May 2023 Recap: Sharing More Behind-The-Scenes and a Trip To Iceland

Entrepreneurship
Written By Janessa

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    May Recap: Adding services, sharing more

    behind-the-scenes, and a trip to Iceland


    Hey busy bees!

    I thought I’d start writing a monthly recap post and sharing it here on the ol’ website blog, for a couple of different reasons:

    1. Starting a new business and working ‘round the clock: It's awesome, but you live in the present or future so much, you don’t have as much opportunity to look back at your wins or learnings too often. I want to take a moment to appreciate and celebrate the little wins each month!

    2. Simply sharing more of the behind-the-scenes of me and my business. I vacillate between sharing too little or sharing too much. And I wonder how much to share - does anyone realllllly wants to read behind the scenes of my everyday life?! But then I think about how much I love reading about other people’s lives and realized, it can’t just be me! There are a lot of us out there! (helllloooo fellow curious friends!! )

      I love looking at how other people live their lives and structure their days. I’m not a total creeper though. 👀 I’m more of a casually-glimpse-in-open-windows kinda gal,  rather than a take-stock-of-a-host’s-medicine-cabinet kinda peeper.

    Anyhoo, I thought I’d try out this experiment of sharing more about the behind the scenes of my business and my life. Starting with this monthly recap right here.


    First of all, experimenting publicly with new things can make me freeze or feel not super hot.  But one of the many things I’ve learned this year is that our own limiting beliefs stop us from so much!


    So what if I try a bunch of things and fail at some of them? And people on the internet *gasp* see that and perceive me as someone who fails sometimes? That’s the whole point of trying and doing and growing! So here we go! Getting out of my comfort zone and sharing a big ol’ long read about a month in the life of a Squarespace web designer + entrepreneur (🙋‍♀️ hi it’s me)

    May 2023

    In the Business

    As I’m getting more into client work, I find I’m loving it more and more.

    I feel grateful that I found work where I get to work directly with people, helping them grow an aspect of their business and their life.

    This month, I worked on two client Squarespace 2-week websites. Both clients were delightful. (Thank you, Akasha and Jordan!) I’ve had the best clients so far!


    On the Business

    Education and Training

    • Launch Your VIP Day On Demand Workshop: This is a recording of a workshop held a year or two ago.  I didn’t love it, so won’t link it here. I think it's a feeder course for the designer’s bigger program. It did had some helpful bits, including a couple downloads and pricing spreadsheet.

    • Website Audit Mastercourse with Danbee Shin: Danbee is great! Her teachings and resources feel intentional, resourceful, and kind. This course is a recording of a webinar held a year or two ago. The course came with a actionable spreadsheet template to get started, and a video walk-through of an actual website audit.


    Danbee also offers a Globally Inclusive Website program. I’m suuuuupper interested in this, and just generally thrilled that something like that exists and people are thinking about it. It’s first on my list to purchase once my budget allows.



    My Website

    When first starting out in my business, I created my Squarespace web design business and website for my ideal client. But that ended up with me designing a website that didn’t feel too much like *me*.

    At the beginning of May, I showed my boyfriend something new on my website. He liked it, then made the comment that my website doesn’t really ‘feel’ like me. And I had to agree.

    So I noodled 🍜 around, thinking about how to keep my business and website on-brand, while also adding more of my personality. We’re talkin' quirky, thoughtful, goofy, travel-loving, and lover of connection and growth. And emojis. And exclamation points.

    So.


    This is ridiculous, but I made a cut-out of a photo of me with a big grin on my face and pointing. And then placed the photo in choice spots throughout my website. It’s so silly, but it made me laugh!

    janessa pointing at a sign for custom web design services

    > I also purchased a confetti plug-in for all my newsletter forms. So anytime someone subscribes, there’s a huge confetti cannon explosion. Gosh I love it! $20 well-spent! Here’s the link to the Ghost confetti plug-in if you want it.

    > And then I updated my copy to sound more like me - which is basically adding a bunch of exclamation points, run-on sentences, emojis, and made up words, but 🤷‍♀️ hey - a janessa’s gotta janessa!!

    Other Website and Business Work

    • Edited my email banner, again, because it wasn’t feeling quite right

    • Created brand new featured post images and uploaded them to all my current and scheduled posts.

    • Created a ‘link in bio’ page and added the link to my Insta

    • Invited to become a Squarespace Circle member! Now I can offer 20% discounts to my clients on their first annual plan. Plus I can keep website drafts live for 6 months (as opposed to 2 weeks). Plus a variety of other benefits. 🥳 Here’s more about what being a Squarespace Circle member entails, for the curious.

    • Created my freebie download, finally! 🥳 When I first started out as a web designer, I kept hearing I needed to create something of value for website visitors to download and opt into my email list, rather than a simple ‘Subscribe Now’ form.

    Which I get! Offer value, duh. But I kept getting stuck on the fact that I was still learning. And didn’t know what to share that actually had value. And that wasn’t a recycled Squarespace checklist that you can find anywhere in internet-land, including a very robust and awesome one that Squarespace itself provides. Which I linked for you here, because it’s a great resource!

    So I did a lot of thinking and after a couple (like, errr, 5) rough starts, I came up with something that I would have loved to have when first starting out. And it’s not something I’d seen online anywhere else in all my Google deep dives.

    What is it?

    Well, dear reader, I created a comprehensive website checklist. It absolutely includes Squarespace (of course!), but a lot more too. Like 12 pages more!

    I wanted to be sure to get some basics about EVERYTHING in there, like accessibility (something I’m passionate about), legal, copy and branding, and more. 

    Want it for your very own website? You can download it right here:

    I also:



    Travel

    Well, I made it this far down and haven’t even mentioned ICELAND yet. 🐏🌋🧚

    I was invited on a 10-day vacation to Iceland with my boyfriend and his family. We rented a van and the six of us drove all around the Southwest of Iceland. It was a lot of driving. Buuut -

    -I have to say, Iceland is probably the prettiest country I have ever visited. No joke. Waterfalls, glaciers, geysers, cliffs, volcanoes, sheep, puffins, elves (totally real)… and did I mention the AMAZING vegan food? Some of the best vegan food options and availability of my life.


    Iceland!

    This was the first trip I’ve taken in, well, years (2019?), where I didn’t work (Well, I did work, but only a little bit. The rental van had Wi-Fi so I sent out some emails).

    I always work while I’m traveling, it’s something I enjoy. And in fact, it’s something I’ve built my life around. But this was a trip with family and we were on the go all the time, so I consciously made the effort to try to NOT work.

    And I had a lovely time!

    If you know me you know I almost always have a couple upcoming trips planned, and I typically like to work remotely from other countries for a couple months each fall. But this year I’m planning on sticking around to… A) build my business, B) save money and C) spend time in lovely Oregon in the fall. (So far - we’ll see how the year progresses 😁😁)



    Books I read in May

    (all links go to GoodReads!)


    I loved this book. I’m actively working on changing my limiting beliefs about money and wealth, and this book had a couple of great passages that resonated with me. Also want to shout out that the author actively uplifts all women, with a strong focus on women of color and LGBTIQA women, in such a powerful way.



    My best friend Abby recommended this book to me. The author has a friendly relatable style and it was easy to breeze through (a great airplane read!).

    My biggest takeaway from this book was frankly my admiration for how the author just gets an idea in his head and then…. Does it?! Like, that’s possible?!

    I have so so so many ideas, most of them hare-brained admittedly, but actually doing them is where I get stuck.

    And then someone else eventually comes along with their version, and I’m like oh, yeah, I guess that was a good idea! 🫠

    A sweet little adventure novel with a bit of a spiritual tint set in Burma (Myanmar) in the 1950’s. Love everything this woman writes.



     
     
     

    YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY! ... when in Iceland!

    I actually had no idea (or didn’t remember?) that this book is partly set in Iceland.

    I gave this one a quick read on my last night in Reykjavik. It kinda reminded me of one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors, Beneath The Mantle, by Ahimsa Kerp.

    Yep! That’s my brother. But honestly, I found them both enjoyable and probably even liked my brother’s book better. So there you have it! My completely un-biased opinion!


    Misc.

    I quit Instagram for a month and I LOVED it. I did this around the time I started a new morning routine of:

    But.

    As of this writing, I’m back on Insta.

    I’m genuinely friends and friendly with so many people on my personal page, I found that I truly missed the connection aspect. I’m still trying to grow my business account, but at this point I’m unsure if I want to put in the time and energy on social media to grow something by following arbitrary rules and algorithms. Time will tell.


    I’m still doing my nice little morning routine though, which helps me stay focused on me and my goals and values, rather than getting lost in ze internet-voices.


    Coming Up

    In June:

    Work

    • Client work 😊

    • My first Design in a Day with a business coach client

    • Line up more clients (through referrals & networking, for now)

    • Continue blogging and adding to my content 

    • Work on marketing strategy

      • Grow my subscriber list (my first goal: 50!)

    • Think about starting a mini-mastermind of ambitious women (more to come!)

    • Continue learning CSS

    Personal

    • My mom’s birthday celebration (a little picnic by the river)

    • My little brother’s birthday (probably get him a gc to Nintendo and play some tabletop board games with him)

    • My older brother coming home from Europe (he’s been traveling and working and hiking)

    • I joined a gym, gonna try to find time to actually, you know, go.

    • Try to get outside and either paddleboard, camp, or hike, at least once

     
     
    Janessa

    Partnering with business owners and creators to grow successful businesses through strategic web design services and easy-to-use digital tools, templates and guides.

    https://jpkdesignco.com
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