Meet Sarah
When Sarah first came to me, she was right at the beginning of her business with no clear services, systems, or positioning in the market. She had the drive to make it work, but had no idea on where to start.
So she did what so many business owners do in the early days and tried to do literally everything. She said yes to every random project that came her way, no matter the scope. She wasn’t fully in her authority yet, so her clients were the ones dictating what they needed, instead of Sarah standing in her expertise and telling them what they needed.
Day to day everything felt important, so she tried to do everything, all the time, and it felt like nothing was actually working. She was deep in the comparison trap looking at other business owners in her space assuming they’d figured out some secret she hadn’t. In short, she was LOST and needed guidance on where to start and focus on to hit her goals.
The Decision: Learning From Someone Who’d Actually Built It
Sarah is a self-development and mindset junkie at heart (my kind of person!), so investing in herself wasn’t the hard part. She’d already worked with a business mentor outside the design space who helped her enormously. But she knew she needed something more specific: someone in the design world who truly got it and had already built the kind of studio she was dreaming of.
What tipped her over the edge into saying yes? Her own words say it best:
“I absolutely adore and admire how raw and real you are. Even before I ever spent a single dollar working with you, you provided so much transformational advice through your content that truly helped me. I knew that if I was getting THAT much value from you for free, then working with you in a true coaching capacity would change my life — and it has.”
She’d been in business for about two years and had built a solid foundation, but she’d hit that crossroads so many designers know: I know there’s more out there for me, I just don’t know what to do from here. That gap, between being a newer designer and building the studio of your dreams, is exactly what The Studio Co. was built to bridge, with the tools AND the support to actually get there.
Her hopes going in were simple and clear: better systems and processes, better mindset and habits, and a community of designers who just get it. Because not every day in entrepreneurship is sunshine and rainbows, and it’s everything to have people to lean on when it’s a rainier day.
What We Worked On Together
Through our work together, Sarah completely rebuilt her foundation from the ground up.
She revamped her entire offerings and project suite, raised her prices (more on that below, because the numbers are good) and for the first time, she started actually tracking her numbers, so she knew exactly what her processes were, how long things really took her, and what was genuinely profitable.
The biggest shift was she stopped doing things just to do them because other people were doing them. She got crystal clear on what works for her and her business, and started pouring her focus there instead of everywhere at once.
“I have such a better foundation now, and I actually know exactly what my processes are. I’m no longer just doing things because other people are. I know what works for me and my business, and I’m focusing on that.”
The Turning Point
One day Sarah was having a rough day in business, deep in that comparison spiral, circling the “should I just burn it all to the ground” thoughts we’ve all had. She voice-messaged me everything that was going on.
It wasn’t that I gave her some groundbreaking, never-heard-it-before piece of advice. Sometimes when you’re mid-spiral, you don’t need a revolutionary strategy. You just need someone else to talk you off the ledge and remind you it’s going to be okay. I shared some of my own experience with her, too, the messy parts, and that’s what helped most.
Here’s the reframe Sarah walked away with, and it’s one of my favorite things she said:
“Sometimes we think everyone else has it all figured out. But through being in your community and learning from other designers, I’ve really learned that we’re all just doing our best — we’re alllll living the same lives in different fonts. And there’s a difference between just thinking that and actually having the evidence that other designers are going through it too.”
That’s the magic of community. Not the platitude that “everyone struggles,” but the proof of it, right next to you.
The Results Speak for Themselves
Revenue:
- Before working together: around $2K per month, with a random $5K month as her all-time best
- After working together: THREE consecutive months over $10K
- New monthly baseline: at least $5K (her previous best month is now her floor)
Rates:
- Doubled, maybe even tripled, her rates
- Moved from slapping a random (unprofitable, inconsistent) number on a project to intentional, profitable pricing
- And the proof it’s working: she’s actually signing clients at these new rates
Systems & Time:
- Built out systems and processes that keep her from being scattered
- Automated so much of her business using the spreadsheets, templates, and tools provided
- Saved countless hours that used to disappear into doing everything manually
Confidence & Client Experience:
- Owns her unique design style in a way she never did before
- Now regularly hears from clients how seamless and easy she is to work with, a direct result of the systems she built
- Trades indecision and comparison for clarity and ease
Beyond the numbers, it’s the way she shows up that’s changed most. In her words:
“Confidence and ease are the first two things that come to mind. Confidence is still something I’m building, but I feel light years ahead of where I was. And I feel so much more at ease day to day. Of course there are still a million things to do, but I feel capable of doing them all, and I have the TSC community to lean on when I don’t know where to focus.”
Key Wins at a Glance
✔ Hit three consecutive $10K+ months (up from $2K months) ✔ Raised her baseline to $5K+ — her old best month is now her minimum ✔ Doubled to tripled her rates AND signed clients at them ✔ Completely revamped her offerings and project suite ✔ Built automated systems that save her hours every week ✔ Finally owns her unique design style with confidence ✔ Known by clients for a seamless, easy experience
“Time Will Pass Anyway”
I asked Sarah what she’d say to someone sitting exactly where she was, wondering if coaching is worth it. This is what she said, and I couldn’t have put it better myself:
“Most apprehension comes down to the investment and the time, because we all want a quick fix. But time will pass by anyway. In six months, you could have put in the work and be reaping the rewards — or be six months down the line in the exact same place. And the investment will come back tenfold.”
Ready to Build a Studio That Actually Works for You?
If you’re where Sarah was — talented but trying to be everything for everyone, stuck in the comparison spiral, pricing on vibes, and waiting for things to feel “perfect” before you make a move — her story is proof that it doesn’t have to stay that way.
You don’t need to figure it all out alone. You need the right systems, the right support, and someone who’s actually built the studio you’re dreaming of.
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