I’ve been making websites for ✨awhile✨. As of 2021, it’s been 23 years since I viewed my first source and copied some code into a Geocities website about a Backstreet Boy.
See, I started making websites when I was 13, and I loved it so much that I knew that’s what I wanted to be “when I grew up”. So fresh out of high school, I started a web design business.
And then I got pregnant.
I had no idea what I was doing (both in business and motherhood) and I knew I was going to be a single parent so I went to work at McDonalds (RIP Neon Lights Studios).
At some point, a startup tech company moved into my small town. I worked there for a while before the culture drove me to freelancing again, but I was mostly white labeling for other agencies.
I’m a very shy person by nature.
When I was very young, I would hide behind my parents when we would visit my grandparents, even though I loved them and looked forward to seeing them. It didn’t matter that I saw them on a regular basis, I still would hide behind my mom’s legs until it felt “safe” to come out.
By white labeling, I was effectively hiding behind other agencies.
I was able to produce amazing results that clients raved over, which built other businesses up but did nothing to build my own network.
This status quo was fine until 2016, when I was diagnosed with “stage 4 endometriosis” after a scary emergency surgery. This means the cells that a normal uterus sheds monthly make their way outside of the uterus and effectively glue your insides together, causing crippling pain.
I had two more surgeries over the next two years to remove these cells.
Then I miraculously found myself pregnant again (another surprise, but at least this time I didn’t have to do it alone).
Early on I was diagnosed with preeclampsia and had to have a month early c-section. A little over a year after that (June 2020) I had a total hysterectomy.
So now I’m a 36 year old, post-menopausal mother to a teenager and a toddler.
Sometimes it feels silly to also want to build a business that changes lives.
But if there’s one thing I think I’m truly great at, it’s perseverance.
And perseverance is at the heart of running a business.
There will be ups and downs, and they’re going to make you feel like shit or make you feel high on life. But you have to stick at it, no matter how it makes you feel.
Even if you have to start over and over again.
Because you probably will find yourself starting over at some point. Most people don’t make it on the first try.
And that’s okay, what’s important is that you persevere.
Because what I know now, is that building a business is not about you. It’s about what you can do in service to others.
That’s what it all boils down to.
How does your business help?
For me, it’s about helping people build their dream business online.
It’s about helping people love their websites and the integral role their website plays in their business. You don’t have to hate tech, or hate your website, or feel like it’s an impossibly hard task to even think about.
I’ve spent my life helping businesses make easy to use websites that give them amazing results rather than headaches, and now I’m moving towards helping other service providers offer websites that work to their own clients.
I’m currently writing the content for my new program, where I’ll be teaching the Beating Heart Business Framework.
It’s the step-by-step strategy to define and align the heart of your business with the systems that power it so you have a valuable business asset that works on autopilot to build trust and attract clients. And once you know how to build websites that work for yourself, you’ll also be able to confidently build them for your own clients.
Building a business where you are in the position to help other people build their own business is a pretty magical feeling.
Beyond that, you want to be able to put money behind important things.
You want to create jobs and help people build careers.
You want to build a legacy so that your work can continue helping people after you’re gone.
Hopefully that won’t be for a long time, but it’s something that as humans we need to think about.
Because I WAS almost gone. And I wouldn’t have left anything behind but my family in poverty.
I don’t know about you, but I was meant for more than that.
Which is why I doubled down on expanding my knowledge and getting better at what I do. Because I want to change lives, and I’m getting clearer on how I can do that.
