My Year 2020 in Business — Leaving a 9 to 5 and Starting an Academy
By: Orifunke Lawal
Tags: Yearly Review, Business Growth, Business Development, Business Lessons, Academy

1. Timing

An idea can be amazing in and of itself, but when launched at the wrong time, it may seem wrong. After facing the initial stumbling block starting my academy in January, I first thought that the entire idea of an online academy could just not work. But some months down the line, the difference in what worked and what did not was my undivided availability (and the fact that most people had accepted the possibility of online learning due to COVID).

In January 2020, this academy would not have worked. This has taught me that sometimes, failed ventures are not necessarily bad ideas. A simple tweak in timing, place and several other variables could make that idea work.

2. The Gift of Trying Out

At the time the idea of this Canva course started taking root in my mind, I didn’t have a model to look at and get inspired by. So, I couldn’t tell if it was going to work or make sense. The best I had seen anywhere online were one-day or two-day classes teaching people about Canva. None of them even got up to a week. I had never seen anyone take training people on how to design with Canva as seriously as I wanted to. But there I was, planning a 21-day training and coaching program on how to design with Canva. I also knew that there were hardly any Canva courses being hosted via Zoom or Google Meet. So, I was looking at intensive-intensive.

The result? People instantly bought into the idea. And although, the first set of students we trained and graduated got in for free, it gave me an insight into realizing that this was something people needed. Many people had paid money to others before but had gotten no improvement. What they needed wasn’t just learning how to use Canva; it was being guided to actually getting results they wanted to get with it.

3. Structure

I am a sucker for structure. I almost cannot function effectively without it. So, when I was starting Canva Growth Program 2.0, the first thing on my mind was to set up a structure. Who does what? When? How? What guidelines do we work or live by?

I have been lucky with people wanting to volunteer with me for different brands I build (and I do not take this for granted one bit). A couple of people reached out to me and volunteered to work with the academy. I decided on the most important things I needed help with (Customer Service and Social Media Management) and got two people onboard.

Faith Akwaugo Anyaoha had volunteered right from the first batch to help me with correcting designs. Favour Emmanuel came in the second batch and volunteered as the work increased. Deborah Olugbade joined in the third batch. All of them stayed up to the fourth batch.

This is not all there is we have to do with structure, however. But having a mind of structure has proven to be helpful because even when I feel like giving up, there is always a structure that keeps us going.

4. Business & Customer Service

When people started paying for the Canva Growth Program, I told myself that I wasn’t going to treat my academy as an ordinary online class or a hobby I was involved in pending the time I got a new job. I was going to treat it like an actual business.

I saw everyone who paid for the course as a client/customer, rather than as a student (I still have a problem calling them students). Seeing them as clients made me keen on ensuring that we gave them the best experience they could get. Whenever someone registers to join the academy, it is no longer business as usual for me. I am huge on customer service because I know how it makes me feel so I had to make sure that I extended the same hand of exceptional service that I expected to people who were buying from me.

My customer service officer, Tolulope Oyejinmi, bought into the vision instantly and knows how to pick the slack perfectly. Everyone who has been through the academy knows Tolulope and can attest to her exceptional customer service ability. Hiring Tolulope was actually one of the best decisions I made for my business.

5. New People, New Challenges

A rather intriguing thing I have learnt building the academy is that because we just started, there would be some unplanned challenges we would have to face. Even though we were big on giving people the best customer experience, it always broke me when a very few people brought up issues we hadn’t properly anticipated.

For instance, one participant got her phone damaged a few days into the program and couldn’t get back until some days to the end (after their second project had been submitted). According to the rules of the program, you are evicted from the program when you miss up to seven days and also miss two projects. This is because it tells on the cumulative score of the participant and we normally do not want to graduate people whose skill and consistency we will not be able to vouch for. By the time she got back, it was a challenge deciding what to do, especially as she had informed us when her phone got damaged.

I had, prior to that time, not expected such a problem to exist so it wasn’t in the plan. The customer sent in a message expressing how bad she felt that she was unable to graduate. And even though it wasn’t our fault, we decided to give her a 100% scholarship to join the next batch. Facing this, though, equipped me to solve the problem when it did come up again (and it did in the next batch).

That is one out of a number. But I have taken feedback from customers and used them to further build on our structure and make the process better for future customers. I am fast learning that running a business is about solving problems beyond the general problem your business is set up to solve. I believe this has also helped me to be more patient with other business owners because customers often have problems they expect to be solved, even if it is not your fault.

I like to think we are doing well (strictly based on data we’ve gotten from graduands) but I will not dispute that we can still do much better.

6. Focus

In our second or third month, my initial idea of wanting the academy to be a place of different courses and instructors came up again. I put a word out on all my social media platforms and got a number of instructor applications. But on a more introspective level, I had to sincerely come to terms with the fact that we could not afford to grow bigger than we were at the time.

I want us to grow really big because I am a natural big dreamer but I am also a realistic person. I have learnt to be realistic about what we can afford to handle; from initiatives to the number of students. I paused on expanding to other numerous courses because I knew that we were, at the time, not well built for that. It helped to focus.

In January, we are launching another course — the Content Creation & Marketing Course — and relaunching the Canva Growth Program. Having gained some form of stability with the latter, it is easier for us to bring in another course. We have more courses in consideration but I want us to grow as we take root and build capacity.

7. Personal Brand & Corporate Impact

I have been an advocate of building your personal brand but it was only this year I experienced firsthand how much effect having a strong and somewhat popular personal brand could have on your business. We moved through our first six months organically. And this was a whole lot pushing through.

My best part of doing what I do is getting testimonials from people who have enrolled without forcing them to, and also getting them to come back as repeating customers. It feels really amazing to be a part of people’s business, personal brand and career progress. We’ve had people release their ebooks after a long time of pushing it because they couldn’t do it themselves before. We have people who have started making money because of this skill they have now gotten. Someone recently shared about how she got a job because she knew how to design using Canva. The testimonials are a whole lot and make me feel like we are really solving a need and helping people achieve their goals.

8. Financials & Numbers

A challenge you face as you grow and make more money is keeping your expenses low. There are a number of things we have to pay for now that we weren’t paying for when we didn’t get so much. This includes tools, manpower, data and airtime, workspace (because it is more effective for me to do some work outside of my comfort zone), etc. When you do not have proper bookkeeping, you might be deceived into thinking you’re making so much money. But you may be making money but not the right kind of profit. Bad record-keeping is a trap.

Beyond financials, I am learning to take numbers and statistics more seriously. I am naturally not a numbers person. Numbers overwhelm me and give me a headache. You probably know this if you have read the memoir I released in January 2020; 25 for 25 — A Memoir. But this isn’t about what I like. It is about what is important.

9. Follow-Up

I hate following up on people but running my academy has taught me that it is something I cannot do without. About 80% of the people I have followed up with have ended up enrolling with us. I read that a person has to see your advert up to 7 times before deciding to buy. So, I try to follow up up to 7 times before deciding to let someone go. It is not something I enjoy doing but you may permanently lose a customer if you fail to follow up that third or fourth time.

10. Support Systems

Yes, you need support systems. I have a ton of people who regularly send me comments that keep me going. I also have very few friends who call me and ask me questions and give me ideas on how to do things better. There are also people who refer me to their friends and families and that means a whole lot. Sometimes, it gets mentally overwhelming. In early December, for instance, I was struggling to keep up with business-personal life. I had thought leaving my 9 to 5 might mean more time for me. I was wrong. I am still as occupied as ever.

My boyfriend, Bukayo, has been a thorough support system. On many days, I still feel like this might fail. On many days, I feel like nobody will pay because they do not know me. Someone recently made me feel like I was beautifully set up for failure.

But having Bukayo makes the journey a lot easier. He is literally always there; from helping me look through design flyers to giving advice about an unclear decision I want to take to helping me recently set up my Facebook business account to letting me know I will do fine. I honestly could not have asked for anything better.

Recently we were together and he must have noticed a strain of paranoia in my mind. Looking into my eyes, he mildly said, “Baby, you know we will make a lot of mistakes, right? We will make a lot of mistakes but we will learn from them”.

And I have held on to that ever since. Perhaps it’s too early to say we’ve been doing a great job, but I do know that I am looking forward to growing and learning every step of the way.