I am alllll about the get-rich-slow life. Let me explain.

P.S. I won't sell you anything or some life-changing process in this email. This is simply verbatim what I did.

I listened to a podcast the other day where the host said she 10Xed her business in a year and while that sounds impressive, for most people that won't work.

I thought I would walk you through a realistic timeline of growing my business in case you are comparing yourself to someone like her, I'll be your logic reality based alternative.

When I work with clients, I work on sustainable, consistent, business building and scaling practices. I don't believe in hacks, tricks, or any claims that get you rich quick. I do this because I have lived by it. My goal is to help you grow every year and build a business and life you love.

Let me stress - you should work by your own sustainable timeline. Below is mine and it doesn't have to be yours but I hope it can help you have some perspective.

It takes time to grow through a shift in mindset. Think about any big change you've ever made in your life. Did you instantly have success changing it, or did it take some time to figure out your systems to make it last?

For me, growing my business to a comfortable place took years of iterating to feel confident in the income I was making. (I will tell you how many years below) At times–– I couldn't give Lauren Davis Creative my full-time attention, and that was okay. I had another business I was growing simultaneously alongside a non-profit, with my marketing business.

Sustainability is everything. Wealth acquired quickly is not always sustainable in the long run. I am not interested in short-term trends because I don't want to constantly be re-launching things. Quite frankly that exhausts me. I have watched so many of my colleagues burn out this way.

And I AM NOT LUCKY. lol I don't even win scratch-off lottery tickets.

In no way do I want to build a business on luck– I want sustainability. I want to learn, understand, help people succeed, and provide for myself while saving for the future and living a life that makes me happy. Sustainably building wealth allows for a more stable financial situation. It allowed me to rebuild my whole life.

*Below, in red, I have outlined when my solo business, Lauren Davis Creative started making a profit. It does not illustrate any financial info about the other business or non-profit I was co-building, and growing year over year.

MY REALISTIC TIMELINE for LAUREN DAVIS CREATIVE:

2006-2010 (Not-profitable) I started co-building a brick and mortar record/gift store when I was 19 years old. Started promoting it using... Myspace. Lol
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Realized I loved marketing and growing that business so I made some business/branding/design-focused changes in my major in college. I created social media accounts and became an expert at telling stories to support our business.
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I knew networking was going to be a key ingredient. No one knew me. I started to put an emphasis on networking in my community and outside of my community. With help I co-founded a non-profit for local businesses.

As people started asking me about how we were building our brand as a local business, and we started getting regional and national attention, I opened the first version of Lauren Davis Creative originally called Lauren Vanags Design and Marketing. ​
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​2012-2015 (more expenses, not profitable) I rented a retail office space when I was 24 years old to focus— I met lots of local clients here but I spent a lot of time, as Gen Z says, just "locking in." I hosted wine-nights with entrepreneurs and put in a lot of long hours learning, working, building relationships virtually, and in person.

Because of the networking I was doing frequently, people started to pay attention to my story. I was nominated and awarded as one of the 20 people to know regionally which brought me some media attention. I started getting asked to speak at local, regional and some national events about how I built a local brick and mortar store and how to grow community with our volunteer-led active non-for-profit.​
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​2016 - 2017 (Profitable, 4-figure recurring income months - I was almost influenced to shut my LDC business down and I am glad I didn't!) Bought a building with my former spouse where I would house my office on the second floor and the store on the first floor.

On weekends I ran the retail store, and worked late nights on Lauren Davis Creative client work.

It was at this point I knew I needed to make some changes to prioritize my needs so I started to dedicate more time and intentional effort to Lauren Davis Creative. Educating myself, becoming a better coach, and investing in my development. I began consulting and coaching more clients and small businesses on building their sustainable brands and telling their stories.

2018 - (Profitable, BIG 5-figure quarters!) Started attending national and international conferences even though it was scary at first to travel across the country or ocean by myself.

I worked hard to develop relationships without expectation and I met speakers and mentors who would eventually work with me, hire me, and refer me to friends. I joined two incredible mastermind groups. I started getting a fire lit under my butt to host a conference locally and built more national and international clients into my roster.

I also did my first podcast interview ever with my bud Mike Kim and started my email list. (Yes, this one.) I went on to be on over 100 more podcasts, stages, and virtual stages from then until now.

With the help of an amazing board of directors, through our non-profit, planned our own marketing and masterminding conferences bringing in speakers with whom I had developed positive relationships from all over the country from 2018–2022. We hosted conferences 2x a year. After that I started speaking on more stages!

2019 - (Profitable, huge growth increase, FIRST solid 6-figure year!!) I was so proud of myself because I felt like prioritizing my business was paying off. With the encouragement of so many mentors, family and friends, I launched a podcast about hosting live-business-events at the beginning of 2020. Whoops!

2020 - (Profitable, but less than the year before, and that was okay.) Found out quickly that a podcast about live-business-events was going nowhere fast as the global pandemic happened, so I switched gears to create the Real Personal Branding Podcast where I could talk about live events, marketing, branding, and the stories behind the people–my favorite things all together.

I busted my butt trying to help our local business survive the pandemic, and I gave my cell phone number out in an email to every local business in our non-for-profit, telling them I would be there to help them brainstorm. I felt their defeat and wanted desperately to help so many.

2021- (Profitable AGAIN! Solid 6-Figures again!) Started a mastermind of powerful international entrepreneurs in April!

Continued developing my expertise, networking, giving, and speaking on virtual stages. Continued helping my local business plan events, and market ourselves to the community.

In the Fall, I separated from my spouse and then divorced at the end of the year and flipped my life upside down. I left the store and my former life of 15 years. I gained so much clarity. I had no choice but to walk away from many things and I was devastated but the one thing no one could take from me was my business, relationships and my personal brand. I completely uprooted and changed my life for the better.

2022 - (Profitable! Solid 6-Figures again! Big growth!) My business blossomed like a butterfly. My eyes were open to new possibilities. I found new healthy love. Begun working with more speakers on building their personal brands and businesses as a natural progression. Just like businesses were asking how I built the store early on, speaker friends were noticing the business of speaking is just as important as being on stage... and I was able to help them grow!

2023 - (Profitable! Solid 6-Figures again! Big growth!) Traveled the country, continued to focus on my health, living a life true to myself, and today in 2024 I’m here.

Today I help people build the kind of business I have–a solid one. Through masterminds, consulting, and coaching I remind them about the long game: building a business you can love isn't built on luck and vanity metrics that don't actually matter. The key is to build sustainable growth, year after year, develop yourself in a way that is meaningful for you, and provide for the life you want.

It doesn't happen overnight and I'm living proof.

Did you make it this far? If you did, I hope it has given you some perspective on all of the ups and downs that come with building something.

Was this helpful? Let me know! I am really here behind these emails and I write them in real time. In fact I am sitting in the front seat of the Ram Promaster Van I am traveling the country in with my partner. You can follow my adventures on Instagram.

Happy growing.

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Lauren V. Davis

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