Who or what inspired you to start your business?
After spending 10 years working as a designer, developer and project manager and holding a senior title for the latter 3 years, I realized that it wasn’t the life that I wanted forever. That became even more clear when I got pregnant with my first daughter and started planning ways to grow my side business to spend more time with her. I quit my job during my maternity leave to start AH Design Studio.
My daughter is almost 2 years old now, and it’s very important for me to be able to grow my business while she is around me. She is my WHY and my inspiration. Seeing her smile while I work on amazing client projects makes me so motivated!
I use my expertise in creating websites and online courses to help entrepreneurs all around the world to launch and scale their business online. From solopreneurs to agencies, I’ve helped some reach their first $1k with digital courses and others reach their first 6-figure launch.
Now, my #1 passion is to help overworked and burnout entrepreneurs create personal and financial freedom so they can do more of what they love with the people they adore. All with the power of launches!
What was your biggest struggle when starting out?
For me it was figuring out how to balance being a new mom and a new business owner. I had a hard time asking for help, and had the unrealistic idea that I had to do all by myself. Over time, I was very lucky to create incredible connections with other business owners that gave me all of the support that I needed to make the right decisions and keep growing.
What’s the number one thing you attribute to growing your business?
In 2020, my husband and I sold everything that we had in California and moved to Florida with our daughter. We agreed that for the first 6 months here he would stay home with our daughter while I worked on setting up a strong foundation for business.
I used every second of those 6 months to study, grow, strategize and build the business of my dream. I was able to take my business to where I’ve always dreamt before he was back to work. I couldn’t have done it without all of his support!
During this time I was able to deeply connect with my audience, learn their needs and create tailored offers that make a huge impact in their businesses.
What podcasts are you listening to or business books are you reading right now?
I love listening to podcasts. My favorite ones are:
- Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast
- Goal Digger Podcast
- Screw the Nine to Five
- The BrandWell Podcast
What mindset shifts have you made to set your business up for success?
When I started my business I had the idea that I had to offer everything that I knew. That became very overwhelming very quickly, because besides all of what I was offering to my clients I had to handle all of the tasks that are necessary to run an online business — social media, finance, sales, etc.
I started to trim my offerings to things that I was actually incredibly passionate about, and learned how to say no. Initially, I thought that by offering less I was going to repel new clients, which in fact is true, but it’s not a bad thing. When I became very specific with my offerings — website and online courses only — I started attracting even more clients looking for what I was offering. Now I have a business that I love, I am proud of and it doesn’t overwhelm or stresses me with tasks that I don’t enjoy.
What’s your favorite music to listen to when you’re creating graphics?
It depends on the vibe of what I am creating. I like to listen to music that puts me in the right mood. For example, if I am working on a client’s project that is colorful and fun, I listen to pop music that makes me dance on my chair. If I am working on a project that has a neutral and minimalist look and feel, I search for meditation tracks that keep me calm and focused.
How do you decide on what images to use for your brand?
I want my brand to be very transparent. I want my potential clients to have an idea of my business and day-to-day when they find me. I want them to understand that I work from home, most of the time from my laptop while I am sitting on the floor entertaining my daughter. I want the images on my website and social media to reflect that. I try to choose images that are similar to my reality, and perfectly represent my life and business. I usually also use the filter options in the Haute Stock library to choose images that match my brand colors to reduce the amount of time editing them. I am always able to find exactly what I am looking for in the results.
What’s your favorite Haute Stock collection?
When I first started my business, I used the Home Office Collection, as I didn’t have the time to hire a professional photographer with my few days old baby. This collection has the clean and airy working from home vibe that I was looking for and the colors matched my brand at the time. Since then I have rebranded my website and taken professional photos but I still have a few Haute Stock photos there that perfectly matches my new branding.
How has Haute Stock helped you in your business?
It has helped me not only have an incredible gallery of photos at my finger tips to use on my own Instagram, emails and blog but also to create incredible mood boards and mockups for my clients, to define the perfect look and feel that we want to create for their new website or online course. I literally talk about Haute Stock with all of my clients because they are always very impressed with the quality of the photos that I present and ask me where I get them from, so they can become a member too. I absolutely love the idea of having entire collections so I am not spending hours looking for images that match each other.
What has been your biggest business lesson learned?
Create a business that you love! After working over a decade in agencies, I started my business focused only on what I could offer instead of what I wanted to offer. Once I pivoted, I created a business that I am 100% passionate about which directly reflects on the quality of the work that I offer to my clients, which makes them always happy to work with me and utilize my expertise to launch and grow their own business online.
Aline Hoss
has over 13 years of experience participating in strategic design and development projects for many amazing clients from all over the world. Aline is a Brazilian-born, web-design-obsessed, toddler-mom who loves helping entrepreneurs launch their websites and digital courses. Her #1 mission is to help entrepreneurs rock the online business world and launch their digital courses so they spend more time doing the things they love with the people they adore.
stay connected: @alinehoss
