(READ TIME 7 MINUTES – if you would rather listen or watch it, CLICK HERE)

Today I am interviewing Paige Brunton, Squarespace QUEEN (that’s my formal introduction), but I’ll let her introduce herself in the video.

In this interview we chat about is the website designer market too saturated, how long does it take before you can make money as a web designer, and what is the biggest hurdle to overcome in the beginning of your business.

THIS IS WHAT PAIGE AND I CHAT ABOUT IN THE ABOVE VIDEO:

Paige Brunton’s origins story – how she become a web designer

She quickly booked out her business and ended up getting an inquiry a day. She then decided to create a course to teach perspective students how to DIY their website and that course pivoted into a website design course for website designers.

Social media and how she has created a business WITHOUT it

Blogging was her main marketing strategy and it has served her SO WELL! That is how I found Paige back in 2018 — her blogs were showing EVERYWHERE and she taught me so much about Squarespace. We both love SEO!

The challenges she faced at the beginning

She didn’t know what to do because she didn’t have a client. She spent so much time Googling “how to get a freelance client” and made a list of every way that someone found a web design client some how and each day would do something on that list. Honestly? Not the best way to go about it. There was no shortage of EFFORT, but there was a shortage of results and it left her feeling flustered.

The other challenge was MINDSET. This wasn’t going to work. The designs aren’t as beautiful. She started reading mindset books and replacing those negative mindsets with positive ones.

I am so impressed with Paige and how she set out from the beginning to work on her mindset because honestly this took me 5 years and it definitely slowed my growth. My suggestion? Get in a group of other people in your field to encourage one another and support each other through hard clients.

My other suggestion? OVERDELIVER and have a solid contract in place.

What’s the best marketing strategy?

What’s right for me may not be the best strategy for you! What platform brings you joy, you keep up with, and you will actually do? DO THAT! That marketing strategy you’ll be successful with is the one you’ll do the most.

JOIN THE BOOTCAMP (see below) and one of the days we will go into marketing strategies!!

If I was to start a web design business tomorrow, what would be the first thing you would do?

Here’s what Paige wouldn’t do: don’t get caught up in needing a portfolio, opt-in gift, blog, contract, CRM, etc. Those are all great, but all you truly need to start is to have a client that pays you money.

1. Choose the platform you want to work on (just one) that aligns most with your ideal client and a platform you enjoy using.
2. Learn said platform; the fastest you learn to make incredible websites, the faster you will make good money, so it may be worth purchasing a course that teaches you the specific website platform.
3. Tell your family and friends to build your portfolio. The more vocal you are, the more chance you will get booked out quickly. You’ll be amazed how many people say “oh I really need a website” or “oh I know someone who really needs one!”
4. Figure out your marketing strategy.

Don’t procrasta-work by doing all the OTHER things on your to-do list and just do what you NEED to do to make money and get clients.

Is Shopify a better platform to become a website designer on?

I asked Paige if she saw a lack in that market for Shopify designers, because I felt that was something I noticed in 2024. She said you can book yourself out as a website designer on ANY platform. However different platforms command different prices. Shopify usually is more expensive because they are harder to build, take more time, and the platform is more complicated.

What can you charge in the beginning?

& how long does it realistically take to be in a position to book your first paying client? (What does Paige tend to see for her students?) NOTE: You for real can do it in 30 days!

The average price for a new Squarespace designer (5 pages) was $2,500! They did a survey of 770 website designers (not just on Squarespace) and how long does it take to get clients? 61.49% got clients BEFORE THEY EVEN LAUNCHED THEIR BUSINESS! We are safe to say that web designers are still needed!

READ THE FULL SURVEY: Web Designer Study Results

What are the basic things that you need in place to start? (Think portfolio, contract, way to take money etc)

1. Web Designer Client Agreement – this spells out what you’re doing and if you have a disagreement you have a document black and white that you’ve both signed

I love The Legal Paige and suggest getting her Terms & Conditions Contract to all my clients. *

2. CRM system is useful and will make you faster and more productive, but isn’t necessary. It is nice if you are booked out months in advanced and want everything to be automated like they sign a contract, they get the invoice, they get your questionnaire. All without you having to do anything.

I 100% suggest DUBSADO! Start your free trial without a time limit, no credit card required, and test 3 clients. You’ll be hooked! *

3. Equipment you need for your marketing strategy like a social media scheduling tool, podcast equipment, or YouTube video recording system.

I use my Macbook Air to record my YouTube videos and I have a channel of over 1,000 subscribers. You don’t need a fancy office or nice mic to get started (or even 5 years in).

4. Education or a course (Paige took B School) – try to get the most aligned course for what you need to do.

I joined a small mastermind with other new entrepreneurs who needed websites and it was SO worth the investment.

What mistakes do people tend to make at the beginning, that we should be avoiding?

Mindset is the thing that will derail you before you begin! If you can’t get over your own mental blocks, then we don’t have anything to work with. So whatever you can do to have belief in yourself is great; For Paige that was doing a free website for a nonprofit. For me, it was joining a mastermind of other new entrepreneurs.

Don’t share the idea with people who tend to rain on your parade! People who have had safe jobs (aka not freelancing) may not be the people initially to tell when you are starting. Maybe be selective about who you tell or if you have someone you really want to tell, tell them to be supportive.

DO find people who will be supportive or if you know someone who is entrepreneurial, that is a person to reach out to.

Another mindset thing is about pricing. 90% of the time that keeps people from charging what they want to charge is their mindset not their skills. Many times I have doubled my prices and no one has batted an eye. You won’t have a boss telling you that you will get a pay raise, so remember that every few months you should be reevaluating.

Once you’ve got the things up and running and you’ve booked your first client, what’s next? (Mistakes once it is up and operating)

The hot mess of the backend! One of the things people don’t realize is the amount of money you make is so correlated with how much time you’re doing. Say you take 6-7 clients on at a time and the project drags on forever and you won’t make as much. Paige suggests working with 1 client at a time for 2 weeks and having a specific timeline and if it stays within the time frame, you will be more profitable.

Niching is important because each different client wants something different and that takes a long time to learn all those things. Like the Yoga studio wanted MindBody, the school wanted a parent portal, the blogger wanted rich pins and recipe cards and so then you need to figure out how to integrate all that software. If you nail an industry faster you can skip all that research. You don’t NEED to niche to be successful, but it does make you more productive, faster, and makes marketing easier.

Want to start your own web design business?

Or have you started, but still need some support? If you watched the video and are wondering how you can *actually* do that Paige will go through ALL the steps of what to do if you were to start tomorrow in her bootcamp!!

ATTEND THE PROFITABLE & PRODUCTIVE WEB DESIGNER BOOTCAMP

Join Paige Brutnon live on October 21st-23rd for three jam-packed days of educational trainings & Q+A sessions!

I NEED TO KNOW BOOTCAMP IS WORTH MY TIME…

*Yes, with some of these I get a little commission, (with no extra cost to you) but I would recommend all of them regardless!

Solopreneur Business Cheerleader & Web Designer, Bekah