#187 – February 2026 Income Report

Shannon Mattern (00:01.398)

Hello everyone and welcome to our February 2026 income report on the profitable web designer podcast. I'm joined by my co-host and our client success coordinator inside of the web designer Academy, Erica Nash. Erica, welcome.

Erica Nash (00:18.178)

Thanks for having me.

Shannon Mattern (00:20.168)

So we record this episode every month where Erica interviews me about how much money the Web Designer Academy made in the past month, how much it spent, all of the lessons that I learned along the way because our thoughts about money are integral parts of our business. Money mindset is a huge component of what we do inside of the Web Designer Academy.

We help you shift your thoughts about money, about pricing, all of the things. And so I'm also, you know, like doing that work in my business all the time. I don't think that it ever ends. And that's one of the reasons why we do these income reports to just show what it looks like behind the scenes of running a business. Even though I'm not selling freelance web design services anymore.

Doesn't matter, the thoughts are all the same. yeah, Erica interviews me about inflow, outflow, all of the things that happened. So you ready to dive in Erica?

Erica Nash (01:31.788)

I'm ready. I am curious, do you think people would be surprised? People who are not in Web Designer Academy, do you think they would be surprised that the majority of our work is on Money Mindset?

Shannon Mattern (01:49.898)

I think, I don't know because it's called a web designer academy. And I think people think it's like, you're going to teach me to be a web designer. That's not what we do. But we also just talk about business stuff, right? So I think a lot of people think like systems, processes, marketing tactics, strategy. And yes, there are systems, processes, strategies for all of the things.

biggest thing that we talk about is pricing. Pricing is the biggest lever you can pull when it comes to creating capacity for yourself, creating time, making the money that you really want to be making. And there is so much stuff we have wrapped up in our pricing. was just talking to one of my private coaching clients. And what we uncovered is that like,

Erica Nash (02:23.246)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (02:49.646)

If she's not perfect, then she doesn't deserve it. And she felt like at the prices that she really should be and wanted to be charging for the level of quality she was providing, that she'd have to be even more perfect. The level of perfection rose with the dollar amount. And it's like, if you don't even know that that's going on, and you don't identify it and untie it,

then it's never going to be safe for you to charge the amount of money that you really want to charge when the higher the dollar amount goes, the higher the impossible standard gets raised for you. And no one can ever be that perfect. So better to just keep your prices low to protect yourself. And so that's the work.

Erica Nash (03:33.485)

Yeah.

Erica Nash (03:43.458)

Right.

Shannon Mattern (03:46.228)

That's the work that we do. So yes, I do think people would be surprised. And maybe they wouldn't, because if you've been listening to this podcast for a long time, you'd be like, yeah, they talk about that stuff all the time.

Erica Nash (03:56.718)

Yeah.

Yeah, I think that, you know, when the stakes are that high, like talking about your private client, like when the stakes are that high, why would you ever make an offer? Why would you ever market yourself? Why would you ever try to put yourself in that position? You wouldn't. Which is like no wonder then that, you know, it's like I'm not making enough money or, you know, things feel really tight or like I have to do. And then I think then

Shannon Mattern (04:08.948)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (04:17.107)

Mm-hmm. No.

Erica Nash (04:30.668)

And we go down the rabbit hole, right? Then it like almost leads you into having to be even more perfect because then you're worried about, if I don't please these clients, then I'm going to lose their like, you know, that income or whatever. And so then it just it's like self-fulfilling prophecy all the way around.

Shannon Mattern (04:50.365)

Yeah, it truly is. And so it all starts with really examining what you believe about money and the way that it works and what it means to you and what you mean to it and how those two things work together and figuring out, okay, well, where are my beliefs creating a wanted results for me and where are they creating unwanted results for me?

And wherever they're creating wanted results, like, amazing, let's keep doing that. And wherever they're creating unwanted results, we get to break that down and rebuild it in a way that's going to create wanted results for you. Because I was just recording a podcast with someone else earlier, and she was just like, said as if the sky was blue, as if it's a fact.

that newer business owners don't have money. And I was like, that's interesting that you said that. That's not always the case. And it's when we price through our own money mindset lens, or we believe the world works.

that everybody thinks about money the way that we do that. they're just starting a business. Of course, they would not have any money to invest in anything. That's that person projecting their own experience onto everyone else. And that's not always the case. And so just being aware of the things that we think, we always say, like in the Web Designer Academy, we use sky is blue in two ways. We're like, we say it for things that you just think are true.

And you never question them like, just like the sky is blue. I'd never even question that. We also use it on the flip side to like just state the thing the way that it is as if the sky is blue. it's just one of those things where like, don't believe everything you think.

Erica Nash (06:52.184)

Yeah. And that's hard. That's so hard. Yeah. Just an awareness.

Shannon Mattern (06:55.217)

It's not easy. There's a skill involved of like an awareness and being like being in the room with other people who can be like, that's interesting that you said that. Here's another super interesting thing that's been happening lately with like, don't believe everything you think. A lot of

Erica Nash (07:09.23)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (07:20.245)

I've noticed a lot of web designer Academy students, even my private coaching clients, myself even, were like, I went to chat GPT for some coaching and chat GPT like told me this thing. the thing, chat GPT is great at like listening to what you say and giving you information based on what you say. Chat GPT is not great at being like,

Erica Nash (07:31.534)

you

Shannon Mattern (07:47.752)

wait, why are we even asking this question in the first place? The fact that you're even in here asking this question, like, there could be like a thought error in your premise. And ChatGPT is not going to like, doesn't have the context or the nuance to be like, interesting that you even ask that question. I wonder why you're even asking. It's just going to answer your question.

Erica Nash (08:14.624)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (08:16.903)

Or it's going to give you, even if you're like, tell me what I'm not seeing, it still isn't, it panders to you. It agrees with you. And so it's just really interesting what I've noticed with coaching yourself with AI can create

Erica Nash (08:26.336)

It panders to you. Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (08:44.197)

so much of an echo chamber that I've had to stop doing it, where I'm like, I cannot go to chat GPT for advice because it's giving me terrible, not terrible advice. I shouldn't be that dramatic. But it is really reinforcing thought patterns that aren't helpful for me.

Erica Nash (08:47.735)

Yeah.

Erica Nash (09:01.334)

Yeah. Yeah. Yes, I would say that humans, human coaches are better than bot coaches for sure.

Shannon Mattern (09:12.137)

I wouldn't say better, just different, right? think chat GPT is like great for strategy, but like, kind of when it comes to mindset stuff, I'm like, ooh, like it's not even gonna question why you believe that to be true in the first place. It's gonna give you advice based on the premise of what you're thinking being factual.

Erica Nash (09:31.074)

Yeah, yeah, especially after we had a guest presenter talk about the way that AI search works. And she kind of demystified a little bit of like how it's giving you answers. I was like, no, this legit is an echo chamber. Like it really, really is just pulling based off of like my own sort of like history.

of like not even just in Chachi BT, right? And so, yeah, I just find it so fascinating. And I think that...

I don't know, I have lots of thoughts on AI, but that's not necessarily relevant to this conversation, but yeah.

Shannon Mattern (10:17.905)

It kind of is. Let's come back to that when we talk about important things that happened in February about AI and how that's impacting things.

Erica Nash (10:24.192)

Okay, yeah.

Erica Nash (10:29.57)

For sure. So yeah, let's talk about what we believe about money and dive into February. So how much was the total inflow in February, 2026 and where did it come from?

Shannon Mattern (10:43.157)

Yeah, so our inflow was $26,735.12 and again came from like unexpected places. definitely Web Designer Academy payment plans next level payment plans.

renewals, people like renewing into the program for another year, which is so awesome. It also came from some Simply Profitable Designer Summit registrations. So I think at the time this is coming out, the summit will have already happened, but we opened up registration for the Simply Profitable Designer Summit and we always sell an upgrade, an upgraded ticket for that.

But it also came from private coaching and sponsorships for the profitable web designer podcast that were, I don't know, unexpected. I wasn't promoting it actively, but it just came through, which is really fun and I'm excited about that. Sold a web designer academy self study to someone.

Yeah, that's really where most of the revenue came from, some affiliate income. And yeah, just a few different sources there, but mostly like we didn't have any new students join in February. So yeah, that's where the 26,000 came from.

Erica Nash (12:27.69)

Awesome. So let's talk about the outflow.

Shannon Mattern (12:30.645)

Yeah, so the outflow was $23,015.85. And that was our typical expenses for the most part. Eric and I's salaries were both employees of our company. That's about 10,500 of our outflow every month. All of the tools that we use to run the business is about $1,200.

our marketing, we spend about 2000 a month on marketing that comes, that's podcast production. That's all of our conversion rate optimization work. That's really, like work on our website, AEO SEO, like all of those things. I invested in working with my friend and mastermind.

person in Columbus. name is Dr. Lee Cordell, and she helped me really see a lot of my blind spots and helped me kind of come up with a plan to make some things easier, to give me back some capacity, to just make some pretty significant shifts in how we're doing things. So we can talk about that a little bit more. So the first payment for her came out of

that. Simply Profitable Designer Summit, just paying the lovely Anshan LaRue for shout out to Anshan, Simply Digital Design. Summit Tech, I love Anshan for Summit Tech. I'm so happy to give Anshan money.

Erica Nash (14:11.042)

Shout out.

Erica Nash (14:18.719)

Thank

Shannon Mattern (14:24.795)

just we booked like a package of VIP days with her some she has like a package of VIP days that she'll do to do all of the tech related to our summit. So she did all of that. So I made I don't know maybe one or two payments to her two payments to her in February for wrapping up all of our summit tech. 13.

hundred, 1350 of this is a retreat that we're doing here in Columbus in June for our next level mastermind. Typically we have one retreat a year. It's in November. It's usually somewhere sunny and warm in Florida. And every year since we've been doing this, people are like, I don't want to wait a whole year. I don't want to wait a whole year. So I've always, I'm always like, well, we should like,

pick a city and meet up in the city. And we've never done it. And this year I'm like, I'm picked. We're just going to do it in Columbus because that's where I live. And let me just grab the Airbnbs that we booked the first time I hosted the retreat. And so I paid the deposit on those. So that's happening. I'm so excited to see everybody in person.

Erica Nash (15:48.216)

So exciting.

Shannon Mattern (15:51.322)

in June. So if you're listening to this and you're like, next level mastermind, what's that? Go to webdesigneracademy.com, click on programs, click on next level, and you'll see what that is. But it's, it's for I would say more experienced women web designers who are feeling a little lonely and trapped by their success. I think that it's like, it's

Erica Nash (16:15.63)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (16:21.461)

it's got a branding problem in a way where people think it's so intense. everybody, one of our Web Designer Academy students, met with her the other day. And she was like, do you think I'm ready for next level? Because I don't want to run a multi-hundred-thousand dollar agency. And I'm like, ew, who does? No, get into next level. That's not what's happening in there. So it's really, it's.

just a space where you can grow into your next level, not the next level, I think would be the best way to describe that. So we're having a mini retreat and then that thousand on my line of credit, bank fees, office expenses, all of those little things that that's what added up to all of the expenses in February. And so we added 37.

Erica Nash (16:56.012)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (17:19.669)

$119.77 to our reserves.

Erica Nash (17:24.856)

Beautiful.

Shannon Mattern (17:25.941)

Yeah. And so last year, I looked in 2025. Our inflow was $14,894. So almost double, little less than double. And our outflow was $21,000 in February of last year, which makes sense because I would have been paying for the summit and all of those other things. But I'm like,

Erica Nash (17:50.604)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (17:52.953)

and our branding project and other things would have been in that last year. So yeah, we made almost double in February than we did last February, which I like to see that on the balance sheet. That makes me happy. Yeah.

Erica Nash (17:54.766)

Mm-hmm.

Erica Nash (18:08.31)

Yeah, can't see that enough. So I'm curious if you feel like, I know you're working differently this February than you were last February, but would you say that you feel like your work is less or just more sustainable or not?

Shannon Mattern (18:18.973)

Yes.

Shannon Mattern (18:33.471)

So at the very beginning of February, it was not sustainable. Like January was not sustainable. So February kind of had a hangover of that, but it was very intentional of... Well, at the end of January and probably at the beginning of February, one of the things that I discovered in working with Dr. Lee is my queen bee role. And I don't know if we talked about...

this on the last podcast or not, but part of the work that she and I did together, was like this full analysis of, she looked at our website, our emails, everything she knows about us and the business and what's working really well. And part of the reason that I even decided to work with her in the first place is I was like,

I can't keep doing what I'm doing. It's completely unsustainable and it's not creating the outcomes that I want. I could see the burnout in the future if I did not shift. And so at the beginning of February, it was like this intentional, I think of it as like turning a ship. Like you can't turn a ship on a dime.

Erica Nash (19:39.448)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (19:53.011)

Like you can start even moving the steering wheel and a boat even doesn't turn immediately like when you start moving the steering wheel. So if think about a large ship, it's like, yeah, I'm turning the wheel, but it's going to take a while for this thing to turn. That's how the beginning of February felt. Because I'm like, we found out, and I think we did talk about this in the January income report.

that when I stopped writing our newsletters, our open rates and engagement like completely tanked. And so I took back writing newsletters. And then one of the things that we pointed out was that writing is my queen bee role here at the Web Designer Academy. And I was like, writing takes me forever. And I can do it so much faster. But.

it can't do what I do. And so I had to, on one hand, was a relief because I'm like, I understand what's happening here. On the other hand, was like, crap, I'm about to put a bunch of stuff back on my plate that I thought I had taken off. And so there was a little bit of a transition there. But then the other thing that Leigh suggested is she's like,

How about instead of you doing like this complicated webinar funnel like that we talked about last month, you just do a live Q &A and the lift of that is so much easier. So it's like strategically taking things off my plate, adding things back on. We've been experimenting with

Erica Nash (21:42.862)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (21:47.837)

you outsourcing some of the things that have been on your plate and just kind of working through those things. So I now feel like I have like one month of making those shifts. I'm like, I can see the way forward. Like once we get through the summit, which is in next week at the time of this recording, I'm like, okay, I can see where.

this could get back to normal. Or not back to normal, back to sustainable, meaning.

Maybe I'm working a lot, but it has a purpose that I can feel and see and that it doesn't feel like it's all like not doing anything, like not working or whatever. So yeah.

Erica Nash (22:34.19)

Yeah.

Erica Nash (22:43.702)

Yeah.

I love that reflection. And I do think that the summit feels a little bit like literally like we're summiting and like once we get there, then it's like downhill slope from here. Like we're able to, you know, have a little bit of space and a little bit of breathing room. And it's just a big lift. And I think people would probably be surprised if they've never run a summit before like.

Shannon Mattern (22:59.003)

Yes.

Shannon Mattern (23:08.124)

Mm-hmm.

Erica Nash (23:16.652)

just how many pieces are involved to run it well. And so I totally agree with you that I imagine things will feel, I don't know, just lighter after the summit. And I don't wanna say more purposeful because the summit has a purpose and you know.

Shannon Mattern (23:21.459)

Mm-hmm.

Erica Nash (23:44.5)

it aligns with our values and all of that, but like...

in the sense of, you you're adding things back to your plate and stuff like that. Like, how do you balance it all when you're also handling this other really big thing? So yeah, I'll be anxious to, when we have the conversation about maybe the April income report, what that feels like.

Shannon Mattern (24:06.644)

I think that you have to really love what you do in order to see some of these things through. There are times where I'm like, I don't know if I want to do the summit again.

Erica Nash (24:12.811)

Mm-hmm.

Erica Nash (24:17.858)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (24:24.148)

And I've said it this year. I may say it again after this one. Every year is an I don't know if I'm going to do this again decision because of what it takes. I do get to look, like even this year, I was like, asked Lee Scott, our conversion rate optimization team. was like,

Can you give me the data? I was like, I need to make a data-driven decision here about whether or not this still fits into the Web Designer Academy ecosystem, because it is such a heavy lift. It's a heavy lift in terms of even with outsourcing the pieces that we outsource, it's still like,

takes a lot of our attention away from other things. And so the data showed that it did make sense to do it again this year. But I'll make a data-driven decision every year. And I do think, I think I said it a couple of times this year, it has to be done differently next year if it's going to happen at all. I cannot put it all.

I can't be the project manager of it and still do all of the things that we do. And so that's just one of those places where I see that I keep getting in my own way by taking on those things. But then I'm like, are those things even worth doing and investing in someone else to fully do them for us?

I know a lot of people who would be very sad if the Simply Profitable Designers Summit went away. And I know a lot of our students would have been like, but I would have never found you. And when I think about that, I'm like, But also, there's a cost to us for it. And so I think with anything, the juice has to be worth the squeeze. So I'm not saying.

Erica Nash (26:38.765)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (26:47.686)

Every single WDA member who found me through the summit, the juice was worth the squeeze. And I've got to figure out a different way to get the juice, other than me being the one squeezing.

Erica Nash (26:58.158)

Yeah, both. Mm-hmm. Well, I was looking at my own records. so today is, so today as we're recording this is March 10th, March 13th, 2021 is whenever I, it was first year joined like a register for the summit.

Shannon Mattern (27:06.908)

I know you joined from the summit, didn't you?

Erica Nash (27:25.294)

Your presentation was the very first one I attended. I applied. You accepted. I paid. I had a discovery call the next day. So right after I paid, I had sent you something and you sent me an immediate feedback video. And I told you that I had a discovery call the next day. And it was my first one. Like I'd literally started my just started my business. I was the first one I sent you like.

my website or whatever, you gave me feedback and then I landed that project in large part to the feedback that you gave me. But I was thinking about that like five years ago. I know it's wild.

Shannon Mattern (28:01.128)

My goodness, Erica. That's crazy town. I'm so like that. And that's like that those are, I'm, that just delights me to no end. And that it was five years ago that you found me through the summit. You took a chance on yourself. Like you took a risk. You took the steps or you, did the, but like, it's those stories that sometimes I'm like,

Erica Nash (28:07.02)

It is.

Erica Nash (28:14.99)

you

Shannon Mattern (28:31.144)

when I'm in the thick of working on stuff and I'm like, why am I even doing this? You feel like you're speaking into a void. But then you hear a story like that and I'm like, I would do it all over again, over and over again. Because that's why I do this.

Erica Nash (28:37.071)

Yeah. Yeah.

Erica Nash (28:49.678)

Yeah.

Erica Nash (28:54.648)

For sure. had switched careers, right? We've talked about this before, but I had told my husband, I have to find somebody to help me because I don't know what the heck I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing. I can design all day, but I don't know how to run a business. My brother, my youngest brother was living in Utah at the time. So I flew to him and the first day that I was in Utah was, the first full day that I was there was,

the first day of the summit. So I woke up early before everybody else and I went into the living room and I pulled up my computer and I pulled up your presentation and I watched it and I was like, this is literally what I was just telling Chris that I needed, like that I needed somebody to just like tell me what to do and like how to run a business. And so I remember like, I remember texting him like, okay, I found this girl and she does this thing and like, this is the help that I need and like, here's how much it costs. And like, what do you think?

And I mean, he's the most supportive. So his answer immediately was like, do it. It's like amazing. And so then we did it. And I truly, I can honestly say I would not be where I am today had I not watched your presentation, that very first presentation. So I'm so glad that I did. And I'm so glad that

even though the summit is a big lift, that you're still doing it because I know if it's true for me, it's true for a bunch of other people. So, yeah.

Shannon Mattern (30:30.152)

Yep.

I appreciate that story so much. yeah, it's one of those things where it's like, you have to love what you do. And you have to have a reason for doing it to go through to put that into it. I just, Erica.

Erica Nash (30:43.992)

Yeah. The why, yeah.

Shannon Mattern (30:53.638)

If I hadn't done that, like we wouldn't even be sitting here because that led to when I posted a job opportunity, you applied for it and you've been on the team for four years, which is crazy town. And I'm just really proud of the fact that like we've, what we've done over the past four years together too. Like it's really been.

Erica Nash (30:58.07)

We would not.

Erica Nash (31:06.114)

Yeah, it is crazy town.

Erica Nash (31:15.382)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (31:22.128)

I don't know. It's been amazing. So, and life changing for so many people.

Erica Nash (31:24.748)

Yeah, it is.

Shannon Mattern (31:29.844)

So me too. And the other hundreds of women who have come through. So if you're listening to this and you're sitting on the sidelines and you're thinking someday, someday is now, seriously, just come check us out. Let's chat.

Erica Nash (31:30.466)

Certainly for me. Yeah, yeah.

Erica Nash (31:45.89)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (31:55.061)

You can book a call with me. You can come to a program tour. I'm literally never going to talk anybody into something that they don't want or that I don't think were the right fit. If I don't think we can help you, we are so not about like just close the sale. Like that is not at all what we're about. So yeah.

Erica Nash (32:14.958)

Gross. Well, to segue that conversation, let's talk about some of the important things that happened in February.

Shannon Mattern (32:19.602)

Ugh.

Shannon Mattern (32:23.739)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (32:29.16)

Yeah, so I mentioned that I met with Dr. Lee and she really gave me, I met with her at the end of February, but she gave me like this whole entire like analysis. And I thought it was fascinating because I've known her for five years and I've been in a mastermind with her. We meet every month, we spend like four hours together.

and she knows me really well. And so she was able to just like very quickly and, she's very gifted in this. I would imagine if she didn't know me that well, she could like cut to the chase in lots of ways. but there were some things that she told me that I was like, I can see that I can see that I couldn't see it before until you said it. And she was just like,

There she was like, it feels like you think you have to perform inside of someone else's formula or framework to create the outcomes and results that you want. And she was like, but what is true is when you're just being your authentic self, that's when you like, that's when people feel safe to come work with you.

So when you're trying to fit yourself into this framework, you're not being you. She was like, you're a great teacher. Your slides are beautiful. Your presentations are awesome. She's like, but you're putting distance between you and the person on the other side. And she's like, you're at your best when you're just interacting with real people.

So let's do more of that. And I'm like, ooh, OK, let's do more of that.

Erica Nash (34:25.248)

Interesting. Was it like slides as armor?

Shannon Mattern (34:30.772)

Probably, that's a great analogy. almost as if, what I have to say wouldn't be enough that I need to follow this other process or formula or whatever. And then the other thing, and this has been a struggle for me for a long time and I'm still working on it, is just like,

Erica Nash (34:32.181)

You

Erica Nash (34:46.126)

yeah.

pre-planned.

Shannon Mattern (35:00.148)

how much do I share about package matrix? And she's like, my gosh, just stop.

Erica Nash (35:04.941)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (35:08.338)

Because she was like, you told me, like you sat down with me in a conference room and like drew out my package matrix and set it up for me. And I went away. And yeah, I like was able to land some work with it. She was like, but then the other, this is another thing I did. I hosted a package matrix workshop for non web designers.

She was like, come to find out I've been doing it wrong for an entire year. She was like, I've been, here's where I've been like steering people into specific packages. Like she said she Missy Elliott it at one time, she flipped it and reversed it. Like so many little things. And so she was like,

Erica Nash (35:42.798)

No.

Erica Nash (35:56.334)

you

Shannon Mattern (36:06.331)

It's not that we don't want people to need you. She's like, can't you just be generous? Can you just be generous and trust that if you share this strategy more widely and talk about it, that you're not going to lose everything. And you're keeping it again. you and I have talked about this. We've talked about it with Lee Scott, who's our conversion rate person, that it's like,

She was like, that's not all you have to offer is this proposal strategy. And so she was like, it's a tool, but it's a tool that, just like anything, some people are going to take it and run with it and never need to talk to you. And some people, they're going to need implementation support.

Erica Nash (36:43.342)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (37:03.249)

Some people, it's going to press on all of their insecurities. she's like, just really encouraging me to let Patrick out of his cage even more.

Erica Nash (37:03.31)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (37:19.571)

yeah, so I'm working on a new, freebie. That's like an actual package matrix template. And it's scaring the crap out of me, Eric and Nash.

Erica Nash (37:19.734)

I love that.

Erica Nash (37:27.978)

No way. What a move. Listen, I think that you told me last week, we were having a conversation about things that I am up against and you were like, Erica, you are the golden goose. Like, take care of yourself. Like, there is no business without you. I think.

You feel like Patrick is the golden goose and he's not. You are the golden goose. And Patrick is just a tool and he is wonderful. We love him. We will always appreciate what Patrick does for us. But yeah, it's just a tool. It's just a mechanism. And there is so much more involved in just like even the implementation and just understanding.

Shannon Mattern (38:02.227)

you

Shannon Mattern (38:05.831)

Yeah.

Erica Nash (38:26.302)

of how he works and how he supports a growing business.

Shannon Mattern (38:26.471)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (38:31.737)

Mm. I needed to hear that. Thank you. Patrick is package matrix, by the way, listeners. For whatever reason, it's hard to say package matrix. I have figured it out five or what, nine years into using it, but I'd always say Patrick matrix. And so we call it a Patrick inside of the Web Designer Academy.

Erica Nash (38:34.734)

You're welcome.

Erica Nash (38:39.438)

you

Erica Nash (38:45.687)

Hahaha

Shannon Mattern (38:56.059)

So yeah, no, I think I needed to hear that. Patrick is a tool. And you know what? If the worst thing that happens is people raise their prices because they got this tool, there's just this fear, right? It's like, if X, I'll lose all my clients. And everybody has it. It's like.

Erica Nash (39:14.146)

Yeah.

Erica Nash (39:17.699)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (39:20.531)

If I raise my prices, I'll lose all my clients. If I'm not perfect and I make a mistake, I'll lose all my clients. It's like, oh, if I teach this thing publicly that we use inside the Web Designer Academy, who would ever need to join the Web Designer Academy again? And it's like this fear of losing your livelihood or whatever it is.

Erica Nash (39:48.109)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (39:49.78)

but like you said, that's not, you know, it's, it's, that's not it.

Erica Nash (40:00.194)

That's not it. I am so excited that she brought that to you and that you were like open to receiving that. Because I can't wait for the day, because I think that there will come a day when you truly believe that people join us because of you and like what you have to share and your coaching and your guidance and then decide to stay. How many people do we have that are on?

their fourth year and continue and we're like, I send out an email like, hey, membership is coming to an end, would you like to renew? They're like, absolutely, like I'm never leaving. And so I think that there will come a day where you're like, yeah, it is because of my coaching space that I've created, the people I've brought together.

Shannon Mattern (40:30.653)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (40:43.912)

Yeah.

Erica Nash (40:59.478)

and not just for the tools.

Shannon Mattern (40:59.603)

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, I think that that's happening. So I'm in the midst. Yeah, so another thing that she was like, why aren't you on social media? And I was just like, well, I hate it, for one. I was just like, I'm awkward there. I don't know what to do.

Erica Nash (41:10.57)

Love it.

Erica Nash (41:19.918)

You

Shannon Mattern (41:26.971)

I'm not a consumer of it. Like my scrolling is like scrolling Apple News and reading books. Like I don't like consume social media content. And she was like, I really think that you need to be on TikTok. And I'm like, I'm paying for your advice. I'm not going to not take it. I'm very coachable. Like if I am like going to commit to something, I'm going to do it.

And I was thinking back to our branding project last year, where I was thinking about, I definitely want to do more top of funnel things, like awareness things. But if I'm going to put effort and energy in there, I want to be sending them to the place that, you know, like I wanted to have

the branding redone and the like everything like they're the home ready, I guess, for lack of lack of a better term. And so that was like one of the reasons for the rebrand too. And now it's time to start creating content on social media. And one of the things that we talked about is like, well, I don't want to be seen as a hypocrite because I talk about like how

Erica Nash (42:33.63)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (42:56.627)

how you market your business through relationships and that you don't have to be on social media. And then if I'm going to go do that, I feel like I'm out of integrity and out of alignment. She was like, but you market with a podcast and you don't tell everybody that they need to have a podcast to get clients. And I was like, yeah, you're right. She was like, I think there's some visibility stuff here. And I'm like, yeah, it's like back to the thing like.

If you don't, if you feel like you don't know what you're doing or like, you're not going to be good at something. think I'm like worried about people being like, that's so cringy and like, who does she think she is? And like, I'm just like doing it wrong and I'm going to get made fun of. And it's like that whole, it goes back to childhood, right? It's like, you just, I just want to fit in and not be like singled out.

Erica Nash (43:35.47)

Erica Nash (43:42.935)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Erica Nash (43:52.525)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (43:52.996)

this is the, this is the deep work we do in next level. They figure out like, what's that kind of core wound for lack of a better term. What have my core wounds is like being singled out and made fun of. And like the, my reaction to that was like, do everything I can to fit in, like don't stand out and.

Erica Nash (44:02.882)

Mm-hmm.

Erica Nash (44:17.623)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (44:21.779)

So I think that there was some of that going on too, where it's like, okay, there's an opportunity here to spread the word about what we do to more people. But the child inside of me is like, but you'll get made fun of. If you don't do it right, people will think you're cringy. So Erica was just coaching me before.

Erica Nash (44:47.244)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (44:50.791)

this, she was like, I was like, so I have a video I need to rerecord because it got cut off. She was like, you don't need to rerecord that just post it. And I'm like, what? Like, I'm afraid I'm just like realizing I'm like so afraid of like being made fun of that. I'm just like, not doing it, even though I'm going to do it like I'm but I'm trying to like do it right to avoid being made fun of.

Erica Nash (45:00.841)

yeah. Yeah.

Erica Nash (45:05.966)

Mm-hmm.

Erica Nash (45:12.108)

Yeah.

Erica Nash (45:16.66)

Mm-hmm. And like...

Shannon Mattern (45:20.019)

And I'm like, I gotta be willing to be made fun of.

Erica Nash (45:20.066)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (45:25.395)

and

Erica Nash (45:27.03)

It's like the commitment, right? If I'm like, you're committing to never being made fun of. Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (45:29.119)

Yeah.

Right. The hidden competing commitment is I'm committed to never being made fun of. Therefore, I'm going to put up a wall of slides between me and you. I'm going to like, you know, just all of these sneaky little different ways. And it's like, I got to be OK with someone being like, she's cringy. They're not my people.

Erica Nash (45:46.776)

Yeah.

Erica Nash (45:56.47)

Okay, they're not your people. And I think honestly, like I know that you don't consume social media. I consume TikTok and only TikTok. It's my favorite place. And people really embrace the cringe. They embrace the cringe on TikTok. So I do think that that is a really great place for you to start. Like where Instagram to me feels very buttoned up.

Shannon Mattern (46:15.389)

Good.

Erica Nash (46:25.41)

very like highlight reel and TikTok is so chill and for the most part down to earth and of course you're gonna have people that do what horrible mean people do because they're everywhere no matter where we are right? And if that's the case I know a whole community of people that will ride at dawn to like come to your aid

Shannon Mattern (46:51.921)

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Erica Nash (46:55.662)

And, and, and, know, that's just not okay. And like, we get to call out, we get to call out bad behavior, like we do. And so I think that, I think that TikTok is a really safe place to start when you're doing social media. And I say that I, in my own business, all of my eggs are in the TikTok basket. And I know that that's not a great business.

Shannon Mattern (47:00.359)

Yeah. Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (47:10.003)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (47:18.045)

Mm-hmm.

Erica Nash (47:22.094)

like a safe business strategy, because if the algorithm changed, then that like influences my, like impacts my bottom line, like in a very real way. And so I have been thinking about making the jump to go also to Instagram and I'm scared. So like, I totally understand like this fear of being seen and therefore then being made fun of for whatever reason.

I think it is very real and also

Shannon Mattern (47:56.157)

Worth it.

Erica Nash (47:56.972)

worth it, right? Like there's just so much potential. There's more potential than there is risk. The risk seems really big, but what's really big is the potential. And like, yeah.

Shannon Mattern (48:03.175)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (48:06.515)

Yeah. To my fifth grade self, it's like the worst thing in the world that could happen. To my 46-year-old self, it's like, oh, but what if one person sees that and has a story like Erica's where it helped her get her first client and five years later, look at what you're doing. So it's got a.

Erica Nash (48:11.831)

Right.

Erica Nash (48:30.454)

Yeah, exactly.

Shannon Mattern (48:33.043)

That's what I need to remind myself of when I'm worried about like, I have to do this quote unquote right. So as not to be made fun of, like, I think that's the thing. It's like, no, I have to just be myself. That's the other thing that Leah and I talked about is like, just be my full self everywhere I go in terms of like how I'm promoting myself online.

Erica Nash (49:01.742)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (49:02.065)

And I'm like, that feels so easy. I'm so excited about that. Because it doesn't take any preparation to be myself.

Erica Nash (49:04.908)

Yeah. Yeah.

Erica Nash (49:10.54)

Right, yeah. I think there's a little bit, you know, going back to kind of what you were talking about, like feeling a little bit like a hypocrite if you were going to be on social media.

I actually think that it paves the way for anybody who is watching you, whether it's students or not, to do the scary, uncomfortable thing. And like, whatever that might be, because for somebody else, that might be sending an email. It might be doing a podcast interview. It might be sending a cold outreach to somebody that they really admire. Like it might not.

Shannon Mattern (49:38.109)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (49:44.433)

Yep.

Shannon Mattern (49:51.475)

speaking at a summit.

Erica Nash (49:52.916)

Exactly. It might not be social media per se, but it's just the bigger sort of like maybe embodiment of like just the scary thing. And so I don't think it is hypocritical at all. I think it is actually very in line with what we teach in that like your mind is going to tell you stories when you try to do the scary thing and you can tell a different story.

Shannon Mattern (50:01.051)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (50:21.064)

Yeah.

Erica Nash (50:21.324)

and we can support you through that. So I think that's what's happening more than the hypocritical thing.

Shannon Mattern (50:28.211)

So good. Yeah, well, the hypocritical story is the story that my mind's telling me to keep me from doing it. Like, well, you don't want to be a hypocrite, do you? So the way to stay safe is to come up with the hypocrite story that like, well, it would be out of integrity.

for me to go do this. And since integrity is really a really important value to me, therefore I cannot go do this scary thing because it would be out of integrity. So I guess I'm off the hook. Oops, right?

Erica Nash (50:54.029)

Yeah.

Sorry. Do you have your TikTok handle? Do you want to share it? Tell people to go follow you? Go follow TikTok on, I mean, go follow Shannon on TikTok.

Shannon Mattern (51:03.853)

at Profitable Web Designer.

Shannon Mattern (51:09.363)

Yeah, at profitable web designers. So I'm going to drop. I will have TikToks there by the time. By the time this goes out, I will have some TikToks there ready to be consumed and I'll have that package matrix template ready to go. I know. Yeah. So we'll see. Then it'll all the cards will be out on the table at that point.

Erica Nash (51:20.878)

Oh my gosh, that's so exciting.

Erica Nash (51:28.322)

That is so exciting too.

Erica Nash (51:36.014)

Here I am, flight open.

Shannon Mattern (51:39.635)

Yep, it's all this is this is everything which I think is which I think is really cool. Thank you.

Erica Nash (51:46.71)

What a boss move. Truly, like, that's the hard stuff. That's the hard stuff. I love it.

Shannon Mattern (51:52.495)

It is, it is. Yeah. But I hosted that two day package matrix workshop. February 6th and 13th, we did one day, we had six people come and learn about package matrix. And so I taught them like the theory behind it. Then we package matrix their offers. They left and refined it.

Erica Nash (52:00.715)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (52:19.536)

And then they came back and I taught them how to like make offers with their package matrix and like what to say and how to say it and how to present it and how to anchor high and, answered all of their questions. And it was so fun. was like the best two days ever. So I'm, definitely going to do something like that again. and yeah, it was just really cool to.

Erica Nash (52:36.366)

amazing.

Shannon Mattern (52:49.808)

to think about Patrick outside of web design. But I should probably just do one of those for web designers too. So yeah, where people can come and just build their package matrix.

Erica Nash (53:00.841)

like a workshop? Yeah.

Erica Nash (53:08.15)

Yeah, and I mean we know those inside and out so that would be easy peasy.

Shannon Mattern (53:11.442)

Yeah.

Yep. So that was super fun. What else happened in February? It feels like it flew by.

Erica Nash (53:22.958)

We did.

Shannon Mattern (53:28.058)

I think that was it. It was like a summit and making those shifts. I hosted the PETA clients live Q &A. That was the strategy shift. So I hosted that and that was really fun. And I'll be doing more of those live Q &As. So yeah, I don't know. Back to being me. I am me on the inside of the Web Designer Academy.

Erica Nash (53:47.512)

Beautiful.

Erica Nash (53:52.77)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (53:55.923)

mostly me on the outside. I'd say I'm like 80 % me on the outside. There's a 20 % that I kind of like keep tucks behind the scenes.

Erica Nash (53:59.022)

For sure. For sure.

Erica Nash (54:07.342)

I am excited to see how sharing on social media begins to create that third space on the outside. Like that is going to influence that outside, like the outside pieces. And so I'm excited. I'm excited for that. And like, I also want to encourage you, like, don't just share web designer stuff. Like also talk about

Shannon Mattern (54:19.344)

Yes.

Erica Nash (54:35.82)

Like talk about the books that you read and like the news that you're scrolling through and like you're journaling in the morning and like, you know, your walks with Scarlett and like all of those things too, because that is the third space, right? It's like whole people. Whole people.

Shannon Mattern (54:51.794)

So that is the part where I'm just like, who cares? Like, when you were saying that, I'm like, why would anybody care about like, what book I'm reading today or...

Erica Nash (55:05.086)

I love to hear you talk about your books. There are some that you talk about often and that you have on your desk. You pull them up. so, and I think that people... And that's... It's like our people, right? That's how we call our people in. And I do think that the people who are our people would be interested in hearing your thoughts about the books that you're reading because they probably are also interested.

Shannon Mattern (55:12.59)

Yeah, they're literally, yeah.

Shannon Mattern (55:22.307)

Yeah.

Erica Nash (55:34.825)

reading those books too.

Shannon Mattern (55:36.101)

Yeah, interesting. And Scarlett's adorable. know. Yeah, must love dogs. I mean, you can be a cat person. That's fine. I'm just allergic. So I'm also allergic to Scarlett, though. So I can't just say that. Like, no, I'm a dog person for sure. But.

Erica Nash (55:38.722)

Yeah. yes, you have to show Scarlett. You have to. The internet loves a puppy.

Absolutely.

you

Shannon Mattern (56:04.201)

America.

Erica Nash (56:05.134)

Do what?

Shannon Mattern (56:07.337)

I appreciate your encouragement.

Erica Nash (56:09.842)

you're so welcome. You're gonna kill it. I can't wait. I can't wait to see. It's gonna be great.

Shannon Mattern (56:15.569)

Amazing. Well, I think that's it for our February 2026 income report.

Erica Nash (56:22.848)

Awesome. What a great month.

Shannon Mattern (56:24.167)

Yeah, yeah, what a great month. So yeah, that's all we have for you this week. So thank you so much for listening. Go follow me on TikTok at profitable web designer. Say hi. And we'll see you back here next week with our next episode. Bye everyone.

Erica Nash (56:36.366)

you