Liane Agbi, Founder and CEO of Beautifuli Digital, is helping female founders generate more customers through high-performing websites that convert.
With more than 10 years of experience elevating small businesses’ and global brands’ digital presence, it seemed like a natural progression for Liane to start her own agency when the need arose. Thus, Beautifuli Digital was born in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Throughout the past two years, Beautifuli Digital has transformed into a premium, done-for-you service, enabling women entrepreneurs to elevate their websites, and ultimately scale more effectively, take back their valuable time, and operate more closely in their zone of genius.
We asked Liane about what sets Beautifuli Digital apart from other companies, how she’s grown as a leader since embarking on her entrepreneurial journey, and what she would go back and tell her younger self.
Q: What problem does Beautifuli Digital solve?
A: I started my web design and development agency in 2020 during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic because I was getting several requests from people who were quitting their jobs or starting a business on the side to help with their websites. My business specifically focuses on helping women-led brands position themselves for growth by revamping their scrappy sites into high-performing digital homes.
Your website is often the first thing that a customer sees about you and can make a huge impression. My goal is to work with female founders to ensure that when a user lands on their site, we are leveraging UX best practices to guide them in the right direction and setting their website up to increase the opportunity for leads, engagement, or sales conversion.
Q: What makes Beautifuli Digital different from other, similar companies?
A: I love building beautiful, jaw-dropping websites. But what makes me different from others is that I don’t just focus on making sure my clients’ websites are pretty. I leverage digital strategy and UX design to ensure that we are creating online experiences that are truly going to work on my clients’ behalf to help them drive home their brand message and boost their sales. Building a website with strategy in mind and user-centered design that deeply thinks through different touchpoints truly sets apart a basic or “pretty” website from one that is going to perform for the long haul.
Q: Did you always know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
A: To be honest, no. Growing up I never heard the words “entrepreneurship” or “start your own business.” My parents are immigrants so their main pathways to success in their minds was acquiring degrees and landing a secure and stable corporate job. I actually didn’t really consider entrepreneurship until my senior year in college when an alumni of the school came back to teach a seminar on it. That course was life-changing for me in that it planted the seed for me to consider entrepreneurship as a potential career option.
Q: What’s been the hardest and most rewarding part of your entrepreneurial journey?
A: I would say the most challenging part of my entrepreneurial journey has been feeling the weight of trying to do everything alone. When you first start out, especially running a service-based business, you often end up doing all the tasks alone. You are the CEO, the accountant, the project manager, the saleswoman—the list goes on. Knowing when you have reached your capacity and are okay letting go of some of your profit margin to invest in other people who can help drive your business forward is the most rewarding part. I have found that I can go much farther faster when I have a strong but lean team behind me to operate my business without a hitch.
Q: What resources or people have contributed the most to your successes?
A: I’ll be honest, when I started my web design and development agency, I knew how to build websites but I had to learn the business side of running a design business. I literally soaked up every course or information I could find on the internet. I took a lot of courses and tested out different business mentors, but I would say the best resource that helped me get started in launching my web design business would be Paige Brunton’s “Square Secrets Business” course. This course alone taught me how to set up my finances, create a client process, build out my business model, and think about how to generate leads for long-term growth.
Q: How have you grown as a leader since starting Beautifuli Digital? What experiences have contributed to this growth?
A: For me, growing as a leader has been understanding the power of “no” and knowing that every client, opportunity, or partnership isn’t always for me, and that’s okay. When I started Beautifuli Digital I was open to working with anyone and everyone, but I slowly realized that that wasn’t the best method. Some clients would ghost me or be super difficult to work with. Just like in life, your business should also vibrate at a certain energy that feels right for you. I have grown so much since I started putting guard rails in place to vet clients more thoroughly. This has allowed me to filter through the right type of business opportunities and attract more sales for my business.
Q: What would you tell your younger self if you were to start your entrepreneurial journey all over again?
A: Be cautious of who you invest your time and money with to grow your business. The online business coaching world has become super saturated with people who don’t have true business experience and are just taking people’s money. Do your research thoroughly. Ask any business coach before signing up with them if you can talk to past clients about their experience. If they can’t produce tangible results or actual people they have worked with when you ask this question, consider that a red flag. You are working way too hard to grow your business and operate in your divine purpose to be scammed by careless, unprofessional, or low-quality business coaches.
Liane is a member of Dreamers & Doers, an award-winning community that amplifies extraordinary women entrepreneurs and leaders by securing PR, forging authentic connections, and curating high-impact resources. Learn more about Dreamers & Doers and get involved here.
