058: Find Like-Minded People and Make a Good Tribe with Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative

I definitely keep up with the times, in the sense of being on twitter, creating lists on twitter, and following peoplee that are knowledgeable, that are creating information that are relevant to my industry.

#00:00:46-0# Neil : Hello, its Neil Ball here, thank you so much for joining me today on the entrepreneur way. The entrepreneur way is about the entrepreneur’s journey, the vision, the mind-set, the commitment, the sacrifice, failures, and successes. I am so excited to bring you our special guest today, Lily Savinon. But before I introduce you to her, I have a little quote for you, Bruce Norman said, ‘and then what makes the work interesting, is if you choose the right questions.’ The entrepreneur way asks the questions, so we all get the insight, inspiration, and ideas to apply in our businesses. Lily welcome to the show, are you ready to share your version of the entrepreneur way with us?

#00:01:29-3# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : Thank you for having me. Yes absolutely, thank you so much I am very excited.

#00:01:35-1# Neil : You are welcome Lily, thank you for coming on the show. Lily Savinon is the founder and creative director of LD Creative. A boutique agency in Miami Florida, that supports businesses through creative work. With a background in marketing and advertising, Lily applies her expertise to enhance client’s brands. Guiding many in their transition, to the digital world. Lily can you provide us with some more insight in to your business and personal life to allow us to get to know more about what you do and who you are?

#00:02:08-8# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : Absolutely, well with LD Creative, launched it three years ago, and my vision was inspired by an experience I had in London where it was a boutique agency, specialised in creative advertising, and that’s my passion. So I said, ‘you know what’, I said, ‘theres a bunch of small businesses, especially in Miami Florida that really need the help to get their name out there, and just promote their brand but unfortunately there is nobody to help them’, so that’s why I started LD Creative and its been a heck of a journey, its been really fun and I never really saw myself as an entrepreneur, so its been a growing experience for me as well. In terms of my personal life, I did my under grad at Shoreham National University, here in Miami Florida, then I did my master’s degree at Boston University in advertising, I am married. I have a dog that I love, and I am a music buff, I played the piano for about 12 years, and so I played classical.

#00:03:14-6# Neil : Lily, you say you have got a creative agency and you help small business, how does what you offer differ from other agencies? Is there a difference or what is your difference?

#00:03:23-3# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : Well there are some agencies that are full service, where they include production and commercials and things like that, there are some that specialise only in web development, and mine specialises in the create path, so we do the graphic design. We do the copywriting, we do the web development, we do social media. Now, in terms of production and things like that nature, then we do not do that.

#00:03:48-3# Neil : I see, ok thank you for explaining that. And what do you explain most about what you do?

#00:03:55-0# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : I love the diversity, no two days are the same. What I do, I actually do what I love, and I do it for different people, so its not like I have a part of my day that I say ‘oh man I got to get this over with’, or I start procrastinating, and leaving it for the last part of my day because I really do not want to do it, because there is nothing that I do that I do not like. So that is definitely an advantage of being your own boss.

#00:04:20-6# Neil : Absolutely and what is it that drives you?

#00:04:25-6# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : I would say creative vision and a passion, its a combination of both. I apply my creativity to my business, and its ever changing, I mean the industry is ever-changing and I think that to keep up with it, you need to make sure your business adapts as well. So its a lot of thinking on your feet, and I think that, I am pretty good at that, so that’s what’s been keeping me interested and driven.

#00:04:50-2# Neil : And when you are not doing all of that, how do you relax?

#00:04:56-0# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : Ok, so a little bit of a confession, I have dance parties of one from time to time, so I put on my headphones, turn on music very loud and I dance it out, and sometimes you know it really helps, it helps get the juices flowing, it helps relax. I really enjoy cooking; I enjoy just going out and having a good time, enjoying culture in general.

#00:05:17-6# Neil : Ok. And do you have any entrepreneurial role models?

#00:05:24-2# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : Yes, I have many but the one I am obsessed with lately is Marcus Lamonas from The Profit. He is actually from Miami and oh my gosh, this guy is amazing, I mean he goes in and he fixes businesses, and he makes them so profitable it is incredible. So I love watching his show and following him on twitter.

#00:05:44-7# Neil : Lily, what I would like to do now is can we talk about the time before you were an entrepreneur? What difficulties did you have to overcome when you started your business?

#00:05:51-0# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : Oh wow, there were a few, one of them was definitely starting a network, just because when I did my graduate degree it was in Boston, so that is in the North East, very far from Miami Florida. So I came back down and I had to start my professional network all over again. And when it comes to advertising and even small businesses in general, its all about word-of-mouth and all about referrals. So, that was a bit of a difficulty for sure and also, I did not ask for a loan, I started my kitchen counter, and from there moved onto a room and then from there, moved on to an office I shared. You know I bartered marketing for space, and now I have an office, but so its been a difficult time, but its humbling.

#00:06:42-2# Neil : And how did you go about growing your network? what did you do when you moved back to Miami then?

#00:06:49-5# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : Oh I started reaching out to all my old friends, I joined the chamber of commerce, one of the chambers of commerce, going out to their events, and then from there, just talking to anybody I could really find. And I joke around and I could talk to a lot but really its interesting, you learn from all kinds of people, you learn different things and sometimes you learn what not to do, so I went to a whole lot of networking events. Just got out there, got out there.

#00:07:19-3# Neil : And did you have any doubts that delayed you starting your business?

#00:07:21-4# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : No, I don’t think I did, I think that some people do, but for me I did not really see myself as an entrepreneur, it was just kind of an idea. I said, ‘you know what? every company starts at one point, right? So why not take the risk and see?’ I mean my risk was controlled because I did not have much of an overhead. So I said, ‘you know what? let’s try, and if I feel, I feel, but I am sure I will learn something along the way, and then I will go back to corporate America, not a big deal.’ But I did not, so it was good, that’s why I am here.

#00:07:59-6# Neil : Mmm and what mistakes did you make that slowed your journey?

#00:08:05-9# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : So I am a very trusting person, I like to see the best in people, and unfortunately, that burns you sometimes, but for example, with vendors specifically, you can see they can pitch you the world and you can see great work that they have done, but it does not necessarily mean that they work like you, that they drive with you, with your style, you know, or they meet deadlines. Or when they mess up, how they fix it, and it may not align with your values, so I think those mistakes were the biggest for me, the biggest learning experiences for me.

#00:08:43-4# Neil : So how do you prevent that from happening now?

#00:08:47-1# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : Honestly, it was trial and error and it was talking to some other entrepreneurs and getting their two cents, and saying, ‘you know, what do you think? do you have anybody you could recommend?’ and from there, just whenever I try and work with someone new, I give them a small project and then I give them a small project that I have a very big buffer time with. So if worse comes to worse, I could go to the one I trust already, and get it done again and still be on time.

#00:09:14-9# Neil : Good strategy and what are some of the things that you did before you started your business? that would be helpful tips to some of the listeners who have not yet taken the first step on the entrepreneur way?

#00:09:27-8# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : I actually created my brand, my branding guidelines, and I think that’s crucial, just because it helps you focus, exactly what you want offer, what your business is going to be, because essentially, when you do not have somebody above you saying, ‘listen you do not have somebody above you saying, ‘listen you need to do this, you need to do that, and this is what our company’s tone is’, its easy to be scatter-brained, and I think that it is essential for you to know exactly what you want, so you have your elevator pitch, so you know what to post on social media. You know, what aligns with your brain and what does not? I think if you do that from the beginning, its much easier, you are going to save a whole lot of time.

#00:10:06-9# Neil : Can we just talk about being the entrepreneurial journey a little bit now? and do you think culture is important from the beginning in a business?

#00:10:16-3# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : Absolutely, absolutely. I think that you have to hire those who are ideal for your business, and do not feel bad in saying ‘no’. Sometimes, you will have people that are just not working out and at the end of the day you are doing them a dis-service by keeping them. Because they are eventually going to have their, a good match for themselves, you know. And you will get a better match for you, so I mean there is no reason in not parting amicably. You know, just sit down and have a conversation, and just hire people that are really going to push your business forward. Not people that are just doing the bare minimum to get by.

#00:10:57-0# Neil : Knowing what you know now, is there anything that if you had known it when you started your business, would have helped you to shortcut the learning curve?

#00:11:07-4# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : Yes, I would say networking beforehand. Creating anticipation for your business. Because I started when I had already said ok, I am opening LD Creative, its going to happen. I do not care, I am starting with one client or zero clients. You know, I will bite the bullet, but you know I think in retrospect, had I done the networking and hit the pavement really a few months before .. a year beforehand freelancing .. creating connections, I think that it would definitely made my business you know zoom from the beginning.

#00:11:43-0# Neil : Mmm and how much does gut feeling influence your decisions in your business?

#00:11:49-4# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : I think that’s my arty side, my right brain typing, but influence is a whole lot. I found throughout my whole life whenever I do not listen to my gut, I mess up. So its a little bit of both, of logic and making sure what you are doing is rational right? but also listening to your gut feeling and to your instincts. Because at the end of the day, there is no right way to do things, and when it comes to the entrepreneur journey, and you just need to create your path, pave your way, as you see, that’s right for you.

#00:12:23-1# Neil : Life is made of constant change whether we like it or not, and a lot of people say the only constant in life is change, Lily, how do you try to keep up with change?

#00:12:34-0# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : That’s absolutely true, especially in advertising and marketing, I definitely keep up with the times in the sense of being on twitter, creating lists on twitter, and following people that are knowledgeable, that are carrying the information that are relevent to my industry. I subscribe to the Muse and Adfreak Adweek, all kinds of things like that just to see what’s going on out there. You know, what are people talking about, what’s trending because that should be inspiration and my work should be relevant to what’s going on.

#00:13:13-2# Neil : What is your favourite book on entrepreneurialism, business, personal development, leadership or motivation? and can you tell us why you have chosen it?

#00:13:22-3# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : I think there’s two, I mean there is a whole lot of books that I have read on that kind of stuff and just because its also inspirational like you said, one is Rich dad, poor dad, I know its a classic and I am sure that a bunch of people on your show have said the same answer, but its a great book. It gets you thinking, like a business person, it gets you thinking outside the box and it gives you a really good perspective, and in terms of inspiration, and keeping you motivated, Grow boss from Sophia Amarusu. She is the CEO of Nasty Gal and just the way its written, its very matter of fact, very real, and its very, very motivating.

#00:14:05-0# Neil : Everyone, when you have a busy life, listening to audio books is a great way to expand your knowledge in the time when you may be doing other things, such as driving or when you are at the gym. We have a special offer for you of a free audio book of your choosing, to choose your free audio book, go to freeaudiobookoffer.com. As long as you have not already signed up then you will qualify. Lily, what I would like to do now is just speculate a little bit about the future with you. What one thing would you do with your business if you knew that you could not fail?

#00:14:38-8# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : Well my business actually recently or relatively recently, a few months ago, we expanded into customer payroll. And customer payroll because it just kind of happened, and we had that demand, and we said, ‘why not cater to it?’ so I am still trying to figure that out, and I think that to answer your question, I would say, ‘to open a retail store.’ You know, with all these custom designs. I think that right now, realistically its a big risk. But you know, if failure were not an option, like yes you know, I would open a retail store and definitely get a bigger office space for the rest of the marketing you know.

#00:15:20-3# Neil : And what skill if you were excellent at it, would help you the most to double your business?

#00:15:22-2# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : Negotiating, I am the type to say hey they cost this much and then they give me a sob story of oh but I can’t, oh but we are non profit, oh but this, but that, and then I go, ok ok fine. And so I end up bringing down my price and then I end up hating my life later on because at the end of the day, the reason why I priced it as it was originally, was because I knew the kind of work it was going to take. So that I know is definitely an area of growth for me, and I tend to hand it off to my book keeper. Just because, you know your faults, you know. Ha ha and I want my business to grow.

#00:16:08-2# Neil : So how are you going to get round that do you think? Ha ha

#00:16:11-7# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : Oh well, ha ha I think its gone better. I think its gone better but no honestly for now, this illusion is ok my book keeper is going to send you the estimate, and send you the invoice and she is going to take care of the whole financial part, I take care of creating your vision, and making your brand awesome. Ha ha.

#00:16:30-1# Neil : Yeh I do not think there is anything wrong with sort of delegating things that you are not as, you know you have got other people who may be able to do them better so that’s a good thing. In five years from now, if a well-known business publication, was publishing an article on your business, after talking to your customers and suppliers, what would you like it to say?

#00:16:50-2# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : I would love it to say that its an honest business, filled with great people, trustworthy brands, that provides you know, quality work.

#00:17:02-5# Neil : We are now at the part of the show where you share three golden nuggets with us, Lily, what is your favourite quote, and how have you applied it?

#00:17:12-7# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : I have a bunch of favourite quotes but I am going to go with one from David Ogilvy, and its ‘In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can also sell what you create.’ And I think that’s something that really resonates because I mean as a creative, I always enjoy the process, and I always enjoyed seeing the look on people’s faces when they give me a problem and I give them fun solution to it. Or an out of the box solution to it, but selling that is a completely different story. And when you are a business person or a business owner, that’s very very important. So I have definitely learned to see the worth in my work.

#00:17:56-4# Neil : And do you have any favourite online resources that you can share with us?

#00:17:59-0# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : Yes The Muse, is a great newsletter. It comes every day but I think on Sunday is when they send you a bunch of different articles that’s all about professional development and things like that. I go on different chats, there is media chat and Ambitionist chat, and there are a bunch of other ones if you go on twitter, and you search them, its free just find chats that align with you and you find likeminded people create a good tribe online, its always nice because being an entrepreneur can be lonely sometimes. So its nice to have that support.

#0 #00:18:39-0# Neil : Yeh that’s great advice, and what is your best advice to other entrepreneurs?

#00:18:46-1# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : I can say, that it is not always fun and games. Its not always going to be a happy day, I think that its a big roller coaster, I think every day there is a big roller coaster and then there is a bigger one that’s maybe you know, every two weeks or so or maybe every month but at the end of the day, whenever you want to quit, whenever things are rough, you lose a client, or you just had a rough day, you want to fire somebody. Whatever it may be, do not listen to that you know, I have seen the pattern that whenever I have had a rough day, maybe the next day or a couple of days later, something great happens. And I think about it, I am like man if I would have quit when I was down, look what I would have missed out on. You know it was just an opportunity to grow and be better. So what does not kill you, makes you stronger. You know, stand there, talk to people, talk it out, and do not listen to those who say ‘hey why don’t you get a real job?’ That is my absolute pet .. it is a real job to be an entrepreneur, as long as you are actually working and you do not say you are an entrepreneur, you are sitting in your pyjamas all day. You know so, its a heck of a job and its very hard. And its even harder when you do not have the support of those around you. But you know and if you do, great, and if you don’t, do not listen to them. You know, just stick to your vision, at the end of the day, that’s why not everybody’s an entrepreneur.

#00:20:10-6# Neil : Everyone, if you did not manage to get a note of Lily’s favourite resource, or her favourite book, then you can find the links on Lily’s show notes page. Just go to theentrepreneurway.com and search for Lily or Lily Savinon in the search box. Lily, is there anything else that you would like to add about your business?

#00:20:32-6# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : I think we are good, I think we have talked a whole lot about my business, and if you want a shameless little plug here if you do not mind,

#00:20:37-5# Neil : You can go for that yeh go for it.

#00:20:38-1# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : So if you are looking to start up your business, reach out to LD Creative, you will find us online in the show notes, I am sure the link is going to be on there, and reach out to us, I would love to work with you all and help you establish your brand.

#00:20:56-0# Neil : Thank you Lily. Lily its been an honour having you on the show, you really have given us some useful insight into the entrepreneur way, so thank you very much for coming on here.

#00:21:06-8# Lily Savinon, Founder & Creative Director of LD Creative : Thank you Neil, its been a blast.

#00:21:08-0# Neil : You are welcome, thank you Lily.