GOALS

Making the decision to become a web designer involves taking on many different responsibilities and aspirations. Some tasks may fall on the easier side of the spectrum while others might feel extremely hard to accomplish. Breaking your business plan down into clear segments will help you carve out a concise plan as to how you will achieve it all in a timely manner. It cannot be stressed enough how crucial it is for an entrepreneur to have goals. Establishing both long and short term goals are essential to the overall organization level of your business.










It was then that I discovered the art of web designing and felt that it was my match made in heaven. My eyes were opened to the possibility of creating sites for small businesses/entrepreneurs and I wanted to bring my design vision to life as quickly as I could. My long term plan suddenly switched gears to a five year goal. I based my objective rationale off of the number of clients I wanted to obtain over that period of time.


















If one does not develop a goal that specifically correlates with their distinct consumer base, all of his or her efforts will be for nothing. The tasks you part-take in each day and every hour must be crafted to serve the people who are going to buy your product(s) or service(s). An entrepreneur will maintain a high level of productivity if they know exactly how much time to allocate towards each responsibility and by having realistic estimates of their anticipated outcomes to reference.

When I took the leap to pursue this venture, I decided to look at the big picture first. At the time, I was juggling multiple jobs that did not value my worth or creativity and I knew I was destined for more. I needed a career change that I could not only control, but one where I may extend my gifts to those that would actually appreciate it. Originally, I thought it would be a great idea to become a social media manager since I had plenty of experience in the area by running several platforms for my card game company. After weeks of research I realized that being an SMM takes a lot more time and energy than I was willing to contribute. 

The way I have chosen to break down this deadline is as follows:

YEAR 1

YEAR 5

YEAR 3

YEAR 4

YEAR 2

Gain: 12 clients

Work Frequency:
1 client per month
1 week per month

Gain: 60 clients

Work Frequency: 5 clients/ month
4 weeks + one weekend/ month

Gain: 48 clients 

Work
Frequency: 4 clients/ month
4 weeks per month

Gain: 36 clients 

Work
Frequency: 3 clients/ month
3 weeks per
month

Gain: 24 clients

Work Frequency:
2 clients/ month
2 weeks per month

By integrating a coordinated approach to your business, your mind has a chance to relax, instead of being overrun by a million panicked thoughts. In other words, this is a positive adjustment to make for the sake of your mental health as you attempt to operate both your company and personal life.

BREAK TIME

Becoming immersed in a newly found passion is an amazing experience…that is until the moment you find yourself dreading the thought of opening up your computer again. At some point, it occurs to you that you have been drowning in a never ending amount of stress, seemingly without an even moment to breathe, and can’t figure out a way to quiet the chaos. Constantly running yourself ragged to keep your business afloat might seem admirable, but what many entrepreneurs don’t realize is that they are depleting their energy levels to the brink of exhaustion. Exhaustion can lead to irritability and negativity which can severely impact the most important facets of your life.












It was in those moments that I would experience panic attacks that would leave me feeling utterly defenseless. After a couple of the attacks, I forced myself to sit down and brainstorm ways in which I wanted to take pauses throughout my work day to prevent them from reoccurring. I am a busy body at heart and have always felt the need to schedule every little thing that I am planning to do within a certain time period, so I started to insert “pause breaks'' in my to-do lists.


































Every entrepreneur works differently. One person may be cool as a cucumber under stress, while another might feel as if they are trapped in a pressure cooker. No matter what type of person you may be, breaks should not be considered a luxury, but rather a necessity.

I am the type of person that can be very obsessive about my work. I get into a routine of dedicating a tremendous amount of my time to the thing I love doing the most and sometimes that means I forget to give myself a break. If I am not paying close enough attention, I’ll skip meals and lose sleep. There have been times that I have made excuses to skip dinner dates, important events, and activities with friends in order to meet a personal deadline. After several consecutive weeks of developing my website brand nonstop, the people in my inner circle made me realize that I had filled my entire universe with work. Instead of looking forward to tackling a new project, the very idea of it sent waves of anxiety through my entire body. 

An example of my process to positively influence my overall positivity is as follows:

PHYSICALLY

MENTALLY

- Regular Exercises -
{ That can be done anywhere! } 

Every hour = Direct vision away from screen/ computer monitor towards
each corner of the room to prevent
eyes from straining

Every 3 hours = Stretch wrists, arms, legs, and back to encourage proper
blood flow


- Alternative Exercises - 
{ If you work from home/make your own hours }

At the top of every hour throughout
the work day, do a portion of your
daily workout plan until it is
completed

Halfway through the work day, walk
or run a mile around your
neighborhood to enjoy some fresh air

- Regular Practices / Disciplines - 
{ That can be done anywhere! } 

 If, at any moment, I begin to self-
deprecate, I will stop and recite my personal affirmations

If, at any moment, you start to get frustrated, write a positive remark on
 a sticky note and paste it around your computer screen/desk


- Alternative Practices / Disciplines -
{ If you work from home/make your own hours }

   If, at any moment, I start to feel overpowered by negative thoughts, I
 will turn on my favorite songs or
playlist

For every two hours of work done =
 You can watch 15 minutes of your
favorite movie

INSPIRATION

At the beginning of my career, I felt the fashion industry was the most suitable niche for me to attend to. With years of retail work under my belt, I felt confident enough to adequately supply websites for all different types of brands. I began to research genre based fashion lines and compiled a specific list of features that I noticed a majority of the webpages in this category frequently showcased. Let’s apply this concept to brands that serve the “ modern hipster” lifestyle.









The next feature I kept an eye out for were shapes. Rectangles and stars consistently turned up on these particular websites. These shapes appeared in the form of icons, buttons, and outlines. "Hipsters" represent an creative group of society and this feature reflects that assumption by breaking away from the use of squares or circles.  









The form of sale these companies decide to present on their websites are also an influential subject to review. This facet reveals the way in which the target market prefers to shop. In other words, the businesses that are well established in the niche have already done the hard part for you. Throughout my research, I found that the buy two get one free sale and student discount codes were frequently administered for the "hipster" genre. 










I kept each of these assumptions in mind when creating my “RETRO BABE” template. I have found that this method of research allows web designers to effectively compile an adequate basis of knowledge in order to develop a site from scratch.

The great thing about the web design industry is that the creative avenues one could take are essentially limitless. You could choose a single niche to satisfy or decide to serve multiple demographics at one time. A statistic that put my mind at ease and excited me at the same time is the fact that there are 7.9 million online retailers currently active across the world and 2.1 million of those reside in the United States. In other words, there is a strong chance that if a couple of the businesses you try to approach do not like your work for some odd reason, millions of other people could.

The first aspect I looked for when searching through these websites was the color schemes utilized. I noticed that every color combination designed to meet the preferences of “hipsters'' consisted of at least one neon shade. The goal seemed to consist of bright neon accents for the focal points, and having the other pops of color make an appearance in the photos that are scattered throughout the site.

Font choice was another component I chose to study. Word sizes varied from site to site, but headers regularly displayed titles in the 45-65px range. The collection of fonts used can only be described as what I classify as the "seventies" look. "Nosifer" and "Molle" are a few of the fonts that serve as an example for this kind of style. I believe these fonts were imposed to sustain the charming atmosphere associated with this category of clothing.

The final element to pay close attention to are the pages that have been fabricated to exhibit specific content categorizes. This will clue the web designer in on the type of products, information, and press this market share is most interested in. Aside from the clothing and accessory pages that are essential for any online boutique to function, there was another pattern of content that were routinely made into their own sections. These pages encompassed the ideas of shopping by trend, influencer marketing, and offering surprise "goody bags." 

One can remain positive when they have the understanding that inspiration can be discovered at any moment when they simply browse through the ginormous selection of sources currently available at their very fingertips online. Do not ever limit your vision to a narrow scope. If your original perception doesn’t work out exactly how you imagined, then either adjust your approach according to research/feedback or pivot your creativity towards another target market.

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

There is a stigma in this industry known as the imposter syndrome. Gill Corkindale has provided an excellent definition of this concept: “A collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evident success. 'Imposters' suffer from chronic self-doubt and a sense of intellectual fraudulence that override any external proof of their competence.”
























I began web designing without a scrap of work in my portfolio. Ultimately, I just decided to log onto my computer one day and began to pursue this career by stroking one key at a time. Every designer has been in the same boat regardless of what tools they may be using now, how much money they have been able to invest, or the amount of help they have received since the start of their journey.












The way I overcame the excruciating self criticism I used to torch myself with was faking it until I made it. Yes, I am perfectly aware that is an insanely cliché statement, but it is my truth. I took a course for web development in college. The class intrigued me, but it became exceedingly difficult when coding was introduced. I spent hours trying to decipher sequences that looked like total gibberish.

Basically, this state of mind leaves you feeling as if you are not good enough to be a web designer and don't deserve the right to enjoy the fruits of your labor. To this I say, you will never get anywhere in life if you don’t put yourself out there at some point. Anything that you do to start your business is a part of the process. Every obstacle that blocks your path to success is there to teach you how to overcome a problem/ situation.

Want to know more? Read "Overcoming Imposter Syndrome"

Some days, we wake up and can't help but feel inferior or hopelessly flawed. The difference between someone who wallows in their own self pity and a true entrepreneur is those who make the conscious decision to shove those thoughts in the farthest corner of their brain. On the flip side of the same coin, those in your life who do not support this career may express negative opinions into your ear. This could happen for several reasons, but, frankly, if none of what they say involves some form of constructive criticism then it is reasonable to conclude he or she is just pessimistic or jealous. There will always be someone who disagrees with how you conduct your business, the trick is to focus on your lane and don’t allow anything or anyone swerve you into another.

In moments I felt the most frustrated and confused, I reminded myself that it was not an impossible feat to accomplish. Even though it was a foreign language to me for the majority of the semester, after a couple of weeks I understood how to apply a variety of codes to make beautiful web pages. I believed in myself not only due to the fact that others had been able to complete the task before me, but because I wanted to conquer something new.

CLIENTS ARE KEY

If you are not happy with what you are doing…why are you doing it? The average person who maintains a full-time job works about 37 hours a week which translates to a little over 2,000 hours a year. 3,000 hours of that same year are used up if you get eight hours of sleep a night. There are 8,760 hours in a year which means that a person only has around 4,000 hours to allocate annually to his or her personal/social life.






Part of the reason why I stayed in the retail industry for as long as I did was due to the great relationships and interactions I had with customers. Even on the days when my boss was being a micromanager and my coworkers were driving me to the brink of insanity, I had the thrilling opportunity to dress total strangers for every occasion. They were my inspiration every single day. I wanted to make them feel confident, inside and out.









For legal purposes I will not be disclosing the name of this company, but let’s just say based on the price range of the products being offered I was expecting to serve an “upscale” demographic. The longer I was employed with this organization, the greater number of horrific customer stories I began to rack up. Despite all of my experience, I was unable to develop any real connection with the majority of the guests who shopped this brand and it severely impacted my perspective on the job itself.










This ambition is fueled by the inspiration I receive from my clients. Having a positive perspective in this business is also associated with stimulating and maintaining your beliefs/morals. Personally, I do not feel comfortable working with a company whose only focus is to meet their bottom lines and to increase profits. Money is a necessary factor to keep any business afloat, but it does not have to be the only facet to pour all of the available resources into. I love partnering with organizations that give a percentage of their profits to a charity of their choice or those who offer staff members paid community service hours.

So I encourage you to ask yourself, is the career that you are currently dedicating such a huge part of your life to, actually worth it?

The philosophy in the retail industry was simple, shopping should be a joyous experience, not a stressful one. By the time I turned 23 years old, I had worked at five retail stores. Each of them carried a completely different set of expectations, clothing styles, and, most importantly, consumer base. What worked for customers at one location, wouldn’t translate for others at the new workplace. This quickly became an evident fact when I started working for a certain clothing brand that is known across the country. 

When I became a web designer, I kept these ideals in mind. The people who I planned to work with would be those that could inspire others, had good intentions, and were driven entrepreneurs. If a potential client’s business plan does not embolden their customers to take action, part of my job is to provide a platform that will make it easier for them to do so. To accomplish this I will generate a site that not only aligns with the entrepreneur’s unique style, but with the mindset of his or her consumer base.

Finally, designers should lend their services to business owners that match their energy level. What I mean by this is, you should associate yourself with people who you feel are pushing for their dreams just as hard as you are. Attaching yourself to clients who reveal themselves to be excessively lazy, may result in you feeling agitated, used, or unenthusiastic about the job. In the end, even if your clients do not meet every bit of this criteria, if you can remind yourself of why you are doing this in the first place, you can motivate yourself to do great things.