Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Micheli.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Elizabeth. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
In 2012, I was an intern helping to start and launch a new beauty box subscription service called BOXYCHARM. We launched the company in 2013 and soon after, I was named the COO of the company. It was an amazing experience! I learned how to manage all the aspects of a new business including sales, branding, influencer and social media marketing and public relations. After an amazing run, I, unfortunately, lost my job at the end of 2014. This was a blessing in disguise. I decided I would never work for anyone else again and decided to start my own business. This is when EM Branding + PR was born.
On April 2015, I officially open my business and started booking clients. My main focus was on social media marketing and public relations. A lot of people knew what I had done during my time with BOXYCHARM and it became easy to book my first few clients. However, public relations and social media marketing can be very demanding and time-consuming, allowing you only to work with a hand full of clients a month. Given the small amount of clients I could handle at a time, I started to struggle to make ends meet.
Desperate and scared that my business would fail, I decided to change directions. By October 2015, I decided to focus my business on branding and website design. The only problem was, I didn’t know how to use Photoshop or Illustrator. I was able to hire a friend to help me during the first few months and by January 2016, we had about seven projects booked!
By April 2016, I was on my own and now feeling confident on Photoshop and Illustrator (partly thanks to YouTube!). Since my change of direction, I have had the pleasure of working with over 125 new and established businesses nationwide and international.
Has it been a smooth road?
Being a business owner is definitely not a smooth road. It’s extremely bumpy and quite scary. No matter where you are, there are always challenges and struggles. Early on, I struggled with the basics. I didn’t have agreements in place, was definitely pricing too low and didn’t even have proper branding! (crazy right!?)
Then, I struggled with learning something that I thought I could never do, which was graphic design on Photoshop and Illustrator.
Now, I’d say my biggest challenge is trying to make time for everything. As your business grows and the workload becomes a bit unmanageable, you start to struggle with the basic tasks like keeping up with social media, answering emails within a timely matter, etc. It’s hard for me to pass along those tasks to someone else but I’d say my next step would be to hire an assistant. The responsibility of hiring someone else is scary but it’s essential if you hope to keep growing!
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the EM Branding + PR story. Tell us more about the business.
I started my business with the idea and hope of wanting to help other business owners grow and reach their full potential. My services include: business consultation, social media marketing and consultation, brand styling, and website and stationery design.
Basically, I can help you take your idea and turn it into a fully functioning business. From name development, branding and positioning, website and collateral design and lastly curating a social media platform that reflects your brand’s tone of voice and targets your ideal audience.
My background is in public relations and marketing and I think that helps me think ahead when designing a brand. I envision that brands potential and future in the market and that allows me to create something that will make it easier for that brand/business to reach that level.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
When thinking of the future of my business and industry I feel a certain level of security. Businesses will always need branding and most businesses rebrand every five-eight years. In this digital era, almost every business has or will have a website or some type of online or social media presence. I think one of the biggest changes is an increase in e-commerce businesses. People are preferring to order things online over shopping at the actual brick and mortar stores.
Pricing:
- Branding starts at $750
- Website Design starts between $1,500 – $4000
- Business Consultation – $75 / hour
Contact Info:
- Website: www.embrandingpr.com
- Phone: 954-675-1884
- Email: info@embrandingpr.com
Image Credit:
Catherine Ann Photography, Aaron and Jillian Photography, ABIGAIL MALONE PHOTOGRAPHY
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