5 March 2021|Latest Posts, Meet the Successful Founder
Faye is an award winning designer, working in the design industry for 20 years following on from her graphic design degree. She started her career in animation designing title sequences, commercials and in programme graphics for clients such as BBC, ITV and The Discovery Channel. Faye is an experienced online teacher, teaching on the Skillshare platform which has a community of 8 million people. As a Skillshare Top Teacher, 70,000 students have taken her classes on subjects such as typography, creativity, colour and branding.
For the past 10 years Faye has run her own company Faye Brown Designs specialising in branding design. She believes in working in partnership with creative business owners and entrepreneurs helping them build a stand out brand that will attract the right customers for them. Hundreds of clients have trusted Faye to bring their brand to life. She lives and works in Hampshire, is mum to 2 children and loves to travel. At the weekend she transfers her teaching skills to the football pitch where she helps train her son’s football team.
What would you love to share with other women to encourage them to start their own business?
I’d love to encourage women to follow their dreams and find their true purpose in the world. Whilst I loved my career working in Soho I felt it was time to move away from the structure of a big company and find my own clients. I started teaching on a platform called Skillshare which in turn bought me a new joy to the work I do. Getting heart felt testimonials from students about how a class really helped them with a certain area of their own careers gave me a greater sense of purpose and made me realise that we can all make a deeper impact. I think if we can all find that secret sauce within ourselves and share that with our community, nationally or globally we will all benefit – so each one of us will be inspired by others but also an inspiration to others.
Start by making small steps to your ideal life – it’s not always practical to just quit your job on a whim. Start my making a 5 year plan and each day try to make a small step to reaching that goal. Don’t get caught up with the odd set back, just keep your focus on the end game.
What are your top 5 tips for entrepreneurial success?
1. Take time to figure out your ideal client or customer and focus on the best approach, places and language to communicate with them to build a lasting relationship. For example, you might not need to be on every social platform out there – this can take up a lot of time. Focus on maybe 2 that your ideal audience use the most.
2. Outsource what you can – if you don’t like doing accounts, hire an accountant and free up that time to do what you love within your business
3. Keep learning – take a course, read a book, go to that workshop – it’s important to keep growing your skillset
4. Set boundaries – when running your own business it’s easy to lose track of the hours and work constantly. When possible, give yourself set hours to work whether you are an early bird or night owl. Try to find a good work / life balance.
5. Don’t under estimate the importance of branding – a good branding strategy along with a strong visual identity will help your business stand out, be instantly recognisable and consistent in communicating your values and offering.
Who are the 5 women who most inspire you?
1. Dorothy Vaughan – she didn’t let the colour of her skin or gender stop her from following her dreams in a male dominant field at the time
2. Sarah Gilbert – designed the Oxford Covid vaccine! I mean wow!
3. Tailor Swift – after watching Miss Americana on Netflix it highlighted to me just how much women are treated differently by the press over males and Tailor tackles this head on
4. Elizabeth Gilbert – among other things I love her Ted Talk on finding your creative genius
5. My Mum – for so many reasons!
What is your favourite inspirational quote?
“Measure your success by how much fun you are having”
I don’t know who said it first! It’s in a business dairy I have
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