Danielle Paulo, originally from the Philippines, started out her career as a fashion stylist for celebrities during fashion week while still in college. Danielle received her Bachelor’s degree from an Art Institute and then went on to study Visual Communications at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. Before founding her very own digital marketing agency, called Creative Haus, Danielle worked as a social media manager, marketing director, and chief marketing officer. She now finds herself a successful entrepreneur and business owner all under the age of 30.
As for future plans, Danielle hopes to expand her agency and is even working on starting a brand new business – a lash company! She is a busy woman, but when she’s not working, Danielle loves to travel and see the world – something she hopes to get back to once the pandemic is over.
Please tell us a little bit about your company – what is Creative Haus all about?
Creative Haus is an all-female digital marketing agency that I founded during the pandemic to help businesses across the United States reach their target audience with relative ease without having to break the bank. Launched in early 2020, the business has grown in leaps and bounds in a relatively short while, working with big clients and notable figures nationwide, with revenues expected to surpass the $1 million mark before the end of the year.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
I started as a fashion stylist after graduating in 2014 then transitioned as a social media manager then ending my corporate career as a chief marketing officer. I was unsatisfied working at a 9-5 job with an abusive boss and quit my job in early 2020 to start my own business. Luckily for me, I worked as a freelancer managing other social media accounts and that sparked my interest in starting an agency and took my clients with me to embark on a new journey.
What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, and why?
The top 3 skills I personally believe every successful entrepreneur should have is resilience, adaptability, and passion. Hard work is part of the job. Of course, you need to work hard to succeed, but the resilience to keep going when it fails the first time or things don’t necessarily go your way. Or being able to adapt to any changes!
Creative Haus was launched during the pandemic and succeeded because we adapted to the changes during those times.
And lastly, the passion to do it because it gives you purpose and it was what you love to do. Owning a business gives you financial freedom and does have its perks, but if you do it only for the money, it won’t be sustainable.
What are your plans for the future, how do you plan to grow this company?
Creative Haus plans to expand within this year by outsourcing our services. We want to open up our services to cater to bigger companies and work with them under contracts for their clients. Companies cannot pay for advertising right now so we can offer affordable alternatives to still help market their business and come up with other marketing strategies that are more effective yet within budget.
What were the top three mistakes you made starting your business, and what did you learn from them?
The top 3 mistakes I made early on when starting the business was not having a business mentor to help guide me, putting all my financials into hiring employees too quickly without expanding the business first, and limiting my client’s contracts. There were definitely a lot of trial and errors considering I started this business by myself so I had to learn along the way. I thought hiring as many employees as I could, in the beginning, would help expand but it took more effort and roles from me and I focused more on providing their salary than letting the business thrive first. Along with working with my clients for the first time as a business, I had to revise a lot of contracts. It was a hassle to cater to so many different clients at once but I have learned to discuss expectations and workload before bringing a client on board.
Tell us a little bit about your marketing process, what has been the most successful form of marketing for you?
We market our business through referrals and social media. We are very active on all social media platforms as we also use those as portfolios for potential clients to view. How would a company want to work with a marketing agency if they cannot market themselves as well? We use each social media platform for their own purposes and roles.
For example, we use Instagram to highlight our client’s work and educate our followers on marketing strategies. We use Tik Tok as inspiration and trend spotting. Our website provides all the information and services we provide which ranges from content creation, website design, photography, and social media management.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Currently, our biggest challenge is expanding our business during a pandemic. We do not know what this year will have in store for us and a lot of small businesses are struggling so it is difficult to pitch ourselves like we used to but luckily for us, we have worked with a lot of small businesses and actually helped them with their launch. We are working with marketing for clients that are on e-commerce or offering services online.
What is one thing you wish you knew before starting your business?
I wish someone properly taught me how to start my business and how to legalize it. It would have saved me a lot of money and headache. That is one thing no one tells you how to do and it is nearly impossible to research online. Also no one talks about this, but how to also pay taxes the first year as a business owner.
If you had the chance to start your career over again what would you do differently?
If I have to start my career over again, I would have started this sooner! That is my only regret. I knew I was capable of starting this business when I was younger, but I was too scared at that time for failure. I would have told my boss to “screw off” earlier and walked away sooner to things, places, and people that no longer served me.
If you only had $1,000 to start a new business, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
If I only had 1k to start a new business, I would spend it all on marketing and Facebook Ads for the first launch and pitch and use that to put back into the business. I plan on starting a lash business this year and hopefully I can use all I have learned to have this be more successful. It will be different to have a business from services to e-commerce but I am up for the challenge!
What if your favorite quote?
Opportunities don’t happen. You create them!
I truly live by this and I strongly believe in it. Opportunities won’t just knock on your door. If there is something you want done, do it and create that for yourself. For example, there weren’t many agencies out there that catered to social media or small businesses so I created that for myself. I created an agency that I was looking for when I needed it.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
My best advice for aspiring and new business owners is to have your mission statement and understand your business plan. Read it over and over again because there will be a lot of moments, you will feel you need to stray away from that to succeed, and don’t do it. Stick to your plan and believe in it. Treat whatever it is that you are doing right now whether it’s a startup or a small business, it is still a real business so treat it like it is. Do not minimize or downplay what you do. Believe it is already huge and thriving.
Random Bonus: With the game on the line and 5 seconds on the clock, who takes the last shot? Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, or Lebron James?
I’m not into sports but we all know the legends. I feel Michael Jordan is the selfless one and he has already planned out that Kobe would take the last winning shot. Lebron is only great compared to Kobe but isn’t even in the same league if it was Michael and Kobe on the court too. I can just imagine Lebron on defense while Michael passes the ball as all eyes would be on him and he passes to Kobe as that would be unexpected.
How can we get in touch with you?
You can get in contact by reaching out to me directly on my phone 714-808-2416 as I love and miss phone calls especially during quarantine and this pandemic. I feel we all have forgotten how to communicate with each other or have a voice. My personality definitely shines over the phone or Zoom more. My email is danielle@creativehaus.us. Thank you for taking the time to read over all my answers. I am always so happy to answer any questions about the business.
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