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Here’s a bit about my business & personal journey in by year!

2009: Birth of the Photobook Design Business
It was in 2009 that my venture into entrepreneurship began. I had just finished my master’s studies in Bremen, Germany in International Relations and was looking for a job in the world of non-governmental organizations (NGO’s). Having worked at the United Nations for 4 and a half years in New York, that is all I could think of. The Red Cross, World Vision, UNICEF - that’s where I wanted to be. So I applied everywhere. But somehow it was not meant to be.

Tired of waiting, I decided to take a break from all the tedious job application process and decided to make a photobook. I had also just gotten married to the love of my life and had dozens of digital photos that family and friends had sent us. I spent three days non-stop designing this photobook, collating, curating and designing! I loved it. I tapped into the creative energy specifically towards visual arts that I’ve always had within me.

This photobook when published was sent to our parents who loved it. My Mom, in particular, showed it to all her colleagues and friends and work. And they liked it so much, they wanted one for themselves. That’s how my first business started. I made wedding photobooks, a collection of nature photographs, daughter’s graduation pictures, a quinceñara party photos, grandparents old photos, family vacation photobook and so on and so forth. I was still living in Germany at the time and my Mom was sending me clients from New Jersey, USA with whom I would skype and then receive their photos via email! Business was picking up and I got the biggest project from a woman in Mexico who wanted to make a series of photobooks of her and husband’s entire life. This was when boundaries opened up for me even more. I also made my biggest blunder by investing in a $6000 website that I will tell you about another time!

2010: Change of Focus
My husband and I moved to the USA and I was concerned by the number of books we were publishing that also meant a lot of ink and trees being used. At the time, I didn’t know how to offset this negative impact on our environment by using paper from environmentally sustainable forests or by donating profits to sustainable forestry. I lost sleep at night because it was increasingly bothered by how my business was not benefitting but hurting the environment. I decided to change my focus.

2010-2015: Meditation & Mindfulness Programs
My next turn was towards mindfulness and meditation. I started hosting online meditations, published blogs and videos on positive mindset and cultivating compassion. These were the years where my library was full of new age authors from Wayne Dyer, Caroline Myss, Deepak Chopra to watching/reading content online by Alan Watts, Eckhart Tolle, Debbie Ford. I started teaching visualization meditations to friends in my living room and then at a local venue where I did my first 7 week course with 10 students. I loved it. I wanted to reach more people. I was writing, shooting and editing lots of videos for my YouTube channel and this is where my BFA in filmmaking from NYU finally came in handy!

This is when I began researching all about digital marketing. I watched every webinar I could, read every blog and watch every video I could on how to get your business noticed online and get clients from around the world. I also made my first website on Squarespace for only $8/month - a far cry from what I had invested just a few years prior!

2016: My First Email Marketing Client
It is sometimes funny when you look back at your journey and see how things began. I had began researching and learning about online/digital marketing and it was in August that I was on a webinar by Melyssa Griffin where she was teaching about online business. I was a participant among several others and many folks were asking questions that were going unanswered. There were literally hundreds of participants. So I began answering some of them and helping out other participants. One of them liked what I had to say and asked for my email. We emailed back and forth and she asked me if I could help her set up her ConvertKit account and connect it to her Squarespace site. I said yes and that was my first $90 as an online consultant - hugely underpriced but hey, it got me started and I loved it! I have many stories of how my clients found me and I find it very fascinating to learn how our paths meet.

2016: Became a ConvertKit Certified Expert
I then decided to get certification after which I started sophiaojha.com and listed my services. I posted a profile on Upwork and a lot of new clients found me from there - all over the US and even Australia and Hong Kong. This was very exciting.

2017: Hired By ConvertKit, LLC
In December 2016, I got an email from the ConvertKit staff that they wanted to hire me to their internal migration projects for clients with 10,000 to 50,000 email subscribers. I was thrilled. I loved working with the ConvertKit team and the ongoing projects they sent my way.

2017: Burn-out
Yeah, it didn’t take long - by August of 2017, I hit my burnout zone. I was tired, exhuasted and drained. I had taken no breaks, was serving clients left and right and had become a robot. I wanted to do more. I wanted to teach. I wanted to empower - not just implement tasks. I took a break for several months just to get back in the game more energized.

2018: Content Creation
With a renewed focus, I began creating blogs and videos on all things email marketing and web design. I was teaching and sharing everything I could and serving clients as well. This is when I made point 1 of my Manifesto, my guiding principle: Exist to serve. Teach. Do it generously. Now my website and my YouTube channel was how clients were finding me. This was thrilling!

2018: Became a Squarespace Authorized Trainer
Fruits of your labor blossom in their own time. Out of nowhere, in April 2018, I got an email from the Squarespace team that they would like to invite me to join their Squarespace Authorized Trainer program. I was ecstatic! The very next month, I launched “Create A Website that Converts” my 90 minute workshop. After a few runs, I realized that it was jam-packed and had too much content. My students would benefit from a beginner course. That’s when I launched my second course, “Squarespace Fundamentals”, which is more geared towards beginners.

2019: Launched Host Your Course, Online Course
In the summer of 2019, I launched my first mini-course, “Host Your Course”. It is a small course that teaches entrepreneurs how to leverage their Squarespace websites. You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars a year to have your course hosted on some other platform. Use your own Squarespace website to generate your first revenue with a course and validate your idea. My first cohort had 6 students! It felt great.

2019: Hired by Squarespace, Inc
In the Fall of 2019, I got an email from the Squarespace Strategic Partnerships team asking me if I was interested in working with them. Someone from the Authorized Trainer program recommended me (I still don’t know who - a big thanks to you) because of the online trainings and workshops I was doing. Of course, I said yes and got working on this new project. It has been great working with the Squarespace team and very satisfying to be noticed like that by the NYC team.

2020 - 2023: Designing Websites For Clients + Burnout (here it is again)
In the summer of 2020, I got invited to be offer my services on Squarespace Marketplace/99Designs as a Squarespace Expert. I have been designing sites intensely in these three years, hit my first 100K annual revenue as a freelance/self-employed designer and started to teach other designers how to craft a red carpet experience of their clients and grow their business. Got 82 Five Star Reviews from clients on the 99D platform (since summer 2020) and built 27 full Websites 2022 along with dozens of smaller tweaks and maintenance projects.

Then, in Jan 2023, I hit my highest monthly revenue $22K. The excitement of this milestone was soon replaced by burnout. As a solopreneuer managing everything in the business and I am still learning how to create space while also increasing my revenue sustainably without losing my peace of mind! I am on the path to finding the happy medium of growth and “enough”.

So, I took some weeks off to rejuvenate and refocus my energies. Now (Sept 2023) I am back with new ideas, new learning goals and projects. I am now opening my eyes towards new design platforms (hint: Framer - super excited about this one). And there’s another project that I am really excited about is creating Inflow & Grow Video Podcast with Cristof Ensslin (also my hubby), all geared towards helping web designers and freelancers in general to grow their business and build their nest egg. We will also be interviewing other webdesigners/freelancers, CEO’s making a difference as well as financial planners, investment coaches and so on to get more useful resources out into the open. Can’t wait to announce about that soon!

And so the story continues. Thanks for making it all the way this far.

Wanna chat about a project / collab idea? Reach out to me at so@sophiaojha.com or twitter or contact form.