How I accidentally started a successful woman-owned business (and a few tips if you want to do the same)

I never meant to start a business. It was born out of loss, surprise and a challenge.

Loss: I was an executive at a company. I loved my team. I had a great boss. I was 51 and thought I was in the job I’d retire from. But when the company changed ownership, my time at the company came to an end and I was left with a big question: What next?

Surprise: My first thought was to harken back to my pre-executive days and start freelance copywriting. I took on a few gigs. One project created a somewhat awkward moment when a president of an advertising agency, with whom I’d been in executive leadership programs, saw me sitting in a cubicle. She stopped in her tracks, circled back and asked: “What are you doing here?” “Writing,” was my reply with a sheepish grin. Before long, though, a client asked me to do the strategic messaging and all the creative for a global product launch, and I knew this was no longer a solo freelance gig. I needed a team.

Challenge: If I was going to start an agency, I was going to challenge the status quo. Here’s a sobering fact: While women make up 53% of all graphic designers, they only account for 11% of creative directors. The reason for this is multifaceted, but one thing I knew from personal experience as a working mother is that it’s really difficult to navigate family needs while climbing the creative ladder. My son recalls spending Saturdays or late evenings playing action figures in an ad agency conference room while I wrote copy for a rush website or holiday campaign.

But did it have to be this way? Could an advertising agency succeed outside the model that says you have to be willing to work 40, 50 or even 60 hours a week? Could there be a model that allowed people to better combine BOTH a career and a full life outside of work? I decided to conduct an experiment to find out that answer, and Shattles Communications was launched.

That brings me to my first tip for anyone thinking of starting their own business:

1. Understand your why

This is more than knowing what you want to sell or having a really good idea. Know in your gut the reason you’re starting a business. I had something to explore and hopefully prove: I wanted to create an opportunity for people to be rock stars in their creative careers and still have the energy to fully invest in their lives outside of the office. 

At Shattles, that means we define full-time employment as 30 hours a week, and we give teammates the ability to work a part-time schedule if that’s what’s right for them. One senior writer pops out of her office each day to do preschool pick-up and drop-off. Our operations manager is a musician and often heads to his sound studio during a midday break. A designer babysits for a nephew one day a week. Seeing this interweaving of parts of life and the joy that comes from the freedom to do that is my why. 

But having a passion isn’t the same as having a successful business. While your passion may be what keeps you going when times get difficult and scary—part of every small business journey—it’s not what drives sales year over year. That’s why you need to…

2. Be clear about your customers’ why 

You know what you have to offer, but make sure you know what your customers want to buy. Why will they choose your company? I have sat on both sides of the creative desk. I have worked at advertising agencies serving corporate clients, and I have been a corporate executive hiring agencies. I know the pain points for corporate clients because I have felt them—overly lengthy ramp-up periods, cliché creative, missed deadlines and that sinking feeling when you realize the A team you met at the first meeting has been replaced by the B or C team once the contract was signed. We used this knowledge to build our team and business practices—ensuring that we provide value to our customers.

So, you’ve got passion and you’ve got a product that people want. It can’t go wrong—can it? Yes, it can and often does for one single reason—lack of process. 

3. Develop and follow solid business processes

I know this sounds like “eat your vegetables,” and it is. But it can also be your competitive advantage. Your customers expect you to deliver a quality product on time within budget—over and over again. You can’t do that if you’re searching for missing files, have deadlines that overlap and crash, don’t have the bandwidth to deal with project changes, have quality issues and more. 

We had a wake-up call early on—before we had a centralized file-sharing platform—when a client needed a rush change on a project, but the files were on a designer’s computer and the designer was on vacation. But we learned from that experience and made changes. One of our customers recently told us, “Working with the Shattles team is like pushing the easy button.” Because our team works together like a well-oiled machine, we can channel our energy into thought-provoking creative work and into making life easier for our customers.

While I never meant to start a business, I’m glad I did. I wouldn’t trade these past eight years for any other job. What started as an experiment has turned into a business that provides employment for talented creative women and men, who have the chance to work flexible schedules matching their lives, and that delivers business-impacting creative work for clients. Everyone wins.