133: Where Have I been + an update

Where have I been? As you may have noticed, I have not been creating any new content or been writing any emails to you for a bit.

I have been MFCCA (missing from the content creation action)!

This happened after hitting my highest rev month
Earlier this year, I hit my highest revenue month at $22K which was a celebratory milestone only until it led to a burn-out. After delivering on all the big and small web design projects, I decided I needed to slow things down before my body breaks down making it a necessity and not a choice.

So, I took a couple weeks off, did an at-home 10-day online meditation retreat and filled my calendar only with a select few projects that I enjoy working on and the clients with whom I enjoy working with.

I also decided I will go on a 10 day in-person retreat near St. Louis this Fall and spend more of my weekends relaxing, hiking (haven't gotten to this one yet! #loftygoals), reading fiction (haven't done in years: now reading ​"Hell of A Book" by Jason Mott from my home state of North Carolina​, not an affiliate link) and net-flixing (I really enjoy Saturday matinees).

That sweet spot between growing my business and figuring out what's "enough" is something I am still tweaking and figuring out, while also mixing-in spaciousness and ease into my calendar—one of my high values!

Content creation had to take a back seat.

If you joined my email newsletter during this lull, and haven't gotten to know me yet, let me introduce myself:

Hi, I am Sophia, an Indian American (first generation - lived in Mumbai till I was 14!) web designer and coach to web designers, based in the Blue Ridge Mountains, NC. I design websites on Squarespace and help other designers/freelancers build a thriving freelance business. It’s lovely to meet you. :)

And if you've been with me for a while and till here, a heartfelt thanks - thank you for coming along this journey as I figure out how to serve you better and how I can contribute meaningfully to help you reach your goals.

Now I've taken a few slower months — less clients, more reflecting and resting. I am not jumping back on the content creation wheel in full force, just yet, but you will begin to see some more action here in my newsletter and on my YouTube channel, starting with this update:

The 14 year journey
I started my freelance journey in Germany back in 2009 with a small business creating photo books for individuals and families (Quinceaneras, Nature photo collection, Father’s/Mother's Day, South Africa trip photos, photo memoirs and so on).

Now it’s 2023 where I build websites for a living. I have time freedom and make a living with my creative (plus some left-brain) talents. It’s taken 14 years to get here — at times very hard emotionally and financially. I have tons to learn still of course and have a fire for much more to create and contribute and experience. At the same time, I am feeling content with my journey so far.

Something keeps me up at night
Not literally! I can easily fall asleep anywhere, haha. But figuratively, that's true. Seeing freelancers going through the struggles that I went through settles not very well with me.

I have had this burning desire to help other designers/freelancers, be seen, get clients and grow their freelance business. That’s why in the last few years, I created the Millionaire Web Designer Coaching Program and the Empowered Communications for Web Designers Course (both programs are retired now). With these efforts, I've wanted to help freelancers solve the question of getting traction and building something for themselves on their own terms, as I myself struggled in getting a footing as a self-employed web designer in the early days.

Plus, as I learn more about building our family's net worth, I also want to share what we know about building a nest egg which is actually an expertise of Cristof, my husband who is a registered Investment Adviser and a genius in personal and business finance while being a compassionate communicator, especially when it comes to money-talks. We don't have all the answers, but we do have some solutions and can bring together others who can solve the other questions.

This is what's new
Cristof and I are working behind-the-scenes to launch a brand new video podcast which will be focused about helping freelancers both grow their business AND keep and grow what they earn for a rich nest egg for retirement.

We will share tips and strategies on become a person who brings value, finding clients, giving a red carpet experience to clients, how to manage our business finance, how to pay ourselves, how to start investing, getting out of debt and many more such topics around financial freedom.

Update: Cristof will create content on PineRidgeWealth.com and instead of doing a joint podcast, we will appear on each other’s YouTube channels whenever our topics align. So yeah, no joint podcast for now! This feels best to both of us and we are still very closely working on some collaborative articles and presentations for freelancers.

As for me, I will continue to design websites for clients and keep creating how-to videos while building this video podcast in the coming months/years. More full-fledged detail on this is coming up in the next few weeks.

Keep an eye out for...
I want to interview freelancers/designers/ anyone who has a tool or an idea to help freelancers on their journey to build a thriving business (btw, you don’t have to be a mega expert or have hit any specific revenue numbers — if you have 2 or 3 useful ideas from your own journey, let’s share it with the world, someone or the other is surely to benefit).

I will have more details on the name and the project soon but if you want to add value and share meaningfully, write me a note and let me know you are interested. We will be starting to record interviews in the last part of October so know that this won't be anything immediate like next week!

And now I want to hear from you
What “problem" or "situation” are you trying to currently solve in your freelance business? Drop me a line or comment below and let me know what resource/solution you would love me to share with you?

Kind regards,

Sophia

PS: We consider freelancers to be anyone who is working for themselves, wanting to add value to clients/audience with their skills (from web design, graphic design, marketing, virtual assistant, photographer, copywriting, consultant/coach in any niche, content creator, to an artist in any medium and so on).

132: Designing an Online Summit Landing Page on Squarespace

Squarespace has versatility in its uses. Recently, I designed a summit landing page for a client on his existing Squarespace website. In this video, I walk you through the site and share some tips on how to design a summit landing page.

Click the image below to play video:

I designed a summit landing page on Squarespace. Here’s a walkthrough of the sections.

See these resources mentioned in the video:

Summit landing page: https://www.mindfulfx.de/eathon
Blog + Video 131: How to link main navigation to a section on page (anchor links on Squarespace)
https://www.sophiaojha.com/blog/131-link-main-navigation-to-section-on-the-page-anchor-links-on-squarespace

Your Turn:

What question do you have right now about Squarespace or email marketing or any of the apps out there for online business that you are using. I might answer it in an upcoming video/blog tutorial.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

131: How to link main navigation to section on the page (anchor links on Squarespace)

The main navigation of your website are usually pages. But in some cases you might want to link to a section on your page instead of a separate page. For example, you might want to have a link that goes to an about page or the contact page as I have done on my client’s site here: https://www.paperplanevideo.com . Or you might want a link that jumps straight to a section of you page to help returning visitors cut to the chase, so to speak, like here on my client site https://www.dogswelcome.net where the search button in the top navigation jumps to the filter section.

In the video below, I show you two different ways of achieving this feature. Also watch toward the end because to make the links work from all pages on your site, there’s a little tweak that’s important.

Click the image below to play video:

Anchor Links on Squarespace

Also see two more blogs on anchor links:

078: How to add anchor links within blog posts
077: How to present a collection of pages using anchor links

Your Turn:

What question do you have right now about Squarespace or email marketing or any of the apps out there for online business that you are using. I might answer it in an upcoming video/blog tutorial.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

130: New Artist Website with Shop on Squarespace 7.1 for Stephanie Ruble

Update: This site no longer active shows my design. From time to time clients will move on to other platforms or even shut down their business. This is such a case where my original design is no longer visible on this client site. That happens. And it’s okay. I am leaving this blog post for SEO and to give you ideas and as a record of my work!

Type of Project: New Website Build - Website In A Day + bonus 2nd day
Client Site: www.sruble.com
Platform: Squarespace 7.1
Niche: Art & Design
Location: Delaware, USA

Color Scheme:
The colors palette includes the blue from the logo for accents and highlights and bright orange for links and navigation.
White: #fff
Black: #000
Green: #3aa251
Blue: #2c71b6
Orange: #ff9933
Purple: #794f99

Fonts Used:
Headings: Acumin Pro
Paragraph: Poppins
Miscellaneous: Poppins

Fresh off the website oven! Last week, I was on a two day project to create an artist website for Stephanie Ruble. The project was over Monday, Tuesday and because of some unexpected scenarios, I needed an extra day to complete the project. Through it all, Stephanie, was calm and composed and readily supplied any new materials or info I needed for the project.

Usually, I tell my clients that we have only three main checkpoints on any day we work together. But on this project, we had multiple email threads to get some things taken care of and my client was very attentive to my requests responding in light speed throughout the two days of our project. The main issue was the size of the images and renaming all of them. This is an important point to consider if you are designing an image heavy site to make sure the site does load fast despite lots of images: ask for both jpegs and pngs of the artwork and ask for both the original and small sizes. There are a lot of tips around image prep that I can possibly put into a separate blog post. But for now, suffice to say, that we have a lovely site with fun, creative artwork in different categories that showcases Stephanie’s versatile artistic skills.

The site showcases a home, about, commissions, portfolio and a shop with three products. My client has already begun adding new elements and started a blog. This is always a good sign telling me that my handover Squarespace training was good enough to build confidence in my clients to start working on their site and developing it further.

This was a Website In A Day + Bonus Day project built on Squarespace 7.1 with the new Fluid Engine.

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Trivia: Stephanie’s artwork is fun and creative. I enjoyed so much working with her art on the website. A lot of her work is adorable but the frog in the pond is my absolute favorite. While Stephanie has illustrated children’s books, she has a vast skill set including creating fun patterns. And oh, she loves cows (her about page bio will make this obvious!).

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Kind Words from the Client :

“Sophia was wonderful to work with and went above and beyond to make my site come to life. She patiently answered all my questions, found solutions for the complicated things I requested, and came up with a design idea I absolutely love.” ⏤ Stephanie Ruble, sruble.com

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Here you can see the frog that I love so much.

Your Turn:

What’s something amazing you’ve noticed about your clients while working with them on their websites? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

129: 15 Ways I Use Zoom to Run My Web Design Business

There was a time back in 2018-2019 when I was running my live Squarespace Fundamentals workshops, that I had to explain to my participants what Zoom was. Once they registered, I would send them links to tutorials on how to download Zoom and how to troubleshoot if it was not working. Plus, I would ask them to come 15 minutes early so I could help them with any technical difficulties on Zoom.

Fast-forward to 2022, thanks to the pandemic, Zoom has become a household name and there’s even a Zoom-fatigue that folks are experiencing through too much use of the app for communications.

Still, I use Zoom several times a week and on my consult call days, several times a day. It has made communication with my students and clients real easy. And so I thought I would round-up the many different ways I use Zoom to run my web design business.

1| 30 min Complimentary Client Calls

The first touch point with a new potential client is a complimentary 30 minute call over Zoom. In this call, I get to learn about the client’s needs and also share about my design workflow and packages. It’s a real conversation where the client gets to ask any question about the process and prep involved in building a new website.

2| 60 min Design Consult Hour - Day 1 of all of my design projects

This is an hour filled with in-depth review of all the content the client has put together as well as the time for us to get on the same page in terms of the visual aesthetic of the website I am building. We look at several example sites and discuss both design and functionality needs. This is one of my favorite parts of the design process as it is truly collaborative and I really get to feel into what the client is envisioning for their new site.

3| 10 min Design feedback during the course of the project
These are quick check-ins that I do with my client during the course of a project - whether it’s a two week project or a Website In A Day project, a 10 minute touch base makes communication flow much faster than several email threads.

4| 45-60 min Design Training + Website handover call
This is the magical end of the project call where I go over the final design of the site, do a live training of the Squarespace platform and officially handover the website to the client. This is when the final oohs and aahs are released and I see a wave of satisfaction on my client’s faces, which is truly fulfilling.

5| 90 min Squarespace 1 to 1 Training
Clients can hire me for a one-to-one training where I can give a custom training on using Squarespace. This training is super unique each time as each client will have different needs and are stuck at different parts of the website building process.

6| 60-90 min Paid Client Consult Calls
These are more of a strategy call that client can hire me for. They are dedicated for return clients who want to touch base about a new task or want to brainstorm a new product or strategy for their online presence.

7 | 90 min Squarespace Fundamentals Workshop
This is my 90 min live workshop for Squarespace beginners or those who want to refresh their knowledge of Squarespace. We go over the foundations such as creating new pages, adding galleries and links and so son.

8| 60 min Webinars for launching my courses and coaching program
I have done several webinars over the years for various courses and coaching program that have offered to my email list. I enjoy doing webinars very much and Zoom has been a reliable platform for that.

9| 60 min Coaching call for my MWD students
These are my weekly calls I do for coaching my students in my coaching program. And Zoom is my go to choice.

10| 90 min course delivery calls during live cohort for my course
When I deliver my course live, I use Zoom. These 90 minute sessions are perfect for screenshare where I teach a certain topic inside my course. Live courses are quite more fun than a pre-recorded course I think for my students as they can ask questions and see each other through out the program.

11| Personalized Assessment Delivery for my MWD students
Inside my coaching program I (or my team) make video assessments of any asset that my students submit. This way each student gets personalized feedback on everything they create as part of the coaching program. I use Zoom to record these as I can make the recording easily available to my students (instead of downloading and then uploading large video files separately).

12| Website Walkthrough Videos
Rare but once in a while walking through my first draft of the website if client is not available for a live call (often use Loom instead). I like making a video instead of sending an email because the client can see the site and hear my voice and understand the reasons behind my design choices. I highly recommend making a video if you cannot show the client the site in a live screenshare call.

13| Interviewing new hires for graphic design or team
Of course, for interviewing new hires, Zoom is my go-to tool.

14| Interviews for my YouTube Show (coming this fall)
I will be using Zoom for doing interviews for my new YouTube Show that’s coming this fall. I am researching other broadcasting apps so this is likely going to change but for now, Zoom it is.

15| Talks with my Business Mastermind Buddy
Since 2015, I have been chatting monthly or sometimes several times a month with my business mastermind buddy. We share a Zoom link with each other and it helps us keep in touch and share our learnings with each other with ease.

Things in the tech world are always changing and developing rapidly. But so far I am happy with Zoom. This app has become an important part of my business and writing this list makes it even more clear how much I rely on this one app for so many different aspects of running my web design business.

To your success,

Sophia

Your Turn:

For which of these 15 things do you use Zoom for? Do you have other apps that you have found more useful? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

Note: There may be affiliate or paid links on this post and/or other pages throughout this website.

128: New Website for Dog-Friendly Vacation Rental Listing on Squarespace 7.1

Type of Project: New Website Build - Website In A Day + hybrid
Client Site: www.dogs-welcome.net
Platform: Squarespace 7.1
Niche: Travel - Vacation Rental Directory
Location: Northeast USA

Color Scheme:
The colors palette includes the blue from the logo for accents and highlights and bright orange for links and navigation.
White: #fff
Black: #000
deep Blue: #152982
light blue: #dae8f7
Beige/Brown: #dd9159

Fonts Used:
Headings: Cormorant Garamond
Paragraph: Adelle Sans
Miscellaneous: Adelle Sans

A few weeks ago, I got an opportunity to serve dogs through my web design service. Actually, I got to serve travelers who want to bring their dogs along wherever they go. Sara Sokol who owns a vacation rental herself and is an accomplished dog trainer herself, got the idea of creating a resource for people who want to travel but are heart-broken when they leave their dogs with friends or at a kennel. They would rather travel along with their furry companions. Thus, Dogs Welcome was born - a directory of North American vacation rentals that welcome dogs on their property. She asked me to create a website that includes a directory of vacation rentals that welcome dogs (and cats) along with their human companions.

The color scheme for the site was derived from the logo which was created by Garry Atkinson. Garry is not only a graphic designer but also a Squarespace web designer and you can contact him here for your graphic and web design needs: https://www.texplora.media/

The creation of the directory itself was quite a technical process and I used two different plugins (pre-designed code) to make it happen. My client was a delight to work with and we had a few outbursts of laughter (especially when co-creating the fun lines of moving text at the bottom of the home page). How can you not when you are writing about Sarah Jessica Barker and Dumbledog!

This was a unique project (was outside of any of my packages) on Squarespace 7.1 with the new Fluid Engine.

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Trivia: My client Sara is the owner of Mr. Dog Training, a positive reinforcement dog training facility that has been voted best dog trainer in Maine for the past seven years!

And she has authored all of Coastal Humane Society’s behavior handouts, training class descriptions, and their “Caring for Your Newly Adopted Dog” packet. Her wealth of experience and love for the furry ones is truly admirable.

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Kind Words from the Client:

“Perfection! One of the best decisions I've made was hiring Sophia for my project. Sophia is easy to work with, beyond helpful, supportive, and fun. I look forward to having a chance to work with her again!” ⏤ Sara Sokol, Dogs Welcome

Your Turn:

What’s something amazing you’ve noticed about your clients while working with them on their websites? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

127: Website In A Day - Video Production Company Website on Squarespace 7.1

Type of Project: New Website Build - Website In A Day
Client Site: www.paperplanevideo.com
Platform: Squarespace 7.1
Niche: Art & Design: Video Production Company
Location: NYC, USA

Color Scheme:
The colors palette includes the blue from the logo for accents and highlights and bright orange for links and navigation.
White: #fff
Black: #000
Light Beige/Neutral: #F5F3EB
Blue: #1498D5
Orange: #D55114

Fonts Used:
Headings: Europa
Paragraph: Proxima Nova
Miscellaneous: Proxima Nova

In early September, I had the chance to create a website for a video production company run by Christopher Nuut of NYC.
It included a Squarespace 7.1 walkthrough training (recorded) and moving the domain from his old 7.0 site to the new one. This project involved a lot of gifs, multiple video embeds for the portfolio as well as a full-bleed video on the home page banner. Although the Website In A Day package includes 3 pages, I built only two pages (Home and Social Media Ads) as each page contained multiple sections (9 and 7 respectively). Christopher was able to use those two pages as templates and went on to build some more pages on his own. He was super easy to work with because of his prompt response and availability throughout the day and sending all the visual assets and web copy well in advance of the project start date. And by the way, his videography is truly outstanding and makes this website shine.

This was a Website In A Day Project built on Squarespace 7.1 with the new Fluid Engines.

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Trivia: Christopher’s videography is really outstanding and after the site was built I went on to watch a lot of his example videos on the home page and the Social Media Ads page. When I get a video made about my business down the road, I hope I can get Christopher to create one for me!

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Kind Words from the Client :

“Sophia is very friendly, professional, and talented. She worked with me to understand exactly what I wanted beforehand, and provided a new website in just one day.” ⏤ Christopher Nuut, Paper Plane Video

Your Turn:

What’s something amazing you’ve noticed about your clients while working with them on their websites? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

126: On a personal note - Celebrating my mom

I don't usually share my personal life on social media, blog or here on the newsletter but today I am sharing on a personal note (Squarespace Web Design content will be back in my next email).
​
The first half of September has been relaxed and easy going for me - by choice. I closed down the "tap" on 99Designs/Squarespace Marketplace to be able to spend some time with my mom who has been visiting from New Jersey. (Tap is my word of endearment for the client flow that comes from my profile on the 99D/SqMkpt platform). I did create a website in a day (sharing that in my next blog) and also cared for my Millionaire Web Designer coaching student. But overall it was mostly about being with Mom.
​
My mom, Hema, has been an important influence on my life. Not just as a caring mother who instructed me to always sit on the front seat in my classroom growing up back in Mumbai. Not just as a nurturer who helped me excel in school (helping me to consistently rank 2nd in class from 1st grade through 9th grade). But also as someone who without batting an eye included my German husband into the family while so many Indian American mom's are hellbent that their kids marry other Indians - or more specifically those from their own language, region and religion. As soon as I mentioned to my mom that I would be marrying Cristof (see photo below) who is from Stuttgart, she made wedding preps with love and acceptance in her heart (same for my dad too, by the way, who embraced Cristof as his son immediately upon being introduced!).
​
My mom is also the one who patiently encouraged me back in 2015 to look into Odesk (now Upwork) for freelance work when I was stumbling with my mediation workshop business. She also had never judged me for not working in the field of film after receiving my very prestigious NYU BFA in Film and then not implementing after receiving my master's degree in International Relations in Germany. Instead, going on to start a photobook design business!
​
Thankfully, I took her advice and created a profile on Odesk which eventually became the place where I started getting hired for ConvertKit account setups along with Mailchimp email marketing and other such projects. I am now running a web design business that's bringing in $10K average months, allowing me to live in a beautiful natural reserve (in the Appalachian mountains dozens of miles away from a major city), work from home and have a positive impact on those whom I serve.
​
I am grateful to my mom for all of that and much more. But most of all, I am grateful to her for the 20 years of waking up 3 in the morning to go do hard physical labor at a warehouse in New Jersey as a new immigrant from India so that we, the family, could survive and so that I could get a scholarship from her worker's union to go to NYU (+ lots of student loans!) and medical insurance for my Dad's heart which would have been totally unaffordable otherwise. And she did all of that with love in her heart and no expectations.
​
And now as she enjoys her retired life, I only want to shower her with love and appreciation and make her life as comfortable as I can.

Thank you Mom for all that you have done for us and all that you are. I am so happy she was with me for two weeks this September.

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Trivia: My mom loves to draw and make illustrations. Plus she loves to create amazing dishes from around the world and of course, most delicious Indian foods from Dosa and Uttapam from the South to vegetable Biryani from the North of India.

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Your Turn:

Who are the people who have supported you on your entrepreneurial journey? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

125: Website In A Day - Foundation Website for Tim Howard Foundation on Squarespace 7.1

Type of Project: New Website Build - Website In A Day x .5 (built over 1.5 days)
Client Site: www.timhowardfoundation.com
Platform: Squarespace 7.1
Niche: Non-Profit, Youth Development
Location: NYC, USA

Color Scheme:
The colors palette includes dark grey from the logo and bright blue for links and navigation.
White: #fff
Black: #231F20
Light Grey: #EFEFEE
Dark Grey: #7C7B7A
Blue: #031E9B

Fonts Used:

Headings: Anton
Paragraph: Proxima Nova
Miscellaneous: Poppins

Recently, I had the chance to create a website for a foundation that serves youth development in our communities through soccer. This foundation has been started by US Soccer legend Tim Howard and aims at bring mini-soccer field into communities where there are no such resources. As the website’s about page states, they have partnered with the U.S. Soccer Foundation to help build mini soccer pitches in underserved communities to provide the opportunity to explore the sport of soccer, to learn about teamwork and build confidence while participating in a healthy activity. What a wonderful mission!

This was a Website In A Day * .5 Project (Built in 1.5 days) and built on Squarespace 7.1 with the new Fluid Engines.

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Not so Trivial Trivia!: Tim Howard is an American soccer legend. He has the most caps and wins of any goalkeeper in US Soccer history. He played in three World Cups and holds the record for most saves by any goalkeeper in a single game in World Cup history.

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Kind Words from Tim Howard’s team :

“Sophia was great to work with! Efficient, professional and helpful. Very happy with how my website turned out.” ⏤ Amber Olivieri, Team Tim Howard

Your Turn:

What inspiring moment you can recall while working with your clients? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

123: Website In A Day x 2 - Artist Website for Theodora Miller on Squarespace 7.1 (Using Fluid Engine)

Type of Project: New Website Build - Website In A Day x 2 (built over two days)
Client Site: www.theodoramiller.com
Platform: Squarespace 7.1
Niche: Art & Design
Location: Richmond, Virginia, USA

Color Scheme:
The colors palette is soft cream and light olive green and grey for section backdrops and some title colors. The navigation and links are in the main brand color of teal.

Fonts Used:
The fonts are light and elegant.
For Headings: Minerva Modern
For Paragraph text: Montserrat

This week I got to work in a completely new way. Most of my projects are done either via my Website in A Day workflow or my Two Week Website workflow. Theodora Miller, a fine artist in Richmond, Virginia suggested a third way: Website In Two Days! Wednesday and Thursday of this week, we collaborated on moving her 7.0 artist site to 7.1 and up-leveling the design and functionality in the process.

This 6 page-site features a portfolio of her art work, commissions page, a shop for prints and gifts, an about page, a contact page and a home page. Of course, SEO, keywords, image optimization and mobile optimization plus an hour training of Squarespace was part of the package. Theodora has an inspiring healing story which guides her art that takes inspiration from her Greek heritage. Even before she hired me, I looked at her work and started dreaming of a vacation in the Greek islands!

This was a Website In A Day * 2 Project (Built in 2 days) and built on Squarespace 7.1 with the new Fluid Engines.

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Trivia: Theodora takes inspiration from her Greek heritage and memorizes inspirational quotes in Greek and then transmutes those words into her art!

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Kind Words from Theodora:

She is truly excited about her website and this is what she had to say about our work together:

"Sophia has been an amazing partner from the moment of our initial free consultation to our customized 2-day sprint. She has the perfect mix of technical prowess and creativity. She was thoughtful about making value-added design solutions that delighted me and elevated my brand even further than I had imagined. Her compelling expertise of Squarespace 7.1 features made the training portion of our project a breeze. In a very short duration of time, we developed a comfortable rapport that made the collaborative nature of this initiative so enjoyable. All of this is attributable to Sophia’s willingness to think outside of the box, investing the time to understand my unique needs and developing a web design that showcases my art in the best light.

As if that was not enough, she blew me away with the SEO capabilities that she built into the site and taught me do so I can optimize performance in the days and months ahead. She’s joyful and optimistic to work with and I will likely have withdrawals tomorrow after working together for two solid days.

I can’t wait to see what my friends and art collectors say about my new website.” ⏤ Theodora Miller

This is the commissions page.

Your Turn:

What inspiring moment you can recall while working with your clients? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

122: Website In A Day - Squarespace Website for Actor and Voice Over Artist (Using Fluid Engine)

Type of Project: New Website Build - Website In A Day
Client Site: www.jenniferugarriza.com
Platform: Squarespace 7.1
Niche: Entertainment
Location: Connecticut, USA

Color Scheme:
The colors palette is monochromatic with black and white as the main colors with a splash of terracota orange to add some color for links and buttons and footer.

Fonts Used:
The fonts are elegant and modern at the same time. Squarespace offers a plethora of font combination options so there’s no lack of choice there.
For Headings: Acumin Pro
For Paragraph text: Poppins

This week, I had a lovely opportunity to build a Squarespace website for an Actor/Voice Over Artist - and I built it in a day!

Jennifer purchased my Website In A Day package to get a lovely site that serves as a digital business card for her acting and voice over work. We presented her voiceover demo on the Media page along with acting clips as well as a separate page for all her headshots. With everything in one place, she can send the link to this website to potential clients, agents and post it on her profile.

This was a Website In A Day Project and built on Squarespace 7.1 with the new Fluid Engines.

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Trivia: While we were doing Zoom calls to review the new design I created, Jennifer’s dog, Paco, a little dachshund, was barking softly while sleeping, which I found totally adorable!

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Kind Words from Jennifer:

"I loved working with Sophia--she made the process super easy and seamless for me and was responsive to all of my questions. The website design turned out exactly how I wanted--actually even better than I had anticipated! I would recommend Sophia, she is friendly, professional, and knowledgable in graphic design. Thank you for your great work!!”
⏤ Jennifer Grace Ugarriza

Your Turn:

What inspiring moment you can recall while working with your clients? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia