Trusting your gut…it usually pays off, maybe not on the books, but personally.But following your intuition is not always easy. Especially if sales are down, confidence is low, etc. You may have no idea where your intuition is leading you.So to help with this topic, I’m here to share my recent convo with business coach and mentor Alyssa Williamson who has some SOLID advice and principles for leading your business through intuition and following what works for you.As someone who faced burnout and learned the dangers of NOT following her intuition, Alyssa is a real-world example of how to live this first hand.Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/369When you join Web Designer Pro™ (on any tier) you'll get instant access to the new private audio course feeds for:Web Design Business CourseMaintenance Plan CourseScale Your Way CourseJoin Web Designer Pro™ and enjoy instant access to these courses in audio format along with the full courses inside Pro!

Listen to my full interview with Chris Do (ep 368)When you join Web Designer Pro™ (on any tier) you'll get instant access to the new private audio course feeds for:Web Design Business CourseMaintenance Plan CourseScale Your Way CourseJoin Web Designer Pro™ and enjoy instant access to these courses in audio format along with the full courses inside Pro!

Chris Do, an Emmy award-winning designer and CEO of Blind, dives into pricing strategies for design services. He discusses the importance of valuing creative work and how to attract high-paying clients. The conversation critiques hourly billing and promotes value-based pricing, emphasizing empathy in understanding client needs. Chris also explores how our backgrounds shape our financial mindsets and the balance between personal values and professional goals. He highlights the role of community in building confidence and suggests that ambition should focus on impact, not just income.

Shannon Mattern, Founder and CEO of the Web Designer Academy, shares her expertise in paid discovery strategies tailored for web designers. She discusses how to effectively incorporate paid discovery into sales calls, empowering designers to charge for their insights. Shannon reveals success stories and the financial benefits of this model, enhancing client trust and project value. She emphasizes the importance of clear communication and expectations, while also teasing a comprehensive mastery course to deepen listeners' understanding.

In this conversation, Carol Dunlop, a seasoned entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience and host of the Unmarket Your Business podcast, discusses the art of building online communities for web design clients. She shares how a small adjustment in her maintenance plan skyrocketed her monthly recurring revenue. The duo delves into when to sell community memberships, effective pricing strategies, and the delicate balance between community building and service work. Packed with practical insights, this chat highlights the transformative power of client relationships.

Ever wondered how to have time to market your business while still having time to get design projects done?Well, there’s no magic formula and striking the balance between the two is tricky. But a great example of someone doing this well is my dude from down under, word-class logo designer James Barnard.James follows a simple 50/50 approach. Meaning 50% of his work is dedicated to marketing (social media, videos, speaking, interviews) and 50% is dedicated to service work (proposals, calls, logo designs, admin work, etc)It was awesome catching up with James to dig into this topic more which – speaking of 50% – is actually only 50% of this conversation. This turns into a coaching call about halfway through as we dig into James’ lead funnel and we pinpointed some very interesting challenges that I helped walk him through.I hope everything we covered together helps you and your lead funnel/bad-fit weeding out processes as well.P.S. I recently posted about the website audit I did for James following this call that you can check out here! It’ll be a great next step after hearing our convo.Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/366When you join Web Designer Pro™ (on any tier) you'll get instant access to the new private audio course feeds for:Web Design Business CourseMaintenance Plan CourseScale Your Way CourseJoin Web Designer Pro™ and enjoy instant access to these courses in audio format along with the full courses inside Pro!

Alisha Conlin-Hurd, CEO of Persuasion Experience, shares her expertise in crafting high-converting landing pages. She explains that building effective sales pages isn’t rocket science but does rely on proven strategies. Topics include the ideal length of sales pages, the balance between visuals and copy, and the impact of AI on conversions. Alisha also discusses the psychology behind landing pages, emphasizing the importance of understanding target audiences while maintaining a human touch in web design. Her insights empower listeners to optimize their marketing efforts.

An unexpected topic of conversation I’ve consistently had over the last couple years when coaching members of my community Web Designer Pro privately is around managing ADHD and running a web design business.When thinking about ADHD, I’m probably not alone in immediately jumping to the visual of the wild 7 year old kid who can’t sit down in class. But since the conversation around this has become more prevalent for me both personally in my coaching DM’s and in the web design community at large via other forums or groups I check into, I wanted to dig into what this looks like practically for adults running a web design business.Since this is a sensitive topic, I wanted to chat with someone who I could level with and learn from versus being educated from an “ADHD Coach” per say.That’s why I’m dang pumped about sharing my recent convo with my old friend (literally, we were doubles tennis partners in High School) Rob Chaplin. Rob and I reconnected a couple years back when he was considering jumping into a creative field like web design. Since then, he’s been through all my courses, built up his freelance business and became a member of my community Web Designer pro.But in 2024, he let me know that he hit a wall…feeling disorganized, down, scattered and disoriented about how to move forward in business and in life. Now, many of these feelings are natural when you start a business, do something new or take on the common stresses of building something – but for Rob, it was more.After some self-research, he dipped his toe into pursuing ADHD treatment, most of which are behavioral and habitual and I have to say, I’ve seen a noticeable difference with his output and his overall energy and state.For all those reasons and more, I wanted to have an open chat about HIS experience and journey managing ADHD as a web designer and because he’s so new in the journey and he’s really passionate about sharing what’s working for him.We dig into:The red flags that led him to research ADHDHow he started small and began making better progress in becoming more focused and productiveWhat tips, tricks and strategies he uses to help his ADHD (daily) nowHow creative fields like web design are actually ideal for folks on any spectrum of the ADHD scaleHow ADHD can actually be used in a very positive way with boundaries and constraintsAgain, this is purely an explorative chat for me to learn more about this world without judgement or preconceived notions.Disclaimer: Rob shares HIS journey, methods, strategies and medications that work for him but this is not medical advice or recommendation. See your doctor or consult with a professional before exploring any of the medications that are mentioned.Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/364When you join Web Designer Pro™ (on any tier) you'll get instant access to the new private audio course feeds for:Web Design Business CourseMaintenance Plan CourseScale Your Way CourseJoin Web Designer Pro™ and enjoy instant access to these courses in audio format along with the full courses inside Pro!

Many web designers don’t want to scale. I get it - because I had that mindset too. I never wanted to be an agency with overhead, payroll, extra stress from managing people, etc.But the good news is, especially nowadays, you can scale a web design business your way. In a low-stress, low-pressure way that works for you no matter where your business is in revenue and profitability.Sandy Burns, a founding member of my community Web Designer Pro is a perfect example of this. She was on the podcast recently sharing her story of passing 10 years in business and how she (reluctantly) HAD to scale because she had become so overwhelmed with projects.We got to hear from her perspective what it was like to scale and how the timing couldn’t have been more crucial because shortly after she began to scale and reduce her workload, she was diagnosed with cancer and immediately began a journey of chemo and cancer treatment.That’s one angle of Sandy’s story but another one is the other side of her scaling journey. Who did she hire? What was it like for them as she began to send more work their way and when Sandy was diagnosed, what was it like taking over projects and speaking directly to her clients?Well for that, I’m excited to introduce you to Alexis. Another founding member of Pro who was on the podcast a ‘little’ while ago when we chatted about her first client experience 🙂This is a very different podcast chat because we have both Sandy AND Alexis on and we get to dig into both sides, both perspectives of their successful scaling story.From Sandy, we get to hear the ins and outs of her transformation from proud solopreneur to finally scaling and getting to a point where she’s “never going back to being a freelancer.”And from Alexis, we get to hear how she got connected with Sandy and how, learning from a web designer who’s further along in the journey, helped her build her own business up fast while also doing design and development work, and even improving systems for Sandy.We dig into:How Sandy and Alexis began working togetherHow they began trusting each otherHow they arrange payment and percentages for projectsHow 2 minds on a project is often way better than 1How to make a win-win for both owners and contractors when scaling A big thanks to BOTH Sandy and Alexis for coming on and sharing their experience from both sides. We can all learn a lot from this one. I mean honestly, how often do you get to hear an owner and a contractor’s point of view in a working relationship?Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/363When you join Web Designer Pro™ (on any tier) you'll get instant access to the new private audio course feeds for:Web Design Business CourseMaintenance Plan CourseScale Your Way CourseJoin Web Designer Pro™ and enjoy instant access to these courses in audio format along with the full courses inside Pro!

Austin Church, author of "Free Money - A Guide to Pricing Your Services," dives into the complex psychology surrounding money. He discusses how our upbringing shapes our money mindset and decision-making in business. Austin shares actionable steps to change your money story and encourages creatives to embrace their worth. The conversation reveals how geographical location impacts financial perceptions and emphasizes effective pricing strategies for web design, highlighting the significance of aligning financial goals with personal values.