Happy 5th Birthday Web Designer Pro® 🥳

What started on November 4th, 2020, as a small coaching community for 30+ of my top course students has become a leader in the web design business-coaching space and one of Circle's most highly engaged communities.

It's a testament to the AMAZING members who show up every week to help, support, and encourage each other, as web designers at all stages, to grow their web businesses together.

It's an honor to lead this thing, and I can safely say – 5 years in and we're just getting going!🎉

This special edition podcast episode is the replay from our recent live Q&A with Coaching Tier members of Pro, celebrating the milestone. Many of whom are original founding members who’ve been in since day one!

Questions range from community building, if I miss designing websites for clients, podcasting, offers/pricing, how to do YouTube to get clients and much more.

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/wdp5

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Design and building websites…that’s the fun part.

Managing the project, collecting content, onboarding, handling revisions and feedback…typically, not so much.

Which is why, if you can automate as much of the repeatable tasks and make a system and process for the “unfun” parts of a web design project, it’ll make your life much easier and more profitable.

That’s what we’re diving into this one with automation and systems specialist (and fellow 17hats user) Kristen Lettini.

We get into:

• What automations you’re missing (and why to add them NOW)
• The GOLD of auto-reminders
• Using a CRM like 17hats to automate as much as possible
• My “before and after” automation moment
• Why improving systems is THE KEY to sustainability

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Being an entrepreneur is challenging. Being a parent-entrepreneur is even more challenging. Being a special needs parent entrepreneur…it’s tough to put into words. But one thing’s for sure, the freedom of schedule and flexible availability, to be able to care for a special needs kiddo as a web designer is UNMATCHED and well worth all the challenges.

We’re diving into all of that and more in this special group chat that I had with Marc Hyde, Lisa Dorian and Ed Gomes. All members of Web Designer Pro who have something in common, being a web designer and entrepreneur with one or more special needs children we care for.

We get into:

• Future planning for special care after retirement
• How goals and vision changes after having a child with special needs
• How to structure your schedule and calls around a complex schedule
• How we stay balanced during hard times (emergencies, surgeries, etc)
• The invaluable need for a supportive community of others who are in similar situations

And don’t worry, you don’t need to have a special needs kiddo to get a lot out of this convo because everything we talk about is applicable to you as an entrepreneur parent.

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Today we have a guest host for the podcast, my persona SEO Guru and Copy Strategist Michelle Bourbonniere who’s sharing what you need to know about the latest with AI SEO.

Specifically, five things that are changing, and five things that are staying in regard to “on and off-site SEO.”

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Do you find that you no longer fit in with many of your friends when you become an entrepreneur?

If so, you’re not alone.

In this episode, I’m sharing my take on this common “friendshift” for web design entrepreneurs and it’s based off a recent newsletter from Web Designer Pro member Alexia (of visualvibedesign.com) who shared a very open and honest take on this topic.

So in this solo episode, it’s narrative as I’ll read you Alexia’s newsletter and follow up with my take as well on things like:

• Why old friendships shift when priorities change
• Belonging in the awkward middle between old circles and new peers
• The value of small, curated communities over giant groups
• Practical steps to find “web besties” and collaborators
• Identity growth, ROI on social time, and protecting focus

And more.

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/400

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One of our biggest Web Designer Pro member success stories, Sam Sarsten, is back on the podcast with an update on how he’s grown his agency to over 200k in 3 years, primarily through Local SEO.

We’re getting into all the nitty gritty on this one:

• How much he charges
• How he finds clients
• How he measures and tracks results
• How he’s scaled his team
• How he offers web design + SEO

And more!

Heads up, we had some technical issues + a guest interruption (Peaches!!) who wiggled some chords so this one is a little more edited than normal. But the gems were too good to re-record.

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/399

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Ever wondered if you should trademark your business?

There are a lot of reasons you may consider it:

• You may want to sell your business one day.
• You might want to make sure no one can take your brand name with no grounds for legal action on your end.
• You might have a productized service or product you want to sell eventually.
• You may just want full control over your brand as a whole.

For all those reasons and more, you might be wondering if you should trademark and what the process is.

To help with that, I’m excited to bring, back onto the podcast, personal legal commandant Ann Koppuzha who recently helped me get Web Designer Pro® officially trademarked!

We walk through the entire process, what to do and what to expect.

Again, whether or not you want to sell your business one day, there are many reason you might want to consider OWNING your brand name or a product or service that you offer.

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/398

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When I began my career in web design, my initial goal was to “get a job” as a web designer for an agency or corporation…until I realized corporate life is NOT for me.

But that’s me, I enjoy the world of risk and reward of freelancing and entrepreneurship, whereas the freelance lifestyle is NOT for everyone.

So today I’m thrilled to share the conversation I had with Chris Webb, who’s had a long career as a web designer and developer as an agency and corporate web designer. But Chris also does freelance on the side, so he has a unique perspective on the pros and cons of freelancer vs agency vs corporate web designers.

What makes this convo extra special is that Chris has been a close personal friend of mine since early high school. I looked up to him big-time when I first got started in design because he was “the cool agency designer,” and he mentored me in many ways in those early days. So to be able to have him on the show now, 16 years later, is an awesome, full-circle moment for us both 🙂

Freelance web designer, agency web designer or corporate web designer – what’s right for you?

Let me know after this 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/397

Get my quote, contract & invoice templates (for free) with a 7-day trial of 17hats, the CRM I've been using for over 10 years!

👉 Start my 7-day free trial