Featured Solopreneur Revka Stearns: “Don’t Wait For Perfection”

This is “Featured Solopreneur,” an ongoing series that gives all of us a glimpse at how other solopreneurs operate their small businesses. Click Here to read more Solopreneur Success Stories.

Name of solopreneur:
Revka Stearns

Name of business and city:
Solopreneur Web Design, and Berries and Cream Blog Design; Vanceboro, North Carolina

Web site address:
solopreneurwebdesign.com and berriesandcreamblogdesign.com

Type of business:
Web design, specializing in creating and customizing WordPress Web sites

When did you officially go into business?
Solopreneur Web Design was officially launched on September 21, 2010. However, I first started in Web design in 2007.

Why did you start your own business?
Working from home allows me to contribute financially while having more time with my family. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve wanted to be a work-at-home mom. I took piano lessons, and my teacher taught from home, earning money by giving piano lessons. I decided I would do the same. I went to college as a music education major and taught piano for 15 years.

However, I started getting tired of teaching piano in 2006. It’s no fun teaching kids who don’t have any real interest in learning the instrument. Correcting the same mistakes and assigning the same songs week after week gets old.

In 2007, I figured out how to put text on an image, realized that was how to create a header for a blog, gave away 25 free headers to see if my skills were marketable, and my blog design business was born.

What was the best thing you did when you were starting up your business?
The best thing I did when I started Solopreneur Web Design was to have a coach to help me clarify my thoughts, solidify my decisions, and keep me on track as the launch deadline approached. Without my coach—Karen Batchelor of Color Me Social —Solopreneur Web Design would not yet be launched.

What is a mistake that you made that you have learned from?
I have made too many mistakes to count and have learned from many of them. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned has been to filter potential clients, not taking every project that comes my way. The stress and headaches involved in working with clients and on projects that aren’t a good fit for me are not worth any amount of money I might make. Your blog post is excellent in regard to this common mistake.

What is your biggest current challenge in the business and what are doing to try to solve it?
Right now, my biggest challenge is getting my new business established so that referrals and traffic from search engines bring in work on a consistent basis. I plan to start blogging within the next week, will make more contacts and build relationships by interacting with others at forums and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and will purchase advertising as needed.

What are your goals for the next 12 months?
Within the next 12 months, I want to see my team at Solopreneur Web Design have such full schedules that I need to find additional help. I am working to be able to take on fewer projects myself (I work with select clients only) while continuing to see business and revenue increase. I am working to get my processes automated to the point that my team can continue functioning without me when I take a four- to six-week leave of absence after the birth of my son in March. Once I return to work, I intend to concentrate on creating info products and training programs to help solopreneurs succeed in their online ventures.

Where do you want to be with the business in five years?
In five years, I would like Solopreneur Web Design to be well-established with a loyal clientele that refers new clients to us on a regular basis. I’d like to have a reputation for not only quality work but also for providing personal help for beleaguered solopreneurs. I know how stressful it is to do everything yourself, particularly when dealing with unfamiliar technologies, and my vision is for my company to take as much of that stress from our clients’ shoulders as we can.

What are your main software programs?
I regularly use WordPress, Notepad++, Photoshop Elements (I just upgraded to the full-blown version of Photoshop and am still learning my way around there), Microsoft Word, Core FTP Lite, Primo PDF, Firefox, and Skype (great for training sessions). I love Creative Pro Office for project management purposes.

What lifestyle choices have you had to make to stay in business?
I home-schooled my three girls for three years. I found out I can’t be a full-time mom/wife/homemaker, teacher, and solopreneur. Everything, particularly the girls’ education, was suffering. So this year they’re in school—and loving it. Sometimes I feel like putting them in school says I didn’t love them as much as I love my business, but I know that the truth of the matter is that I hated teaching and that is why I did such a bad job of it. My business just provided me an easy way to escape doing what I didn’t want to do in the first place.

There’ve also been plenty of times when I chose to work at night or over the weekends because I felt that I needed to do that to deliver the customer service my clients deserve. I don’t do that so much anymore. My family was getting short-changed, and I’ve since found that being realistic when setting deadlines goes a long way toward keeping work from intruding on family time.

What are your strategies for staying competitive?
I’m always looking for opportunities to learn new things. I love looking at my friends who are also my competitors to see what direction they’re taking. I often get new ideas from seeing what they are doing. Reading articles and magazines relating to my field of work also keeps me updated on industry changes and trends.

Do you need a second household income to support your lifestyle? (Is the business primary, or supplemental to the household?)
My husband is the primary breadwinner in our home. My ventures have always been the icing on the cake that have allowed us some luxuries that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. But I think that my business has the potential to provide income which would be the equivalent of that brought in by a primary incomes.

If your business should fail, what is your fallback position?
If Solopreneur Web Design failed, I would still have Berries and Cream Blog Design. If that failed as well, I could always generate some quick cash by returning to teaching piano lessons. But I would also be working to start another online business. (I’m actually working on putting together a third online business right now that will generate more passive income.) If you can’t tell, I believe in having multiple streams of income.

If you could start your career all over again, what would you do differently? Why?
If I knew then what I know now, I think I probably would have worked to surround myself with like-minded people who had been down the solopreneur road before and could give me a helping hand when needed. I would say I’m the stereotypical solopreneur who feels she has to do everything herself. Now that I’m in a position where I can bring on additional help and where I’ve made business friends who listen and give advice when needed, I can see how having that support system in place from the beginning would have helped me get farther faster.

What’s your advice for aspiring solopreneurs?
Don’t give up, and don’t wait for perfection. There is so much to learn that you can get overwhelmed before you even begin. Be persistent. But don’t be a perfectionist because that’s an impossible goal. Perfectionism will keep you from taking those small steps that add up and will eventually take you where you want to go.

Are you glad you became a solopreneur? Why or why not?
I love being a solopreneur. It’s satisfying to have my own business and to watch it grow and flourish as I learn more. I love being able to help people who are where I was only a few short years ago. I love having the freedom to decline work that doesn’t suit me. I love being able to contribute financially so that my family can do and have some “extra” things—like going to concerts, attending Broadway productions, and taking a short family vacation each year. I’d rather share experiences with my family than purchase more things—things get thrown in the trash; experiences are stored in our memories forever.