Episode 25. Empowered CEO Part 2: Creating an Effective Business Strategy that Grows your Calligraphy Business
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We’re back with part two of our Empowered CEO Series, and this time, we’re diving into how to strategize as the CEO of your calligraphy business. If you're a creative business owner who is ready to shift from simply creating beautiful work to making strategic, CEO-level decisions that drive business growth, this episode is for you!
In this episode, we talk all things business strategy - from big-picture vision planning to using financial data to make smarter decisions. We’ll talk about how to understand and leverage your profit and loss statement (P&L), make data-driven decisions, and focus on your zone of genius so you can build a thriving, sustainable business.
Plus, we’re sharing personal experiences, practical frameworks, and real-life examples to help you align your goals with your daily actions. Because being the leader of your business isn’t just about working harder—it’s about working smarter.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
Big-Picture Thinking: How to create a strategic vision for your calligraphy business and stay focused on long-term growth.
Understanding Your P&L and Other Key Data Points: Why knowing your numbers is key to making confident, data-driven decisions as an empowered CEO.
Optimizing Your Strengths: How to maximize your zone of genius and delegate or streamline the rest.
If you’re ready to stop guessing and start making more intentional, informed decisions as a business owner, grab a notebook (and your favorite latte) and tune in!
🔗 Links to resources mentioned in this episode:
Join the waitlist for Alane's Group Coaching Program, Flourish in Biz!
Learn more about the Salesforce V2MOM Planning Framework
Listen to the first episode in this series, Empowered CEO Part 1: 4 Key Mindsets for Building a Thriving Business in 2025
Listen to Episode 2 Looking Back to Leap Forward: Tips on Reflection and Goal Setting
Listen to Episode 20 Manage Business Finances and Grow Your Wealth with Money Coach, Erinn Bridgman
Hey friend! We're Shaochen and Alane, full-time wedding calligraphers and business mentors who built our dream businesses from scratch. On the Calligraphy Biz Corner podcast, we spill the ink on how you can too! Together, we'll uncover the business that compliments the life YOU desire, and we'll leave the overwhelm and imposter syndrome behind. Whether you're a wedding calligrapher, a live event artist or a creative entrepreneur, there's something here for you! Join us for biweekly business chats, where we guide you through the maze of running a creative business, complete with real-life strategy and mindset magic.
Look at the Bigger Picture
A critical component of being a strategic CEO is taking a step back from day-to-day tasks to assess the bigger picture. Alane and Shaochen emphasize the importance of adopting a “bird’s eye view” of your business, ensuring that every decision aligns with long-term goals. Without this perspective, it’s easy to fall into reactive mode—constantly working but never truly progressing.
Alane shares her personal experience from 2024, a year of intense experimentation in her business. She balanced weddings, mentorship, and the podcast but found herself burned out by the end of the year due to a lack of structured reflection. To course-correct, she’s now prioritizing weekly, monthly, and quarterly reviews—simple but powerful habits that allow her to stay aligned with her goals.
Shaochen echoes this sentiment, explaining how she, too, felt overwhelmed after pushing to grow her online education business. She introduces a tactical framework to help business owners plan with more intention: the V2MOM framework (Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, and Measures). Originally developed by Salesforce, this method helps break down big goals into actionable steps. It can be applied to quarterly planning, setting clear priorities that trickle down into daily and weekly actions.
Get Comfortable with Your Profit & Loss Statement
A major mindset shift for any business owner is getting comfortable with financial data, especially the profit and loss (P&L) statement. While many creative entrepreneurs shy away from numbers, Alane and Shaochen stress that CEO strategy requires financial literacy.
The P&L statement gives a clear picture of revenue, expenses, and profit margins, helping business owners price their services accurately and identify areas for financial growth. Alane admits she used to avoid reviewing her finances, but after working with a money mindset and management coach, she realized that understanding her financials was non-negotiable for running a successful business.
Shaochen breaks down the basics of a P&L statement:
Revenue: The income generated by your business.
Expenses: All costs associated with running your business (e.g., materials, software, marketing).
Profit (or Loss): Revenue minus expenses.
She encourages business owners to separate income streams in their accounting software (such as QuickBooks, FreshBooks, or even a simple spreadsheet). This allows for data-driven decisions, such as determining which services are most profitable and where to adjust pricing or streamline expenses.
Use Data to Drive Your Decisions
Successful CEOs don’t just operate on gut instinct—they use data to inform their strategies. Beyond financials, Alane and Shaochen emphasize tracking marketing and client experience data to optimize business performance.
Some key metrics to analyze:
Lead Sources & Conversion Rates
Where are your leads coming from (Instagram, referrals, Google, etc.)?
Which sources generate high-value clients, and which ones bring in low-converting inquiries?
Alane shares how Instagram was her biggest lead generator—but those leads weren’t converting into high-value bookings. By adjusting her Instagram messaging and shifting more focus toward higher-converting marketing channels, she was able to attract better-fit clients.
Client Experience Metrics
Are you getting consistent, high-quality reviews?
What feedback patterns appear in your testimonials?
By tracking this data, calligraphers can refine their messaging and double down on what makes their client experience stand out.
Website & SEO Performance
What are your most-visited website pages?
Which keywords are driving traffic to your site?
Shaochen shares how a Google Search Console analysis revealed her top-performing blog post was about acrylic ornaments—an unexpected result that helped her better understand what content resonated with her audience. By optimizing popular content and improving underperforming pages, business owners can boost visibility and attract more qualified leads.
Hourly Rate & Time Tracking
How much time are you spending on each project?
Does your pricing reflect your actual time investment?
If business owners aren’t tracking their time, they might underestimate their labor and end up working below their ideal hourly rate. Implementing a design and management fee in proposals ensures that administrative and client management tasks are accounted for, protecting profitability.
Maximize Your Zone of Genius
A true CEO strategy involves focusing on tasks that align with your strengths and delegating or automating the rest. Alane and Shaochen introduce the concept of the Zone of Genius, encouraging business owners to identify the activities that bring in the most money and the most joy.
For most calligraphers, the Zone of Genius is the art itself—creating beautiful, handcrafted lettering. However, many business owners spend too much of their time on admin work, content creation, or accounting, instead of spending time on revenue-generating tasks.
Ways to Stay in Your Zone of Genius:
Outsource tasks outside your zone of genius that take a lot of time (e.g., bookkeeping, content creation).
Use automation (HoneyBook, Zapier, ClickUp) to streamline operations.
Hire support for high-volume work (e.g., bringing in additional calligraphers for live events).
For Alane, client experience is part of her Zone of Genius, so she ensures that every interaction is personalized. Rather than outsourcing this entirely, she uses automation tools to make the process seamless without losing her personal touch.
Meanwhile, Shaochen shares a unique perspective—she outsourced calligraphy production while managing client inquiries, proposals, and logistics, allowing her to expand her business while staying within her strengths.
Final Thoughts: CEO Strategy in Action
To strategize like a CEO, business owners must consistently align their daily actions with long-term goals. The key takeaways from this episode include:
Step back and look at the bigger picture to make intentional business decisions.
Get comfortable with financial data to ensure profitability.
Use data to refine your marketing strategy, pricing, and client experience.
Maximize your time by staying in your Zone of Genius and outsourcing where needed.
If you're a calligrapher looking to take your business strategy to the next level, Alane invites you to join the waitlist for the Flourish in Biz group coaching program—a 12-week experience designed to help established calligraphers refine their client experience, streamline operations, and increase profitability.
Want to go even deeper? Tune in to the Calligraphy Biz Corner podcast for even more insights on being a strategic CEO and growing a thriving calligraphy business.
