
those habits and then I catchmyself really quickly because
I've developed much betterthought processes to keep myself
on track.
So here are five things that Iwould do differently if I were
to start business over in 2025,and two things that I nailed
right from the beginning.
You're going to want to stickaround for those, so the first
(00:41):
thing that I would do is focusonly on my ideal customer.
I gave a lot of time and energyto thinking about what my peers
and competitors were.
I don't even like to say theword competitors, because there
truly is room for everyone, nomatter what it is that you're
doing.
I had to learn that, but Iwould spend a lot less time and
(01:04):
energy looking at what otherpeople are doing Now.
I started out as a photographerand became a visual marketer,
so my work is very visual and Igot lost in the scroll.
I definitely got lost in theheadspace of the comparison game
and I just would not let myselffall into that trap.
Put the blinders on that's whatI would do and focus only on my
(01:29):
ideal customer and keep in mymind that I am here to serve a
purpose greater than myself.
There's people out there thatneed what I have.
I'm here to change lives and tohelp people up level their
small business, and that wouldbe my sole focus.
I would not be thinking aboutwhat anybody else is doing.
If you ask me right now whatother people charge for what I
(01:50):
do, I honestly don't know.
I know the value of what Ibring and what people are
willing to pay for it.
I know my policies, what works,what doesn't work, and that's
all I focus on.
So I would stop impressingstrangers and I would keep in
mind that my purpose is whatgrows the dreams.
Your purpose grows your dreams.
(02:11):
Number two, I would grow myemail list alongside my social
accounts.
I know everybody says you haveto grow an email list and we're
all sick of it.
We've all heard it so manytimes and it's a lot of work in
the beginning to get the rightsystem set up, but it's so worth
it because you need to build onyour own land, not borrowed
(02:33):
land.
And social media as we'velearned from what's gone on
recently with TikTok, differenttimes that Facebook and
Instagram have gone down that isborrowed land and it's not
anything that we can control.
So I would definitely focus oncreating a string of
communication, meaning a stringof trust, where my posts would
(02:58):
have some sort of opt-inmentions here and there.
Obviously, I would give a lotof value, as I do.
I would give a lot of value andthen have lead magnets in place
so that I can capture emailaddresses.
It's not a part that any of uslike to do in business,
especially when you work alone.
We're such authentic people ascreators Not that bigger
(03:21):
businesses aren't, but we'retruly the face, the name, the
everything, and it feels awkwardto have people in a funnel, but
that is what it takes to growand scale your business.
So I would definitely begrowing my email list.
So the next thing would bespending less time on worrying
(03:45):
about what people that I havebeen in my life in the past or
in the present, even feeling badwhen they didn't share my posts
or like my Instagram posts.
I in the past had very highexpectations that I would have a
lot of support online and I didin the beginning because that
(04:05):
was the culture of social media.
But now it's just not how it isand it's really quite hard on
the heart to create from nothingon social media and not really
have cheerleaders online orsupport unless you have that.
That's amazing if you do, butit's just not as common as it
(04:25):
used to be.
So I would stop thinking aboutwhat other people think and I
would start focusing onconnection with my customers.
That would be a huge one for meand it is currently so.
I would put boundaries up fromday one, meaning I would have
boundaries in place for mybusiness hours.
(04:47):
That was a huge mistake that Imade in the beginning.
I worked myself literally toinjury and practical death.
I have had some very scaryaccidents on the job in
photography and it was alwaysbecause I was overworked,
exhausted and trying to peopleplease.
It was always because I wasoverworked, exhausted and trying
(05:08):
to people please.
You would think that that wouldnot be a dangerous industry.
It can be and it was for me,and I had a very big wake-up
call when I was taking hockeypictures for a high school
senior guy.
I slipped, even though I hadcleats on my shoes slipped hit,
the back of my head was out forseveral minutes.
Shoes slipped hit, the back ofmy head was out for several
(05:28):
minutes.
And let me tell you that summerwas the summer of an awakening.
No more weekends for me, ever.
Weekends are my off limitsplace.
And what I learned from that waswhen I tried to deter people
from certain nights or weekends,I wasn't confident in the way
that I presented it, so theywould try to negotiate that.
The more confident I got thatthat was a hard line for me, the
(05:52):
more people were like oh, noproblem, we'll figure out
another time.
So it is confidently presentingyour boundaries and just being
non-negotiating about it.
It is what it is and that's it.
That's how I do business.
People respect that.
So I would say it withconfidence.
People will accept it.
It is what it is and that's it.
That's how I do business.
People respect that.
So I would say it withconfidence.
People will accept it and theywill respect it.
(06:13):
So what I did right from thebeginning, there were two things
.
Number one was, on the humanside, obviously critical.
It's a part of my personality.
Some people.
It takes time to learn, to honethe skill, but I have a way of
making people feel like they'rethe only client that I have.
(06:33):
That's just who I am.
I hope you feel like that rightnow.
I hope you feel like you're theonly person in all of YouTube
that I'm talking to.
That's important to me andthat's how I like to feel.
So I try to make everyone feelthat way and just that skill and
that sincerity because I domean it that I want people to
feel that way.
(06:54):
That's how I create amazingwork for people and can really
connect and coach and teach in away that's going to move the
needle for them.
That is something that I gotright from the beginning and
will continue to do On thetechnical side from the very
beginning, and I'm finding thatit matters again big time is SEO
(07:17):
for my website Optimizing blogposts, optimizing my photos, my
photos, the metadata, the alttags, and using somewhat of
storytelling and article-likeposts that are basically
(07:38):
answering questions on myWordPress website, which is like
the main land that I own Now.
There was a good period of timewhere people thought blogs were
dead.
Blogs are coming back in a bigway because there's not only
search engine optimization.
Now there's answer and intentoptimization where, because of
(08:01):
AI, these platforms Google,believe it or not Bing, because
Bing connects to chat, gpt theseplatforms are not only trying
to help people get answers tothe questions that they
naturally type in or use voiceto ask.
They're listening to all of ourdevices and knowing what the
(08:23):
intention is.
So, let's say, someone wants tobuy a car and they're talking
about it in their home, or maybethey've been searching for it
on Facebook Marketplace.
Well, it's important that if Iwere a car salesperson or had a
car dealership, that on mywebsite I already have questions
answered about how do I goabout it.
Here are the most commonlyasked questions, and every
(08:46):
single blog post would beanswering all of the not only
the questions, but thehesitations and why maybe
someone would go somewhere else,but why they should come to me.
So those are the two thingsthat I got right and I'm going
to continue to do those too.
I hope this has really given youfood for thought.
(09:07):
So if you're starting out newor you're feeling like maybe
it's time for a refresh, maybeyou feel like you've built
things a little backwards andit's too late and you have a
shaky foundation.
It's definitely not too late.
You're in an amazing timeonline and we can always
reinvent ourselves.
(09:27):
You're not behind, you're justgetting clear, and that's why
I'm here to stop overthinkingand you want to move the needle
forward on your business andreally start to grow.
I have an AI for small businesscheat sheet in the notes.
If you want to grab that, it'sfree.
(09:48):
Basically, what it does is ithelps you to understand all the
different types of AI that areout there, what their different
uses are, and let me give you anexample.
Perplexity is really great atwording things beautifully.
That's a great place to use forcaptions, articles, blog posts
and that kind of thing, and it'sreally great and easy to train
(10:11):
to sound like you and not arobot.
Chatgpt is pretty awesome, too,for that.
But perplexity is really greatat more of a storytelling,
journalistic style of wording.
Chat GPT is more like a Googlecatch-all, and there are several
others that I mentioned in thischeat sheet that you can look
(10:31):
at and you can start to figureout.
Okay, for this task, I'm goingto use this option and for this
task, I'm going to use thisoption.
You don't want to put all youreggs in one basket because
they're each very good atdifferent tasks.
So grab the AI cheat sheet and,if you're looking to just glow
up your marketing, that it'stime to freshen things up and
(10:52):
really get serious about notonly up leveling your marketing
and your brand, but also doingit in a way that you're putting
in strategies and systems sothat you can save time.
This should not take up yourlife.
I know how easy it is as asmall business owner to feel
like you're spending a day at atime, like a day a week, just on
(11:15):
Facebook, instagram, postingand updating your website.
It shouldn't be like that.
I have an academy called Boostyour Visibility Academy and I'll
have that in the notes alsowhere you can take mini courses.
You can just take little minicourses to start getting ahead
on certain apps or certain tasksthat you know that you're kind
(11:37):
of letting slip or that youhaven't just paid much attention
to until now.
It's meant to help you to getclear and to get your time back
so that you can make money inyour sleep.
Let me know if you havequestions.
Thanks so much for spending thetime today and I look forward
to seeing you again.
If I were to start my creative business over
in 2025, I would do things verydifferently.
I would put my energy in muchmore useful places.
I definitely gave a lot ofbrain space to things that I
should not have been worryingabout.
We're all very guilty of it.
I do find that every five or soyears I kind of fall back into
(00:20):
those habits and then I catchmyself really quickly because
I've developed much betterthought processes to keep myself
on track.
So here are five things that Iwould do differently if I were
to start business over in 2025,and two things that I nailed
right from the beginning.
You're going to want to stickaround for those, so the first
(00:41):
thing that I would do is focusonly on my ideal customer.
I gave a lot of time and energyto thinking about what my peers
and competitors were.
I don't even like to say theword competitors, because there
truly is room for everyone, nomatter what it is that you're
doing.
I had to learn that, but Iwould spend a lot less time and
(01:04):
energy looking at what otherpeople are doing Now.
I started out as a photographerand became a visual marketer,
so my work is very visual and Igot lost in the scroll.
I definitely got lost in theheadspace of the comparison game
and I just would not let myselffall into that trap.
Put the blinders on that's whatI would do and focus only on my
(01:29):
ideal customer and keep in mymind that I am here to serve a
purpose greater than myself.
There's people out there thatneed what I have.
I'm here to change lives and tohelp people up level their
small business, and that wouldbe my sole focus.
I would not be thinking aboutwhat anybody else is doing.
If you ask me right now whatother people charge for what I
(01:50):
do, I honestly don't know.
I know the value of what Ibring and what people are
willing to pay for it.
I know my policies, what works,what doesn't work, and that's
all I focus on.
So I would stop impressingstrangers and I would keep in
mind that my purpose is whatgrows the dreams.
Your purpose grows your dreams.
(02:11):
Number two, I would grow myemail list alongside my social
accounts.
I know everybody says you haveto grow an email list and we're
all sick of it.
We've all heard it so manytimes and it's a lot of work in
the beginning to get the rightsystem set up, but it's so worth
it because you need to build onyour own land, not borrowed
(02:33):
land.
And social media as we'velearned from what's gone on
recently with TikTok, differenttimes that Facebook and
Instagram have gone down that isborrowed land and it's not
anything that we can control.
So I would definitely focus oncreating a string of
communication, meaning a stringof trust, where my posts would
(02:58):
have some sort of opt-inmentions here and there.
Obviously, I would give a lotof value, as I do.
I would give a lot of value andthen have lead magnets in place
so that I can capture emailaddresses.
It's not a part that any of uslike to do in business,
especially when you work alone.
We're such authentic people ascreators Not that bigger
(03:21):
businesses aren't, but we'retruly the face, the name, the
everything, and it feels awkwardto have people in a funnel, but
that is what it takes to growand scale your business.
So I would definitely begrowing my email list.
So the next thing would bespending less time on worrying
(03:45):
about what people that I havebeen in my life in the past or
in the present, even feeling badwhen they didn't share my posts
or like my Instagram posts.
I in the past had very highexpectations that I would have a
lot of support online and I didin the beginning because that
(04:05):
was the culture of social media.
But now it's just not how it isand it's really quite hard on
the heart to create from nothingon social media and not really
have cheerleaders online orsupport unless you have that.
That's amazing if you do, butit's just not as common as it
(04:25):
used to be.
So I would stop thinking aboutwhat other people think and I
would start focusing onconnection with my customers.
That would be a huge one for meand it is currently so.
I would put boundaries up fromday one, meaning I would have
boundaries in place for mybusiness hours.
(04:47):
That was a huge mistake that Imade in the beginning.
I worked myself literally toinjury and practical death.
I have had some very scaryaccidents on the job in
photography and it was alwaysbecause I was overworked,
exhausted and trying to peopleplease.
It was always because I wasoverworked, exhausted and trying
(05:08):
to people please.
You would think that that wouldnot be a dangerous industry.
It can be and it was for me,and I had a very big wake-up
call when I was taking hockeypictures for a high school
senior guy.
I slipped, even though I hadcleats on my shoes slipped hit,
the back of my head was out forseveral minutes.
Shoes slipped hit, the back ofmy head was out for several
(05:28):
minutes.
And let me tell you that summerwas the summer of an awakening.
No more weekends for me, ever.
Weekends are my off limitsplace.
And what I learned from that waswhen I tried to deter people
from certain nights or weekends,I wasn't confident in the way
that I presented it, so theywould try to negotiate that.
The more confident I got thatthat was a hard line for me, the
(05:52):
more people were like oh, noproblem, we'll figure out
another time.
So it is confidently presentingyour boundaries and just being
non-negotiating about it.
It is what it is and that's it.
That's how I do business.
People respect that.
So I would say it withconfidence.
People will accept it.
It is what it is and that's it.
That's how I do business.
People respect that.
So I would say it withconfidence.
People will accept it and theywill respect it.
(06:13):
So what I did right from thebeginning, there were two things
.
Number one was, on the humanside, obviously critical.
It's a part of my personality.
Some people.
It takes time to learn, to honethe skill, but I have a way of
making people feel like they'rethe only client that I have.
(06:33):
That's just who I am.
I hope you feel like that rightnow.
I hope you feel like you're theonly person in all of YouTube
that I'm talking to.
That's important to me andthat's how I like to feel.
So I try to make everyone feelthat way and just that skill and
that sincerity because I domean it that I want people to
feel that way.
(06:54):
That's how I create amazingwork for people and can really
connect and coach and teach in away that's going to move the
needle for them.
That is something that I gotright from the beginning and
will continue to do On thetechnical side from the very
beginning, and I'm finding thatit matters again big time is SEO
(07:17):
for my website Optimizing blogposts, optimizing my photos, my
photos, the metadata, the alttags, and using somewhat of
storytelling and article-likeposts that are basically
(07:38):
answering questions on myWordPress website, which is like
the main land that I own Now.
There was a good period of timewhere people thought blogs were
dead.
Blogs are coming back in a bigway because there's not only
search engine optimization.
Now there's answer and intentoptimization where, because of
(08:01):
AI, these platforms Google,believe it or not Bing, because
Bing connects to chat, gpt theseplatforms are not only trying
to help people get answers tothe questions that they
naturally type in or use voiceto ask.
They're listening to all of ourdevices and knowing what the
(08:23):
intention is.
So, let's say, someone wants tobuy a car and they're talking
about it in their home, or maybethey've been searching for it
on Facebook Marketplace.
Well, it's important that if Iwere a car salesperson or had a
car dealership, that on mywebsite I already have questions
answered about how do I goabout it.
Here are the most commonlyasked questions, and every
(08:46):
single blog post would beanswering all of the not only
the questions, but thehesitations and why maybe
someone would go somewhere else,but why they should come to me.
So those are the two thingsthat I got right and I'm going
to continue to do those too.
I hope this has really given youfood for thought.
(09:07):
So if you're starting out newor you're feeling like maybe
it's time for a refresh, maybeyou feel like you've built
things a little backwards andit's too late and you have a
shaky foundation.
It's definitely not too late.
You're in an amazing timeonline and we can always
reinvent ourselves.
(09:27):
You're not behind, you're justgetting clear, and that's why
I'm here to stop overthinkingand you want to move the needle
forward on your business andreally start to grow.
I have an AI for small businesscheat sheet in the notes.
If you want to grab that, it'sfree.
(09:48):
Basically, what it does is ithelps you to understand all the
different types of AI that areout there, what their different
uses are, and let me give you anexample.
Perplexity is really great atwording things beautifully.
That's a great place to use forcaptions, articles, blog posts
and that kind of thing, and it'sreally great and easy to train
(10:11):
to sound like you and not arobot.
Chatgpt is pretty awesome, too,for that.
But perplexity is really greatat more of a storytelling,
journalistic style of wording.
Chat GPT is more like a Googlecatch-all, and there are several
others that I mentioned in thischeat sheet that you can look
(10:31):
at and you can start to figureout.
Okay, for this task, I'm goingto use this option and for this
task, I'm going to use thisoption.
You don't want to put all youreggs in one basket because
they're each very good atdifferent tasks.
So grab the AI cheat sheet and,if you're looking to just glow
up your marketing, that it'stime to freshen things up and
(10:52):
really get serious about notonly up leveling your marketing
and your brand, but also doingit in a way that you're putting
in strategies and systems sothat you can save time.
This should not take up yourlife.
I know how easy it is as asmall business owner to feel
like you're spending a day at atime, like a day a week, just on
(11:15):
Facebook, instagram, postingand updating your website.
It shouldn't be like that.
I have an academy called Boostyour Visibility Academy and I'll
have that in the notes alsowhere you can take mini courses.
You can just take little minicourses to start getting ahead
on certain apps or certain tasksthat you know that you're kind
(11:37):
of letting slip or that youhaven't just paid much attention
to until now.
It's meant to help you to getclear and to get your time back
so that you can make money inyour sleep.
Let me know if you havequestions.
Thanks so much for spending thetime today and I look forward
to seeing you again.
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