#87 – February + March 2024 Income Report

Shannon Mattern (00:00.978)

Hey there and welcome back to the Profitable Web Designer podcast. And this week on the show, I am bringing you my monthly income report where I break down what happened behind the scenes of my business, how much money we made, how much we spent, and all of the lessons learned along the way. So if you are new to the show, you might be wondering...

Why do I do a monthly income report on a podcast for web designers when I don't actually work with web design clients one -on -one anymore because I run the web designer academy full -time, which is where we do business coaching, marketing mindset, money, all the coaching that web designers need to grow their businesses. So just to give you a little bit of backstory, back in 2018, when I quit my six figure day job to go full -time in my web design business,

I started a different podcast called pep talks for side hustlers and I interviewed other entrepreneurs and I also did monthly income reports on that show to really let other people see what it looked like to run an online business. And I was sharing how much money I was making from my one -on -one web design clients.

how much I was making from courses and trainings that I created, how much I was making from affiliate marketing, because at the time, not only was I working with one -on -one web design clients, I also had a free course that I had built that taught WordPress in depth to DIYers, and I earned affiliate commissions off the backend when people bought like the hosting, the tools, and the resources that I used and recommended. I sold templates off the back of that. I had a lot of course attempts and...

not so successful course attempts off the back of that. So I had this whole other kind of ecosystem going on from 2016, probably 2015 through 2019 -ish. And I published those income reports because I was really inspired by the transparency of people like Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income. And back then, a lot of bloggers were publishing income reports.

Shannon Mattern (02:06.578)

but not many people were sharing the expense side. Like they'd talk about how much money they were making and all the different ways that they made it, but nobody talked about how much money they spent to do all of the things. No one was sharing how much they paid themselves. No one was disclosing if they were spending money on ads and how much they were spending on ads. Or like how much just everything costs if they paid a team. Nobody was doing that. And, um,

Cat Flynn was, I think, sharing expenses, but he was making millions of dollars. And I thought, while I'm making thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars, I could probably fill a gap for showing what it's really like at this stage of business. And so not only that, it really helped me to write the income reports every month, not just to look at my numbers, but to slow down and look at what happened that month and process the lessons versus being on autopilot.

And pep talks for side hustlers is still out there by the way. And you can listen all the way back to 2018 and follow my journey from when I had just quit my day job all the way to making like $5 shy of half a million dollars in one year in 2021. And that was like, I was doing so many things.

I had stopped doing one -on -one web design, but I was doing affiliate marketing. I was selling templates off the back of my free training. I was running the Web Designer Academy. We had just changed it to the format that it is now, and it was responsible for the majority of that revenue. We had a couple of other things that we were trying, but at the end of 2021,

I made the decision with the success of the web designer Academy and just how much I loved doing it compared to all of the other things that we were doing. I made the decision to wind down that DIY training side of my business and go all in on coaching women web designers inside the web designer Academy. And I can share all the details of that decision. I'm sure I have on previous podcast episodes, but I had started the web designer Academy almost accidentally and.

Shannon Mattern (04:16.274)

You know, on the one side of my business, I'm trying to be like the next Amy Porter field of tech teaching like the tech and strategy of online marketing to business owners. And it was such a grind, like the technology kept changing. And, you know, people really like because I just put it out there that like everything I'm doing was for free when I transitioned to like selling stuff. It was really hard to get people to buy things from me.

But the web designer academy was just this other part of my business that felt so fun and effortless and easy. And I had so much passion for all of the things that I know that freelance web designers go through as they're building their business. And I was like, if I had more time and resources to put into this, I know I could have such a bigger impact than what I'm doing right now, spreading myself so thin between all these different like factions of my business. So when I wound down,

that side of my business. I also stopped the pep talks for side hustlers podcast and I stopped doing income reports and I stopped looking at the money monthly in that in depth way and I stopped slowing down to see the lessons. So I love podcasting and I really missed doing it when I closed that podcast out and so I decided to start this podcast, the profitable web designer in September of 2022 just for web designers.

Like just to talk about the things that I talk about, like undercharging, over -delivering, all of the challenges I see you go through and really help with that. And I thought about doing income reports again, but in my mind, I was like, that's irrelevant. Like how is it even relevant to a freelance web designer who's making their money through booking one -on -one client projects, maybe retainer packages, maybe like a different suite of offerings.

When I make my money through selling a group coaching program for web designers, like two completely different, um, offers, products, ways of marketing, like, um, you know, I, I do things differently in my business, selling what I'm selling versus what we teach our students to do selling one -on -one services. Right. But all the time I would hear from new web designer Academy students, um, who like.

Shannon Mattern (06:38.962)

listened to my old podcast, they're like, I loved those income reports you used to do on your old podcast. They helped me so much. I'd hear that over and over again. And yet I kept telling myself it's not relevant. My business looks so different today. What I do is different than what they do. We're not even selling the same thing. And then I had the most challenging year in my business ever in 2023 and not just financially challenging. I mean, I think it was harder on me mentally and emotionally.

than even the transition from my day job to self -employed was, which, you know, we look at that transition of like, yay, I finally quit my day job. It's supposed to be all this joy and freedom, but it came with a huge side of anxiety for me that I managed by overworking. And again, story for another time, or probably told in depth on pep talks for side hustlers, but I didn't realize it at the time, but in hindsight reflecting on.

I think I had a lot of shame about things that I had done to contribute to the challenges I had in 2023. I mean, not all of that was in my control at all, but a lot of it was. And the more things started to quote unquote go wrong, the less open I was. Like I kept hearing from people how much my income reports helped them.

And the women in my mastermind group mentioned that like, Oh, Shannon, like, it feels like you used to be more open and vulnerable. And I just felt like my brain was telling me nobody wanted to hear that, that it wasn't relevant. But I think what that really was, was I felt ashamed of the situation that I found myself in and I was starting to close off.

And so I started thinking like, maybe it will help me to share what's happening and not just to share it publicly and stop quote unquote hiding, but really to give myself a way to process through it instead of just being on autopilot and just trying to hang on. So I brought those monthly income reports back in October of 2020 and everybody loves them. They're the, my most read and listened to podcasts, episodes of every single month.

Shannon Mattern (08:58.098)

If I could do one every week, I would. And I'm so, so glad that I brought them back. And I'm so glad to hear that, that you love them too, that they help you just as much as they helped me. Because honestly, they take me forever to write and pull together and pull together all the numbers and go back through my calendar and think of like, Oh, what happened this month? What were the important things that really like stood out?

What do I think about that? And how do I, how do I want to think about that? Um, and so they take a long time to write, which is why this episode, I'm actually bringing you a combo February and March income report, because I just didn't have the capacity to produce an income report in February because we were getting ready for the simply profitable designer summit, um, which is actually a lesson that I learned. And I'll talk about that a bit later. Um, so that's the like,

long story short or long story longer about why I do income reports on the profitable web designer podcast about a business that doesn't sell one -on -one web design. But I know that the lessons and things, the way I think about money and sales and marketing and getting clients and all of those things benefits you no matter whether you're selling one -on -one web design services, retainer packages, VIP days, whatever it is you're doing, the underlying core.

thoughts, beliefs, concepts are the same. So I know we have a ton of new listeners after the Simply Profitable Designer Summit. So I just wanted to give you a little bit of background on that. And so how these income reports work is that I break down important things that happened in the month of the income report, how much we made, how much we spent, and all of the lessons I learned along the way, the mistakes I made, the failures I...

failed the success, like all of it. So if you ever have any questions for me or there's something that you're like, I wish you would have talked more about that, please email me, Shannon at web designer academy .com. I would love to hear from you and I would love to expand more on the things that you are curious about. I'm an open book truly. So here are the important things that happened in February, March, 2024. And honestly,

Shannon Mattern (11:21.298)

It feels like the only thing I did in February and March was work on the Simply Profitable Designer Summit. I'm sure I did other things because I still, it was still business as usual for, you know, operating the web designer academy and running the podcast and all of the things. But we hosted the summit March 18th through 22nd. And then I did a web designer academy open house and open enrollment promotion from March 21st to April 5th.

And so I felt like outside of just live strategy calls and making sure the podcast got produced and sending out my weekly email, every other waking moment was spent on the Simply Profitable Designer Summit. And I acquired it, gosh, two years ago now from Kristen Miller, who, uh, who,

was the original creator of the Simply Profitable Designer Summit, had so much success with it that she decided to take her process for running it and turn it into a product and coaching program called Summit in a Box. And when she decided she was no longer gonna run the summit anymore, I'd heard a rumor that she was closing it down to focus on Summit in a Box. And I reached out to her, I was like, hey, if you ever, if you ever,

do decide to not run it anymore. Let me know, I would love to take it over and we can like work out a revenue share. So she had a third party look at the history of the business and the profit and the expenses and all of the things that they put together a price evaluation. And we agreed that every year that I run the summit, I'll pay her out 50 % of the profit.

of the summit until we reach that threshold of our agreed upon amount. So I am now the new like kind of owner. I'll be the full owner once I've completed those payments to her. So I'm like the operator of the Simply Profitable Designer Summit. So, you know, taking over such a successful summit from her, I put a lot of time, effort and energy.

Shannon Mattern (13:33.394)

making sure that it reaches the standard that she set. And honestly, it's super, super fun. So that's what I worked on in February. Personally, I went snow tubing with my husband and my niece one weekend, and I'm the only one who enjoyed it. They were like, yes, Shannon, you can go down the hill again. We'll be down here waiting for you. So they were not enthused, but I had a great time.

I went and stayed with my grandma for a few nights while my mom and stepdad went on vacation. She lives with them and she's 88. She gets around great, but we don't like her to be home alone, especially not overnight. And we had a blast. She told me old stories that I was like, grandma, and I made girl dinner for us and I saved her from a tornado. Well, it got really close to our house.

didn't hit us, but if I would have had to save her, I would have. Let's see. My husband randomly interviewed for a new job and was offered a position and accepted it. So that's pretty cool. And he had lots of feelings about like being at his current job for only a year since we come from that era of stay at your job forever. Don't be a job hopper. It looks bad on your resume. And he's starting to realize like that's not true anymore. So it feels safer for him to.

make the career moves he really wants to make, which is super cool. So that's like the personal life stuff that was happening around the time that I was like that when I wasn't working on the summit, but basically imagine me yoga pants hoodie in bed under covers with my laptop, my blue light blocking reading glasses on just like.

like typing away with a fury, getting all of the summit stuff done. That's basically what I did for six to eight weeks in January or February, March. So that's personal life stuff, but the summit was awesome. Like I thoroughly enjoyed that entire project from the like the coordination all the way through hosting it. And I'm like,

Shannon Mattern (15:52.722)

Can we fit another one in in the fall? Like, I don't think I can, but it was that good. You know, we got incredible feedback from our attendees, from our speakers. I was blown away by the presentations, especially the ones on AI, which I'm applying to some of my internal operations. There was so much engagement. Our speakers were just incredible promoters of the event. Like, they just brought it. And...

Yes, I love teaching and coaching and working so closely with our students in the web designer Academy, but I also love facilitating events like that, bringing all the people together, introducing people's like other people's audiences to new speakers. And like we did live speaker panels with some of the speakers I invited and there, there was one we did on failing forward. And after that panel, I slacked my team member, Eric, and I was like,

That was amazing. How can I do more of that? Like I love having deep connected, meaningful conversations. And when they help other people too, it's a win, win, win. And honestly, that's kind of what I do on my income report, except for nobody's talking back to me. So, you know, hopefully you're getting something out of this, but I, I love doing that. So the entire week of the summit was incredible. And like I said, it's all I worked on from really the last week of January through summit week.

And, you know, looking at my calendar, it was business as usual in terms of marketing and running the web designer academy. But outside of that, my sole focus building the summit website, coordinating with all the speakers to get their presentations and designer power pack contributions, getting all that content loaded into the website and what felt like 500 different places, swapping out the e -commerce backend because I can't use anything that integrates with Stripe anymore.

Um, writing all the marketing copy, coordinating with our speakers and all the things. And like I said, every day, seven days a week, except for when my niece came and like forced me to not work. And I probably still did, um, work while she was sleeping. And I'm not complaining and I'm not bragging. Like, I know, like, I'm like, Oh, I work so hard. It's, it's not even that. Um, it's one of my strengths to be able to take a huge project like this.

Shannon Mattern (18:12.818)

with a million moving parts and hard deadlines and make it happen. And my role at my day job back in the day prepared me for it really well. And my experience as a web designer makes it so all the tech is a breeze. I don't have kids. I'm alone all day except for like when my doggo Scarlet wants to like step on my laptop to get me to stop working and take her for a walk. I can focus for long periods of time. I can see the big picture and all the little details. I can plan timelines.

follow through on deadlines and stay on top of all the communication and coordination to make it happen. So it's in my wheelhouse. It's a strength and I don't feel like busy as a badge of honor or anything like that. But here's where I totally get in my own way and where doing it the way that I did showed me areas of opportunities for growth, if you will. So when I plan projects like this, I don't plan for other people to help me.

I have a part -time employee on my team. She's amazing. She'd do anything I asked her to do. And she's a thousand percent capable of learning whatever new skill she needs to learn to do whatever I asked her to do. I work with a consultant who helps with customer journey and conversions, whose goal is to help us generate new leads and move them closer to working with us inside of our programs through experimentation and data rather than hunches and whims, which is how I used to run my business before working with her.

So I have these resources and these assets, but here's what happened. I plan out the whole project. I delegated graphics and putting together workbooks and coordinating live speaker panels to Erica, because I'm like, that feels aligned with her job description. And then my consultant, Lee, was like, let us know how we can help you with the summit. And I'm like, with what? Like, I'm basically just doing VA work at this point, data entry. Like, your contract is for higher level stuff.

And I did the same thing with Erica. I'm like, I'm already asking you to do stuff outside of your client success coordinator role. I don't want to overstep. And they kept asking me how they could help. And I kept being like, all this stuff I'm doing isn't your job. Like I've got it handled. I'm a time and planning ninja. Time is never a reason I don't get something done. And my life affords me that luxury. Right. And so it's so strange because like, as this is happening,

Shannon Mattern (20:39.154)

I could start to see the problem, but I couldn't fully articulate it at the time. And it's not like I didn't have the time to do all the things I was doing. I did. I had the time for all of it. I didn't feel overwhelmed by the list per se. What I felt was exhausted, like mentally tired and physically tired. Like specifically when I get like that, my eyes feel very, very tired and I have a hard time making decisions. Like,

I will go into this overthinking mode. Like if it wasn't already on the list and decided ahead of time and plan for, if it came up later, I just didn't have the capacity to like think about it or make a decision on it. I had too many tabs open in my brain and my brain was tired. And so it's physically and mentally hard to make decisions with a tired brain. And then my brain wanted to work even harder to make decisions, hence the overthinking.

And so what I realized out of that whole experience was that like, if I literally do not have the time available to me, I'm totally fine to ask for help. But if I physically have the time available to me, I don't want to quote unquote burden others or overstep their boundaries. And I teach our students in the web designer academy so much about setting and holding boundaries, since it's one of the keys to a sustainable business.

that I didn't realize how much I'm like, well, I don't want to be the person who oversteps. So what the production of the Simply Profitable Designer Summit showed me is like planning for other people to help me is not about time. It's about capacity. And it's about having the mental and physical energy to make decisions, to think clearly, to do other things. Like the Web Designer Academy open enrollment and open house.

And so I think about those of you, there's like, you're at different stages in your web design business, right? Some of you are in the beginning stage where you're really just trying to create that momentum of consistent clients coming in and like hitting that minimum baseline revenue consistently. That's like a stage that we help a lot of web designers in the web designer academy. But then there's that next level where.

Shannon Mattern (22:59.954)

You do have consistent clients and consistent work, but you are doing the same thing that I am doing. It's like, you might even have the time to be doing all the things that you're doing, but you don't have the capacity. And that's where your opportunity is because you're tired. You're overthinking. It's taking you way more energy to accomplish things than it really needs to. And that's what I realized with what I was doing. I'm like, Oh, it's not about not having time.

It's about how I am only allowing myself help if I don't have time. And what's up with that? And oh, what's up with that is I'm afraid to overstep boundaries or to ask my team, whether they're contract or employee, and trust that they'll tell me no, if they really can't do it, right? So it's about capacity and it's about trust.

And so I was thinking about it all of the times I've tried to like outsource things. Like I do a lot of things in my business that require zero mental capacity. Managing my own inbox, easy for me. I know it's not for a lot of people, but I don't have to think about it. I don't have a lot of drama over it. It's not overwhelming to me at all. I used to have a lot of inbox drama where I was like, oh, if this thing lands on my inbox right now, I have to take care of it right now. Like,

corporate how we were expected to act in corporate. I don't think that way about my inbox anymore. I think they sent me an email when they had the time to do it and I get to respond when I have the scheduled time to do it. So I don't have to think about it, zero drama over it, not overwhelming to me at all. Producing and publishing my podcast, easy and even easier now that I'm creating a custom GPT. I have already created a custom GPT to help me turn transcripts into show notes that sound like me.

Thanks to presentations at the Simply Profitable Designer Summit and help from my team member, Erica Nash, who's a chat GPT wizard. I was just like, I created my own GPT, you guys, to help me generate everything I need to produce and promote podcast episodes. And it did it in 30 seconds. I used to spend three hours on that. So anyway, those are the types of things I'd always tried to delegate before, because that's what.

Shannon Mattern (25:24.722)

the experts said to do is, you know, the conventional wisdom is delegate things that aren't in your zone of genius. And I'm like, you know, those things are in my zone of genius. They're easy. They take no thought at all. But those are things that felt like, oh, well, I could just teach someone else to do that. And then I keep the things that required more mental capacity and time, like designing slides for presentations.

which takes me forever because I'm not a designer or writing sales emails or funnel emails or setting up all the funnels and doing all the tech because I technically know how to do those things. There's a lot of thinking involved in that. And so with the summit, I had the realization time wasn't my problem. Capacity was my problem. And overusing my capacity the way that I was, I was shutting down my highest level of thinking.

And my highest level of thinking is what is actually my most valuable asset because when I'm overthinking, I start overdoing and that slows down and delays progress. You know what else shuts down your higher level of thinking is anxiety and worry. And so it's super, super interesting to me is that I have not felt anxious and worried at all, like for several months, not several months, I would say several weeks. Um, and.

Then once I tamped down the anxiety, my higher level thinking came back. But then here's another thing that I found, like that gets in the way of my higher level thinking. And so...

I start to like have some of these realizations as I'm like in the summit planning, but they didn't really happen linearly and I'm processing this in hindsight. But as they start happening, I start to have this inkling of like, okay, I realized that like I am overriding my higher level of thinking that I'm having a hard time making decisions because of the level of work that I have that I've.

Shannon Mattern (27:32.562)

created for myself that I've given to myself. And I realized I need help, not because of time, but because of capacity. And so the people that were asking me to help, I started saying back to them, how about you tell me what you'd like to help me with? And I'll hand that over to you. Like that was my brain's solution at the time to the problem of I don't want to overstep or be the worst boss or worst client ever, which is why.

I'm holding on to all of these things and doing them because I'm good at them, because I can plan it and because of this little sneaky thought, right? And then I have the realization that with the success of the summit, I'm about to add 2 ,500 new people to my email list. And I have not planned for that at all. Like that's one of the reasons to host the summit.

to grow your audience. That's the reason that I, that's the reason I acquired the summit from Krista, like the ultimate reason, right? Cause otherwise just go speak at other people's summits. So like I needed a bridge from Shannon Mattern Summit host to Shannon Mattern web design business coach.

And yes, at the summit, we were inviting people to attend our open house, but not everybody is going to realize that sign up for that, whatever, even though all these new people are on my list, like maybe they're not ready for that yet. And that's okay. So that's kind of when I had the other realization at that point where I was like, I need to, I need to like develop a nurture sequence for all these new people.

but I was like, I'm actually not the best person to write these emails. Like it felt like such an aha moment, like a realization. And I was like, even if I didn't have all this other stuff going on, this is just one of those places where it makes sense to hire someone while I'm over here just pushing the buttons on the summit or producing the podcast or whatever. And it's because I realized like I was not at my full mental capacity to say the things the way that I.

Shannon Mattern (29:45.106)

would want to save them. And so I not only hired Web Designer Academy student, summit speaker and genius copywriter, Sarah Gio to write the nurture emails for me. I also asked Lee and Erica if they would coordinate the entire project for me. Like I was not gonna talk to Sarah at all. I was gonna have a Lee and Erica give her everything that she needed and answer all of her questions. And that was a huge step for me.

you guys to be completely hands off for a project like that, but You know what? Those are the three exact right people to ask for for help all of them Are or were web designer Academy students or graduates their zones of genius are copy conversions and a deep deep insider knowledge of how we help our students and it was like they know just as much as me if not more because they've been in the shoes of our

students in a way that I never have, meaning they made the decision to enroll in our program at some point and they know what that's like on a deep level. And that's when I was like, oh, this is what I get to delegate going forward, not the little easy stuff. And to be fully transparent, I was doing all the things myself because I'm also really protective of our cashflow. I laid off a full -time employee back in October.

And I talk about that in my October income report about how it was a very tough, but necessary decision. And while it feels like forever ago, it was only six months ago. And the only reason I was able to hire Sarah to write those nurture emails because registrations and ticket sales for the simply profitable designer summit massively exceeded my expectations. And it felt like it would be a worthwhile investment to make if I was going to put.

all this time and resource into hosting the summit to also intentionally build relationships with the summit attendees and let them know about all the things that we have that conserve that conserve them with the podcast and our programs and everything beyond just this weekend time that is the summit. It felt like it would be a huge missed opportunity to not do it and I felt like if I did it,

Shannon Mattern (31:57.618)

I'd be doing it with too many tabs open in my brain and it would not have been nearly as brilliant as what Sarah G was able to write on my behalf. And so that was a win. And then later on, my team member, Erica was basically like, I will help you with whatever you need help with, but because I don't know what you have on your plate, I don't know what to offer help with. So how about you just ask and I will tell you yes or no. And I'm like, deal.

And it made me feel weird. I'm not going to lie. And I was like, okay, I have another presentation coming up for the page builder summit in May. And I'm like, this is perfect. I've written the presentation. I'm going to ask Erica to design the slides. She's an instructional designer, a graphic designer. It's in her wheelhouse. Right. And then I notice again, I'm being like all compartmentalize. Like I can only ask her to do things that are in her job description. And like, I can't trust, like not that I can't trust her, but like,

I don't want her to think that she has to like it gets it gets weird. I get weird like corporate trauma back happening with me as in the role of boss employee, where I'm like, I hope like I really want her to know that if she does not have the capacity to do this, she can tell me no. And it's like really figuring out that dynamic. And so I get I get weird about it.

And it's like, she's so invested in everything that we do and loves to dive in and learn new things. And so I have to just be like, I need to figure this out because I need to develop the trust in her that she'll tell me the truth. And I haven't given her the opportunity because I keep all of the stuff, right? And so.

I delegate that to her. She gives me the first draft and I immediately notice myself wanting to not wanting to give her feedback and to just take it and finish it from there, which is a pattern for me. It's something that I have had a problem with in the past with delegation. And I'm like, no, just tell her you're feeling some type of way about giving her the feedback and give her the feedback. And I was thinking things like I was just noticing my brain.

Shannon Mattern (34:17.554)

I'm being nitpicky. I'm ungrateful. I don't want her to be annoyed with me. I don't want her to feel like the work that she did was a waste because I want to change it. That's where my brain's going. On Erica's side, she's like, this is a first draft. I need your feedback so I can understand what you want. And it might take us a few rounds. But the next time I do a presentation for you, we'll be more on the same page. She's not thinking of it anywhere near the same way my dramatic brain is thinking about it.

And so I was like, oh my gosh, thank you so much for kindly and gently leading me through the process of giving you feedback and making it feel safe for me to do it. And I'm like, I'm like sitting here thinking like, I know I'm the quote unquote boss and I'm supposed to be the leader, but she's a leader too. We're a team. And she totally steps into that role with me when she sees I need guidance in areas that she excels. And I'm so grateful for that because it allowed me to see.

how much I was judging myself and being like, well, I don't want to ask for what I want in case you think a certain way about me. But in reality, I'm just projecting onto you what I really think about myself. So I'll just do things that completely drain my capacity. So I don't have to deal with what's really going on here, which is me and how I think about myself and how I'm trying to protect myself. And it all goes back to what my friend.

and a mindset coach, Alicia St. Germain coaches on. And as part of the work we do in our next level mastermind, we uncover what's called your big assumption, which is a core belief you operate by that keeps you safe and productive up into a point. Like it can really help you like get to a certain spot, but then it actually starts to get in your way and keeps you stuck as you start to like move out of your comfort zone. And my big assumption is that if people don't like me, I could lose everything.

It's like, no wonder I don't want to risk giving feedback or delegating or whatever. And like, once you know your big assumption, you'll see how it shows up everywhere. And it's so powerful to know it and see it and take actions to disprove and dismantle it so that you can get to the next level. Like if I didn't know that, it would take me a really long time to figure out how to.

Shannon Mattern (36:37.81)

how to delegate or I probably would just stop trying because it didn't feel safe, right? So I see this all the time though. People come into the web designer academy, they implement our strategies, they start getting new projects at higher prices than ever, they start having success and it pushes right up on their big assumption, whatever that is. And so they fall back into old patterns of people pleasing over delivery and dropping their boundaries.

whatever it is that they do to feel safe. We also see it when people come into the regular web designer academy and like implementing our strategies pushes on their big assumption. And so it then stops them and we have to help coach them through that as well. But the conversations in our next level mastermind, they're like different. They're like, I have everything I thought I wanted. Why am I struggling so much? Do I even really want it?

I think I want more, but it can't happen if things stay how they are now. And so it's really two different conversations happening. And that's why we have two different parts of our program. Like we have, we have the part where we're helping you start to create the success. And we have the part where we help you maintain or grow it. Because if you don't deal with the things that are in your way,

they're going to follow you and keep making it hard for you, right? So I go through it too. I have coaches who help me. I love helping you guys with that stuff too. So huge realizations about asking for help and feedback and how I spend my time that I'll be looking at. I'm sure more closely over the next few months because I'm realizing that like doing more, more, more.

in lots of different areas of this business is having diminishing returns, if not negative returns, and it's not sustainable on all fronts. So like what the summit reminded me of is how passionate I am about helping web designers, especially women web designers, make a full -time living doing something that they love in a way that is profitable and sustainable for them. And seeing thousands of them come together,

Shannon Mattern (38:51.73)

in one place at one time to learn new strategies and skills was so rewarding to me. And being able to get to be the one to facilitate that was like, yes, this is why I do what I do. Why I choose to make my own living doing this with all of its ups and downs versus going to work for someone else. And so when you have times that it feels hard, it has to feel worth it.

It has to feel worth this choosing this hard over the hard of working for someone else, having no freedom, having corporate be a grind, all of those things, because if it's not, it's fair, it may very well be that corporate may be a better option for you. And there is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with that at all. It's just staying true to you and why you're doing what you're doing. And so it's our goal to serve.

over 100 women web designers in the Web Designer Academy this year. And it's about figuring out what's working and doing more than that. Coming up with theories to test, gathering data, analyzing, testing more, and not just blindly trying thing after thing after thing. So in January, I shared with you all that we started a couple of new experiments. We did a 30 day trial period before committing for people to like do before committing to a full year in our program.

And then we also launched our profitable web designer premium podcast feed, which shows people what it's like to be coached by us. And I came up with those experiments because my friend, Dr. Lee Cordell of the Institute for Trauma and Psychological Safety shared with me that people have three core needs that must be met in order to make a decision to move forward with buying. And this applies to your clients buying decisions just as much as it applies to students decision to join us.

So this is really, really important to know. So if you want to like take notes on this, you totally can. The first core need is resources, time, information, money, and energy. Those are the basics that are pretty obvious. Most people focus on that when it comes to sales. The second core need is psychological safety. Like not only do I trust you, can I trust myself to follow through on my end and is it safe to do this? Like trusting.

Shannon Mattern (41:13.298)

you as the designer trusting themselves to be successful on their side and is it safe to do this? Is it safe to work with you? Is it safe in your community? Is it safe in my community? Like how well my tribe and people closest to me react to me doing this? These are all things that we don't consider. We don't think about when someone's making the decision to like hire us to build a website for them, right? Like what are...

They're worried about what their partner's going to think or what their mom's going to think or what their best friend's going to think. Right. So they need to feel like they're making the right decision. And the third core need is autonomy or choice. What choices or options are available to me and do I have freedom after making this decision? So I feel like the three core needs is an entire podcast episode on its own and how they apply to sales in their web design business. But when, what I realized, um,

in January after doing that podcast episode and talking to Dr. Lee and all of the things is that while we do an awesome job of making sure our web designer academy students have all of those boxes checked with their offers and how we teach them to package price market and sell and deliver their services. I definitely saw some opportunities for us to do better in meeting the three core needs in terms of our offer.

of how we market and sell the web designer Academy. Cause remember I'm like, I run my business a little differently cause I'm selling something differently, but the three core needs are the same regardless. And so back in January, I shared with you my income report. We added that 30 day trial to check the autonomy box. Like our program is a year long, very intentionally. And that doesn't mean that you have to wait a whole year to get results. Like you're going to create results within the first 60 to 90 days.

but you come in for a month and if after a month it's not for you, you can leave and you just pay for the month that you were in the program, which is sustainable for us to offer and it's autonomy for you, which is a win -win. And so I rolled that out in January and then I also at the, I think at the end of January. And also I started the profitable web designer premium podcast to check the box of psychological safety. Like what happens on the inside?

Shannon Mattern (43:36.754)

What's coaching like, do you vibe with me on it? Do you trust me? Do you vibe with the community or the values and how we run it? And I, and then in February I added, um, a program guide and I added it at the top of the web designer Academy application page, which outlined the entire program in detail, like the modules, the format, the time investment, the financial investment. And I put that guide together because we used to just share that with people after we accepted their application.

before they made the decision to enroll. But I really put that together because I felt like for a few reasons, like they wanted to feel like safe about like, okay, if I just choose to fill out this application and enter this conversation with you, I wanna know all of the things before I do that. And so that they had something that they could show people who might wanna know what they're spending their money on, like their partner or whatever.

to be like, this is what this is. This is all of the details in one document. I can answer all of your questions with this. Because I don't know about y 'all, but when I invested in my first, I'm thinking my first high ticket, when I say high ticket, I mean $5 ,000 or more coaching program. I remember my husband being like,

You're giving money on the internet to a stranger on the internet. That's what you're telling me you want to do. And I'm like, you trust me, right? And he was like, I trust you. And I was like, it was, it was a hard like thing for him to wrap his mind around. And so I was like, Oh, if I would have had that, that would have like tamped down his, um, Scam, his Spidey sense for scams, right? So I created that.

So if you, if you're interested in seeing that, you can just go to web designer academy .com forward slash apply, click the link at the top of the page. You don't even have to enter an email address to get it. It's just a Google doc. So that guide was designed to check the boxes of like time information and psychological safety. And then during the summit, I hosted an open house where I just like, I talked about the details of our program and how we help web designers.

Shannon Mattern (45:58.13)

like go from undercharging and over delivering to creating a full -time income and like watch people through the entire program, like the time investment, the financial investment, everything that we do. And I also tested out some promotional pricing that I've never offered it before just to see if that would check the money box for people. Like I...

know that when you come to work with us, you're going to make your money back and then some, but you still need to feel confident that you can do that. And so I'm like, how can I make this like seem like as much of a no brainer as possible while keeping it sustainable for us? So I wanted to test that out. And then we also put the replay.

of that open house on the application page. So people who want to can watch that and get all of the program details up front before applying. So we're all about experiments around here and the experiment that I'm doing with all of these things, like the questions that I'm looking at are will that create less applications or more applications to give people all of the information up front before applying.

Will it create less enrollments or more enrollments to do all of these things? Like, I don't know. I don't know yet. I will let you know. But what I do know is that students who are enrolling are right now are reporting that those things were very important factors in their decision to join us. So I feel like we are on the right track. Like the more I can let you all see what's happening.

on the inside and see how we help you create success, but also how we help you through challenges because you will experience challenges working with us. That is where the rubber meets the road in terms of growing a successful business is not to avoid challenges, but to be supported through them. Like the more we can show you those things, I think the more safe people will feel to come into our program. But I'll share with you the results of that open enrollment.

Shannon Mattern (48:07.41)

promotion in my April income report. So keep an eye out for that. And we have some other creative ideas to test to check the money and energy boxes. Like how can we provide some trainings that will equip you to overcome some of your hurt biggest hurdles to letting us help you in our program, um, which are your belief that it will actually work for you, that you can do it, that you can create results by giving you some bite sized trainings ahead of time to help you create quick wins and stuff like that.

So we understand it's a big decision to come work with us. Things are way different now than they were in 2020 and 2021 and even halfway through 2022 when we were all stuck at home with disposable income and nowhere to go. Things cost more. You want to do more things than what you were doing before and you have to be more certain than ever that this is what you want and it will work for you versus back in the day when you were like, hey, let's try it. What have I got to lose? I'm stuck at home anyway.

Like the stakes feel higher now. So we want to make sure you have what you need to make the decision. And listen, things feel that way for your clients too, right? So we've always given our students what they need to check the boxes of the three core needs with their offers to their clients. So we teach you how to do that too. But even I can't see the outside of my business from the inside. Like I think I'm doing all the things I'm like, oh, this is how I checked that box. Like,

This is, of course this makes sense, but it turns out I'm not. And I need that outside perspective for myself, which is why I work with Lee over at Zanatang Consulting for conversion rate optimization and why I have, I'm in masterminds and I have groups of colleagues that point out things to me. So we are trying to do more things because we realize like the changing environment makes the stakes higher for you.

But you got to think about that for your clients too. If the stakes are higher for them, what are you doing to ensure that you're checking the box of the three core needs for your clients? And that's what we really help you with inside of the web designer Academy too, beyond just the mindset, the pricing, all of those things. It's like making sure that you know what's going on in the landscape and how you can help your clients, how you can navigate in the sales process for your clients.

Shannon Mattern (50:35.026)

So those were the biggest things that happened in February, March, and you know, the biggest like aha moments and realizations about experimentation and where I'm getting in my own way. And I'm writing this in April. I'm actually recording this about halfway through April. And right now I'm really just trying to give myself some space to slow down mentally recharge, which I feel like I totally have at this point, but the challenge that

creates for me is like I have so many more ideas when I'm not mentally overtaxed. And so now instead of acting on every single idea that I have, I'm really just trying to make some thoughtful, intentional decisions based on everything I've learned in Q1 without putting the pressure on them that they have to be the right decisions. I think that that's the other piece of this that I would invite you to.

take away from this podcast episode is you don't know if a decision's right until you try it. And so you get to try a lot of things being detached to the outcome so that you can see if it worked or not, especially when that comes to your marketing, you guys, like especially when it comes to marketing, like not making, not making people ghosting you or whatever mean anything and just continue to do that. Right. So I'll talk, that's all.

We'll talk about that in my April income report as well because we deemed April rejection month inside the web designer Academy and I'll fill you in on what we did and give you give you the steps in case you want to do it for yourself. So that's really like my Q1 takeaways and really February March for the income report. So with all of that being said,

I'll wrap up with the numbers. In February, our revenue was $8 ,070 .26. And I think that's all recurring revenue from Web Designer Academy payment plans. And February is typically like that. Like the big whoosh of enrollments comes in December. And then January and February, typically payment money comes in from payment plans. And then we do the summit and open enrollment in March and get another whoosh of students.

Shannon Mattern (53:01.106)

But we're always open. Like we're always doing evergreen enrollment and I'm testing out some promotional pricing for evergreen enrollment. Since spoiler alert, the test was successful, meaning, but like when people apply like for evergreen enrollment, I don't want somebody who wants our help now to have to wait until we're doing open enrollment promotional pricing to take advantage of those savings.

And so what we're going to be testing is apply any time, whether we're doing an open enrollment or not. And if you enroll within 14 days of applying, you'll get that promotional pricing. And then because our program is so personalized, it doesn't matter if you enroll during our open enrollment or on a Tuesday in July, it literally doesn't matter. So we're working on ways to increase enrollments between those promotional periods. Um,

because why make you wait to get help when our program doesn't require that you all enroll at the same time? So we'll be working on that. And we're all about like, we love to incentivize the decision to join around here. Or we love to help you incentivize the decision for your clients to say yes to you rather than to keep putting off their goals and dreams. And we also love to incentivize you to say yes rather than.

putting off your goals and dreams. So that's why we do promotions because we're always open. And we like to give you a reason to say yes now instead of waiting for another two years and being in the same spot that you are when you first considered working with us. So we also started tracking another metric for our business, which is our monthly rolling revenue.

And I always tell you guys in every income report, our monthly minimum baseline to operate this business is $15 ,000 a month. And so as long as our rolling revenue metric is averaging 15K a month, we're in good shape because it accounts for all those wishes of money that cover our 15K of monthly expenses. So 10 ,000 of that is mine and Erica's salary and payroll taxes.

Shannon Mattern (55:21.522)

I'm full time and she's part time. And the other 5K of our monthly minimum baseline is operations, like all the tools we use to run the business, all the services we need to operate, like accounting, bookkeeping, legal, our podcast production, the consulting with Lee, all of the things. So our monthly minimum baseline to operate the web designer academy is $15 ,000. Right now we're working on regrowing our monthly recurring revenue.

to 15 ,000 a month. It used to be there, then 2023 happened and now it's below and we've been operating with a mix of business savings and recurring revenue from our payment plans. So I'm so glad that we had the money sitting there from all the good years to help us weather the ones that aren't so good, but now we're working on growing back up to that 15K recurring revenue.

So with all that being said, here are the numbers. Revenue in February, $8 ,070 .26. Expenses, $13 ,408 for a net profit of negative $5 ,337 .74. In March, our revenue was $30 ,589, including $24 ,637 of ticket sales from the Simply Profitable Designer Summit.

which was amazing. Our expenses were $18 ,305 .51. And I think the difference between the 13 ,000 in February and the 15 ,000 in March or the 18 in March was that an expense that normally would hit in February, hit in March. So it's not like we, you know, saved money in March and overspent in or saved money in February and overspent in March. It was literally just the day that the expense hit.

but our expenses were 18 ,305 .51, which did not include affiliate payouts to summit speakers, paying out half of the profit to the previous owner of the summit. So I'll break that stuff down in my April income report because those payouts happened in April, but it does include the copywriting that I mentioned to nurture all of our new email subscribers. It includes mine and Erica's salaries, all of our other expenses.

Shannon Mattern (57:49.298)

for a net profit of $12 ,284 .29 and spoil alert, all of that and then some went to paying out our affiliates and paying out Krista. So before I move, Krista who's the owner of the, I guess the co -owner of the summit. So before I move on to our March income report, last month in my next level mastermind, I got a question from one of our members.

about how I stay motivated when my numbers don't look like how I'd like them to look, or I'm not consistently meeting that monthly minimum baseline revenue goal every single month. And while I'm working my way back there. And I wanted to share my candid answer with you in case it helps you. So here's what that question was and what my answer was.

Shannon Mattern (43:08.43)
you said you listened to my January income report and would love to hear my thoughts about how it feels knowing you're in the negative and how you carry that while staying positive and showing up for us going forward. So my January income report, I think. Like my monthly profit was negative, like $6 ,000 or something.

Um, but the way I, I mean, and I think in December we made like $35 ,000. So the way I look at my cashflow is like, I know what my operating expenses are every single month. I made more than my operating expenses in December and less than my operating expenses in January, plus whatever like I have in the bank to cover that cashflow. So even though it's like,

A negative on paper in terms of like when the day of the month opens and closes.

It's just a measurement, I guess I would say. Like, I'm just like, this is a measurement of the goings on between the state and the state. And it's showing me like where my work is. So if I'm like, or like, I don't know how to explain it. So.

Shannon Mattern (44:44.622)
Do I want my revenue to match up with my expenses every single month? Yes, that's the goal. That's how my business was running for many years until last spring and Stripe and different situations knocked my, uh, knocked my.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know

Shannon Mattern (45:34.286)
Like it's just, that's the, like one, that's one that like I've identified in my work with Alicia is just that like.

It's just that fear is always there and just kind of knowing that like, it's just the way my brain's going to react and just be like, okay, you can go sit over there. I don't need you. I don't need you right now. I've done it before. I can do it again. There's always more on the way. And another thing that Alicia and I have been like talking about is she's like, you've got to stop thinking that resources equal freedom.

She's like, resilience is what equals freedom. And if you tie...

If, if freedom is one of your core values and you tie freedom to the, what your bank account balance says every single month.

You are, it's like a, it's a fallacy. Like your freedom comes from your ability to be resilient in all circumstances. So I don't know if that answers your question, but that's like really how I think, like, I think very logically about it. Like we need to get more applications and close more sales and do the things that we need to do to do that. And then I think very.

Shannon Mattern (47:03.278)
mindset -y about it where I'm just like...

There's always more on the way. There's more to do here. There's more things to try. I've planted a lot of seeds. Like it'll be fine. So I don't know. And also.

I mean, don't tell anybody, but I do it for free.

Shannon Mattern (47:35.662)
like what I'm passionate about. So I don't know.

Yeah, it was, it's interesting to hear because like you're, I was like, how does she keep going? How does she not feel like, oh, it's too hard. Nevermind. I'm not going to do this. Hearing that you. Yeah. Oh, I love what I do too. But some days it like hearing you say, you know, Oh, I've done this before. I can do it again. And you had those years of it matching up.

I have years of not profiting and just, you know, wearing down the savings and the stocks and how many years to the point.

Shannon Mattern (48:27.054)
Like seven or eight, I think, I don't remember what year I left corporate, because I started my business a little bit before leaving corporate. Just trying all these things, never quite getting there. And I've had some wins this past couple months of, I'm almost to the, almost hit my goal of having the money for Q2, but haven't quite hit it yet.

there's nobody else on the books. And then I'm like looking at more outreach. And it's hard to like, keep that feeling and keep going. You know what I mean? And still stay positive. And sometimes, you know, sometimes it's just a mood, but hormones and stuff. But I'm like, how does she think you show up here confidently, love it, and you, you just keep

coming and you're willing to share and.

I don't know, I just, it's helpful to me to see you in action doing that. It's inspirational. It's aspirational. And I was just like, how does it feel on the inside for Shannon?

If I didn't have this group to come and lead, I don't know that it would feel as easy.

Shannon Mattern (49:57.486)
It would probably feel really like lonely and I don't, I think I would have changed to something else a long time ago if I didn't feel.

Shannon Mattern (50:13.422)
like it was like like the challenges I'm going through are doing anybody any good.

Shannon Mattern (50:22.862)
It's like worth persisting because I know it helps other people. So.

That's how I feel about, that's how I can continue to show up, I guess, to answer that question very candidly. I'm curious, like.

What marks are you setting for yourself?

Like are, I'm just going to like directly ask this question. Cause I don't know what a different way to answer. Are you like setting yourself up to never win? Like, are you setting unreal, like not unrealistic goals, like huge goals that are unnecessary or are they like realistic goals that are necessary?

I think in years leading up to now, I've had big goals, too big to just leap from zero to a hundred. I have tamped those down recently to like the lowest possible next step. Minimum baseline revenue. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that is like still.

Shannon Mattern (51:44.654)
I don't know if I thought it would be easy. It's a lot of work to just get there. And maybe sometimes when I, you know, even though I have that minimum in my head, I'm looking ahead at the rest of the year. And so that minimum gets really big, becomes a big number. And not just the one right in front of me, which I have almost there, just like a thousand dollars off. Oh wait, no, I just did something. I'm like a couple hundred dollars off. I think that that's like really important to,

Like if we set ourselves up to never, if the way we set goals, sets ourselves up to never reach them. And then all we do is tell the story. And I'm not saying that you don't want to make more money. I'm just saying like what our brain does is you're, you're negative, you're negative, you're negative. You haven't gotten there. You haven't gotten there. That would be so hard to keep persisting instead of like,

I, I'm only a thousand away and really showing yourself like the actions I've taken resulted in this. I'm going to continue to do more of that instead of what we see people do at this point where it gets hard is the relief comes from jumping into another course program system process. Like the answers over here somewhere.

when the answer is to maintain the momentum that you've created.

Shannon Mattern (53:25.966)
Which sucks and it takes patience and a lot of trust and a lot of resilience, but it also takes telling yourself the truth about your efforts, which is you are doing things and they are creating results and you do know how to do it and it is working.

Shannon Mattern (53:50.798)
And I have a weird relationship with goals too, where I'm like, why am I just picking some arbitrary random thing and then making myself worth means something when I hit that number or not. And I'm still working this out with Alicia, cause she's just like, you have a really bad relationship with goals. And I'm like, I know because I don't ever reach them. I'm like, I say I want these things, but it's like,

Do I really, do I really, if I'm not willing to do the things required to get them or other people have to comply? And that's where I have a tricky relationship with it too. It's like, I need you to do something for me to reach my goal. How is that even in my control?

Yeah, so you had the same thing. There's something there. Go ahead. I had the same conversation with Alicia, the retreat talking about goals. It's like, why, why said him if, if it's up to outside forces, whether I make it or not. I know I'm fighting the. Looking for something different or something else that affects, you know, when.

just doing normal stuff and you get a financial hit. I got a financial hit on taxes and it's like, oh boy, but I'm like, it's gonna come, it's gonna come, doing the things, so it will come.

Shannon Mattern (55:32.814)
Yeah, I think I see, I need to journal on this for sure. I see some like layers for this goal thing that I'd like to dig into. Cause I, I, yeah, I felt very, I don't know. I don't want to say relaxed, but I felt more peaceful with my goal when I was talking about it in January and February. Cause I was just thinking about that smaller goal.

and just working toward that with my making offers. But I think, yeah, there's this other.

level in my head, this other subconscious goal that is like, I've solved for the year and for the next 10 years. And I need to, you know, that what I do right now means I've, I've made it. I've gotten there and just need to make those goals smaller and celebrate them. Your goal was 10 ,000 for the first quarter, right? Is that right? Yeah.

Basically, yeah. And you still have like 9 ,000 of March.

to close that gap. And then also all the seeds you've planted for the next quarter in the first quarter that haven't grown yet.

Shannon Mattern (57:00.014)
Yeah, I think that's another piece too. I was like, I saw so much action happening from the work I did in December and November. And I was like, Ooh, it's all happening. And now it's slowed. And right now I've been doing a lot of like making appearances in groups and speaking and prepping for summits. And so I'm not seeing anything happening from that yet. So it feels like I've done nothing and nothing is happening and no seeds are growing. And I just gotta remember that those, yeah, those are just planted.

And I am taking action. It's just been a little different. So.

The other thing about like, so, so the like money is like the amount of money you make as a result. It's not necessarily a goal. The amount of clients you book as a result, it's not necessarily a goal. Like if the way I need to think about goals is like they are in my control. So the only goal I can set is to reach out to this number of people, you know, and I am in control of whether or not I do that.

then I have to just measure the results of what happens when I achieve my goals. And then it's like, oh, I have the data that if I reach out to know people, I get no clients. If I reach out to 10, I get one. If I, you know, that type of thing, and then it just gives you the data to like be able to adjust what you're spending your time and energy on. If you're like, oh, I spoke at this event and it got me,

this many clients, like maybe I need to go find more of those. Like if you, like if it's just about money, there's so many easier ways to make like to go make money, like a job, like just clock in clock out. And there's reasons we, we all don't do that. Yes. Because that's your soul out in a whole different way.

Shannon Mattern (59:05.358)
At least, you know, for those of us that are unemployable now.

And that doesn't mean it's that way forever. Like.

Shannon Mattern (59:25.422)
I don't know. I just.

I wish I had the magic answer on.

Shannon Mattern (59:37.102)
Dene said, badass at making money says the goal is to knock on X doors, not land X clients.

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (59:48.878)
So I think it's also the other thing to just kind of leave you with. And then we'll wrap up. I know it's three o 'clock is just like, get back to the core. Why of why you're doing this when you're starting to feel like nothing's working because truly you do have.

Shannon Mattern (01:00:05.678)
like

It has to be worth it to you to persist through this difficult spot. Yeah. It's that freedom piece.

Shannon Mattern (58:50.93)

So I hope that helped you and the bottom line is that it's all about managing your mind so that you have the energy to keep moving forward. If you're constantly thinking nothing's working, I'm the only one going through this. I've already tried that and it didn't work and you're hustling, hustling, hustling and overworking and at capacity and not giving yourself the support and working on the wrong things and not figuring out how to persist through the impatience, you're going to burn out. Like,

Your thoughts can drain your capacity just as fast as overworking can, if not faster. But if you have a strong why, if you know how to manage your mind, you can be patient. And if you're willing to be really honest about the goals you like your must goals, like the non -negotiable goals versus the want goals or the I'd like to goals.

and you're willing to make tough decisions in pursuit of your goals to position you to simply create the need so that you can stabilize and get to the want. It's totally, totally worth it. But you have to have a different conversation with yourself about what progress looks like and why you're doing what you're doing than the conversation that sounds hard and like it's a grind and.

If I'm saying this to you, it's because I've had to go through looking at myself and how I was talking to myself about myself and about my business and realizing how that conversation was actually helping perpetuate the challenges I was having. And that if I wanted to break out of that, I had to completely change the conversation I was having with myself and anxiety is gone. Ideas are back, like opportunities. Uh,

seeing so many opportunities for us to serve and support and connect with new people. And like, I don't know, things have never felt better. So that's everything I've got for our March income report. Oh, I did file my taxes in March. It was a very complicated tax year due to the fraud stuff that happened to me last year and the revenue losses.

Shannon Mattern (01:01:10.738)

So I'm so, so grateful to Nakandra Moran of exceptional tax services for guiding me through that. I'll talk more about that in my April income report. And then I'll also tell you about the results of our open enrollment because April, 2024 is the one year anniversary of when all the crap hit the fan in the business in 2023. And it is really, really cool to see how everything's coming back together after going through those challenges. So.

That's it for my February and March income report. I hope you heard something that helped you and I'd love, love, love if you could just take a second to leave a rating and review on whatever platform you're listening to. If you're on Apple podcasts, you can just go to webdesigneracademy .com forward slash review and it will take you to the exact right place. And

When you do that, it helps this podcast get in front of more web designers who need to hear what we're talking about. So I would be ever so grateful if you shared a rating and review and I will see you right back here next week. Bye.