Today we’d like to introduce you to Bitsy McCann.

Hi Bitsy, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started my business almost by accident. Eleven years ago, I thought I was set for the long-term. A financial firm had head hunted me away from my previous job to be in charge of all their design, marketing, and client events. I was making almost double the salary and way better benefits than I’d ever received in my entire career. Within four months of my hiring, they terminated my employment.

I was absolutely shocked. I’ve always been an extremely hard worker, so I couldn’t believe that I was let go.

I packed up my office that day and went home a very devastated human. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I had no idea where I was going to go from there.

After several months of job searching, and quite frankly, several months of feeling very sorry for myself, my husband said to me, “Why don’t you start your own business? You work hard, you love to do design, and people genuinely like you.”

I didn’t have to think about it too long. Even though I still applied for jobs for several more months, that was the beginning of my business.

I wasn’t instantly successful overnight. It took me about three years to be making a livable wage. It took me four years to get to a point where I was making enough to support myself and my family. Five years after starting my business, I had my first child. And because of my business, my husband is a stay-at-home caregiver to our daughter.

It is now 10 years since I went out my own, and I have created a company that not only does logos, branding, and graphic design, but also specializes in web design, content writing, and search engine optimization.

I think there are a lot of reasons why I’ve gotten to where I am today. I don’t think it was one specific thing either, so the following list isn’t necessarily all encompassing.

1. Be a nice person. I messed up a lot when I started my business (and I mean A LOT), and I still mess up from time to time. I am a human after all. But I think the reason that people continue to utilize me is because I am nice. That’s not to say that I don’t stand up for myself when it is necessary, but 99% of the time, I’m just a genuinely nice person. Being nice is inherently a part of my personality, so I’m incredibly fortunate for that. Because let’s face it – people like to work with people that are nice.

2. Do good work. You don’t have to be the best at what you do to be successful. I strive to be the best, but I know that there are always people out there that are going to be better than me. That being said, I do good work on every single project I undertake. I don’t cut corners. I don’t sub it out to somebody else. People are hiring me for my creative work, so it’s wildly important to not only me, but for my personal brand and reputation as well, that I do good work. The moment I deliver something sub par is the moment that people start talking about how I don’t deliver quality.

3. Form connections, not competition. I have the unshakable belief that there is no one out there that does exactly what I do. Which also means that for all of my “competition” out there, I cannot do exactly what they do. When you look at the world with that belief, people in your field are no longer your competitors. They are your colleagues. I know dozens of designers across all types of media, and as long as they are nice and do good work, I have incredible respect for them. We refer back-and-forth to one another, but more importantly than that, we are able to share ideas, help each other with strategy, and complain through difficult work issues. Having these connections has been both positive for not only my business, but my personal life and mental health as well.

4. Get involved in your local community. I am in a few professional groups in my local area. We meet in person, we meet on zoom, and we go out and do social events together. We might be good referral partners, or we might not. But being able to be around other successful people brings an incredible amount of insight and knowledge back to my business. Talking shop about the way they do things, how they manage work/life balance, how they integrate with the local business community – these things you can’t read online. Your specific community is different than every other community out there. Get hyper local. It’s what I did, and it is one of the biggest contributions to my success.

I know there’s so much more that I could share, but I would say of all of the things above helped me grow my business to where I am today. I believe that these four pillars, above all else, will help shape the future for Bitsy Plus Design.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road to success is never smooth. I think a lot of my struggles along the way were self-created. Essentially meaning that I didn’t charge enough, I didn’t trust myself enough, and I didn’t follow paths that had already been laid by the people that came before me in my field.

I am one of those people that needs to learn the lesson myself in order for it to be impactful. I have stumbled a lot in my entrepreneurial journey, but every time I have fallen, I get up and keep moving forward. I know that’s what everyone says, but it’s the truth. If you stumble and stop, you’ll never reach success.

My biggest roadblock in my business was always my inability to keep up with communication. I would get lost in my emails and phone calls and neglect work just as I would hyperfocus on work for days without ever checking my email.

Several years ago, I was really struggling with how much work I had and my inadequacy to properly manage it all. At the same exact time, my sister was looking for a job in the virtual assistant space.

I told her that I was drowning, and I asked her if she might be interested in doing virtual admin work for me. We figured we’d try it for a month and see where we were at. We checked in, and we were both all in on the partnership. She’s been with me for almost three years, and I don’t even know how I functioned before her.

Bringing her onboard was literally the best business decision I’ve ever made. She runs my communication and project manages me so that I am able to focus on doing what I love – connecting with people and building brands.

Most of the other struggles in my business are human related. I’ve worked with some people who were absolutely not a good fit. While I won’t deep dive here, I will say that mismanaged expectations are a detriment to productive relationships. If a client has an expectation they didn’t communicate or if the business owner has not explained the process clearly, it’s going to be a problem every single time. Same goes for your personal life, too.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Bitsy Plus Design?
I own a by-referral-only branding, graphic design, and website development business. As someone in the creative field, my design style is not going to look exactly the same as anyone else’s. It’s so freeing to be an artist because we are all wildly unique.

Besides only working with people who are referred to me, there are two other things that set me apart from other designers.

The first one is that I do not offer flat rate pricing. Every single one of my clients pay me at an hourly fee, and I have a timeclock that counts down to the nanosecond. There is no “15 minute increment.” If it takes me 25 hours to build your website, you pay 25 hours. If it takes me three hours to create your logo, you pay me three hours. Most of my colleagues only do flat rates, and they think I’m ludicrous that I offer hourly pricing. But as I like to say, “High maintenance clients pay a high maintenance price. Low maintenance clients pay a low maintenance price.”

The other unique thing about me is that I write all of the content for my clients. My brain actually cannot function best when I’m designing a website if I am given the content. I can do it, sure, but I work better when I can write the voice of the brand while designing the layout/elements at the same time. It makes the brand go together more effectively since it truly is an all-encompassing experience. None of my colleagues write content. They just do the design part. So whenever I’m working with a client who had previous designers, they are always shocked when they hear that I do it all.

Any big plans?
Besides continuing to be a good human, I’m proud to say that I really don’t have any future plans. I like to take every single day as it comes and just be wildly grateful that I’m living life.

It’s not necessarily a future plan, but I do hope that my business remains steady. Every year, my business has shown remarkable growth, but I’m at the point where it can keep growing or it can be consistent. I make enough money to support my family, travel regularly, and pay the dentist. I live below my means in a gorgeous two bedroom mid-century home, and I don’t overspend on wants (except for maybe my earring collection).

If I did have to have a future plan, it would be to see who my daughter becomes. Watching her grow has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. She’s only five, so I have a long way to go until she finds out who she was made to be.

Pricing:

• Logos $200-$400
• Websites $2,500-$5,000+ (includes photo sourcing, content writing, design, layout, SEO)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bitsyplusdesign.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bitsymccann/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BitsyPlusDesign/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bitsymccann/