If you had asked me when I was three months in Joyce Tsang Content Marketing, I would have told you being an entrepreneur sucks. I was so stressed out. Everything was a challenge, and everything took a lot of time. But it wasn't the work that blew my mind; it was how my brain changed. I was always locked in growth mode. I felt like I needed to see and remember everything. I had to make decisions on my own, and I had to make them sharp and fast. Because it felt like every minute wasted could have been effectively spent on doing something else.
1. Joyce Tsang as an Entrepreneur
My most prominent feeling of becoming an entrepreneur is how I yearned for the weekends, though they didn't promise rest. I have never wanted a break more. Towards the end of every day, I find myself gritting my teeth and pushing myself to go through that one last task before I called it a day. It is so exhausting, and I'm still going through this phase. But what I will tell you now after 12 months is the reward from the hard work is all worth the while.
I have transitioned from being a sad full-time employee to an entrepreneur, driven to share my passion with others every day. What has caused my struggle back in the day is no longer a hurdle for me. I can honestly share my opinion and help grow client businesses with strategies that can justify themselves.
I have accumulated a lot of experience and know my target audience's common struggles by working with more than a dozen clients in the past year. As a result, I have created several new landing pages on my website this month so that other freelancers, entrepreneurs, and even SMB owners can get their answers prior to speaking to me. They can see how it's like to work with me, what my achievements and data benchmarks are, and detailed client stories just by being on my website.
2. Search Engine Results Page
With that said, I have grown my website tremendously in the past year. After the revamp in August, I have continuously improved my content as well as my SEO. Though there is still quite a bit of work to be done, the results are evident. My website now ranks organically on pages 1 to 4 for several industry-related search terms. Not only does that increase my visibility to those who are looking for content marketing services, but I have also been able to use myself to prove that content marketing is highly effective.
In the past 12 months, my content has also attracted and connected me with other entrepreneurs in Hong Kong. Two of them are now my trusted partners, Kelvin from Onion Creative Ltd. and Pak from Votee. So, new and existing clients who request digital products, branding, and market research can enjoy my trusted partner's quality service through Joyce Tsang Content Marketing.
3. Building myself into an Industry Thought Leader
When I first started Joyce Tsang Content Marketing, I had a client who wanted to build himself into an industry thought leader. After I established a 3-month growth plan for him, I have been following the plan closely myself. And several months ago, the Marketing 2.0 Conference approached me. They wanted to learn more about my business and myself. After jumping on a call with them and filling in some forms, they gave me a digital Outstanding Leadership award. But that was not it. This October, they invited me to be a speaker at their conference in Dubai in March 2022. I will be sharing my thoughts with other panelists, and I will be awarded on stage. I am thrilled about the opportunity, and I see this as my first big step in networking with the world and sharing my passion with the global community.
4. What to expect in 2022
I currently have two retainer clients who will be working with me into 2022. One of them has already shown promising data metrics. In just two months, high-quality traffic has been driven into their website from our social media efforts, as indicated by a lowered bounce rate and an increased average time spent. And, unexpectedly, it has also resulted in an actual lead. At the same time, I am working on a content funnel for the other client with my web developer and designer. Hopefully, this funnel will result in promising data so it can be formulated into an ongoing program for other interested clients.
For this upcoming year, I wish to expand not just my clientele but also my team. I would love to have another full-time person on board to help me out with everything. Not to mention, I would like to dedicate a good amount of time to continue my influence through education. The Advanced Brand Management course in HKU Space is coming to an end, and next month I will be sharing to over 100 secondary school students with Cocoon's Entrepreneur @ 21st-century program.
I am pleased and proud of my performance this past year, and though it can be very demanding to run your own business, I believe I'm off on the right track. Working smart will indeed result in promising outcomes!
- Joyce