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In this episode, I am gonna be talking
about imposter syndrome.

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We all get it. And it doesn't matter
how long you have been in web design

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or web development.

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At some point, imposter syndrome

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will have come knocking on your door.

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I am here to help you stop that
practice here and now.

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So let's get started.

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Hello and welcome to another episode
of Websites Made Simple

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with me, Holly Christie.
I'm a website designer,

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a website designers' mentor.
I have two website design agencies,

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and I'm the winner of
three web design awards as well.

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And you would think with me doing all of that,
and having been in business for so long,

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I wouldn't get imposter syndrome.

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Well, I'm here to tell you,
I really, really do,

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and it can just be around
some of the most everyday things.

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It could be that I hesitate
before I send a contract to a client,

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or I find myself tripping over my words
when I'm trying to explain something

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to a potential client, an existing client,
or another web designer.

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I have my Sparks Group Mentoring programme,
and if you haven't heard about this yet,

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you can find it on my website,
websitesmadesimple.co.uk,

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and you'll see Sparks Group Mentoring there.

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You can see the total capacity on LinkedIn.

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The main thing to know about it is
that it's a weekly Zoom call

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for website developers and designers,
SEO specialists and copywriters.

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If you work in the website design space,
you are welcome.

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It's like a mastermind session
that we run each week.

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It's got amazing community in there.
It's had really good feedback.

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And I tell you, every week in the beginning,
the imposter syndrome was biting hard.

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I had to push through it and push through it,
and I was getting all this great feedback,

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and I was like, "Who am I
to be mentoring these people

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who also work in my industry?"

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And my job was to push through
so that I could create this really good

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community for website designers
and developers.

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And I am so glad that I did that,
because the group is amazing.

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Even though it's not a networking group,
loads of people are working together.

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They're really enjoying
having each other in their corner.

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And it's just a great space where we come
and we bring whatever we're working on,

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whatever issues we might have.

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But we also have a topic each week,
which can be anything —

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from how to get over imposter syndrome
to what pricing we are charging,

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what software we are using,
or what should be in our contracts —

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whatever we decide as a group
our topic's gonna be.

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And imposter syndrome is something that comes
up so often and so heavily,

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I would say, for people working
in the web design space,

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because most website designers
aren't officially qualified

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in how to design websites.

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And that means they're usually
all doing it slightly differently,

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and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that,

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as long as we are all getting
the same results at the end —

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effective websites that are bringing in leads,
making sales,

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are search engine friendly,
and have fast loading times.

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And they're doing a service to our clients
who are booking us for them.

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And that means it doesn't matter
what software you're using.

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And that's one of the things
with my Sparks Group —

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we have no tech shaming whatsoever.

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Some people will be using WordPress,
some people will be on Wix

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or Webflow or Squarespace,
or whatever it is.

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We are not here to tech shame around it.
We're looking to get the end results.

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And I think one of the things I often see,
particularly on LinkedIn,

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is that people will say,
"Oh, WordPress is dead.

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You shouldn't use it because it has
security vulnerabilities,"

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or it has this, that, or the other.

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And so many times, people — in justifying
their own choices —

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are chipping away
at the confidence of others.

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They're chipping away at the experience
of others, and people will see it and think,

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"Oh, I use WordPress —
are people gonna think my websites aren't good?"

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And it's not about that.

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And I hate when people chip away
at each other's confidence

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in a bid to make themselves feel better,
or maybe narrow the competition.

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And that's just ridiculous,
because web design is such a huge market.

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And like I always say to people,
there is a seat at the table for everyone.

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Everyone's gonna do something
slightly differently.

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If you give two designers the same brief,
you will end up with two very different websites.

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And I always think that is
the absolute beauty of web design.

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I'm not here to tell you that you need
to do it one way or the other way.

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I'm here to celebrate the way
that you're already doing it,

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to help you tighten up your practice
in areas where it might need tightening.

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And that could just be things
that you haven't necessarily thought about.

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For example, I've got an episode on
404 pages and links pages,

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why they should be customised,
and how to include those in the price of the build.

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It could be that you're not sure what should
be in your website design contracts

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or your onboarding pack —
in which case I have resources on my website

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that will help you with that.
They're both on my website.

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Or perhaps you've worked with a client
or another designer or developer

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who has really knocked your confidence.
I've been there.

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And I've created podcast episodes
to really support you with that.

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If you go back — probably quite far back
into the episodes,

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like the twenties and thirties episodes —
you will see there are episodes

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around how to work with tricky clients
and how to get a website project back on track.

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I also have a free resource on my website:
How to Turn Negative Feedback

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into a Winning Website.

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It's a workbook for when you've created
a website draft, presented it to the client,

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and the client's come back and said,
"Yeah, I don't think so.

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This isn't what we were hoping for,"
or whatever else.

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It's a step-by-step workbook to help you
get the website project back on track.

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It's got steps on how to approach the client,
how to approach the design,

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how to look at it objectively,

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but also how to really turn it around
so you end up having

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a really good experience with the client.

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The client ends up loving their website,
and they go on to recommend you

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to other people as well.

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So one of the things I would say
with imposter syndrome

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is to stay in your lane.
Don't worry about what other people are doing.

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Focus on what you are doing.
Look forward into what you want

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your web design business to look like
in the next few months,

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in the next year, and beyond.

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And bear in mind that the longer
we work in our industry,

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the more we level up within our industry.

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And so every now and then, take stock —
what do you need to level up in

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to be able to say, "I'm not gonna feel
like an imposter when I go out

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to quote for websites,
or do my work, or whatever it is?"

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For some people, that could be around
contracts and onboarding packs —

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their processes might be a little bit messy.

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You know, we all hear that story
from clients:

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"My previous web developer disappeared,"
or "My designer disappeared,"

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and it's probably just that the designer
had a really bad process.

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They just weren't very good
at staying on top of emails

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and then just didn't know
how to pull it all back.

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I've heard that a lot. I've worked one-to-one
with designers and developers

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in a mentoring capacity, where we've looked at
whether we have a ClickUp or a Trello board

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that we share with the clients,
where project details can be input.

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Do we use other software?
There are things like Moxie and Airtable

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and stuff like that as well.

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So there are lots of different ways
we can work to pull that process tighter,

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if that's the part that you're worried about.

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If you think, "Actually, I've got
all the processes nailed,

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but I just feel like my designs
are becoming a bit samey,

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and I feel like I am
a little bit of a one-trick pony,"

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then that's something really useful
to know about yourself,

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because there are so many different places
that you can go and study design.

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You can look at free courses,
YouTube courses,

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but you can also just have a look
at the work of other designers,

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screenshot stuff you really like and think,
"I'd like to play around creating something

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that looks a bit like that."

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And I always recommend, when I'm working
with designers — I have my Phoenix Programme,

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which is a nine-month programme
where I mentor website designers

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to the next stage of their business.

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And I'll always recommend that they
spend some time just designing.

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And I'll say, "Just design it as a template.
If you want to add it to a template shop later,

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you can. And if you don't, you don't have to."

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But we'll always look at working
on areas that are slightly outside

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of their comfort zone.

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If someone's very used to
big, bold, blocky designs,

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I might task them with looking at websites
for interior design shops,

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that use very neutral colour palettes,
with swishes and swirls and things like that.

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If someone's using very pastel things
all the way through,

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we might look at having really bold designs,
or adding in dynamic elements.

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When you work in a self-taught industry,
it really is your responsibility

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to keep pushing yourself
outside your comfort zone,

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making sure that you are learning
as much as you can learn,

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and that you are really
executing it well as well.

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Because when we have imposter syndrome,
we can often think,

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"Oh gosh, who am I?"

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"I'm not up to it.
I'm not as good as this or that."

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But actually, it could just be that having
a bit more practice at something

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and a little bit more confidence
is what you need,

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because imposter syndrome is something
that only affects you.

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And in most cases, people aren't
out there thinking,

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"Who does that web designer think they are,
creating this website?"

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They might think,
"I don't like it. It's not my style."

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But we're our own harshest critics.

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And I'm here to tell you
that we need to stop that,

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because there's enough out there
that can make us feel like,

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"Oh gosh, I haven't got this today."

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Whether that's to do with our home life
or whatever else —

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yeah, we've got enough challenges out there.

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How we feel about our work
and how we show up in our work

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shouldn't be one of those things.

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So take it from me —
you're doing really well,

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and you're probably doing much better
than you think. You really are.

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And take a deep breath.

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If you'd like some mentoring support
around this as well,

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feel free to get in touch with me.
You can reach me through my website,

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websitesmadesimple.co.uk,
or you can email me at

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hello@websitesmadesimple.co.uk.

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Or you can find me on LinkedIn
at Holly C Christie.

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I would love to hear from you.

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Trust me — web design is all about
collaboration, not competition.

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So do get in touch.
Love to hear from you.

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And until then, happy designing.