When you’re making the decision to apply for a business coaching program like the Web Designer Academy, we think it’s a GOOD thing if you have lots of questions. Our only job to give you all the answers you need to confidently make that decision one way or another.
Here are the most frequently asked questions and answers about the Web Designer Academy:
Q: What type of web designer is the Web Designer Academy for?
A: WDA is for freelance web designers and agency-owners who provide web design and related services (graphic design, copywriting, automations, CRO, funnels, SEO, e-commerce, courses + memberships etc.) services using any web design platform (WordPress, SquareSpace, Shopify, Showit, Kajabi, Webflow, etc.) to solopreneurs, small to medium size businesses, non-profits and even large corporations.
It’s for ambitious freelance web designers who want to make a full-time living as a web designer or grow their current revenue by 5x to 10x.
The focus of the WDA is on the business side of running your web design business:
- How to market your web design business
- How to price your projects for profit
- How to find profitable web design clients + projects
- How to run consultations
- How to make offers and close sales
- How to run projects efficiently
- How to manage your time and maintain work/life balance
- How to manage client relationships and navigate money and scope conversations with clients.
We teach you how to run a profitable, sustainable web design business.
Q: Who should NOT apply for the Web Designer Academy?
A: Anyone who does not fit the above description. If you’ve never built a website before and are still learning how to build websites, the WDA is not the right fit for you right now.
If you do NOT want to make a full-time income as a web designer, or aren’t sure you want to offer web design services.
People looking for quick fixes, passive income and overnight success should not apply for the Web Designer Academy.
Q: What if I’m an experienced web designer, but I’m just starting a web design business? Should I apply for the Web Designer Academy?
A: Yes! We love working with skilled web designers coming from corporate or agency-life who are striking out on their own!
You do NOT need to have booked paying clients to come work with us – but you do need to already be an experienced web designer – and you also need the persistence required to start your business from scratch, and the patience to experiment your way to creating revenue.
We’ll be right there every step of the way to guide you – just know it may take you a little longer to get up and running and see results than someone who’s already been working with clients when they come to work with us.
Q: How long will it take to create results?
A: Some of our students are able to raise their prices with current clients and/or book new clients at their new prices in days or weeks, while for others it can take longer.
Building a profitable, sustainable web design business is not one-size-fits-all and takes effort – so we designed our program to help ensure you’re spending your time on the right things for your business so that you have the best opportunity to create the results as quickly as possible based on your unique situation.
You’ll get results much faster with the Web Designer Academy than by trying to figure it out yourself or with non-web designer-specific business and marketing programs.
Q: What exactly do I get when I join?
A: You get 12-months access to:
- The Web Designer Academy curriculum with our module videos, bonus trainings and workshops + curriculum updates;
- Weekly Live Strategy Calls where we share our latest best-practices, coach you on mindset and strategy, and give you an opportunity to get your questions answered as you implement our proven process;
- Weekly feedback from our expert team on your packages, pricing, offers, sales pages, messaging, positioning;
- Support in dealing with clients and managing projects.
- Our community of genius web designers to crowdsource best practices, tech support, ideas and to ask our team for guidance and support.
- Instant access to all of our proven templates, strategies, workbooks, scripts and bonuses.
Q: I can’t attend live calls. Will I still be supported?
A: Yes! Everyone pre-submits questions for live calls, so whether you can be on the calls live or not, we’ll answer your questions and you’ll get the replays in the group and on the private student podcast.
Being there to have a conversation about your questions is encouraged, but not required – and you can always ask follow-up questions in the comments of the replay in the Facebook group!
Q: How does the feedback on my packages, pricing, offers, sales pages, messaging, and positioning work? Do I have to meet with you live?
A: No. You submit a form with a link to what you want us to give you feedback on and any specific questions you have, and then we make a video giving you feedback and drop it into your client portal in the WDA dashboard and you get an email notification when it’s ready.
If you have any follow-up questions about our feedback, you can leave comments on our video.
Q: What’s the time commitment?
A: You have 12 months of access to the program – how much time you choose to spend working on your business is up to you.
The speed of your results will directly reflect how much time you put in.
We value time independence, and you can move at your own pace.
Everyone comes into the program at different times and focuses on different areas of their business.
While we have done our best to give you the highest level of support without requiring you to be on our schedule, we recommend you take full advantage of all the resources available to you during your time in the program.
Q: What happens when my 12 months inside the program are over?
A: At the end of your 12 months with us, you’ll have the option to:
- Stay in the Web Designer Academy and continue access to the curriculum, community, support and updates for as long as you want. You can join for another year at a discounted rate, or continue month-to-month at the full rate – whichever works best for you!
- Join our Next Level Mastermind for web designers who feel they have mastered the strategies we teach in the core Web Designer Academy and are ready to grow with a group of other advanced web design business owners;
- Graduate and leave the community, course, curriculum and support while keeping anything you created or downloaded during your time in the program.
Q: How is this program different from others?
A: The Web Designer Academy is exclusively for experienced web designers and people who may not necessarily call themselves a “web designer” but are providing related strategic, design and technical services.
It’s not coaching for any kind of service-based business, not online marketers, etc.
It’s designed by a woman in tech to address common and specific problems faced by women in tech and business…
And our program is by application-only, so you can be sure that the every question we’re answering on group coaching calls will be relevant to the entire group, and so that we can keep our community a safe space for you to get the support you need.
If you want to run a successful web design business and get to know other successful web designers who are just a few steps ahead of you and whose experiences can help you accelerate your results, this is for you.
We’ve been mentoring web designers to create profitable, sustainable web design businesses for 7+ years.
This is the room to be in if you want to create a full-time income or 2x-5x your current revenue over the next 12 months and beyond.
Q: Do I get one-on-one private coaching?
A: The Web Designer Academy is a high-touch group coaching program – and we very intentionally made it an application-only group program so that you can learn from the challenges and wins of people who are just a few steps ahead of you before you encounter them so that you can accelerate your results.
You do get private, personalized feedback on the assets you submit to us for review, and when you reach program milestones you have opportunities for bonus 1:1 coaching calls with our team.
Q: How do I know this will work for me?
A: Do you provide web design or related services to solopreneurs, small to medium size businesses, non-profits and even large corporations?
Do you want to create a full-time income and have a profitable, sustainable web design business?
While we don’t have a crystal ball, what we’ve seen with our students over and over again is that if they take action, use our strategies and our support, and simply don’t quit or give up on themselves, it works for them. And we’re committed to supporting you every step of the way.
The entire program is founded on our proven process for success, honed over the past several years and tried and tested by web designers using any platform serving any niche.
Q: What if I can’t get clients?
A: There will inevitably be times in your web design business that getting clients is easier than others.
The skill of getting clients – and the skill of troubleshooting when you’re not getting clients – are two of the most valuable skills you can develop, and we’re right there by your side to guide you through it.
We teach a simple, step-by-step process for getting new clients and projects that has resulted in hundreds of new clients and projects for our students – and we also show you how to troubleshoot common mistakes when you’re not booking new clients.
While we can’t predict when you will get a new client, we know that the quicker you follow our process, the quicker you get coaching on any mindtrash that’s in your way of putting yourself out there, the quicker you give us a chance to look at your marketing and give you feedback on what to adjust and you make those changes, the quicker you keep track of your data and make data-driven decisions, the quicker you’ll get new clients and projects.
If you are consistently implementing and tracking our step-by-step process, and have implemented our troubleshooting process and are STILL not getting clients, we are committed to working with you individually to get to the bottom of the issue and help you resolve it so that you build the confidence and resilience that you know how to get clients no matter what.
Q: But what if I’m the exception and I really can’t make it work?
A: That’s why we have an application process.
We know who our program works for – and more importantly, who it doesn’t work for – so when you fill out our application in detail, we have a pretty good idea whether you’ll be able to make it work or not.
It is our intention to NOT accept anyone into our program who we don’t think can make our strategies work.
If we accept you into the program, it’s because we see exactly how to help you create the results you want to create.
If we make the decision to accept you into the program, and you make the decision to enroll, and at the end of 6 months you’ve watched all the trainings, submitted all your workbooks to our team for feedback, implemented all our feedback and action steps and our entire Get Your Next Client process for at least 30 days, and gotten coaching when you get stuck and you STILL don’t make any money whatsoever, you can reach out to us and we’ll discuss your options at that time.
Q: What happens if my application is approved?
A: We’ll review your application within 1-3 business days of receiving it. I’m looking at your business, your goals, your challenges, and how our strategies will help you reach your goals.
If we think we can help you, I’ll approve your application and send you an advanced training breaking down our strategies, program and pricing.
You’ll have 10 days to ask me any questions and decide if you want to move forward and join our program.
If you’re in, you’ll choose your payment option, complete your payment, and you’ll get a confirmation email with a link to sign the Web Designer Academy program agreement and fill out your intake form.
Once we’ve received your signed program agreement, you’ll get another email with your login information for the WDA dashboard, a link to schedule your orientation with our Client Success Coach Erica to get any initial questions answered, and a link to join our exclusive Facebook community so that you can get started right away.
If you decide you’re not in, that’s cool too and we’ll move you to the waitlist and you can apply again in the future.
Q: When does it start?
A: As soon as you your application is approved and you complete your first payment.
You’ll begin by filling out an intake form, and we’ll send you a personalized video review of your application with our recommended roadmap for your unique business, ensuring that you take all the right steps to create outstanding results quickly.
Q: Is there a payment plan?
A: Yes, we offer a payment plan. If your application is accepted we’ll share all the details with you about our payment options.
Q: If my application is accepted, am I obligated to join?
A: No. If your application is accepted, we’ll invite you to join our program and send you all the program details including the investment and information on the strategies you’ll be implementing when you work with us, and you’ll have a week to ask us any questions you have and then decide if you want to accept our invitation and complete your enrollment.
Q: I don’t see any men anywhere on your website, sales page or in your testimonials. Do you allow men in your program?
A: We don’t exclude men from joining our program, however, the Web Designer Academy is designed by a woman for women and women-identifying web designers. Our program, strategies and coaching reflect the unique challenges faced by women in the male-dominated tech and business world.
If men who consider themselves an advocate for women in business and an ally to equal pay for women, who value women’s voices and unique perspectives and experiences, and who believe diversity, equity and inclusion are important wish to apply, we welcome their applications.
Q. I don’t use WordPress. Is this for me?
A: Absolutely! We don’t teach design or development, and we are platform-agnostic. We have WordPress, Squarespace, Shopify, Showit, Webflow, Kajabi, etc., UX/UI designers, non-developer designers, full-stack web developers, and more.
Q. I feel like I need to improve my skills or learn more before joining…
A: If you are not brand-new to web design, if you’ve built websites for your job or other people whether for free or paid, you are leaving money on the table if you want until you feel like you have enough skills before joining us.
If you’re like 99% of the web designers who come to work with us and have the most success, they don’t wait until they feel like they know everything about everything to get support with growing their business.
We will help you gain confidence with the skills you ALREADY have, and package, price and position them for profit, and then at least you’ll be making money WHILE you gain new skills as you work on client projects. You will ALWAYS be learning with every new client project anyway, might as well get paid well to do it.
Q: Why would my application NOT be accepted, and what happens if it’s not accepted?
A: Your application may NOT be accepted if you don’t give us enough information to determine if we think our strategies will work for you, or if you don’t meet the criteria for who our program is for, or if there’s something that jumps out at us in your application that makes us think our strategies won’t work for you.
If we decline to move forward with your application, we’ll notify you via email within 1-3 business days via email.
Q: What’s the refund policy?
A: The Web Designer Academy is a 12-month commitment to you and your business growth and we don’t offer refunds or early cancellations.
When you join, our team goes all in on your success, and we ask that you do the same.
If you apply and are accepted + invited to join the program, we would not have invited you to join if we didn’t think you had what it takes to create results with our strategies and support.
If you’ve applied, been accepted, are considering joining and are on the fence, let’s talk about it! We want to make sure you feel ready to commit to yourself and your results.
Your commitment, combined with our amazing resources, community and full support of our team is the most powerful predictor of your success.
Q: I have a question you didn’t answer here.
A: Reach out to me directly at shannon@webdesigneracademy.com or click the icon in the bottom-right corner of your screen to ask me any questions you have about working with us!