Making Lots of Money as a Web Designer with Nikki Hamilton of Women Wealth WordPress

Shannon Mattern (00:02.081)

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Profitable Web Designer podcast. And today I'm really excited to introduce you to Nikki Hamilton of Women Wealth WordPress. We met on a panel for the Women of Web Summit and I loved her energy and vibe so much and she loves talking about.

the similar thing that I love talking about, which is like helping women make lots and lots of money. And I was like, okay, I need to have you on my podcast so we can talk about this and how you help them do this and all the things. So Nikki, thank you so much for being here.

Nikki (01:12.518)

Thanks for having me. I'm so excited. I loved our panel chat as well. I feel like it was such good vibes. So yeah, I'm so happy to be here.

Shannon Mattern (01:21.229)

Amazing. So can you share with our listeners a little bit about like your backstory? How did you get started in web design?

Nikki (01:32.402)

Hmm, it's always one of those ones like okay. Where do I start like how far back to a go? um I would say my first foray into it was I I've always been like a tinkerer and a doer and I actually very randomly started making like

the skincare. I started making this cleanser to replicate this beautiful, expensive cleanser that I was buying. And I gave it to all of my friends for Christmas. Everyone loved it. And I was like, Hey, maybe I could start selling this. So I started my own skincare business, which is so random, massive. Everyone's like, Oh my gosh, like, what did you do? Did you have a formula? I'm like, no, I made all of the things. So I did.

that whole business from scratch, I formulated the products, I made the products, I designed the labels, I built the website, I did all of my own marketing and social media and I had quite good success quite quickly with that. They were beautiful natural products and yeah, I just kind of started tinkering with the website and I at first had someone build it for me and

I couldn't kind of understand what they had done and how to make it work. So I kind of took over and rebuilt the website for myself because I wanted to understand it and I wanted to manage it myself. And yeah, so it really went from there. With that business, I kind of reached a critical point where I was like, okay, do I get an investor and scale this or do I?

you know, what's my next step? And I really, I was making quite good money, but I really didn't have the capital to grow it. I bootstrapped that from, I literally took a loan from a friend of $2,000. And I was like, okay, I don't actually, I don't think I play well. I've never liked to group projects at uni or anything like that. So I was like, no, I don't want to take an investor because I don't want someone telling me what to do. I just want to follow my own bliss and do my own thing. So.

Nikki (03:32.142)

I was like, okay, how about I go back to work, get a job, pour all my money from my job into the business, and then I'll use that to scale. So through my network that I've kind of built up with my business, there was another woman who was side hustling with her business, she was working full time, and she was also in corporate marketing. And she had a role come up in a marketing coordinator, which was basically doing their social media doing their

email marketing, doing the website, all of the stuff I'd been doing for my own business. And they were specifically looking for someone who wasn't who wasn't tech, traditionally trained, and who wasn't from the industry. So I had a really great opportunity to take a foray into corporate marketing. So I landed that job. And I was there for about three and a half years. And throughout my time there, I absolutely loved it. I was like, this is where I'm meant to be.

And so I ended up selling my business, made quite a good profit on that, that allowed us to kind of get into our first home, which I was very happy about. But I was also very burnt out from doing all of the things. So I was very happy to see that go. I actually don't even follow them on social media or anything, because I just, it was such a hard, it was a big and hard period of my life, and I'm proud of it, and it did a lot for me. But yeah, from there, I went into this marketing job and.

In my time there, I had many promotions, I became more and more specialized into the kind of the area of websites and managing the website. And I was involved in a really big project, which was almost a year long, working with an agency to rebuild the website working with internal stakeholders to

figure out what we really needed the website to do. So it was such a great experience for me in terms of getting everyone on board and doing the customer research and the user experience research and testing. And it was a huge project and I was really, I really loved it. So yeah, I was always also on the side, just doing, you know, little short courses and try to upskill and improve my knowledge. And I'm...

Nikki (05:35.89)

I'm such a lifelong learner. Like I always say, if I won lotto, I would just go back to uni or I would just study. Like I love learning. So I just kind of kept going and throughout all of that, I, yeah, I ended up actually, um, when I fell pregnant, uh, I lost my job there. So it was definitely one of the lowest points. I was like, I've always been of the opinion of, you know, how can.

that everything happens for a reason and at that time I was like I couldn't see the reason I was like I remember being so depressed ugly crying. I was so stressed about money. It was Yeah, really low point. I was like I'm supposed to be in this happy period and I am NOT like what am I gonna do? It was all it was very funny because I'd been with them for

Shannon Mattern (06:10.831)

Yeah.

Thanks for watching!

Nikki (06:27.33)

quite a few years, received a number of promotions. And, you know, every time my job changed, they put me on a contract. And so it just, to me, it wasn't really a thing. It wasn't anything I had considered. And then when I fell pregnant, a couple of weeks later, they were like, oh, we don't need your contract anymore. So when your contract ends, you don't have a job. So it was completely legal in the way that they did it. They were like, that role is no longer needed. But it was, I think.

pretty unethical way to go about things. There's always stuff that needs doing at companies. And I, yeah, I really thought, you know, they've found this gap to be able to not pay me mat leave and they're taking it. And so I ended up canceling my contract as soon as I could because I was like, I don't want to stay in a business that treats people like that. So I left and I got a stopgap job and then went on mat leave and...

Shannon Mattern (06:57.987)

Yeah.

Nikki (07:23.198)

I had a pretty hard pregnancy. I had a pretty hard time in early motherhood. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD and autism. So I have had a bit of a time and I think a lot of it was due to that. But pretty early on in my motherhood journey, around four months, I was very, very itchy and I was really needing to do something. I needed something to occupy my mind and this motherhood mode was like all consuming. And I just...

needed to do something. And so I was like, I'll just start my own thing. And hopefully I can work that around my baby and go from there. And I also had this kind of mindset of like a really big fuck you to the old company, because I was like, I'm going to do this and I'm going to be more successful than I was when I worked with you. And I was I just went out and I did the thing and I hustled and I worked long nights I worked into the evenings where my husband could sleep with a baby.

I was up to one most evenings and I made 150K in my first year and taught myself WordPress from scratch because previously I'd used Squarespace and Sitefinity and a few other platforms but never WordPress but I knew WordPress was where it was at so I just went all in and yeah never looked back. So sorry that's such a rant but...

Shannon Mattern (08:42.901)

No, I love that whole story. And I also love where you're like at the end where you're just like, oh, okay, watch me. Like watch me. I love that so much. So you say that you just did it and you hustled and you made 150k your first year. What did that year look like? How did it start versus how it...

Nikki (08:46.59)

Ha ha

Nikki (08:53.97)

Yeah. Yep. Totally.

Nikki (09:05.87)

Mm-hmm.

Nikki (09:11.221)

Mmm.

Shannon Mattern (09:11.992)

Ended.

Nikki (09:14.414)

Mm hmm. It's that is such an interesting question. Because when I say that 150k, you know, in your mind, you kind of think, oh, yeah, like, she was really successful straight out the gate. And I was I was booking projects. And I thought I was charging like a good amount of money. But I think my first website, I charged $1,000. And my first brand, I charged 500. And

It's actually really funny the way that the income came, it was really back loaded. In the last month, I actually made 80K and that was because of a number of grants and stuff that were available. So realistically, I made, you know, half my income in the last month of the year. So it was a really interesting process, but every project I just was like, OK, that was way harder than I kind of gave it credit for. That took me way more time than I gave it credit for.

But a lot of it was confidence. Like I do, I totally understand that there is a process of charging what you think it's worth and what you can deliver. And then as you learn, increasing your prices and as you streamline your processes and increasing your prices. So it was a very, very gradual thing for me. But basically every project, I kind of almost doubled my rate until I reached about the 5K mark for like a standard five page website. Now I'm about 7K and I probably

will increase it shortly as well. But yeah, it took me time and it was a very interesting journey and it was a huge learning curve and I made so many mistakes like in that early time because I didn't know what I was doing and I learned as I went and I made mistakes on client projects and

like now that is not what I recommend. That's not how I do it. But at the time I actually, I remember looking for a course and there wasn't anything that really suited. There was a coding course in Bali and I was like about to drop 7k flight at Bali with a newborn and hire a nanny and do this coding course. And my husband was like, you are mad. And I was like,

Nikki (11:18.038)

But there's this gap, there's this gap of where I want to be and where I know I can be and I'm not there yet. And it's giving me the shit. And I'm really like about to quit my job and go back, about to quit my business and go back and get a job. Or I need to do something, like I need to upskill. And he was like, no, you're not doing it. And I was like, fuck. So yeah, I looked for courses and there wasn't really, there was a few courses in America.

But I didn't like any of the actual websites that were selling the courses. I thought they were really messy and overwhelming. And so I was like, I'm not going to pay you money to teach me when I feel like you don't even know what you're doing. So yeah, I just kept going and yeah, kind of led me to where I am. So I'm still learning. I'm still growing. It's a never ending process. I'm constantly refining the way I do things.

increasing my prices, increasing my confidence. It's a never ending journey, unfortunately. Ha ha ha.

Shannon Mattern (12:20.797)

Very similarly, I made so many mistakes when I was first starting to work with clients and just figuring that out. I think making mistakes is how I learn. I'm not super great at being patient enough to let someone else show me.

I want to just dive right in, consume it all, figure it all out, try things, break things, all of that stuff. That's my personality to my detriment sometimes because if I would just slow down for a second and let someone else take my hand and show me, then I would experience faster results, less pain, less burnout and all of that.

Nikki (12:44.726)

Mmm.

Nikki (12:47.917)

Yep.

Nikki (13:10.798)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (13:13.417)

And at the same time, I'm so glad I did because I still, I still, you know, figured it out. And I think that that's, I think there's so much value in the journey of making mistakes because you do get to, like, you specifically saw like, oh, here's all of the pitfalls along the way. And now I get to like reach behind me and say, hey,

Nikki (13:29.262)

Hmm.

Shannon Mattern (13:42.041)

I wanna help you do this and avoid all of the things that I, like all of the puddles I stepped in along the way and all of that. And I just feel like there's mistakes at the time for me. I'm like, ugh, so frustrating. But then I had a business coach that always said, like, there's profit in the pain. There is profit in the pain. You will learn from this.

Nikki (14:01.941)

Mm.

Shannon Mattern (14:09.069)

you'll change it for next time. And you have like not only improved your processes and like got your year one year ends to where you made 80K at the back end of the year, but then you also decided to teach others. So can you tell me more about that decision to take what you learned and now teach other women?

Nikki (14:27.306)

Mmm.

Nikki (14:33.406)

Yeah, I just saw a gap and I had I noticed very quickly that I had a lot of other web designers following me and always downloading my pricing and filling out my package proposal in Tumsato. I was always needing to go in and delete these tests. And I was like, oh, this is so annoying. So I knew people. Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (14:54.218)

these little stalkers.

Nikki (14:58.634)

And I'm like, I would totally happily show it to you. It's just actually more annoying for me to delete this like lead that's not a real lead. So yeah, I've always been like that. I'm like, I'm DM me, I'm happy to help. I'm happy to answer questions. I will take time with people always and like give it all away. And so I just kind of was getting questions and I was getting, yeah, people even asking me, oh, are you gonna do like.

a course or something and I was working with a coach and she was like, yeah, do a course. And I was like, okay. And I was talking about it, talking about it. I did a course of like learning how to do a course and I was kind of like talking about doing it and it was like on my radar and I was like, you know, wanting to do it. And then I just, there was just something holding me back and it was just a confidence thing. And you know, a lot of for me being self-trained, I think that held me back a little bit for a long while.

And then I just, I had two messages in this one week when I was working with a coach and they were like, oh, you said you were doing this course. When is it launching? Because I want to do it. And I talked to my coach and she was like, just put a landing page up and go for it. And I was like, okay, doing it. And so I launched and I got 31. I actually capped it at 30. I was like 30 spaces and I got 30 women. And then I had this pleading message and it was like, I've been following you for so long. I'm a single mama. I had like

put my heart and soul into like doing this. I was gonna do it. I didn't know there was a cap. Like, can you please let me in? And I was like, yes, okay, of course. So yeah, we launched, I launched my first round with 31 Women and I hadn't recorded a thing. So then I went into my hole, recorded my course, launched it and I actually ran that course for about two years and I've just recently re-recorded it for, I call it Women Wealth WordPress 2.0.

Um, and it served me really, really well. And I had really great feedback from round one and I have seen women go and completely change their lives and start businesses and make a hundred K as a side hustle and all of these insane things. So, um, yeah, I just, I, I feel like I'm actually, it was kind of what I was meant to do, I actually, my first foray into the workforce, I had a degree in teaching and I was an early childhood teacher for a number of years. Um,

Nikki (17:20.058)

so glad I'm out of that field now. But I do feel like my education and teaching like my teaching degree really helped and kind of led me to where I am. And yeah, I have my natal chart done. And a lot of it was around teaching and mentoring. So I do get a lot of reward and value from helping people and seeing them go on and succeed. So yeah, I just I just think it was meant to be.

Shannon Mattern (17:47.609)

One of the things that you shared in the intake form when you booked your podcast interview after we talked at the summit was I loved it. You said you shared a lot of the things that we've talked about so far and then you said, but now do you want to know what really lights me up? You said, I love helping women make money with WordPress. And you also said that like you love talking about money, but not in a braggy way. So can you share more about like...

that drive and that mission.

Nikki (18:19.47)

Hmm. Yeah, I, again, coming back to my journey, I have seen my mum actually was quite successful on her own when she was young, she was a nurse and she had bought her own house on her own. She met my dad, they got married, it wasn't a great relationship. It was some domestic violence and all of these types of things that ended up getting

Um, she ended up leaving him and she had postnatal depression and she was like, I can't take care of the kids. They need to stay with you. You keep the house because, um, you have the kids as any mother would do, like, you know, put themselves last. So she went and she went into like, you know, housing commission housing. And she ended up saying to him, you can buy me out of the house for $10,000, like $10,000. That is absolutely nuts. So then she had $10,000 and she, you know, went on a holiday and all of these

and she was happy. My dad had a house that was ridiculous, you know, back in the day houses were cheap and you know he had it on his own. And I just and then yeah now she's got some health issues and I just see her and I do what I can now to help her but I just see that life is hard for her and she's not set up financially and

I just, it's a story I see over and over again. When I worked in corporate, I was working in financial services and it's a big theme that women retire with less super than men. We take this gap to have children and then maybe not necessarily go back into the workforce and all of these things. So we just lose out financially and I see it play out and I just was like, that is not gonna be me. Like...

I'm going to make my own money, I'm going to save my own money, I'm going to invest and I'm really lucky that I had that financial education during that time at that business. And I just

Nikki (20:16.122)

Yeah, I want to be able to support my family and you know, now like I brought my mama car, I send her groceries when I can. I fly her over to see me and stay with me and like take her up for dinner. And she's like trying to give me money. And I'm like, no, don't be silly. And she's like looking at the menu and I'm like, order what you want. Like don't, you know, and to me, like, and as well with my dad, he was a single dad. And so I've, I've come from a really tough background and now.

learning, I have a disability and like all of these things, you know, it's really easy to see someone and be like, oh, okay, they're successful and they can do this because of this, but no, I want it to be like, she can do this despite of these things. Like, and I wanna be an example and show up and share my story and share it vulnerably and share where I am because now I live in a $1.7 million house and I can walk to the beach

pool and I can swim with my kids and I constantly have these little moments of gratitude when I'm looking around and I, the sun's streaming in and I'm like, oh I just have so much gratitude for where I am and where I came from and I want everyone to experience that and it doesn't, money doesn't have to be a bad thing and you can make that money and have a good life and give back to your family and give back to people and spend your time helping people.

you know, you don't have to be a rich asshole. And I, there's just all of these stories that we have in our minds of what being rich looks like. And I just, I've done so much work on flipping that on its head. And I just want to share that.

Shannon Mattern (21:54.905)

I think this is why I resonate so much with you or why we've like vibed in the line. I just felt like I wanted to meet you and talk to you more. I very much resonate with your story and your upbringing and really deciding like this, I'm going to me having...

Nikki (22:08.223)

Mm.

Shannon Mattern (22:23.377)

the having resources was freedom and independence and autonomy. And I think what I was just like thinking about you when you were saying this is like, nobody gave you permission, nobody gave it to you, nobody told you could have it, you decided that you wanted to create it and you went out and

Nikki (22:27.755)

Yep.

Nikki (22:48.322)

Hehehehe

Shannon Mattern (22:54.461)

added value to other people's lives. And it's not like, this is one of the things that I hear from our students at the Web Designer Academy all the time. And I'm curious if you hear it from your students, but they have to get over the idea that when they charge for their work, that they're taking money from somebody else. That they're like taking it from them and they're not like,

Nikki (23:19.124)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (23:22.957)

The only thing they're getting in return is a website. It's like, you are helping them get what they want. You're helping them create more. And like, you have really just embodied that from just the short time that I heard you talk on that panel. I was like, we need to talk more about this because you, I feel like, and you can tell me if I'm wrong, my impression is wrong, but I feel like.

you see what you do as empowering, whether it's your course or your services, as just helping women make more money. Charging them for it is not a bad thing.

Nikki (24:02.294)

Mm.

Nikki (24:06.562)

Mm-hmm. Yeah, and it did take me a while to get to that. I think it's probably really in the last year where I've really settled into this place and I like I have landed on that kind of phrase is like I help women make money with WordPress Whether that's by teaching them to build their own web dev studio

or by building custom WordPress websites for businesses. And I actually do work with some men as well. I always say, if they get through my marketing and they still wanna work with me, then they're welcome to. But the majority of my clients are women. And yeah, I just, there's something about that. And it is, it's an exchange. Someone has a problem, they're looking for a solution.

Shannon Mattern (24:36.433)

Yep.

Nikki (24:50.866)

and you provide the solution. And the thing that I hear time and time again, when clients come to me is that they've worked with someone else before and the project hasn't gone well. They've completely let them down. They've, you know, they haven't kept in touch. They've delivered a sub-par project. They've had issues down the line. And it's like, I'm here. I do my best work. I will build you a website that is epic. I will research your target audience and you will stand out and you will be chosen over your competitors.

So that is valuable. That's something that's gonna serve them for years and years to come. And it's like that amount of money, that $6,000, some of my clients will pay for that in one client, like on their own. So it's like a no brainer to me. And I really back myself when I send through those projects. I'm like, yeah, this is how much it is because I know how much it will make you. So yeah, it took me a while to get to that. And then...

From there as well, it's like, I stick around. I'm in it for the long haul. I will help you update your website. I will keep your website maintained and updated. I will make changes to it. I will add new staff buyers as your business grows. Like a lot of web developers as well, really look at it as a project based exchange. And then they kind of drop off the face of the earth after that, because they're always chasing that new project income. And I really believe that that's a disservice.

to the client and to yourself because you can make a really, like the basis of my income now comes from maintenance and hosting, like I have a baseline of income and that will just continue to grow. The projects are the cream and like supporting my clients on an ongoing basis is like kind of that middle piece. Like I always have little things here and there that I need to do for my ongoing clients because they come back to me because they're happy with the process.

And that's how it should be. Like if you have a good relationship and you've nailed your processes and you're proud of your work, that's the dream. Like, and that's the dream for them too. Like they don't want to be looking for a new web dev all the time. They don't want to be scouting and all of these things. So we get to charge a premium price and I can solve a tech issue in 30 minutes that, you know, would take you five hours. So yeah, I get to charge you a premium price. And like I said, I'm about to put my prices up again. So, um.

Nikki (27:06.954)

Yeah, it's a lot of its mindset. It's kind of like a loop or like a vortex. Like I think sometimes like in a lot of things in life, you get into this vortex and you can either go up or you can go down. And you know, if you get on the up spiral, it's like, you do good work, you get good feedback, you put your prices up. Someone else books you at your new project price. You do good work, you get good feedback. You know, it's like this up cycle. And it's just, that's how you build your confidence.

Like similarly, you can go down as well where you can be like, you do a shit job, people are mad at you, you feel kind of shit. You're like, Oh, should I be doing this? Is this the right job for me? No one wants to do a shit job. Like you're doing a shit job because you're missing gaps in your processes. You're missing gaps in your skills. And like I said, you can learn those out.

those things yourself, you can improve them over time, but there is a shortcut if you want to take it. So yeah, I can't even remember what you asked me now. I've gone, I think I've gone on a bit of a tangent.

Shannon Mattern (28:05.497)

No, I love that in terms of the vortex up and the vortex down. I was also thinking you can do a good job for the wrong client also and vortex down as well when you don't have boundaries and processes and all of those things. So good. Yeah. I think the shift that, or how you operate, and you said maybe it's taken you some time

Nikki (28:14.103)

Mmm.

Nikki (28:19.054)

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep.

Oh yes.

Shannon Mattern (28:34.749)

time to get here, but like this is, I always say to our students or to like just on this podcast I'm like, it's not your job to save your clients money. It's your job to help them make more money. And we get to help them make more money. We make more money. It's just, it's, it's been, it just benefits everybody all the way around. And yeah, I love talking about money and money mindset too. So this is my favorite thing.

Nikki (28:57.374)

It's beautiful.

Shannon Mattern (29:04.337)

So tell me about Women Wealth WordPress. I love that you are a former educator, which like my one of, I need to introduce you to Erica Nash. She's on our team. She's also an educator and she loves to geek out about course stuff. Like always. Yeah, she has got a podcast as well for course creators. So I'll connect you guys because I think that she would love to meet you.

Nikki (29:05.378)

So important.

Nikki (29:23.452)

Amazing. Yeah, I'd love to.

Oh wow, thank you.

Shannon Mattern (29:34.531)

So yeah, tell us about women wealth WordPress. Tell me all about it.

Nikki (29:42.598)

Yeah. So I kind of say it's a group coaching intensive, so it is a course, but it's so much more than a course. It's really my business in a box, and it's hard to, I think, cover the magnitude of it. And when I first started out with my course, a lot of the advice I got was to reign it in and, you know, do less. And like, the purpose of it is just to build a website. And that was kind

Nikki (30:13.034)

I felt like I was being called to do more. So in the first iteration of it, I think I did do a little bit more than I was probably encouraged to do. But this round I've just gone all in and I'm like, nah, this is actually what people are coming to me for. So the course is six modules over six weeks. And the first week is kind of like the basics that you need to know about design.

copy SEO, like all of the kind of holistic things that go into building a website. From there, we the second week we set up hosting and install a WordPress application. And then this really sets you up as a foundation to make ongoing money because this is where you host your clients websites on an ongoing basis. So that's module one, we also install WordPress, and then all of the plugins that I recommend that you have on every site.

So we actually create a base site and we configure all of those plugins and we build, we install all of like the standard pages and templates and everything that you'll use for every site going forward. So you only need to do that once. This is the beauty of this part. You do that once and then from there, it's a click and you duplicate it and it saves you hours on every project. You never need to do that again. So I'm like, it's good to know this, but like when I was recording it, I was like, oh shit, what else do I do here because I haven't done it for so long.

Um, so then the next module, module three, we go into the build and we do, um, hit our footer homepage, styling, all of that type of stuff. Um, module four, we do like, oh, sorry. We do like about, um, FAQs, blog, contact page. And throughout all of this, I'm like dropping in things. I'm like time-saving hacks, um, templates, process management for your clients. SEO. This is what you need on a page.

um, all of these types of things that are going to really refine your work flow, um, shortcuts about how to get around the backend and just so much. There's so much. Um, and then throughout this, I also say the way I've designed it is that you follow this course and you will have your own website at the end. So if you're a newbie designer or, um, even if I've had women in the last round who were, who have done previous web dev courses and then two modules and be like,

Shannon Mattern (32:25.009)

So good.

Nikki (32:33.822)

this is so much better than what I was doing and then completely redo their own website. Like they've been practicing and redo their own website throughout the course. So yeah, we do the build, we do the launch, the launch process, like syncing it with Google Analytics and search console and search and replace, setting up SMTP. This is a basic thing that so many people miss, like making sure that the client's emails are delivered and that they're not getting lost because WordPress is terrible with form delivery.

all of these types of things. So it's like, oh, it's so much. And then the last module is the tech module. So we go through the extra things that people come to kind of after the web build is done. And I feel like this is the massive gap that designers have. It's things like HTML email signatures, how to deliver a freebie and syncing that up to like an EDM system, fixing a hack.

Shannon Mattern (33:04.546)

Yeah.

Nikki (33:32.774)

rolling back if there's an issue, fixing a critical error via SFTP. And because you've gone through the process and you've set up the hosting, all of these things become really, really easy. And they're the things that freak you out and they're icky and they're hard and they're overwhelming. And when they happen to you, you're like, I'm not good enough. And then it's actually so funny because that module was the easiest module for me to record and all of the videos are like under 10 minutes.

And so I'm like, this is the thing when you have a process, when you've done it, I've done it, I've gone through the ickiness, so you don't have to. So watch these and then you have them to refer back to when it happens because now you'll know they're not as scary as they seem. And then yeah, we have a weekly call where we go through a masterclass, a Q&A, and then a co-working session. And in those calls, we cover money mindset, marketing yourself, process management.

we do a live build, which is really fun. So I get the students to nominate, okay, which site do you want me to replicate? And I literally do it live on the call. So it's always a fun troubleshooting process. Yeah, so it's just, it's a lot, and direct access to me via Voxer. And sometimes I've had students get stuck and I'll be like, okay, I'm here at my desk. Let's just jump on a Zoom and we'll screen share and I'll fix it in like one minute and you can just keep going, you know? So it's more than just a recorded

course, it's a lot. Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (35:02.637)

I was sitting here listening to all of this and I am like geeking out. I'm like, yes, oh my gosh, that sounds like, because those are, those are the missing pieces. It's not just design. It's not just making it look pretty. It is, it's those, all of those other pieces. And I think what you said, you touched on this earlier. It's like,

Nikki (35:15.52)

Yeah.

Nikki (35:23.918)

Mm.

Shannon Mattern (35:29.937)

as your confidence grew, you raised your price. And now you are like allowing people to like leap, like a leapfrog, quantum leap, that's the one I want, not leapfrog, quantum leap forward in their confidence because not only do they know they don't have a skill gap on the tech side, but also they're working with someone like you who has

built your own company, worked with a marketing agency, worked on this year long huge project and probably have distilled a lot of that like learning down into your process. And so, you know, you had said like, you had a lack of confidence because you were self-taught and I also had the same thing. I was like, oh, I can't charge that much. I taught myself.

When I say this, I am not saying that self-taught people can't charge that much because you absolutely can. There is nothing wrong with being self-taught. We all do the work to teach ourselves no matter how we've chosen to learn. But why not shortcut it with someone who really has

Nikki (36:48.555)

Mmm.

Shannon Mattern (36:58.141)

problems and the pitfalls and all of the things. And it's just like, hey, here's your confidence in a box. Like, you don't have to build it. I'm giving it to you right now. Like, it's just, it's so good.

Nikki (37:00.846)

Mmm.

Nikki (37:05.038)

I'm going to go to bed.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's what I say. I'm like, you can do it yourself. You absolutely can. It's just, you will succeed much, much quicker to

Yeah, this is a thing that keeps coming up for me at the moment to walk in the footsteps of giants. Like, there are people who have gone before you, why not learn from them? Like, yeah, there is a shortcut. And this is why, like, I actually raised the price of my course last year from $2,000 to $3,000. And I had people go through that last round, and they were like, you need to put the price up even more. And so, yeah, it's just

Because I know it, I know if I give you my business and you can go on and make 100K this year, 100K next year, 100K the year after that, that three grand is an absolute no brainer. Like, yeah, and it's just, to me it's the dream business as well, because there's so much freedom, there's so much flexibility when you know what you're doing.

Nikki (38:07.946)

Like last week, I built a $9,000 website in one day, literally one day, and that included the copy. I used ChatGVT. So I'm gonna actually add a masterclass in this round, I think about ChatGVT. And that was using templates that I'd pre-built section, like blade templates, JSON files, which are a bonus in my course. And I just was like, this is just a game changer, you know, when you can...

When you can get to that level and streamline so hard, yeah.

Shannon Mattern (38:39.865)

Yeah, it's like you've transcended the time for money trap at that point when you're like, oh, in one day I get to create a $9,000 website and your mindset has to follow that too. You have to not be like, oh, I'm selling my time. And the other thing that I was thinking is standing in the shoes of giants who also want the best for you. Like that's what you're saying.

Nikki (38:44.141)

Yes. Yeah.

Nikki (38:52.992)

Yep.

Nikki (38:56.907)

Yes.

Nikki (39:08.572)

Yes.

Shannon Mattern (39:09.817)

I'm not just here to teach you the skill. I'm here to teach you the skill because you want these things that this skill can help you create. You've been there. You've taken that path and you're just helping other people follow it. I admire that so much. It's very, very cool.

Nikki (39:17.3)

Yeah.

Nikki (39:29.39)

Thank you.

Shannon Mattern (39:31.953)

So I have a couple more questions for you before we wrap this up. What is one piece of advice you would have given yourself when you were just starting, knowing what you know now? If you could go back and tell beginner Nikki one thing, what would you tell her?

Nikki (39:56.254)

I feel like this is counterintuitive to everything I've just said, but again, I have this phrase echoing in my head recently, and it's just, I actually have a sign at my front door that says slow down. And for a long time, I find it very difficult to be in the moment and be present and be still, and so I kind of...

really berated myself for that for a long time. Recently I found out I have ADHD and autism. So I'm like, oh, that makes fucking sense. And also I'm trying to stop myself from stopping myself from being who I am. Does that make sense? So I'm like, I'm accepting that. I don't really sit still and I'm okay with that. However, I'm starting to look at it in a new way, which is, I...

Shannon Mattern (40:33.785)

Yes.

Nikki (40:43.858)

I had this like, when I first started my business, like I said in that first year and I was working till 1am and I was doing all of these things. And I definitely put myself into burnout. I really had a hard second year because of that. And even now I can't work in the evenings, like my brain switches off at 7am, I'm like, I'm done.

Um, so now I'm taking that phrase and I'm switching it. And at the moment, what I'm saying to myself is slow down. Everything that's meant for you is already yours. So.

To me, that means don't take the steps to do it. It just means don't overload yourself so hard that you're missing the moments that make up life. Like, go to bed and cuddle your kids, and have a swim and take the weekends off, and don't get so much anxiety and so wrapped up in it that you're missing the moment. Do you know what I mean? Don't stop, don't slow down because that's not who you are, but don't get so caught up in it, you know? Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (41:44.593)

That literally gave me chills and I think I needed to hear that today. Literally today. Um, Wow. Yes. All right. Well, I have one final question. We could Mike drop it right there, but I have one final question for you.

Nikki (41:50.578)

Yep, I'm glad, yeah.

Nikki (41:56.363)

Hahaha

Nikki (42:07.932)

Let's do it.

Shannon Mattern (42:10.125)

What belief about yourself did you have to change to get to where you are today?

Nikki (42:18.326)

Well, that's a hard one. Um.

Nikki (42:24.646)

Yeah, I think coming back to that thing, I'm really in a place of self-acceptance at the moment, and a lot of that was... Sorry, I am emotional because I'm at an emotional stage of my life at the moment. Um.

Shannon Mattern (42:37.352)

You made me emotional with that last statement, so I'm right there with you. Keep it together, Shannon.

Nikki (42:42.894)

Uh... um... yeah. I... um... just acceptance, like... um...

Similarly to, you know, people telling you what you should do and how it should be. There's this whole thing of like, don't work on weekends and, you know, leave your work at the desk and all of these things. And, you know, like I said, I'm going to take time off with my kids and all of that stuff. But at the same time, if my client needs me on a weekend, I'm happy to help them because that means I can finish work early on a Wednesday and go and pick my kid up. I've been having weekly dates with my four year old and just time together.

And so it's just, you can just build a business that looks like how you want it to look like and follow your own intuition and follow your own bliss. It doesn't have to be what anyone else says it needs to be. And along with that, I think, you know, we're kind of coming out of this, but there's this hustle culture of like, you need to work so hard to make so much money. And you just don't. Like I'm actually in launch this week and...

I have 12 women in my course and I haven't even done one post to my social media feed. It's just from me showing up and being myself over the last wee while. And I think part of that is just it like coming home to myself, like learning who I am and learning what I need and learning my strengths and my challenges and accepting them. And I had like a week where I was so burnt out my doctor, like after a big session with my doctor, he's like, you're an autistic burnout. And I was like, okay, fuck.

Um, so it's learning, like sometimes I can't operate at my peak and I need to give myself space during those times and just stop the guilt, stop the, stop the self berating, you know, we all have it. Um, yeah, and I don't, I, I honestly don't know how you get past it. For me, my diagnosis was a really big part of like forgiving myself for so many things.

Nikki (44:45.374)

So I feel like I'm in a very fortunate position. I actually, before that, I don't know how I would have done that. Like I do journaling, I do meditation, all of these things, but for me, like you say before, that was a quantum leap forward for me. So I'm in a very different place now than I was six months ago even. Like it's quite crazy to me. Yeah, but I'm really grateful.

Shannon Mattern (45:12.713)

Wow, that is just so beautiful. And I think the perfect place to wrap up this episode, even though I could talk to you for five more hours if we both didn't have a, you know. Can you tell everyone where they can go to, yeah. Where they can go to learn about your course, your podcast, you like, where can we go to get in your world?

Nikki (45:23.29)

Yeah. Kids, life, business.

Nikki (45:35.82)

Mmm.

Nikki (45:40.638)

Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram. That's really where I hang out the most at Seedling Digital and at WomenWealth WordPress. I actually am considering closing the WomenWealth WordPress like Instagram page just for the fact that I'm streamlining everything in my life and I don't tend to post to it because designers follow me on my Seedling Digital page, they're refining. But also seedlingdigital.com.au if you want to check out my client side work. And then

if you want to check out my course. And I also have a podcast called Women with WordPress. So you can just search that wherever you get your podcasts.

Shannon Mattern (46:19.197)

Amazing. I will link up all of that in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here and for being so just transparent and authentic and just sharing all of that with us. It's so, so good to meet you. I really appreciate you being here.

Nikki (46:26.12)

Thank you.

Nikki (46:36.294)

Oh thanks for having me. Yay!

Shannon Mattern (46:39.309)

All right, that's a wrap, everyone. We'll see you back here next week. Bye.

Nikki (46:45.302)

Bye!