Jenny Pace, Author at Jenny Pace

The Big New Idea: design starts this week!

Ah, this Big New Idea continues to take up a lot of my brain space! I switch quickly between thinking big and long term to thinking small and detailed. Such is my way of working.

Here’s what I’ve been working on over the past week-and-a-bit:

Branding. After getting in touch with various designers and running into timing conflicts and fear of the unknown, I’ve come back to working with Evan at Sixteen July (who designed this site and who is awesome). She starts design work TODAY! I have, of course, created a Pinterest board of visual references. If you love that kind of thing and want to see how it will transform into a logo and brand style, check out the board here.
Schedule. I’m aiming to launch the website and the business at the beginning of July. Originally, I was thinking June, but I have other commitments (read: I’m going away for a week) that just made it unrealistic. Before the launch, I’ll be running a trial photoshoot with my team here in Cambridge so that we can practice working together, and hopefully get some awesome content to share on the website.
Pricing. I’ve been playing with the numbers to figure out what I’ll need to charge to make this work for me and my team, as well as keeping it affordable for the customer. I want tiny one-person businesses to be able to get high quality photography and copy, as well as making it accessible to bigger businesses who want to send us their entire range. I’m a big believer in getting feedback when you offer your product, so I’m only asking for feedback from a select number of clients before launch. (Rather than asking, “How much would you pay for this?”, it’s much more effective to actually put the product out there with a price tag and see how many people buy it. When people theorise about how much they’d spend on something, it isn’t always true to their behaviour.)
Team. Oh, the team. So much of the success of Big New Idea will rely on the team. I have a little mini team for our trial, which I’m really excited about, but I’m also continuing to build local connections in Cambridge, especially for photographers. (If that’s you, email me.) I’ve been thinking loads about how I can scale up the team quickly, and about the leap of faith I’ll need to make to do this. Flexibility is awesome, but I’m also going to need to offer and ask for commitment if demand is high.
Process. I’m fairly obsessed with process, and this is very much a work in progress. A real foundation for this business will be efficiency and professionalism, so I’m working on ways to get product lists, contact details, notes and shooting schedules set up to provide my team and clients with clarity. Picture big scribbly diagrams, post its, and spreadsheets as I work on this!
Trial shoot. I have a lovely bunch of clients who have offered up their products for the trial shoot, and they’ll be getting emails from me this week. I’ll be planning each shot with my team so that we’re building in quality from the start.

I’ve also been thinking about the balance of my Big New Idea with my existing business. Because mentoring clients one-on-one, running retreats, creating courses, and leading workshops is really what I want to be doing. I love it. That’s why I started my business. It’s so important to me!

But right now, I can’t do more than keep with my existing clients while I set up this business. It wouldn’t be fair (or possible) to take on new mentoring clients because I wouldn’t be able to give them my full attention. That’s a hard decision, for me. But I have some exciting plans for when the Big New Idea is off the ground to create Jenny Hyde Mentoring 2.0! So patience is the key…

This decision – to pause mentoring while I set up something new and complementary – is also tricky from a financial point of view. This month and next month won’t bring in the cash flow I usually expect and aim for, PLUS I’m spending money on a website and props and other investment stuff. “Hold your nerve” is my mantra right now. It ain’t easy.

So, that’s the update from me! If you have any questions or thoughts, I’d love to hear from you.

Jenny x

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The Big New Idea: the pendulum swing

Sooooo… It’s taken me a good two weeks to get to writing this update on my Big New Idea. Partly, there was a bank holiday and sunshine that distracted me for a bit. And partly I got totally overwhelmed by the response to my last post!

I wrote the post on a Friday afternoon, after meeting with a photographer who’s on board and excited to work on the project. It suddenly felt like there was momentum! So I woke up on Monday, read through the post and sent it out, merrily getting on with the next thing on my to do list.

I kind of forgot that I was revealing a massive piece of news, directly to the audience I hope will be my customers.

So there I am, trying to focus on getting some more stuff, you know, done, and I start getting emails, comments and direct messages from people who are excited to have a service that offers the full package of product content. Someone even asked if I could do all the “boring” bits of her business, so that she could just spend her time drawing and creating!

Let me be clear: this is totally awesome. Thank you to everyone who got in touch and felt excited! It means a lot to me and I really appreciate the support. It gave me a whole new level of momentum.

For about a day. Because this is what happened next: I did a 180 on the pendulum swing of “Is this going to work?” One day, I was worrying that starting the new content studio would take up too much of my time for not much reward. That I’d really have to drive business hard and spend a lot of time trying to fill a day a month of actual paying work. The next day, I had the opposite fear: the “oh $£!&” feeling that I might not even be able to keep up with demand – that this could take over. And do I want it to take over? What if it’s too successful?

Well. First of all, it’s kind of confusing and tiring to feel so many emotions in the space of 24 hours.

It’s also that thing that I often forget: being afraid of success. I’m going to step onto my soap box briefly here, because I want to share this with you.

In our culture, we’re primed to believe that success is always just around the corner, but never quite achievable. We’re programmed to stay small, because keeping us small means that millions of million-pound businesses can market to us based on fear. (“Buy this and it’ll make you lovable.” “If you were really successful, you’d buy this big TV.” “Don’t forget, you need to lose weight in order to be truly acceptable and successful.”)

Especially as women, we have generations of predecessors whose primary role was to support others, regardless of talent, ability and potential to lead fulfilling lives and careers. We’re still carrying those stories around, untangling them bit by bit.

And here’s what I’m trying to untangle: We’re allowed success on our own terms. Truly. But sometimes those old stories – the fear of success, of letting ourselves be seen and loved and really good at what we do – hold us back more than we realise.

Marianne Williamson puts it best:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are more powerful beyond measure. It is light, not our darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?”

Oh boy. Let’s sit with that one for a bit, shall we?

So, yes. I’ve been trying to go with the pendulum swing, trying to accept the positive response and really take in that this big new idea, this content studio is a good idea. This is something worth pursuing, and has the potential to change my life and my business. I don’t know how or in what direction. But part of starting something new is surrendering to the journey.

As ever, I hope that sharing my thoughts and experiences as I set up something new is helpful, whether you’re starting something from scratch or looking at a new project or phase of your business.

If you have thoughts, feedback or questions, I’d love to hear from you. If the past two weeks have taught me anything, it’s that hearing from people is helpful!

The Big New Idea: the cat's out of the bag…

So, after a couple of blog posts about my Big New Idea, I believe the time has come to let the cat out of the bag and tell you a bit more about what I’m actually doing.

Here’s the elevator pitch:

I’m starting a content studio to provide designer-makers with high quality product images, descriptions, tags/search terms and even product upload to various platforms. Content created for you, based on what I know works to sell products online.

I want to be able to say: “Send us your products, and we’ll make them look good, sound fabulous, and get them on the internet.”

It’s an extension of the product descriptions and product upload I’ve already been doing, but with photography thrown into the mix. And built with a talented team, so that we can offer consistent turnaround times as well as consistently excellent work.

This is the basis of the studio, but I hope to extend to offer other marketing content, like social media management, blog writing, newsletter templates and things like wholesale catalogues. The things that not everyone can fit into their schedule, but can boost business immensely.

The studio will benefit from my experience and expertise, and I’m already starting to work with copywriters and photographers to share my knowledge and establish the format that works. But, ultimately, the studio will be directed by me and run by a brilliant team. (Which means it’s a huge exercise in collaboration and delegation and trust, but more on that another time…)

I honestly cannot WAIT to get this going, and right now I’m planning a trial shoot with the initial team to get a feel for what it’s like for all of us to work together on this. Exciting times!

So right now I’m thinking about:

Getting products for the trial shoot (I’ll be asking existing clients if they want a free shoot, and I’ll need a variety of product types)
Props and backgrounds
Processes for future shoots
Using my new studio space for the shoot (read: needing to tidy up)
Getting the website underway so that I’ve got somewhere to put the test shots when they’re done
Pre-launch registration for anyone interested in the new studio
Branding

On that last point, I’ve contacted a few designers about working together, and after a few days, I’ve only had one response – and it was one of high enthusiasm. The branding of this new business is a place of conflict for me, and one that has taken up a lot of thinking time. I know a lot of designers and I love working with them, but for some reason I’m called to work with someone fresh and new. Not sure why, but I’m going with it!

It feels slightly terrifying to put this “out there” – I’m nervous! This is a big deal, and there are definitely moments of asking myself: “Are you sure?” No, I’m not sure, because certainty is a myth. But I have some pretty good information that tells me people are interested in this service. And I have a whole load of enthusiasm for it!

Keeping my fingers crossed while I press “publish”…

I kind of forgot that I was revealing a massive piece of news, directly to the audience I hope will be my customers.

Notes of Encouragement