We recently connected with Calliope Scherrer and have shared our conversation below.

Calliope, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

Four months ago, I closed my profitable spiritual business and started over to build a branding agency. This is my third business in 12 years and I created it using my favorite elements from the previous two businesses (a film production company and spiritual consulting sole proprietorship).

Since this is my third business, I was able to take all of the previous knowledge and use it to accelerate the progress of this brand agency. I’ll share with you today what I did differently in order to book out my calendar in three months from launch.
1) Do the pre-work. Spend time mapping out your offers, pricing, client journey, brand identity, messaging, positioning, and marketing strategy.

2) Beta test your signature offer. Get a minimum of three clients and offer the service to them for free or discounted price. The hands-on experience will take your conceptual idea into reality so you can see how to refine it. Examples of areas you may tweak are pricing, duration, deliverables, and language used to pitch the service/product. You’ll also gain testimonials doing this which is crucial for selling later.

3) Prepare your brand identity materials: logo, colors, fonts, visual
assets, marketing materials, social media content, etc.

4) Launch it!

By working on the foundation and testing your offer before launch, you will set yourself for success quicker than if you try to do it all after announcing your business to the world.

When doing the pre-work, you will likely create a large vision. Take one piece of your vision, like the main offer, and launch with that. It’s better to start small and allow your business to grow and evolve than hold off your launch because you’re trying to get every single thing perfected first.

For example, my brand agency is currently just operated by me. I have a main service that allows me to start selling, working, and building profit immediately. In three more months, I will be able to start the process of hiring team members and grow the service offerings from there. If I hired help before landing a full roster of clients first, I would be investing a lot of my own money into a team with the risk of no clients. So ask yourself, what is the MAIN thing you can launch with now that will funnel into that larger business vision you have? How can you generate a profit first by testing the market and building clientele before investing in all the bells and whistles?

The one person worth investing in prior to launch would be a branding specialist, as they can help guide you with the foundational pre-work and create those branded marketing materials necessary to launch. If you can’t hire help: research these foundational elements and play around on Canva.com!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am Calliope, The owner of Muse Branding Studio. I build iconic brands for highflier women, entrepreneurs, and business owners. I work with my clients from the root to the fruit of their vision through consulting, branding, strategizing, and designing.

My goal is to create a foundation that allows a business to dominate their industry and attract dream clientele to premium services. I offer full suite branding, graphic design, content creation, website development, social media management and more.

I got into this line of work for three main reasons:

The first was that upon reflection, I realized my main strengths in the film business and spiritual business was my ability to create a stand out brand. A stand out brand is one where clients stay loyal even when prices increase (one time as much as 200%), stick with you for years, purchase every offer, refer you to friends & family, shout you out on social media, and choose you over competitors.

The second was the accumulated experience of working with hundreds of startups and small businesses. I started to really see and understand what was most fundamental for a business to thrive.

Lastly, I was hungry to be creative again in a larger capacity. I was bored sitting on Zoom calls focused solely on consulting. I was ready to go even deeper, to take the work beyond the call and expand it into deeper levels of support with graphic design, content creation, and the visual development of their brand. Soon, I will be adding back film production work and product photography as this brand agency expands.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In 2019, I went through a hard breakup…. 2502 miles from home. Without getting into the messy details, I had zero dollars in my checking and savings account. What I did have was a strong brand and network.

I reached out to my client list to pre-sell an offer that was promised to be fulfilled in two months from purchase date. Thanks to the strong reputation built, I raised enough money through selling this delayed
service to purchase a plane ticket back to my home state. Some clients even donated money without explanation of the emergency, they could just sense it.

I then contacted a local entrepreneur women’s group I was a member of and explained my situation. Women started to show up at my door within hours to help me. I sold them the belongings I could part with to
raise even more money and set up a trade to get a ride to the airport two hours away.

Three days later I boarded a plane, leaving behind my car, furniture, and belongings. All I had was my laptop, a tarot deck, and a carry on full of clothes.

Upon arrival, I secured a small room in a house by paying six months of rent upfront. The room had a mattress for me to use, and I found a cardboard box to use as my makeshift desk. Of course, taxes were due
that month and I used the remainder of my money to pay off that year’s business taxes.

I was able to build myself back up financially and emotionally. Two years after that rock bottom break up experience: my business was constantly booked out three months in advance and my bank account was
larger than any point of my life.

I think back on this moment and I don’t recall the pain of the relationship that went south. What I recall is the absolute awe I experienced with my business.

It showed me what it means to have a true brand. It showed me the results of what happens when your network and reputation is so strong that people are ready to support you, pre-buy, and go above and beyond
when you’re in a challenging time.

It also showed me my own resilience, that I can go from living in a huge house with a home office to living in a small bedroom using a cardboard box as a desk and STILL succeed and STILL deliver a high quality experience to my clients.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

The best way to build a strong reputation is to focus your efforts on client experience and satisfaction. At the end of the day, the only thing that makes your business a success is if there are clients. If
they are not happy or don’t feel like the priority: your business will crash and burn eventually. Put the client at the center of your focus and all else will function from there.

I do this by providing customized experiences and offers to each and every client. I have systems and processes, but I make them fit the individual client rather than make them fit into my structure.

I also spend a lot of time crafting the client journey, so they have a positive experience from the moment they encounter my work to the day we are years into our relationship together celebrating their recent win.

Contact Info:

• Website: musebrandingstudio.com
• Instagram: @muse.brandingstudio

Image Credits
Graphics & Brand Kit: Calliope Scherrer Photography: @Blaxzalexander www.eyeofblaxz.com/