It’s been over a year and a half since I started Careful Feet Digital, but in some ways, it feels more like 20. We’ve served over two dozen clients, many of whom were with us until Covid-19 hit (more about that later!), working on projects across the digital spectrum, including SEO, PPC, design, web development and digital strategy. In the last 18 months, I personally have given 15 talks, pitches and trainings and grown the team from just myself to nine freelancers across two continents and five time zones.
If you flip back through the archives of this blog, you might be puzzled about the content, or why I’ve decided to keep it live. Quite simply put, this website, this brand and this business is a map of my life thus far: I started CFD as a travel blog in 2011, I grew the blog content (and readership) through the early part of the decade, parlayed that following to start freelancing and grew from freelancer to agency in the last few years of the 2010s. It shows where I’ve been, and it shows that regardless of where you’ve been, you can’t always know where you’re going—but it is likely someplace far more exciting than a week away in some tropical clime. (Although that sounds pretty nice right about now, too!)
The past year and a half has come with so many wins: growing and scaling a business, creating a new product (for more about that, see Dime Digital) and expanding our services to continental Europe and Australia. But of course, it wouldn’t be a 2020 blog post without mentioning the current crisis of Covid-19, which has obviously added increased strain as clients cut back marketing spends and therefore have to pause or finish work with our company. But more than anything, the overarching challenge has been building and creating a business- and a life- amidst the backdrop of being a woman of color. This isn’t just lip service to the current climate, this is an issue I’ve faced, and discussed, for years; I even started a networking series for female founders of color in late 2019 because my personal lack of networks, access to funding and the fact that I’m often the only brown face in accelerators, pitch meetings, talks and trainings. Perhaps our growth as a company has been slower, or different, because of these challenges. But it’s made me, and the company, more resilient, creative and compassionate, dedicated to addressing, challenging and ultimately overcoming adversity in any form that steps in our way. I like to believe that we’re ultimately made of stronger stuff because our foundations were built from trial and error, DIY spirit and ultimately, the belief that a student freelancing her way to seeing the world could build a digital agency- from scratch- in just 18 months.
We are a distributed team of freelancers that come together to provide our clients with the best services possible. Sure, every agency says this, but we have an advantage: because our team works on other projects and side hustles, they bring with them their experience not only from CFD work, but from all those other projects, experiments and even their unique perspectives and culture. We aren’t constricted by borders, so we can bring the best in the world, literally, to the table. And we’re fighters: scrappy, agile and creative, so you’ll get the best bang for your buck (euro, pound, lira or other currency!), too.
I’m really proud of the company that I’ve built, the team I’ve put together and the services we provide. To be able to say we’ve done it so fast, and are pushing through these hard times, is a privilege that I’m so grateful for, and don’t at all take for granted. In recognition of that privilege, and because I had to fight so hard, so many times, for access to great mentorship, insights, information and feedback, I want to start the CFD blog back up. But we’re offering more than words here. We’re offering action. Our aim is to offer high quality, tangible marketing information for business owners: people just starting out, or people on small budgets, or people looking to learn more, wanting to grow and expand their businesses. The entrepreneurs, small business owners, people who fight and grind and work hard- whatever that looks like for them- to offer the best to their customers and clients. This blog is for you- I hope you can take something away from it that is helpful, actionable and most importantly ups your marketing game. We’re here to support you, help you and ultimately keep you going through thick and thin.
Xoxo, Khaleelah
PS: Thoughts? Feedback? Things you think we should write about? Tweet me @carefulfeet and our blog team will make it happen.