BLOG SERIES: Part 1 - There is Success in Simplicity

This blog post was first published on 25 May 2020

If you’re thinking of starting out with an business and have no idea where to begin, or perhaps you’ve been in business for a little while but you aren’t seeing the growth and impact you want, then this five part blog series is for you. I’ll be sharing how I went from zero community and zero impact to an engaged community which has a huge positive impact supporting women with online businesses.

There is Success in Simplicity

On Bank Holiday Monday, 27th May 2019, I officially started my business. A year on I want to share the tips and techniques which have worked for me and my business. In a series of five daily blog posts you will learn;

• The key things you need to focus on to grow an online business;
• The exact steps you need to take to get started when you have an audience and budget of zero;
• How to build strategic foundations so that your business can scale; and
• The five key elements of running an online which have helped me to grow a multiple five figure business in just twelve months.

How will my experiences help you?

Before we get started on the juicy content above, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on how far I’ve come so that you can see what’s possible.

Firstly, please don’t be under the illusion that I am suggesting that I am someone who thinks that because something worked for me it will work for others. The content that I am sharing in this five day blog series is so much more than that. My role as a lawyer for online businesses puts me in a unique position because I work with a number of passionate online business owners. In short, I see what works and what doesn’t. I know the common pitfalls that business owners starting out face because they often come to me for help to put things on the right track.

I am connected to a network of high-powered, driven women, some of whom are propelling their businesses forward at such a rate of success you can’t help but be inspired. It’s that detail, coupled with my own view of what works, which will form the content of this series.

A overnight success

My 2019 diary states the following:

Monday 27th May 2019

8:55 pm Domain Purchased

Linked to SquareSpace 21:10

Site Live!! 21:15 pm [sic]

Just 14 days before this, on 13th May 2019 I had the idea for my online business. In the two weeks that followed I created and officially launched my business.

I realise that you might be reading this and not know who I am. I’m Lucy, a lawyer who supports women with online businesses to grow, scale and protect their assets. At the time of that diary entry, and still now, I work full-time as a lawyer in a firm in London. One night on the tube (13th May 2019) on the way home from my work in London I had an amazing idea, one that became Lucy Legal. However, for context (and transparency) the story needs to start a bit further back than that.

This is not my first rodeo. I had a business before Lucy Legal. I started off hosting fitness events and then broadened those out into events which I called "Dreams Into Plans" where I invited inspirational speakers to share their stories.

I loved those events and they understandably became pretty popular. I tweaked the events again and turned them into half day workshops. I prepared workbooks and motivational activities so that people could map out their dream lives. When the event finished every attendee re-located to the coffee shop across the road (we had to leave the venue) and carried on the conversation. There were tears from some of the women as they left because it had been so eye-opening for them to finally have the courage to dream big and also a turning point as they had my encouragement as I was telling them that those dream really could become a reality.

I would say that the morning of that event is up there in the top 10 of my favourite days in my life so far. Want to know a secret? Despite the success of the event for the attendees, the fact that at least four of them went on to change careers within just a few months and turned their dreams into plans and their plans into reality, in one key area, the event was a failure. After deducting all of my expenses I made less than £40 which given the hours of preparation along with the event itself it meant I was earning about £2 an hour.

I wanted to capture what I had done that morning and do it forever but how could I live on an income of that level?

Feeling disheartened I began to wonder what I could do to combine the things I loved, the things I was good at and the things that would make a slightly bigger profit. I researched coaching and mentoring there was such a spectrum of offerings. There seemed to be a huge range of services from people who didn't seem to charge much for their services to people like Lisa Messenger who charged people for the advice she gave them over a cup of coffee(!)

I was certainly not at the level where I could charge people for the advice I gave them over a cup of coffee, but this idea of creating a successful impact and being able to monetise the idea is important for the context of this week’s posts because for me a successful business means that you become the go-to person to solve a problem (people want to have coffee with you) and that your business is profitable. I will be mentioning the word “success” a lot in the next few days and whilst everyone will have their own definition, my definition is making a positive impact on a number of people and creating profit (I will touch more on profit and revenue and why impact goes further than just making money in tomorrow’s post).

Whilst you could look at my diary entry above and think “Wow! She set up a business in less than two weeks and now makes multiple five figures from a side-hustle”, and that is true. I want you to know that I have years worth of experience in running online businesses and the reason I am sharing all of this is because I want to help you to cut down that long period of uncertainty and get straight to making a successful business.

After the Dreams Into Plans event I still felt a little unsure how to turn my passion into a business. Then one night on the tube on the way home from my full-time job in the City working as a lawyer, I had an idea, what if I could combine my love of helping entrepreneurs build successful businesses with my legal qualifications. My mind began to race and all I kept thinking was, "How have I not thought about this before?!"

It sort of all feels a little obvious now. I combined my passion for business with the thing I had spent over ten years becoming an expert in, legal, and created Lucy Legal which set off at rocket speed.

Why am I sharing all this with you? Because sometimes when we're at the start of our journey nothing quite clicks, everything feels hard and it's really really tempting to forget the whole thing. But, if you're still reading this I've got a feeling that there's something special about you. That you regularly get a feeling deep down that you're meant for more. That you have more to offer the world and you're right on the edge of a big turning point. So I'm writing this series of five blog posts to remind you that if you stick with it, do the things you love, even if you have to do them for free, you'll turn your dreams into reality, I just know it. Plus, by taking a look at this blog series you will have clear actionable steps to implement into your business.

The one main take away

There is quite a list at the top of this email of the information which I will be covering this week. The blog posts are jam packed full of value and I know that I have now created such an amazing resource. I understand that you may be someone who gets distracted, or is impatient, and wants to start implementing things right away. If you only read one blog post in this series and can take away only one thing, then the biggest thing you need to remember is simplicity. This is the key factor to consider in every single aspect of your business and is the theme running through every single post.

TASK: Start thinking about your own business and which areas could be made much simpler.

Before you go, I would love you to do two things:

If you aren’t already signed up to my mailing list, then you can sign up using the box pink at the end of this blog. I share tips to support you to run your business in a legitimate and legal way but I also share posts to inspire, motivate and help you to up level your business.

If you’ve enjoyed this post, then please forward it to a friend. You could go back to my Instagram and share one of my images or simply copy the link in your browser and send to a friend who you think could benefit from this blog series.

I’ll be back tomorrow which the Five Key Focuses for Your First Few Months In Business.

Lucy x