This month we spoke to Lala Cooper, founder and owner of Goldline Content!

Instagram | LinkedIn

Hi Lala! Tell us about your business.

We’re a bespoke narrative, communications and content service, Goldline Content helps brands make their words work better.

From brand messaging to internal communications, insight-led content to event support, Goldline can provide hands-on support no matter the objective.

What drove you to start the business?

After 8+ years in the industry, I saw what many businesses were struggling to achieve with their PR, communications and content programmes. Having worked in-house and agency side, I wanted to combine central learnings from each, packaged neatly into a freelance model that would work flexibly for clients all over the world.

From a personal perspective, having autonomy and ownership over my work felt increasingly important, and I realised how much creativity and strategy I was lacking whilst with companies. I’ve never looked back.

What particular challenges did you have to overcome in setting up your business, and since then?

Initially, my concern was whether I could build my roster of clients and sustain a consistent pipeline. After about 2 months of pitching, I steadily secured a number of incredible clients and have been upselling many of these since.

The practical side of starting a business – registering with HMRC, setting up templates and social channels, finding a good accountant etc. – was a struggle in my first few months when I was juggling a lot of priorities.

Surprisingly, determining my brand look and feel presented one of the biggest challenges, and maintaining this over social when I am operating it solo is one of my biggest struggles at the moment. This is more about priorities – how do you build your business brand when you have a vast amount of client work? It’s something I’m still figuring out.

Why did you choose The Accountancy Partnership?

I’d assessed a huge number of accounting tools and software, and for me, I wanted support which I knew was there when I needed it, but that would be largely hands-off in my day to day.

That’s where I landed with TAP. The onboarding process felt simple and straight forward, and the consultants were very communicative when I needed it most. The team helped me adapt to Pandle for my bookkeeping and I now feel it’s very simple to stay on top of.

Have we helped you overcome any challenges, and if so, how?

Pandle, and setting up bookkeeping processes, was entirely new to me. While I’ve always been very financially savvy, translating this to my business was a huge challenge. The team were really receptive to that, and helped me each step of the way by walking me through the steps, requirements and technical capabilities of the software.

What do you have planned for your business in the future?

Grow grow grow! At the moment, I’d like to keep it a sole trader/freelance business and am really happy running it solo, but in the future, that might change. I’m taking on some exciting projects at the minute, and I can’t wait to shout about those a little louder.

I also feel strongly about supporting others at the start of their career, and would love to take on interns down the line. We’ll see!

 
Learn more about our online accounting services for businesses just like Lala’s. Call 020 3355 4047 or get an instant online quote.