In this episode, I am gonna be talking about imposter syndrome.
We all get it. And it doesn't matter how long you have been in web design
or web development.
At some point, imposter syndrome
will have come knocking on your door.
I am here to help you stop that practice here and now.
So let's get started.
Hello and welcome to another episode of Websites Made Simple
with me, Holly Christie. I'm a website designer,
a website designers' mentor. I have two website design agencies,
and I'm the winner of three web design awards as well.
And you would think with me doing all of that, and having been in business for so long,
I wouldn't get imposter syndrome.
Well, I'm here to tell you, I really, really do,
and it can just be around some of the most everyday things.
It could be that I hesitate before I send a contract to a client,
or I find myself tripping over my words when I'm trying to explain something
to a potential client, an existing client, or another web designer.
I have my Sparks Group Mentoring programme, and if you haven't heard about this yet,
you can find it on my website, websitesmadesimple.co.uk,
and you'll see Sparks Group Mentoring there.
You can see the total capacity on LinkedIn.
The main thing to know about it is that it's a weekly Zoom call
for website developers and designers, SEO specialists and copywriters.
If you work in the website design space, you are welcome.
It's like a mastermind session that we run each week.
It's got amazing community in there. It's had really good feedback.
And I tell you, every week in the beginning, the imposter syndrome was biting hard.
I had to push through it and push through it, and I was getting all this great feedback,
and I was like, "Who am I to be mentoring these people
who also work in my industry?"
And my job was to push through so that I could create this really good
community for website designers and developers.
And I am so glad that I did that, because the group is amazing.
Even though it's not a networking group, loads of people are working together.
They're really enjoying having each other in their corner.
And it's just a great space where we come and we bring whatever we're working on,
whatever issues we might have.
But we also have a topic each week, which can be anything —
from how to get over imposter syndrome to what pricing we are charging,
what software we are using, or what should be in our contracts —
whatever we decide as a group our topic's gonna be.
And imposter syndrome is something that comes up so often and so heavily,
I would say, for people working in the web design space,
because most website designers aren't officially qualified
in how to design websites.
And that means they're usually all doing it slightly differently,
and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that,
as long as we are all getting the same results at the end —
effective websites that are bringing in leads, making sales,
are search engine friendly, and have fast loading times.
And they're doing a service to our clients who are booking us for them.
And that means it doesn't matter what software you're using.
And that's one of the things with my Sparks Group —
we have no tech shaming whatsoever.
Some people will be using WordPress, some people will be on Wix
or Webflow or Squarespace, or whatever it is.
We are not here to tech shame around it. We're looking to get the end results.
And I think one of the things I often see, particularly on LinkedIn,
is that people will say, "Oh, WordPress is dead.
You shouldn't use it because it has security vulnerabilities,"
or it has this, that, or the other.
And so many times, people — in justifying their own choices —
are chipping away at the confidence of others.
They're chipping away at the experience of others, and people will see it and think,
"Oh, I use WordPress — are people gonna think my websites aren't good?"
And it's not about that.
And I hate when people chip away at each other's confidence
in a bid to make themselves feel better, or maybe narrow the competition.
And that's just ridiculous, because web design is such a huge market.
And like I always say to people, there is a seat at the table for everyone.
Everyone's gonna do something slightly differently.
If you give two designers the same brief, you will end up with two very different websites.
And I always think that is the absolute beauty of web design.
I'm not here to tell you that you need to do it one way or the other way.
I'm here to celebrate the way that you're already doing it,
to help you tighten up your practice in areas where it might need tightening.
And that could just be things that you haven't necessarily thought about.
For example, I've got an episode on 404 pages and links pages,
why they should be customised, and how to include those in the price of the build.
It could be that you're not sure what should be in your website design contracts
or your onboarding pack — in which case I have resources on my website
that will help you with that. They're both on my website.
Or perhaps you've worked with a client or another designer or developer
who has really knocked your confidence. I've been there.
And I've created podcast episodes to really support you with that.
If you go back — probably quite far back into the episodes,
like the twenties and thirties episodes — you will see there are episodes
around how to work with tricky clients and how to get a website project back on track.
I also have a free resource on my website: How to Turn Negative Feedback
into a Winning Website.
It's a workbook for when you've created a website draft, presented it to the client,
and the client's come back and said, "Yeah, I don't think so.
This isn't what we were hoping for," or whatever else.
It's a step-by-step workbook to help you get the website project back on track.
It's got steps on how to approach the client, how to approach the design,
how to look at it objectively,
but also how to really turn it around so you end up having
a really good experience with the client.
The client ends up loving their website, and they go on to recommend you
to other people as well.
So one of the things I would say with imposter syndrome
is to stay in your lane. Don't worry about what other people are doing.
Focus on what you are doing. Look forward into what you want
your web design business to look like in the next few months,
in the next year, and beyond.
And bear in mind that the longer we work in our industry,
the more we level up within our industry.
And so every now and then, take stock — what do you need to level up in
to be able to say, "I'm not gonna feel like an imposter when I go out
to quote for websites, or do my work, or whatever it is?"
For some people, that could be around contracts and onboarding packs —
their processes might be a little bit messy.
You know, we all hear that story from clients:
"My previous web developer disappeared," or "My designer disappeared,"
and it's probably just that the designer had a really bad process.
They just weren't very good at staying on top of emails
and then just didn't know how to pull it all back.
I've heard that a lot. I've worked one-to-one with designers and developers
in a mentoring capacity, where we've looked at whether we have a ClickUp or a Trello board
that we share with the clients, where project details can be input.
Do we use other software? There are things like Moxie and Airtable
and stuff like that as well.
So there are lots of different ways we can work to pull that process tighter,
if that's the part that you're worried about.
If you think, "Actually, I've got all the processes nailed,
but I just feel like my designs are becoming a bit samey,
and I feel like I am a little bit of a one-trick pony,"
then that's something really useful to know about yourself,
because there are so many different places that you can go and study design.
You can look at free courses, YouTube courses,
but you can also just have a look at the work of other designers,
screenshot stuff you really like and think, "I'd like to play around creating something
that looks a bit like that."
And I always recommend, when I'm working with designers — I have my Phoenix Programme,
which is a nine-month programme where I mentor website designers
to the next stage of their business.
And I'll always recommend that they spend some time just designing.
And I'll say, "Just design it as a template. If you want to add it to a template shop later,
you can. And if you don't, you don't have to."
But we'll always look at working on areas that are slightly outside
of their comfort zone.
If someone's very used to big, bold, blocky designs,
I might task them with looking at websites for interior design shops,
that use very neutral colour palettes, with swishes and swirls and things like that.
If someone's using very pastel things all the way through,
we might look at having really bold designs, or adding in dynamic elements.
When you work in a self-taught industry, it really is your responsibility
to keep pushing yourself outside your comfort zone,
making sure that you are learning as much as you can learn,
and that you are really executing it well as well.
Because when we have imposter syndrome, we can often think,
"Oh gosh, who am I?"
"I'm not up to it. I'm not as good as this or that."
But actually, it could just be that having a bit more practice at something
and a little bit more confidence is what you need,
because imposter syndrome is something that only affects you.
And in most cases, people aren't out there thinking,
"Who does that web designer think they are, creating this website?"
They might think, "I don't like it. It's not my style."
But we're our own harshest critics.
And I'm here to tell you that we need to stop that,
because there's enough out there that can make us feel like,
"Oh gosh, I haven't got this today."
Whether that's to do with our home life or whatever else —
yeah, we've got enough challenges out there.
How we feel about our work and how we show up in our work
shouldn't be one of those things.
So take it from me — you're doing really well,
and you're probably doing much better than you think. You really are.
And take a deep breath.
If you'd like some mentoring support around this as well,
feel free to get in touch with me. You can reach me through my website,
websitesmadesimple.co.uk, or you can email me at
hello@websitesmadesimple.co.uk.
Or you can find me on LinkedIn at Holly C Christie.
I would love to hear from you.
Trust me — web design is all about collaboration, not competition.
So do get in touch. Love to hear from you.
And until then, happy designing.