1 00:00:00,492 --> 00:00:03,852 In this episode, I'm gonna be talking about how to build a 2 00:00:03,852 --> 00:00:06,522 sustainable web design business. 3 00:00:06,882 --> 00:00:10,632 So if you are a website designer, you're a website developer, it doesn't 4 00:00:10,632 --> 00:00:16,032 matter whereabouts in your career that you are, this episode is here for you. 5 00:00:20,026 --> 00:00:24,436 Hello and welcome to websites Made Simple, the podcast to support website 6 00:00:24,436 --> 00:00:29,986 designers and developers in having the very best web design business they can 7 00:00:30,766 --> 00:00:34,426 and earning a good amount of money while they do it as well, because, I dunno 8 00:00:34,426 --> 00:00:38,626 about you, but I know a huge amount of website designers and developers who 9 00:00:38,626 --> 00:00:42,886 come into my network, who come into my mentoring programmes, who all start off 10 00:00:42,976 --> 00:00:48,586 under charging because they think that they need to build up a portfolio before 11 00:00:48,586 --> 00:00:50,206 they can get going with their business. 12 00:00:50,536 --> 00:00:53,116 And they believe that the only way to build that portfolio 13 00:00:53,446 --> 00:00:59,416 is to do it on a makes rate or a skills squat or any anyway. 14 00:00:59,746 --> 00:01:02,566 That means that they're not actually being paid for the skills that 15 00:01:02,566 --> 00:01:04,576 they're bringing into the table here. 16 00:01:05,506 --> 00:01:11,386 And I have a very strong work ethic around we do not work for free. 17 00:01:12,136 --> 00:01:16,306 We do not work for too little money as well. 18 00:01:16,786 --> 00:01:21,076 And we build the business that works for us and for our clients. 19 00:01:21,496 --> 00:01:25,936 So if you're ready to spend a bit of time with me today to find out how to 20 00:01:25,936 --> 00:01:29,476 do that and how to apply it for your business, then let's get started. 21 00:01:31,246 --> 00:01:36,496 So the very first thing I want to suggest is that you collaborate with 22 00:01:36,496 --> 00:01:38,596 others in your web design business. 23 00:01:39,106 --> 00:01:44,116 And we know there is the stereotypical website designer that they're hunched 24 00:01:44,116 --> 00:01:48,676 over their keyboard, they're there in a hoodie and jeans, they might have 25 00:01:48,676 --> 00:01:50,476 their earbuds in, they might not. 26 00:01:50,806 --> 00:01:55,186 And ultimately they are working there in isolation. 27 00:01:55,246 --> 00:01:59,476 And if we want to stretch that stereotype a little bit further, they'll also be 28 00:01:59,476 --> 00:02:03,976 talking in tech jargon and they generally will avoid any in-person meetings 29 00:02:03,976 --> 00:02:05,986 and most likely phone calls as well. 30 00:02:06,676 --> 00:02:12,616 And that is so far removed from what website designers and developers 31 00:02:12,616 --> 00:02:14,056 are showing up as today showing. 32 00:02:14,056 --> 00:02:16,786 I mean, granted, there are still some people who would prefer their own 33 00:02:16,786 --> 00:02:20,716 company and who wear hoodies in the industry and that is absolutely on them. 34 00:02:21,346 --> 00:02:25,306 But I can assure you the more you collaborate, the more money you'll 35 00:02:25,306 --> 00:02:29,056 make, the less stressed you'll feel about projects and the happier 36 00:02:29,056 --> 00:02:30,916 you will be in your business. 37 00:02:31,276 --> 00:02:35,776 And when I say about collaborating, it can be with other website designers 'cause 38 00:02:35,776 --> 00:02:41,506 that can always be really helpful when you have too much work and you might wanna 39 00:02:41,506 --> 00:02:46,786 come bring someone in as a white labeler or whether you've been asked to work on 40 00:02:46,786 --> 00:02:51,046 a project that's slightly outside of your skillset and you just want the reassurance 41 00:02:51,046 --> 00:02:52,936 of someone else who you work with as well. 42 00:02:53,386 --> 00:02:56,446 It could be copywriters, it could be SEO specialists. 43 00:02:56,896 --> 00:03:00,106 I can tell you if you go on LinkedIn connect with some SEO 44 00:03:00,136 --> 00:03:03,406 specialists, you are gonna learn so much more about the industry. 45 00:03:03,406 --> 00:03:05,116 So it's absolutely worth doing. 46 00:03:05,566 --> 00:03:08,536 Could also be branding designers and um. 47 00:03:09,166 --> 00:03:10,576 Copywriters as well. 48 00:03:11,236 --> 00:03:15,706 But these are the key people who are going to help you to build a 49 00:03:15,706 --> 00:03:20,326 really, really good business because we know that website projects don't 50 00:03:20,326 --> 00:03:22,216 begin and end with the website build. 51 00:03:22,546 --> 00:03:25,991 I mean, essentially they begin with the copy and the brand. 52 00:03:27,142 --> 00:03:33,592 And we want to be able to support our clients in getting over the hurdle 53 00:03:33,982 --> 00:03:38,482 of booking the website and getting started with the website because we 54 00:03:38,482 --> 00:03:40,732 only get paid when the work happens. 55 00:03:41,152 --> 00:03:44,812 But often people will really still, at the copywriting stage, they will 56 00:03:44,812 --> 00:03:47,182 think, I can write this myself. 57 00:03:47,242 --> 00:03:51,462 I know about my own industry, that's why I work in the industry. 58 00:03:51,912 --> 00:03:57,252 But writing about your industry in a way that pulls people in through 59 00:03:57,252 --> 00:04:01,422 the website and working in your industry are two different things. 60 00:04:01,782 --> 00:04:05,892 Now, as a web designer, a developer and a copywriter, if you're listening, you are 61 00:04:05,892 --> 00:04:08,052 gonna know that, but your client isn't. 62 00:04:08,472 --> 00:04:13,902 And so if they come to you as the website designer or developer as their first port 63 00:04:13,902 --> 00:04:19,662 of call, you really want to be able to say to them, let's talk about copywriting. 64 00:04:19,662 --> 00:04:24,312 Because the copy is going to be what influences the user experience, what 65 00:04:24,312 --> 00:04:28,392 helps people with, uh, you know, clicking on and buying products 66 00:04:28,482 --> 00:04:29,862 or services through the website. 67 00:04:30,102 --> 00:04:32,472 It's also gonna influence the SEO as well. 68 00:04:33,162 --> 00:04:37,662 So having someone in your network, or a few people in your network 69 00:04:37,662 --> 00:04:42,522 who you can recommend, who you know that you work well with, is always 70 00:04:42,522 --> 00:04:44,382 going to be a really good thing. 71 00:04:44,502 --> 00:04:47,952 And that goes for working with SEO specialists and 72 00:04:47,952 --> 00:04:49,572 branding designers as well. 73 00:04:50,022 --> 00:04:54,762 And I personally really grew my business when I started working 74 00:04:54,762 --> 00:04:55,962 with a branding designer. 75 00:04:56,262 --> 00:04:59,982 We had gotten on very well and I had used her for my own branding. 76 00:05:00,192 --> 00:05:02,142 Then I started sending clients her way. 77 00:05:02,622 --> 00:05:06,852 And I just knew that my clients were always gonna have a really 78 00:05:06,852 --> 00:05:08,502 good experience of working with her. 79 00:05:08,922 --> 00:05:11,802 And the same with the copywriters who I've recommended. 80 00:05:12,552 --> 00:05:16,272 I always know that my clients are safe with these people and that 81 00:05:16,272 --> 00:05:18,942 we're gonna have good work and it's gonna be delivered on time. 82 00:05:19,422 --> 00:05:25,962 And that really helped to cement my reputation, not only as a great 83 00:05:25,962 --> 00:05:30,462 website designer, but someone who was well connected and who could put all 84 00:05:30,462 --> 00:05:34,632 of the parts of the website together for my clients, and essentially 85 00:05:34,692 --> 00:05:36,852 project manager it all as well. 86 00:05:37,272 --> 00:05:41,632 And it also meant because I was recommending these people for my 87 00:05:41,632 --> 00:05:45,022 clients, it also meant that they were recommending me to their clients. 88 00:05:45,022 --> 00:05:49,552 So my business grew a lot once I started collaborating. 89 00:05:49,972 --> 00:05:55,462 And I have my Sparks Group mentoring programme, which is a weekly hot seat 90 00:05:55,522 --> 00:06:00,802 group mentoring session, and it's full of website designers and developers and 91 00:06:00,802 --> 00:06:06,742 SEO specialists and copywriters, and SEO copywriters, and everybody works together. 92 00:06:06,802 --> 00:06:09,202 They collaborate, they recommend each other. 93 00:06:09,232 --> 00:06:11,692 We have a group chat where people themselves, can someone 94 00:06:11,692 --> 00:06:13,072 write me some CSS for this? 95 00:06:13,072 --> 00:06:14,092 Or can someone do that? 96 00:06:14,610 --> 00:06:19,740 And it's a real joy to see, and I promise you it's not a requirement 97 00:06:19,740 --> 00:06:21,570 of sparks that everyone collaborates. 98 00:06:21,900 --> 00:06:23,850 It's just that's the vibe in the group. 99 00:06:23,850 --> 00:06:27,120 I always say we're about collaboration, not competition. 100 00:06:27,540 --> 00:06:33,120 And if you view your web design business as that, that you are a collaborator, 101 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:39,660 not a competitor, it's gonna massively open up the market for who you work with. 102 00:06:39,660 --> 00:06:43,950 It's gonna open up your mindset and it's gonna do really good 103 00:06:44,070 --> 00:06:45,300 things for your business. 104 00:06:45,390 --> 00:06:50,910 So that is an absolute essential one out there is collaborate with others. 105 00:06:50,940 --> 00:06:52,890 I completely recommend it. 106 00:06:53,940 --> 00:06:59,730 So the next thing I'd like to say is work out what it's you are offering 107 00:07:00,270 --> 00:07:04,740 and review whether it's working for you and do this regularly, because 108 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:09,120 the more experienced you get and with every new website build, you do every 109 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:12,990 new client you bring on, you're getting a little bit more experience as well. 110 00:07:13,380 --> 00:07:18,750 And when we start out with websites, we tend to just build anything. 111 00:07:18,750 --> 00:07:21,480 We think, oh, thank God someone's gonna be paying our bills this month. 112 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:22,560 Yes, I'll do it. 113 00:07:22,830 --> 00:07:25,170 But that's not always gonna be right for you. 114 00:07:25,590 --> 00:07:30,900 And I would say, you know, niche as much as you can into, maybe you want 115 00:07:30,900 --> 00:07:35,940 to do high volume amount of budget websites, or maybe you want to go into 116 00:07:35,940 --> 00:07:37,710 kind of more expensive bespoke sites. 117 00:07:38,190 --> 00:07:43,530 Maybe you want to just have your business as doing website maintenance 118 00:07:43,530 --> 00:07:45,450 and care plans and advisory. 119 00:07:45,870 --> 00:07:50,460 Or some people run their business doing just kind of power hours and fix it hours. 120 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:55,100 Or there's website hosting maintenance contracts that people 121 00:07:55,100 --> 00:07:58,910 sign up to that has a certain amount of kind of that blog uploads and 122 00:07:58,910 --> 00:08:00,830 things like that in them as well. 123 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:03,550 How you run your business will be unique to you. 124 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,630 But what's really important is you make sure that it keeps working for you. 125 00:08:07,990 --> 00:08:12,250 Because if you become unhappy with a service that you are providing or a 126 00:08:12,250 --> 00:08:16,510 product you've got, that unhappiness is going to kind of leach out 127 00:08:16,510 --> 00:08:20,770 into the communication with your clients and your clients will lose a 128 00:08:20,770 --> 00:08:22,630 little bit of trust in you as well. 129 00:08:22,630 --> 00:08:26,230 So it's important that you always feel really aligned with what you 130 00:08:26,230 --> 00:08:28,330 are working on and that will change. 131 00:08:28,430 --> 00:08:30,470 The more experience you get, the more it will change. 132 00:08:30,500 --> 00:08:31,700 And that's okay. 133 00:08:32,270 --> 00:08:34,465 Just stick with what works for you as well. 134 00:08:35,465 --> 00:08:41,885 So one of the things that I think is a little bit niche, but I have worked with 135 00:08:41,915 --> 00:08:48,245 website designers who are sole traders, who are limited companies who are cics. 136 00:08:48,575 --> 00:08:51,785 I've worked with people at all different stages and the one thing 137 00:08:51,785 --> 00:08:56,945 that I have always found very helpful and I practised it myself, and it 138 00:08:56,945 --> 00:09:00,635 is something we can cover sometimes as part of my mentoring programme. 139 00:09:02,375 --> 00:09:05,505 Something that we can look on at when I do as part of my mentoring 140 00:09:05,505 --> 00:09:10,785 programme, is actually registering your business as a limited company. 141 00:09:11,085 --> 00:09:15,135 And one of the reasons that I recommend that you do this separately to being 142 00:09:15,135 --> 00:09:21,945 a sole trader is keeping the company finances separate from your own 143 00:09:21,945 --> 00:09:25,665 finances can be really, really useful. 144 00:09:25,965 --> 00:09:29,415 And there are also some different reasons that I would recommend that 145 00:09:29,415 --> 00:09:32,625 you speak to your accountant about your tax relief and stuff like that. 146 00:09:33,045 --> 00:09:38,775 But one of the reasons I say having your company money separately is because 147 00:09:38,895 --> 00:09:44,235 it doesn't matter how experienced you are, it's you will have feast and 148 00:09:44,235 --> 00:09:46,215 famine months within the industry. 149 00:09:46,215 --> 00:09:50,325 You know, everyone sat there in that January thinking, holy 150 00:09:50,325 --> 00:09:51,765 smokes, how am I gonna keep going? 151 00:09:52,095 --> 00:09:54,525 Or I need to book some website builds right now. 152 00:09:54,585 --> 00:09:58,845 And yeah, other pe other times we'll be there in like the September and thinking, 153 00:09:58,875 --> 00:10:00,255 oh my gosh, I've got too much going on. 154 00:10:00,255 --> 00:10:01,755 Everything needs to be done by Christmas. 155 00:10:01,755 --> 00:10:04,005 I need to get some white labelers involved as well. 156 00:10:04,485 --> 00:10:08,655 And having that in a separate bank account with separate cashflow managed 157 00:10:08,655 --> 00:10:14,565 by an accountant can be absolutely worth its weight in gold because, and 158 00:10:14,565 --> 00:10:19,395 I promise you this ties in, and I did a podcast episode not too long ago 159 00:10:19,725 --> 00:10:23,475 about why it's really important to outsource in your web design business. 160 00:10:24,015 --> 00:10:28,425 And this came directly from one of my mentoring sessions in the 161 00:10:28,425 --> 00:10:33,555 Sparks Group, where we realised that some of the people who were in 162 00:10:33,555 --> 00:10:35,655 the group were bottlenecking money. 163 00:10:35,655 --> 00:10:38,600 They were getting the money in for for a website build. 164 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:43,880 And they would see that money as salary, not as income for the business. 165 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:47,780 So let's just take a figure of 3000 pounds, I dunno how much the website build 166 00:10:47,780 --> 00:10:49,970 was, but let's say it was 3000 pounds. 167 00:10:49,970 --> 00:10:52,640 It comes into the company and immediately they think, oh, thank 168 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:55,130 goodness that's two months salary paid, or one month salary paid, or 169 00:10:55,130 --> 00:10:56,390 whatever it is that they're earning. 170 00:10:57,020 --> 00:11:01,940 But that's not actually the case because that money comes into the business and 171 00:11:01,940 --> 00:11:06,170 then we need to look at using a portion of it to pay the software that we are 172 00:11:06,170 --> 00:11:11,000 using to build the website with and for paying the hosting and then all the other 173 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:13,250 bits and pieces that make up the company. 174 00:11:13,850 --> 00:11:18,140 And one of the things that website designers and developers can tend 175 00:11:18,140 --> 00:11:23,240 to do is they overwork on areas that they could outsource to 176 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:26,150 someone like a va, for example. 177 00:11:26,510 --> 00:11:30,790 If you have to make changes to a lot of images, and that could be that you've 178 00:11:30,790 --> 00:11:33,670 gotta put coloured gradients on them or you've gotta put text over them or they'll 179 00:11:33,670 --> 00:11:39,730 need resizing, that is not worth your time as a website designer or a developer 180 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:44,230 at, let's say you are doing your time at 75 pounds an hour when you could have a 181 00:11:44,230 --> 00:11:46,930 VA working on that at 38 pounds an hour. 182 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:50,830 And you could be using your time to finish off the website builds to do some of your 183 00:11:50,830 --> 00:11:53,380 marketing set up as a limited company. 184 00:11:53,756 --> 00:11:58,266 To run your accounts, whatever it is that you could be doing in that time. 185 00:11:58,476 --> 00:12:01,416 You don't want to be doing it faffing around with images or 186 00:12:01,416 --> 00:12:03,126 something that a VA could do. 187 00:12:03,606 --> 00:12:07,506 Or when I get busy and I absolutely do practise what I preach. 188 00:12:07,506 --> 00:12:12,066 I'm just starting another two custom website built side by side at the moment 189 00:12:12,426 --> 00:12:18,186 and I have paid a white labeler to copy dump all of the website content in 190 00:12:18,191 --> 00:12:20,546 there so that I can just go in there. 191 00:12:20,906 --> 00:12:23,936 It's gonna save me hours, hours of time because it's already in there 192 00:12:23,996 --> 00:12:27,956 as titles and textbook and I can just go in and start designing and 193 00:12:27,956 --> 00:12:31,166 building and I don't have to read everything and put it all down there. 194 00:12:31,166 --> 00:12:33,176 I know where I'm at with this as well. 195 00:12:33,236 --> 00:12:35,906 And the next job for that freelancer is to, uh, do the 196 00:12:35,906 --> 00:12:37,196 images for the site as well. 197 00:12:37,676 --> 00:12:45,806 So trust me, outsourcing is a really big part of having a website design business. 198 00:12:45,806 --> 00:12:48,926 One that you didn't, you are not going to burn out in because you are not 199 00:12:48,926 --> 00:12:53,186 doing all the things you don't think, oh, I've spent the whole day designing. 200 00:12:53,876 --> 00:12:57,326 Oh gosh, I haven't done all the invoices for today. 201 00:12:57,326 --> 00:12:59,756 I haven't done my marketing, I haven't replied to anyone on LinkedIn. 202 00:12:59,756 --> 00:13:01,676 I haven't replied to the email of that person who was 203 00:13:01,676 --> 00:13:03,086 inquiring about working with me. 204 00:13:03,416 --> 00:13:05,216 This gives you the opportunity to do that. 205 00:13:05,306 --> 00:13:10,856 And it might be a case of you absolutely love doing your images, but 206 00:13:10,856 --> 00:13:12,626 you don't like replying to clients. 207 00:13:12,716 --> 00:13:16,766 Again, just mix it up, get a really good VA who can manage your 208 00:13:16,766 --> 00:13:18,956 email address or whatever else. 209 00:13:18,956 --> 00:13:23,696 But one of the things is we think as website designers and going back 210 00:13:23,696 --> 00:13:27,656 to that stereotype of, you know, we all sit there working alone, that 211 00:13:27,656 --> 00:13:32,666 we've actually gotta be alone in our businesses and we absolutely don't. 212 00:13:32,666 --> 00:13:35,186 And, you know, collaboration is so important. 213 00:13:35,996 --> 00:13:39,866 Outsourcing helps us kind of contribute to within the economy and 214 00:13:39,866 --> 00:13:41,576 pay other people's salaries as well. 215 00:13:41,576 --> 00:13:45,026 Without that fear of, oh my gosh, I'm paying their mortgage. 216 00:13:45,356 --> 00:13:48,771 So it's a really good thing as well to do. 217 00:13:49,031 --> 00:13:54,296 So do really consider, have a thing and think, where could I outsource? 218 00:13:54,356 --> 00:14:00,656 And even if it doesn't feel like the money or the payback from it is coming 219 00:14:00,656 --> 00:14:05,246 to me immediately when I've actually won more business through having time to 220 00:14:05,246 --> 00:14:10,076 do my marketing or whatever it is that works for you, you will realise that 221 00:14:10,076 --> 00:14:12,626 actually outsourcing is paying for itself. 222 00:14:12,626 --> 00:14:14,786 So it's really important. 223 00:14:15,786 --> 00:14:21,156 So another thing that I wanted to talk to you about is about spending 224 00:14:21,156 --> 00:14:23,616 time working on your business. 225 00:14:23,946 --> 00:14:28,176 Because we can have this habit, especially as creatives. 226 00:14:28,176 --> 00:14:29,856 Like I love the creative brain. 227 00:14:29,856 --> 00:14:32,976 I mean, I drive people around me crazy, but the creative brain just 228 00:14:32,976 --> 00:14:34,236 goes, oh, what's my next project? 229 00:14:34,236 --> 00:14:34,896 What's the next one? 230 00:14:34,896 --> 00:14:36,336 And the next one and the next one. 231 00:14:36,846 --> 00:14:43,146 And that's great until you realise that there's you, you are coming to 232 00:14:43,146 --> 00:14:45,966 the ends of a loaded website, builds. 233 00:14:45,966 --> 00:14:49,716 It might be when it's starting to go into a quiet time and you 234 00:14:49,716 --> 00:14:51,336 actually don't have a strategy. 235 00:14:51,336 --> 00:14:54,726 You dunno where you know where you're going forward with it 236 00:14:54,726 --> 00:14:56,106 or what you should be doing. 237 00:14:56,106 --> 00:15:00,096 You know, you've just been on that hamster wheel of getting work and doing the work. 238 00:15:00,726 --> 00:15:05,736 And as much as I have the creative brain, I'm also really good at strategy as well. 239 00:15:06,396 --> 00:15:13,356 And I also go on planning days where I pay to go on days where I'm guided 240 00:15:13,356 --> 00:15:17,946 through how to work on my business, how to plan for the next 90 days, how to 241 00:15:17,946 --> 00:15:21,846 plan for the next six months, how to plan for the next year, and how to have 242 00:15:21,846 --> 00:15:25,356 the overarching overview of everything. 243 00:15:25,416 --> 00:15:29,526 And okay, I did do one last year, which was brilliant, but it was 244 00:15:29,526 --> 00:15:31,026 projecting the next five years. 245 00:15:31,831 --> 00:15:33,876 I thought I just can't plan that far ahead. 246 00:15:33,876 --> 00:15:38,146 I dunno what tools I'm gonna have, I dunno what's you know, gonna be available. 247 00:15:38,416 --> 00:15:43,456 So for me, kind of the next year or two years, having a detailed plan of the 248 00:15:43,456 --> 00:15:47,296 next year and an overarching plan of next two to three years is what works for me. 249 00:15:47,836 --> 00:15:51,916 But it's really important that you spend time looking at all the 250 00:15:51,916 --> 00:15:58,606 areas of your business as well and creating actionable goals around them. 251 00:15:58,606 --> 00:16:04,156 So for example, where I was saying about work out what it is you are offering 252 00:16:04,216 --> 00:16:08,716 and review, whether it's really working for you, spending some time actually 253 00:16:08,716 --> 00:16:10,276 working on the business allows you. 254 00:16:12,816 --> 00:16:15,696 Oh my goodness, I do not want to be doing this area of my work in 255 00:16:15,696 --> 00:16:19,506 two years time and it's just too stressful or I don't like it. 256 00:16:19,596 --> 00:16:24,876 Or it could be that one time I was working on my business and I decided 257 00:16:24,936 --> 00:16:29,466 that I wanted to have enough hosting and maintenance monthly contracts come 258 00:16:29,466 --> 00:16:36,036 in, that it would pay for my salary and the business expenses and that would be 259 00:16:36,036 --> 00:16:40,056 like my bare minimum if that would just come from that one stream of income. 260 00:16:40,836 --> 00:16:45,396 And then anything else over that, you know, goes into profit, it 261 00:16:45,396 --> 00:16:46,836 goes into more planning days. 262 00:16:46,836 --> 00:16:50,466 So I can do better things with it and yeah, I can set up more 263 00:16:50,466 --> 00:16:52,026 services and things like that. 264 00:16:52,026 --> 00:16:55,506 So these, having these times where you step away from your business so 265 00:16:55,506 --> 00:16:59,826 that you can work on your business is really, really important because you are 266 00:17:00,096 --> 00:17:06,486 then going to set actionable goals and hopefully you will also award yourself 267 00:17:06,546 --> 00:17:10,836 an accountability partner to make sure that you are achieving those as well. 268 00:17:11,166 --> 00:17:13,386 And that part of it is really important. 269 00:17:13,416 --> 00:17:19,356 And what I tend to do is I tend to use my long suffering best friends 270 00:17:19,746 --> 00:17:21,756 as my accountability partners. 271 00:17:21,756 --> 00:17:24,336 They are both really professional people. 272 00:17:24,876 --> 00:17:29,496 And so if I say to them, can you check in with me about this on this date and 273 00:17:29,496 --> 00:17:33,866 time, can you do this and that then they will do it and I'll know that it's coming 274 00:17:33,866 --> 00:17:35,606 up 'cause we've all got in the calendar. 275 00:17:36,026 --> 00:17:44,401 What I try not to do as much is use my freelancer fellow creative friends to 276 00:17:44,546 --> 00:17:48,656 do this with as well because they're off doing their own thing and they might 277 00:17:48,656 --> 00:17:51,506 think, oh, I don't really wanna jog her, or they might forget or whatever else. 278 00:17:51,506 --> 00:17:55,706 So just sometimes stepping outta the bubble of the people who I'm 279 00:17:55,766 --> 00:17:59,126 working with on a daily basis can really help with that as well. 280 00:17:59,696 --> 00:18:05,216 And if you are in interested in having planning day, spending some time working 281 00:18:05,306 --> 00:18:10,556 on your business, meeting some people who you can collaborate with as well. 282 00:18:11,756 --> 00:18:16,766 I'm gonna be running some planning days towards the autumn, um, winter of this 283 00:18:16,766 --> 00:18:21,506 year so that we can get nice and set up so we can handle that pre-Christmas 284 00:18:21,506 --> 00:18:25,406 rush and we can also spread things out ready for that quiet time in January 285 00:18:25,766 --> 00:18:27,476 and as things start to pick up again. 286 00:18:27,776 --> 00:18:32,606 So if that's something you would be interested in, email me at hello at 287 00:18:32,666 --> 00:18:37,376 websites made simple co uk I will reply to your email only I manage that 288 00:18:37,376 --> 00:18:41,846 email address so you do get me and I'll be able to give you more plans 289 00:18:41,906 --> 00:18:46,016 and information as and when it becomes available as well, which is code for 290 00:18:46,256 --> 00:18:47,696 once I found the right venue for us. 291 00:18:48,266 --> 00:18:51,926 But it's gonna be good and it's gonna be very transformative 292 00:18:52,016 --> 00:18:53,516 for your career as well. 293 00:18:54,962 --> 00:18:58,562 So I've just got a couple more that I want to run through with you as well. 294 00:18:58,592 --> 00:19:02,342 And one is about the money gap in website design. 295 00:19:02,342 --> 00:19:06,872 So I've talked about setting up as a limited company so that you can really 296 00:19:06,872 --> 00:19:11,552 handle your finances separately to to the rest of your money as well. 297 00:19:11,912 --> 00:19:15,362 I've talked about doing what really works for you and where you really 298 00:19:15,362 --> 00:19:17,342 feel lit up by your work as well. 299 00:19:17,642 --> 00:19:23,372 And I finally want to talk about money, rather look at what you would like 300 00:19:23,372 --> 00:19:28,892 to earn, what you are charging for, what you're currently offering and 301 00:19:28,982 --> 00:19:31,082 whether you can get there doing that. 302 00:19:31,862 --> 00:19:36,392 Because a lot of time people think, oh, I would love to spend, let's just 303 00:19:36,392 --> 00:19:41,972 say for example, 60,000 a year, but they're actually only charging 1500 304 00:19:41,972 --> 00:19:46,202 pounds for a website and then it's taken them a month to build that website. 305 00:19:46,202 --> 00:19:48,092 And they might have two websites on the go. 306 00:19:48,632 --> 00:19:52,832 And so they might even be getting 3000 pounds a month, but that 307 00:19:52,892 --> 00:19:56,312 isn't going to get them anywhere near, they're still 2000 pounds a 308 00:19:56,312 --> 00:19:59,372 month short of their 60,000 a year. 309 00:20:00,122 --> 00:20:05,582 And it's then looking at where are the money gaps and how do we fill those gaps. 310 00:20:05,942 --> 00:20:11,762 And I promise you I will do another episode on how we earn money as 311 00:20:11,762 --> 00:20:15,542 website designers because we tend not to do it all from one place. 312 00:20:15,812 --> 00:20:21,032 So for example, I earn money through my website builds, I earn money through my 313 00:20:21,032 --> 00:20:25,682 website clinic, which are power hours where people can come and work through 314 00:20:25,682 --> 00:20:27,542 some problems with me in that time. 315 00:20:27,962 --> 00:20:30,962 I also run workshops and master classes. 316 00:20:30,962 --> 00:20:33,182 Those come in as kind of one-off payments. 317 00:20:33,182 --> 00:20:37,352 I have my mentoring programmes that gives monthly payments and I have my website 318 00:20:37,352 --> 00:20:39,242 hosting maintenance services as well. 319 00:20:39,452 --> 00:20:43,352 And then you put all of that in the pot and it's what makes it work as well. 320 00:20:43,382 --> 00:20:48,062 But it's really important that you list out the different services that you offer, 321 00:20:48,092 --> 00:20:54,182 how much you're charging for them and what you need to do to be able to, one, reach 322 00:20:54,272 --> 00:20:58,652 the go, the financial goal you have, but two, to be able to reach that financial 323 00:20:58,652 --> 00:21:01,982 goal and include the, the expenses you have along the way of things like 324 00:21:01,982 --> 00:21:05,972 hostings and theme licences and plugins and all that sort of thing as well. 325 00:21:06,972 --> 00:21:11,502 And finally, I would recommend that you look at getting a mentor. 326 00:21:11,772 --> 00:21:15,972 Now, obviously I do mentor website designers and developers, and I work 327 00:21:15,972 --> 00:21:20,772 with people at all levels, whether that's really newly setting up and in the first 328 00:21:20,772 --> 00:21:25,572 couple of years or whether like me, you've been in business for 10 plus years and 329 00:21:25,572 --> 00:21:27,372 you are looking to tighten things up. 330 00:21:27,432 --> 00:21:30,732 You wanna get to the next level, you wanna review your services. 331 00:21:31,122 --> 00:21:33,312 You can come and work with me on all of those levels. 332 00:21:33,372 --> 00:21:38,082 And you can go to the website's made simple website, uk and you can see 333 00:21:38,082 --> 00:21:39,832 the offer offerings that I have there. 334 00:21:40,252 --> 00:21:44,152 I also have one-to-one mentoring calls, just one-off sessions. 335 00:21:44,152 --> 00:21:49,612 And that could be that you've maybe given the final draught of a website to a client 336 00:21:49,612 --> 00:21:50,782 and they haven't looked and liked it. 337 00:21:51,022 --> 00:21:55,042 And we can talk through what you could do to improve that website 338 00:21:55,042 --> 00:21:56,662 or how to handle the client. 339 00:21:56,692 --> 00:22:00,332 We also I work on crisis calls with people when it's all looking like 340 00:22:00,332 --> 00:22:01,712 it's gonna fall out bed with a client. 341 00:22:01,712 --> 00:22:05,252 You want to make sure you get paid, you want to be able to handle the next steps. 342 00:22:05,282 --> 00:22:09,032 You can get in touch with me through those one-off sessions as well. 343 00:22:09,452 --> 00:22:12,152 But whether you choose to work with me or whether you choose to work with 344 00:22:12,152 --> 00:22:17,012 someone else, having a mentor is the single most thing that will increase 345 00:22:17,012 --> 00:22:20,972 your opportunities in your website design and development business as well. 346 00:22:21,602 --> 00:22:26,762 Learning from someone who has been there, who's seen the mistakes, who can help show 347 00:22:26,762 --> 00:22:30,512 you the opportunities that are available to you and just help you structure things, 348 00:22:30,512 --> 00:22:34,562 whether that's with the creative side of the business or whether that's looking 349 00:22:34,562 --> 00:22:39,182 at your processes behind the scenes, it is something that will absolutely 350 00:22:39,182 --> 00:22:41,672 pay for itself over and over again. 351 00:22:42,092 --> 00:22:46,322 You'll see with my mentoring programmes, which are six month programmes, that 352 00:22:46,322 --> 00:22:51,632 they are priced at the price point of relatively lower price point custom 353 00:22:51,632 --> 00:22:55,922 build websites because I know that if we work together one-to-one and in 354 00:22:55,922 --> 00:23:01,472 group settings over six months, you will secure a custom build website, 355 00:23:01,502 --> 00:23:02,942 which will pay for that programme. 356 00:23:03,002 --> 00:23:07,142 You'll secure much more than that, but that's how I priced it for you as well. 357 00:23:07,202 --> 00:23:09,842 And again, I put my money where my mouth is. 358 00:23:09,842 --> 00:23:13,052 I often have coaching, mentoring, I've just come off the back of a planning 359 00:23:13,052 --> 00:23:14,912 day, which is a coaching day as well. 360 00:23:15,362 --> 00:23:19,352 And every time it's really influenced my business and I want 361 00:23:19,352 --> 00:23:23,642 to help you to influence yours in all the most positive of ways. 362 00:23:24,302 --> 00:23:26,072 So that's us for this week. 363 00:23:26,162 --> 00:23:28,562 I hope it's given you a lot to think about. 364 00:23:28,892 --> 00:23:29,792 Do get in touch with me. 365 00:23:29,792 --> 00:23:30,887 I'd love to hear from you. 366 00:23:30,887 --> 00:23:32,762 I'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode. 367 00:23:32,812 --> 00:23:36,952 You can reach me at hello at websites made simple co uk. 368 00:23:37,222 --> 00:23:40,522 You can also find me on LinkedIn as Holly c Christie. 369 00:23:40,522 --> 00:23:44,602 Come and drop me a dm. I would love to hear from you and I will 370 00:23:44,602 --> 00:23:46,942 see you again on the podcast soon.