Graphic Designer Laura Viola Maccarone

Podcast Intro

About this podcast episode…

Laura Viola Maccarone OF RIZBEE STUDIO

Laura has been a professional graphic designer for over 20 years, but her freelance journey began in 2008 after the birth of her first child. With daycare in Manhattan costing more than rent, Laura started piecing together freelance work from home; juggling projects from a tiny dining table in a fourth-floor walk-up.

Freelancing wasn’t always smooth. But eventually, after settling in Massachusetts, it clicked.

After a particularly harsh freelance interview left her devastated, Laura made a decisive shift. She stopped calling herself Rizby Designs and became Rizbee Studio instead - a small but powerful change that reframed how clients perceived her work. And how she saw herself and her business.

Laura began positioning herself as a studio, using “we”, and gradually building a trusted team of contractors around her.

Over time, Laura discovered what she truly loved: designing brand systems, particularly for consumer packaged goods in the food and beauty industries. Finding her niche was the next big change.

Laura’s growth has been fuelled by intentional networking. From women-led business groups locally, to major industry expos across the US. Laura shares how she approaches events, follows up thoughtfully, and builds genuine relationships that often turn into work, even if it’s months later.

Laura also shares why she’s invested heavily in her business over the past few years: hiring a business coach (who’s helped her double revenue year-on-year), bringing on a social media manager, fractional CMO, director of operations, CFO, and freelance designers - all while remaining the creative heart of the studio.

Beyond client work, Laura has created something rare: a true client community. Including hosting a client appreciation dinner (first time we’ve heard that on the podcast!). She explains how fostering connection between clients has become a defining part of her business.

It feels amazing the difference defining herself as a ‘studio’ instead of a freelancer has made.

Available as a video podcast too - Watch here on the site, on YouTube, or Spotify.

Read a full transcript & get Links in the tabs.

 
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Transcript

Transcript of the Being Freelance podcast with Steve Folland and Creative Director of Rizbee Studio, Laura Viola Maccarone

Steve Folland: Shall we head to Massachusetts and chat to this week's guest that is Creative director and graphic designer Laura Viola Maccaronne. Hey Laura!

Laura Viola Maccarone: Hello. Hello. How are you?

Steve Folland: Oh, I'm good. Thanks so much for doing this.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Thanks for having me.

Steve Folland: Now as ever, how about we get started hearing how you got started being freelance?

Laura Viola Maccarone: I've been a professional graphic designer for 22 years, and my freelance gig came about after I had my first child. In Manhattan to put child in daycare was more expensive than our rent, and we just couldn't swing it. So I, I just started freelancing and working from home.

Steve Folland: So how long ago was that?

Laura Viola Maccarone: 2008. I moved to freelance at a magazine that I was working at, and then I picked up another freelance gig with another magazine.

And then I did some record label designs, album cover art and layouts. And then I did their marketing materials. So it was just like little things from everywhere.

Steve Folland: But were these people you knew, were you contacting them?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yeah. Through, yes. There were people that I knew definitely. And people helping me out, throwing a few bucks here and there with a newborn.

Steve Folland: Yeah. And there's another thing, so how, were you working? Were you working from home back then?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes, on a fourth floor walkup. Would change our little tiny dining room table into my desk during the day with the kid bouncing right next to me. And that would, that's how we got on. That's how we started.

Steve Folland: Do you know what? I did the same thing. And even though we've moved and like at one point I moved into an office, I still took the kitchen table with me.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes.

Steve Folland: So I was in this big fancy office, but I had the same... like the people who ran it were like, are you sure you don't want us to get your desk? I was like, no, this, is symbolic.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes! We recently cleaned out the house about a year ago. And we got rid of that kitchen table that we had in Manhattan, and I was like it... it had many lives, this table. And I was like, I don't know if I can get rid of it. And my husband's Laura! Get it outta here.

Steve Folland: That's quite a long time ago. What? 17 years ago?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yeah.

Steve Folland: Yeah. How did it develop? How did you start to feel about this new freelance career you'd found yourself in?

Laura Viola Maccarone: It was scary, unpredictable, and definitely had its ups and downs. And there seemed to be seasons where... where the work would be all of a sudden all together. And then the work would be like, tumbleweeds kinda going across the kitchen floor. Or maybe that's just because I need to clean the house. I don't know.

But we moved from Manhattan to San Francisco, and San Francisco was actually harder to be a freelancer. It was much harder. Everybody was a graphic designer in San Francisco and everybody thought that they were the best of the best. So if your work wasn't... I don't know. It was, 2003 I started and we're thinking like 2009. So I'm still green, I'm still green at that point, and freelancing. So it was hard in San Francisco.

It really took off when we moved to Massachusetts. We settled in Massachusetts and I took, I'm technically still a freelancer, but I took like my freelance gig and as a graphic designer, it's all about branding and it's all about how you sell yourself, so to speak. So I took the freelance gig and turned it into... by adding studio to the name. So it's, I'm still freelance, but the work is consistent. It's... it's a beautiful thing and I love it. I love it. I love what I do.

Steve Folland: Okay, we need to dive into this then. So this is Rizbee Studio?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes.

Steve Folland: So were you calling yourself Rizbee before that?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yeah, that was my nickname growing up.

Steve Folland: Ah, nice.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Folland: But were you like, I don't know, Rizbee Designs?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes, I was Rizbee Designs. Yep. Yep.

Steve Folland: So a, so right from the beginning you decided to go with a name, with a company name. Yep. Why was that?

Laura Viola Maccarone: I wanted my own portfolio and I didn't want Laura Viola dot com and, 'cause this was right before I got married and I just didn't want my name as a web address.

So I came up with Rizbee Designs.com and that's just how it started. And it was just Laura Viola Maccaronne but it's Rizbee Designs.com and when we moved to Massachusetts, I decided. Pretty early on, like maybe had only been here maybe about five months, and I was like, you know what?

I'm just gonna, I'm gonna make a studio. I'm gonna make a studio. I'm gonna change just the wording just to see what happens. And it's been growing progressively every year.

Steve Folland: What was your thinking? To, I'll see what happens, but there must have been something like, what?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Oh, there was, you're gonna get it outta me, aren't you? There was.

I went for an interview to freelance for somebody and it was the worst interview I had ever been to. My work was like ripped apart and yeah. Oh yeah. It was like, I didn't come in for a critique. Like I already went to art school like twice. Like I don't, and so when I got home, I was so devastated that I literally opened up Instagram and I made an account Rizbee Studio, and I was like, I guess I'm a studio now,

Steve Folland: But, even that, what was the difference between calling yourself Rizbee Designs and Rizbee Studio? Because it's obviously made a big difference ultimately.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes, I think it sounded... again, it's all about how you sell yourself, but I think it sounded more established. Okay, we're a studio and I always use, 'we', it's me.

I am growing my team now and I definitely have contractors that I work with on a consistent basis. But yeah, it's, it, I still use, 'we',

Steve Folland: So this was 10 years ago, so congratulations. Yeah. So 10 years.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Thank you.

Steve Folland: Rizbee Studio. Yeah. But if I go to your website as you, you might use, 'we', But you are, you are all over it. Your face is all over it. Yes. Laura's name is all over it. Yes. As in 'Laura was great' in the testimonials, that kind of thing.

Yes. so yeah. So it's still very much you.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Oh, a thousand percent. It is. It actually is just me. We don't have any W2 employees. Work on projects, you work directly with me.

Steve Folland: So 2016 you become Rizbee Studio. What... else changes other than the name though? Do you start going for different kind of work?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Not yet. I, I started to explore what I wanted to work on, and what I love working on.

I would take on any kind of project and just see how it went, and through that exploration, up until the pandemic, I had finally realized, like what I love to do, which is... I love, designing systems for brands.

The first system I ever designed under Rizbee Studio is an aromatherapy company, and they have 360 products that are all handmade in their lab and there's collections and they all talk to each other.

So we had to design this whole entire like visual vernacular system, and I was in heaven designing that.

Steve Folland: How did that project come to you or you come to it?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Oh, I was in their flagship store. I bought something and I introduced myself to the owner who happened to be ringing me up and I said, I was like, I just took it and I said, have you ever thought of rebranding?

And she was like, you know what? I have been. And I was like, I would love to talk with you more about that. And she was like, okay, let's have coffee. It was so serendipitous. It was so serendipitous. And we had coffee, we hit it off. And then I did this, big presentation in my kitchen for her and gave her all these options.

And then we chose like a direction, and then we developed the whole system. So we did, like I keep saying, 'we'. I drew 87 custom illustrations and we picked out the whole color palette, for the whole brand. We redid their logo, we did everything.

Steve Folland: Wow. And you think, I loved doing that. I wanna do more with this.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes, definitely.

Steve Folland: So how have you gone about getting more of those sort of clients? You're not just hanging around in all their stores hoping...

Laura Viola Maccarone: Saying, Hey,

Steve Folland: Maybe you are!,

Laura Viola Maccarone: Maybe I am! No, I think that for me, the biggest thing has been networking. I don't know if you have this, but in the States, it seems there was networking events that always seemed to take place, but then there was this shift and these networking events started being more, like female oriented and female founders and c-suites and, leaders, started developing, I would say around 2015, 2016.

And so I joined my first one and I met like a bunch of people who were starting out their businesses and they needed branding. So I started out small and then it just grew because the networking community just grew. And I think it's really important to, to put yourself out there and meet people and develop those relationships.

Because I think developing those relationships, they remember you and they know that they can contact you if they need your services.

Steve Folland: So this is local networking in predominantly female business groups.

Laura Viola Maccarone: it is, right. But we've just, last year, started networking in the San Francisco Bay area and then networked in Manhattan.

And I opened up like a little micro office in Manhattan, like an actual physical space. And so I'm networking in New York and then I leave... in two weeks from today, I leave for LA to network in LA.

Steve Folland: Whoa. oh God there's so much to talk about. Because, 'cause there's one thing going to like your local networking.

Laura Viola Maccarone: yeah.

Steve Folland: Maybe we should, just put some geographical sense in here. yeah. Before everybody's googling... maybe they're, first of all trying to figure out how they spell Massachusetts so they can Google... What is the relative distance or time, effort involved. To go Massachusetts...

 

Steve Folland: Manhattan, which is like New York, San Francisco, even from my basic geography, that's the other side of the country, isn't it? So

Laura Viola Maccarone: Straight across.

Steve Folland: Right? So and okay, and where does Massachusetts lie in all of that?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Where I am. 'cause I am 45 minutes north of Boston, in a little seaside town called Newburyport. So I'm about 45 minutes from Boston. And Boston is about three and a half to four hours from New York City.

Steve Folland: Okay.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Train. Train is the best way to get there.

Steve Folland: Okay. But then still San Francisco is a great deal further.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes. Yeah, so it's obviously on California, it's not all the time. Yeah. It's trying to do that maybe once or twice a year. I even last year I did networking in Louisiana, in New Orleans. I went, to New Orleans to a big conference to network there. So there's just, different places.

Steve Folland: So that is a big investment of

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes. Yep.

Steve Folland: Financial and time, yes, involved. How are you working those events in your favor?

Laura Viola Maccarone: I make sure that, I am, I'm branded myself. I always like to make sure that it's memorable and really just taking in the scene.

So like the one in New Orleans was the international, I'm gonna say it wrong, Dairy Deli And Bakery Association. It's a huge, event. I couldn't even meet everyone, but I met really lovely business owners because they have the full range. They have the quote unquote mom and pops, and then they have the national and international as well.

So it's really cool to just go around and listen to people's stories. Ask them about, oh, how'd you get started? where are you now in the process? What is your goal? What are like, what is the thing that you're going for? And then, and really investing in their stories.

Because, as a graphic designer, that's what we do visually, is we tell visual stories. So I think it's really important to... to listen to other people's stories and to hear things, because that's how the conversations start. So I'm always interested in hearing about how somebody started their business and got going.

Steve Folland: So would these people have like stands at the...

Laura Viola Maccarone: Oh yes. They'd have booths.

Steve Folland: Those like exhibition type things?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes. Yep.

Steve Folland: Have you looked at who might be there in advance and figured out who you might wanna talk to? Or are you just thinking, I'm just gonna wander in?

Laura Viola Maccarone: They don't really give you the list that much in advance, and then they only give the list to a select few.

But you do get the list when you check in. You get the list of everybody who's there. So then I'll take my time and skim through. There is one client out of Seattle whom I would love to work with. At these expos that I go to, they're always there and I'm always like, here's my card, here's my card. It's great to see you again!

But I think the important thing is to also take that list post... if you're spending this money, you've made these relationships. So follow up and then bring the list home with you and comb through the list and say, oh, okay. I would love to connect with them on LinkedIn and connect with them on LinkedIn and say, Hey, it was great to see you at the I-D-D-B-A.

Like, how'd you think it went? Like that kind of thing. So again, inquiring about their experiences and and their stories and then taking the conversation from there.

Steve Folland: I love it. Yeah. You're not putting yourself at an event full of graphic designers.

Laura Viola Maccarone: No.

Steve Folland: Or creatives. You are going to where the, your ideal clients are.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes.

Steve Folland: And getting to know them. Getting to see their stuff. Yeah. Have you ever been tempted to have a trade booth yourself?

Laura Viola Maccarone: I would say that I wouldn't do a trade booth because I don't wanna be stuck to anything for myself. And how many people are coming over being like, oh, like graphic designer. I needed that.

I just go on over and, just introduce myself and take a sample and just start conversations. I'm not there to sell myself. I'm there to really start a relationship with a company. Introduce myself. That's it. But I would say that there are ways for like those type of expos where you can, on the backend, you can offer your services in saying, Hey this is what I do. Is there an opportunity if you guys have any pilot programs for new brands on the scene that need, like they're package reviewed, like maybe they're not getting that deal at the major... the major stores, because they're packaging isn't appealing.

So you can offer your services for free and do brand analysis kind of thing.

Steve Folland: So that's been something that's worked well. You've had work come out of these.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes.

Steve Folland: Yeah. Out of these situations, what would you say is the, like the timeframe between that first meeting to maybe getting something come in?

Laura Viola Maccarone: It takes a while. It takes a while. I've seen two come in about a six month period and again, it's just setting up those meetings and doing one-to-ones. Yeah. Or emailing them being like, oh, hey, I have a question about something that you said, it really resonated with me. Just, and... genuine, like genuine relationships. I love meeting people, so I love, I love learning about people.

And the biggest thing with Rizbee Studio, and I don't know if it's the trend of like toxic traits, is that, my clients become really good friends. And I, that's one thing that I hold really close to my heart is that it's mostly family owned businesses and they're looking to expand and they're looking for that next goal, and they wanna reach that, they need help.

So it's almost like an intimate process because you embed yourself into their brand and what they're doing, and so that you can, design for their goals.

Steve Folland: Yeah. How do you tread that line? Between staying in touch with these people, with a company, with a person you've met, and being too salesy, I guess.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Definitely I don't sell. Don't sell. I'm here if you need me, but I'm not gonna sell you anything. Like the only time that I will truly sell, is if they come to me and they say, this is what we need. And I'm like, okay, then this is what we can do for you. And then that kind of thing. But I really truly develop the relationships first.

Which I love, but did, do they see your, if you've connected with them on LinkedIn, are you sharing your work on LinkedIn? Your, your...

Steve Folland: So so they're still seeing perhaps, or do you send out emails or have an email list where people are seeing examples of your work?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes. To All

Steve Folland: right.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes to all.

Steve Folland: And so how would you try to get one of those people onto your email list? What's the...

Laura Viola Maccarone: Number one, I ask. And then I also refresh every so often. If I have a batch of new people to put on my email list, I will send out a new email just to that batch and say, Hey, the reason why you're on, you're getting this is because we've networked and you've given me your card.

If you don't want to be on my mailing list, please just click unsubscribe. But I hope that you're here to, on this journey to like see what we're doing in the studio and maybe there's some helpful tips and tricks for your business as you follow along, that kind of thing.

Steve Folland: And how often might you send an email.

Laura Viola Maccarone: I don't send them enough. My, I have a business coach and she's on me about that

Steve Folland: Once a month?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Nope. Nope. I'm like a once every six month kind of gal. Okay.

Steve Folland: So we've got a lot to catch up on. Yes. Look at all this work.... Okay, it's obviously working.

Laura Viola Maccarone: I would say LinkedIn. LinkedIn and Instagram is consistent, so there's a lot more visibility in that arena.

Steve Folland: Yes. Okay. 'cause of course these are the sort of brands who would be on Instagram.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes.

Steve Folland: In a big way.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yeah, both because they're, what I've truly found that I love to do is CPG, so Consumer Packaged Goods in the food and beauty industries. So I really love to see other people, like what other brands are doing and what they've got going on, and then following them on Instagram and then also LinkedIn too, because then LinkedIn is more business professional, appealing towards the marketing needs that a company might need.

Steve Folland: How much time would you say you spend into, social, so let's call it social media. How much time of your week?

Laura Viola Maccarone: I made an investment and I have a social media manager.

Steve Folland: Oh, when did you do that?

Laura Viola Maccarone: I did that. I've been working with her for... I'd say 14 months now. Yeah. 14 months.

And it's worth every penny because I don't have to wrestle with the beast of social. I will reply and it's me that you hear from and I approve all the posts and we meet like once a month to talk about the next month what we're gonna focus on.

But we really stick to the three pillars of the business of who my ideal clients are, what kind of projects I'm looking for, that kind of thing.

Steve Folland: Okay, now I've got to skirt around. There's so many things I wanted to ask you that you've have cropped up. One was the small issue of an office in Manhattan.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes.

Steve Folland: So is that like a permanent studio space that you have there? Or is it...

Laura Viola Maccarone: So I'm trying to think about what you guys have, that would equate, do you guys have, do you guys have coworking spaces?

Steve Folland: Yeah. Yeah.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Okay. where are you exactly?

Steve Folland: I am ineHartfordshire, which is just north of London. Okay. Between London and Cambridge,

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes. Yep. Yep. 'cause when I was in London, I was peeking around for to see, workspaces and things like that just to see, because I might, I'm thinking of...

Steve Folland: Open a London office.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Why not? Why not?

Steve Folland: I love this. Yeah.

Laura Viola Maccarone: The only, the way I look at it, you only live once.

Steve Folland: Tell you what, Laura, I'll pop in and water the flowers. when you're...

Laura Viola Maccarone: I love it.

Steve Folland: Busy in Manhattan.

Laura Viola Maccarone: I love it. So Manhattan is, it's between, I would say it's between a coworking space and, and like having your own messy studio kind of thing. 'cause if I were to turn the camera, you would see that this place is a disaster.

But, it's between that. So it's not like you're sitting at a desk and there's like multiple people all around. There's private offices and you use the private offices. There's a receptionist, there's a whole security in the beginning, in the foyer. And it's you, it allows you to also use the actual address.

So I'm able to, use the address that the buildings.... Where the building is

Steve Folland: As your company address. Yes.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes. I'm like, yes, Laura, that's how addresses work.

Steve Folland: No, I get what you mean. I get what you mean. As your postal address, as your registered address. Yes. But that, that's quite an investment in itself. how often do you go there given that your three and a half hours away?

Laura Viola Maccarone: So I signed a six month lease to test it out. And I go about once a month for a couple of days.

Steve Folland: What have you found, or what's your hope of having that second base there? Is it for client meetings in person? What's...

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes, definitely being able to meet in person. also to say that, nope, we're here in New York too, we have a presence in New York. And to really expand the networking for businesses that are starting out.

Because Manhattan and it's in its own way is its own little tiny country because of how many people are there. So you think about how many businesses people are starting and wanting to grow, and especially in food and beauty. So it's just a kind of a hub to say, oh yeah, I can do that. I can meet you at my office, And it's nice. It's nice

Steve Folland: So there's the big conferences that you go to. Yes. But I saw on your website that you have Women's Business League badges.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes. Yeah.

Steve Folland: Is that a national or local thing? What's?

Laura Viola Maccarone: They're becoming national. They started local. Has been really instrumental in my business growth for many reasons. They really made a, an environment for women entrepreneurs and female founders and leaders to, to have a place to get together and talk about, their wins, their challenges, and what it is that they're looking for. And that's been incredible because what we do is... there's chapters that they started and then you, they do mix and mingles with different chapters.

So you can be traveling, across the state to go meet other people in other industries who might need your services. So things like that. So that's been really helpful. You can let people know, if you're in this, if you know anybody in this industry who's looking for this, like that's, that's my, jam, that's my niche. That's what I need. And that's how I've gotten a lot of my work is through referrals. Oh, you gotta meet Laura. Yeah.

Steve Folland: Amazing. Yeah. And did that really help when you picked that niche?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes it did. It doesn't mean that I don't do design for other, like last year I branded two interior design firms.

It was a blast to do and lovely work, but, it's outside of my niche, but I still took them on, I love working with people. So yes, I'll take anything.

Steve Folland: Yeah. But also I can see that they could see a link, if they like your work, there is a link perhaps between the style that they liked of interior design and food packaging, or not just food, health, whatever it may be packaging. Yeah. Yeah. Now. You mentioned hiring a social media manager.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes.

Steve Folland: Have you hired, and this is not as in a full-time employee, but have you hired anybody else to work on your business with you?

Laura Viola Maccarone: So I work with a fractional CMO. She owns her own business, but she comes in on projects that are needed for larger teams that are needed for a company. So we do like marketing strategy and through that, so I'll bring them in on projects.

I have a social media manager who handles my social media, but then she also handles a couple of, we have a couple of my clients, so there's overlap there. And then I just brought on a new social media manager to take on more of my clients that are moving into social because it's so natural to... to make a brand and design the brand and have all the components come together and then just be like, here, good luck. It's no, if you really don't wanna do social and you don't know what it is that you want, we can handle that for you. You'll approve everything, but we'll handle it for you.

So that's another offering that we're doing. And specifically for CPG products, but we also have another one that's coming on that is a builder. So we'll be, handling their social media. I don't necessarily... I'll oversee it because I'm making sure for continuity sake of the brand, but the woman that I hired, she like, she runs with it.

And then I have a graphic designer whom I love and adore, and she's an exceptional designer. She handles like all the overflow. So I'll do the intensive brand, the brand components and the brand story and visually the brand story. And then if there's like marketing materials that need to happen, like catalogs and things like that, then I'll float that work to her 'cause she's freelance, as well.

And then. I have a CFO, fractional CFO, and we, it's my business so I get to name, get to give people whatever names I want. You wanna name Steve? What do you want?

Steve Folland: I was gonna say, it sounds like you start, you need to start offering these people podcasts and videos and I can be your but yeah, I need a nice fractional... I've not been fractional anything.

Laura Viola Maccarone: We've got a fractional podcast wing now channel.

Steve Folland: Yes. I like it.

Laura Viola Maccarone: And then I also work with, I know I have another one I, about 14 months ago for the studio, I hired an EA, but I call her my Director of Operations. And because she gets a fancy, it's like Oprah, you get a fancy title, you get a fancy title!

So she handles like all the backend stuff, which as a freelancer has taken so much off my plate. That has been instrumental to being able to focus on business development. So finding new clients and putting more focus on the work instead of trying to be like, oh my God, I gotta handle the financials, the taxes, the invoicing. Like I hate that stuff.

Steve Folland: Wow. And so these people who have gradually been introduced over the last couple of years?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I would say just in the past 14 months.

Steve Folland: Yeah. Wow. You seem lit up about it. You seem excited by this.

Laura Viola Maccarone: I love having a team. I love people. I love working with people, but yet I'm sitting here alone in my studio.

Steve Folland: With that though, does come, a degree of management of other people and a degree of, even if they're, freelance contractors, there's, still a degree of responsibility. And also maybe if your clients are paying you, but you are paying them, then there's an element of cash flow if this is all going through your studio.

Yeah. How have you, it doesn't seem to be bothering you at all, but how have you coped with that? Because it is a shift from being one person to everything.

Laura Viola Maccarone: I thought you were gonna say "It is a...". It's, I'm not gonna swear, but I thought you were gonna say it's a not a shift.

Steve Folland: It's a lot. And it's a big difference from doing everything yourself.

Yeah. How, have you found that?

Laura Viola Maccarone: It's.... it's a journey. It's a journey and there's always things to learn and you stumble your way through them and then you start learning all different kinds of things. even on how to effectively communicate so that my ideas come across. So I think there's, I think that you just if you're me, you're just I'll figure it out. Okay. I'll figure it out.

Steve Folland: Now you did mention a business coach though.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes. Oh yes.

Steve Folland: So has that been part..

Laura Viola Maccarone: A thousand percent.

Steve Folland: Have you had coaches or mentors in that respect across, 'cause you've been working for yourself for 18 years.

Yeah, I think we said earlier. So that's a long time. Is it only recently that you've had a business coach?

Laura Viola Maccarone: I've had the business coach for four years, and since having her, I've doubled my revenue every year consistently. She is worth the investment and she, just like what I do for my clients, she knows my goals and she knows like how to break those goals down into anywhere from like action actionable items of what to do for the newsletters.

I told you she'll be on me about that. To to networking to the actual ins and outs of your numbers for your business. And again, at the end of the day, yes, Rizbee Studio is a business, but it's still just me, so it falls under that, some people are, oh, you're a freelancer. Yes, sure. Yes. And then other times I'm like, I own a, a studio that specializes in... so again, you get a, That's, but yes, since, to answer your question, back to the full question..

I only have been working with my business coach for four years. Prior to that, I have definitely had advisors that, like I still send things to my college advisor, my undergraduate college advisor, and she still responds with I'm like, is this working? Something seems to be a little off.

And just to even get that kind of feedback. It's definitely been people along the way who have always loved their input and their advice. But I have to say that the biggest investment that I made and the biggest revenue jump that I've seen in gaining clients has been working strategically on my business with a business coach.

Steve Folland: It sounds overwhelmingly positive, but what has the experience of having a business coach, and that's a long period of time, that's consistent check-ins, I imagine?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yeah, so we meet, we meet once a month and she also does these incredible retreats where, it's female founders that go on retreats and it's only about maybe five to eight people, and we do these like gatherings, powwow sessions, whatever you wanna call them, where we really talk about our businesses and our goals.

And then we say, okay, now let's all figure out how do we help this person get to the next goal? What are some ideas like, so it's building that little tight knit community of really, Really being able to empower ourselves to hit those goals and make those goals happen. So you end up working on your business and not necessarily like just in it and just shuffling through. So I think that has been really educational.

Steve Folland: It's almost like a, mastermind.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes, exactly. That's what, yes. Yeah.

Steve Folland: In a nice setting.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes. In a lovely setting in the Florida Keys or The Bahamas, or..

Steve Folland: Oh, my god.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Oh yes. The mountains of New Hampshire. Yes.

Steve Folland: I need to get into packaging and design,

Laura Viola Maccarone: But it's not just, it's not just packaging though.

Steve Folland: No, I'm joking.

Laura Viola Maccarone: It's women from all different kinds of businesses.

Yeah. Come on over.

Steve Folland: Okay, so what we're actually saying is I need to become a woman, because

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes, that's the answer

Steve Folland: because this sounds brilliant.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Or you could start your own channel of running retreats.

Steve Folland: Do you know, people ask me to do this all the time and I'm the one who goes, oh, I don't know. I don't know. That sounds like a lot of organizing. But I do things like, so in the Being Freelance Community, we have a on off Mastermind and I see the difference it makes to people.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yeah.

Steve Folland: And then we have a lot of online meetups, but we sometimes do them in person. They might be creative ones like doing something arty.

But every at Christmas, like last Christmas we had nearly 50 of us, we hired out a pub in London for Christmas lunch and pub quiz, karaoke. Yeah.

Laura Viola Maccarone: What?!

Steve Folland: My wife is always amazed 'cause I can't organize for us to go out for dinner, but I can,

Laura Viola Maccarone: You can organize that dinner.

Steve Folland: I can get 50 freelancers in a room.

Laura Viola Maccarone: I love that. I just, hosted actually in my house, because of weather, but I hosted our first client appreciation dinner and I had 40, 40 people in the house. I hired a private chef. She was incredible. She took everything that each client makes, their products, and then she made this custom menu using all their products.

It was incredible. It was incredible. So much so that one of my clients stood up at the end and was like, I'm so happy to be at the first. annual client appreciation dinner, and I was like, oh my God. And I have clients that are like, do you have the date yet for the dinner for September? I'm like, oh my God, I'm doing this again?

I've loved it and it was wonderful. But the clients loved it because it was clients of at all different stages in the CPG arena, in revenue and in all different stages of, just starting out or they've been in business since 1970. So full range, and they got to all know each other and they got to ask for advice.

Afterwards they all contacted me and they were like, can we do a coffee date with everybody? So then we hosted a coffee date, and everybody came in from, all over and we just had a little powwow of like just sharing resources. It was so beautiful. It was wonderful.

Steve Folland: Wow. I love... so was that something that you. funded, did you treat them all to dinner?

Laura Viola Maccarone: I did. I did.

Steve Folland: Wow, Laura. Yeah.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yeah, I did.

Steve Folland: But what a beautiful thing it, hang on. Is this Rizbee And Friends? Is this what it's been called?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes!

Steve Folland: I saw it on your Instagram. Yes. Oh my gosh, though. But I love the thought of not just sending something to a client, but bringing all of your clients who have this thing in common, not just yourself. Yeah, but their... their businesses.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yeah.

Steve Folland: Together like that. What a lovely thing.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yeah, it was great. It was great. It was so lovely. But I guess I'm doing it again. You'll have to come to this one, Steve.

Steve Folland: This has been such a treat Laura and I meant to say as well, 'cause I was gonna ask you about your website.

I, I'll just say it very briefly though. Go check out the Rizbee Studio website. It's very nice. I love the video on it. That's not just 'cause I do podcasts and video stuff, but just landing on it almost immediately. You get the real sense of the personality of your business.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Oh, I love that. Thank you.

Steve Folland: And it travels through the, it looks like snow coming down. You go into the studio...

Laura Viola Maccarone: It was literally snowing. We did it in a blizzard. No joke.

Steve Folland: Yeah. it's not AI snow. No it really was this magical goes into the studio and you're chatting with them. And is that wallpaper on the ceiling by the way?

Laura Viola Maccarone: It is!

Steve Folland: Wow. That is ballsy.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Love it.

Steve Folland: I know there's a talking version of the video as well, but that silent play video that is there really big at the top.

Laura Viola Maccarone: I'll let Mary know. She's the videographer. She ah, she just nailed it. She just nailed it. Yeah, she did a beautiful job.

Steve Folland: it conveyed so much so quickly.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Thank you so much.

Steve Folland: I really liked that. How long has that current incarnation of your website? 'cause I know the websites changed a lot, but how long is that?

Laura Viola Maccarone: So we did that in March of 2024. Haven't really needed to update it too much since, except the work. So underneath the work carousel will constantly be updated and added new things.

Steve Folland: Yeah. Which is lovely detailed case studies as well, right?

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes. And that, yeah, also gets updated whenever... we have a new case study to put up there. we recently rebranded a cracker company. And that has roots to Italy. So it was so fun and we did all custom illustrations for it. Told like a story on the box and it's been getting a lot of really good feedback. So it's been lovely. So we'll be adding that soon to, to the case studies and to the whole, real.

Steve Folland: Now one thing I haven't asked about, which I'm always intrigued about is people's work life balance. 'cause obviously you first went freelance when you had your first child.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes. Yep.

Steve Folland: So there was a reason that originally, but how is work life balance for you now?

that answer speaks volumes.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Oh, man. I'm surprised. I'm surprised that I haven't had some of them or all of them bursting through my studio door because like I'm like, I'm trying to be professional here, and they're always like walking in mid-sentence, and I'm like, oh my God.

It's, I'm very fortunate. My husband built me a little studio on our property, and so I'm home. I might be working, but I am, I'm home. So if anybody needs anything, like all three are in school full-time now. I've got one in high school, one in middle school, and one in elementary school. But it's definitely, there hasn't been, I'm prepping for a really big project if that from two weeks from today.

And so there hasn't been much life work balance in the past eight weeks or so. But I'll close my laptop at round, 4 35 and go in. And sit on the couch and reopen my laptop. But I think that's why we took our vacation at Thanksgiving. I think it's, really important. We, for New Year's, we had friends come and stay with us for three days and it was just like, we all put a puzzle together, like taking those moments to like really just be with each other.

Last night we were all sitting in the living room, which is rare because my kids are, all doing their different things at different ages, but we're all sitting, working, reading, listening, to a record on the record player. And it was just, it was lovely. yeah, I just, I stopped everyone and I was like, I really like this right now.

Steve Folland: Oh Laura. I should point out, we're recording this on a Thursday, so that's a midweek moment.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yeah.

Steve Folland: As well.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Yes.

Steve Folland: Which is nice. I tell you what, Laura, what a fascinating change that happened when you became Rizbee Studio, and if it wasn't for that awful experience that day. Yeah. Yes, maybe it wouldn't have happened quite so quickly, but it's, it's been brilliant to hear the power of getting into your niche, of all the networking that you do and the supporting others, but that amazing client idea, making everyone feel so special.

Laura, thank you so much and all the best being freelance.

Laura Viola Maccarone: Thanks Steve. Same to you.  

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