087: 5 Traits of A Successful Web Design Business Owner

You want to run a web design business that is successful? Of course, you define what success is and it will be different at each stage of your business. And to create that success, you need to develop the traits that will help you get where you want to go. These are the traits that will not only help you achieve that revenue goal you are aiming for but also help decision-making easier, serving your clients better, and even articulate yourself better in both client communications and content creation. It’s a win-win-win!

So let’s get into some of those traits that I believe have helped me tremendously to move the needle in my business in recent months.

Here are the five traits:

1| A Successful Web Designer Actively Generates Clarity
2| A Successful Web Designer Cultivates Patience
3| A Successful Web Designer Keeps An Optimistic Mindset
4| A Successful Web Design Business Owner Cultivates A Resilient Mind
5| A Successful Web Designer Knows She Is A Force For Good

Traits for a Successful Web Designer:

1| A Successful Web Designer Actively Generates Clarity

This is not the easiest one to start with but it’s been very important for me in the last year especially. Clarity, I realize, is not something that just exists. I have found that I have had to generate clarity in my business through a combination of thinking deeply about things, journaling, discussing with my coach or mastermind buddy and most importantly, by doing.

It’s like knowing the path that leads to your home from your favorite cafe or a place you frequent. You don’t need to follow a GPS or read instructions on how to get home. You just know it because it is clear in your mind. Such clarity is something you actively need to generate about your life, about what you value, about what you aspire towards (both in personal and business life), who your business serves, what your business offers (as services, products, programs), what design guidelines you hold valuable, how you want to communicate to your clients/students, and how you want to build relationships with your peers, and so on and so forth.

For example, if you are a parent and being present with your kids each evening is important to you, you then know clearly at what time you need to shut down your computer - without fail.

As you can see that this clarify goes beyond simply knowing your niche. It’s about what is important to you. Not all parts of you business and life are completely lined up neatly in a row at all times. But if you can take some time to get some of these overarching things crystal clear for yourself, you will find many other decisions and projects and actions will fall into place neatly. Also, once you get clear it seems that with regular reflection and journaling, you enter into a deeper level of clarity!

2| A Successful Web Designer Cultivates Patience

This is something that I am continuing to cultivate and patience is certainly a virtue. Patience is needed at all stages of starting and growing your business. Patience in gaining that clarity (mentioned in point 1), patience in acquiring clients, patience in building a portfolio, patience in crafting your voice, patience in seeing your bank balance grow, patience with your own design skills, patience with your business skills and so on and so forth.

One of the most important aspects of patience we need to cultivate is towards clients. As a self-employed web design business-owner, you are most likely dealing with clients directly. And your clients will come from all types of backgrounds and regions of the world and they will have various levels of intra-personal and communication skills. Plus, even the nicest, kindest person may have a bad day which will lead them to do certain things that could potentially trigger or upset you. Moreover, we may be having a bad day and could misinterpret a completely innocent comment of a client. (I have sadly done that one time and I know that he would never want to say anything intentionally hurtful). So the more we can cultivate patience for our clients, the easier the projects will be and our own experience in creating a successful result for them.

3| A Successful Web Designer Keeps An Optimistic Mindset

There’s a proverb, I believe, it’s an ancient Chinese saying that goes like this: “Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps, a singing bird will come”. What I understand this means is that if we keep a positive mind, green and untainted by dirt, then we create a welcome home for a joyful singing bird, or opportunities and goodwill. Now being optimistic doesn’t mean being unrealistic and throwing facts out the door. But cultivating a positive mindset that is uplifting and focuses on the good is very important for persevering. You see, too often, our mind follows the line of what’s wrong: What’s wrong with my marketing, what’s wrong with my client acquisition skills, what’s wrong with my design skills, what’s wrong with me. And this is a very dangerous path. This tendency of the mind to notice what’s wrong puts a dark filter on our eyes through which we only see the “mistakes” and “errors”. And that can quickly drain one’s energy and self-confidence.

Of course, we can look at things that can be improved and tightened and refined in our business and I have shared in Blog 084 with the BBB method how to spot the bottleneck in your business and resolve it.

But we need to cultivate a habit of noticing progress made so far. We need to be aspirational for future opportunities. We need to cultivate an optimistic mindset so that when we face dire times, we can rely on our positive mindset to lift us up and out to the path of joy, peace and success.

There was a moment in my own business when I was lamenting how slowly my business was growing and how revenue was barely just trickling in. That’s when, sitting there in the middle of the living room, with tears flowing down my face, my husband brought up the spreadsheet that I had built to track my revenue. He took the data and made a graph out of it. And lo and behold, I was shocked. The graph showed me how my average monthly revenue was on the rise. I could not read the date on the spreadsheet to see that, but once I saw the graph, I was uplifted. That was the turning point in my business mindset. Now when thinking about my business revenue, instead of the voice in my head repeating “It’s growing so slowly!!!”, the voice in my head now said, “It’s on the rise!”.

4| A Successful Web Design Business Owner Cultivates A Resilient Mind

This is about being resilient in the face of rejections. And this trait has to be cultivate as well over time. Especially, in the early years of your business, when the momentum has still not picket up, you are likely to hear things like,

“You pricing is beyond our budget”
”Thank you but we have decided to go with another designer”
”We like what you have presented and at this time we have decided to stick with the site we have”
”We would love to work with you but right now we are swamped with projects”

And that’s if you are lucky. Often there’s just crickets - where the client seems to have fallen off the face of the earth and is no longer responding to your follow-ups. They could have run into personal challenges or just gotten busy with the million other things in their lives.

Also, if you are building an email list (which I highly recommend you start asap), you will notice that with each email you send out, somebody or the other will unsubscribe. And may be because we are so excited for the people in our email list, or we are just too sensitive as a starting business owner, I don’t know what all the reasons are, but that unsubscribe can hurt real bad. It’s like someone breaking up with you over the phone or worse just falling off the face of the earth (see earlier reference to people falling off the face of the earth!).

Yes, I have been there in both scenarios. Your fledging new business has not yet built the strength to withstand this kind of rejection. But the key word here is: yet. Soon, you will realize that clients who don’t want to work with you are creating room for you to focus on those who want, or creating time in your schedule so you can work on parts of your business that still need some care. Soon, you will realize that when people unsubscribe, it’s really nothing against you. They may even like you and follow you elsewhere but right now they are simply overwhelmed and want to streamline their inbox because they are working on their own sense of clarity. And you will realize that they are self-selecting themselves out of your email list and in that they are really doing you a favor because otherwise you would have to pay for an email subscriber who is not really your ideal client. How kind of them - you will soon thank them for their thoughtfulness!

And finally, the rejections from clients will not ping your heart that much. Soon, you will be focused on serving your dream clients and then when a potential client project doesn’t work out, you will know that divine timing is in play and they may come back to you at a later date when the stars are better aligned for your collaborative project. So, no big deal!

5| A Successful Web Designer Knows She Is A Force For Good

What do I mean by that? A force for good! Yes, a force for good. This is what I mean:

When you have cultivated the clarity in your business that you exist to serve and to help your clients, that because your business exists you are making a difference in someone’s life, then you know that you are a force for good. When so many clients are struggling to get their business become visible online, when they are striving through their own mind viruses of “I am not good enough” and still trying to make something happen, when clients have kids at home from school lockdowns and ailing family members, and find time at midnight to respond to your emails and make something moving in their business, when clients are trying to make a dream come true with their business while working a full-time job, when clients are afraid of technology because when she was a little girl some male-figure told her that she will break the computer or mess it up, and then she puts all her faith in you to help her navigate the scary online world, then you know that your business is needed and is making a difference for all of these people.

When you know that your business is helping people, you build a sense of confidence in your ability to make a difference. This confidence shows up in how you write client proposals, how you convey to them your design process over that virtual zoom meeting, and in how you deliver the work and work through challenges. When you know you are a force for good, all good forces come to uplift and support you.

What Traits Have Helped You On Your Journey?

So these are the five traits that a successful web designer needs to cultivate. And you may already have these and many other such traits helping you along the way. Let me know in the comments which other traits you’ve cultivated that made a difference in your business journey for the better!

You have a dream to build a thriving web design business? You can make it happen!

Peace,
Sophia

086: Inner-Circle Method of Finding Your First or Next Web Design Client

Finding your first client as a new web designer might feel like climbing Mount Everest - an arduous, unfamiliar and challenging endeavor. But once you have the right approach and strategy, it doesn’t have to be. In this article, I will share with you one of many (web design) client finding strategies that you can put into practice today.

If finding your first client or even your next client is what you are trying to solve, then I’ll guess that you are working on solving through the bottleneck in the first quadrant of your business. I highly recommend that you read through blog article No. 84 which outlines the four categories of your business (quadrants) as well as introduces you to the Business Bottleneck Breakthrough strategy that you can use over and over as your business grows.

See that article here: 084: How to Grow Your Web Design Business Using the BBB Strategy

So this category you are working on solving is Marketing which includes any action you take to create traffic to your site and to build visibility of your business and specifically of your services. You need to start getting the word out about your web design business and let people know what your business is about and that you are ready to serve new clients.

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What do Web Design Clients Need?

Now, think about what do clients need before they can hire you? And here we are talking about people who know they need a website and are in the market for a web designer. These clients are already informed about what they need (their pain point) and have some sort of an urgency to get the website made.

They first need to:
1. know that you exist. They need to have seen your website or your content online or seen you in person or seen your business info in print somewhere.
2. they need to see that you can deliver what you say you will deliver. They need to see a portfolio or some kind of a qualification and expertise.

So let’s target the second need first - the need to see a portfolio. We address this first because if you don’t have a portfolio, then even if they know that you exist and find your website, they are less likely to hire you without a proof of your expertise. So let’s prepare your business to receive those clients by building a portfolio, building that credibility factor first.

But as soon as I said that, it sounds like a catch 22, right? How do I build a portfolio, if clients don’t hire me, and if they don’t hire me, how will I build a portfolio?

Don’t worry. Here’s my solution out of this dilemma:
Build a portfolio that you can then use to find your ideal clients in the future.

Reach Out To Your Inner-Circle

As a brand new web designer, what will be the quickest ROI (return of investment) of your time so that you can quickly build out a portfolio? The answer: reaching out to your inner-circle. You can reach out to your family, your friends and close relatives and let them know that you are doing web design and offering that as a service.

Now reaching to friends and family may not sound that exciting. But I am not talking about contacting every friend and family member. Consider a handful of close people at first whom you feel comfortable of reaching out. It’s quite likely that they may have a side-hustle or a project they would love to have a website for but they never told you about it.

Bank On Your Existing Social Capital

Why do I suggest reaching out to your inner-circle? Because these are the people with whom you have the greatest social capital. In other words, they already know, like and trust you. You don’t have to convince them of your skills. They know you and are familiar with what you are capable of and can trust you even without you showing them a portfolio. Plus, they know you can’t run away - they most likely know where you live. LOL.

That’s why you can very likely convince them to give you a chance to build a website so that you can create your first or second website and build out a portfolio. And this is what you need ⏤ a portfolio of websites to showcase that you know what you are doing. This is what will help you get out of your inner-circle pretty quickly and start getting clients outside of friends and family.

How many sites to aim for? My suggestion is to aim for minimum 3 and maximum 6 for your starting portfolio.

And just because you are building sites for friends and family, doesn’t mean you’ve gotta do it for free. You may not charge your full going rate that you are aiming to be hired for but a nominal fee will help them be invested in your project and value your work. You may feel the need to undercharge enormously for your first website and hey, if it’s for your mama or papa, don’t sweat it. There’s so much they have done for you that very likely that cutting them a deal won’t be a big deal! Most important is to get that portfolio of 3 to 6 websites created and under your belt.

This strategy of reaching your inner-circle is a great one for starting web designers. But it can literally be used any time in your career. Of course, as you become more established you will want to get paid like a business-owner ⏤ appropriately. There are other strategies that you can put into place once you have exhausted the friends and family inner-circle. And I will be sharing with you those ideas in my upcoming blogs and videos.

Action step: Think of 3 people whom you can reach out to today and offer them to build a website for your portfolio. Jot it down and see how that feels. Then write or call the first person you feel inspired to reach out.

Peace,
Sophia

084: How to Grow Your Web Design Business Using the BBB Strategy

On your journey to building a successful design business, you will inevitably run into challenges. These are the bottlenecks to your progress. Each challenge, once you overcome it, brings you to the next level. Solve for the bottleneck and you unlock the next level. Knowing what kind of a challenge you are facing will help you tremendously in breaking through that bottleneck. In this article, I will share with you how to spot bottlenecks and ways to solve them using the Business Bottleneck Breakthrough Strategy.

Business Bottleneck Breakthrough Strategy is all about understanding what the four main business categories are, how they apply to your specific business model and then learning to assess the revenue bottleneck through this lens. Read on to see my examples and explanation.

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Four Categories That Need Your Attention

As an online entrepreneur, these are some overarching categories in your business that need your attention:
1. Marketing (Content Creation, List Building, Public Relations, Ads - long term)
2. Acquisition (Short-term Client acquisition)
3. Production (Serving Clients)
4. Administrative (Accounting, HR, Taxes)

To make the distinction between Marketing and Acquisition, think of marketing as all the things you do to create traffic to your site, to create inquiries for your services. And acquisition is everything that you do to turn that traffic/inquiry into clients. So that means responding to client requests, writing proposals, doing complimentary consultations, these all fall under Acquisition.

Production is the actual delivering of the task you are hired for, so in your case the web site end result. Things that can be a bottleneck is your workflow, how you set boundaries, communication with your clients, scope creep where the project included x number of things and now it has grown to include several other things, delivering the launch training, domain transfer/redirect process, and so on.

Administration includes everything you need to keep the business running. Keeping records of income and expenses, doing the tax work, managing your team, taking care of legal aspects like establishing an LLC, privacy policy, and so on and so forth.

You need to find out what that bottleneck is, solve for it, and then move on to the next level. At each level, you will find a new bottleneck, either in the same category or in a different one. Round and round this goes!

Example of My Bottleneck

Let me give you an example of what I am currently facing in my business. I have a web design business where I am serving clients in a variety of ways. There are full website builds, smaller redesigns, quick fixes and tweaks, third-party app integration and one to one trainings or hourly packages. My previous marketing efforts are paying off for my design business as I have clients who find me and hire me. And now I am running into a bottleneck.

My bottleneck: hitting a revenue and time ceiling with 1 to 1 design projects.

The bottleneck is that I can only serve so many clients in the number of hours given. My time is limited and with 1 to 1 client projects so is my revenue. I am working for dollars in exchange of hours and so this is to be expected. I can continue like this and that can work fine. But I aspire to create more breathing room in my schedule. I aspire for more time and I want to find leveraged ways of serving so I can earn more as well. That’s where my bottleneck is.

That’s one of the reasons I created the Millionaire Web Designer Program so that I could serve more people in the limited time that I have while increasing my earnings. But now I am running into a new bottleneck.

New bottleneck: I am still building an audience base of web designers and I am at the early stage of marketing.

So my new bottleneck is marketing and finding the budding web designers for whom my offer can be really valuable. Once I can find them, build the like, know and trust factor, then we can work together in building their web design business.

This type of bottleneck is typical of any new business where you do not have an audience or a client base. So your first step is to find the right marketing tool that will help you find the clients for your product or service. New web designers face this problem where they have the skills and the desire to serve but don’t know how to find the clients who will hire them. Once you solve for this bottleneck, then you have made it to the next level. Later on that new level, you will solve for the next bottleneck such as communication, workflow, finance management, leveraged services/packages and so on. But for now, you have made progress!

So if you are new web designer working on creating a consistent income stream with web design projects, there’s one question I want you to ask yourself:  

What Bottleneck Am I Facing In My Business Right Now?

Is it that you don’t have your first client? (See blog 085 for a Client Finding Strategy you can put into place today.) Or you have clients but you are not scheduling them properly and finding that you are overbooking your calendar. Or you find a client, work for them, then you have no clients and you are in acquisition mode again. Then you get a client, deliver their website and after the project is over, you are back in search for the next client. Tell me in the comments what your bottleneck is. I will be happy to give you laser coaching in the comments to help you forward!

If marketing is a bottleneck for you, I want you to brainstorm ways you can get more eyes on your business. What kinds of things can you undertake so that you can get seen? There are many different options from creating content on your site, to guest-posting, to finding platforms where you can present your services, connecting with your existing network.

This is how you apply the Business Bottleneck Breakthrough Strategy to open up the revenue flow. Use this strategy and unlock the next stage in your business.

You have a dream to build a thriving web design business? You can make it happen!

Peace,
Sophia

083: 6 Ways to Save Time in Your Business with Squarespace Scheduling

Workflows. Processes. Systems.

Making the most of these will surely help you save time and streamline your business. But what if you can use a tool that not only saves you time but also opens up a streamlined way to generate new revenue in your business?

Enter Squarespace Scheduling.

As you may know Squarespace Scheduling is an app that’s integrated with Squarespace and I want to show you a few ways you can optimize it for your business. Those of you who are using Acuity Scheduling, this applies to you as well.

1. Book Complimentary Client Acquisition / Consultation Calls

After a potential client fills out an inquiry form to work with me, I invite them to book a complimentary consultation call. I have my availability set up there beforehand and clients can see which times and dates work for them. If I am in talks with the client via email and we agree on a date and time, I simply send an invite to them directly from the scheduling app by simply adding in their name and email and date of appointment. Since I have zoom integrated with scheduling, I can save time by not having to create or schedule meeting in there. Plus, clients get an automated email with link, date and time all in one.

I email my clients this link: https://sophiaojha.com/book-your-consult-call
It looks like the image you see on the right.

Click the image to go see the direct link live.

2. Book Paid Consultations

I don’t use this so often myself yet because clients often purchase a package with me which includes both implementation time as well as video consults and so I play it by ear and send them a zoom link for our meetings. But I have it set up just incase clients wanted to book right away. So if you wanted to block off set number of hours each week for paid consultations, this would work really well. Again it is all integrated with zoom and you preset your availability in the Scheduling calendar.

3. Book a Room or Facility

This is perfect if you have a facility where you book out different areas. I recently set up scheduling for a Canine Learning Center where their clients can book an indoor diving pool, a training course area and an outdoor pool.

Because of Covid, the owner needs time after each booking to block of half an hour for disinfecting the area and so that can be set up as well so no one can book in that half hour window right after another one client. That’s a super detailed feature that Squarespace Scheduling/Acuity provides and has come in really handy for this client.

You can go see the example live here: https://www.ink9lc.com/

4. Sell Online Zoom Yoga Sessions

Another client of mine is a yoga studio Canada who had to move everything online. Because of the nifty integration with Zoom, yoga studios can create an entire online calendar with all their varied class offerings. Yoga students can select the class they want to join, pay online and get an automated email with their unique zoom link.
The unique zoom link makes sure that only those who have paid can join the event. Plus, the Yoga Studio can creating a waiting room in their overall Zoom settings to admit only those who are on their list, for added privacy/security needs.

This is what the calendar looks like with all the weekly sessions. Check it out live: https://www.jadayoga.com/online

5. Sell Class Cards or Monthly Passes

Another feature of the Scheduling integration is that you can sell Class Cards or Monthly Passes. So for a yoga or fitness studio, this comes in handy. Let’s say the yoga studio offers Hatha Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga and Kundalini Yoga classes offer by different teachers. Then, they can set up a monthly pass or a weekly pass so that students can pay in advance and select from the different class offerings. Inside Scheduling, you can set up the limit based on the number of classes or the total amount. For example, you can select whether you want to have say 25 classes included in the Monthly Pass or allow students to select as many classes as they like until the value of $125. The app will keep track and once they hit the limit in the Monthly Pass, the students cannot book any more classes. You can also allow for a rollover to the next month of unused time or money. Pretty cool feature!

Check it out at: https://www.jadayoga.com/online

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6. Design Consultation and Check-ins with Clients

During my two week design workflow, I meet with my clients on Zoom multiple times. We start off with a first Design Consultation on the first day and we wrap up with a Launch + Training Call on the last day. And in between these two sessions, we can meet spontaneously for quick 10 minute check-ins to review something or clarify a question. For my design clients, I simply email them a Zoom link that can be used repeatedly. But the first and the last consultations are booked via the scheduling app so that they can select a time that fits best for them.

I hope these are some good ideas for you that can help save you time, easily receive payments and streamline your workflow. Let me know if you use this already in your business and what questions you have run into.

Peace,
Sophia

082: How to Open A Free Trial on Squarespace - the Exact Steps Demo

It’s important that you get a feel of the website building platform before you go ahead and hire a designer or start building your website yourself. So how do you do that? Start with a 14 day free trial. You won’t need a credit card. Just an email address.

So here’s how to get started with a new a trial account.

Watch the video or read the article below it.

1| Click on my 14 Day Free Trial Link

Now, if you like my free videos and the help I am providing, you can use my affiliate link to start your account. I will get a little something only if you choose to purchase a plan but it will cost you nothing. So consider starting a trial site from here:

14 Day Free Trial for US residents:
https://www.sophiaojha.com/squarespace-us

14 Day Free Trial of International Residents (Non-US):
https://www.sophiaojha.com/squarespace-world

Alright, now you will land on the Squarespace website. Click on “Get Started”.

2 | Now you go to Templates.

You can either click on one of the categories on the left as your starting point. Or preview the templates here.

Now as of July 2020, what you see here are all Squarespace 7.1 templates. There really is no difference between these templates in terms of what they can technically do. So if you start with any of the templates here and want to create the exact about page layout that is on a particular template, you can do it on any other other 7.1 template. They are all different starting points and you can create what you want with ease. Think of templates as your easy starting points not set-in-stone endpoints.

Just a note, if you know and heard about Squarespace 7.0, the predecessor of 7.1, you can find all those templates down at the bottom of the templates page. Look for the link saying “Looking for earlier versions? Click here” or something along those lines.

Now, when I build new websites I still build them on 7.0 and so do many of my colleagues only because we have found a certain list of things that are better done in 7.0 than in 7.1. But if you are a DIY’er and want to put up a website fast, don’t worry about 7.0. You can choose a 7.1 template. If you plan to hire a designer, know that they may still want to build your site on 7.0 and that’s because they can do a lot more design wise without having to resort to coding.

Alright, so now you pick your 7.1 template or your 7.0 (earlier version) template.

And then follow the directions.

Al’right so that’s it. That’s how you open up your brand new website account on Squarespace. Go ahead and start building your first page on your Squarespace site. And again if you like the free content I am putting out here, consider opening a trial account through my affiliate links (see above). And I thank you a ton for doing so.

Bye for now and see you in the next video!

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Al’right, so what’s the next step?

1 | Sign up for my workshop Squarespace Fundamentals
In this 90 minute workshop, I show you how to navigate your new Squarespace website. You will learn how to create a new page, add text and photos and understand how to use the different content blocks. This is a training of the 7.1 version of Squarespace.
See all details of the workshop here.

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Get Started on Your Dream!

Start your Squarespace website and let me know how it is coming along. Drop me a line in the comments and share with me what your business is and what you want to create.

Peace,
Sophia

081: 5 Reasons Why I Love Squarespace: The Best Website Builder for Online Entrepreneurs

As you might have guessed, as a Web Designer who specialized on Squarespace websites, I am a big proponent of Squarespace for building your online presence. If you are an entrepreneur of any kind - whether you are an author, an artist, or a creator or if you are someone who has an idea, someone who wants to inspire and impact positive change, Squarespace is your platform - the best platform in my opinion and experience.

There are at least 5 good reasons why I think so.

Watch the Video below or Read the Text

1. Squarespace was designed for DIY’ers. (Do-It-Yourself)

Squarespace was designed with you in mind - you, the creative business person and not for designers or developers. You are in the foreground of everything they do. In fact, that’s why they have over 80 professionally designed templates for a variety of niches so that you can pick any one of them and be off to the races. In fact, the newest version, Squarespace 7.1 had made it even easier for DIY’ers to build their website by making it more streamlined and user-friendly.

2. Squarespace customer service and help line

My experience of Squarespace support has been exceptional. You get a lightning fast response and the team is highly skilled not only in the topic but also in customer service skills. I’ve reached out to them and there has n’t been any issues that was not resolved. Having a professional team that is there to support you with your questions and helps you troubleshoot is priceless. Plus, there is a huge online collection of guides and video tutorials that their team has published that will be a good starting point for resolving your questions. Their knowledge base articles are detailed and highly useful and I have myself used them a lot.

3. Squarespace has a community behind it.

What do I mean by a community? There’s a community of web designers, web developers and bloggers who have put out tons of useful content on their blogs. They have created tons of video tutorials on YouTube and they have created workshops, programs and online courses. These are all packed in value and offer a huge resource at 4 am in the morning when an idea hits you and you want to run to your computer to implement it. This is important because it shows that Squarespace has already been tried and tested by thousands of users. And they are testament to the value Squarespace provides. See a directory of Squarespace Designers put together by my colleague Erin Neumann here: https://www.bealignedwebdesign.com/best-squarespace-web-designers

4. No coding, no design experience needed.

As I mentioned in point one, Squarespace is geared towards the non-designer. So you can create a highly professional website just by using their templates as a starting point. That means you do not need to know any HTML or CSS nor do you need a design-eye. Just switch out the template photos and content and you have a website that looks stunning and can get you started. This is the first barrier that is removed. Of course, you can do a lot to move away from the template and make it look more unique and fresh. But that can always be done in phase 2. It is so important to get started building your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) with your content and blogs. So my recommendation to you is just go and build your 5 most important pages and then you can tweak the design and make it all cool gradually.

5. It’s an all-in-one platform.

This is a really important point. Running an online business means there’s so much to think about and take care of. Then on top of that if you have a gazillion apps and third party integrations, then it just makes your business life very dense and complicated. And you didn’t get into business for more complication, I am guessing, but rather for optimizing your time, streamlining and powering up your life…to make an impact and grow your revenue, not to sort through hundred million different apps, right? That’s why Squarespace is really useful because you can do everything in one place: grow your email list, send out weekly newsletters, sell your services, sell your digital/physical products, demonstrate your expertise via a blog or podcast, host your online course, schedule free discovery calls with potential clients, sell paid consultations, run your website analytics, and so on and so forth. It’s all here in one place.

I run to websites on Squarespace, one you are on right now: sophiaojha.com for my web design business and the other for my site about mindfulness and meditation: reflectionpond.com which is the reason I got into online marketing and web design (I wanted to learn how to promote my meditation programs and that’s how I got into learning about web design…if you want to know more about that journey, see my Manifesto page).

Al’right, so what’s the next step?

Take it for a Test Drive.

Take it for a Test Drive. Just like you can take a car for a test drive, you can try out Squarespace for free. No credit card needed. Select your location below and start a free trial and play around with it. I will be posting more videos to show you how to create your first page on Squarespace so look out for that. Try it before you buy it!

14 Day Free Trial for US residents:
https://www.sophiaojha.com/squarespace-us

14 Day Free Trial of International Residents (Non-US):
https://www.sophiaojha.com/squarespace-world

Get Started on Your Dream!

Start your Squarespace website and let me know how it is coming along. Drop me a line in the comments and share with me what your business is and what you want to create.

Peace,
Sophia

079: The First Two Steps To Creating Leveraged Passive Income With Digital Products

Let’s begin with a pop-quiz!

Pop-Quiz: If you want to create a passive income stream with digital products, which of the following do you think would be your first two steps?

Drafting an outline of your online course
Deciding which format your digital product should take (audio, video, course, membership, etc)
Break writer’s block by just start writing your first chapter of your course

Review which online course platforms are the best for your business?List of equipment you need to buy for creating your digital product
Which third-party integrations will you need on your Squarespace website for selling your course?
Figure out how to price your digital product
Should you go on launch mode or evergreen it?

Yes, you will need do invest time and thought into these areas before you create your digital product. But none of these makes up the first two steps. Before you do any of the above steps, you first need to 1. find out what problems your own clients are asking you to solve for them and 2. find out if someone will pay for your digital product.

Step 1: Figure out what solutions my clients want

Step 2: Find out if someone will pay for your digital product

Let’s dive into each of these one by one.

Step 1: Find out what your clients want

You see, you have so much to teach and share that you could probably begin drafting an outline for an online course in a single afternoon, if you really wanted to. But what I found out from my year and half of online course making adventure several years ago is that, as much as you need to teach what you know, you also need to align it with what the market wants. I am not saying that the thing you want to make needs to be already have existed because with that logic the light bulb would never have been invented, nor would have the airplane. Or any of the millions of new innovations that continuously come into being. But they all came into being because there was a need for it, a yearning for it in some form or the other. The end result or the product that you create doesn’t necessarily need to be existing previously. But the problem that your product solves, now that, that does need to be existing previously.

The end result or the product that you create doesn’t necessarily need to be existing previously.
But the problem that your product solves needs to be existing previously.

So when it comes to creating your first online course, it is important that you know what problems exist. And more importantly, what problems your own paying clients are asking you to solve. That information is evident in the kind of things people are paying you for because a service provide you are closely aware of what you are getting hired for. This not only will help you for example to create a customized service package but it is very useful for another reason. And that’s this: if there are folks who are paying you for a custom solution, then there are surely multiple others who want that as well but cannot ask for a customized solution for it. That’s where you can create leverage with a leveraged product.

Example 1: For example, let’s take the example of a web designer, named Sophia (…see my head nodding). For every one person who hires me to custom design their website there are many others who are learning how to build their own site DIY (Do-It-Yourself) style. So if you are web designer, can you think of a solution that serves the DIY people and can instantly leverage your time and efforts? Perhaps, a 4-week mastermind to build their website or an online course that walks them through each part of the website building process. Now, you can serve a lot more people and you have leveraged your time and efforts while increasing the business’ bottomline.

Example 2: Take another example: a programmer, named Alex, who is hired to create high-end custom code for individuals. How about a portfolio of standard code products that are at a lower price point than the custom solution but can be used by more than one person. Instant leverage!

Example 3: Or think of a master hand lettering artist, named Shawna, who gets commissioned by big corporations to come in and create hand made unique art on large walls in their lobby. She can think of teaching other hand-lettering artists on how to get commissioned by big corporates. This could be a six month online coaching program that may even be a high-end offer but has instantly leveraged her time, while attracting very serious artists who want to take their art career to the next level. And it’s all digital with pre-recorded sessions interspersed with some live laser coaching.

Example 4: A piano teacher, named Robin, does live three-week group courses to teach beginners how to play the piano. They then move on to an intermediate course where they have established themselves further in their piano skills. Now she knows that she has students who love her teaching style and have already come to her for beginner and intermediate group courses. She knows they are hungry to get good at their craft with HER help. This is where the digital product leverage kicks in: she can create a VIP three-month deep immersion course to help build up their repertoire. This immersion course could be designed as an online course with three modules over three months. Each month they master one module, with a video per week that contains short weekly assignments to complete/practice. At the end of each month, they come together in a live zoom meeting to ask questions and to demonstrate how far they have come with their skills. And they repeat this for each module. At the end, they have three distinct pieces mastered, say one from Bach, one from Mozart and one from Beethoven. Or let’s say the whole three months is about Bach and then the can go to Mozart in yet another three month program and then Beethoven in another three month program. And now you have a 9 month immersion program! This could even evolve into high-end in-person retreat type offering eventually.

Now do you can see what I mean? We need to understand what we are already being paid to create and then extrapolate from there. Take whatever you are already doing for your current clients who are paying you big bucks to do it and then think of how you can translate that into a digital product that can be purchased by a lot more people, thus, leveraging your time (you make the thing once) and generate on-going revenue from it (launch it or do it evergreen).

Actionable Task 1: Take Inventory of Your Past Client Projects

So alright, you may ask, ”What is the actionable step from this?” Well, the actionable step is to answer this question: What are your clients paying you for?” Take inventory. Make a list of past client projects that you got hired for. Then see what they look like. Now you if you are a business coach, you may say, “all my clients hired me to help their business get to the next level.” If you are web designer, you may say, “all my clients hired me to design websites”, or if you are a piano teacher you may say, “my students hired me to get good at their technique”. Okay, that’s a nice response. Perhaps I should specify and articulate my question better:

Q: What common thread do you see in the projects you got hired for in the last six months?
Maybe your coaching sessions were all about figuring out a niche, or on how to create a service package to attract clients.
Maybe your piano students were all self-learned students who now wanted to develop their technique, or some wanted to master reading music or they are mostly high-school students wanting to prepare to get into advanced music school.
Maybe you designed a string of websites for non-profits, or authors and coaches, or yoga and wellness instructors.

Action Step: Make a list of past client projects that you got hired for. And see what common thread you see in the projects you got hired for in the last six months. Circle, highlight, or underline similar projects and you will get your answer.

What to do if you don’t have paying clients yet?

Now, if you are at the start of your entrepreneurial journey, the main goal then is to get clients and get paid for your services. Digital products can come but they may not take center stage right away because you still need to validate your business and see if there’s any traction. An avenue for research for those just starting out is to see what people are writing in the comments of your own blogs or of your colleagues, what are they asking you on your social media channels or on others channels in your niche, and you can even search what questions people are asking on forums like Quora or Reddit or Facebook groups. Are there people wanting to pay for your particular service offering at all? You need that to happen first, right?

The bills gotta get paid and in my experience, the fastest way to create revenue from an online business is to offer a customized one-to-one service for clients. Now, if you create physical products, that’s a whole different ballgame and I have no experience in that area, so I will leave that topic for another expert to talk about. But what I do know from my own experience as an online business owner who started offering services first, is that when I got my first $90 to setup a ConvertKit account back in 2016 for my very first client (majorly underpriced, but hey it was a start), that’s when my business was born. Getting the revenue doing services for individual clients then created the momentum for me where I could then begin to think of leveraging.

The fastest way to create revenue from an online business is to offer
a customized one-to-one service for clients.

Are you on a hamster wheel of serving clients?

As satisfying as working with clients can be, it also made me realize that I was still trading hours for dollars. Nothing wrong with that, at all. But as soon as I was finished working for a client, I was back in client acquisitions-mode which often felt like starting from scratch. And I’d wonder if this is the point in the journey of a business owner that the thought aries, “How long can I sustain this? What if I could leverage my time and create new ways to generate passive income?” It certainly was for me.

Even a $1000/per month of passive income can mean a huge boost for any business that is under six figures. And that’s when we start dreaming of digitizing. Is that how you feel? Well, my friend, I know exactly how you feel. So if you don’t yet have paying clients, roll up your sleeves and get that first client. If you already have clients but feel you are stuck in the never-ending cycle of serving clients then working on acquiring clients, then serving clients and back again on the hamster wheel, I’d say try to find an outlet of time, a window of time, during the day when you plan your exit from this exhausting cycle. Yes, it’s great that you are running your own business and doing what you love but you also built your business for time-freedom not just money-freedom, right? So be patient while you are in it, but start scheming your digital leveraged product adventure at any free moment you get. Serve one-to-one clients now but keep in mind the big picture of where you want to go with your business and consider how serving one-to-many digitally can be a viable route for your entrepreneurial journey. Alright, now let’s continue with step no. 2.

Step 2: Find out if someone will pay for your digital product

Okay, so back to the steps you need to take for your leveraged digital product creation. Let’s say, you have identified your most common projects you got hired for. For the sake of example, let’s look at the piano teacher, Robin, who offers individual piano trainings. Now she does the actionable task from step 1 (see above) and finds out that 70% of her students are high school seniors wanting to prepare their college application audition video to get into music school. She still has a good percentage of self-learned adults who always wanted to learn piano from a trained instructor and that’s a good bulk of her clients. But the 70% of college-wannabes is a good segment that she can start thinking about specifically.

Robin could start strategizing what type of a digital product she should create for the 70% of her students who want to prep an audition video that shows their piano skills for their college application. Her digital product could be a summer intensive that students join during the summer before they begin college applications. It could be made up of modules in which she helps them to pick out the music pieces that they would include in their audition video, guides them on practice habits and how to create a schedule of practice, guides them on the right recording equipment they need, and all the way to finally recording the application video and getting it ready to send out come September.

An alternate approach would be for her to first create a series of live online workshops for each module. With a live audience you can tune in (no pun intended) to what the piano students are asking. Then after the live session are over, she can get back to her desk, review the recordings and then create clean video modules. By the way, this is exactly how I created my Host Your Online Course program in 2019. This approach turned out to have so much less pressure for me because now I could create the content as I went instead of having all the videos pre-recorded. Watch this video where I explain how and why I decided to take this route.

Now at this stage where she has come up with an idea for an online workshop or course, it can be tempting for Robin to jump into actually creating the digital program. But this is exactly what she should avoid. The next step would be to write up a sales page that articulates all that her program would contain. Now for me, I go straight to the backend of my Squarespace website and start creating the sales page. For some others, it may be best to take a notebook or open up a word/pages file on their computer and start writing. The idea here is to get the details on to paper and then on to your website. This also gives you an idea of how you want to price it because you see all the components of the offer laid out in front of you. Then, send an email to your students either individually or if you have built an email list, send an email to the people on your email list with an early bird invitation. Again, the format could be an online course or a series of live workshops.

You’ll notice, that at this stage, you have not created a single module. You are simply pre-selling your course/workshop before you create a single slide, any other digital component of it. The only thing you will have created is the sales page with the offer expressed in detail.

This method is not new and I am not the first one to be using it. I discovered it through my own trials and errors of course-creation, where I jumped right into creating a massive course and then painfully found out that there were no-takers. Pre-selling is an easier and much faster and low-risk way to find out if there’s traction for your idea. Create the sales page with an early-bird pricing offer and send it to your audience. If no one purchases, you need to get back to finding out what you need to change. It doesn’t mean that your idea was not useful or good, may be your audience is not big enough or your sales page was not impactful or you may need to tweak some other aspect of understanding what your audience wants. Once you have real people putting out real money for your offer, that’s when you have real evidence that what you are offering is wanted by your audience and it goes beyond just an interest in your offering.

Pre-selling is an easier way to find out if there’s traction for your idea.
Create the sales page with an early-bird pricing offer and send it to your audience.

Actionable Task 2: Validate your idea by pre-selling

After you’ve taken inventory of the common thread of hired projects in the last six months, think of what is the main challenge that your clients have asked your help for. Now, you can brainstorm a way to leverage that solution so that you can serve many people by creating something once. This could be a series of live group workshops as I hinted in the earlier section. But it could also be an online course. What’s important though is to see if someone will pay for it. And the way to find out is to make the offer to your audience (current clients or folks on your email list). Now if it will be an online course, make sure to plan your time wisely and clearly say on your sales page when the course will be released. And remember things often take longer than we had planned, so add in a good buffer of extra time.

Action Step: Write out what your digital product will consist of and what it will achieve for your clients. Create a pre-sell sales pages and add it to your website with early-bird pricing. Invite your your students individually or send the invitation to your email list.

How to create a pre-sell sales page

I think when people hear the term, “sales page”, they get a bit uncomfortable. First, because the idea of selling can be uncomfortable, and second they may not know what to put on a sales page. Now I should perhaps write another blog all about how to write and design a sales page, but for starters, let’s not complicate it. The sales page that you write to test your new product needs to have at least the following six things:

1. Tell clearly what the program/digital product will do for them: the benefits
2. Outline the different modules and what it contains: the features (videos, pdfs, action plans, worksheets, audios)
3. Note any timelines if it’s a live workshop, example: The program starts on July 15th. Early-bird ends on July 1st, etc.
4. Clearly state what it costs $$ and how they can purchase: purchase button, or by application.
5. What some other students have said: testimonials (if it is a first launch, add testimonials of your other trainings, services or offerings).
6. An official bio and a nice smiling photo of yours.

You can always embellish this but start with the basics and then build upon it. I have myself fallen in this trap of perfection. This really is a mental vice, not exaggerating here. To fall in the trap of perfection is a game of the ego that only causes you hurdles on your path to progress, under the guise that it only wants to make sure you look good to others. Dare to look bad, look imperfect: that’s better than not have anything created at all. (Okay, I am finished giving a pep talk, but more than you, it’s mostly likely, me who needs to hear this right now).

To fall in the trap of perfection is a game of the ego that only causes you hurdles on your path to progress, under the guise that it, the ego, only wants to make sure you look good to others.
Vanity ≠ Progress

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Your path to creating leveraged passive income starts now

So I’ve outlined for you a possible path that you can take for creating your leveraged passive income. It’s now time for you to take action on it. It begins with first figuring out what kind of solutions your clients want, finding the common thread in the type of projects you were hired for, then translating that into a solution that will serve many in a leveraged way, and finally creating a sales page and inviting your potential and current clients to benefit from it.

Let me know in the comments what questions come up for you when you read this post and also share with me where in the passive income journey you are in right now.

Peace,
Sophia

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Related:
073: Sell your course before creating it:
www.sophiaojha.com/blog/073-sell-your-course-before-creating-it

067: Three things you should know about doing a live workshop series
www.sophiaojha.com/blog/067-three-things-about-live-workshops

053: How to build a landing page on Squarespace for a "survey"
www.sophiaojha.com/blog/053-landing-page-on-squarespace

052: Do this One thing to get to know the real needs of your audience
www.sophiaojha.com/blog/052-ask-the-audience

031: How to Create an Evergreen Sales Funnel Using Visual Automation in ConvertKit
www.sophiaojha.com/blog/031-how-to-create-an-evergreen-sales-funnel-using-visual-automation-in-convertkit

Read More

075: Squarespace SEO: 22 actionable things you can do (Part TWO)

Beginner’s Guide to Squarespace SEO (PART TWO)

There is so much you can do to help your website appear in search engine results. I covered the first eight steps in part one of this blog + video. Here’s the next installment. Go ahead and put this into place in your own SEO strategy for your business.

Here are all the parts:
1. Go here for Squarespace SEO - Part One (Steps 1-8)
2. You are reading Part Two (Steps 9-16)
3. Go here for Squarespace SEO - Part Three (Steps 17-22 coming next week)
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22 SEO Tips to get found in Google Search Results

SEO is an approach that is more than just a checklist. But a checklist is a good start. We can go deeper into SEO as a strategy and as a mindset approach after the basics are put into place.

Steps 1-8 are found in the previous blog post.

Ramp up your blogging action

9. Publish useful content
This is part of the long-term approach to SEO. When you create useful content, people will find your website and your business becomes highly valuable to your audience

10. Write long-from blog posts of 2000 words or more

Research says that long-form articles tend to be ranked higher because they are more likely to dive deep into a topic rendering that post very useful to the reader.

11. Publish consistently

Aim to publish at least weekly, if you can. Otherwise whatever schedule you choose, try and stick with it for a couple of years. (Yes, a couple of years, at least!).

12. Use shorter URLS

Somehow a url that says sophiaojha.com/seo is perceived better for rankings than: sophiaojha.com/the-article-about-squarespace-that-every-one-should-read

13. Have shorter anchor links

When you link text in the body of your pages or blogs link only a short bit of text. So for example, Squarespace Fundamentals is better than learn about my beginner live workshop called Squarespace Fundamentals.

14. Include links to other content on your site inside your blogs

This helps Google read your site better. So link to different pages on your own site as much as you can (and as much as makes sense).

15. Use only one H1 title
You can use multiple H2 headers but only one for H1.

16. Use multiple heading tags (H2 and H3 Tags)
Break up text using H2, and H3 headers.

Some research that supports point 16:
1. ”Multiple heading sizes used in order create a hierarchical structure for your content, making it easier for users to navigate through your document” - https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7451184?utm_source=wmx_blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=tls_en_post&visit_id=637013956090808420-4146294996&rd=2

2. https://backlinko.com/search-engine-ranking

Now on to Part Three >> for steps 17-22.

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My biggest lesson ⎯ Follow a SEO checklist for each blog post.

In summary: There is a lot you can do to boost your SEO when you set up your blogs. Follow the above steps each time you write a new blog and that will help you content be found better.

Your Turn:

What SEO tips were new to you and which ones have you already put into place! If so, let me know in the comments what your course is all about/will be about. Chime in! I’d love to hear from you!

~ Sophia

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074: Squarespace SEO: 22 actionable things you can do (Part One)

Beginner’s Guide to Squarespace SEO (PART ONE)

Getting your website found on Google search results is one of the biggest goals of website owners. Whether your site is built on Wordpress, Shopify or Squarespace, good SEO (search engine optimization) strategies are key to your site showing up on the first page of Google for keywords specific to your business.

Getting your site optimized for SEO is more than about a list of steps. It’s about your mindset and your overall approach to it. But there are some items that you can check off from a list. And here are 22 SEO steps you can do to get your site better prepared to be found in search results.

(There is a checklist of SEO tasks that I teach my website design clients that they must go through every time they update their blog or add new pages to their website. Here are 22 of them. Why 22? Well, I was born on the 22nd but that’s not why we have 22 steps. It just happens to be 22 items for this Beginner’s Guide.)

This is Part One (Steps1-8)
Go here for Part Two (Steps 9-16)
Go here for Part Three (Steps 17-22)

Watch Video Below:

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22 SEO Tips for Optimizing Your Squarespace Website

I call this a Beginner’s Guide because these really are the first steps to get your site set-up for SEO. There’s always tons you can do but if you do these 22 things, you will be off to a great start. Some are to one-off steps, while others can become part of your SEO checklist for whenever you upload a blog or add a new page to your site.

Do this once:

This first batch of steps you need to do just once. You just set it and forget it.

1. Add your site to Google MyBusiness
This is one of the things you can quickly set up so that your website is found when people do a local search. You can set it up for free here: https://www.google.com/business You can come back to it and make fill it up with more detailed info but at least have a presence set up first.

2. Make sure your site is Mobile Friendly or Mobile Optimized
This should not be a problem if your site is on Squarespace as your website is mobile optimized right off the bat. You can drop your url here and see if your site is mobile friendly: https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly

Go ahead and make sure the AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is activated. Go to Settings > Blogging > check Use AMP

3. Submit your site to Google Search Console
This is useful for many reasons. One of them being you get data about what keywords people are using to land on your site. If you have a Squarespace website, you are in luck because now connecting your site to Google Search Console is easy as a few steps. You go to Settings > Connected Accounts > Click Connect Account button > then click on Search Console.

Here’s an article from Squarespace that helps you do just that:
https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001014647-Google-Search-Keywords-Analytics
And here’s one more specifically about Search Console:
https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205813918-Verifying-your-site-with-Google-Search-Console

4. Activate “HTTPS”
When this new requirement was issued, I remember a lot of our Wordpress colleagues pulling their hair out. Switching to HTTPS shows Google that your site is secure and they even reward that when it comes to ranking your page. This is an exact quote from the Google people:
“…we're starting to use HTTPS as a ranking signal.” - https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html

Again, if your site is a Squarespace website, this is all about a few clicks. Just go to Settings > Advanced > SSL > then check Secured and HSTS secure.

Optimize Your Images:

5. Include at least one image in each of your blog posts
According to a study done by the people at BackLinko, adding at least one image to your blog posts increases its ranking. Source: https://backlinko.com/search-engine-ranking

6. Name your images before uploading them
Name your images (for example on your desktop) before uploading them with relevant keywords before uploading to Squarespace. Instead of the file saying IMG007, name it to “SEOtips” or something like that, that’s relevant to your business. This again adds more information for Google Crawlers.

7. Make sure the image size is 500KB or less
This just helps your site to load quickly. The quicker your site loads the better it is for SEO. Plus, you will retain more visitors on your site The more information-overload our society gets, the lower the attention spans, it seems.

8. Use Alt-text behind every image to add more keyword juice
Because Google crawlers cannot read images the way they can text, you must use alt-text behind every image. This gives Google more information about the content on your pages. Do that by adding a text after uploading an image in the section where it says “optional”.

More steps coming in next week’s blog

Now on to Part Two >> for steps 9-16.

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My biggest lesson ⎯ Adopt a value-giving mindset to boost your SEO results.

In summary: Taking a long-term approach to SEO will take you far. Install these steps, but think, “How can I turn my website into a valuable resource for my audience and prospective clients/customers”.

Your Turn:

What do you think of the message in this blog article? Which of the SEO steps you’ve already put into place and which ones were new? Let me know in the comments as I’d love to hear from you!

~ Sophia

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073: Sell Your Course Before You Create It

If you are a service provider and serving clients one on one but want to leverage your time, this blog + video is for you.

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Package Your Services as An Online Course

Let’s say you are a service professional. You are trading your time for money. You are serving your clients one on one. Now you are thinking how can I leverage my time?

Well, one way to do it is to package your services into an online course. But creating an online course involves a lot of time investment and money and know-how on how to set things up.

Plus, you have to research your idea and really know whether there is an interest. Before you go out and spend your time and money, researching your topic, creating your course, and setting it all up, I have one tip for you to consider:

Tip No. 1: Consider selling your course before building your course.

Now this may come as a new idea or you may have heard it before. In either case, I want to share with you my personal experience in my course creation journey so that you learn from it and avoid the mistakes that I made in the process.

About two years ago, I created my first online course. It was for my personal development site called Reflection Pond and the online course was called, “Happiness Gameplan”.

I invested a lot of time in research, I re-scripted my video at least four times before I went out and shot a single video and I bought a highly expensive camera to record all my videos, all on credit card because I was banking on the idea that I will make up the money when I sell my courses. It was to be my best work ever. It was a 45-video, six-module extravaganza that I spent a year and a half building. This included all the time I needed to research, write the script, shoot the video, edit the video, set it all up, researching different platforms to host the course and then, finally I launched it.

Sadly, I launched it to crickets. Not a single sale.

Market Validation is Key to Your Success

The step that I had missed was to actually find out if somebody was interested in that topic at all and whether that somebody was in my audience. I had already spent time building my list and my audience but I had not figured out whether or not my audience wanted to hear from me. It was a message I wanted to share so I went out and made my course.

This is not a smart way to go about it. You must first see whether or not there is interest in your topic.

So when it came time to build an online course for my current business, my web design business, I took plenty of time to figure out whether I wanted to invest my time and money in creating it and whether there was an interest in it. And in doing so, I avoided the number one mistake that most online course creators make and that is to build a signature course, a large course, and investing a lot of time and money without finding out whether there is a market for it, whether there is traction for your topic.

What are Your Clients Asking You to Solve For Them?

The way I went about creating my course, really came from my clients. I had a client who was doing live workshop. And after the live workshop was completed, he wanted a place to host it on his Squarespace site. So he hired me to build his online course home, and automate the delivery of the course once somebody purchases the course. This was a real life client who needed a real solution to his problem and that was to host his online course on his Squarespace website. After he hired me an idea popped into my mind. What if there were other people out there who also wanted to host their course on their Squarespace website. This actual project gave me the idea of creating an online course.

However, I was not ready to spend more time building it without knowing whether there is really an interest for it. So instead of creating an online course, what I did was, I created an online workshop. As a Squarespace Authorized Trainer, I had already been doing online workshops for about a year, so this came very easy to me and it was an easy next step to build. I pitched it to my audience and it turned out that they were interested in it. After there were sales for my online workshops only then I was ready to build my online course. When I had the online workshop, I carved it out as a three-part live session. So I would prepare the content in the weeks between and then go live and present my powerpoint presentation and hold my live workshop on the topic.

And in doing so I realized that there was a lot of nitty gritty details involved in hosting a course on Squarespace. I was able to really dive deep in every step needed in setting it all up. After the online workshop was over, I decided to then take the next step and turn it into an online course. So the next thing I did, I pitched my online course to my audience. I presented the value of hosting their course on Squarespace and then invited them to join the online course.

Once there were sales, actual students who wanted to be part of my course, only then did I go and build that online course.

Now this can be very nerve-racking for many course creators because once you have students then you are supposed to go and build in a very limited amount of time. For some people this may work because it gives you a real deadline because you have to publish content by a certain date because there are actual students waiting for that content. On the other hand, it may be very stressful.

Create Your First $200 Mini-Course

The way to solve that is to create a mini-course, a small course, instead of creating a large, signature product. At least that is my experience and that is my suggestion that for your very first course it should be a small, let’s say, a $200-$300 mini-course. In my case, it happens to be a three-module course with multiple videos, but all the content can be consumed in two and a half hours. So somebody can sign up to the course on a Friday, binge-watch all the videos on Saturday and host their course on their Squarespace website on Sunday. So that’s what I did. I created a small mini-online course and that was much more feasible for me.

Of course, that month when I had to deliver the videos it was crunch time all the time and of course, it was a very intense and a lot of pressure to deliver on time and create a good product at the same time. So it can be very time consuming and intense but it is for a short amount of time and you already know that there is an interest.

So in that way, I avoided the second mistake that online course creators make and that is to create a big course as their first course.

Tip #2 is to create a mini-course $200-$300 that you can produce within a month.

So those are my two tips for you if you are considering online course creation as a way to leverage your time to create revenue avenues from your website: Create a mini-course and then host it on your Squarespace website.

If you’d like to know more about this online course that I referred to, it’s called Host Your Online Course. It is a three-part online course instantly available when you sign up. You can learn more at sophiaojha.com/hyc. To help you create your first online course, I’ve created a step-by-step guide that you can download for free. Just go to sophiaojha.com/guide.

Thank you!

My biggest lesson ⎯ Sell Your Course Before Creating It

In summary: Before you invest countless hours and dollars into creating your online course, my tip is that you get some commitment from you audience before venturing out to create it.

Your Turn:

What do you think of the message in this blog article? Do you have a course created or are you planning on one? If so, let me know in the comments what your course is all about/will be about. Chime in! I’d love to hear from you!

~ Sophia

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069: Dare to Create - Two Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Create New Content

Today, I just wanted to share some thoughts that have been lingering in my mind about online business. And I hope that what I am sharing with you today will help you in your own journey as a self-employed business owner or a freelancer.

Click below to watch video:

I have been running my business since 2016 and it has taken quite a number of twists and turns. I’ve even closed down my business in the middle of this duration because I was burnt out and overworked. I have made some changes over the years and one of the things I have learnt that is so important for growing my business and growing myself as an individual, as a business owner is to keep showing up - to keep PERSISTENTLY showing up. I say that with a lot of love and lot of understanding because I know it is not an easy journey, especially, if you are doing a 9-5 gig and working on your side hustle which is your online business. It is not easy. And on top of that if you have family and community commitments. We fill our lives with so many things to do, sometimes out of choice, sometimes out of the fear of missing out and sometimes that’s just the responsibilities and obligations that our lives contain. What I want to say with that is that I do understand that it is not easy to keep showing up. In fact, it is a road filled with challenges. If you can keep the goal, why you are doing the things you are doing in your business - may be you want to pay off your mortgage, or you want some extra cash to pay off your debt, may be you want to build your retirement savings. Perhaps you want to be free from a 9 to 5 commitment and travel the world. Or even stay wherever you are but not have to commute to work - just roll out of bed and start working or a combination of all of these. Whatever your goals are, identify them and keep them in mind. And then find a way to commit to showing up.

One of the areas where we need to show up is in content creation. This is quite a controversial topic because a lot of people out there including digital marketers will advise you to do ads and speed up the process of building your site/business. And I am not against that at all. But I do believe that you need to create content that shows your authority, your expertise, and your skills. You need to create content even if you believe that you are not yet a master of the topic you are teaching. No matter what you are teaching, if you know how to do it, there will always be somebody else who is still learning. You are always a few steps ahead of someone who is trying to learn something that you’ve already accomplished. So, just show up and lend a hand to the other person who is right behind you, even if you are just a few steps ahead you can reach back and lend your hand. Apply that in the topic of your expertise of what you want to share and teach.

One of the ways we fail to show up is because of fear. The fear can be of so many colors and so many variations. It could be the fear of showing up on camera because you are concerned about how you are going to look and how you are going to be perceived by your audience. You may not like how you like. You may not like how you sound. You may not be confident in your public speaking skills. You may be overly critical of yourself. That is all part of being human. You will learn just by doing that you start to love and appreciate yourself more.

My first video I made about eight years ago was pathetic! I look back and see that there was no creativity. It was my first attempt at making a video for YouTube. But I appreciate myself for doing that, for taking that first step, no matter how I novice I was at the time. It has helped me to grow. It has helped me to take my first step and start a long journey which I’ve now come far ahead now from where I started. Each time I made a new video, I appreciated myself more, I appreciated myself for making the effort and for daring to create, daring to speak, daring to show up and daring to present myself to the world. It’s not an easy process as you may understand, as you may recognize yourself. At some point, you may have felt that too. It’s challenging to pick up your pen and write something or to type something on the computer and put yourself out there. But it is absolutely important. And I’ll tell you why.

Why is creating content important?
The first reason is, as you create content whether it is an article or a video, you are going to learn what you already know. You are going to feel more confident in yourself. You will have a portfolio of content created over time. It builds up so quickly, one article at a time, one video at a time, one podcast at a time. You will see that you’ve created a body of work that you will look back and feel proud of, feel content with, feel a sense of fulfillment. No amount of money is going to give you that fulfillment that a sense of looking at your work and seeing how you have progressed, how you’ve become better, how you have helped other people, will give you. That gives me a great sense of fulfillment.

Another reason you need to build your content portfolio is for that potential client, that potential customer out there who is looking for your services, who is looking for a course you’ve created. But they’ve just run into you. They have just found you on the web - just scrolling. Google show your site and now they are on your site. They are very close to hiring you, or very close to purchasing from you or even subscribing to your newsletter. But they want to know who you are. They want to know do you know what you are talking about. Do you have the skills, the expertise, the knowledge? Are you the person that’s going to help them move from point A to point B. And for that your portfolio of content will be testament to your skills and expertise. They will read a few of your blogs, they will watch a few of your videos. They will get a gut instinct, a feeling in their stomach or in their heart, a sixth sense that says, “Yes, you are the right person and I am gonna go with you”.

This happens over time, of course. It will not happen with one or two blogs and videos.. You need to persistently show up and create that content. It’s not easy. It’s not easy at all to constantly come up with ideas. But if you can think from the point of view of the person you are creating this content for. Just think of one person - a friend or a colleague. It could be somebody you think could benefit from what you are creating. Just think, what is the problem that I can solve for them. What do I know that I can share that can help another. I have these two questions on my board, every single day. It always stays there. It says, “Who can I help today? and How can I help someone today?”.

If you can think about these two questions, ideas will start flowing. You will be inspired and you will start writing an article. You will start creating a video. Sometimes the content that you create will be a help to your own future self. For me, two weeks, two months or two years down the road, I will look back and I will be inspired by the words I say today. Because there will be moments when I am confused, when I am not sure of myself or doubt my work or wondering what should I talk about. I will look at this video and I will be reminded taht I only need to think about: Who can I help today and How can I help someone today? That’s it.

No need to worry about whether my subscriber is brand new to the topic or they are advanced and whether I am going to lose them because I talk about a topic that do not connect with. Don’t worry about it. I say that because I myself have faced these kind of thoughts. My list, the people on my email list are a variety of creatives, a variety of entrepreneurs, some of whome are brand new while some have made more progress and some are pretty advanced. Different content I create speaks to different people on my list. Sometimes I run into this question myself: If I create this video on this topic, am I going to alienate the beginners or am I going to push away the advanced people? And what happens is that I become paralyzed and I don’t create anythin at all for a while because I am figuring out how to please everyone and how to serve everyone. In fact, that’s just serving no one. When I am not creating content I am not helping the beginners, nor those in the middle nor those more advanced because there is no content to look at. This kind of thinking is just a form of doubt, a form of sabotage that comes on your journey as you build your online business. This is just one example. There are different kinds of questions and doubts that will appear and create a roadblock on your progress. So what is important is to recognize them and to move through them. Keep going, keep showing up and stay close to your purpose, your why, the reason why you have set up this whole online business in the first place.

Once you stay current with that, stay familiar with that why, that purpose, then ideas start flowing and you are filled with more energy and motivation to do the job you said you wanted to do. So I want to encourage you to continuously create content, to show up and help the people that are coming to your website or your blog. Help them with something that you know that can be of assistance to them, that can take them forward on their journey.

With that, I wish you all the best. Thank you so much for watching, come back to my blog again and subscribe to my newsletter to keep up-to-date, if you like. Over all, dare to create - that’s going to take you a long, long way.

My biggest lesson ⎯ Keep Showing Up Consistently

In summary: Creating content is not easy but vital for many reasons. Keep showing up consistently and you will grow your business by serving your audience.

Your Turn:

What do you think of the message in this blog article? What kind of mind set challenges have you faced or overcome. What kind of content do you create - blog, video, podcast or a combo. Chime in, in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!

~ Sophia

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068: How I increased my pageviews by 113% in 5 months

Creating content for your readers is an important part of growing your business and website traffic. That's something I learned first hand this year after analyzing my website stats (statistics). 

In this blog, I share with you the exact numbers from my Analytics panel (yes, screenshots are included) and the exact steps that I took to achieve a 113% increase in pageviews when comparing the first five months of 2018 and 2019.

My biggest lesson was "Publish useful content weekly" and "Look at your own path of progress." For the full story, see the rest of my blog:

Content creation is a vital marketing tool for your business

In this online era when it seems that every Tom, Dick and Harry looks up things on the internet for every aspect of their lives, it is inevitable that you would want a website for your business or organization. If you have a website with 3 to 5 pages describing your mission, presenting a way to be contacted and other general information, you are way ahead of the curve already. According to a survey conducted by research company, Clutch, a huge percentage of businesses in the United States still do not have a website. With a website, you now have an online presence and a digital business card that can be accessed from anywhere in the world at any time of day or night. Of course, I can help you create a beautiful site in 2 weeks or less.

Unfortunately, simply having a digital business card is no longer sufficient if you want to reach a wider audience, sell your services/products, enroll new members into your programs or fill the donation boxes of your non-profit organization. You need to have a content strategy for your website and regular content that’s periodically updated. I will tell you the benefits of having content on your site in just a second below.

What kind of content are we speaking about?

If you are not already creating content or are hearing this for the first time, you may be wondering, “Sophia, what do you mean by content and where do I start?”

By content, I mean any published material that informs your readers, potential clients, potential new members and any relevant stakeholders about your company or organization. This material can be in various formats including:

+ text articles also called blog posts,
+ videos (either in the form of tutorials, product presentations, interviews, event coverage and other visual content),
+ audio content such as podcasts
+ live webinar style trainings
+ or a combination of the above.

You start with one of these formats that best fits your current goals and business situation. Text articles are the easiest to begin with so if you are starting out make weekly blog articles your first goal. Regardless of what format you use, what is vital is that you create this content on a regular basis.

Your tasks:

1| Pick a content format (example: blog or video)
2| Pick a publishing schedule (example: weekly, biweekly or monthly)
3| Stick to it for 2 years to see results (super important)

The topics covered in your content can focus on a mix of themes that help your reader in some way. Ideas for content topics include:

1. Product/Service presentation/demonstration
2. Informing or educating your audience
3. In-depth studies that present a relevant topic in detail
4. Solve a specific problem (without the need of purchasing anything from your business)
5. Case studies of past clients/projects
6. Interviews with other users of your products or thought-leaders/experts in your industry

Types of content I create for my readers

I tend to create video and blog content on my site. My blog articles that are around 1000 to 4000 words. (The word count on this blog is 2688). My videos (also embedded on my YouTube channel) can be anywhere between 5 to 15 minutes long. Long-form articles have been known to be good for SEO but my aim is not to reach a certain number of words in each post but rather to focus on clearly presenting a certain topic or theme that is helpful to my audience. So as a rule of thumb, write as long or as short as you need in order to clearly and concisely solve a problem for your reader.

You will notice that on my website, I create content that:

1. Shows my readers how to technically use the Squarespace platform for building their website
2. Shows my readers how to leverage their website to build an email list
3. Shows my readers business lessons that I’ve learnt that can inspire them in their own business
4. Educates my readers on website-relevant themes such as SEO for increasing traffic, leveraging their website to save costs and growing their online business.
5. Demonstrates design tips for their online presence using free tools (for example: how to design an email header without Photoshop)

All in all, the aim of my content is to help online entrepreneurs and non-profits leverage their online presence to best serve their readers and clients and as a result to grow their revenue as well as create a positive impact for their communities.

The many side-effects and benefits of creating good content

Creating good content has many benefits, both for your business/organization and your clients or potential clients. It truly is a win-win approach when you make serving your readers the goal of your content, not serving yourself as the goal. I have a list of blog articles ideas that I routinely collect on my product management app, Asana, but when I sit down to write a new blog article or create a new video tutorial, I ask myself, “How can I help my readers today?” Then the right topic emerges. Asking the right question, as they say, is key to finding the right answers. Here are some specific positive side-effects of creating good, helpful content so that my readers and clients can:

1| Experience my teaching style: Potential workshop or course students can have a taste of my teaching style so they know what to expect when they purchase an online course or register for a live workshop.

2| Assess my skills before hiring me: Potential clients can see an archive of past content to assess if I have the skills and knowledge to solve their business/organization problems before they invest their hard-earned money to hire me.

3| Save money: My current clients can save money as they can find solutions through my archive of video tutorials and blog articles that solve their problems. They can follow the step-by-step tutorials and implement themselves or delegate to a VA (virtual assistant) so they can rather reserve their resources to hire me for more customized services. Alternatively, they can feel confident in hiring me to do the same knowing that I an effectively solve their problem.

4| Feel good about working with me: All of this builds the like, trust and know factor and my potential clients see my business as reliable, competent and integral and my current clients want to continue to stay working with me.

And we haven’t even mentioned the major SEO benefits that your content brings to your website, helping your business to be found by more people who need and want what your business/organization offers. Nor have we spoken about how this positively helps to grow your email list.

Create Beneficial, Useful Content
As I mentioned earlier, the more you focus on how you can help your readers/clients, the better it is for your business in the long run. For example, one of my clients hired me to teach her how to add a video to the banner of her website. Then a past workshop student emailed me asking me the same. So I saw that this was a topic that was in much demand, so I decided to create a blog + video on that topic which can be freely accessed by both by my current clients and potential new ones.

Not Richard Branson but I follow his philosophy
Some may ask, “why create content that shows something for free when you actually can be hired for doing the same thing?” My answer is simple. I am clear about my aim in my business and that is to be of service. My aim is to help my client. My client can watch the free video tutorial on YouTube and that helps her. But if my client writes me and says, “Hey Sophia, I saw your video on YouTube on how to add a video banner, can you implement that on my site? I have a million other things I need to take care of”. This has happened in real life where I made an in-depth video showing how to step-by-step achieve something and then one of my past clients emailed me. She wanted to hire me to implement the exact same thing for her business.

So now, I have helped my client by freeing up her time. That’s a very fulfilling feeling. Imagine how awesome it is to free up someone’s time - time that is such a rare and dwindling commodity that we all want more of. What good karma you’ve created for your own self by saving time for another business owner. And my aim to of service has been achieved in both scenarios (free content and being hired). Now, I am no Richard Branson who wrote in a recent article that he didn’t start Virgin to make money, rather to make a positive difference in people lives. But I hope you are following my motivation here clearly because this way of thinking will go a long, long way for your business and your own life.

How I increased my pageviews by 113% in 5 months by creating useful regular content

Seeing real data is the best proof! Creating good, regular content has been vital for an increase in traffic for my website. To give you some real evidence, I want to compare the first five months of 2018 to the first five months of 2019. Right now, we are still in the middle of 2019 so comparing all 12 months of 2018 to the five months of 2019 doesn’t make sense to me. Of course, the period June to December of 2018 had a compounding impact on stats for this year so this analysis is not without incompleteness. But it suffices for the point I am making here ⏤ publishing regularly will positively benefit your traffic.

[Jan 1, 2018 - May 30, 2018] Vs. [Jan 1, 2019 - May 30, 2019]

The screenshot below is from my Squarespace Analytics page where I can see the traffic information for my site for the period of January 1st, 2018 until May 30th, 2018 (the first five months). And then below it, you will see the stats for the same time period in 2019 - Jan 1st till May 30th.

Here are the 2018 stats for the first five months:

And now compare, my 2019 stats for the first five months:

You can see that my site generated:

2018
Jan to May

1,646 Unique Views
2,017 Visits
3,962 Pageviews

2019
Jan to May

3,808 Unique Views
3,914 Visits
8,448 Pageviews

You can check your own website traffic stats by visiting your dashboard and navigating to the Analytics> Traffic panel.

Clearly, all three data points saw an increase. When I calculated the percent increase, I found that my website had landed 113% increase in pageviews for the 5 month period that we are comparing here.

To calculate percentage increase, you first figure out the difference between the old and the new data, then divide the difference by the old number and then multiply by 100.

Unique Visits

3808-1646 = 2162
2162/3808= .567
.567*100 = 56.77

57% increase in Unique Visits

Visits

3914-2017 = 1897
1897/2017= .94
.94*100 = 94

94% increase in Visits

Pageviews

8448-3962 = 4486
4486/3962= 1.13
1.13*100 = 113

113% increase in Pageviews

So you can see that for all three data points, my website generated a double or triple digit increase: 113% increase in Pageviews, 94% increase in visits and 57% increase in Unique Visits.

The simple way to increase traffic to your site: blogging consistently

To try and make some correlation of the increase in my stats with the content I published, I reviewed my Blog Archive to see how much content I published for the same time period (Jan - May) in 2018 and 2019:

2018 Blogs + Videos

4 Blogs from Jan to May
14 total from Jan to Dec

2019 Blogs + Videos

17 Blogs from Jan to May (18 counting this blog post)
? total from Jan to Dec (we are still in May 2019)

Comparing my content creation for 2018 and 2019

So here you see, that for the 2018 time period (Jan-May), I published 4 blog articles and videos whereas in 2019 (Jan-May), I published 17 blogs. That’s 13 more blogs published in the same time period. In fact, that’s more than what I published in the entire year of 2018 (annual total of 14 blogs).

I created four times as much content than the prior year to yield 57% increase in Unique Views. My goal was to create weekly blog + video in 2019 so I should have actually published 21 blogs by May but instead published 17 till now (18 if you count this post which was published on the last Thursday of May). I am still missing 3 posts from my 21 goal and that’s because I missed on content creation in the whole of March and the first part of April due to an unexpected surgery that put me in bed for 4 weeks. Considering all that, I am pretty happy to have 18 published articles this year so far ⏤ a majority of which are long-form articles plus most of them come with a video tutorial. I really gave it my all! :)

Compare yourself with yourself; not with others

Now for some of you these stats may be too little or too big. But that’s irrelevant to me. I have spent far too much time comparing myself to others and it has only pulled me down. The mind wants to compare ourselves with others’ journey but there’s really nothing to compare. We are all on our own unique journeys and although we can be inspired by the success of others and celebrate with them, we mustn’t measure our worth by comparing with others. We need to make our own experiences and learn from them. It is helpful rather to look at the path we have taken and how far we have come. Mistakes are learning lessons and indicators of what we need to change in the future.

The stats I shared with you today are by far not anywhere close to where I want my website traffic stats to be at but what’s important is that I can see how much progress I have made already and have assessed what exactly led to it. Publishing regular content this year has yielded a 113% increase in my Pageviews and that’s a stat worth noting as I continue my content creation plan of action for the rest of the year. Now for me, it is just about following what works and doing it consistently while keeping eyes on my own path.

My biggest lesson ⎯ Publish Useful Content Weekly

In summary: That in a nutshell is my biggest lesson. Focus on helping your readership. Focus on creating useful content. Publish weekly. Look at your own path of progress. I hope you, too, will be inspired by this blog and what I’ve shared today and will begin work on crafting your very own content strategy or redesigning an existing one.

Your Turn:

What do you think of the message in this blog article? Do you have a content strategy? If so, what format do you publish in and what topics do you cover? Chime in, in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!

~ Sophia

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067: Three things you should know about doing a live workshop series

Recently, I conducted a three-part live workshop series (90 minute each) called “Host Your Course”. I enjoyed doing it very much but also learned some important lessons. I’ve decided in which scenarios I would use a live workshop method and in which scenarios I’d rather use the online course method. I share all of that in this blog article to help you in your business when it comes to creating paid information products.

Three Lessons I learnt from doing a live workshop series

I will break down my top 3 lessons for you but before I dive into it, a word on why I chose a live workshop method.

Four Types of Online Teaching Methods

When it comes to creating a paid information product online that teaches something to your students, you have a multitude of options:

1. You can create an ebook/PDF
2. You can create an audio course
3. You can create an online course that includes video, audio and PDFs
Or:
4. You can do a live online workshop

The Live Workshop Method (and why I like it)

The Live workshop method entails setting up a workshop online using one of the many conferencing platforms such as GoToWebinar, Crowdcast or Zoom which is my preference). These are affiliate links.

You set up a live session, send over the video call link to your students via email or place it on a course home and then, at the set date and time, you do the live training. My live workshops include both a slide presentation as well as a live demo on the Squarespace platform. I love Zoom because it allows me to record the presentation with ease and do screenshares without going into a crazy picture in picture mode (like it happened to me when using Crowdcast). Zoom also saves me a copy of the chat interaction so after the workshop is over I have the chance to review any questions or comments from my students.

Good for the instructor: I really enjoy the live workshop method because I get instant feedback from my students while I am teaching something. I get to learn at what parts during the workshop a question came up for my students. This way I can improve my presentation, clarify the message or demonstrate the skill better. It is a great learning tool for me as an instructor to refine my material and teaching style by listening to my students’ questions and needs during the workshop.

Good for the student: This style is enjoyed by the students for the instant feedback aspect as well. They join the session live from anywhere in the world as long as they have good internet access and they can ask questions via video (optional) or in the chat box. While I am showing something on the backend of my Squarespace site or a demo site, they can ask a question to clarify something and right away get the answer instead of having to move through the material with lingering questions in their mind.

This method has worked very well for my 90-minute interactive live workshop, Squarespace Fundamentals which I have been holding several times a month since May of 2018. So I decided to use the same method for my 3 part live workshop series Host Your Course as well. And here’s what I found:

The obstacles I ran into when hosting three live sessions of Host Your Course

Because I enjoy the live interactive format as the instructor for Squarespace Fundamentals, I decided to use it for my larger training Host Your Course as well. It was a good thing that I gave the live workshop method a try but when I launch this course again, it will be in a different format (I explain why below).

When I held the three-part live workshop series, I ran into these obstacles:

Obstacle #1 The microphone (despite being a brand new one) had a glitch that showed up only in the recording. The audio kept repeating certain phrases during the entire training which doesn’t make for a good user experience. I couldn’t fix this as I found out only after the session was over. I have to go back and redo the entire session for my students so they can have a good recording to watch later on.

Obstacle #2 Because the live trainings happen on a specific date and time, any emergencies or calendar conflict would derail the workshop. In my case, I had double booked on the third and final session. I had to pre-pone the workshop but that means if students can’t make the new date, it’s not fair to them as they committed to the date I had initially announced. I learned from this experience that doing live sessions demands a lot from me and if there’s any emergency or a scheduling conflict, I will run into further issues.

Obstacle #3 I ran out of time in one of my 90 minute session while didn’t have enough material to fit one of the other 90 minute sessions. Because I was doing this three-part live workshop by following a theme, I divided up the three sessions by topic, not realizing that in practice, demonstrating the first part would take more than 90 minutes. On the other hand, one topic took up only 30 minutes. So this was out of proportion and not quite a smooth process as I’d like to have. Of course, I could have planned this better and done some test runs to find out I had only 30 minutes of content but I didn’t do it and now I learn from it.

3 Learning lessons from the live workshop series method experience

So although the live workshop method is great for a one-off 90 minute training like Squarespace Fundamentals, it doesn’t work for a longer training like Host Your Course that is spread over three weeks as it didn’t allow me room for fixing tech issues, for dealing with life and business emergencies or errors (like double booking), and for harmonizing the amount of content that can be taught in each session. The online course method (with pre-recorded content) is what I’ve decided to go with when I launch Host Your Course next time.

The Online Course method is great because:

1. Tech problems can be fixed easily: If a microphone fails or I run into other tech issues, I can simply go back and fix it. When the content is pre-recorded I can check the tech with great fluidity and correct any issues, before the content goes live. This is much better user-experience and better for the learning experience for my students.

2. It’s more forgiving when running into emergencies or scheduling conflict: If I have to take care of something out of the blue one afternoon while preparing the recorded materials, I can easily move my schedule into the evening or the next day. This is not something I can do when I have a pre-determined time and date for a live workshop. Doing an online course with content that’s pre-recorded gives the most flexibility when you also have other responsibilities that suddenly want your full attention (parents with little kids know this well).

3. It allows for better content planning: When I have the content recorded, I can have as many lessons as needed within each module to cover the points I want to cover. If one module has 3 lessons and another has 5, it’s not an issue at all. The content is still arranged by topic and has greater cohesiveness than what I experienced in a live workshop mode where one session had only 30 minutes of content, for example.

My biggest lesson ⎯ Be kind to yourself

In summary: I hope that when you think of turning your knowledge and skills into a paid information product, you will consider my experience in hosting live workshop series. The live format is great of a one-off 90 minute trainings but an online course with recorded material works well for a more in-depth training.

In the end, it’s important to try things out, reflect and learn from it and give yourself a break. Don’t be too hard on yourself when things don’t go smoothly or as planned - that’s life and all we can do is be kind to ourselves, learn from our experience and give it another shot. :-)

Your Turn:

Chime in your thoughts in the comments on what approach you’ve used and what you will consider for your next online information product. I’d love to hear from you!

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066: How to find and fix broken links on your website

One of the ways you can improve the user-experience and ranking of your site is by fixing broken links. In this blog, I will share what are broken links, why they are bad for your website/business, how to find them and how to fix them.

How to find and fix broken links on your website?

What are broken links and how do they happen?

Broken links are links on your website that lead to a ‘404 error’ page or do a ‘page not found’ page. Essentially, that means when someone click on a link it leads to a dead end. That’s why they are also called “dead links”. There are several “innocent” reasons for broken links:

1. It may be that there was simply a typo and a link was typed in incorrectly.
2. It may be that the external website that was linked to, is not longer active.
3. A program or an event that your organization once hosted, is not in offer anymore.
4. It may be that a domain name is no longer in use or was changed.

In fact, there’s been research done that leads to the conclusion that about every seven years, your website is prone to lose 25% of its links. This is called a “link rot” and there’s a natural tendency of sites to do this according to Maciej Cegłowski.

Types of Broken Link Error Codes:

400 Bad Request
401 Unauthorized
403 Forbidden
404 Not Found

Why are broken links so bad?

There are two reasons why broken links are not so good for your website.

1. Broken links hurt your SEO rankings.
Your website ranks higher in search engine results such as Google or Bing when it’s considered to a healthy, value-giving website. One of the factors that contribute to your search ranking is whether all links lead to where they promise to lead you. When you click on a link and it goes to an error page, you hurt your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and that’s clearly not a good thing for your website.

2. Broken links give a poor user-experience to your site visitor.
Another way broken links hurt your website is by giving a poor user-experience to your site visitors. If someone looking for something on your site clicks a link that yields nothing a broken link, it not only affects how professional your site is perceived by the visitor but it ultimately wastes their time and they may immediately jump off your site. Thankfully, this is something you can fix either by investing your own time or hiring a professional to fix. (Hint Hint: You can hire me by the hour to clean up the broken links on your site).

What can you do to fix broken links?

The way to fix broken links is to find them and correct them periodically. You can use free or paid tools. Here are some free tools to get you started:

1. Dead Link Checker: https://www.deadlinkchecker.com
2. Broken Link Finder: https://brokenlinkfinder.com/
3. Dr. Link Check: https://www.drlinkcheck.com
4. Broken Link Check: https://www.brokenlinkcheck.com/
5. Also check out this Ukrainian link checker tool: https://sitechecker.pro/broken-links/

I recommend using all four of these (free) tools. Last week, I used one of them and cleaned up all my broken links. I came back to write the blog and plugged in my domain name into the remaining three and still found some new broken links.

So I hope that this article is helpful to you and you will go and test out your website for broken links. I’d love to know about your experience so chime in the comments if you found any of the above links helpful.

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065: Why you should batch process everything you can in your business

One of the best things I learnt about running a business is the importance of creating good content for my audience. It is a powerful way to make a connection with exactly those people who are looking for solutions that your content can help solve. Email makes if possible to keep your business “top of mind” for your readers/clients.

The other best thing I’ve learnt is to organize and streamline my business activities using batch processing. This can be done very easily using automation tools that are already in place. Case in point: scheduling out emails in advance.

The many benefits of batch processing

There are many benefits to batch processing your activities in your business. Let’s take the example of batch processing your weekly emails to your lost:

|1 Frees up your time
You can easily free up your time when you schedule out your emails in advance. If you are sending emails four times a month, but you write and schedule them out in one sitting, that saves you at least 4 times of opening your email marketing platform, going to the right section and creating a new email. If you are not using that email platform everyday, you have to re-acquaint yourself with the system each time. Rather, re-acquaint yourself once a month and then write it all up at one go.

|2 Take advantage of flow
You may have heard about the state of flow - the mental state of mind that happens when you are in your zone of genius. Well, this flow also happens when one is getting into the groove of a particular project. For example, when I start writing, at first I may be at a loss of how to begin. But once I begin writing, more ideas come and I have not only completed that one blog post, but I am already writing the next one. This same magic can happen during your email writing session. This way you simply get a lot done faster and get it done in a state of flow instead of in a state of fighting writer’s block four times a month (4 times in the scenario when you are sending out one email a week and writing them individually each week).

|3 It helps you feel a sense of accomplishment

At least, that is what it does for me. When I have 4 emails and 4 blog posts all ready to go a month in advance, I feel so good about my productivity and creative output. It allows me to then go on and create more content or focus on another project without interruption. This is a feeling I think every solopreneur/business owner should have a taste of - the feeling of “being ahead” of one’s to-do list. I love that feeling and batch processing gives me that.

|4 It allows you to put out content consistently even if you face a difficulty

This one is personal. Just last month, I realized how important it is to have video + blog content along with the weekly newsletters scheduled out. You see, I faced an unexpected hospital visit and I had to undergo surgery. The recovery process took a full three weeks when I could not do anything in or for my business. Plus the fourth week after the surgery when I slowly came back to my desk, I felt so exhausted that I didn’t get a lot accomplished. It was only in the fifth week that I got back on my feet fully.

Thankfully, back in February, I had created 4 videos , 4 blog posts and 4 emails, all of which I had scheduled out for March. This way, in March when the unexpected hospital visit and surgery came, I could completely focus on my rest and recovery. Boy, was that a relief to have everything scheduled out.

I only missed on sending out content the week when I came back to work. But you know what, given my health circumstances, I can live with that. And I know my audience is kind and compassionate enough to not mind me missing out on one week’s worth of content. After all, I have over 60 videos and blog posts on my website that they can still go and make use of.

This 4th point is probably the most important benefit. And it doesn’t have to be health issue. What if you wanted to take August completely off or December completely off from your business. Well, you can still build up SEO points and heart-points with your audience by sending them useful content that you schedule out for them in advance.

How to Batch Process?

There are several ways you can go about this.

1. Pick a day for a specific task:

One of my fellow web designer based out in Canada, uses a weekly system. For her, Mondays are content creation days. You can do this too. Plan to do a specific task on a specific day of the week each week. This also helps create a nice timetable for you to follow so you know what you are doing each day of the week. This does require some good planning and you will surely, need to try it out and adjust it to how you work.

2. Follow a workflow:
What I like to do is use a workflow that works best for my style of working. For example, my workflow is a synergized plan that includes video content creation, blog article creation and newsletter creation. Depending on the topic of my blog, I first either shoot the video or write out the step-by-step plan. Sometimes I like to write out the article so I know what to do in the video. At other times, it is easier for me to show the steps in a video and then I write it out as a blog.

I like the second method because it allows me to start a workflow whenever I like. I can do this before or after a client project and this way I have a bit more flexibility to accommodate my clients when it comes to matching our schedules for video call consultations. I can also break up the workflow in part 1 and part 2 and still have the “batch process” effect. I’ve tweaked this process as it fits my working style and my business over the last 2 and a half years. I recommend you giving it a try and as you do it, you will find out what works best for you.

So the workflow method works for me. Do what works for you but batch process.

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Are you getting excited to get your own website? I love designing websites for fabulous people like yourself, so take action to get your website design process started —> Start the Conversation by sharing some ideas about your site with me.

Questions about this blog post? You can drop them in the comments below!

~Peace,

Sophia

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This is what you can expect from me in 2019!

This new year is potent with new possibilities. Know that as each week goes by, I will be creating new opportunities for you to learn, grow and take your business to the next level. 

I recommit to my goal of helping you transform your Squarespace Website into a revenue-generating business asset. Here's a glance at what's in store for you this year from me at sophiaojha.com.

Live Paid Online Workshops
I will continue to conduct live workshops to help you make the most of your Squarespace website. At the moment, I am offering two workshops: Squarespace Fundamentals  (for the new website owner who wants to learn how to build their Squarespace website) and Create a Website that Converts (for the more advanced website owner who wants to sell more products/services and build their emails lists via their website). 
Learn more about current workshops here.

Weekly Blog + Video Tutorials
Each week, I will publish a blog post on some aspect of using your Squarespace platform. It will include a written article but my aim is to include a video tutorial because I find that some things are easier demonstrated via video than described in words.
Influence the content I create by sending me your requests here.

Weekly Live Free Online Trainings (May 2019 Update: Monthly*)
Starting in April 2019, I will be adding live online video trainings on a focused topic related to building your business website on Squarespace. In these live trainings, I will give you a walkthrough of that specific skill from the backend of my website dashboard and you can ask questions live during the training in the chat comments. I am really excited about these live sessions!  
Request a training on a specific topic by sending them here. 

*Monthly: I got ill, needed surgery and recovering from it all took 6 weeks. So I missed the April start date but still made my first live training happen in May. But I lost so much time that doing it weekly was not feasible. I decided that monthly makes more sense given all the blog + video content I want to create consistently and the web design projects + web maintenance projects that I want to do for my clients.

New, Redefined Design Process & Packages
In the new year, I am putting in place new and redefined website packages along with a brand new streamlined client onboarding process so that clients who hire me to build their sites will experience a smooth, streamlined process. They will always be up-to-date about all the details about their project with clear timelines, action steps and results. I can't wait to work with business owners and individuals and create their stunning new online presence a.k.a. their websites!
To begin the process of working with me click here to get the conversation started. 

Well, I hope this gives you a little glimpse into what you can look forward to from me in the coming year. My new year's wish for you is to thrive in your endeavors and find fulfillment and a sense of contentment in your life.

I am excited for what you will create and how you will thrive in the coming year.

Thank you for letting me part of your journey!

With love and gratitude,
Sophia

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052: Do this One thing to get to know the real needs of your audience

Do this one thing to get to know the real needs of your audience: Ask them!

For the longest time, I thought that understanding my audience meant researching the type of questions my target audience is asking on online forums, in Facebook groups and on blog comments of other businesses. But I didn’t look at the golden opportunity that lay right at my finger tips - my own email list.

Today, I will show you the exact email I sent to my email list to get to know their real challenges and I invite you to emulate it in your business.

Watch the video below:

I didn’t ask my email list because I felt that it was too small and I needed at least such and such number (most marketer’s throw the number 1000) of subscribers in order to get any real results. But that really is not taking your list seriously. Whether you have 5 people, 500 people or 5000 people on your list, these are real people and a certain outspoken group will respond to you.

You, too, may be in this boat where you think your list is too small to send them a survey or ask them about their challenges. But that’s really not giving importance to the folks who are actually there on your list. If you think 40 is a small number, imagine 40 people in your living room all present there because they want to hear what you have to say. That means something!

Follow these 6 Steps below to make it easy for your audience to respond to you:

So just before Thanksgiving, I sent out an email to the people on my list asking them what their real challenges were in their business. Here are four things that I want to point out about that process.

1| I only asked one question.

In the email I sent, I asked my readers to simply answer one question about their current business challenges. People can always write more and I had some folks write multiple paras. But having one question lowers the barrier to respond and you rather get a short, quick response than no response.

The question I asked was: “What video tutorial, workshop or articles would be helpful to you right now?” That’s it. One Question.

2| Surveys are Intimidating. ‘One question’ is inviting.

I didn’t call it a Survey. I called it "One Question”. I didn’t ask them to fill out a survey but just one simple question. This feels un-burdensome, light and fun. In the subject line of my email it just says, “One question” not, “Please fill out this survey”.

May be it’s just me but I run from surveys. However, I have filled out tons of them helping my fellow entrepreneurs whenever they ask me for feedback - it’s all in how things are phrased. I always want to be of help so when they ask for my help, I am happy to fill out “surveys”. Knowing my dislike for surveys, I decided to just skip that word all together. The reader knows what we are talking about without calling it a ‘survey’.

3 | I made a lovely landing page.

Finally, I created a nice landing page with just that One Question and added the link to that page in my email. This creates a nice custom user-experience and keeps folks on your website while they answer your question.

This is what it looks like when it is all done.

View fullsize

4 | I used a form.

Often I get emails inviting me to simply “hit reply” and answer back. Now that may work for some readers who will just write you an email reply. But for many that is a bit intimidating. Having a form instead is more inviting I find, personally. Also on the form, I make it optional for folks to write their name and email which gives a sense of anonymity which writing an email doesn’t.

On Squarespace, you can simply use the in-built form and link it to a Google Spreadsheet. Or you can go even more fancy and use Typeform which gives an awesome user experience to your audience. I used a form and it looks like this:

View fullsize

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If you’d like to share with me your business challenge, and see the landing page, go on over to the live page and add your thoughts to my One Question: sophiaojha.com/oneq

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5| The One question is open-ended.

As you can see in the screenshot below, I asked the question but kept it open-ended. Folks can write as much or as little as they wanted. This is good because it’s open and unrestrictive. Structured questions certainly help guide the reader but having several open questions let’s the reader answer to the question that best resonates with them.

6|I created a virtuous cycle with my request.

I asked my readers to help me create content that would be useful for them. So I framed it in a way that they knew clearly that they were helping me. But I also stated that this would ultimately help them. They are helping me help them, thus, creating a nice virtuous cycle that benefits all.

As you see on the landing page, I titled the section with this headline:
”Your Unique Opportunity To Direct The Content I Create”. That sounds exciting because now with their responses, my audience is telling me what they need help with and what would truly benefit them which is a true win-win.

Here’s the exact email copy I wrote to my readership. Use it to inspire your own version:

Asking your audience what they really want is a surefire way to get to know your audience. Yes, not everyone will respond. But those who respond will give you nuggets of insight that will prove invaluable.

Here you see the landing page, the form and the email - so go ahead, give it your own spin and ask away.

Do share with me in the comments how you are getting to know your audience and what you think of this blog post!

~ Peace, Sophia

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051: Asana Vs. Trello: Which productivity app I use in my business.

Best productivity app for your business: Asana Vs. Trello

Recently, I took my annual three week break to rest and rejuvenate - the importance of which I learnt the hard way back in 2017. On my return, one thing was top of mind for me and that was getting my business activities organized and get even more efficient.

For that reason, I jumped into my Google Calendar and my handy-dandy paper notebook/calendar to start jotting down my upcoming projects and tasks to get organized once again. This led me to want a better way of dealing with my projects. Having some things digital and some thing on paper was just not going to cut it anymore. I wanted to have a unified system, a mothership of sorts for all my tasks, goals and projects.

What I found from my afternoon of playing around with two apps on my shortlist is that I totally love Asana. But not so fast. You will see the reason why Asana is my preferred productivity app.

In this video, I walk through the two systems (Asana and Trello) and show you how I set up my productivity app of choice:

So which productivity app should you go for?

I've worked with Basecamp, Asana, Trello and Freedcamp at different times in my business. While all of these apps have their pros and cons, I am going with Asana for all my business projects and tasks.

1 | Board Vs List View

In Trello, you can only have your tasks listed in a Board view. It uses Kanban system in which you can drag and drop your tasks from different columns. This allows you to have a visual of the progress you are making in your work. Like this:

Kanban Progress System in Trello:

In Asana, you can choose whether you want list view or board view. You must decide that before you set up your project because you cannot switch back and forth between list and board views. There is a workaround for this which I lay out in the video. But essentially, you have a choice and that’s what primarily won me over to Asana from Trello.

Board View in Asana:

List view in Asana:

2 | At-A-Glance View of Tasks

When you are using a productivity app day in and day out, it needs to have versatility to fit your individual needs. I find Asana to fit my need to have an at-a-glance view of all my tasks on a particular day from all my projects. You can sort them based on “today”,” upcoming” or “later”. So there’s a tab on the sidebar called “My Tasks”. When you click on it, you will see all your tasks across all your projects. So it looks like this.

At-A-Glance View of All Tasks Across Multiple Projects

In Trello on the other hand, one has to go into each and every project to see what tasks are upcoming. You can see all your projects on the home dashboard but I don’t find that useful since I still need to click into each project. This may work for teams who are really project-based. But for solopreneurs such as myself who essentially are running all parts of their business or delegating only a small part, then Asana’s “My Task” view is more helpful.

All Project Boards At-A-Glance In Dashboard

3 | Synching up with Google Calendar

What I appreciate in both Trello and Asana is that you can synch up your projects/tasks with Google Calendar. In the video above I show you how to do that in Asana. And it is practically the same process for doing it in Trello as well.

This way, whenever you are planning out something and open up Google Calendar, you can get a calendar view of everything in one place. I do think I will stop using this feature as Asana has a very nice Calendar view as well of ALL my tasks. But while I transition from Google Calendar, the sych up feature comes in handy. Also this is very useful when you are on the go and can look at your Google calendar on your phone. (Asana has a nifty app for your phone as well).

This is how Google Calendar looks when syched up with “My tasks” from Asana:

Asana’s Calendar view is quite attractive as well

The pros of using the Calendar feature in Asana is that all your projects are color coded and you can also see the colors of any tags you may have added to your tasks.

To get the same effect in Google Calendar, you will need to synch up each and every project/Team individually into Google. Doable with some patience! :)

Which Productivity App Will You Use?

So there you have my top three reasons why I like to use Asana (although Trello was quite up to par on point no. 3!). I am now using this daily and it’s the first thing I open up when I get to work each day. I love the feeling of a clear mind because I know all my tasks and projects are down on paper…well, actually…digital paper. (I still use a notebook or project paper for brainstorming processes). And I don’t have to store them in multiple places. I must admit, having my entire system set up on Asana has radically increased my productivity which is after all why we have a productivity app to begin with, right?

Running a website design business involves tons of small details and juggling many parts of both personal and business life. I am excited about my new system and I hope you found some inspiration to set up yours as well.

Let me know in the comments which feature of Asana or Trello you like. Or if you use something else, share why you went for it as well!

~ Peace, Sophia

Related Videos:

050: Why I am taking three weeks off and the 8 mistakes I’m learning from

Why I am taking three weeks off and the 8 mistakes I’m learning from

I usually don’t write about the entrepreneurial journey here on the blog but I do think it is relevant because, you, as my reader, get to know a bit more about the person behind the words and videos that show up on this site. I am taking my first three week break of my working year starting this month and going into October and I feel this is a good time to share what the backstory to this break is.

The journey begins
My current journey began back in August 2016 when I got hired to set up my first email marketing platform for a client. From then on, I was completely hooked into making it happen with an online business. I made some rapid progress in those early months and I worked long hours without a break. I was making revenue that inspired me to keep upgrading my skills and my services. I enjoyed it.

Hardly did I know that such non-stop perseverance comes with a price. Often you will hear about entrepreneurs working so hard that they lose sight of their health and their family. In my case, because of some earlier established good habits, I always made time for my family and my health. But there was something else that was close to my heart that I completely ignored and dropped from my schedule.

And that was: learning about the nature of the mind and meditating.

I completely ignored something close to my heart.

Now, I love to learn so during the time when I was working on projects for clients, I continued to read books and articles and took trainings on all things online marketing and web design. But my inherent need to understand how my mind works got completely off my priorities.

I no longer sat in my living room reading about my favorite topic. I hardly invested time for meditation. And the result:

I lost my drive for my business. The immense enthusiasm that I held for my business and working with clients faded away to such an extent that I couldn’t connect with my purpose.
”What am I doing all of this for?” “What is my purpose"?” “What is the meaning of all of this?”

Overwork and ignoring my need to learn about the mind led to me losing all drive for my business.

I sank in a hole in which I wanted to shut down everything and just go be with my cats (I love my cats immensely, you see). I know that sounds crazy. But I dropped into a mini-depressive state where things that used to excite me didn’t any more.

I decided to take a break from business - but in my mind I was shutting down my business.

The shutting down begins
This all started in August 2017. The business that I had worked so hard on building - I was now in the process of ending. By October 2017, I wrote to all my clients that I will no longer be doing email marketing projects. I deleted all my client projects and emails. I made a note in my calendar to cancel my business email when the date arrives for renewal. By January, I embarked on recording 12 meditation audio tracks for my personal development site - this way I was taking my mind off my business completely.

I had ended the renewal of my domain sophiaojha.com and even cancelled my annual Squarespace plan to host this site. I wanted to shut everything down but I still had one client whom I had promised to help with his email marketing set up. He had already hired me many months ago but he was waiting upon his designer to get the site ready before I could start on my project. This client was truly a blessing in disguise and because of that open project, I had to keep my site open until end of Feb.

This is Mighty playing in the snow, experiencing his first winter! Watching him play with this leaf took away much of my entrepreneurial blues :-)

This force-break helped me to heal my lack of enthusiasm. And as a result, I gained immense clarity and focus for what I did want to do in my business.

By March, I had more than 6 months of healing from my lack of enthusiasm and energy. I had gone deep within myself, understood the symptoms and re-connected with what I wanted to do with this one life I have to live right now. Slowly I was recovering from my lack of enthusiasm. In fact, I was getting so much clarity and focus about what I did want to do in my business.

What I realized was: I realized that the problem was not the business or the topic of my business. It was how I was running it and how I was not fueling my inherent needs (see point 7 and 8 below). I saw at least 8 things I was doing “wrong” that zapped the life out of me in my business.

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8 things I did wrong that led me to shut down my service-based business last year (which you may want to consider avoiding in your business).

I am sharing this with you so you may see if you are falling into these traps yourself and avoid them before they get out of hand.

1| I was undercharging.
I had put a lot of time in getting good at what I do. But because I was at the start of my business, I undercharged for my services. (I’ve read we, women, are really good at that. Suze Orman inspires us to do better!). This undercharging meant I worked more and more but didn’t see the proportionate increase in my revenue.

2| I was over-delivering while undercharging.
So, not only was I undercharging for my services, I would do double the amount of work for the same rate, in order to take care of my clients. I recognized that they too were solopreneurs like me (felt camaraderie for the common entrepreneurial journey) and delivered twice than what I was charging. Yes, it is said that women are the hardest workers in any team and I surely fit that description. Often, clients never noticed that; although I noticed how late I was going to bed.

3| I was underreporting on my timesheet.
There were (and still are) some clients that hired me for 10 hr packages. I don’t know what it was but I tended to state 15 minutes if I worked 25 minutes. I still tend to under-report my time (working on fixing it) and I think that added to the stress of my work over the course of the ensuing months.

4| I did things extremely fast but didn’t charge for it.
As I got better at what I did, I got extremely fast. I could set up an entire system in an afternoon what otherwise would have taken days. I had cultivated laser-focus and an ability to shut out all distractions. I delivered super fast but still charged the slow-coach rates. So again, I was doing much more in the small amount of time than before. And, I also was not good at articulating this added-benefit to my clients that my speed had increased even though they were paying me the same rates as before.

5| I squeezed in people on my calendar even if it was already full.
I got really stressed because I didn’t learn the art of scheduling people. I would put in several projects next to each other giving me no breathing room. I would respond to client questions right away even when I had a 100 things already in the pipeline. This made clients happy but made me unhappy. I am getting better at this but still a weak point that I need to get ironed out.

6| I didn’t schedule in me-time (reading time).
Everyone needs time off to do things they love. I love reading books on the nature of the mind. But I never made time for it. I was excited about my business but paid a price for not scheduling in me-time. The price was: I had to come to a complete stop for 6 months in order to recover from ignoring my inherent need for learning.

7| I didn’t go where my heart was calling.
I actually began my business with the goal of building websites. But as I was busy catering to incoming email marketing projects (which I am good at and still enjoy as well), I didn’t take the time to blog and make tutorials about web design (which I am changing now). I love designing websites and I love the visual language that translates onto the screen to convey a message or sell an idea. I am now doing more of that and I am happy about that change.

8| I didn’t take a real break.
Vacations? What vacation? I didn’t take a vacation and so never truly unplugged from the internet and from computers for more than a long weekend. Just like those old MTV unplugged sessions from the 90s, I realize I too need to completely unplug; take a break from life-as-usual. And finally this year, that’s exactly what I am doing.

---

Refuel. Recharge. Take A Break.

So, I am now finally taking a three-week break and traveling to my birth country, India. I will be spending time in Northern India in the beautiful Himalayan mountains and be without internet or phone access for most of the time. I will be in Dharamsala which is also the adopted home of the Tibetan leader and inspiration, His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. This is a very special time and I wish to return with much inspiration and energy back to my home in the North Carolinian mountains.

This has been a very vulnerable post for me to share all of this with you. I hope that in the sharing of it, you too will become aware of how you are doing things in your life and business. And I hope you are following your heart and taking care of your needs while you build your business, too. Please share in the comments what challenges you’ve had to face or are currently facing so we can support and inspire each other.

~ Peace Sophia

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049: Should you hire a web designer or DIY your website?

Hiring a Web Designer Vs. Doing-It-Yourself (DIY) 

This article is for you if your are caught in the moment where you need a new website but aren't quite sure if you really need to hire a professional web designer or to go build it yourself using one of the many drag-and-drop website builders.

Now, as a website designer myself who loves to design websites, I don't think hiring a designer is right for everyone. There is a certain need that website designers fulfill and if you actually have those needs then go hire a designer. Otherwise, invest the time and effort to learn all about website building and build it yourself. Use the questions to make the choice that's right.

Should you hire a web designer or do it yourself with a website builder?

I've prepared a set of 3 questions for you that you need to ask yourself when it comes to deciding whether you should hire a web designer or do-it-yourself using a website builder. They are all around the concepts of Money, Skills and Time.

1 | Funds

Hiring a website designer comes with many pros. But to tap into their services and expertise, it is important to have the funds to hire them. If you are starting up a business that doesn't have a starting capital or if your business doesn't generate enough revenue to cover your costs, then you should wait before hiring a designer. 

Now I know some of you may say, "Hey, but I want to hire a website designer because I want to create more revenue in my business". To that, I would say,"Okay. Then start with a small website that will not cost you an arm and a leg. Hire a designer who is also starting out and wants to prove what they are made of."

When starting out as a solopreneur* for example, you may have more time than money on your hands. Use this time to learn about web design and building websites that will generate revenue."

*solopreneur = a business run by one person (often online)

So the question to ask yourself is:
Question: Do you have trouble finding enough funds to hire a website designer's services? 
Answer:  Yes / No

2 | Tech Skills

Website building is fun and exciting for me. In fact, learning about building a successful business online has been very interesting for me and I have spent thousands of hours pouring into books, blogs, videos and courses. If you feel you want to learn about web building then go ahead and DIY your site. You will stimulate your brain and feel happy about yourself when you create your site. There are tons of resources out there (like my blog) that will show you the many aspects of building a site that also is a high-converting site (creates revenue/ builds lists/ enrolls members, etc). 

However, the same tech jargon and nitty-gritty can quickly get overwhelming and stressful. If you cannot stand anything around templates, design fundamentals, conversion-principles; or if the sound of Settings, Analytics, Security turns you off, or if you feel overwhelmed by the idea of watching tutorials and sitting through trainings about website backend technology, then the answer is clear, I hope? A web designer will be the right partner to help you birth your vision into a stunning online presence so you can focus on your core genius and leave the tech to the pros.

Tip: Even if you have your site designed by a website designer, I highly recommend that you inform yourself on the basics of running your site, updating content like text and photos or new pages and service packages. This will save you hundreds of dollars when it comes to updating your site with new content later. Some designers (such as myself) include video trainings as part of their design package so that the clients know how to work with their new sites.

So ask the question to ask yourself is:
Question: Does dealing with tech stress or overwhelm you or do you prefer not to learn about it?
Answer:  Yes, I love it / No, I'm already overwhelmed thinking about it

3 | Time

As much as learning about the tech behind building a website can be fun and exciting, it is time consuming. My first website that I built was back in 2010 for my personal development site which has gone through countless updates and design tweaks over the last years. And with every site that I've built, from a site for a folk-rock music band from North Carolina, to a non-profit organization for education in New Jersey, I've learnt more and more. I'm constantly learning and not because it is part of my job as a web designer. But because I love to learn everything about web design and digital marketing.  If you have the time to invest in learning, go ahead! You can learn all you want, the world is your oyster.

However, if you want to launch your site in the next couple of months, then you will need the expertise of a web designer. If you are at stage where you are working full-time and building your side-hustle during weekends and evenings, then time is of the essence. You want to leverage all that you've got. A web designer can help you take your vision and bring it into reality and your focus will be about reaching out to your ideal clients not fussing about tech details. In such a case, your next step will be more about two things: 1. which designer is a right fit and 2. which platform is a right fit for you. 

So ask the question to ask yourself is:
Question: Do you have the time to invest in learning right now?
Answer:  Yes, I do / No, I want to launch my website in the next two months. 

Review the answers to these questions.

If your review shows that you need to delegate the web design work, then you will benefit greatly from the services of a professional web designer. He or she will take the stress and headaches away from you. They will handle the tech, the design and take the time to understand your needs. They can advise you on things that will make a big difference in your business, based on their experience and expertise. All of this allows you to
to focus on your message, your vision and your goals for your site.

Building a website is an important part of building your business. And I hope these three questions give you a good guideline in your decision-making process.

Let me know in the comments what questions you are currently facing around building your next website or redesigning your current website.

~ Peace, Sophia

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