- November 17, 2020
Successful female entrepreneurs
Reading Time: 8 minutesIn commemoration of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, Neolo interviewed successful female entrepreneurs who decided to follow their dream of being their own boss. These women gave us their testimony as an example of perseverance and tenacity. Let’s get their strength and develop our own entrepreneurship.
Julia Ferrari has her own entrepreneurship designing and building websites for freelancers and small businesses. She’s a WordPress expert.
How did you come up with the idea of entrepreneurship?
I started with the idea of having my own business when I was pregnant of my son. I wanted to keep working as a web designer while having more flexibility to spend time with my son. I also had the idea of creating workshops to teach people how to create their own website. All these ideas were before the pandemic.
How were your beginnings?
I always had been confident about doing my work and meeting my clients’ expectations, but after working for five years in a company I had no clue how to reach new clients, or even the things that I needed to consider to begin my own business.
During my maternity leave I started planning and doing some online courses to learn the basic stuff about becoming my own boss. It was a bit slow as I was also with a new-born and discovering so many things about baby stuff.
At the end of my maternity leave, I decided it was time to start pushing my business and I decided to look for a mentor and connect with more people. Having a mentor was the best investment, she made a plan for me and gave me clarity about my business. I also made some skill swaps and partnered with other professionals, e.g. for professional photography and a marketing campaign. Through these experiences, I created partnerships with other amazing and valuable professionals and we share some projects and clients.
How is your business today? What’s the next goal for it?
My business has been growing and is becoming more visible. I have been working really hard to make this happen and it has been very rewarding to see my clients happy with my work and their websites. It has also been heart-warming to receive many recommendations from them.
My next goal is to create a new product and expand my services. I want to offer something in between the extremes of a website that is designed and built completely by me, and one that is built only by my clients, through my course “Build Your Own WordPress website”.
If you have to give one tip to an entrepreneur, what would it be?
Don’t compare yourself with others, you are unique. One of the harder things to master when starting a business is the right mindset, and it is so easy to start comparing yourself with other people’s success.
Always remember that your business is unique and focus on your dream client.
If you have to give a piece of advice regarding your experience in online business, what would it be?
First it is very important to create a website that reflects the uniqueness, and even personality, of one’s business. As I work with small businesses, I think it is very important for them to have a polished website that shows they are professional but friendly. It’s important to make it easy to be contacted, and to give a good user experience, especially for businesses with online sales.
Diana Beltrán Herrera works worldwide in editorial and commercial business, installations and displays creating bespoke sculptures and designs with paper.
How did you come up with the idea of entrepreneurship?
My parents have been self employed all their lives. My dad has his own company so I grew up seeing him managing his own time and growing his business. To me it happened naturally. I have always had a passion for making and I live for it so I have never stopped. My parents were strict and taught me how to manage my own money. I feel that was the foundation for my life as a self employed.
How were your beginnings?
I have always been creative since I was very little. My mum used to make lots of things for our home so I was always using her scraps and discarded materials to make things for myself. This is very common in latin american countries, and especially in Colombia, our culture, is a culture of making. Women and men are both very skilled at different things but most importantly, very resourceful, so most people learn to do with what they have. Since I enjoyed making things throughout all my life, I wanted to do something creative for my career. I wanted to study art but didn’t seem like a good option at the moment so I went to design school and studied industrial design. I started to work with paper and discarded materials since they were very economical and easy to find, but it was until after I graduated that I started to do things because I couldn’t find a job that I would enjoy, so I created my own job. I later moved to the UK to study an MA in fine arts which added a lot to my career. I have lived and work in the UK since 2013.
How is your business today? What’s the next goal for it?
I come to my studio every day. I have 2 boys, one is 13 and one is 3. Since my youngest one is going full time to nursery I am enjoying being at my studio. I spend the mornings at home doing admin and I start work at 2 everyday until 9 or 10 in the evenings. I never have much of a plan when I come to work, and sometimes if I do I get distracted doing other things, which is fine for me because it is all creative so it adds to something else at some point. In my studio I allow myself to do what I want. I know I am never wasting my time but only getting better. If I have a commission (I am working on 4 different projects at the moment!) I have to be very organised with my schedule so I have a list of jobs per day and week to keep in time. Nowadays I spend most of my days taking photos, tiding my studio, and sharing and discussing my work. I have used social media platforms for my work always since I started, so taking photos and getting better at them is key to me. My next goal is to get better at arranging/shooting my work and creating visual content, I am in a good place at the moment where I am only doing commercial work and exhibitions which is great. I am really interested in styling and advertising photography, so this is what I have been focusing on recently.
If you have to give one tip to an entrepreneur, what would it be?
To find who you are, what are your talents. There is so much content and people doing great things and so many people copying those ideas.
I think it is so important to start from little, with your own ideas and tools, use others’ work only for inspiration but find your true passions, because those will take you really far in life.
When we copy what others do, it can go well for a certain time but the best thing we can do is to be in our heads and hearts, to communicate who we are, the things we like, our experiences with others. If we choose what we love we can give so much and by working hard and having discipline, get really really good at it. I have been doing my work for 8 years now, and it is only until now I feel I am getting somewhere.
If you have to give a piece of advice regarding your experience in online business, what would it be?
To be very selective with the content you share about what you do. I know in this world ruled by social media people are sharing constantly everything and that leads to many people taking on someone else’s hard work and using it as their own. I have learned to be more cautious with what I share, the people I share it with, and over all, just give but don’t give it all. Also, to value your work and dont give it all for free.
Working online it’s so great especially in these hard times, because no matter where you are you can always work. I find that it’s a great advantage because people connect online. Most of my work gets sent via email, I have online meetings and always try to keep good communication with my clients. I like for them to know that I am here to help in anything they need and also that they can trust me because I am very responsible with what I do.
Niki Leonidou is a freelance illustrator and graphic designer based in London. More than 180 children’s books with her work have been published in Greece, Korea and elsewhere.
How did you come up with the idea of entrepreneurship?
I always wanted to work for myself, to build my own business and have full control of it. Sitting behind a desk from 9 to 5 and working for somebody else was never in my dreams. Also, I always knew I would do something regarding art. So, I became a full time freelance illustrator.
How were your beginnings?
Starting was quite hard. I returned to Greece after finishing my degree in illustration in the UK back in 2000. I worked as a web designer for a year and then I gave up this job in order to follow my dream. I had no contacts, I knew no one in the publishing business, so I bought a book with all the Greek publishers contact details. I started calling them. Those were the good days that you could actually pick up the phone and talk in person with a publisher or an art director. I told them who I was and asked for an appointment to show my portfolio. I had LOADS of rejections but one or two publishers decided to give me a chance and asked me to do a sample for a book. One and a half years later my first picture book was published and I had something solid to show to potential clients!
How is your business today? What’s the next goal for it?
I must say that after loads of rejections I still get, after so many ups and downs, my job has managed to financially support me and my family within really strange years and still does. I work from home and I am very happy to say that this job helped me raise my kids myself, which is also a great success for me. My goal is to expand my list of clients globally. I have already worked with publishers outside Greece like the USA and Korea and I am looking forward to doing so more.
If you have to give one tip to an entrepreneur, what would it be?
The only tip I would give is that if you do love what you do, then don’t give up. Do your best and then let it work for itself. I know that sometimes this looks like giving up but it is not. You put the seed and then wait and wait until it grows. It takes determination and patience. And very hard work!
If you have to give a piece of advice regarding your experience in online business, what would it be?
My illustration work is created either digitally or in traditional media. This is acrylics, watercolors, inks etc. Once a new book is out, once I create an art piece I am proud of or when I have won a nomination or won an award, I always post it online and send it out to my colleagues with personal emails (especially the nominations and awards!). This is partly how I get more work, more commissions and how generally I get more people around the world to find out about my business.
So, the tip I would give would be to get out there, make yourself visible and let people know who you are!
This is the moment to create your own online business!
