Shauna Haider is a graphic designer who stumbled into success. From an early age, she realized she wanted to be an artist. According to her, she knew she loved art enough to make it a career from the age of 4. Since launching her business and building her personal brand, she’s managed to build a multi-million dollar business just by doing the things she felt were right.
Unfulfilled After a Degree
After spending years working on a degree, Haider entered an office job. While it was the perfect place to explore the industry she was working in, she realized it just didn’t suit her ambitions, and it made her feel like a cog in a machine.
She spent some time exploring other graphic designers’ work and realized that she didn’t have to be confined to a company to make her dreams come true. If anything, it allowed her the freedom to earn while still letting her enjoy what she did.
Keep Showing Up But Keep Options Open
Haider says that the key to her success was to keep showing up, no matter if it felt as though things weren’t progressing. In her first job, she worked for a local design studio but started building her own stable of clients on the side.
Her first job was during the 2008 recession, so things were pretty hard for everyone, including creatives. However, she dedicated herself to her work and kept showing up, working on small projects, and building up a substantial portfolio. This portfolio helped her land freelance jobs with Virgin and Nike, among other companies.
The Breaking Point Makes Her Make a Choice
Bu 2013, she was burning the candle at both ends and was almost entering burnout. As with any professional who works in the creative arts, there comes a point where they have to choose what they want to do with their time. Haider chose to go all-in on her agency knowledge.
We Are Branch went live in 2013, and it represented Haider’s ideas of what a design studio should be. It was small, agile, and understanding of its clientele and its target demographics. These clients consisted of companies Haider worked with since her earliest days of freelancing.
A Lot of Competition In The Space
Haider advises new entrepreneurs who are entering the space to realize that there is a lot of competition here. Graphic designers are a dime a dozen, and it takes someone with an entrepreneurial mindset and the right drive to succeed where others have failed.
While she is a popular social media influencer, she underlines that social media doesn’t tell the whole story. Her highlight reels are just that – highlights. In the real world, business owners, especially those who own agencies, work incalculable hours every week. As a service-based business, there’s an element that reels and pictures can’t capture.
Getting Responsible As a Self-Employed Person
There are good and bad sides to working for yourself, Haider advises. New entrepreneurs should realize that and accept both sides of the equation. No one teaches you how to do bookkeeping or taxes and employee payments. For most small business owners, they need to figure this out themselves.
Additionally, business only grows when the owner takes risks. The problem with many small business owners is that they risk too much for too little gain. Haider suggests weighing the risks and not diving into something if the rewards are not on par with the risks. She also notes that business owners should learn from their mistakes. Not every choice is a winner.
Invest in Yourself and Build Your Network
Social media marketing is the core of Haider’s business, and she has built a veritable empire using this channel for her marketing efforts. She advises new business owners to invest in themselves and start building their personal and professional networks as early as possible.
She shares that she has three peers she met early in her days as a design professional that she still meets with often to discuss the industry and bounce ideas off of. She also invests in courses every time she feels her business has hit a plateau because it allows her to expand.
Knowing What to Do and Getting It Done
Haider says that half of the problem many business owners have is not doing what needs to be done. Instead, they expect things to happen for them and don’t chase down the leads that would allow them the most returns on their investment of time and effort.
Yet, most business owners know what needs to be done. They just don’t want to do it, either out of fear of failure or the unknown. Knowing what needs to be done and getting it done are both core parts of succeeding as a business owner. Shying away from these elements won’t help anyone grow a business or achieve success.
Never Stop Learning
Like many other entrepreneurs, Haider believes in the power of knowing as much as possible about the field she works in. She says that knowing the industry gives you insights into things your competitors may have missed and allows you a unique edge against them. However, learning is a constant journey, especially for an innovative entrepreneur.
She routinely invests in courses that can help her grow and expand her business and gives back to the community via mentorship and interviews with outlets that help to spread her knowledge. Even at the start, she saw every freelance job as an opportunity to learn something new. Keeping that fire alive for learning new things is essential to successful business.
Show Up and Never Give Up
Haider’s philosophy is all about getting the hard work done and figuring out where the next point on her journey will be. The only way she can do that consistently is by showing up every day, no matter how she feels. Keeping up with the industry she’s a part of takes a lot of effort, but she loves doing it.
Since its foundation, We Are Branch has logged thousands of client hours and earned millions in revenue from working with some of the most prestigious brands in the world. Haider knows what she’s doing, and whatever it is, it’s working out for her in a big way.
