What Are They Up To? Update from an Early Ownr Customer – Jasmine Williams Media
In celebration of Ownr’s 2nd birthday, we touched base with some of our earlier customers to see how they were doing as seasoned entrepreneurs. The ‘go-getter’ Jasmine Williams caught our eye and we thought that you could relay or learn from her experience.
Jasmine registered her business, Jasmine Williams Media, with Ownr in June 2018. Since then, she’s surprised herself by the amount she was able to grow her business by simply stepping outside of her comfort zone.
Business Growth
Jasmine’s business has grown quite quickly over the past year. Her income now has surpassed the salary level of her old job (yay!). Most exceptionally, she now has enough work to hire other freelancers and even a virtual assistant.
Exciting Things to Come
While growing her freelance business, Jasmine also plans to create online courses in the new year to help other freelancers. It would also generate another revenue stream for her. Why not!
Personal Growth
The entrepreneurial journey hasn’t been easy, but it comes with tremendous growth:
- Managing a business: Even though Jasmine has always been confident in her work, she didn’t know a thing about managing a business, specifically the sales process. Nevertheless, she didn’t back down from the challenge. Instead, she worked with a personal sales coach and got the whole process buttoned up. Now Jasmine is an expert at developing a pitch, knowing when/how to follow up, and understanding how to price her services properly. Although she started as a resourceful worker, she has grown into an amazing business woman!
- Getting out of the comfort zone: As an introvert, Jasmine never thought she’d be giving speeches regularly. Yet, she surprised herself by leading several speaking engagements to date. Every opportunity she had helped develop her public speaking skills as well as adding to her credibility in her field.
- Finding a Community: When Jasmine was first starting her business, she was working out of her home, which in time quickly began to feel lonely and a bit isolated from the rest of the world. So, she came up with a solution and tried to work out of a co-working space in Toronto. This small change made the world of a difference. She was able to meet like-minded entrepreneurs, expand her network and constantly got quick tips from her peers. She had finally found her community.
Ownr Community is coming! Follow us on social media for updates here.
Ever-changing challenges
When we chatted with Jasmine originally, time management was a big challenge that she was facing. Between then and now, she’s overcome this barrier but now she faces all-new challenges (which are probably shared by many other entrepreneurs in her same position):
- Increasing operational efficiency. Recurring admin tasks, such as contracts and billing, could take up a lot of time. She uses a variety of different tools for freelancers to manage those, but she’s still working on improving it.
- Project volume: The freelance workload isn’t consistent or predictable, which makes it challenging for Jasmine to hire assistance timely. Sometimes, when she realizes she needs an extra hand, it’s too late. She hasn’t cracked that nut yet.
The advice for new/future entrepreneurs
We asked Jasmine what she wishes she was given when she first dove into the entrepreneurial world. Her answer:
“Keep going and give it one more month. There were times when I felt like giving up but the next month all the sales poured in. There will be many ups and downs in the entrepreneurial journey, and when you feel like giving up, just give it one more month. In the meantime, think about why you feel that way – maybe it’s an aspect of your business that you can change!”
If you want to get in touch with Jasmine, you can find her here:
Website: www.jasminewilliams.ca
Instagram: @jasminewilliamsmedia
Facebook: JasmineWilliamsMedia
