We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nicole Lytwyn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nicole below.

Hi Nicole, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Financially, the first couple years were rough. But the first year was really rough. Let’s rewind to that uncomfortable beginning.

Back then, I was a couple years out of undergrad, managing a private company’s marketing department where I was practicing my management, social media, graphic design and website development skills daily. It was at this 9-5 job, very early on in my career journey, when I learned that the corporate lifestyle was just going to be a chapter of my story, not the whole book. I stalked every local creative agency online and applied to every opportunity that seemed to fit my personality and skillset. I dreamt about this seemingly unrealistic, autonomous and creative work environment for about two years. Then one morning I woke up and said “I’m tired of waiting for one of these companies to give me a shot. I’m going to make this happen myself.”

Through my industry experience, I learned that my passion in the marketing world was not so much in analytics and management, it was designing websites. So I didn’t waste any time. I met up with a couple local entrepreneurs who ran their own web development businesses and soaked up as much advice they could give me on starting your own gig. Shortly after those meetings, I decided to start my own LLC, The Mug Creative, as a side hustle. I woke up every morning, went to my 9-5, then came home and worked on websites that I could use in my portfolio.

Getting clients in the beginning was tough. I did a couple projects for free and was WAY undercharging for my services. But around year 2 of this side hustle, I worked my way up to true novice prices. I ran The Mug Creative as a side hustle for about 3 years before I felt I was ready to take that big leap into the unknown and work for myself full time.

By January of 2019, I had money saved, made a lot of business connections and was bringing in a few referrals a month for websites so I decided to say “the heck with it” and take that leap.

Now it’s 2023 and I can say that I’ve successfully made it past those scary first three years in business without taking out any loans or going bankrupt (hey, a win is a win) so I feel like a lucky one. I’m now running a six figure business and still figuring things out along the way.

The last 4 years have been a rollercoaster of a business journey, financially and emotionally. In those first couple years of being completely on my own, I strayed from my “why”, got caught up in what everyone else was doing, and even lost my passion for awhile. I stopped building websites altogether and moved my focus to Facebook ads, the direction I thought the market was going (funnel building). I bought a $10,000 Facebook advertising course and submerged myself in analytics, and social media. This totally killed my spirits for about a year and made me feel completely lost and hopeless with my business.

The 2o2o Coronavirus pandemic is what it took to put things back into perspective for me. I stopped looking at what other’s in my industry were doing and started focusing on what I loved most – designing beautiful brands and websites for small business owners. Ever since then, I ditched the advertising services and my business has bloomed.

Looking back now, the biggest setback I had in my business was losing touch of my “why”- the purpose and passion behind my business. I started putting my focus on money and how to earn more of it instead of just providing the beautiful creative services my business was built on. Once I discovered this, everything changed for me.

Nicole, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

(I answered some of this in my last response)

We turn small businesses into memorable brands through design.

I am a freelancer turned design studio owner who helps small businesses stand out in saturated markets through strategic and memorable design.

At The Mug, we work with creatives, entrepreneurs, and small business owners who want their branding done right. From logo suites and collateral to websites and social media posts, we have all the design services you need to take your business from DIY to absolutely killing it.

Our clients love working with us because from the moment we first chat, they can tell we are invested. We treat each project as if it were for our own business. We know the struggle with overwhelm is real for entrepreneurs. That’s why our solutions are designed specifically for the non-tech savvy small business owner. From the start of the process to the very end product, our goal is to make our clients feel completely supported… and on-brand of course. ;)

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

My relationships. Building meaningful connections with my clients and fellow entrepnrenuers in my community through network marketing has been huge for my business. Although I know it’s frowned upon to rely on referrals for business, we often book out on referral business alone. I truly think that our dedication to helping others and creating genuine relationships with other business owners and people in our communities is what has got us to where we are today.

Social media has also been a key component to our success. About 90% of our clients are referred to us by someone they know. About 50% of those people then go straight to our Facebook or Instagram accounts before they reach out to us. I really value social media as a lead source that helps us “seal the deal.” I highly recommend Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for others in my community.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

If you do good work, you’ll build a good reputation. It’s really that simple. No one cares how busy you are, how many accolades you have, or how much money you make (or charge), they only care about 1) if it’s good quality and 2) how quick & easy they can get it.

I really think it all comes down to providing high quality products and experiences to people. Instead of focusing on how much money you will make or how much time a project will take you, just focus on doing a damn good job. Your reputation will follow.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://themugcreative.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themugcreative/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themugcreative
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-mug-creative-agency/

Image Credits
N/a