How to build the business you want

I’ve always known I wanted to build my own business. I always imagined my life with a business of my own. I had a pretty simple plan in College: I would graduate, work for a couple of years in a big Ad agency in order to get experience, and then I would go on to open my own boutique agency. It almost worked exactly according to plan. I did graduate and go on to work in one of the biggest ad agencies in the world, Leo Burnett, but when I opened my own business it ended up not being in advertising.
Building a business you want is SO important. Think about it, business takes up most of our lives. We spend the first 22 or so years studying and then the next 40 working. Might as well be doing it in something that excites you, amirite? I have spent the past 8 years building my business, and specifically the last year was a great one to make tons of changes in order for me to have a business I love. Here’s my take on how to build the business you want.

I grew up all around the world, living in Brazil, Spain, India, the US and Venezuela. As you can imagine, this means that we travelled A LOT and stayed in many hotels. Every time we checked into a new hotel, I ran into the room looking for the notepad and pen that was always on the nightstand, and then I would start drawing. This is something that I always loved. Design has been a part of my life since as long as I could remember. The smell of freshly opened Crayolas and Prismacolor are a part of my childhood. My point is, it’s something I’ve always been passionate about. This is the direction I knew I wanted to take my business in someday. Sure, I studied Advertising, but ended up working in branding and design. And even though I don’t do much drawing in my business, it’s still really connected to what I do.
So, how do you find your passion? Well, ask yourself these questions:

After you have answered a few of these, try finding common themes and determining where your passions lie. Then research and ask yourself what possible career choices you could find in these areas and what steps you need to follow in order to pursue them.

Building a #business you want starts with knowing what you’re passionate about

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If you’re lucky enough, you might already be doing what you love most. The next thing you want to look at, is determining the kinds of people you want to work with. In this case, I’m not only talking about who your target audience is, but rather, who you want them to be.
So, for me, I love working with people that are passionate about their work and that are really good at what they do. I also like working with people that respect me and understand the importance of hiring someone more experienced than them. Of course, along the years I have learned that some clients might sound great on paper, but in the real world, they become a nightmare. Luckily, I have a good eye and have learned to filter out people that aren’t a good fit for me. But, it happens sometimes!
Because, believe it or not, you don’t have to work with everyone that wants to hire you. In fact, you have to understand that it’s not only about them choosing you, but you choosing them as well.
Anyways, building a business you love means being very clear about the types of people you want to work with. Maybe you want to work only with women, or moms, or retired men. Whatever it is, get super crystal clear on what you want in a client and then what you don’t want. Believe me, having a nightmare client is NOT a good way to build a business you want!

Repeat after me: you DON’T have to work with everyone that wants to hire you

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Here comes the tricky part. Once you have defined what you love and who you want to work with, you now have to build an offer that is an intersection between these two. So, you want to be doing something you love and that you’re really great at, and at the same time, make sure it’s something that your audience really needs. So, I’ll give you my own example, I work with entrepreneurs that are ready to launch their new business or small businesses that need to rebrand because they are growing. This means that my offer of branding, logo and web design are something they absolutely need for their business to take off. It wouldn’t make sense if I was offering logo design to a well-established company whose logo is already highly recognizable. See what I mean? In order to do this, you have to get into the mind of your target audience and try to understand what they’re problems are and how you can solve them by doing what you love.

I know I’m super biased with this one, but hear me out. In order to build the business you want, you have to be really clear about who you are and what it is that you want. That’s exactly what branding is all about. It’s not just about the visuals, or how your logo looks. I think that that’s actually the least of it. Branding your business is about determining your purpose, your direction, the value you create and where you see yourself going. It’s also about defining the underlying values that will propel you forward. So, by branding your business you’re getting clarity in every single aspect of your brand. While looking amazing, by the way.
It’s funny, but even though I have been in business for over 10 years, the real hard core branding didn’t happen until last year. I’ve told you my story before, you know, having to move to the US and starting my business from scratch, and how I was basically forced to rebrand, redefine my audience and communication style. It wasn’t until I did all of this, that my business was finally in the right place.
If you want to find out the first steps to branding your business, you can download this free guide I created for you by clicking right here:

Finally, I would have to say that building the business you want starts with determining goals that excite you. If you’re not pushing yourself and looking for ways to move forward, you’re probably going to be pretty bored, pretty soon. And, who wants that? I mean, I love waking up each Monday morning, because that’s the day I usually write these blog posts. I get up at 7am and sit in my computer in the quiet of my house because my 1 year old sleeps until 9. Those early hours in the morning are my fave. And, mind you, I’m NOT a morning person AT ALL. But my dreams and my goals are pretty darn big, and the only way to reach them is if I work and put my heart into them, every. single. day. Setting goals that excite you will bring on crazy resourcefulness in you. Ideas start flowing and you do things you never imagined.
A few years ago, my goals plain old sucked. I kept on playing SO small, shrinking and not believing I could be anything more than I was. It’s not until I pushed myself, that I didn’t start building this business which I’m now SO passionate about. So, stop playing small, set the bar high and go for it! That’s the key to building a business you want and love.
Of course, branding your business is a great way to set those crazy goals in place. Don’t forget to download your 15-page free guide to brand your business right here!