1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,600 In today's episode, we are going to get real about what is holding you 2 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:09,459 back from having the website design career that you always dreamed about. 3 00:00:10,150 --> 00:00:15,520 Because trust me, it's not a case of you need to learn new design skills, or you 4 00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:18,789 just need to get over this, or you just need to get that project out the door. 5 00:00:19,420 --> 00:00:24,140 Most likely, what is stopping you right now is you, and we are 6 00:00:24,140 --> 00:00:25,660 gonna get to the bottom of it. 7 00:00:26,060 --> 00:00:26,379 You ready? 8 00:00:27,099 --> 00:00:27,900 Let's get started. 9 00:00:30,685 --> 00:00:33,845 Hello and welcome to another episode of Websites Made 10 00:00:33,845 --> 00:00:35,715 Simple with me, Holly Christie. 11 00:00:35,755 --> 00:00:40,835 I am a website designer, website designer's mentor, host of this podcast, 12 00:00:41,165 --> 00:00:46,815 and I am here to help you have an absolutely brilliant website career 13 00:00:47,515 --> 00:00:49,155 without self-sabotaging along the way. 14 00:00:50,618 --> 00:00:56,868 I will admit that this episode has been completely inspired by my mentees 15 00:00:57,008 --> 00:01:01,378 through my Sparks group mentoring program and my Phoenix mentoring program. 16 00:01:01,868 --> 00:01:06,678 And the reason that these two programs exist is because there are website 17 00:01:06,708 --> 00:01:10,678 designers out there who really, really want to get to the next stage of their 18 00:01:10,678 --> 00:01:16,878 career, and they're just hitting the same boundaries over and over again. 19 00:01:17,308 --> 00:01:20,208 And that's usually a money boundary. 20 00:01:20,568 --> 00:01:24,968 And it might be a case of you're turning over the same amount 21 00:01:24,968 --> 00:01:28,658 of money year on year, and you think, "But I'm busier than ever. 22 00:01:28,768 --> 00:01:31,388 I'm really putting my marketing in there. 23 00:01:31,388 --> 00:01:33,918 I'm really, I'm showing up on LinkedIn. 24 00:01:33,918 --> 00:01:35,528 I'm guesting on other people's podcasts. 25 00:01:35,528 --> 00:01:36,988 I'm doing everything I can. 26 00:01:37,458 --> 00:01:42,918 Why aren't I earning more money?" And there's a lot of reasons that 27 00:01:42,918 --> 00:01:47,518 come into this, and I mean, the main one really is money mindset. 28 00:01:47,978 --> 00:01:53,508 And it can be really difficult when leveling up because there's that 29 00:01:53,508 --> 00:01:57,408 expression, if you want to have something you've never had, you need 30 00:01:57,408 --> 00:01:59,088 to do something you've never done. 31 00:02:00,074 --> 00:02:02,934 So often we think that means a skill set. 32 00:02:02,994 --> 00:02:08,274 We think that it means we need to learn to, you know, code a bit better 33 00:02:08,274 --> 00:02:12,157 or design a bit harder or slicken our processes. And yeah, that's all great 34 00:02:12,157 --> 00:02:15,287 stuff, and if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you know that 35 00:02:15,317 --> 00:02:19,917 I always work to best practices, and I absolutely implore you to do the same. 36 00:02:20,227 --> 00:02:22,027 So yeah, do all of those things. 37 00:02:22,437 --> 00:02:28,597 But one of the things that we often haven't done is allowed ourselves 38 00:02:28,907 --> 00:02:33,799 to really, get to grips with what leveling up, what dreaming big 39 00:02:33,799 --> 00:02:36,009 for our businesses really means. 40 00:02:36,380 --> 00:02:40,580 It starts with us, and everything else comes back from here. 41 00:02:40,957 --> 00:02:44,587 Now I know that you are just one person listening to or watching this podcast, so 42 00:02:44,587 --> 00:02:49,549 if I say hands up if, you have done these behaviors or think that you may have done 43 00:02:49,549 --> 00:02:53,119 these behaviors, I'm not gonna see it, so you don't have to put your hand up. 44 00:02:53,519 --> 00:02:58,669 But do listen out and tell me if any of these sound like you 45 00:02:59,169 --> 00:03:03,484 Dropping your prices while you are mid-call or mid-email, just 46 00:03:03,834 --> 00:03:05,664 mid-discussion with the clients. 47 00:03:06,234 --> 00:03:11,414 So it could be that you've quoted a figure that you would really like to 48 00:03:11,414 --> 00:03:17,214 earn from this project, but you are a little bit uncomfortable because that 49 00:03:17,564 --> 00:03:21,184 figure is a bit of a stretch for you because you've not earned that before 50 00:03:21,184 --> 00:03:23,224 or you've not charged that many times. 51 00:03:23,224 --> 00:03:28,874 It could be that you've just leveled up to charging £3,000 for a website 52 00:03:29,234 --> 00:03:32,286 and you quote that to the client and you say, "Yep, but if you sign up 53 00:03:32,336 --> 00:03:39,076 today, I will knock £500 off it. Let me know if you have done that before a 54 00:03:39,076 --> 00:03:43,716 client has even had a chance to speak, before they have had the chance to 55 00:03:44,256 --> 00:03:47,366 consider the amount or say anything. 56 00:03:47,866 --> 00:03:49,986 Because I know I've done it. 57 00:03:50,726 --> 00:03:55,726 I know that I've done it completely unprompted, where I've really liked 58 00:03:55,756 --> 00:03:58,926 the client and I've wanted to work with them, or I felt uncomfortable about the 59 00:03:58,926 --> 00:04:03,756 figure, and I know that a lot of people who I have mentored have done the same. 60 00:04:04,176 --> 00:04:08,336 And the first thing I want to do is to encourage you to put 61 00:04:08,406 --> 00:04:10,906 the price out there and pause. 62 00:04:11,796 --> 00:04:17,446 Because when you create that space, you create the space for the client to 63 00:04:17,446 --> 00:04:20,916 consider it, to remember this is the first time that they are hearing that figure. 64 00:04:21,246 --> 00:04:24,976 And this isn't necessarily gonna be a big figure or, outside the 65 00:04:24,976 --> 00:04:26,416 realm of what they were thinking of. 66 00:04:26,836 --> 00:04:28,396 Just pause. 67 00:04:29,156 --> 00:04:33,936 It gives them some space, and it stops that nervous energy with you. 68 00:04:34,026 --> 00:04:38,796 Because within that pause, you get the opportunity to say to yourself, "I 69 00:04:38,796 --> 00:04:42,366 would really like to earn that from this project, and my work is worth it." So 70 00:04:42,416 --> 00:04:45,336 pause, and then wait for their reply. 71 00:04:45,366 --> 00:04:48,336 Now, this could be that you're doing it over email, so you naturally 72 00:04:48,336 --> 00:04:49,456 do have to wait for a reply. 73 00:04:49,956 --> 00:04:55,376 Could be that you're doing it on a Zoom call, and their reply might be something 74 00:04:55,506 --> 00:04:58,926 that's along the lines of, "Yeah, that's great, but It was a bit more 75 00:04:58,926 --> 00:05:03,016 than I was expecting to pay." And you have the opportunity to pause again, 76 00:05:03,746 --> 00:05:07,716 and rather than drop the price, say, "I appreciate that, and I appreciate 77 00:05:07,746 --> 00:05:09,826 that you may need to think about it. 78 00:05:10,526 --> 00:05:15,416 What I can say is that that price reflects the quality of work and the website that 79 00:05:15,416 --> 00:05:16,816 you're going to get at the end of this. 80 00:05:17,206 --> 00:05:18,806 But have a think about it. 81 00:05:19,326 --> 00:05:19,856 Let me know. 82 00:05:20,116 --> 00:05:22,536 I look forward to hearing from you soon." We don't want to 83 00:05:22,536 --> 00:05:23,906 force people to work with us. 84 00:05:24,317 --> 00:05:28,386 But having that pause actually just removes that nervous energy 85 00:05:28,416 --> 00:05:31,356 because when you have that nervous energy, people pick up on it. 86 00:05:31,706 --> 00:05:36,306 And when you pause, when you take a breath and remind yourself you've 87 00:05:36,306 --> 00:05:37,206 earned your seat at the table. 88 00:05:37,876 --> 00:05:41,006 Even getting a client onto a call, you know, not every website designer can do 89 00:05:41,056 --> 00:05:42,966 that, or they don't do it comfortably. 90 00:05:43,386 --> 00:05:47,306 So just pause and wait and charge what you're worth. 91 00:05:47,516 --> 00:05:51,896 Don't undercut yourself, and certainly don't undercut yourself immediately. 92 00:05:52,656 --> 00:05:57,836 And one of the things that people in any industry can really suffer with, 93 00:05:57,976 --> 00:06:02,298 but I'm gonna say particularly in the web design industry because that's who 94 00:06:02,298 --> 00:06:06,658 I work with, is when you're leveling up, you know, year on year, we want to be 95 00:06:06,658 --> 00:06:08,768 making more money because, well, we do. 96 00:06:08,878 --> 00:06:10,528 We want it to reflect our experience. 97 00:06:10,588 --> 00:06:11,718 We want it to reflect our work. 98 00:06:11,848 --> 00:06:14,698 We want to meet the inflation rates, all that sort of thing, 99 00:06:14,698 --> 00:06:15,818 so we want to earn more money. 100 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:22,730 That there's a difference between earning a bit more money because we're increasing 101 00:06:22,730 --> 00:06:26,530 the prices of our payment plans or we're doing more websites, so we're getting 102 00:06:26,530 --> 00:06:27,999 more people that are on payment plan. 103 00:06:28,510 --> 00:06:33,163 And if you don't have payment plans, for website hosting and maintenance, then 104 00:06:33,163 --> 00:06:38,033 you're really missing a trick because it's great recurring revenue, and it keeps 105 00:06:38,033 --> 00:06:39,943 your clients on your client list as well. 106 00:06:39,943 --> 00:06:42,710 So when they need some, rework on their websites and stuff like 107 00:06:42,740 --> 00:06:44,170 that, they naturally come to you. 108 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,570 And if that's something that you haven't explored yet, and that's 109 00:06:47,570 --> 00:06:51,790 something you would like to explore with me, then just drop me a line at 110 00:06:51,950 --> 00:06:56,920 hello@websitesmadesimple.co.uk or come and find me on LinkedIn at Holly C. Christie, 111 00:06:57,270 --> 00:07:01,200 and we can schedule some time together, and I can walk through what would feel 112 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:05,365 like some good options for you to get that started. When we're looking to level up, 113 00:07:05,395 --> 00:07:09,055 we're looking to level up and make quite a lot more money, so not just increasing 114 00:07:09,055 --> 00:07:10,645 the prices of our payment plans. 115 00:07:11,065 --> 00:07:15,585 It could be that we are doing big jumps with how much we're charging for websites. 116 00:07:15,975 --> 00:07:20,105 It could be that we are hoping to produce more websites each year. 117 00:07:20,155 --> 00:07:23,375 It could even be that we are starting to work with some white labelers so 118 00:07:23,375 --> 00:07:26,888 that we can pull in some more work and, get more websites out there. 119 00:07:27,368 --> 00:07:31,847 Often, what's really stopping us from this is us. 120 00:07:32,727 --> 00:07:37,387 We've never earned that much money before, so essentially we think that 121 00:07:37,417 --> 00:07:43,297 we don't know how to, and it's where so many people get stuck at a certain figure 122 00:07:43,297 --> 00:07:47,017 within their business, and they just, it doesn't matter what they do, they don't 123 00:07:47,017 --> 00:07:48,727 seem to be turning over any more money. 124 00:07:48,997 --> 00:07:52,277 And it's because they've got that mindset block of they don't know how to do it. 125 00:07:52,307 --> 00:07:57,437 They don't know what it would look like to have X amount of more money in the bank. 126 00:07:57,852 --> 00:08:02,392 And the ways that we do this, it's never a conscious thing because obviously 127 00:08:02,422 --> 00:08:04,072 we all want to hit six figures. 128 00:08:04,212 --> 00:08:06,400 Some people want to hit seven or eight figures. 129 00:08:06,770 --> 00:08:09,780 But we all want to have that really comfortable lifestyle, and 130 00:08:09,780 --> 00:08:12,720 we all want to feel really well rewarded for our work as well. 131 00:08:13,190 --> 00:08:18,410 And so the ways that this can show up is that we can really bottleneck within 132 00:08:18,410 --> 00:08:21,090 our businesses when it comes to money. 133 00:08:21,786 --> 00:08:23,666 You have quoted for a website. 134 00:08:24,796 --> 00:08:26,446 Let's use that 3,000 pound figure again. 135 00:08:26,446 --> 00:08:28,406 You've quoted 3,000 pounds for a website. 136 00:08:28,716 --> 00:08:32,966 The client's agreed to pay 3,000 pounds for a website, and immediately in 137 00:08:32,966 --> 00:08:39,166 your mind you think, "Right, I have earned 3,000 pounds." In theory, no. 138 00:08:39,926 --> 00:08:42,696 It means that you now have £3,000 coming into your business. 139 00:08:42,746 --> 00:08:45,276 This is assuming, you know, that the website makes it all the way through 140 00:08:45,276 --> 00:08:47,907 and, you know, the client pays up willingly for it at the end and 141 00:08:47,907 --> 00:08:49,407 everything runs beautifully on time. 142 00:08:50,247 --> 00:08:53,177 And when that's done, there is £3,000 in the business. 143 00:08:53,237 --> 00:08:57,917 But this is not a solely earning amount of money. 144 00:08:58,247 --> 00:09:01,387 Yes, you should be taking a salary from your business, but your salary shouldn't 145 00:09:01,457 --> 00:09:06,697 be dependent on every bit of money that goes in there because we can find with 146 00:09:06,757 --> 00:09:10,997 web design, because you can run it on quite a scrappy setup, I mean, essentially 147 00:09:10,997 --> 00:09:15,427 all you really need is a laptop, some hosting, and a license for a good theme. 148 00:09:15,747 --> 00:09:17,947 Or, you know, if you're a really techy dev, you don't even need 149 00:09:17,947 --> 00:09:19,287 to pay for a theme license there. 150 00:09:19,767 --> 00:09:20,907 And off you go. 151 00:09:21,287 --> 00:09:25,647 It's really easy to think that we don't need to distribute money 152 00:09:25,647 --> 00:09:27,127 any other way within the business. 153 00:09:27,177 --> 00:09:30,157 We pay our hosting fees, we pay our theme fees, you pay your insurance 154 00:09:30,197 --> 00:09:31,777 fee, and you're kind of there. 155 00:09:32,377 --> 00:09:36,897 But actually, in that same way that you need to spend money to make money, 156 00:09:36,897 --> 00:09:39,807 and rather than spend money, I'm gonna say you need to invest money 157 00:09:39,807 --> 00:09:41,997 to make money, this is the same. 158 00:09:42,347 --> 00:09:48,817 So when you bring money into your business, when you earn it, what you 159 00:09:48,817 --> 00:09:53,587 really need to think about is what is the best way to distribute this? 160 00:09:53,587 --> 00:09:57,357 How is this going to serve the business so that I can go on to make more money? 161 00:10:03,547 --> 00:10:07,487 I was discussing this in our group mentoring session yesterday with one 162 00:10:07,487 --> 00:10:11,737 of the lovely mentees who was saying that one of her roles, and you'll know 163 00:10:11,737 --> 00:10:16,977 this well as a web designer, is that a particular client wanted an image 164 00:10:16,977 --> 00:10:21,297 overlay on every image, and it had to be a gradient, and the gradient had to 165 00:10:21,297 --> 00:10:22,907 work and run in a certain direction. 166 00:10:23,347 --> 00:10:26,317 And so this web designer was using Canva to do that. 167 00:10:26,857 --> 00:10:31,597 And across the website there were, you know, maybe 30 or 40 images, and 168 00:10:31,807 --> 00:10:36,587 she was saying, "Oh, it's just, you know, it's repetitive." It's, uh, not 169 00:10:36,587 --> 00:10:39,897 a waste of time, but it's not a good use of a website designer's time. 170 00:10:40,527 --> 00:10:44,827 So we explored about what it would look like to use a VA to do that, 171 00:10:45,097 --> 00:10:49,347 and that the reality of how much that would cost for a VA to do that. 172 00:10:49,867 --> 00:10:53,927 And I've got a brilliant VA. She is really good at design and stuff like that. 173 00:10:53,977 --> 00:10:58,757 It would probably take her an hour to do those, to deliver that, and that 174 00:10:58,757 --> 00:11:04,151 would cost me, I think, £38 for the hour. If I handed that over to her, that 175 00:11:04,241 --> 00:11:10,301 gives me an extra hour to be running a mentoring session at 150 pounds an 176 00:11:10,301 --> 00:11:15,441 hour, to be running a website clinic at 150 pounds an hour, to be working on a 177 00:11:15,441 --> 00:11:19,151 website build, to be doing marketing, to be pulling in more business. 178 00:11:19,531 --> 00:11:27,531 So it is not worth my time or saving 38 pounds to do those kind of work myself. 179 00:11:28,216 --> 00:11:31,716 As website designers, because we have that skill set, we often 180 00:11:32,166 --> 00:11:34,266 forget that we don't have to do it. 181 00:11:34,306 --> 00:11:37,146 Just because we can do it, we don't have to do it. 182 00:11:37,226 --> 00:11:42,886 And actually, if we outsource some of this stuff, we are actually supporting 183 00:11:42,886 --> 00:11:46,216 another freelancer as well, someone else within their own business. 184 00:11:46,656 --> 00:11:47,616 They're supporting us. 185 00:11:47,956 --> 00:11:51,576 It's a good two-way arrangement, but it also frees up the time for us to 186 00:11:51,576 --> 00:11:53,436 use it where it is more valuable. 187 00:11:53,842 --> 00:12:00,112 A lot of the time, website designers will bottleneck in their business when it comes 188 00:12:00,112 --> 00:12:01,922 to money, when it comes to work like this. 189 00:12:02,342 --> 00:12:03,702 And trust me, I've been there. 190 00:12:03,892 --> 00:12:04,642 I've done it myself. 191 00:12:04,722 --> 00:12:08,372 One of my really good friends, Ally, she came over a couple of years ago, 192 00:12:08,802 --> 00:12:11,552 and we were talking about work, and I was saying about, "Oh, yeah, I do all 193 00:12:11,552 --> 00:12:15,742 of this during the day, and then at night, you know, once I put the kids to 194 00:12:15,742 --> 00:12:19,022 bed, I'll get out the laptop, and then I'll start working again." And she says, 195 00:12:19,672 --> 00:12:20,972 "How many nights a week do you do that?" 196 00:12:21,122 --> 00:12:24,532 And I said, "Well, yeah, five, you know, every workday." She's like, "How many 197 00:12:24,662 --> 00:12:27,512 hours are you doing that for?" I said, "Well, probably about three or something." 198 00:12:27,562 --> 00:12:32,582 She said, "So you're essentially halving your hourly rate." And I said 199 00:12:32,582 --> 00:12:34,382 to her, "No, no, you just don't get it. 200 00:12:34,382 --> 00:12:35,612 You know, you don't have your own business. 201 00:12:35,612 --> 00:12:37,202 You don't get that we have to work around the clock." 202 00:12:37,202 --> 00:12:38,072 She's like, "No, I do get it. 203 00:12:38,072 --> 00:12:41,602 I've watched you run your own business for, like, um, over a decade. 204 00:12:42,062 --> 00:12:42,512 I do get it. 205 00:12:42,512 --> 00:12:47,512 You're absolutely devaluing your time." And when I really stopped and 206 00:12:47,512 --> 00:12:51,482 thought about it, I also thought that when I was working in the evenings, 207 00:12:51,532 --> 00:12:55,352 I am not nearly as productive, particularly when it comes to design. 208 00:12:55,702 --> 00:12:59,352 It will take me a lot longer to do something that actually, if I was 209 00:12:59,482 --> 00:13:03,212 just properly rested, I'd be able to blast out the next day as well. 210 00:13:03,616 --> 00:13:07,096 It might be a case of I was also doing jobs that weren't serving 211 00:13:07,096 --> 00:13:10,736 me, like the stuff that a VA could do as well, and I had become my 212 00:13:11,025 --> 00:13:13,045 own bottleneck within my business. 213 00:13:13,425 --> 00:13:17,420 And it meant that I actually went on to work with some mentors as well, and 214 00:13:17,450 --> 00:13:19,320 we streamlined parts of the business. 215 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:20,890 We just tweaked things. 216 00:13:20,940 --> 00:13:22,020 We changed some pricing. 217 00:13:22,050 --> 00:13:26,360 We got some VAs on board, and it absolutely revolutionized stuff as well. 218 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:27,410 And you know what? 219 00:13:27,490 --> 00:13:30,960 The more that I spent out doing this, the more that I was like, 220 00:13:30,990 --> 00:13:33,570 "Right, I'm gonna book five hours or 10 hours a week with a VA. 221 00:13:33,570 --> 00:13:36,230 I'm gonna book this, that, and the other," the more money I actually 222 00:13:36,230 --> 00:13:38,990 ended up turning over in my business, the more I earned from it. 223 00:13:39,380 --> 00:13:41,700 But also, I was happier with it. 224 00:13:42,100 --> 00:13:45,789 I went on to earn a lot more in my business than I had ever earned 225 00:13:45,809 --> 00:13:49,944 with it before that, and I learned really to get out of my own way. 226 00:13:50,344 --> 00:13:52,824 Yes, I can do everything in my business. 227 00:13:53,254 --> 00:13:55,024 Should I be doing everything in my business? 228 00:13:55,194 --> 00:13:55,424 No. 229 00:13:55,744 --> 00:13:57,904 Do I want to be doing everything in my business? 230 00:13:58,194 --> 00:13:59,404 No, not at all. 231 00:13:59,714 --> 00:14:04,582 And it's really about that letting go to be happy within your business, 232 00:14:04,892 --> 00:14:08,772 letting go to give some time back for yourself, and understanding that 233 00:14:08,812 --> 00:14:12,522 just because you work for yourself, it doesn't mean that you have to work 234 00:14:12,642 --> 00:14:14,792 every hour that there is to yourself. 235 00:14:14,962 --> 00:14:19,102 I mean, the beauty is to really create a business that still runs without 236 00:14:19,202 --> 00:14:23,162 you, that you can step away from, that you only get involved in the bits that 237 00:14:23,162 --> 00:14:26,392 you want to, that you only design the websites for the people that you want 238 00:14:26,392 --> 00:14:32,494 to as well. So if there's any message I can give you is get out of your own 239 00:14:32,494 --> 00:14:37,534 way, stop bottlenecking your business, and have some faith and confidence in 240 00:14:37,534 --> 00:14:41,784 yourself that you can do this, that you can earn a really good salary, and you 241 00:14:41,834 --> 00:14:43,784 can be really happy in your business. 242 00:14:44,234 --> 00:14:47,074 And if this is something that you would like to explore with 243 00:14:47,184 --> 00:14:50,434 working together, then I would absolutely love to hear from you. 244 00:14:50,844 --> 00:14:54,934 Drop me an email at hello@websitesmadesimple.co.uk. 245 00:14:55,404 --> 00:14:58,114 Come find me on LinkedIn at Holly C. Christie. 246 00:14:58,614 --> 00:15:02,114 And yeah, I'd love to help you have a better business. 247 00:15:02,204 --> 00:15:07,244 So until next time, go and have a look, go and see where you're the 248 00:15:07,244 --> 00:15:10,214 bottleneck and what you can do about it.