We recently connected with Klara Cu and have shared our conversation below.

Klara, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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.

If I could start over in my journey as a full-time entrepreneur, I’d focus more time nailing down WHO exactly I wanted to serve and which specific services catered to that person’s journey.

My services felt scattered at first because I didn’t know exactly the Ideal Client I was trying to attract.

Was it beginner business owners working by themselves?
Advanced entrepreneurs trying to build a team?
Aspiring entrepreneurs who hadn’t even left their employee jobs?

Without that clarity, my services weren’t cohesive and I couldn’t speak specifically to the pain points my Ideal Client had – because I was trying to speak to several people at once!

I did a lot of deep dive research in Facebook Groups and took a copywriting course where I really nailed down two types of entrepreneurs I loved working with, one at the beginning stage and one at the advanced stage of building an online business.

It became so much easier to write emails, social media captions, website, etc. And I knew exactly which services to pitch to the right person.

It definitely would’ve saved a lot of time and frustration to have this clarity sooner, so I highly recommend doing this upfront. The more specific you are about who you serve, the better!

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’m the CEO and co-founder of Conquer the Digital Empire, a creative agency for service-based entrepreneurs.

I serve two types of clients at different stages of the entrepreneurial journey:

#1) I help unhappy, unfulfilled employees in their mid-20s-early 30s accelerate the transition to leave their jobs to finally become full-time travelpreneurs who own an online business.

They’ll know how to confidently transition into entrepreneurship with THE ESCAPE PLAN, my group coaching program that walks them through how to transition from Employee to Entrepreneur.

#2) I help bold, innovative, mission-driven entrepreneurs in the mature stages of business who want to expand their income and impact with their own signature online course or coaching program; but are struggling to figure out how to teach what they know online instead of in-person; frustrated because they know they’re leaving money on the table because people have been asking them for their expertise; and overwhelmed at how much work it would be to create this signature program on top of all the work they’re already doing in their business.

Through my VIP Days, 1:1 strategy coaching, and done-for-you creative services, they’ll have the steps and tools to launch a signature digital program to their audience that positions them as a trusted educator in their niche and that grows the income of their digital empire.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I remember the moment when I made the decision to leave my corporate job.

It was the end of my 12-day honeymoon in Japan. I absolutely loved the country and wanted to stay longer, but my husband and I had no more vacation days. We’d even purposely visited over Christmas and New Years so we could stack the holidays with our vacation days in order to stay longer.

But time was up. We had to go back.

I thought, “This sucks only getting a 2-3 weeks off each year.”

But that comes with the territory of being an employee.

I had been freelancing for 6 years at that point and had occasionally dreamt of leaving, but not too seriously. But this time was different – I’d gotten a taste of international travel and I wanted more.

So that’s when my husband Jon and I hatched our Escape Plan – how we would leave our jobs (we worked at the same company) to run our own business.

Here’s the thing – “on paper” there was a lot of reasons to stay. I had an amazing manager and team, I was paid well as a UX Designer, and the bonus was NOICE. I was very comfortable.

But even with all that, I felt restless at work. There was a growing desire to have more control over my time and the work I got to do. And always that whisper of, “You could be seeing more of the world.”

So with our Escape Plan we picked April 2020 as our Departure Date.

Why?

We had calculated that by that point we would have saved enough money to travel and support ourselves for at least 6 months, found a renter for our townhome, and streamlined our business setup.

And plus, the Summer Olympics were in Tokyo in July 2020 and we wanted to be there for that. (We even bought tickets to some of the events.)

We were able to follow our plan so well that even when the Covid Pandemic shut down the world, and even though our company then allowed everyone to work remotely, it didn’t deter us at all from leaving.

We stuck to our plan. We left. And I’ve never regretted it.

Even though things didn’t go as expected in those first couple years, nothing trumps that feeling of failing and succeeding on my own terms. And since leaving, that dream of seeing the world has come true. We’ve been able to visit 15 states and 6 countries.

It’s been an incredible journey so far.

How’d you meet your business partner?

My husband Jon is my business partner, co-founder, and creative soulmate. I’ve known him for 15 years.

We met in college since we were both members of the University of Florida Filipino Student Association. I was actually assigned as his mentor because we both loved photography! We would do photoshoots together for fun and that was the beginning of our creative collaborations.

After college, we continued to do freelance gigs together. I would take the lead on photoshoots and he’d be my assistant. I’d be his assistant when he took lead on video shoots (film is his passion). We always joked we should start a business together.

After we got married, we both worked in Technology at the same company for 3 years on different teams. Then we took the leap into entrepreneurship together as we both left our jobs in April 2020. In 2021, we officially co-founded Conquer the Digital Empire – making our previous college dream a reality =)

Jon and I tag team really well with our roles in the company. I focus on the marketing, launch and design strategy, while Jon oversees video production, tech setup, and content repurposing.

My favorite part of our business is that it supports our lifestyle as digital nomads. We’ve been able to travel and explore new places while still being able to meet and support our clients from all over the world.

While it’s not always easy being married to your business partner, I can 100% say that this journey wouldn’t be nearly as fulfilling without him. Running a business can often be lonely, so it’s a blessing being able to share the ups and downs and grow together on so many levels.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.conquerthedigitalempire.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conquerthedigitalempire/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conquerthedigitalempire

Image Credits
Klara Cu Jonathan DelRosario