#195 – From $5,000 to $15,000: How Web Designer Academy Student Aprile Blair Tripled Her Prices

Shannon Mattern (00:00.984)

Hello everyone and welcome back to the profitable web designer podcast today. I am joined by April Blair from Lexington creative. She is a web designer Academy student, next level mastermind member, private coaching client, and we have been working together for almost a year now. And I wanted to have her on the podcast to just talk about her journey and her experience.

quitting her day job, leaving corporate, building her business and the difference between a year ago and today. April, welcome to the show.

Aprile (00:43.128)

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

Shannon Mattern (00:45.622)

I'm so excited for this conversation. So we were, we were debating even hitting record because we had like a little technical snafu at the beginning. And then I'm like, well, let's just catch up. started chit chatting. I'm like, no, no, no, wait, we, we, we have to hit record because I asked you how you were and you were like, what life is so good right now. Like it's so good. I'm so happy. Like your face just like lit up. So yeah, like.

Before we get to that part of the story, can you just share a little bit more about you and your background with our listeners and maybe just leading up to the point of how we met for the first time.

Aprile (01:32.482)

Yes. Okay. Absolutely. I might jump around a little bit because it's super linear in my head, but, so I come from corporate aviation and aviation company that did private and corporate work. And I was there for 23 years. when I left there, was the director of marketing, but about, it's hard to tell time the older I get, but maybe seven years ago or so I, our graphic designer left and I was kind of interested in like learning it a little bit.

Shannon Mattern (01:35.064)

Yeah, go for it.

Aprile (02:02.158)

So I started learning graphic design just to kind of that spot before I hired someone. And I realized that I really liked it. So I took a course in that and I started learning more. And then I have a friend that has a marketing company and she had needed help with something. And I was like, well, I can help you. I'd never really thought of like freelancing or side hustling. But I was like, this will be fun. It'll give me something to do. So I kind of.

whenever I do anything, I kind of tend to go all in, like all the things, which is what I did again. Sometimes it doesn't pan out. I go all in regardless, although it doesn't always end up sticking, right? It's just sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, but that's how I do it. So I started helping her. That went great. I got an Upwork profile and started like doing little jobs here or there. It was super helpful that I have aviation experience because it's such a small,

niche as far as like marketing, marketing people who have the industry experience. So that was helpful. So I liked doing that. So probably about, this is where my time gets kind of messed up, maybe like six months or so after that, my same friend called me on a Friday and was like, I really need help. Do you think you can help me with a website? The builder I use is super easy.

but I needed to have my Monday and I was like, what? Like, okay, sure. Of course I can help you. Like no problem. So the website builder I still use is Duda. And that's the one she introduced me to. And I love it just as a side note for anyone who's looking for, maybe the right builder for them. So I spend the whole weekend, first half of Saturday and Friday night learning like how to work in this platform. And then I.

built a website on the second half of the weekend. It wasn't done, it still needed content, it still needed a bunch of stuff, but it was functioning and I was able to send her a draft. And it's funny because my husband had been telling me that he thought I should get into web design ever since I started doing graphic design. And I adamantly was, this is also a pattern that will come up for me. I adamantly was like, no websites aren't for me because I don't.

Aprile (04:27.79)

think of myself as a technical person and I still don't and it's not something I enjoy. It of scares me. It scares me because of all the back end stuff that I don't necessarily understand or maybe want to learn. So was just like, no, that's not for me. But I didn't really know what went into it. So I realized I really liked it. But at that point, I was still just plugging along with my day job full time, 40 to 60 hours a week. And then...

nights and weekends, I was basically working all the time doing freelance work and really enjoying it. So then my friend kept sending me these websites to do, and I realized that like, I think this is what I'm actually supposed to be doing because I was able to combine the creativity part that I really liked of the graphic design with like a strategy part of marketing that I enjoyed of building websites.

I just kind of started thinking about like, maybe I should do web design. I don't really know it. Like the seed was planted in my head. Backing up though, when I first started doing graphic design, he had been telling me that. So I was like, let me look into it a little bit. So I had joined Josh Hall's web designer group then, or I'd looked into it then. And I was like, I'm gonna go this route. I need to learn everything about it. But then I just...

I wasn't all in at that point. was like, this still feels like too overwhelming. WordPress is scary. That was probably one of the biggest reasons for me. I still find WordPress like not as intuitive as a lot of people do. Like I know you built on WordPress, but like, I don't know why it just, it never clicked with me. So I was part of that group for maybe a couple months. So I'm building, I'm doing all these things in the back of my head. Maybe sometime I'll

don't know, do more with this, but I don't know what that looks like. And I had been with the same company for 23 years. That's my entire adult life, basically. So I just wasn't sure, right? And then we had this project come up. And it was working well for me because nothing was ever like a conflict of interest. But this was a big project that I knew was going to take like more of my time. And it was kind of a big player in the

Aprile (06:50.368)

in the industry and they would need to be on WordPress. This one never panned out, but I was like, okay, I have to learn WordPress and this is what it's gonna be. So I joined Josh's group again because he built on WordPress and I think a lot of his people use WordPress, most people, a lot of people do. And so that was what pushed me to do it. Cause I was like, okay, well, I gotta figure out how to create this website.

And it was just like a series of events there where I just learned more and realized, I think I want to be doing this full time. I didn't know at the time if it was like graphic designer or just websites. And honestly, it evolved until recently, like this whole time. So at some point I became so busy that I couldn't, I was going to have to give somewhere, right? Like either my day job was going to.

was going to sacrifice, I was going to have to sacrifice something there, which wasn't an option for me, or I was going to have to stop doing so much freelance work, which was what I really enjoyed, right? Loved it. So I made the decision that at some point I was going to put my notice into the company and I was going to try to do web design full time. This is going long. Sorry. I've never really talked. Okay. feel like I've got...

Shannon Mattern (08:06.709)

No, it's not. It's perfect. I love this. Keep going.

Aprile (08:09.9)

haven't ever really talked through the whole story and I'm like trying to see it in my brain in a linear fashion. So I decided I'm to do this, but still have no idea what that means. Like I don't know how to run a business and I have a really good salary that I really like getting every week and I have health insurance and all these other things. So it was in my brain, it was decided and I was just doing both things and like learning as much as I could about website design. Cause my gut was telling me

that was going to be a path for me, even though like my conscious was still saying, nope, like my subconscious knew, but my conscious was like, nope, this isn't for you. But like, just had a feeling, right? So I was actually listening to one of Josh's podcasts. I was driving back from the airport and he was, they were talking about networking and it like lit this fire under me to think, okay, well maybe I, and I've done networking for, my aviation career.

for a million years, right? But it felt different like when it was for me. And I was like, maybe I do need to like make some connections because at the time, for whatever reason, I was adamant that, so here's that pattern again, I was not going to work with aviation clients. Corporate, like I was so used to it, that was all that I knew, but I loved the idea of kind of working with individuals where I felt like maybe our...

personalities aligned better. I think it was more of a feminine vibe that I was going for. I go home and I look up networking events and I find this one that's happening the next week and I'm like, well, this is a sign I have to go. And that's my tip for everyone is just do the things. You just have to do them, right? I was terrified. I've done so many networking things.

I've run trade shows. I've worked with the conventions, but for some reason this was different. But I had the best experience. It was so great. was someone who says for people who have bad experiences with BNI, there's this group which I've never done anything with BNI, but I loved the idea of these networking groups. I got a couple leads from there of different things and I just was like...

Aprile (10:27.854)

kind of cemented for me in my brain, like, oh my gosh, this was so fun. I can, I can, you know, do this for myself. I had taken a day off of work to do that though. Like I took a vacation day because it was during the day. I was kind of terrified of happening to see somebody I know. Like I was like, this does not resonate with me. Like it feels like I'm doing something wrong, even though I've made sure this whole time not to, it just, you I didn't like that feeling. So the more I was like, thought about that, the more I was like,

think it might be time. Every single day I would talk to my husband about it. He probably was sick of hearing about it, like he, seriously, every day I'd like, I don't know when to put my notice in. And he's like, whatever you decide, I'll support you. Like he was so great, but I was just like, I don't know, this is terrifying. So I made the decision to put my notice in and then probably the next day did, cause once I make a decision, I do something. And I realized that it was actually the

what's the 25th. So it was almost it was just a year since I gave my notice to and my boss was the president of the company and I've known him for since I was you know 20 years old and I he was so kind and gracious and like was excited for me but I was just I was probably the most terrifying thing. I don't know why I was so scared but I was like I never thought I'd leave there. I don't think anyone else ever thought I'd leave there.

Shannon Mattern (11:28.853)

Wow.

Aprile (11:50.19)

So it's a big change. So I make the decision. I'm like, I gotta do it. So I give my notice and I had right around that same time I had signed up to go to Josh's web designer pro conference. I forgot somewhere in that story. I know I said I rejoined his group because of that WordPress website. So I don't know anybody in the group, but again, I'm like, I'm just gonna shove myself out of my comfort zone into these situations. And I should say,

Shannon Mattern (12:06.039)

Mm-hmm.

Aprile (12:17.376)

One of the things that pushed me to go was that you were speaking there. Because I forgot to include in this, when I was searching web design mentors and groups, because I thought I needed to find a group, you kept coming up. When I first heard about you and did research, I had just done the one website. And I didn't think I was in the right place, because it's usually for women who have already been in the process of selling websites.

Shannon Mattern (12:44.386)

Yeah.

Aprile (12:45.39)

So I was like, so that was in the back of my head, but you were speaking there. And I was like, well, this feels like a sign because now like I might get to meet her total fan girl moment. and that was, I think the beginning of May, right? They just had it again. So it was about a year ago. So I go and I just like do the things. And of course I was like nervous because I know no one, they were all.

Shannon Mattern (13:02.305)

Yeah.

Aprile (13:12.076)

the greatest group, like such a great group. And I ended up sitting next to you at the table. Like there was a bunch of round tables and we're sitting together and I'm like, I was hoping, like, I was just glad to see her talk and now I'm sitting next to her. it really was like a very good moment. But so you had your, was like a Stanley or something that had an FBO, which is a fixed base operator for like,

Shannon Mattern (13:16.481)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (13:34.701)

huh.

Aprile (13:39.756)

charters and jets that where they go to get gas and different things. And so I said something about that to you. I think maybe I asked where it was from because there was that aviation connection. And I was like, ooh, this is a, know, we'd already been talking, but this was my way to try to make a connection. And so it was because your husband works for an aviation company and we started talking about that. And then you had your presentation, which was amazing like that.

Shannon Mattern (13:44.706)

Yep.

Shannon Mattern (13:57.825)

Yeah.

Aprile (14:09.292)

that it blew my mind the way that the idea of the package matrix, because I don't know, it just was such like a profound way to think about it. And it really, like you talking about the effects of like growing up, how our parents with the money and the way that our brains work around like finances, it was just so interesting. So I left there and was still like,

Shannon Mattern (14:30.881)

Mm-hmm.

Aprile (14:37.954)

I really want to work with her. But you weren't doing private coaching at the time. You had your groups and I considered that. But at the time I had no, I was, let's see, I put my notice and I gave them six weeks. So was still working. So I still had like a salary. But I was like, this doesn't feel smart quite yet to like, you know, spend this money on like a group. I'll just kind of hang in here for a minute.

except I felt I just like had, I probably would have signed up for private coaching at the time if you'd had it. I don't know if it's a requirement to be like a WDA member or not. okay. That's good. Okay. Cause this is, I mean, I'm going to talk about that a lot. This is what I want to get as like the, that really changed everything for me. and for whatever reason, I do really well in that one-on-one kind of situation. so.

Shannon Mattern (15:11.765)

It's not, no, yeah.

Shannon Mattern (15:26.839)

Yeah.

Aprile (15:29.442)

didn't have private coaching yet, but I did a introductory call with you and you were like, nope, think this is, you're a great fit for this and let's try it out, et cetera. So I did a bunch of research on the group and I joined the WDA, which is such a great group. And the women are amazing and you have such great resources. And then, that was helping, I'm moving along and I end up, you know, I leave.

leave my corporate job. Still not exactly sure what niche I want to be in, which is funny because some people say niche down and some are like don't have a niche at all. So I have an opinion on that now, but it's not probably what everybody else's is. So anyways, you open up private coaching spots and I'm like, I have to do this. And it's an investment. And I was like,

So I don't have that sitting around, but I think I just need to do it. And you also offer split payments. And I was like, my gut is just telling me that I need to work with Shannon 101. So I signed up for private coaching and I gave myself this little talk, like, it's not easy for me to open up to people at all. Like, and I will talk, you would never know that. People would never know that. But it's true. And I kind of like,

I'm just always thinking about what I'm saying and like thinking about what you're thinking about what I'm saying. It's a whole thing. But I was like you, if you're gonna spend this money and make this investment in yourself and take this time and take Shannon's time, you need to go all in. So just like, just be honest, tell her all the things you're scared about, tell her like all these things. So that's where I, I haven't let you ask any questions yet, but that's where I ended up.

Shannon Mattern (17:20.269)

you

Aprile (17:21.026)

how I ended up at private coaching, which I think is probably an okay place to stop.

Shannon Mattern (17:24.173)

So yes, I just remember you walking into the conference and you had on this, like these bright pink pants that I was like, like your, you just, I wish like you were dressed how I wish I had the confidence to dress. And I was just, remember like,

that might have been one of the first things that I was like, I love your pants. You sat next to me. were like, showed me the website, like where you like got them. And we were like talking about that. And then we connected on, you know, aviation and.

Aprile (17:54.574)

Yes, you did. We said talk about clothes.

Shannon Mattern (18:08.845)

was scared to be at that conference because yes, I'm like a podcaster. I teach like I do all this stuff, but like I don't do a whole lot of like speaking in person in front of people without a script. I was like, same as like, you know, you might, people might not think that I'm like worried about what people might think of me or, you know, whatever. Yeah.

Aprile (18:32.587)

You told me you were nervous and I was surprised that you were nervous. This goes to show.

Shannon Mattern (18:37.515)

Yeah. And I just have to be honest in those moments because if I'm pretending like I'm not nervous, that makes it even worse. So I had to just say what I was feeling, say the thing, get it out. And then it's like, you realize, and this goes for like networking groups or any kind of like putting yourself out of your comfort zone. It's like, it's okay to be nervous and do the thing anyway. You don't have to pretend that everything's

like normal or that you're confident. I think that's one of the things that I realized is like, nobody is thinking like in most rooms, nobody's thinking anything bad about you. Everybody. It's not high school. It's they're not thinking about you. They're happy to meet you. They're excited to see what you have to say. There are so many opportunities happening. So it's just, it's just not like maybe toxic workplaces that you've worked in or

Aprile (19:20.29)

Yeah. They're not thinking about you, probably.

Shannon Mattern (19:37.133)

You know, a high school or whatever, like subconscious things that kind of keep us wanting to hide. And so I remember meeting you and you know, you, the web designer Academy is for experienced women web designers, meaning like you've been doing this for a while and you're ready to build the business. But I just remember when we were talking, I'm like, you're an experienced like,

just because you haven't pushed the buttons for that many years. was like, she is the perfect fit. then you, the coaching offer didn't even exist when we met at web designer pro, but I had, I had seen, I had people asking me for it. It didn't exist. I had people telling me that they were leaving the web designer Academy to go pay other people to coach them. And I was like, that is not happening anymore. Absolutely not.

I'm getting a coaching offer together ASAP. And it was just a beta test because I didn't know. I didn't know if my schedule was going to allow for it. I didn't know if I was going to like it. Spoiler alert, it's like my favorite freaking thing to do ever. I love it so much. And you were like one of my first clients. And I remember in that first.

Aprile (20:51.139)

Yes.

Shannon Mattern (21:02.346)

Call, you told me exactly what you just shared here.

Aprile (21:06.744)

had a milestone call actually because I signed up in a certain amount of time. So I had a milestone call. So that was scheduled and it was right around the time you launched that offer. So we get on the call and I'm like, so I want to talk about XYZ, but also I'm pretty sure I want to do private coaching. let's talk about that. So that's what we ended up talking about. I mean, we talked about the other stuff, but it ended up flowing into that. it really worked out.

Shannon Mattern (21:09.387)

you did have a milestone call first.

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (21:26.752)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (21:31.551)

Yeah. So milestone calls for listeners. When you join the web designer Academy and you have the option to make a single payment. That's how it is now. You may have just gotten them as part of your enrollment, but if you make a single payment, you get a quarterly one-on-one coaching call with me and we call them milestone calls. And it's a power just you and me to talk about whatever. And I remember talking to you about that and it was almost kind of like a

little discovery call, like if we are going to work together for the next 90 days, the private coaching offer that I offered is called the 90 day shift. And so it's a 90 day, private coaching container where we figure out like, what would you be so excited to be celebrating at the end of 90 days together? And from that vision, we kind of work backwards and I like walk you through,

I have a plan for those 90 days, but it also unfolds how it's going to unfold. we talked about, think at that milestone call, you were like, I think you had just stopped. You had already put your notice in and you had been on your own. And then you were like, okay, like I need some help.

Aprile (22:43.88)

Yes.

Aprile (22:52.588)

Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right.

Shannon Mattern (22:54.764)

Yeah, and so we talked about that and then you were like, yeah, I wanna do this. And I was like so freaking excited for you because I have this, I realize now and I will like, I probably wouldn't have said this before I wouldn't have like claimed it or owned it. But like, I have a thing where I can see that like I can see.

not the potential, like, I see you as you are at the end. And so it's like, I can look at someone and I can see all of the things about them. That's like, that is what they think they don't have, but I'm like, I see it. We just need to uncover it to like help them get to where they want to be. And

Aprile (23:27.916)

Yeah, you clearly do. Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (23:52.607)

sometimes it's a curse because I, I've moved, push people too fast. Like, you know, when I'm in a sales conversation with someone, I'm like, my gosh, like I can see exactly how we're going to get you all the way to the end, but they're not ready for that yet. And they feel like scared. And so they don't move forward. I think for you, because you came in, like, if I'm going to do this, I'm going all in like,

You let me show you that vision. And I think that's really cool. Yeah.

Aprile (24:25.646)

Yep.

I was basically like, here's everything, what do we do? So I wanna say something before I forget, we were talking about being nervous and I realized too recently, I've really tried to reframe this, that being nervous and being excited share that same like physical feeling. And a lot of times what I just contribute to being nervous is also excitement. For instance, I've never been on a podcast interview before, I was a little bit nervous like, I'm gonna, you know,

Shannon Mattern (24:45.228)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (24:51.755)

Yeah.

Aprile (24:58.144)

okay, I don't know how this is gonna go. And then I was like, wait, but I'm also excited because I'm excited to talk about my journey with you. And maybe it is more excitement than actual nerves, but because we're so like conditioned to think about like being nervous about things as opposed to being excited, maybe at least that's what I think. It doesn't ever come out that way. So I've been trying more lately to be like, wait, I'm actually excited. It just shares that feeling. It's a little uncomfortable.

Shannon Mattern (25:20.459)

Yeah.

Aprile (25:27.182)

but it's not once you get into it.

Shannon Mattern (25:30.666)

Yeah, you get into it and you settle in and then like you just, yeah, you realize that the things, yeah, it's almost sometimes like for me, it's like that feeling maybe triggers some thoughts that are more scary, that have more of a tinge of bad. And if I check myself, I can remind myself like, you just feel this way because you've never done this before.

Aprile (25:34.733)

Yeah.

Aprile (25:45.26)

Yeah.

Aprile (25:53.986)

Right, yeah, exactly. So the first 90 days that we did the private coaching, it was a lot of mindset stuff. Like I had done a lot of work already in my life, especially the last like five to 10 years, but hadn't really been able to put it into like action. I think maybe also leaving like corporate life and starting my own business helped with that. But so for us, like,

opening up and being honest and you being able to see those things and give me your opinion and like you would I would be going on a tangent and you would catch stuff and be like wait let me ask about this I had epiphanies all the time like I always was like my gosh you are so right it was fascinating for me and it really we talked about business stuff but a lot of that was really me kind of cementing like

how I felt about myself in the business and what I wanted to put out into the world. And then I talked a lot about my niche because I was still, I was still convinced I did not want to do aviation. I think I was just like, no corporate isn't for me. It's you mentioned the pink pants. So I don't normally like dress super flashy. I do love that color pink and those pants I feel really comfortable in. But like I wouldn't usually wear them to other networking events because it's

Shannon Mattern (26:55.207)

Mm-hmm.

Aprile (27:16.29)

they don't feel professional. I'm sure that it's fine probably, but whatever. That's just, I'm representing somebody, another company, and that's not my call to me. But so I was like, if I'm going, I'm going to wear the pink pants because I feel like I feel good in these. I lost my kind of train of thought there, but about being wanting to get away from corporate. And I think I just felt like I thought I wasn't

Shannon Mattern (27:38.315)

Yeah.

Aprile (27:45.046)

super passionate about aviation, which didn't really make sense for me, but that's what I kept saying. But it turns out, I think I just was passionate about being my own boss and having my own company. I think that's what it turned into. So we get through our 90 days and it's amazing. And you keep telling you record our calls and then you put them in a podcast so we can listen to them. And you were like, you should listen to these calls. You'll find like, you know, gold in every single one of them. And I'm like, no.

Shannon Mattern (27:55.75)

Mm-hmm.

Aprile (28:13.262)

Thank you, I don't wanna do that. I'm not gonna listen to myself. I don't remember what I said to you, but in my head I was absolutely like, no, no way, no way. But so in the morning when I was going on walks, I was like, let me put my earbuds in and let's just see. It so interesting. So for anyone listening that is thinking about doing private coaching, and I think of it both as mindset and business, which I'll talk about in a second, do it. It will 100 % be worth it.

Yeah, it's just, it's just fascinating. So I would start listening back to those and I was like, I got so much from what you were saying. I got so much from what I was saying. It was like going through a whole nother coaching session. Um, it was, it's, I actually probably need to listen to them again, but sometimes I'm still like, I don't want to listen to myself talk back then. Um, I was so sad when our time ended too.

Shannon Mattern (29:04.204)

you

Aprile (29:09.41)

Like I was like, I am actually going to miss talking to her every Monday, which again, I am like, I'm an outgoing introvert. So I am outgoing, but after being with people, even if it's virtually, I like need to recharge. But I don't know, there was just something about those calls where I really, I looked towards them. I was excited. It was amazing. It helped me there with like mindset stuff, probably from going.

Shannon Mattern (29:17.036)

Mm-hmm.

Aprile (29:38.776)

from corporate to owning my own business. When I say mindset, like feeling like I was worth doing the work and just seeing it from someone else's perspective. It was so good and that alone changed the trajectory of my business because it gave me, it unlocked this confidence for me. Like you say, you can't see the label from the inside of the jar.

Shannon Mattern (29:40.918)

Yeah.

Aprile (30:06.542)

So that's something that I think it helps with. just like, unlocked what I knew was there, which the people you work with, that's what you're saying you see in them, right? Like you're like, I know this, I'm working with you because I see something in you. So there's something there. And then you really do help bring it out of them. Like I, yeah, I can't say enough good things about that. So then, so I actually then went from WDA to the Next Level Mastermind, which was great.

Shannon Mattern (30:15.532)

Yeah.

Aprile (30:36.428)

Women are also great. One of the reasons I like this group is because it is female, which I don't mind being in groups with men, but it's just to, you can open it up in a different type of way, right? So I'm in that group and really still miss our calls. And then I have this one, I don't even know what I was thinking about. Something happened one night, because we had gone to, you and I had gone down this long road trying to figure out who I wanted to work with. Side note, I thought it was female founders.

which I still love the idea of, because I love to help women business owners, but that was not my path. So I realized I'm supposed to be in aviation still. Like I do love it. it might, so much of my life revolves around it, right? Like my husband's a pilot, we own a plane, all these things. So I was like, this is what I need to do. And I immediately was like,

Shannon Mattern (31:14.122)

Yeah.

Aprile (31:29.9)

I need to have another coaching session with Shannon because I have all these ideas and I need her to help me figure, I don't know, I need her to help like take this jumble in my head and lay it out. And I messaged you that night and was like, I wanna do, we did like a mini one and, but I will be back again. So it was 30 days, but I knew immediately like this is what I need to do. So the second time that we did coaching,

Shannon Mattern (31:49.899)

you

Aprile (31:58.442)

It felt much more like business coaching and I loved it. That's actually, think that's kind of how you should brand it too. because it, I'm able to kind of ramble all these thoughts I have and then you're, you take them and you're like, okay, let's explore this topic. What can you do with this? Like even marketing wise or

Just everything. Like I feel like I could talk for an hour about all the good things, but I, I had that idea. I reached out to you. was like, let's do it. And then I, since then, like went all in on aviation, like a hundred percent. And it was absolutely the right decision. And I needed some structure. Like you were able to help give me the structure. So it felt like a plan and not just

Shannon Mattern (32:36.544)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (32:50.677)

Yes.

Aprile (32:52.238)

I'm just treading water trying to figure out what I'm going to do. That's probably the best way to describe it. So it was too full for me. Like the mindset stuff was huge. I had the biggest mindset shift and I'm still amazed by that. And also the business, the business coaching was just so good for me. So I played one of your recaps. So after our calls, you would do a recap with everything we talked about.

Shannon Mattern (32:55.189)

Yep.

Shannon Mattern (33:17.238)

Mm-hmm.

Aprile (33:19.214)

which always had information that I had forgotten too. And it was so, it so good. That's why I played one for my husband once in the car. Cause I was like, you have to hear Shannon. And he was like, we get done, right? And I talked to him about all this. So he's used to hearing me and he's like, she's effing dynamite. He did not say effing, he said the word, I on the podcast, but that's exactly what he said. And I was like, she is like, and so we talked about it for a long time and he's like,

Shannon Mattern (33:35.957)

you

Aprile (33:44.578)

like she really like gets you and understands like the business and has these fantastic ideas and like breaks through kind of the BS and can see like you for you and I was like I know exactly so those were kind of the two like times that we worked together in that private coaching arena

Shannon Mattern (34:06.207)

my gosh. So full confession, April, when we started working together, I saw you in aviation. And I, but I also could see why you had so much resistance to it. And I,

Aprile (34:26.764)

Yeah, I have a little bit of resentment too. Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (34:29.704)

Yes, yes. And, and also you, you wanted to, you were like also wanting to be like very respectful of your relationships that you had built with, with, like colleagues that you were doing freelance work for. And so I could see so much opportunity there, but I could also see that you were like, ready to, you needed to pause on it for a while. And so.

Aprile (34:41.656)

Very, yes.

Shannon Mattern (35:00.434)

But how we do anything is how we do everything. So it didn't matter. We could still explore female founders and work through all of all of what the mindset stuff we needed to work through in terms of, you know, everybody's got their different things, but everybody also has the like, if it's easy, if it's too easy, then it's not worth that much or like, you know,

because what I would see is like you were so brilliant at like being efficient and making things easy on yourself and you felt like you were cheating and that was wrong. like, so we had to clean up a lot of that type of stuff for you to feel like legit in all of this stuff. And so it didn't matter. That stuff was gonna happen whether it was gonna be aviation or whatever it was gonna be. But when I...

When I, I'm trying to figure out like how I do it, right? Like my coaching methodology, but I'm just literally like when it's like pure business strategy, like our second one, our mini, like our 30 day shift, it really was pure business strategy. And so for me, what I'm listening for is like, you have this, everybody has all of these ideas and all of these different things, but in our own head, it's like, what's the order of operations here?

which things, like, so I'm listening for like, we call it the domino and next level. I'm looking for like, what's the domino that's gonna knock over all the other dominoes? What's the easiest thing? What's the path of least resistance? What's the lowest hanging fruit? And for you, you had just like mentioned in passing this like directory opportunity. And it was just so like.

I don't know, just like something that you're like, yeah, and there's this opportunity for me to join this aviation.

Shannon Mattern (37:05.418)

I don't know exactly what it is. Association. And they'll do like a write-up of you and it goes out to, you know, all of the, and I'm just like, and you're like, and I know the girl that like does it. I'm just like, okay. And so, but you like, that was just like one of the things. And so in all of the things you decided, like you were gonna.

Aprile (37:07.884)

Yeah, it's an association.

Shannon Mattern (37:33.643)

get the, you know, join the association, get the profile done. You just recently sent me like this beautiful, at least two page spread in the, the magazine with you and like, it was just, it was so beautiful to see the whole thing unfold, but what I'm looking for.

when I'm coaching people, whether it's mindset or business and it goes where it goes, people don't come in saying, I need mindset coaching. They come in and they say, in 90 days, this is where I would like to be. And then I just lead you through and I'm listening for what are things that you believe about yourself that are getting in your way? What are ways, things that you believe about the world or the things that you just think, you say it like the sky is blue.

Like it couldn't possibly be any different. And that's what I'm listening for. So I can be like, we need to question this and pull this apart. And,

Aprile (38:29.09)

But you don't even have to know, you don't have to say like, is getting my way and this is what I want to accomplish in 90 days because I'm not sure I even knew. I was just like, I don't, I just started like verbal vomiting and you were like picking things out. So it's not like to go into coaching. You even have to know where you want to be. You might just feel stuck and need someone to help you figure that out. You know,

Shannon Mattern (38:39.872)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (38:48.51)

Yeah.

Yeah, I love that you brought that up because yeah, just even feeling stuck, I can figure out pretty quickly like what that is and help you safely. I think that this is the other piece, safely move past it because I think what I see a lot too is just like, it's like, well just do the thing. Well, if you're subconscious,

does not feel safe, could be like, yeah, it makes so much, seems so easy, but if your subconscious does not think that that thing is safe, no amount of saying just do the thing is gonna get you to do the thing. If on the other side of that thing is like your worst case scenario of something that you couldn't even articulate was your worst case scenario.

Aprile (39:30.723)

Yeah.

Aprile (39:40.674)

Yeah.

Aprile (39:46.048)

And doing the thing works in the sense that you're gonna do it and eventually will probably get a little easier, but you don't wanna be miserable doing the thing. Like figure out how to be happy and enjoy doing it because it's probably just your fear holding you back. you're like doing it as one thing, that is a part of it, but not understanding why you're gonna stay stuck in the same cycle. Like very stuck in the same cycle.

Shannon Mattern (39:52.66)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (40:09.004)

Yeah. So I want to talk about your pricing journey a little bit, because you're one of my favorite stories to tell about how you were like, I charged three times more than I was going to charge, and they didn't even blink an eye. So tell me a little bit more about what you thought about what you could charge before and then after.

Aprile (40:37.378)

And this is interesting because now that I am, it's basically corporate clients. I still, I'm authentic to myself now. It's completely different with my own company, but it is still the corporate mindset. So it's a little different than some of, I think, your other clients and people in the group. So yeah, I had this person reach out and I've known them for 20 years or so and they're like, I saw you were doing web design. I want you to quote our website.

And this was, it happened like that first, I think that same week of our first call, right? It had to be like Kismet, Metzvah. So had, I know for sure, like just based on other ones I've done for the marketing firm friend of mine, that I would have quoted it at like $3,500, right? Like, which would have been an insane amount of like work for that, but nothing. didn't feel like my,

Shannon Mattern (41:12.044)

Mm-hmm.

Aprile (41:36.462)

I had the value to be able to charge them. I knew that I'd be doing that amount of work, but in my brain, that just seemed like a number that people say for websites, like 3,500 to 5,000. Like that's what a starter website costs. And I was terrified. Like why would they want to pay me more than that? Like I just started this business and so I would try to deliverable stuff, which is what you talk about. Like basically you just keep, and I'm still prone to do that. So I have to catch myself.

I just kept putting more deliverables in there to make it feel like the price, you know, was it was worth the price that they're going to pay. And you're like, well, let me challenge you to try the package matrix, which I mentioned the corporate thing because it doesn't, it doesn't work as well in corporate. They actually have ended up going for my highest package. So I've adjusted it based on that, which is different than like a lot. know.

It's not a bad problem to have and it's different than a lot of fields. But one of the things I knew about aviation was they're too busy to do a lot of the work themselves. So that's why they like the done for you package. So anyways, I end up quoting this project at 15,500, I think. I did quote three tiers. One was, you know, like you do most of the work the way that I'm sure everyone's heard it. But they're like, no, we want you to do everything and.

will happily pay this amount. And I was like, I know you know you guys can't my face, but I was just like, what? Like how I genuinely I would have charged $3,500 to this website, which would be insane. But I did not feel like it was, I brought the value to be able to do that. And I will say this to a lot of it is because certain things feel easy to me. And

And this is still hard, but Shin and I worked through this and I truly believe it, but it is not easy to feel that way. Just because it's easy doesn't mean that there isn't value that you bring in it. And a lot of the reason it might be easy is because you've done it for the last 20 years and you've spent that time learning and growing and schooling and all those different things. But like when you, it's easier for you to do, or it doesn't feel like you're banging your head against a wall. It feels like...

Aprile (43:57.762)

someone shouldn't be paying you as much for it, which is obviously not, well, now I say obviously not the case, but it didn't feel like the case then. For some reason, and this is a corporate thing too, I felt like work had to be hard. I wasn't supposed to like it, and I wasn't doing a good job if I wasn't hustling until working 60 hours a week, which is crazy. Why would anybody wanna live like that?

Shannon Mattern (44:11.189)

Yeah.

Aprile (44:23.086)

So really, when I took a step back and was like, well, if I want to make this much money, serve these clients, do these things, I have to be at a rate that makes sense. And the value that they're getting out of the project is 10-fold or 20-fold or whatever. So yeah, over-tripled what I sold that for purely because we were doing coaching. I'm not exaggerating. That is the case.

Honestly, it was worth more than that. Like now looking back, I can see it was worth more than that. I did deliverable stuff just a tiny bit. Stuff I like, so it's not so bad, but like just the pricing mindset stuff. And I, know, when I was talking about mindset stuff earlier, I didn't even mean the pricing mindset. I wasn't even thinking about that. I was just thinking about like my personal mindset of running this business or, you know, providing this service. The pricing mindset, my...

Shannon Mattern (44:58.539)

you

Shannon Mattern (45:09.098)

Yeah.

Aprile (45:19.528)

second really big project was the same exact way, but this time I went into it, like, knowing I still did the three tiers, they still picked my top tier. And I was like, I would just be giving these projects away if I hadn't like work through that with you. And it works. It's the same as being in the group. That's what you teach. It's accurate. maybe it's like lack of patience, but I do like to like move things along. So for me, it was really worth it to get that one on one.

extra one-on-one like guidance and tell you all about the business and you kind of like really be able to give me such personalized recommendations. You called me out on the...

Shannon Mattern (46:00.588)

the 90 day shift really draws fast track stuff because it is an hour a week for 12 weeks of just me and you on your stuff. can make so much quick progress. And yeah, I remember that first client came when you were still like not wanting to do aviation as your niche. And it was like,

Aprile (46:23.543)

Yeah, that's true.

Shannon Mattern (46:29.585)

It was just the other thing that I love about Package Matrix, and I was just thinking about this recently. I've never thought about it like this. I don't know why, but it makes so much sense is that women, historically, we don't ask for the salary that our male counterparts ask for. We don't advocate for ourselves for raises like our male counterparts might.

You know, nobody's offering to pay us more than our male counterparts. So the problem is twofold. We're not asking for it. Nobody's offering for it, offering it. And so we traditionally make less on the dollar than our male counterparts. And one of the things that I love about package matrix, especially for, for women is that like the way that it's really structured is like testing out whether

someone would pay quote unquote that much for this service. And the thing that delights me to no end is when you find out that, yeah, people will. you would have never even thought to, it would have never felt safe to put that number in front of them if it wasn't packaged matrixed. Because.

Aprile (47:51.285)

Absolutely. I never would have.

Shannon Mattern (47:52.344)

there'd be no other alternative. It's either this or nothing and your nervous system would not let you do it. So it would roll you back to 3,500 because that would feel like a sure thing for you.

Aprile (48:02.282)

exactly right. That felt like the quote safe offer, which is nuts. But like without that foundation of really like understanding yourself in the process and what it is you're providing and the value that the client's going to get out of it, it wouldn't have been possible for me to say like this project is worth this for this amount of work. This is the top tier. If you want to do that, this is what it costs.

Shannon Mattern (48:29.643)

Mm-hmm.

Aprile (48:30.895)

And it's just shown me again and again that that totally works.

Shannon Mattern (48:35.615)

Yeah. And the other thing that just really jumped out at me with you, you just trusted the process. Like you fully, yeah, you fully just were like, show me what to do, I'll do it. And let's talk through whatever's going to happen. But you were all in and like, look what happened.

Aprile (48:49.88)

you. I know. Yeah.

Aprile (49:02.582)

Yeah. And I'm very much of like a type A kind of, I like to be in charge of things. So that was really hard for me, but I gave myself a talk, many talks during this. And was like, if you're making this investment, do it. do it, give, give way to the, like the process and let her do her thing. And I am still hopefully, and I sound this way, like flabbergasted by

Shannon Mattern (49:17.472)

Yeah.

Aprile (49:29.1)

the amount of progress I had. like, I, it's just even helping me, like it's, did not know that you thought I've logged in aviation from the start. That's so interesting, but I did. I'm like, and I found my way back there. And now I, I love what I do. Work is so fun. So you don't have to hate it. doesn't have to be miserable. I, yeah, it's just, I'm like, how is this life real? And so much of that, I,

I'd like to think I would have gotten there in probably five years. In probably five years. Like I cannot even put into words. And I say that to anyone, anytime I see like in our groups and stuff, someone mentioned coaching, I'm like, do it. You don't like, especially if you're feeling that weird, like stuck or overwhelmed, any of those feelings, but you know this is what you're supposed to be doing. Like have someone help you map it out. It just makes all the difference.

Shannon Mattern (50:00.79)

It would have

Aprile (50:28.098)

I mean, that first project, it's funny because when I would tell the story too, I'm like, that paid for it. I wouldn't have even made that money to be able to pay for it if I wasn't working with you. So yeah, it's just been fantastic.

Shannon Mattern (50:39.936)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (50:44.445)

Okay, so when we got on this call, I was like, how are things and you're like so good and your face was beaming and your smile was like ear to ear. So tell me more about that. Like, how are things?

Aprile (50:57.678)

Things are so good. Um, gosh. So I have obviously all in on aviation. went to, um, the first, I went to a conference for the association that featured me in their magazine, which it wasn't, it was after that, that it came out. But this is, I've gone to this trade show convention for the last 20 years on and off for the last 20 years. Um, and I also did a website speaking.

session there for kind of like what avionics shop owners really need to know like going into building a website. And so this was a new experience for me because that's the first time I've been for myself for Lexington Creative. Of course I was scared, but I was like, I'm just going to treat it like everything else. Like you don't have a choice, but I did not use to like it so much because I do get kind of burned out quick because of like the networking stuff.

It's a totally different experience when you're there for your own company. And when you, not even that, because I'm sure that that's a me thing, because other people don't feel this way, but like I was missing a piece of myself in that, felt authentic. Like I felt like I was trying to play the role of this person who makes sense in aviation and was just fitting in. And I went this time and was like,

I just get to be me if I want to wear pink pants or pink shoes, not pink pants this time, but like I can write like it's totally fine. so I did the website session. went so great. And I, yeah, it's just been, it's been like a whirlwind. Like I'm even trying to remember like everything that's happened. And I've kind of changed the, the way I do my pricing, but I used.

This is interesting because I got my idea from the package matrix and I've been I've mentioned templates to you like a ton of time to wear on the phone. So because it doesn't the regular way that I was doing it doesn't seem to fit. I'm like either you know more than somebody wants because they're just not willing to spend the money or you whatever. I am launching soon actually I was I was just working on that a

Shannon Mattern (52:57.993)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (53:12.522)

Mm-hmm.

Aprile (53:20.064)

service where it's basically you pick a template and you give me the content, you give me the assets. Sorry, my do not disturb is not on anymore. And we'll populate that and then you know, it's it's a little less money and it launches quicker, but giving them guides to be able to do those things. So it's still that top tier and that lower tier. I figured out that's what works in this industry. Corporate is a little different than what a lot of other people are doing.

Shannon Mattern (53:29.201)

All good.

Shannon Mattern (53:42.133)

Mm-hmm.

Aprile (53:49.534)

So that's what I'm doing with pricing and it's just so all of it's so fun. I love running the business. I've been I've been working with a lot of contractors now because like I figured out that was something we didn't even say I figured out that I actually like the running up the business. I like moving the pieces around. I like the strategy. I like the top level stuff. I enjoy designing websites, but not I like that as a piece of the overall.

Shannon Mattern (54:07.167)

Yep.

Aprile (54:18.808)

picture of the business. So yeah.

Shannon Mattern (54:22.773)

So good. It has been a delight to watch you move through everything that you moved through. like you said, like I probably would have figured it out. I have no doubt you would have figured it out. You are a brilliant. That's with every single person that I work with. You're all brilliance. Like you're smart. You'll figure it out and you're very determined and you will trial and error your way through.

Aprile (54:28.526)

Thank you.

Aprile (54:37.108)

Yeah

Shannon Mattern (54:52.361)

I think the, the difference that working together in private coaching or the web designer Academy or next level or anything is that we help you speed that up exponentially because you know, I, I've, I've, I've walked so many people down the path, you know, and like, I know where the pitfalls are.

And I also know when I also can tell like you and I are very similar. Sometimes I need to find my own way. And, you know, and I can sense that too, where it's like, okay, like I do think, and I don't know, you could have stumbled upon a room of female founders and we'd be having the same conversation with a different niche. don't know, but you I, I, you took a step.

to make it easier for yourself because, and now you're like delighted by it instead of like grinding through it, trying to figure it out still. So I just, you were such a pleasure to work with. You always have a spot in private coaching. Yeah.

Aprile (55:54.934)

Yeah. Yeah.

Aprile (56:07.694)

100 % be back because I have all these ideas and I'm like, my gosh, I need to be able to talk through these with Shannon like I miss it. That's why you know, it is it's just helpful and I mean you do offer for people who really like that group setting or who wants that like camaraderie. That's great and for people who need a little bit more of a push like you have your private coaching and that's great too. Some people like me do well with both of it. Yeah, it was just it was the best.

Shannon Mattern (56:12.497)

Yeah. Yeah.

Aprile (56:35.586)

decision I made for my business. can say that confidently. hands down, no question.

Shannon Mattern (56:40.917)

Well, that was a perfect place to wrap up this episode. So can you tell everyone where they can go to connect with you and, you know, stalk you a little bit and say hi?

Aprile (56:52.11)

So I'm not big on socials. I'm on actually, I'm linked in the most because of just the niche that I'm in and my goal there and also on my Instagram and Facebook is to again, just like show up in an authentic way. Like I'm not a salesperson so I try not to be salesy which was something else you kind of taught me is like you get to do it your way.

Shannon Mattern (56:56.105)

Love it.

Aprile (57:19.372)

Like you get to do it exactly the way that feels good to you and that makes you happy and makes you feel like yourself as a person. So it's all at Lexington Creative.

Shannon Mattern (57:31.771)

Amazing. I'll link that up in the show notes. And thank you again for being here and sharing your story and your journey and just encouraging other people to like, take that leap.

Aprile (57:42.05)

Thank you.

Shannon Mattern (57:49.547)

what's one belief, April, what's one belief about yourself that you had to change to get to where you are today?

Aprile (57:57.142)

It's funny because every time I listen to your podcast and you ask that I'm always like, what would I say? So I was thinking about that and I have a couple that's okay. When it was like this one I hadn't thought of before, but it's, gets to be easy because I really, really struggled with that. Right? Like it is okay. And it's very possible that if you enjoy something, it's going to feel, and again, I'm putting this in quotes, easy for you. Like you don't have to be miserable for it to be worth it.

Shannon Mattern (58:03.498)

Yes.

Aprile (58:26.574)

And another big one is just that like I was too late in my life to completely start a new career, which I realize I'm still like anyone at my age, 45, would like have some sort of experience, which of course I used to, to my benefit. But if you had asked me over the last 25 years, I would have been like, that's crazy. I can't, that's too scary. Like I don't have, I would never do that.

And it has been the most rewarding thing that I've ever done in my life. So people say all the time, it's never too late, right? And we kind of roll our eyes, but it's really true. And you don't have to go all in at first, just start trying things and see, see what works and see what sticks. And you're going to, you might swear website design is not for you. And then in two years, you might be running your own website design company. So.

I guess be open also, that you just need to be open to possibilities.

Shannon Mattern (59:27.7)

So good. I could talk to you for another hour, truly. So I'll be excited for our next coaching sprint where I'll get to do that. So yeah, thank you so much for being here. I'll put the links to April's website and socials in the show notes. And yeah, thank you all so much for listening. See you back here next week.

Aprile (59:31.603)

Yeah.

Aprile (59:35.95)

Appreciate it. Yes.