112: What I need to feel successful

One month of 2022 has come to an end. January, goodbye. Hello, February!

Financially, this was again a record month. I got to build Websites In A Day and serve clients with a variety of website related needs. I am grateful.

As I step into the next month, I remind myself of what’s important in my life and business. At the moment, I run my web design business and although I have some leveraged products and offers, majority of my revenue does come from one to one services. That means I am exchanging my time for dollars. And even though I enjoy my work designing websites and solving website related problems, I know that at a certain point, I will need to find other ways to grow my business so I have a greater sense of time and ease.

What I need to feel successful?

So I am asking myself, what do I need to feel successful? Is it x amount of money in the bank? Is it x amount of time during the day, week and the year? Is it praise and appreciation from my clients and students of my programs?

I think what it comes down to is this: I want to feel financially free.

I want to feel and be financially free. I want to know that if I want to read all morning sitting in my hammock, I can do that. Or if I wanted to make videos all day of streams and waterfalls or of birds and the sky then that would be fine.

I am clearly not there yet. I am working on creating a life where I can experience that level of freedom. I am not interested in fancy cars or precious jewelry or big mansions. I don’t yearn to be famous or be celebrated. What I want is to simply have the choice to sit in my hammock and read an inspiring book all morning. Or take my video camera on a hike and watch droplets fly into the air as the sunlight hits them creating a rainbow of glistening colors. These videos would help people feel a moment of peace in their lives, a quick escape to nature even when they live in concrete city jungles. And I want to do all that knowing that my family of husband and cats will be provided for and I can support animal shelters that take care of all the animals in our area. And then I can also design websites or do coaching calls from time to time.

So in essence it is not so much the money but the freedom of choice and freedom of how I use my time that the money can offer that I am wanting to create for myself.

I believe & I know that this is possible!

I know that this dream is possible as many others have done it. That level of financial freedom is what will make me feel successful. Until I get there, I will make my plans and strategize my way so I can become financially free and help others do the same. And in the meantime, I am grateful for all that I do have and all that I get to create through my web design business. That’s a true blessing.

It feels vulnerable to write this all out in a public post. I’d love to know in the comments what would make you feel successful right now.

Peace,

Sophia

111: How to enable comment box on Squarespace 7.1 (why is it not showing and how to fix it)

I ran into this issue recently and wondered why is the comment box not showing up on my Squarespace site. It turns out that there’s a simple fix. Watch the short video tutorial or the steps listed below the video.

How to enable comment box on Squarespace 7.1

1. Go to Settings Panel

2. Then Blogging

3. Then Comment Settings

4. Then enable Allow Anonymous Comment

That’s it. No need for CSS or other extraneous steps! Hope this was helpful. Thank you for watching!

110: Squarespace Website for Mental Health Counselor in Philadelphia

Type of Project: New Website Build - Website In A Day
Client Site: CarlyEllman.com
Platform: Squarespace 7.1
Niche: Mental Health Counselor
Location: Philadelphia Area, Pennsylvania, USA

Website for a mental health counselor built in a day!

This month, I had the pleasure of being hired to create a Website In A Day for a Mental Health Counselor and Professor in the Philadelphia area. Below you can see the pages that were created:
Home, About, Services, Contact and Intake Form.

Color Scheme:
The colors palette includes light tan and light green along with the foundational white and black. The client wanted warm colors that didn’t overwhelm anyone visiting the site looking for mental health resources or counseling.

Fonts Used:
The fonts are simple and easy to read and two of my favorites.
For Headings: Raleway
For Paragraph text: Proxima Nova

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Home Page

My client wanted to have as little scroll on the home page as possible to make it easy for the site visitor to see all the info they needed at a glance. To meet this preference, you’ll see that there are only three sections on the home page. The first one has a warm photograph of the counselor, a bit of introductory text and three buttons that lead to the Services, About and Contact pages.

Carly has also presented a talk for a Tedx event so along with her other presentation, I laid those videos out in the second section.

Finally, the third section leads the visitor straight to the contact page to start the process of working with Carly.

My client loved this presentation and the choice of photograph. They can always switch out the images later for a quick site refresh down the road.

Home Page

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Services

Services page features an accordion tab to list multiple pieces of information in an elegant and attractive manner. There’s also a listing of all services offered by the counselor in the at-a-glance list. A quote from the counselor to ease the visitor’s concerns and finally a call-to-action button linking to the contact page.

Services Page

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About Page

Clean and personable, the main job of the about page was to give a warm and welcoming feeling to the site visitor. Four images of the client’s family add to that feeling.

About

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Contact

A contact form notifies the client via email anytime someone wants to reach her. Also added a warm and smiling photo of her on this page to make it complete. We actually created the Contact page during the one hour training and handover call so the client got and additional page!

Contact

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In-Take Form

Finally, a quick presentation of the two download forms on an un-linked page. This was not part of the Website In A Day, but since the client had already connected their domain, it left me with some extra time to deliver this second extra page (Contact page being the first extra page).

In-Take Forms Download

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109: How I am simplifying my web design business in 2022

In the course of this year, I will be simplifying my business even further with the aim of streamlining my work, getting more focused on the main priority and being effective during my 4-day work-week. Here are some more details on each so that you know what’s coming up in 2022 and how it will effect you as the participant of the Abundant Creative community, client of my design services or as students of the MWD program.

1| Merge sophiaojha.com and millionairewebdesigner.com websites into one site
You may know my web design services from sophiaojha.com which I have been running since 2016. In November of 2020, I launched my coaching program for web designers along with a new website millionairewebdesigner.com. This is also the website on which I launched the Millionaire Web Designer Directory in 2021 to showcase 25 web designers with various skills such as graphic design, branding, copy writing.

But I continued the blog and offering web design services on sophiaojha.com.

When I created blogs and video tutorials on sophiaojha.com for the coaching program, it seemed more fitting to have those blogs on the millionairewebdesigner.com website. However, the idea of running two blogs was not appealing so I continued to have all articles and videos on the sophiaojha.com site. I started thinking, instead of running two blogs on two sites, how about one blog on one unified site? That’s how I came to the idea of merging the two sites.

So, I’ve now decided to merge the two sites to double the impact of my marketing efforts. I will have both domains go to the same site and I will promote different domains depending on whether I am talking about the Directory or the Coaching Program or my web design services. This way, all traffic comes to one place and I can further benefit the web designers who are on my directory so that clients can find them easily. It will also help me focus my content creation efforts to be all on one site.

Also, I’ve decided to move everything to the new millionairewebdesigner.com site which is built on 7.1 platform while the other was built on 7.0. This is a tall order as I will be moving a blog of 108 articles from the sophiaojha.com site to millionairewebdesigner.com site along with all my supporting pages, service pages and so on. But since 7.1 is where Squarespace, Inc is putting all it’s focus in terms of development, it will be worthwhile to make this switch. I’m carving out three months for this project, as I don’t want to stop all my other client-serving activities to do this. This will be done on afternoons, during my days off.

2| Continue third year of my 4-day work-week but with a different rhythm
Two years ago (Jan 2020), my husband and I chose to follow a 4 day work-week because we wanted to make time for volunteering in our community. This schedule has worked really well for us as we’ve gotten more done in less time, had more time for things outside of our work and also grew our businesses as a result. We would work Monday-Tuesday, take Wednesdays off and then work Thursday-Friday. Looking back, especially in the last six months, I noticed that although it was nice to have a break in the middle of the week, it kinda interrupted the momentum we were creating in our work.

Starting 2022, we will work Monday through Thursday and take Fridays off. It’s an experiment just like the 4 day work-week has been and I am eager to see how this unfolds. Fridays have now been committed to volunteer for the High Country Meditators group where we hold weekly events to help people practice meditation and cultivate positive mind states. Any other free time on Fridays, I will use for merging my websites.

Setting-up the 4-day work-week has not been without its own challenges. There certainly have been weeks when I worked all 5 days or worked into the evenings and weekends as I tried to manage a 4-day schedule. But I have become much better with respecting my own boundaries, being less distracted and more focused. For 2022, we’ve also put into place a hard 5 PM cut-off for ending our work. That’s when we begin taking care of the house and prepping dinner and I am looking forward to seeing how this unfolds as well.

3| 25 minutes for 24 books in 2022
If you are book lover, you need no convincing that books are life-changing. I owe my life to books! But in the hustle-bustle of running my web design business, reading has not been a daily priority. In the last two years, I have made an intentional effort to read 2 books a month but have done it in an irregular manner - squeezing long reading blocks during weekends or on volunteering days.

Now I want to make it a real daily habit. So, I’ve carved out 25 minutes in my morning routine to read. My annual goal is 24 books once again (see the 2021 book list here and for 2020 here), averaging 2 books a month and I think this plan will help me do that.

4| Stick to My Streamlined Offers

As a web designer and and a coach to web designers, I have in the last few years streamlined my service offers. They are:

a. build websites for online entrepreneurs via Website in a Day package or the Two Week Website Package
b. help web designers grow their business through my coaching program
c. teach online entrepreneurs how to build a website in a 90-minute workshop, Squarespace Fundamentals
d. help entrepreneurs migrate their email marketing set up into ConvertKit and help with segmenting, funnels and launch sequences.

I am brimming with tons of ideas for workshops and other focussed offers. So, the challenge will be to stick to my main offers and use all my creative energy to create more resources inside the Millionaire Web Designer program for my web designers. That program is my signature offer for web designers and there's so much I want to share and teach. So I will channel all my efforts into that program.

5| Focus on 1 Social Media Platform Only

You may have read in this blog post how I quit all social media in 2020 and still grew my business. I quit everything but YouTube. Well, later in 2020, I started getting active on Instagram again because a platform (99Designs) wanted to feature my business on their Instagram and then link to mine. So I set one up. Since then I’ve struggled to really maintain a presence there and it’s always a nagging voice in my head that I should publish something for Instagram. It’s simply taking precious brain power and peace of mind so in 2022, I will no longer publish on Instagram.

Instead, I will focus creating content for my website in the form of blogs and videos. The videos will continue to publish on YouTube. This will be my simplified approach to content marketing and keeping my focus on one social media platform. If your social media presence is working for you and your business, I congratulate you. In sharing this, I am in no way preaching that you should do this too. It’s simply what works for me and is a choice I am making for my business. But if it inspires you to reassess your own social media activity, I highly recommend doing so.

6| Focus on the main focus
In 2022, this is what I will be focusing on doing:

a) publishing one video/blog a week
b) serving clients with Web Design and ConvertKit services
c) coaching web designer students

Anything that supports these, I will do. Anything that takes away from these, I will not do.

——

These are the six things I am doing to keep my business and life simplified in 2022. There a handful of other things that will support these six and I am so eager to make that effort this year.

How are you simplifying your life and business? Is simplifying a matter at all for you or do you have other aims you are working on? Please share in the comments and enlighten us all in the process. :)

Peace,
Sophia

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108: 25 Books from 2021

2021 was a really full year. A lot got done. But one of the things that I am most happy about is that I made time for reading - one of my priorities which in the past would get sidelined by money-generating projects. I love to read and the challenge was to make time for it and get it done.

So when I sat down to review all the books I read in 2021, I was delighted that I kept up an average of 2 books a month and have a total of 25 books read during the year. Here they are listed in hopes that you may be inspired to pick one or two of these titles from your local library:

1. Atomic Habits by James Clear

2. Profit First by Michael M.

3. Failing Up by Leslie Odom Jr.

4. This is Marketing by Seth Godin

5. Show Your Work by Austin Kleon

6. Chillpreneur Audiobook by Denise Duffield Thomas

7. Hello Habits Audiobook by Fumio Sasaki

8. Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World by Willian Walker Atkinson (1906)

9. Your Invisible Power by Genevieve Behrend (1921)

10. Law & Promise by Neville Goddard

11. The Creative Use of Imagination by Neville Goddard

12. The Bank on Yourself Revolution by Pamela Yellen

13. Playing the Matrix by Mike Dooley

14. How to Win At the Sport of Biz by Mark Cuban

15. If Trees Could Talk by Holly Worton

16. Why not me? by Mindy Kaling

17. We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers

18. The Leveraged Business by Fabienne Fredrickson

19. Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki

20. The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish

21. The Magic of Believing by Claude M. Bristol

22. You Are So Money by Farnoosh Torabi

23. The Next Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and his daughter

24. Deep Work by Cal Newport

25. Ladies Power Up Your Brand by Faith James & Stacey Graiko

Want to know the 20 books I read in 2020? Check this blog for the book list.

107: Inside the Circle Platform for my group coaching program

Recently, I made the switch from Member Areas to Circle for my group coaching program, Millionaire Web Designer. I share the many reasons why I love Circle in the video below and I also give you a walkthrough of what my students will see inside the MWD platform (built on Circle).

You can see Blog 106 for what Member Areas used to look like for my course materials.

Watch the short video below:

Like to try Circle? Get a free trial: https://www.sophiaojha.com/circle (my referral link).

If you have any questions, just reach out to me at so@sophiaojha.com.

106: Walkthrough of Student Experience of Member Areas in Squarespace

In this video, I’d like to show you how a student experiences your course materials inside Member Areas.

Member Areas is where I used to house all my video course materials for my group coaching program, Millionaire Web Designer. However, due to some specific needs, I have since migrated to Circle.

If you’d like to know more about the Circle experience and how the platform looks from the inside, check out my video walkthrough in Blog 107.

But for now, a view of Member Areas from the student’s point of view.

Watch the video below:

105: How to deal with scope creep on web design projects?

In November, we re-opened doors to the Millionaire Web Designer, my group coaching program for helping web designers build a thriving web design business. And I created three live events as part of the promotion for it. Here’s the first one where I share some tips and actual email conversations on how to turn situations when clients want to add more tasks to your list into profitable interactions.

Watch the video below:

104: What to do when a client starts negotiating your prices?

In November, we re-opened doors to the Millionaire Web Designer, my group coaching program for helping web designers build a thriving web design business. And I created three live events as part of the promotion for it. Here’s the first one where I share how to handle price negotiations from a client.

Watch the video below:

103: How do I find my next web design client?

In November, we re-opened doors to the Millionaire Web Designer, my group coaching program for helping web designers build a thriving web design business. And I created three live events as part of the promotion for it. Here’s the first one where I share how I find my web design clients or rather how they find me!

Watch the video below:

102: One Big Reason To Create Content

Recently, I hired a web designer + graphic designer, Anna Roszak, regarding creating a logo for Millionaire Web Designer, my exclusive group coaching program. And we had a great chat about that. But at one point she mentioned how she loves my YouTube videos and that recently a client emailed her asking her about something and she sent her my video tutorial as it explained exactly what she needed.

And this made me so happy. Now, of course, I know that designers share links and resources with their clients. But to hear her share with me how my video helped her solve the client’s problem filled me with utter happiness and satisfaction. This one video that I created saved people time and helped solve a problem! Wow. I am myself amazed at how happy that make me feel. Like super happy.

Watch the short video below:

It’s probably because I create these videos and tutorials and then it’s out in the world. I have to let go of any expectations of how well the video will be perceived, whether it really solves a problem, or whether it will be really helpful and viewed by people. That’s not something I can influence. I know my intention is to solve a question that I have faced or seen my clients face. But whether it has a benefit to others is often not obvious or clear. Plus, right after the video is published there’s no instant data on how many people see it or clicked like and that kind of information remains to be seen until a future date. And so, my mindset around creating content is more like - create it and let it free.

That’s why when Anna shared that very specific instance of how she sent off a link to my video to her client, it filled me with an unexpected delight and it gave me such a high. It’s true satisfaction of knowing that your time creating that content was not wasted. It made a difference! That’s an incomparable feeling.

So there you go - if you were looking for a reason to start or to continue your content creation journey, here’s one more reason: the joy of knowing your content makes a difference.

That’s all for today’s blog! I’m always open to hearing more stories of how my videos, blogs, webinars, etc. have helped you in any way - so send them my way via email or in the comments below.

Have an abundantly creative day!

Sophia

101: Learn Squarespace CSS Tricks From These Six Experts

Now, it’s a given that you can build a decent website using the pre-designed layouts and templates from Squarespace. But from time to time, you will want to add a design element to your Squarespace Website that will requires a some CSS code.

I’m self-taught when it comes to CSS and I have many of my talented colleagues to thank for showing me their tips and tricks when it comes to adding that special look to any Squarespace website.

And today, I’d like to share 6 of them with you so that you can tap into the wealth of resources they have created. Let’s get started.

And oh, none of them have paid me to promote them. I am genuinely grateful for these experts for sharing and teaching what they know.

Uplevel Your Squarespace Website with CSS

Click the image below to watch video:

Here are six of the CSS experts that have paved the way for my own learning.

1. Carl Johnson
Not only do I love his accent, Carl teaches CSS specifically for the Squarespace platform and his YouTube channel is fantastic. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/c/MrJohnoCP

2. Inside the Square with Becca Harpain
You may have already seen Becca’s videos on using CSS for Squarespace. I’ve found them easy to follow and very helpful. Check her YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/InsideTheSquare

3. Beatriz Caraballo
Beatriz’s videos are very helpful as well and her blogs have very in-depth screenshots and step-by-step descriptions of how to use code. Check her YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwDJktnCURFGiJdINrDwRcg and her website here: https://beatrizcaraballo.com/

4. Chris Schwartz-Edmisten
Chris not only teaches CSS tips and tricks but also has many videos on the many features of Squarespace. Check his YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/SEWebDesign

5. Will Myers
Will creates fun and engaging videos all about Squarespace. I found him when looking for how to build a Mega Menu on Squarespace. Check out his YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2pYFwXEwVolfeDumbNAUyQ

6. Rebecca Grace Designs
Rebecca’s channel is very helpful and not just for CSS. Check out here videos on all things Squarespace as well as about running a web design business. Her YouTube channel is: https://www.youtube.com/c/RebeccaGraceDesigns

Let me know in the comments if you have checked these experts out. And also let me know who else you would recommend so we can continue the trajectory of learning and growing together.

To your success,

Sophia

100: Turbo-Charge Your Email Marketing with Evergreen Lead Magnets

Hello my Abundant Creative,

I am celebrating. 🎉 My article just got published on Honeybook's website!!
​
The article is called 7 Evergreen Lead Magnets to Grow Your Email List (link will bring you to the Honeybook/Rising Tide website). And to celebrate, I am sharing an in-depth 45 minute video presentation in which I show you how to implement one of these lead magnets (a digital library) using ConvertKit.

It's called, Turbo-Charge Your Email Marketing with Evergreen Lead Magnets (Within An Afternoon) and I cover:

You’ll learn:
1. why you should go evergreen with email list building?
2. seven types of evergreen lead magnets you can use (many of them without creating new content)
3. 10 examples of these lead magnets in action
4. how to figure out which one is right for your business (my four steps will help)
5. a live demo of me setting up a lead magnet on my website (I show you how l set up Lead Magnet example 5)

Sign up below for instant access:

Do you have a way to build your email list currently set up on your website? In other words, an opt-in form that folks can sign up and then receive a free gift (lead magnets) in return? If not, then I've got a juicy presentation where I show you how to do just that. If creating an opt-in on your website has been on your to-do list, watch this presentation and check it off today!

To your success,

Sophia

099: How to Add Social Media Icons to Default ConvertKit Templates

Hello my Abundant Creative,

In today's video + blog, I am showing how you can customize the default email templates of ConvertKit using some code in the HTML block. Follow my step-by-step guide so you can format the template specifically to add custom branded social media icons and better serve your email marketing clients.

See code below video.

Copy but Customize the Following Code

This code will not work if you do not customize the url source of the image (see bolded text) and if you don’t change up the link of your social media

Table to be added in the HTML block inside the CK default template:

<table>

<tr>

<td><a href="https://instagram.com/sophiaojha"> <img src="put the url of the image here" alt="Instagram" width="150" ></a></td>

<td><a href="https://www.youtube.com/sophiaojha"><img src="put the url of the image here" alt="YouTube" width="150" > </a></td>

</tr>

</table>

To your success,

Sophia

098: Millionaire Web Designer Directory has launched

Update: September 2023: This directory is no longer active. After hitting my first $22K/month and then hitting burnout, I had to scale back my activities and refocus. Although the directory is closed, the intention that led to its creation is still alive - Check out the newsletter here.

Hello my Abundant Creative,

Less than a month ago, I had this idea of creating a space online where businesses could easily find a web designer. And now that idea is a reality. 🎉 Meet the 24 Founders of the Millionaire Web Designer Directory (MWD Directory) who are designers from around the world and with a wealth of expertise - including copywriting, branding, graphic design, web design, email marketing and more. Please check it out and find your next project partner in the MWD Directory. I love all your smiling faces, designers; welcome!

How will the Directory be promoted?

1. My email list - which is made up of both web designers but also of online entrepreneurs who are specifically using Squarespace. They will want an upgrade or maintenance at some time.

2. My YouTube channel - I will start promoting the MWD - Directory in new content that I create teaching Squarespace tips.

3. I will promote the Directory on various platforms (such as Squarespace, Inc) where I will be doing presentations/webinars as well as blogs and podcasts where I will be interviewed.

4. My current client feed for my own business - whenever I am asked to do web design projects, the majority of those requests will be passed on to those designers who are on the Directory, as I can only take a certain number of projects per month.

5. The Directory will be the first place where I, myself, will hire from.

Intention for the Directory

I also hope to create a community of designers who can serve each other and whom I can serve with everything I know and have learnt about web design. My intention is that the directory becomes a real source of projects for the designers and where entrepreneurs and non-profits can find wonderful people to collaborate on their projects.

How is this for?

The Directory is for online business, solopreneurs, non-profits and small businesses as well as start-ups looking for web designers. These web designers also bring expertise in various marketing areas including graphic design, copyediting, social media marketing, branding and more. You can use the search criteria on the directory main page to select for your specific needs.

How does it work?

Simple steps to finding your next designer:

Step 1: Search using criteria
Step 2: Note your top 3 choices
Step 3: Contact each via their websites

Step 4: Discuss project details
Step 5: Hire & get that project done!
Step 6: Celebrate!

No commissions or kickbacks
Client and designer communicate directly with each other and arrange for payment amongst themselves. Each of the Web Designers has paid to be present on this list. We (Millionaire Web Designer.com) don’t partake in commissions or receive any financial kickbacks from any transactions. Our aim is to bring you and the web designers together.

Welcoming You as You Are
As a woman of color and first-generation Indian American, I often run into designer or tech directories where I do not see anyone that remotely looks like me, leaving me with the question, "Do I even belong here?". And I want the MWD Directory to be welcoming to all people of all genders and all backgrounds from around the world.

So if you are or know a designer who comes from groups that have been traditionally/currently been marginalized, please know and let them know that I welcome you and there is room for you here. (Feel free to forward this message to them).

And I am extremely delighted and happy that we have so many women represented in the directory which is also not very visibly seen in tech/design industries, although there are tons of women working in this niche. I truly hope that you can find from this directory a designer for your online business needs.

To your success,

Sophia

097: How to Record Your Screen and Your Camera at The Same Time (Mac)

If you create video content for your audience using screencast apps or want to do so, today's video will help you streamline your production workflow.

You may have noticed that in my videos, I usually have an intro where I talk into the camera. Then I do a screencast showing whatever it is I am teaching. And then again I jump in with an on-camera appearance for an outro.

I've liked the idea of showing myself on camera for the middle section where I do the screencast, but doing a double workflow process was not something I wanted to add to my task list. But now, I found a way to show up on camera without doing a separate on-camera take.

And I am using the same Quicktime app on my Mac like before, just with a little tweak. Wow! I love it. It amazes me how these little setting tweaks have such a huge impact in my work.

If you are using a Mac and the in-built Quicktime video app, then watch the video walkthrough.

To your success,

Sophia

096: The Poison of Comparison

As web design business owners who want to grow our businesses, we are often on the look out to learn from others. We see successful designers or online entrepreneurs and get inspired. But sometimes, our mind goes into thinking we are not good enough thoughts. Here’s my experience with this tendency and how I help myself get back on the right track.

It happens much less often to me than before but it does pop-up from time to time in my mind. Thoughts that say:

”I am not there yet.”
”I am not good enough.”
”She can do it, then, why can’t I?”

Let’s talk about the last one because it can throw you off when you least expect it. It happens like this: You are working on client projects. You are working on your acquisition goals, creating the content and then some how you land on a post or and email or a piece of content created by one of the entrepreneurs you look up to. Someone whom you admire for what they have built and how they show up in the world.

At first, there may be a sense of amazement and wonder. But out of nowhere you may start thinking, “Ah, man, how come this is not happening in my business. How come I am not there yet! How is it that she can do it and not me? What’s wrong with me? I am not good enough. I am still not there where I want to be!!”

The Poison of Comparison
Let me give you an example. I recently saw something written by someone I am a huge fan of. This entrepreneur has really helped me through her videos, blogs, courses, and her books on up-leveling my business. I am totally inspired by her and uplifted by her. And have been for several years. She has built multi-million dollar business while having a busy life and raising a family and that’s just been awe-inspiring for me.

So, in one of these posts she wrote about the importance of creating content and how she has not missed writing and sending out a weekly newsletter for the last 12 years or so.

When I read that, I was first amazed. “Ah, that type of consistency is remarkable”, I thought. Then, I began feeling this sense of lack. I know that I have created lots of youtube videos, spending hours and hours on creating and editing them. This blog itself is no. 96. But I definitely have not been able to publish on a weekly rhythm for years on end. And this awareness of not having been able to produce such regular content started to gnaw at me, to bother me.

But this type of thing has happened before and I caught myself this time.

And if I don’t catch it in time, these thoughts can spiral downward and can lead to a full-blown pity-party mired in self-doubt and feeling a sense of overbearing burden and struggle.

I don’t hear many web designers talk about this. This is not in our content feed - at least, not in mine. But I feel it is so important to talk about this. Because these types of mindset obstacles set us back more than any gaps in skills or knowledge around web design and marketing.

It’s this mental virus of comparison that often poisons our progress to greatness.

Rebuttal like a Lawyer
So what to do about it?

1. The first thing to do is to simply become aware of the type of thought that’s emerging and the feeling that you are getting in your body. I often feel a heaviness in my chest and a tension in my shoulders. And breathe into it. It’s important to not fight that feeling but step into awareness and acceptance: “Ah, okay, this is not feeling very good. I am having this type of thought right now”.

2. Then, you have to put on a lawyer hat. Lawyers present evidence and they make a case for why they support a certain statement. When you have these thoughts of “I am not good enough” or “why have I not done like so and so”, you must bring out the rebuttals. You present statement to your mind that support the contrary.

For example, you can begin by saying, “I am good enough. Look all the _________ you have created or done (insert success evidence)”.
Then bring up a very true statement such as, “You cannot compare your success trajectory with someone else’s. There are so many different factors involved. And we are each on our path.” Being Buddhist, I also remind myself of Karmic patterns and that often soothes me.

So we need to offer rebuttals to our selves on why we cannot be comparing ourself with another. And also present all the good things we have done and accomplished despite challenges and roadblocks. “Look at what you have done even though you faced ________ (insert past struggles challenges, and roadblocks).

There are other ways to go about it but the important thing is to remember that we need to help ourselves and lift ourselves from thought patterns that are not helpful. And we need to that actively. Catch yourself when you find thoughts of comparison showing up - even if in a small way. We can begin to train our mind on the small occurrences - which is easier to do than when it’s full-blown pity-party!

This is a message for any web design business owner who is driven to create success in her business. This mental roadblock may emerge on your path in different forms and it’s important to address it now with love and kindness.

Well, I hope you found this helpful. Thank you for reading and I wish you a peaceful and harmonious day.

To your success,

Sophia

095: New Squarespace Circle Webinar

Needless to say, I am super excited to be leading a live webinar for my fellow web designers and creatives at Squarespace Circle and I’ll be talking about creating a client onboarding process that wows and helps your client deliver the content you need before you start project.

You are Invited to Live Webinar:

The Complete Client Onboarding Process
Event took place on Aug 17th 11 AM ET

(Recording available when you sing up)

Click the image below to watch video:

What I’ll Cover

In this training, I will share the essential emails I send to clients and my complete onboarding workflow. I'll break down how to give a high-touch professional experience to your clients while making sure you get all the content you need before your web design project begins.

Update: You can sign up to see a recording of the webinar.

To your success,

Sophia

094: How to Connect Squarespace Shop with ConvertKit

Forget Zapier. There’s a direct integration between Squarespace Commerce and ConvertKit!

In this video, I will show you how to integrate your Squarespace E-Commerce or Shop with ConvertKit. So all your transactions and client email info are fed into your ConvertKit account.

I recently was hired by my client afrosexology.com to migrate their email marketing system into ConvertKit and part of the migration project was to also make this integration. This video is thanks to the. Check them out here if you like. So let’s jump right in.

Video: How to Connect Squarespace Shop with ConvertKit

Watch this quick video for a step-by-step guide.
Click the image below to watch video:

Integrate Squarespace Commerce with ConvertKit

Step 1: Generate an API Key from inside Squarespace

Jump into the backend of your Squarespace website and go into:

i. Settings > Advanced > Developer API Keys
This will bring you to the right spot.

ii. Next, Click the Generate Key
This will open up a box. 

iii. Next, Add in a Name for your Key
Often you will be needing several keys when connecting different apps. So name the key appropriately. In this case I am calling it ConvertKit.

iv. Alright, Next Click on Orders
Make sure you click on Read and Write.

v. Then Click Generate Key
You can now click the button that says “Copy Key”

Step 2: Now go into your ConvertKit dashboard

 i.Click on Automations which is the second tab on the top left navigation > then integrations which is on the top all the way on the right of the screen.

ii. Then look for Squarespace which is likely to be squarely in the center of your screen. Click on it.

iii.Then paste the API Key that you had just copied and click Next.

iv. Then click “Sync Squarespace Orders to ConvertKit” and click Next.

v. That’s it. You see the green check mark next to the Squarespace logo which means the connection has been made. The two should be communicating now.

Step 3: Testing

I always like to do tests when I set up things so I can be confident that what I intended is actually happening on the platform. My Web designers who are watching this, I suggest you take a screen cast of you doing the test, that way you can show your clients that things are working and help them feel confident too.

So to test the integration of the e-shop and ConvertKit. I will make a test purchase. I will simply create a temporary discount code to do this. If you want to know how to create a discount code, watch the next video and blog No.95. I will skip it here to keep the videos short but you can pause this video, watch video 095 and then come back if you like.

Next I will open up the website on incognito browser on my Chrome. And jump into the shop. I will purchase this workbook to test the integration. I’ll add in my details. The discount automatically is applied to this item which I see here. And yes, I now have the workbook here.

Next, I want to see if this transaction is correctly showing up inside ConvertKit. But don’t do what I did which is to immediately go into ConvertKit, because it takes a couple of moments for the two systems to communicate, especially the first time. So go to the window watch the sky, give your eyes a break or get some water and then come back. When I went right away I was refreshing and clicking here and there but I didn’t see the transaction show up. I just needed to give in a few seconds.

And then, in ConvertKit, under the subscribers tab, you will see in the lower right corner that all the products offered by Afrosexology have showed up correctly. So ConvertKit is pulling all the past product sale data as well which is great.

Now, I will search for the email address I used to make the test purchase. You can do this while still in the Subscriber Tab on the middle right section of the page. It looks like this.

And yes, the email shows up which is evidence that the integration worked. And to further confirm, I will drop into the Purchases tab, and yes, I see the transaction, the product, the date. And by clicking on the drop down arrow below the date, I can see more details such as the price and the discount amount.

So that’s how quickly and easily you can make the integration. In Blog 096, I will show you how to integrate your ConvertKit account to the shop on your new website. This is useful if you already have the integration on your current site but are moving to a brand new website and need to connect the new website to your existing ConvertKit account. Check out Blog 096.

Invitation to Squarespace Web Designers + Circle Members

Also, if you are a Squarespace Web Designer and part of Squarespace Circle, I am doing a webinar on the Complete Client Onboarding Process on August 17th. Sign up to my free Newsletter The Abundant Creative and I will be sharing their sign up page on the 12th.

Well, I hope you found this video helpful. Thank you for watching and I wish you a peaceful and harmonious day. Bye for now!

To your success,

Sophia

093: How to Generate An API Key in Squarespace

Squarespace is a platform that speaks with other apps and systems that you may be using to run your online business. Such integrations often need an API key that’s generated in your Squarespace dashboard. Let me show you where you can create it.

Note: This video was made thanks to my client Afrosexology.com for whom I recently completed a ConvertKit Migration project. Check them out here.

Video: How to Generate An API Key in Squarespace

Watch this quick video for a step-by-step guide on how to generate an API Key.
Click the image below to watch video:

Integrate Squarespace with Other Apps using the API Key

Follow these steps:

i. Settings > Advanced > Developer API Keys
This will bring you to the right spot.

ii. Next, Click the Generate Key
This will open up a box.

iii. Next, Add in a Name for your Key
Often you will be needing several keys when connecting different apps. So name the key appropriately. In this case I am calling it ConvertKit as I was doing an integration for my client Afrosexology’s who wanted their e-shop transactions feeding into their email marketing platform. If you want to know how to do such an integration, watch next video and blog No. 94. Also, Sign up to my free Abundant Creative Newsletter, that way you will get an email when I release a new video or blog article or have a new offer. Last year, I gave away 5 free custom designed websites to lucky newsletter subscribers and I do things like that from time to time. So do sign up at the link on the screen or in the description.

iv. Alright, Next Click on Orders
Make sure you click on Read and Write.

v. Then Click Generate Key
You can now click the button that says “Copy Key” and then go into whichever app you are working with.

That’s it.

I hope you found this video helpful. Thank you for watching and I wish you a peaceful and harmonious day. Bye for now!

To your success,

Sophia