In the first year of business, the most important thing is getting clients. That’s it.
Yes, things like having good branding, a website, and marketing collateral are all useful, but they aren’t a priority.
In my first year as a full-time freelancer, I traded as Lisa Slater Copywriting using a website I’d built myself using Weebly (not sure if that even exists anymore) and no logo.
I used an old headshot and some stock images. I made my invoices in Microsoft Excel.
None of that stuff mattered. What mattered was getting clients. And I did.
Once I started getting clients, I figured out what kind of work I wanted to do, what type of clients I enjoyed working with and how to package my services.
After that first year, I rebranded as Make Your Copy Count. I transitioned from sole trader to limited company, and I invested in a new website. I got a nice logo and graphics, started working with an accountant and began using accounting software (Xero).
My business evolved gradually.
You don’t have to wait until everything is perfect before launching a new business, product or service.
If you wait until everything is perfect, you’ll be waiting forever.
When I launched my free email series, I hadn’t finished writing the emails before I started getting subscribers.
I’ve launched courses and sold places on them before the content has been finalised.
Don’t overthink things – if you want to launch a new product or service, you don’t have to have the details completely nailed down or have perfectly polished promotional material.
Start promoting it – see whether there is any interest. If there isn’t, you haven’t wasted time or money. If there is, then you can finalise the details.