My Business Story: Why I Became a Squarespace Web Designer
Everyone loves a good How I Became This Thing blog post and it was about darn time that I shared my own. It’s been a winding journey, but I’m truly glad that Squarespace Web Designer has become one of the many multi-passionate hats that I wear.
My Entrepreneurial Roots
If you had told me a few years ago that I would eventually be designing websites as my primary source of income, I probably would have looked at you sideways with eyebrows raised.
You see, a mere 6 years ago I was wrapping up my Master’s in Public Administration.
But let’s start further back in time…to roughly 20 years ago, when I was a baby adult and had just joined on as a co-owner of an independent, small town bookshop. I had always been a major bookworm and running a bookstore was like letting a kid loose in a candy shop. We sold mostly used books, as well, so it was like Christmas when customers would bring in their mystery boxes of books to sort through (seriously — SO MANY good books in the world).
During that time, I was also a whole food nutrition nerd, became a birth doula, went through a holistic health practitioner program, and started a local natural family living meetup group (I had two tiny children of my own). Almost needless to say, I had way too much fun ordering interesting books on philosophy, organic farming, holistic birth and parenting, herbalism, and the like for the bookstore.
Knowledge-sharing was my happy place, and I did it as freely as I could.
University Roots
A few years in, I decided to attend our local university as a non-trad student, and while I was there I completed a bachelor’s in Sociology (with minors in Anthropology and Women & Gender Studies) and then went on to complete a Master of Public Administration degree (with a focus on nonprofit and socially conscious business admin + marketing).
I’d had a few jobs here and there, but mainly through this time I worked as photographer, birth nerd (AKA doula), and bookshop owner. I also worked for the university, first as an admin assistant and then as an experiential learning instructor.
As an experiential learning instructor, I got to help students learn how to plan and carry out projects, reflect on them, and then showcase them on website portfolios. I learned throughout my years of doing this that I really loved supporting others’ amazing work and helping them learn how to share it with the world.
I also spent a couple of years post-university working for a tiny arts center nonprofit in Vermont (that will always have a special place in my heart), running their glitchy Wordpress website (which I’ve since remade on Squarespace), doing the majority of the marketing, and administrating classes and youth programs. I got to test out my shiny new MPA skills, deepening the skills I developed while running a bookstore and taking them into a new context, which was truly fun.
Tech Roots
I’d always been a pretty tech savvy person (even though my true love was hiking, digging my hands in the dirt, and being in the woods). I’ve had multiple blogs online since the mid-2000s, and paired with my photography and Photoshop skills, I had always been drawn to sharing online (you can see some of my early blogging remnants here and my photography here).
Web design had crossed my mind multiple times over the years, as I’d built little sites on Blogger, Typepad, and Wordpress.com. But I had always assumed that in order to be a web designer, I needed to know a heck of a lot of coding and to have a degree in the thing.
It was early 2015, when I started freelance writing for businesses, that I began to finally crack the code of how online businesses worked. For so many years, my work had been location dependent and I was truly tired of it (aside from selling valuable books online, which was a hobby leftover from my bookshop days).
Since childhood I’ve been a serious wanderluster…always daydreaming about beautiful places all over the planet. I wanted the ability to freely be with my children, go to new places, build a schedule that worked for me, and finally become a financially thriving woman.
And, truth be told, years of entrepreneurism had just about “ruined” me for the 9-5 world. I deeply love running my own businesses and all the autonomy that comes with that journey. I love being able to have an idea and immediately put it into action, instead of waiting to have a “boss” give me permission to do so. (I’m a quick action taker when I get a daydreamy idea — being held back sounds like a special kind of torture.)
Freelance writing was its own kind of intense education. At first I wrote anything under the sun, from holistic health products, to roofing materials, to educational furniture, to addiction support and so much more. I got a crash course in copywriting, content writing, and SEO (and a lot of random knowledge about odd things). And while I didn’t always love the content itself (or the corporations I was writing it for), I knew I was learning a skill set that was valuable for small businesses owners.
After a few years of writing for companies, I realized that I just didn’t love working with big businesses, no matter which way I looked at it. My years of being a bookstore owner and holistic health lover had embedded me in a community-centered worldview, and small business was where my heart was.
But how could I help solo business owners in ways that they would truly value and that would make a big difference in their work?
Squarespace Web Design Roots
It wasn’t until I stumbled upon Kerstin Martin’s work and then Paige Brunton’s blog that I realized web design was the vehicle through which I could help. And I didn’t need to go back to school, because Squarespace made things so much easier for both designers and the business owners themselves as far as web design as concerned.
I soon after took both Kerstin’s business course and then Paige’s business course so I could better understand how to serve clients. I’m so appreciative of their work and their willingness to help others (and Kerstin has become a business friend I admire so much).
With web design as the container, I was then able to add in copywriting, content strategy, SEO, and my past skills as a photographer and graphic designer. Suddenly, I had a well-rounded skill set ready to support the solopreneurs I loved so much.
I started out with a lot of imposter syndrome (as we all do). I’d redesigned my own website a couple of dozen times - I knew Squarespace very well. I asked a few friends if I could built them sites (the wonderful Melissa Chappell at Songbird Maternity was one of my early supporters). I made new design friends (who have become dear friends) who have championed my success (Emily at Apiary Studio, Nikki at Ritual Morning Studio, Sara at Syntropy Collective - and SO many others ♡).
I will say that there is a very beautiful group of Squarespace designers who are kind to each other, generous with their knowledge, and very supportive of each other. I was so happy to have been welcomed into such a wonderful group of women who are paving the way for web design/development success and financial independence for all of us. (Seriously, they’re the best.)
Growing a Business with Soul
In the years since I began designing websites for others, I’ve branched out into business mentoring as well. I discovered that all of my years of business experience, my doula space holding skills, my knowledge of psychology and sociology, and my education prepared me to offer support not just for marketing efforts but also for the people behind the businesses. As clients asked me more and more for this kind of support, I found myself excited by these conversations and seeing the impact they can make.
I’ve developed a passion and purpose for supporting solo entrepreneurs who engage in soulful work. I believe that our world can be a dark place and the light that those entrepreneurs bring is SO needed.
I also believe that the way we change our world is through small community changes. If all the healers of the world stood up strong in their thriving work, we would very quickly have a transformed world. I want all of you to thrive, to build businesses you love, and to affect change in your corner of the world.
Because when you heal, when your clients heal…we all heal.
A NOTE:
Before I give the illusion that web design is my one and only, I also happily take a stand for multi-passionate folks who love and are good at many things. I am one of those people. I offer business tools and support in the ways that only I can because I believe that everyone should be able to create work they love.
I share my knowledge freely because I care — and because I want us all to thrive and be well in our work and in our lives.
That said, you can also find me at www.rootedandadrift.com doing my own soulful work. I’m also a student midwife, herbalist, and am passionate about feminism, holistic health, global healing, cultural humility, maternal/child health, bodily autonomy, community deathcare, and whole-life wellbeing.
Generally, I bring the same energy to all of the work I do and it’s grounded in my belief that every human deserves to thrive in life, and that a supportive mentor and community is key in that experience.
In this space I offer support for financial sovereignty through developing tools that can help you make your soulful work become your path to freedom (and the way you then help others find their own kind of freedom).