In this video I’m interviewing past Square Secrets & Square Secrets Business student and successful Squarespace web designer Mariana Durst about how she was able to quickly grow her web design business, consistently land her dream web design clients months in advance, build her web design portfolio, choose a web design niche, create her start to finish web design client process, charge premium prices for her web design services, improve her offerings, spot red flag clients, and more!
MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO:
👩💻 Square Secrets & Square Secrets Business Courses: https://pbcourses.com
👩💻Charlotte O’Hara’s Guide to pitching your services: https://www.charlotteohara.ca/products/pitch-web-design-services-guide-template
TAKE THE QUIZ!
🤔 Which client finding method matches your personality type?: https://paigebrunton.com/quiz
📋 FREEBIES:
👉🏻 Squarespace Pre-Design & Workbook Checklist: https://paigebrunton.com/predesign-workbook
👉🏻 Build a site that sells (60 min on-demand training): https://paigebrunton.com/site-that-sells
👉🏻 Start your Squarespace website workbook: https://paigebrunton.com/start-squarespace-site
👉🏻 Finding clients as a new Squarespace designer – 7 costly mistakes to avoid (60 min on-demand training): https://pbcourses.com/ssb-eg-webinar-landing
👉🏻 4 strategies to find your first or next web design client : https://paigebrunton.com/1st-or-next-client
💰 SQUARESPACE DISCOUNT CODE: New to Squarespace? Use code PAIGE10 for 10% off your first year!
LEARN MORE ABOUT RUNNING A BUSINESS ON SQUARESPACE:
💻 Check out my courses: https://pbcourses.com
📚 Visit the blog: https://paigebrunton.com/blog-page
BEHIND THE BUSINESS:
🖼 Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paigebrunton/
CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
0:35 Mariana’s background and how and why she started her business.
3:05 How she chose her niche.
5:22 Should you barter or work for free at the beginning?
6:09 How she landed her first client.
8:24 Marketing and client finding process
10:32 Advice for new web designers on getting clients
11:24 Length of time it took from business idea to business launch
11:51 Dealing with imposter syndrome
13:06 How she became fully booked
13:29 How she gets clients to book months in advance
14:28 Tips to get projects completed on time
17:02 One thing she wishes that she knew when first starting her business
18:45 Running a full time web design business during a pandemic
19:49 $5000 months, is the demand still there or do people prefer DIY?
21:29 Packages and Pricing
24:03 Investment allocation at the start of her business
26:14 The skill that has been the most important to her
27:22 How best to show your portfolio if you don’t have designs in your niche
28:00 Should you become a digital marketing expert for your client?
28:57 Building confidence in your web design knowledge
29:50 Should you take HTML and CSS courses to become a web designer?
30:42 Managing client expectations with Squarespace capabilities
32:23 Identifying red flags with clients
34:24 Changes she made that had the biggest positive impact on her business
35:26 How to go from charging $2000 to $5000 for websites
36:54 Is it too late to start? Is there too much competition?
37:54 Outro