Deborah Bailey, DBC Communications
DBC Communications of Piscataway, N.J., launched in 2008 and provides coaching, workshops, internet radio shows and books geared towards motivating and inspiring people who are in transition and looking to become entrepreneurs.
‘Ah ha’ moment that led to launching the business: When I was in the corporate world, I desperately wanted to make a change in my career, but I had no idea what to do. At that time I had a coach who invited me to join her coaching group for women business owners. That’s when I realized that I could do it, because I was inspired by the women I met in the group.
Ideal customer: A woman who is ready to have more freedom in her life. I’ve mostly worked with women (and a few men) who are at some sort of turning point. The important thing is that you have to be ready to make changes: no one else can tell you when that time is. It has to come from within.
First customer: I emailed friends and contacts and told them that I was taking on coaching clients. My first client was a former coworker. She recommended my services to her husband, and I worked with him briefly.
Measuring success: At first it was by how much money I was making. But what I found is that by doing that, I was ignoring all of the good stuff that was coming my way. Though a lot of my corporate coworkers talked about leaving and starting something of their own, most of them haven’t done that. Just making the decision and taking action to step out of my cubicle was a success in itself.
Biggest struggle: Letting go of my employee mindset. You really have no idea what it means to be in charge of your own life and work if you’ve spent years working for someone else. We’re not prepared to go out on our own; instead we’re trained to become employees. It takes a lot of courage to start trusting yourself and not always look outside for validation.
Surprise!: That I would love it as much as I do. Even with the challenges, I really enjoy being in charge of my own thing. I was led to believe that work was supposed to be hard, and you weren’t supposed to like it. You were just supposed to do it and one day you’d retire. But when you do your own thing you are fulfilling your calling – the thing that you’re supposed to be doing. It doesn’t feel like work even though it is. It feels really good to be able to follow your dream.
Promoting Business: Networking, getting quoted in articles and hosting my internet radio show have been very effective. Recently when I was quoted in an article on a job search site, my book, Think Like an Entrepreneur, sold more than 20 copies in one day. Meeting people online is great, but meeting them face-to-face has led to me getting clients through word of mouth.
What you wish you would have known: That I could trust my instincts, instead of looking to others for validation, and I wish I’d known enough to define my own criteria of success, instead of trying to follow what others were doing.
What keeps you up at night (business wise!)?: Ideas. I have so many ideas and tend to get distracted by the bright shiny objects. It can be tough to figure out which ideas can wait, and which ones I should implement.
Ever tempted to throw in the towel and just get a job?: I was at times in the beginning, but not now. If all you know is how to work for someone else, then being an employee can seem like a better deal. When things aren’t coming together or the money isn’t adding up, it can be easy to think about going back to a regular paycheck. But once I made the commitment to make this work, I stopped having those thoughts. I’ve changed some things about my business and had challenges, but I have no desire to return to being a full-time employee.
Biggest goal: To publish two to three more books and create online classes based on my book. I’ve already started outlining my next book and I’m researching how to start building an online community. What I’m doing is staying focused on taking consistent action everyday. It’s easy to get sidetracked, or to procrastinate because the goal is intimidating. After setting my goals, I worked backwards creating outlines and action steps.
Pricing: Start by determining how much you have to make to meet your expenses, then work from there. Look at what the prices of similar items are going for in the marketplace. I think women in general have a problem determining (and asking for) what they’re worth, so this can be a struggle. I just think that you have to be prepared to experiment and make changes when necessary. It would be great if there were hard and fast rules, but particularly for service-based businesses, I don’t think there are any.
Funding: I used savings, borrowed money from family and used credit cards, although it would’ve been more beneficial to have a better plan than that when I started. Research your options first. Don’t wait until after you begin – which is what I did. Educate yourself as much as possible. You may still run into issues with cash flow, but try to have as much knowledge up front as you can. Don’t be afraid to ask questions of people who you trust.
A few good tips: If you are starting a service-based business, become familiar with social media, blogging and networking. Don’t neglect the face-to-face communication. If you’re selling coaching, for instance, you really aren’t selling coaching: you’re selling the result of what happens when a client works with you. What is your “why?” What unique insights can you bring to the table? You can stand out by being yourself, as opposed to copying everyone else?
The absolute best part of owning my own business is: being in control of my own time and income.
If I had to start all over again, I would have: have a bit more information about pricing, and how to manage expenditures.
I never imagined: asking for help and not trying to be superwoman would be so difficult.
If standing on a rooftop facing crowds of aspiring or struggling small business owners, I would shout: “Don’t worry about being perfect. Just be open to learning from your mistakes and trust yourself.”
