Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Paulo.
Hi Danielle, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Before founding Creative Haus, I was a Chief Marketing Officer for another company. I did not feel happy or satisfied with where I was and I decided that I was going to change that. I wanted to leave and find a job elsewhere, but I realized that there weren’t too many CMO jobs out there. I had been making good money and grown accustomed to living a certain lifestyle, one a bit luxurious that I wanted to keep affording. This is when I decided to open up my own business and I founded Creative Haus. I filed our taxes and legalized the business. It has definitely been a long, difficult journey, but it’s been worth it. We provide services at a reasonable cost that other businesses do not, and this is what I associate a great part of our success to.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Like every business owner out there, I have definitely encountered some struggles along the way. When I first founded the agency, I did not have a business mentor to help guide me through the process. I quickly realized that was a big mistake. I also put all of my financials into hiring employees too quickly without expanding the business first and limiting my client’s contracts. There were quite a few trials and errors considering I started this business by myself, so I had to learn along the way. I thought hiring as many employees as I could in the beginning would help expand, but it took more effort and responsibility from my part. I should have allowed the business to thrive first before hiring a bigger team. Along with working with my clients for the first time as a business, I had to revise a lot of contracts. It was a hassle to cater to so many different clients at once, but I have learned to discuss expectations and workloads before bringing a client on board. Because our contracts are not for years at a time, we are constantly saying goodbye to old clients and welcoming new ones. Marketing can be quite inconsistent and unpredictable. At times, you have too many clients at once, and other times, you don’t have enough. This presents quite the challenge.
As you know, we’re big fans of Creative Haus. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Creative Haus is an all-female digital marketing agency based in Orange County, CA. This agency was founded by CEO Danielle Paulo during the middle of the pandemic to aid start-ups and small businesses with their marketing plans and branding strategies. We market our business through referrals and social media. We are very active on all social media platforms as we also use those as portfolios for potential clients to view. How would a company want to work with a marketing agency if they cannot market themselves as well? We use each social media platform for their own purposes and roles. For example, we use Instagram to highlight our client’s work and educate our followers on marketing strategies and we use TikTok for inspiration and trend spotting. Creative Haus has gotten the opportunity to work with several different clients and big public figures. Our services include: branding strategy, photography, website design, content creation, social media management, influencer + community outreach, and PR/Publicity.
What’s next?
Creative Haus plans to expand within this year by outsourcing our services. We want to open up our services to cater to bigger companies and work with them under contracts for their clients. Companies cannot pay for advertising right now so we can offer affordable alternatives to still help market their business and come up with other marketing strategies that are more effective yet within budget. I just want to expand this business in a way that is profitable and I don’t ever want to feel “stuck” like I did in my previous job. I am hoping that after some time, the agency can be more sustainable on its own, without me having to give much direction. I also want to launch a few more businesses and get back to traveling once this pandemic is over.
Pricing:
- Social Media Management: $3,000- $4,000 per month
- Content Creation: $1,500- $2,000 per month
- Publicity/PR: $3,000 per month
- Influencer Outreach: $2,500 per month
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://www.creativehaus.us/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativehausagency/
