Curious about working with a brand identity and web designer but not sure if you're ready?

Here are 4 signs you're ready to work with a pro.

You've been in business for a couple years
Your current branding and website aren’t attracting ideal customers
Your time is valuable
You value collaborating with other business owners

Let’s dive in and take a closer look at the 4 signs you’re ready to work with a pro on your brand identity and website.

1. You've Been in Business for a Couple Years

a. You’ve Defined Your Niche

You did your research, tested out your business idea and have put in the time to get your business up and running.

You’ve been able to attract clients and make an income. At this point, you’ve carved out a niche for yourself. It may have taken some tweaking and trial and error but you now have a solid tribe that benefits from your offerings.

While you’ve been able to earn an income and support yourself, you realize that your branding and website don’t necessarily quite align with the level of professionalism your business operates at – there’s a disconnect there.

b. Established Yourself as a Trusted Authority and Developed an Engaged Following

Once you found your niche, you put in the time to nurture a relationship with your audience, building trust, respect and a reputation for being an expert in your field.

As a result you’ve developed an engaged following that thinks of you as a professional in your field. In order to maintain their attention you need to continue to provide value but your business also needs to look the part. Your brand and website need to reflect your level of professionalism.

2. Your Current Branding and Website Aren't Attracting Your Ideal Customers

If you’ve been able to attract clients, but feel you aren’t finding ideal ones, it may be time to review your brand and website to see if you are sending the right messages to the right people.

Your current brand might not be reflective of who you are if you created it at the beginning of your business, before you had a good idea of who your ideal client was, or because your business has shifted focus.

Maybe you DIY'd your brand at the beginning of your business. When you started out, it was more important to you to spend your valuable resources on things other than branding, knowing that once you got your business going, you’d be able to come back to branding with a proper budget and a great idea of who your business serves and what it's all about.

At this point, you now know more about your target market’s needs and wants and are able to clearly articulate them.

Or maybe your brand identity and website reflected your business perfectly two years ago but after working in your field and serving your clients to the best of your ability, you’ve learned that your clients would benefit from something different.

You’ve been able to pivot your services to better accommodate their needs. Now with your new offerings, your brand needs to be updated to better reflect your new positioning.

3. Your Time is Valuable

You don’t want to DIY your design. You know exactly what and how you need to spend your time. And although you appreciate great design, your creative genius lies in serving your clients, not spending hours trying to get Illustrator or Photoshop to do exactly what you want them to.

After building up your business, you now know how your time is spent most effectively and you are able to delegate what isn’t the best use of your time. It’s time to bring in a brand identity and website pro to elevate your brand to your trusted expert status.

Or perhaps you’ve spent time upfront, researching your business idea and have been able to validate it. You have experience and know what's involved in starting a business so you already have a good idea of where you need to focus your expertise and where you would most benefit from enlisting other creative entrepreneurs’ skills.

4. You Value Collaborating with Other Business Owners

You value working with fellow entrepreneurs that get what you're doing and have experience running their own business.

The idea of community is a driving force behind what you do and being able to support other creative entrepreneurs fits with your business’ goals.

You recognize that working in your business makes you somewhat subjective. By bringing in an expert who can look at your business with an objective lens, you will benefit from a fresh perspective that isn’t entrenched on where you’ve been and can effectively bring new ideas to the table. New ideas that could very well help you achieve your goals faster than if you were doing it all on your own.