The why behind my move to White Label work is one of the questions I get asked most when chatting with other designers. So it only feels right to start off my blog with the answer.
This momma was burnt the eff out, discouraged, and annoyed because I was working non-stop and making barely any money. The clients I was getting were far from ideal. They either didn’t respect me, didn’t value me, or they wanted work that just didn’t excite me. I was drowning in the world of scope creep, verbal abuse, disrespect, creating work I didn’t even want to showcase in my portfolio, and chasing clients down for invoices to be paid.
I started this business in 2016, with a 6-month-old, as a way to reconnect with myself. Somehow my business which I loved so much and worked so hard for became something I hated.
I was second-guessing myself and was ready to quit. I was ready to walk away and not think twice about it.
Fast forward to 2018. That’s when I got a message from Sarah, the owner of Alisabeth Designs. We had met through the Rising Tide Society Facebook page around the time I started my business in 2016. I had worked with her off and on while I maintained my 1:1 design clients hoping and praying it would get better with time, thankful to at least have some consistency to fall back on with her. Anywho, she knew where I was in my business and asked if I would be interested in officially joining her team and I jumped at the chance.
That decision quite literally changed my life.
While doing WL work with her consistently, I slowly backed away from client work and focused more on AD projects. I quickly realized I preferred this new source of work over my current clients. Her clients were ideal, trusted her, paid on time, and were overall just super sweet and kind.
Now I won’t say that the switch to white label was perfect from the get go or that I fully knew everything I needed to know because that would be a big ole lie.
I worked with some nightmare designers. One of which ended up disappearing from the planet after scamming her clients and not paying her contractors. I worked with another that severely underpaid me and undervalued me (even though I was getting her lots of first round approvals) and to this day still owes me money on a huuuuuuuge project.
So yeah, it was a rocky start but the clients I currently serve are beyond amazing. The work I’ve been able to create with them I am insanely proud of. I’ve raised my prices, altered my packages, found my brand voice, and am booked out for the rest of the YEAR. Yup, not just a few months, my entire year was booked before it started. I’m at a point in business where I don’t have to chase new clients, I can be selective and reach out to people I truly want to work with. I’m even at a point where I’m offering 1:1 branding projects again to a very select few because I can be picky, I can chase the projects that light me up.
I’ve built a business that allows me to focus on the design, not the clients or the marketing, just the parts that I love. A business that has brought me some of the most valuable friendships I’ve ever had. A business that hit 100k in 2022 and is on track to surpass it this year. Now don’t get it twisted, the majority of that money went right back into the business and I’m just now, 7 years into it, on payroll and pulling normal checks each month like a big girl. And hey, that’s okay by me.
TLDR: You can do this. You can pivot to White Label or add it to your services, it’s within your reach. Build the business you want to build and don’t look back.
