#157 – July 2025 Income Report

Shannon Mattern (00:02.108)

Hello everyone. Welcome back to the Profitable Web Designer podcast. Today I am joined by my co-host and client success coordinator, Nash, and it is our July 2025 income report. Erica, welcome back to the show.

Erica Nash (00:18.316)

Hi, happy to be here. I can't believe it's time for July's episode already.

Shannon Mattern (00:22.608)

I know I feel like we literally just recorded our June income report yesterday, but a whole month has passed. It's actually mid August when we are recording this. And if you're new to the show, every single month, I record an income report breaking down how much money our business made, how much we spent, all of the lessons learned along the way. And even though I haven't done

Erica Nash (00:26.498)

I see.

Shannon Mattern (00:48.882)

web design, one-on-one web design services since 2019, which is crazy to me that my last client project was in 2019 when I made the decision to like go all in on the courses side of my business. then later on made the decision to go all in on the web designer Academy.

I've done an income report on my last podcast and this podcast every single month because how we think about money, we, you know, like all of the ways that money interacts with our business, like determines a lot. Our money mindset determines a lot. And so even though I'm running like a completely different business model than most of our listeners who are freelance web designers,

I hear consistently from our listeners that these are your favorite episodes and I'm glad cause they're mine too. So the way that this works is Erica is going to interview me all about our numbers and what went on in July and what happened and the lessons we learned and all of those things. So let's dive in.

Erica Nash (01:46.379)

Thank

Erica Nash (02:01.966)

do it. So to start, how much was the total inflow for July of 2025 and where did it come from?

Shannon Mattern (02:10.684)

So our inflow in July was $31,123.51. And that revenue came from Web Designer Academy enrollments. It came from, let's see, did we have, it came from renewals. It came from people renewing into our Next Level Mastermind program.

I think one person is this her fourth year with us, which is amazing. And, another one rolled enrolled into our next level program for her second year. meaning her third year with us total, she started in the web designer Academy. So it's just so fun to see people like stay and continue their journey. And it's.

so fun to see them grow. Let's see, we had two new, wait two? Yeah, no, three new Web Designer Academy enrollments, which no two, I'm looking at, was like, looked at that wrong. Two new people joined the Web Designer Academy in July. And then the rest of it is like our marketing momentum membership.

a couple of course, like one-off self-study courses that we've sold, private, a private coaching client that I, that I enrolled. So, I, I think last income report, had had one. Private coaching client put down a deposit in July. I booked another private coaching client. And then we also opened up, registration for our next level.

Mastermind Retreat, which we host in person every November. And about 10 grand of that revenue came in from people registering for that retreat. It literally about sold out the first day, which it always does. We still have a few spots if you're in next level and you're listening to this, but that's always a hot ticket item that sells out pretty quick. So that's where all of that.

Erica Nash (04:22.274)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (04:34.523)

And inflow came in in July.

Erica Nash (04:38.375)

What a month full of just like movement. I love it.

Shannon Mattern (04:42.417)

Yeah. It's so funny because people are always like, July's slow, summer's slow. Summer are always some of our best months at the Web Designer Academy. So I don't buy into the whole summer slump in terms of that because I think it's because what we see happening in July is a result of what we did in March. And we do a lot in March.

Erica Nash (05:00.846)

Summer slowdown.

Erica Nash (05:11.809)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (05:11.985)

And so we're always planting seeds and encouraging them to grow.

Erica Nash (05:21.078)

Yeah, and you know, we talk a lot about planting seeds and watching them grow in the 30, 60, 90 days out and all of that stuff. I don't know that we talk a ton about the clients that you do have and taking really great care of them. And I think for us, I mean, I'm going to toot our horns for just a minute. I think we do that pretty well.

Shannon Mattern (05:45.871)

Let's just say toot your horn, Erica. Let's toot yours.

Erica Nash (05:49.186)

I think we do that pretty well. To have somebody renew for a fourth year is freaking incredible. To have people renew from one program into the next program because they see just the value that we continue to bring and the community that we've built and the value that the community continues to bring. I think that that, I don't know, I think that that says a lot. I think it's incredible.

Shannon Mattern (05:56.4)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (06:04.337)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (06:13.637)

Mm-hmm.

Erica Nash (06:18.638)

I think there's definitely a lesson there too with web design clients and just like taking really great care of them and offering just like really, really great customer experience. And so I just, yeah, I love to see it. And I think that that is just, I don't know, it's just really cool.

Shannon Mattern (06:37.387)

Yeah, I think that's so important that you bring that up because retention is a part of our revenue strategy. We want people who join us to grow with us to stay with us to constantly be learning to and it's not always going it's not always about coming into our next level mastermind program although that is a pathway that people choose. You know, it's all about continuing to give yourself the support for

all of the different life cycles of your business inside of the web designer Academy. And I think that that's what makes our program really special because it's like, it's not just, come in, go through all eight modules, learn all the things, implement the systems. And when your year is up, you're done. It's like, you are going to start to experience the challenges of success.

Erica Nash (07:31.554)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (07:31.634)

And you're probably already experiencing those now and you don't realize it can be different. And that's when you come into our program and then you're like, it can be different. And now that it's different, I'm experiencing even more success. And now these things are coming up for me. And so it's not just, you know, we grow right along with you. And then I will say also is that like, Erica, you,

Erica Nash (07:38.616)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (08:01.755)

do an incredible job of checking in with our students throughout the year and like all of the different touch points that not only do you implement, like Erica and I, before she even came on as an employee, were you on the team and we did this as a separate independent contractor project, or were you not on the team yet?

You did like a full curriculum audit.

Erica Nash (08:30.286)

For what? Yeah, that was before.

Shannon Mattern (08:34.543)

So that was before you joined as client success coordinator. Erica is a teacher. She's a curriculum designer and I hired her to do a program audit, like set some goals for us, help me like make the curriculum easier, set some engagement metrics, some touch points. Like all of this was very intentional. And so Erica not only designed that and then she joins the team and she helps execute it.

what we're seeing is people staying because of that. And that's like, and they're saying because they are getting what they need, not because they're not getting what they need. It's not like, I didn't finish it. I need to stay or I'm struggling. need to say it's like, I'm growing and I want to stay. And, I, I love that for them. And I love that for new people coming in cause they're getting like people who can be like, I've been in your shoes. I've been there before. Here's what I did.

Erica Nash (09:18.125)

yeah.

Erica Nash (09:28.438)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (09:33.547)

and it makes for really rich experience.

Erica Nash (09:36.972)

Yeah, yeah, it's just, it's just really beautiful. And I'm, I don't know. Yeah, I'm just glad I get to play a small part in that. it's like, it's cool to see on like this side of, of the equation, you know, when people are just like experiencing growth and stuff. Because of, I mean, like, I just, I, I will receive your very kind words.

Shannon Mattern (09:54.724)

I love how you said small.

Shannon Mattern (10:05.553)

Thank you.

Erica Nash (10:05.934)

And also, I just, yeah, I, yeah, I don't know what else to say. Very much, very much.

Shannon Mattern (10:15.409)

We'll work on that. I know. I know you're like honored to be part of everybody's journey too. Yeah. Yeah. But you also can toot your own horn about it.

Erica Nash (10:29.774)

Moving on to the next question. Thank you. I'm a little bit. Okay, so let's talk about where this money went. So what was the total outflow and where did it go?

Shannon Mattern (10:48.133)

Yeah, our total outflow was $24,869.68. And as always, about 10,000 of that goes to mine and Erica's W2 paychecks that gets direct deposit deposited into our bank accounts on the 1st and 15th of every month, just like any good corporate job because we're W2 employees of the company. so like I pay

payroll. So part of that's payroll taxes. That's the payroll company's like fees and everything. that's a good like that's where our most of our outflow goes. And then also we spend about $1,500 a month on all of the tools and everything that we use to run the business. So web hosting, email, anything, all of our

e-commerce, all of that stuff. All of those little things add up to about $1,500 a month. Our podcast production, the branding project that Erica and I have been working on, like with Riot Creative Studio, her design studio outside of her gig here at the Web Designer Academy. My work with Lee Scott at Zayn-A-Tayn Consulting on

conversion rate optimization. Plus we had an extra project for the website redesign and the launch in July. So in June and July, they provided some additional project support to help me with the launch of the new website in the go live. I think I already said podcast production, right? And then all of my professional services, accounting.

Erica Nash (12:39.0)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (12:43.981)

insurance. Like I said, payroll processing, I'm working with financial strategist, Jen Boss, who I've mentioned on previous podcast episodes all about, like coming up with a financial plan and forecasting and strategizing, paying back, paying down my line of credit, and also paying myself more. Like I mentioned in last month's

income report, had lowered my salary back in 2023 and was waiting to be able to like start paying myself more in one fell swoop. When then, as we always kind of get stuck in this, like, when I've achieved this milestone that makes me feel worthy again, then I will, compensate myself at this level. And Jen spotted that and was like,

How about we just start taking some baby steps towards that. And I mentioned that, um, last month on the podcast, I was like, the babyest of baby steps was taking that one deposit for private coaching and splitting it half for me and half to the line of credit. Um, and I was able to do that again in July and I did 1200 to me and 1200 additional on the line of credit above and beyond what I had.

previously, like what I always normally send. And so I'm like, my gosh, like it's happening. Like it's starting to happen and I won't spoil August, but we get to talk about it again in August because I'm just like, here we are three months after. And I'm already back up to where I was. And all it took was just taking one move that didn't feel good enough to start.

Erica Nash (14:22.368)

It's happening.

Shannon Mattern (14:42.277)

So yeah, I know.

Erica Nash (14:43.256)

That's amazing. That's amazing. And I love this idea of just like, okay, because I think I fall into this. I think you probably fall into this some too. And I know our students do, but just like the all or nothing mindset, like if it can't all happen now, or if I can't do it all the way right now, like it's going to be on pause until XYZ date, right? And I think that there's something in there about this idea of like, especially in marketing.

Shannon Mattern (14:57.199)

Yes.

Shannon Mattern (15:03.985)

Yep.

Erica Nash (15:13.174)

right in marketing, it can literally be the babyest of baby steps to get you over that like initial hump of like getting into the groove of doing outreach because it absolutely is a muscle. And if you don't use it, you lose it. And so the babyest of baby steps might just be one. And you talk all the time about like the chaos zone versus the potential zone. And like that is so, so, so very real. And I

think that sometimes it's just those baby steps just don't feel like enough, but they really are just, they are enough. They are, and they can create so much momentum.

Shannon Mattern (15:52.241)

Yeah.

You mentioned the chaos zone and the potential zone. And there's also the comfort zone. It's this book, All It Takes is a Goal by John Acuff. And yeah, I love how you stated that in terms of marketing. And also, I know there are so many people listening to this that aren't paying themselves. You're probably just, you know, taking the

Erica Nash (16:17.294)

Cry.

Shannon Mattern (16:22.959)

like taking the deposits, like the revenue that's coming in from your web design clients. And maybe you're just holding onto it in like a business account because you're afraid to spend it, or you are like buying more courses, programs, and trainings because you're like searching for the one secret thing that's going to like explode your revenue. And when that happens, then you'll start paying yourself. Can I please just ask you to start?

paying yourself. If you are not paying yourself, pick a number that seems so ridiculously inconsequential that it won't hurt whatever you're trying to protect over here in this account full of money and just start moving, giving it to yourself. Like it was $240. Like to me that is like, I think of like Shannon at, you know, 22 years old.

That was a lot of money. was like $240 was like a huge amount of money. 23 years later, it's not that much to me anymore, but I remember the days when it was. And it just felt like not enough. But like, I don't even know how to describe like the action of doing it calmed my nervous system down somehow to be like, I can actually start.

Erica Nash (17:48.078)

Mm.

Shannon Mattern (17:51.373)

start doing this and it is enough. And why am I deferring that? Like, why am I delaying or deferring this until I can do it all at once? So it just, it just opened up a flood gate in more ways than one. Like it created more safety to just do that and to make that commitment to myself. Yeah. So.

Erica Nash (18:17.291)

I love that.

Shannon Mattern (18:21.793)

yourself. You work hard. Do it.

Erica Nash (18:22.328)

and up.

Erica Nash (18:26.636)

I have a confession. I'm not paying. I'm not paying. It's me. I'm not paying myself. So that inspires me to just and like that the first person that you were talking about is like scrolling with that's me. I'm scrolling away the money and just like holding onto it just in case because XYZ. So now I just get to take some baby steps. So thanks for that.

Shannon Mattern (18:28.017)

Erica Nash. Give it to me.

Shannon Mattern (18:55.589)

I can't wait to talk about this again on next month's podcast income report about why you weren't paying yourself, what thoughts you had when you started paying yourself, what is unlocked for you, any fears you had maybe before doing it. Because I think that's going to help so many people listening to this who are just secretly busting their butt like you do and not.

Erica Nash (19:01.153)

you

Erica Nash (19:19.757)

oof

Shannon Mattern (19:25.009)

paying themselves.

Erica Nash (19:26.774)

Yeah. Hopefully it can help somebody. That means I have to go do it for real. Okay.

Shannon Mattern (19:28.613)

So.

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (19:35.211)

And also as a member of our Next Level Mastermind and Web Designer Academy, you know where to get support with that. So if you want to bring that to... Love it. So good. And it might not be. If you are happy to squirrel, squirrel away. But at the same time for me, it was...

Erica Nash (19:41.998)

I didn't really think it was an issue until... Okay, yes.

Shannon Mattern (20:03.364)

creating a situation where I think I've said this on the podcast a few times I'm like I'm making as much as I'm spending and also I've had some conversations with some colleagues where I'm like I feel like I have everything I need to be generating revenue at the level that I have in the past and that I know I can but something is in the way.

Erica Nash (20:12.44)

Mm.

Shannon Mattern (20:32.612)

And I think that this was one of those pieces that was in the way of like, wait, like chasing the thing that was going to make me able to take care of it all in one big chunk. And I think that that is a diversion of time, energy, and attention, instead of just starting on the little things that are right in front of me and letting those little things compound. And before I know it, it'll be done and it won't, won't have happened in one fell swoop.

Erica Nash (20:33.838)

Mm.

Yeah.

Erica Nash (20:48.557)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (21:02.584)

Which I I said one fell swoops to my husband and he was laughing. And I'm like, what are you talking? Why is that so funny? And he was like, did you see the Nate Bargatze, the comedian Nate Bargatze where he was talking about what does one fell swoop even mean? I was like, what's my story funny? Like, why are you laughing?

Erica Nash (21:03.105)

Mm-hmm.

Erica Nash (21:14.222)

That's funny. No, but... Did I say it right? No, I'm glad you said that and I also appreciate the permission to just keep squirreling away. However, I do think it's an issue. Not so much for...

like something in terms of that, like there's a specific number or whatever. I mean, I do have things that I'm like making sure I can cover before. That's the thing. I'm like, there's a specific thing that I want to cover before I start paying myself. However, the thing that I think it is for me, and I think we talked about this on the maybe March episode, the March income report, is that my faith plays a really big part of my business journey. And so

Shannon Mattern (22:07.139)

Mm-hmm.

Erica Nash (22:12.288)

This is kind of going to be the first time I articulate this. So for me, one thing that I have really been working on is the fact that the number of dollars that are in my bank account does not equate to the level of security available to me. My security is not found.

in my bank account, it's not found in my job, it's not found in my client pipeline. Like my and the thing that I'm working on now, like trying to remind myself and tell myself like my security is found, my security is found in God and in his ability to like take care of me. And that's a really scary thing to like admit and like let go of and like allow myself to be like, okay, well, obviously I still need to be like

responsible with the dollars that I have in my account. But I don't think it's irresponsible to pay myself. I think that that would be like a really huge step forward in that journey of like recognizing and truly like, you know, putting my, for lack of a better phrase, my money where my mouth is like, you know, my security is not found in the amount of dollars in my bank account. So I think that that

is probably a really good challenge for me between now and next month's income report. So we'll see what happens.

Shannon Mattern (23:43.311)

I love that. And I also thought, put your money where your mouth is as soon as you were like saying it. And I feel a similar way in terms of like, I wasn't raised like with religion or like spirituality the way you were. And I so like always like, so appreciate hearing like how like your perspective on it.

Erica Nash (23:47.79)

It was... perfect.

Shannon Mattern (24:13.602)

And like, I think in a similar, but different way where it's like, feel like my safety security comes from within and my resilience and my, you know, if I've done it once, I can do it again. so, you know, I feel like that's where I'm like, I can always figure anything out. And, so.

Erica Nash (24:40.386)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (24:43.406)

I know that there are people listening here that are in of all faiths or thought processes or paradigms. And, but I think we can all agree that our security doesn't come from our bank account. It comes from, you know, your, your, whatever belief system you have from within, from your spirituality, from your higher power, but it's never going to like that dollar amount isn't like,

Erica Nash (24:49.998)

Mm-hmm.

Erica Nash (24:59.182)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (25:14.587)

You created that somehow, that's the source of that.

Erica Nash (25:18.284)

Yeah, it's not the end all be all of everything. And I think that's not what society tells us. I think that it truly is. And generationally too, thinking about parents and grandparents where you got a good paying job and you stayed there for 40 years and that kind of rhetoric. So yeah, just interesting.

Shannon Mattern (25:32.709)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (25:47.311)

Yeah, so good. So with the inflow and outflow, we added $6,253.83 to our reserve. And that's going to kind of stay sitting aside in, you know, because that's like a lot of that is for the retreat, right? So it's not like people paid for the retreat.

Erica Nash (25:49.55)

Good stuff.

Erica Nash (26:08.91)

Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (26:13.604)

You know, that money is earmarked for the retreat. And so that's kind of how I, you know, think about that. Like, yes, it's an overflow. It's kind of reserved, but it's not like for just regular operations. It's carved out for all of the, you know, paying for the Airbnb and the food and like all of those things for the retreat.

Erica Nash (26:30.414)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (26:41.892)

But yeah, I'm so proud of myself that I paid myself more and I'm just like.

Erica Nash (26:45.708)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (26:49.452)

It seemed like such an insurmountable number, but now I'm like, my gosh, this was like not even that big of a deal. had to get over what was like holding me back, like all of the fear of making the wrong decisions and you know, all of that stuff. So yeah.

Erica Nash (26:59.682)

Yeah.

Erica Nash (27:05.237)

Yeah, so good, so good. So along with that, let's talk about some of the important things that happened in the month of July and, you know, go into some of the things that the shifts that happen, which obviously a big shift is paying yourself and kind of seeing that like, it'll be okay.

Shannon Mattern (27:24.962)

Yeah, that was one big shift. think, well, just to start off, we always take the first week of July off. We're offline as a company the first week of July. So that's always just nice to take that week off. I spent that week, again, working on the website. And I know that it sounds like I shouldn't be working, but at the same time, like, was such a fun project.

Erica Nash (27:31.874)

Mm-hmm.

Erica Nash (27:41.549)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (27:53.167)

Like I know I mentioned it, like if you listen to our brand reveal podcast episode, we won't go into like massive detail in this episode. We've talked about it a lot, but, like it was just so fun to dig into a project of that magnitude. And it felt like cleaning out my closet and I got a lot of work done because, we were planning to go live in the month of July. so when I have a week of no meetings, no responsibilities,

Erica Nash (27:53.262)

Hehehe.

Shannon Mattern (28:21.296)

no obligations, like a blank calendar, like a blank block on my calendar. I'm like, oh, it feels so luxurious and good. And I love that. so yeah, that's what I worked on. And also saw so many fireworks that week. We took all the doors off the Jeep and the roof off and went and drove and saw fireworks.

went to our friends and saw fireworks, we lit off a bunch of fireworks. I didn't, my husband and my best friend's husband set a whole lot of money on fire in their backyard. And then we went to some random neighborhood fireworks show that I was like, who is this man and what does he do for a living? Because this compound is incredible. This is like a better fireworks show than any of these cities around here put on. And so I just like did fun stuff like that.

Erica Nash (29:00.141)

you

Erica Nash (29:15.022)

you

Shannon Mattern (29:20.738)

around here and it was delightful. So yeah, that was the first week of July. And then when we came back from our time off, I met up with Josh Hall and Austin Church for coffee. Austin was in town from Knoxville, Tennessee, I believe. He was meeting with his mentor.

Erica Nash (29:25.677)

amazing.

Shannon Mattern (29:46.794)

and he reached out to me and Josh and said, Hey, do you guys want to meet up for coffee? So we did and had like the best conversation. It's one of those ones where I wish we would have recorded it. It was so good. and we talked like Austin was like, guys on the way here, I read this book called 10 X's easier than two X. And it's all about like the concept of scaling.

Erica Nash (29:54.275)

Love it.

Shannon Mattern (30:16.046)

or the science of scaling. And he was like, but it's not about like doing more. It's like changing your identity to become someone who operates at 10X versus like hustling and, you know, over exerting and doing to create 2X. And so he's like, that's what I've been thinking about. And he, Josh and I were just chatting and

It really intrigued me. And it was like after marinating on that conversation for the next week or so as like I'm working on the website and like just doing whatever that I was like. And we had had that conversation about why I'm weird on sales calls when I'm like, you don't need us. When I realized that the shift that I.

get to make is that like, my 10X identity is that like high achievers do you need help too? Like, and I have been, I have been positioning myself as like, oh, I'm just a couple of steps ahead of you. And that's why I'm qualified to help you. The shift that I needed to make was I have some really strong, unique, powerful skills that can help anyone.

Erica Nash (31:23.022)

Ooh. Mm-hmm.

Shannon Mattern (31:45.166)

And it's not about like a continuum of where I'm at on this journey. It's like, can help anybody. Not just like, here's where I'm at on the journey. So as long as I'm just a few steps ahead of you, I'm qualified. But if I look at you and I think that you're a few steps ahead of me, I'm no longer qualified.

Erica Nash (31:53.026)

Yeah.

Shannon Mattern (32:07.887)

And I'm like, no, I can absolutely help someone that's way ahead of me because like what I do is not show you how to do what you want to do. It's help you get out of your own way to do what you want to do. And I don't have to have been in your way to like show you that.

Erica Nash (32:28.739)

Yeah.

Yep. that's so good. Do you feel like you've internalized that? Amazing.

Shannon Mattern (32:33.187)

So that was a huge shift for me.

Oh yeah. Like already, already in just conversations to be like, Oh, my job isn't to tell you how to do the thing. It's to, read this quote, it's to make the implicit explicit. It's to make the things to create a situation or a container in which you are able to see the things you weren't able to see before. We do this in next level with

mapping, like doing our next level map. when we have the, Are, Like our commitment goal and like what's in the way foot on the break foot on the gas. Like it's me.

like showing you the things that are getting you right, which we're doing in private coaching and like these women are incredible. So it's been a really fun experience with that. Yeah. So I'm like, yeah. I was misthinking what my role here is.

Erica Nash (33:37.154)

Yeah.

Erica Nash (33:40.512)

So good.

Speaker 1 (01:13.666)

Yeah, I was just thinking about, well, two thoughts. I was really thinking about the snowflake concept and how I feel like that really internalizes this idea of it not being this sort of hierarchy that is maybe more linear, but instead it's more like a snowflake where everybody is peers and everybody has...

you know, different experiences and expertise to bring to the table, regardless of, you know, whether or not, like, you've been in the exact same experience. And then I think that there is also something in there about, how this idea that, like, you being one or two steps ahead of somebody else kind of implies that business is a very straight linear journey.

And we know that that's not the case. And I think that if we think that way, it really devalues all of the turns and ups and downs and pivots that a successful business requires. I think that maybe that keeps us stuck in this way of thinking that my business has to look one specific way to be successful, and that's just not the truth.

And so I think there's a piece of that in there as well. And then the other thing I think is really cool is that I saw that Josh shared a picture of you guys that like you took a selfie or whatever when you were there. And I love seeing those. I love when you guys get together, you know, like out in in like the wild. And I think it's really cool that this idea of you 10xing has like this milestone marker where like you have this photo of like

this Shannon in the beginning of the transition. And like it just kind of allows you this, like, I don't know, unique perspective of like when this like 10x transition began and you get to look back on that, which I just think is really, really cool.

Speaker 2 (03:27.374)

I love that so much. I think that this continuum of novice to expert, right? I think that that thought process can serve you really well at certain stages of your business journey when you feel like imposter syndrome, right? If you feel a lot of imposter syndrome about serving new clients, right? Or consulting or leading.

I think that it is so helpful to be like, of course I'm qualified to do this. I'm just a few steps ahead. So like, I don't have to be all like, if you think of like the continuum from novice to expert as like two sides of a continuum, you like don't have to be all the way on the expert end to have a huge impact on the people that you're serving. But there's two sides to every coin and the problem comes, comes in.

where like that thought process served me and worked well until it didn't work well anymore. When it was like, I have people coming to me saying, Shannon, I would like your help. And I was disqualifying myself based on where I saw myself on that continuum. And so it's that same case of like, what got you here won't get you there. And like, I had a,

real experience of like, I've outgrown that model of how I, how I like show up or I don't even know if show up is the right word, but like how I think about myself, my identity, right? I've outgrown that identity. And so if that's how you get yourself to get over imposter syndrome, please continue to use it.

And then I do hope also for you there comes a day where you realize like, I've actually outgrown that what got me here won't get me there. I get to step into something, a new identity and make a shift. And I think that's kind of like the metaphor for the whole entire month of July, if not our whole web design project is that like what got us here to where we are, which

Speaker 2 (05:53.324)

I think is a fantastic place. Won't get us where we really want to go. And we had to shed a lot of things. So it's like identity, all branding, backend structure of web design, customer journey. So many things in the business needed to be torn down completely, like ripped down to the studs and like rooms reconfigured and built.

And really

technical difficulties, which I'm unbothered by. Maybe I should be, but I'm like, totally unbothered. I'm like, we had a plan to push all of the pages live. That plan kept airing out and airing out. We got to a point where, and I'm sure every single web designer listening to this can relate.

where the curiosity of wanting to know why the thing isn't working and spending time trying to solve that problem was taking more time than actually just like manually doing the thing itself. And so we had to like come to this fork in the road where we're like, we have to set down the puzzle of why this isn't working.

and let the loop be open and let the curiosity be there and not try to pour so much time into just solving that problem. And we just manually migrated pages over one by one. Our team was like, all right, let's do it. And we got it done and everybody jumped in. was all hands on deck. And I'm like, like, it was,

Speaker 2 (08:18.092)

I don't know if anybody else thought it was as fun as I did, but I'm like, this is so fun. like, this is what I miss about like working with other people on projects where it's like putting smart brains together, solving problems, coming up with solutions when things don't go as planned and we got it done. So I'm so proud.

Yeah, it was amazing. like, I was not in the tech side of it, but I was seeing the messages like come through Slack. And it was it was like incredible seeing you guys watch like go through all of this. But then, know, you were experiencing some like frustrating stuff. And I would just had to be like, go team, like cheering you on. I don't know what to do. The chat.

I like, Oh, it's so funny. It's just like, you do. We did have to just be like, where is our time best spent right now? Like, do we try to figure out why this isn't working or do we just go and like get it done? So, um, shout out to Lee at Zana tank consulting. She and Jamie like helped be powered through. Um, and.

I'm so proud of our new website. Like it has, we talked about this all in our last episode. If you haven't listened to it, go listen, but it has saved us so much time. And I'll get to talk in August about all the results we're already seeing from the website without it having, having been live for a month. it's just, it's just really fun.

It is so fun. It's just, it's just exciting. And, and also like, you know, we talk a lot. We've already mentioned in this episode, like, you know, thinking about doing things and seeing results in 30, 60, 90 days. but it's like really cool to see that, like we've been working on the, re-engineering of the business the past six months. And so it's just really cool to see it like out in the real world now and like, like,

Speaker 1 (10:27.978)

It's just, I don't know, like it's real and it's doing what we set out, what we intended for it to do. And that's just really cool. And also just like a good reminder, at least for me, that like, it doesn't always happen fast. Six months in the making. Yeah.

And still that six months feels like it went by in a flash.

my gosh, yes it does. It really does. How are we here already? I don't know.

Yeah. So, yeah. And it's like, we had some hypothesis, had some theories. We had some data about what to change and that's everything that we did. And so really just to see the fruits of that is really, really cool. And I mentioned this last time, but the other really fun outcome of that is like, I now have time to take on private coaching clients.

I've, I just had my first coaching call with one of my new three new private coaching clients, yesterday. And I'm like, this does not even feel like work. Like it is so much fun. And so, you know, if one, if like one-on-one coaching is something that you think you would benefit from.

Speaker 2 (11:58.744)

Go check out our brand new website, webdesigneracademy.com. And the private coaching can be found at forward slash private dash coaching, or on any of our program pages, you can find it linked up there and see if something like that might be right for you. Because if you have a specific goal that you want to achieve and you're not taking action towards it, and you suspect that you might be in your own way.

I would love to help you remove some of those roadblocks and make some massive progress on that. So we still have a few open spots at the time of this recording, but you can always go check it out and see if we have any available spots. And there's a really cool quiz that we developed on the homepage of the website. It's called the Revenue Roadmap Quiz. And it really helps you identify what stage of business you are in and what your next best action steps to take are.

to start making some progress on your goals. So a lot of times we spend our time on things that seem like they would be the thing that's gonna help us create more revenue and get us to our goals closer. But in reality, there might be some different levers we could pull to create that. So you can go check that out on our new website as well.

Amazing. You said, if you think you might be in your own way, and the spoiler is that everybody's in their own way.

Speaker 1 (13:33.55)

Not to spoil it for anybody, but it's you.

You're so normal if you are.

Amazing. And so, yeah, were there any other things that happened or any other mindset shifts or breakthroughs, realizations that you had in the month of July?

Let's see. So we did our brand reveal event on July 17th, which that's on the podcast. And you can go listen to that. It was just super fun. we, it was like cathartic for me to go through that process. The other thing that I worked on in July was then it was time to tackle ConvertKit or AKA Kit as it is now known.

So I don't even know when I started using Kit. It had to have been like 2017, 2018. So you think about like that many years of business, all the experiments, all the events, all the automations we had over a thousand tags. I don't know how many automations we have and like no...

Speaker 2 (14:50.644)

naming conventions for any of the things that we were doing. so one of the things that is my goal of even embarking upon all of this is to not be, to not like have my brain be the filing cabinet for how the business runs. And so I needed to take some time to think through what is our email strategy going to be going forward? We figured out what our costs, are like websites,

strategy was for our customer journey. We figured out what our design strategy was for branding and all of that. And then it was time. we build like our design system, our brand system, our like all of that. And then I was like, I need an email system. Like I need some rules, some if this, then that, this is how this happens. Some naming conventions, just a really systematic way to

manage all of the communications that happened to all of our different constituents, for lack of a better word. Like we have people on our newsletter, we have students in our web designer academies, students in our next level, people who've purchased a course, people have registered for events. We have things that happen evergreen. So basically like when you sign up for a freebie, you're going to get this series of emails or things that happen.

on a calendar basis, like it's happening on this date. so that has been another pain point in the business in terms of time, energy, things like that. So I was like, okay, here's another messy closet that needs cleaned out, tackling this one next. And so I...

really just started thinking about like formulating a plan for all of the different funnels and freebies and broadcasts and all of those things and how we want to name things and all of that. And really just went in and did like a complete convert kit overhaul and cleanup. And that like started halfway like after the website project was complete. That probably started like the last week.

Speaker 2 (17:18.186)

of July and has continued into August. And I think I'm mostly done with it at the time of this recording, but it's like, like the closet was a mess. I pulled everything out. I went to the container store. I like, you know what? There's that one show on Netflix. I can't remember what it is, but it's like, they always go to the container store and then you come back and everything's like color coded.

So that's what that really felt like is cleaning out the convert kit closet and organizing it and putting it back and now having some rules on when things are promoted, you know, so I can plan out for the rest of the year, like when we're doing what. And so that felt like a really important milestone to where it's like, I am in the liminal space of.

the version of me who was like, as long as I'm just a few steps ahead of you, I can help. And here's what all of this whole ecosystem looked like. And the version of me that's like, that's like not even the paradigm that I'm operating on anymore. And I tore everything down to the studs and rebuilt it so that I can have other people operate that for me while I go do the next thing.

And I'm in the messy middle. I wouldn't even say messy middle. I'm in the midst of that. And the thing I'm so proud of myself about is that I'm patient for the next thing. Like I'm not like leaving things unfinished because I so want to go do the next thing so bad because I think it's saving something to kind of bring this back full circle. I don't need to save anything because I'm already just taking the small steps to

like towards the thing that I want instead of waiting to save up for like, to save up the, don't know, for the launch energy or the, you know, solving like the black and white thinking. It's like, no, it's just incremental. And I'm in the middle of it. And I didn't decide one week to spend my time this way. And the next week, my schedule looks completely different. It's shifting slowly. Like,

Speaker 2 (19:45.418)

slowly I'm spending my time on different things and I'm aware that I'm in the middle of it and it's not a problem and I'm not impatient for the next thing to start because it's already starting.

Yeah. my gosh, I love that so much. And I also applaud you for like, finishing the things like starting and finishing the things. I think that like it started with with the brand product, like the the true brand kit, like logo, like it started with that, right? And then with each. I don't even know what to call them. We're going to call them chapters with each next chapter.

It has been like that. Like, OK, we're going to work through this chapter. This chapter is now finished and systemized in a way that we can continue to use it. And it empowers us to go on to the next chapter and do the exact same thing. And so I love the order. Like, I can clearly see the roadmap that we have followed and that it had to be in that order so that the next thing could be completed. Because I don't think

I don't think the systems for Kit could have been put in place if we didn't originally have the systems for the brand, which led to the systems for the website, which led then to the systems to be able to think about emails.

Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't have even had enough information if I was like trying to think about it all from, from the beginning. And, and, you know, I love that you called it chapters. There are like 12 chapters to this. Yeah. This is a year long project. I thought about it in terms of just like rolling out the brand assets was going to be a year because I knew how many things still need to change. There's still stuff on our list. We still need to update social profiles.

Speaker 2 (21:42.028)

Like there are several like things that are on the list, but I knew this transition wasn't gonna be an overnight thing. And I say that to say like, you can work with your clients this way too. And it doesn't have to be like this condensed timeline of a project for something

of this magnitude, it can be a year long plan. I do think the client has to have like the right mindset and realist, like, you know, but, but you can't totally set it up that way for the client to be like, we're going to build a brand system. We're going to build a modular design system, which we talked about that in the last episode of like how we did that and why the rules we created for the website, an email system and rules around all of that. Like,

We have really re-engineered our entire business from the ground up to like operate completely differently. So it's really fun and I'm going to be so I I'm going to, it's going to be a bittersweet day when I'm like, I'm not allowed to touch the website anymore. Like, yeah, need to take it away from myself.

That's my goal.

And spoiler alert, I was recording like brain dump videos this morning about like the website and how it was built and the structure of it and the functionality. so that is my goal. And I think I have to, I have to extract myself to go to the next chapter.

Speaker 1 (23:30.52)

to the 10x person.

Yeah, she's not in there swimming around in her website. you know, it's my comfort zone, Erica. Yeah. Comfort zone.

Yeah, it reminds me of the very first retreat when we did that activity where you had us write down like all the things about the person that was making X amount of money or whatever our goal was. And then you kind of flipped it on us and was like, this is who you have to be in order to like do those things. And like, you already are this person.

So like you just now have to stop doing these things or start doing these things that we had already listed out that we wouldn't do or would do or whatever. So that's what this reminds me of is like that person, no, she's not in the website. She's out there with the people.

Yeah. So good. Yeah, I don't, I'm trying to think, like, I don't think after, you know, after that, after the launch, it was really just, heads down in head down and convert kit and just kind of like applying new branding there, cleaning out that closet and just more normal summer stuff around here. Like,

Speaker 1 (24:27.16)

Exciting.

Speaker 2 (24:54.122)

Nothing to note, which was interesting. I did start. I did start tracking my time. I started tracking in July, like just a time audit, truly like when I was working, what I was doing during that time. the first week I was really detailed about like what those things were and like, did I need to be the one doing that? Could someone else be the one doing that?

I went on, it's very just like I'm looking at like last week, it was just the tasks. But my intention is to really like go back through and I'm like, can chat GBT read my handwriting? Cause I want to like just take pictures of it and be like, chatty, do a time analysis for me. And I really want to, because I think that that's.

That's another part of the transition is me getting really honest about how I'm spending my time. What's my comfort zone? Like what stories am I telling myself about the way that I'm spending my time and what is the 10 X version of me? How is she spending her time? I don't think it's how I'm spending my time now, but like I said, I don't need it to shift all on a dime. It can happen little by little by little.

There was something that you said earlier that I thought was really beautiful and you were talking about, you know, that serves you until it doesn't anymore. And then you outgrow that, you know, identity and you move into the next one. And I think it's really, I think that's a really poignant way to say it because it's not like we're abandoning that part of ourselves. It's not like we're abandoning that identity. We truly have outgrown it. It has served its purpose.

And it is kind of a bittersweet thing to outgrow an identity and move into a new one, but that's also just part of the human condition and being a business owner and just being a human that is willing to grow into a new person. And so I think the idea of it sort of happening organically but also with intention.

Speaker 2 (27:16.259)

Yeah.

And just this idea of like, are choosing to grow into this new person and we're allowing ourselves to like, recognize like, this is who I've been and that person with those beliefs, they served me well, they protected me well, they got me where I needed to be. And it's okay to say, like, you've done your job, thank you. And like, we can move forward into like, this new identity that will get us, you know.

closer to wherever it is that we want to be.

just had the vision of like giving that version of me like a certificate of appreciation for like, thank you so much for everything that you have done. You're retiring. I'm so happy for whatever is next for you. appreciate, know, the retirement plaque. Yeah. And just like honoring it as like that version goes off, you know, to live their retirement life. Like, you know, I'm here to carry, carry us through.

what's next, this next version of me. So that was fun to think about. That's amazing. I love it. Thank Thank you, Shannon, of the first 10 years of entrepreneurship. You did well, and I've got it from here. Yep.

Speaker 1 (28:33.43)

Yep, you are officially retired. It's good stuff.

Any final thoughts before we wrap up this July income report?

I think that's my final thought is like we get to say thank you, we get to move forward and grow into these new versions of ourselves.

Amazing. Well, thank you all so much for listening. We really appreciate it and we will see you back here next week with our next episode. Bye everyone.

Bye.