October 2023 Recap
Goodbye October, Hellllllo November!
October flew by. I worked on a couple of client sites, completely redesigned and rebuilt my own website, moved from Squarespace Campaigns to ConvertKit, and joined Wandering Aimfully’s Business Coaching Program. I also worked from a friend’s couch in California for a couple days, and gosh it was nice to get a last hit of sunshine.
So with that - let’s dive into the JPK Design Co October 2023 recap!
Business
Client work . Successfully launched a website for a local business association right here in Portland, and another for a CEO of a new marketing business.
Rebuilt my entire brand and website. This was A LOT more work than I intended, but it’s just about done, and it feels great.
Redesign of my entire client process and portal. I’ve realized that one of issues is this: I always want things to be the very best they can be for my clients, so I put in all the work to upgrade and update my client processes to make them smooth, easy, and top of the line — then as I keep expanding my knowledge, my own version of ‘top of the line’ changes, so every few months I’m redoing everything. (I’ve gotta get a better process in place. 😆)
But once I’m done this round, it’ll be streamlined for the foreseeable future. It’s a major upgrade, and I actually invested in a client portal I found that will make things super easy for my clients. I kept trying to make it work with Notion, Google Drive, etc, and the free programs just didn’t offer what I was looking for.
Education
Wandering Aimfully Membership: I've joined Wandering Aimfully and started exploring their Business Roadmap. Progress is slow but steady, with plans to dive deeper in the first quarter of next year.
Switch to ConvertKit: I've transitioned to ConvertKit for email marketing and am learning how to us it. I’ve had help from the lovely Welmoed, who I met through my business group. I have a blog post in the works explaining why I made the change (holler if you’re interested), but the TLDR is: I love ConvertKit. While I could've avoided the Squarespace Campaigns learning curve, that experience now equips me to better advise clients who might find it useful.
Books Read
The only book I read and completed this month is not business related at all.
I just joined an international book club with a focus on The Guardian’s Best Books of the 21st Century. Our first book was Fingersmith, which I finished the other night. Slow start for me, but ended up liking it!
Personal
Currently writing this from bed as I seem to have fallen ill. Had to skip Halloween plans (which were minimal, but I was looking forward to it!) and have just been taking it easy the past couple of days.
My car tire blew out the other day while I was driving to meet my mom for coffee. I pulled in the Hillsboro Aero Academy, and many phone calls and $700 later, I have not only a brand new tire, but FOUR brand new tires. An expense I wasn’t expecting, but grateful it wasn’t worse and I was ok.
I dogsat for friends last weekend, and am housesitting for my mom next week, so am fully appreciating the resting at home scenario I have going right now.
Things I’m Loving
ConvertKit - It’s so so good, and so much more robust than Squarespace Campaigns!
Motion.io* - relatively new client portal that I’m planning to switch to. Feature-rich already, fabulous customer service, and a promising roadmap of upcoming features! (* affiliate link - get 50% off the first three months if you choose to use my affiliate link)
Google Workspace* - I’m a Google girl, through and through. (affiliate link - get 10% off your first year subscription if you choose to use with my affiliate link!)
Sugar-free ginger beer - it’s all I’ve been craving over the past few days. Well, that and soup.
September Blog Post Round Ups
Upcoming
In the works: Launching a new digital downloads and Squarespace templates shop later this year…. next year! Stay tuned!
In the works: Launching ONE Squarespace template that clients can reskin or hire me to reskin for a more budget-friendly option of working with me. Hoping to launch by Small Business Saturday.
