The Backstory: Passionate, Talented, and Completely in the Dark
When Shannon started her studio, she was doing it with two kids under three at home and no roadmap. Her first full year in business brought in modest revenue, the kind that had her lying awake at night doing mental math, wondering if a client’s payment would land in time to cover the mortgage.
She was charging half up front and half on completion, which meant she never actually knew when money was coming in or how to plan around it. She hadn’t set boundaries with clients, so she was taking calls in the grocery store and getting texts at 11pm on weekends. Her positioning didn’t reflect who she actually wanted to serve, mostly because she hadn’t figured that out yet either.
“I felt alone, trying to grow this business in the dark. I had the motivation, I was super passionate and knew I would make this business work. But I didn’t have the tools.”
The toll showed up everywhere: she wasn’t sleeping, wasn’t eating well, was snapping at her family, and was waking up with anxiety about whether she could make ends meet. She’d tried courses before, but most of them taught her how to run a business the way someone else had built theirs, not how to build hers.
The Decision: A Podcast, a Lightbulb, and a Landing Page
Shannon found my podcast, Behind the Design, and started binge-listening. Small shifts she picked up and applied started moving the needle almost immediately, enough that she knew she had to work together directly.
By the time she found my coaching page, she’d already grown her revenue significantly on her own. But she still hadn’t broken into six figures, still had no boundaries, still wanted to hire but had no idea where to start, and was deep in imposter syndrome about calling herself an agency owner.
“It was like she met me exactly where I was. Growing quickly, but ready to scale while staying sane and building the life I dreamed of because my business supported that.”
Her goals going in were clear: make more money, get out of “always designing” mode, and step into running her studio like a CEO instead of a freelancer with a lot of clients.
What We Worked On Together
We started with pricing. Shannon knew, deep down, that her rates were too low, but she needed someone to say it out loud and mean it. She raised her prices, even though it was scary, and then we shifted her positioning and messaging so the right clients (the ones who could actually pay those new rates) started showing up.
From there, we tackled her payment structure. Moving from a 50/50 split to monthly installments meant Shannon could finally project her revenue instead of guessing at it. Later, when cash flow still felt tight, we simplified her payment schedule further, and her monthly revenue increased almost immediately.
We also built out the systems that let her hire. Shannon spent a weekend building SOPs in ClickUp, then brought on a Client Experience Manager and a Graphic Designer, moving her out of “freelance designer” and into “agency owner” for good.
“Those SOPs made hiring an absolute breeze. Now I don’t even have to think about onboarding and collecting homework from clients. It’s handled.”
And underneath all of it, we worked on mindset, on Shannon actually being able to introduce herself as an agency owner instead of downplaying what she’d built.
The Turning Point
Shannon points to a few moments, but the biggest shift was in how we approached the whole business. Instead of starting with “how much do you want to charge,” we started with “what do you want your life to look like,” and worked backward from there.
“I think it’s safe to say Olivia’s signature approach is building your business around your life, not the other way around.”
From that question came a real plan: how many hours she wanted to work, how much revenue that required, how many clients she could take on without burning out, and what she’d need to charge to make the math work.
“I’m making more money than I’ve ever made, on a part time schedule, in the best shape of my life, and happier than ever. Can your business coach do that for you?”
The Results
Since we started working together, Shannon’s revenue has more than tripled, and it’s on track to keep climbing. Her monthly revenue has roughly doubled, while the number of active client projects she juggles at once has been cut nearly in half. Her project rates have grown several times over, and she recently booked her largest client to date, a five-figure project that would have felt out of reach before we started.
A few of the shifts:
- Annual revenue: more than tripled since starting coaching
- Monthly revenue: roughly doubled, while taking on far fewer clients at once
- Project rates: raised several times over, culminating in her first five-figure client
- Team: grew from a solo operation to a small, fully-supported team
- Now has projected revenue mapped out months in advance instead of guessing month to month
Beyond the Numbers
For Shannon, the bigger shift has been internal.
“My confidence has skyrocketed since working with Olivia. I see money as an exchange of energy. I’m not embarrassed to share my prices. I see myself as a CEO and I act accordingly. My role went from executing on design work constantly to managing a team and growing a business.”
She also credits the shift with changing how she runs her finances day to day, separating owner pay, operating expenses, taxes, and profit so cash flow finally makes sense instead of feeling like a mystery.
What She’d Say to You
“If your coach has done what you strive to do, been successful at it, and can share their lessons learned along the way, what are you even waiting for? You could wait years and learn all of these lessons yourself. Or you could make the investment and gain all that knowledge and confidence within a few months.”
If you’re where Shannon was, talented, passionate, and completely winging it, this is your sign.
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