Olivia Herrick: Choosing to Keep Your Small Business Small

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Life as a small business owner is anything but predictable. Clients come and go, markets shift, and plans change. Olivia Herrick has learned to embrace the uncertainty. 

Olivia is a graphic designer and owner of Olivia Herrick Design, specializing in logo, golf, print, and packaging design. In this interview, she shares how staying open to change allowed her to grow in unexpected ways and how she’s made peace with the unpredictability of life as an entrepreneur.

Press play for the full interview or keep reading below!

From Full-Time to Freelance

“I knew pretty early on that I wanted to be a designer,” Olivia says. Both her parents had creative jobs and from the time she was 13 years old, she wanted to be a designer like her mother.

After graduating college in 2010, she worked her way up to become the Marketing and Communications Manager at an apparel brand. Freelancing was never part of the plan. But as time went on, Olivia longed for more control over her schedule. 

She let go of her full-time position and convinced her employer to hire her as a freelancer instead. “Once I figured out I could do it, I was hyped. I was ready to go and felt the entrepreneurial spirit bubble up.”

The Power of Retainers

After securing a year-long retainer with her former employer, Olivia found a second client to cover the remainder of her previous salary. For the next two years, she worked with those two clients, plus one smaller retainer. 

The simplicity of the retainer system fueled Olivia’s business and brought her peace of mind. It wasn’t until one of those clients hired an in-house designer that she began to think seriously about marketing herself.

Marketing Off Instagram

“People don’t believe me when I tell them this, but I don’t get clients from Instagram.” Instead, Olivia relies on word-of-mouth and provides a great experience that keeps clients coming back. 

“I realized Instagram wasn’t the best use of my time. If I want to work with someone, I need to reach out and tell them.” 

Curious about how to grow your business without social media? Check out my interview on Work and Play with Nancy Ray!

Staying Open to Change

With every year that passed, Olivia gained confidence in herself and Olivia Herrick Design – even though her vision for the business has changed along the way.

“The best things that have ever happened to me have been well outside the realm of what I imagined. So I try to keep my heart open to new and different things.”

One of those changes was actually to close her business. When one of her clients asked her to become their full-time Creative Director, it was an opportunity she couldn’t turn down. 

“It’s not a failure to close your business,” Olivia says. Although she eventually felt pulled to return to her design and illustration work, she enjoyed the year she spent full-time at that company.

Finding the Right Business Model for Your Lifestyle

Like any entrepreneur, Olivia has faced a lot of pressure to scale her business. Over the years, she’s tried a variety of offers and business models but she found that running an agency wasn’t for her. 

So Olivia sat down to figure out what she wanted her life to look like and how much money she needed to make to support that life – in The Blueprint Model, we call this defining your enough number.

Once Olivia knew what she needed, she was able to reverse engineer a business that worked for her lifestyle. 

Was the Juice Worth the Squeeze?

Part of Olivia’s self-reflection process involves looking at how much money the business makes each year, then asking herself one simple question: was it worth it?

“When I got out of college and got my first salary, I made $50,000 and I thought that was the most I’d ever make as a graphic designer.” As an entrepreneur, Olivia knows there’s no cap on her earning potential – but earning more comes at a cost. 

“I ask myself if what I’m doing day-to-day in my business is worth the output. Is the juice worth the squeeze? I think money is amazing. Money gives people options. But pursuing family, friendships, and hobbies outside of work…that’s what adds up to a lovely life.” 

Running a Lean Team

Olivia made an intentional decision to keep her studio small. She only offers three services and keeps her expenses as low as possible. “I’m doing the most with the least, and it’s so freeing. I love it.”

Especially as a mom, she doesn’t want a large team. “Managing other people is difficult. I take care of so many people in my day-to-day life right now that I don’t have the bandwidth to take care of employees.”

Although, now that she’s done having children, she’s open to that decision changing. “It’s a new chapter and I feel like I’m waking up to myself again. I have no clue what my business will look like six months from now…I try to stay open.”

You Have Enough Time

When Olivia was in college and agonizing about whether to make a career change, one of her professors said to her, “You’re going to have enough time to do everything you want to in your life.”  

That advice has stuck with her through the years – it’s what’s allowed her to stay open to change and the unpredictability of entrepreneurship.

If Olivia could tell her younger self one thing, it would be: “Release the idea that every decision you make has to be the perfect decision – your life will evolve and so will what you want. Keep your heart open. Life would have been much easier if I had done that sooner.”

More from this Episode

To hear the full story and more about Olivia Herrick, press play on the player above for the full interview or click here to download the transcript.

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

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Olivia Herrick

Olivia Herrick is a Minnesota-based designer and educator who is best known for her vibrant and energetic design work.

CONNECT WITH OLIVIA:

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