Today we’d like to introduce you to Aleina Radovan.
Hi Aleina, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I started my business by a happy accident during the height of the 2020 Covid Pandemic. I got laid off instantaneously from my event coordinating position at a boutique hotel in Los Angeles and realized quickly the corporate world isn’t so stable after all. After 2 months passed, I realized I wasn’t going to get called back anytime soon, so I knew it was time to take things into my own hands. The idea of making a living on the internet has always been something that fascinated me from an early age. Growing up, I saw more and more people make well over a living wage from being their own boss on the internet. I kept telling myself if other people could be their own boss and have control over the time and location freedom, why can’t I? So, I went down the “how to make money online and be your own boss” rabbit hole of the internet, and boy, oh boy, can that be an overwhelming place to be.
There was one particular Facebook Ad I came across that immediately lit a fire in my intuition. It was a branding & website design course that was aimed towards women who wanted to take back control of their life by starting their own business working completely online – aka everything I was looking for. This course basically taught me how to gain the skills of being a branding & website designer and then how to market to start a business and attract clients. I always had a passion for all things design from a young age but never thought I could make a living out of it. Prior to taking this course, my first quarantine activity was teaching myself Photoshop and adobe programs, so this course fit right into those goals. Since I was collecting unemployment checks for a few months, I took advantage of the free time I had and treated this course like my own 9-5. Each day, I would work on building my illustrator skill sets and building out my portfolio. I did this every day for about 3 months until I had a portfolio I was proud of to share with the world, and I created my first Instagram post announcing this business venture of mine.
I truly had no idea where this was going to go. I started posting every day and engaging with other like-minded women who had their own online businesses and slowly built a following on Instagram. Once my website was launched about a month after my Instagram, I landed my first 2 clients almost immediately – a sweets chef in Australia and a food blogger in Canada. I will say, looking back now, when I first started my business, my prices were astronomically low because I didn’t have the confidence in my services. Over time, with each project, I became more confident in my process and had the clientele testimonials to back it up.
Within 6 months of launching my business, I replaced my monthly corporate income. My event planning job that I got laid off of ended up calling me back a year later, but I turned down their offer. At this point, I was confident that my business would succeed, and here I am, still going strong as I enter my fourth year of business!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I am about to be 4 years into business, and I am very fortunate to say that it has been a fairly smooth road so far in terms of clients. However, what has definitely been a challenge in this journey has been mental health. I wear many hats in my business and sometimes take on a little too much that it can feel like I am on the verge of burnout. Because I am my own boss, I have to be very disciplined, and sometimes, it can be hard to meet my own deadlines that I set for myself. If I ever need to push back a client project a day or two it can be mentally taxing. I tend to joke that I left my 9-5 for a 24/7 job. Although that is technically true, I always try to remind myself that the benefits of working for myself outweigh the cons. I can travel whenever I want and work from anywhere in the world if I choose to. My whole family still lives in Hawaii, so it is always an option for me to pick up my laptop and work from paradise when the LA life gets too much.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Aloha! My name is Aleina, and I am a branding and show it website designer. If you don’t know what exactly that is, I basically custom design the visual identity (logos, color palettes, fonts) and build out custom websites for my clients. Everything that I design is backed by strategy, focusing on my client’s goals and who they are trying to target. The visual identity is then curated based on the emotions we are aiming to exude and furthermore translates into their virtual storefront that is their website! My clients consist of a variety of women entrepreneurs who have service-based businesses. I particularly love working with other creatives because I get to bring out their own creative talent into the virtual space. I work with a lot of photographers, videographers, florists, event planners, hair stylists, and more! I specialize in designing websites on the show it platform, as this is a platform that a lot of creatives love (it’s very similar to the Adobe programs) It’s also a platform that doesn’t involve coding, so my clients can update their website without feeling scared that they are going to mess it up!
When clients come to me for a custom brand and website, they either don’t have the time to build their website themselves and/or don’t have the skillset. They realize that in order to establish a professional online presence, they feel confident in, they need to outsource to a designer!
My business is also in the transitioning phase of slowly becoming an agency. I currently partner with a copywriter and an SEO specialist for those clients who really want to go above and beyond a pretty website. Our trifecta package is a fully done-for-you service as my copywriter captures my client’s brand voice, and my SEO specialist does extensive keyword research and technical optimization to help with the clients who want to rank on Google.
The thing that I absolutely love most about my business is getting to work with the most passionate and like-minded women entrepreneurs. Seeing their reactions to their new branding and website never gets old, and it makes me feel good knowing that I’m helping other female entrepreneurs in this space feel confident showing up in their own business.
Alright, so before we go, can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
Reach out to me on Instagram (@aleinacreativeco) or schedule a discovery call with me on my website! https://aleinacreativeco.com/
Pricing:
- Website Design Only – Starting at $2,700
- Branding & Website Design – Starting at $3,800
- Branding, Website Design, Copywriting, Advanced SEO – Starting at $11,500
Contact Info:
- Website: https://aleinacreativeco.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleinacreativeco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aleinacreativeco
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleinacreativeco/
Image Credits
MD Photography
