#200 – May 2026 Income Report

Shannon Mattern (00:00.782)

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Profitable Web Designer for my May 2026 income report. I am flying solo again today. Erica will be back here for the June 2026 income report. and we'll catch up with her and see what she's been up to the past couple of months. But her daughter just graduated from high school. She just moved, like she's had a lot of good things happening.

and I'm really excited for her. and miss having her as my co-host because she keeps me on track in these income reports. So I have a lot to share with you for my May 2026 income report. a lot of things happened in May and I'm so excited to share them with you. So if you are new to the show, every single month.

I record a podcast episode typically with my client success coordinator, Erica Nash, who interviews me. and we go through how much money the business made in that month, how much it spent, and all of the lessons learned along the way. because you know, we don't run businesses to not make money, but also how we think about money and

our business and all of those things, like our thoughts are so powerful. and they can create wanted or unwanted results. And a lot of the work we do inside of the Web Designer Academy and in our next level mastermind and in my private coaching offers is to help you become aware of things that you think that are that like really create wanted results for you, like just beliefs that you have and things that you think that create wanted results.

But also, there are things you think and beliefs that you have that might be creating unwanted results for you. And so for me, this is an opportunity every single month for me to get a lot of awareness about how I might be thinking about my business, my goals, like money, all of those things. so that I can reach my big goals. So

Shannon Mattern (02:19.726)

if you listen to our April 2026 income report, you know that Eric and I went on a team retreat and I felt like I was like carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders and I also had a like a I don't know for like a health episode with my heart rate and all of those things. So you can go back and listen to that April 2026.

i income report to get all of the details on that. and so May really started off. May started off with just like can business as usual. And I know that that sounds maybe a little crazy, but I had a completely different

feeling and mindset and and just vibe around the whole thing. Like I was so much more calm. I don't know if it is the medication that I've been taking. I'm taking a beta blocker and I was researching how that works. And I I think I read somewhere that it like blocks the adrenaline receptors in your heart to kind of like prevent those heart rate spikes.

And I was like, well, that makes a lot of sense that I'm feeling like so much more chill if the adrenaline that's caused by my thoughts is not like being able to be used in a way that's like creating that fear response. so I don't know if that's true, but it's really interesting that I've felt very different since since getting

back from our team retreat taking that medication. I think it's like all of the above combined to to create this feeling of like calm. And also at the retreat we talked about like I've been again I slipped into that playing not to lose that defensive position and really decided to just play to win. and that's that just means

Shannon Mattern (04:43.082)

I'm not making decisions from thoughts that create fear, worry, and anxiety. I'm questioning those thoughts and thinking like, well, what else could be true? And making decisions from a more empowered place. So that's really the vibe that I went into May with. And I kicked off the first weekend of May.

by going to Kinzie and Marissa from the Brief Collective, I spoke at their retreat in Asheville, North Carolina. So actually the first the the first day of May, I actually met up with Whitney Rose. She spoke at the she spoke at the Simply Profitable Designer Summit and we figured out like she lives in Columbus, Ohio as well.

so when I found that out, I messaged her and I was like, Hey, we should go have lunch. So she and I met up on the first on May first, which was a Friday, and we had lunch and we connected and it was just like really cool to get to meet her and hang out with her. And so I hope to do do that again and I hope to she'll be a guest on this podcast so that you all can get to know her. But she teaches a one week

website process or a design it's a design day process or it's it's a it's a condensed sorry if I'm getting it wrong, Whitney, but it's like a condensed process that she really honed over a period of time. So she's awesome. and I really loved to like get to connect with her and we'll have her on the show to talk about more about what she does.

because we had a really good conversation over lunch and it's one of those ones where I'm like, I wish we were recording this. so then that Saturday, one of my really good friends had her surprise 50th birthday party. And that was that was really fun because she had some people there that I hadn't seen in like nearly 30 years, which is kind of crazy. I was like, I was like a living a whole different life when I was 20.

Shannon Mattern (06:54.67)

Than I am right now. So it was just fun to kind of like reflect back on just see those old people. And I'm just like, wow, that was a blast from the past. But it was really fun. and then Sunday I flew to Asheville, North Carolina, spent the night in a hotel, and then Monday morning went to the house that Kenzie and Marissa had rented for their retreat and got to meet

some lovely web designers, graphic designers. they had like the cutest retreat house. It was decorated beautifully. They had like a coffee cart come in. There was like an unlimited coffee bar. It was amazing. I had like two, two drinks, decaf, of course, because until I get this heart situation figured out.

and then I did a talk for them on our next level framework. So inside of our next level mastermind, we work with women web designers who like have a successful business on paper, right? So they've hit that minimum baseline revenue milestone where they're paying themselves, they're paying

you know, their business is funded, tools, team, and expenses, just like the things that I talk about on this podcast. And but like things don't feel as good as they want them to, or they have bigger goals, or they're making a pivot. And they're not looking for a new system process strategy business model. Like they like

their systems process strategy business model. They're not looking to like change that or anything like that. What they're looking for is like, what got me here isn't getting me there. I feel stuck. everywhere else to turn is wants me to tear down my whole entire business model and rebuild it in their model. And that's not what I'm looking for. It's not what I want to do, but I need some support in

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getting through whatever this challenge is that I'm getting through. That's what our next level mastermind is. So it's really breaking through to your next level of growth and success and goals that you specifically have for your business. It's not re-engineering your business to look a certain way, or building an agency or anything like that unless you want to. and so

We have a next level framework that we walk these women through that helps you understand, okay, like what is my out of all the things I could do to reach the goal that I've set for myself or that I want or this vision I have for my life, there are probably 20 things that I think I could do to make that happen. We help you focus in on the one thing that's gonna make all of the things happen.

faster and easier. We help you delete things from that list because there are typically a lot of things on that list that are coming from beliefs and thoughts that are creating unwanted results for you. You can't see it. You have a ton of blind spots around it because you have a core belief about the way the world and business works that's keeping you looking through a certain lens.

at your business and not seeing all of the possibilities and opportunities on the table. And that's where I come in because I don't have your same belief system about the way the world works. And I have tools to help reveal to both of us what your belief system is and help you question and challenge that. And so those are the tools that we implement inside of the the next level framework. because

Five people could be using the exact same strategy and have the exact same skill set and the exact same opportunities all around them. And two of them will have no problem at all and three of them will struggle. And it has nothing to do with anything other than like how they're thinking about things and their thoughts come from their core beliefs about the way the world works. So we have to re we have to become aware of those and we have to like question them and re-engineer them.

Shannon Mattern (11:23.149)

to help you make progress. And I call that like you have your foot on the gas, like because you really want your goals, you're super ambitious, but your subconscious mind has a foot equally and opposite as hard on the brake because it thinks something about what you want is unsafe and it doesn't like it. So it's stopping you at every turn. And you might call that self-sabotage, but I call it self-protection. and

My friend Alicia Saint Germain, who teaches this framework called immunity to change. you know, that's what she's that's what she says too. She's like, it's it's not self-sabotage, it's like it's self-protection. It's like you're subconscious and it's actually coming from like a really compassionate, kind place, but it keep it keeps you from getting to your goals. So I went

To Kinzie and Marissa's retreat, and I spent a couple hours walking the women there through the next level framework and really helping them identify you know, what's their big goal, but then like what's where are they stuck? And we started working on like how do you specifically get unstuck? Like, not how how it's it's so different than like, my program will get you unstuck.

or my strategy or my course, it's not even that. It's like, okay, what's your unique pathway to get yourself unstuck? And that's what the next level framework is. And that's what the next level mastermind really is too. It's to help you build your own proven system for running your business and execute it for you instead of following someone else's, which is where a lot of people

just kind of can end up really, really stuck. So if you find yourself stuck, you can go to webdesigneracademy.com forward slash next. If your business looks good on paper but it doesn't feel good on the inside, we can help you with that. if your business looks good on paper and you does feel good on the inside and you just have bigger goals than that, we can help you with that.

Shannon Mattern (13:38.274)

so you can go to webdesigneracademy.com forward slash next to learn more about the next level mastermind and next level framework. And if you want to sit in on one of our next level mastermind calls and see what it's like in there and what we do and how it works, there's a form that you can fill out to a request to attend one of our next level mastermind meetings. you'll come to it, you'll sit in, you'll experience the mastermind, and then afterwards you and I will hang out and I'll tell you more about joining us. So

That's what I spoke about there. It was incredible. Then I got to connect with Kinsey and Marissa after the fact. And we just kind of talked about like business stuff. And they were just asking me, you know, how how I'm running the business, how I'm like marketing, how I'm bringing people in and all of those things. With and we we also had like this big discussion about like,

How I'm marketing without social media because you know, a lot of the web designers at that retreat were like, I know I need to be on social media, but I hate social media. and I was like, What if you didn't have to be on social media? And they were like, What? Tell me more. And I'm like, We don't teach any kind of social media marketing at the Web Designer Academy. I told them about my TikTok experiment that I talked about last week.

Or a last in last month's income report. And I'm like, if you like that and it's fun to you, do it. But if you hate it, there are 7,000 other ways to market your business that you you get to like you get to find something that you love and that you'll do. and also, you know, relationship marketing is the fastest way to build trust when you're selling something that's, you know.

four figures or more. and I that's wholeheartedly the way we teach marketing at the Web Designer Academy and in the next level mastermind. There's so many different ways to do it, but that's that's what we teach. So we talked, we had a we had a discussion about that as well. That, you know, there's there's a lot of different ways to get clients. so then

Shannon Mattern (15:59.946)

Other important things that happened in May, and then I'll get into the inflow and outflow. is that I got to like have a few really great podcast conversations that are coming out on the podcast very soon. I did a lot of collaborations in May. I did you you already heard Sarah Noel Bloch's episode on the podcast and then from Tiny Marketing, and she did a lead waterfall training for

For us. And then the other thing that I was working on is for a over a year now, I've been talking. Well, I've been talking to you all about our package matrix strategy. I think for almost a year, maybe nine months. But for over a year now, I have been working on, and I say that loosely, I've been working on extracting the package matrix method.

out of the Web Designer Academy and opening that training up to freelancers, fractional executives, consultants, coaches, creative service providers in other areas other than web design, professional service providers, agency owners, whatever. I've been on the side of the Web Designer Academy, like working through that. We're building out that my old website for my

When I used to teach web like DIY web design, ShannonMattern.com, we're working on building that out to be like the home of the package matrix method, the home of my consulting on package matrix for anyone that's not like any service-based business that's not web design. and the vision is that like Web Designer Academy still exists, but it's like under the umbrella.

Of ShannonMatter.com, and it's our specific like training program for business and marketing training program for web designers. But the package matrix method, the pricing strategy that we teach inside of the Web Designer Academy, gets to come out of the doors of the Web Designer Academy and be made available to freelancers, fractional execs, coaches, consultants, accountants, lawyers, like whatever, all of those types of service based.

Shannon Mattern (18:20.779)

Service-oriented businesses where people are selling their strategy, their intellectual property, their ideas, and also the implementation of those ideas for clients, helping them apply our package matrix pricing strategy, our end-to-end strategy, not just the actual like way to display packages itself, but the end-to-end like.

everything that happens from the consultation to the close, which is so much more than just how you put display your packages, right? Pulling that out and building that out on Shannon Mattern.com. So part of that is like, okay, like making it available to the end user who's going to use it in their business, the accountant who's going to package matrix their offers. The

copywriter who's gonna package matrix their offers. The just the the the end business owner and putting together a package matrix method course. So I have taught the package matrix method workshop live in a small group workshop, but I haven't made it available as like a evergreen online course that people can just buy. And part of the reason

For that is just even finding the capacity in my calendar to do the work to make that happen. because the Simply Profitable Designer Summit really like took up six months of project capacity. That is complete. I have that space back in my calendar. So now I can like put my time and attention on that. So so my

conversion rate optimization person Lee Scott who I visited in April, she's working on that strategy. And then so that's one way we're offering Package Matrix. The other thing that I am beta testing is a certification program for Package Matrix. So I have someone that I have known for a very long time. We're in a mastermind together here in Columbus, Ohio, and she's like Shannon.

Shannon Mattern (20:37.343)

My clients need this and they don't want to take a course about it. and I know that you work with some people one-on-one to package matrix their offers. She was like, but I want to package matrix their offers for them. I really think that you should do a licensing and certification program for people like me who.

whose clients could benefit from this. She's like, I could charge, I see the ROI for them. She's like, I could charge, I could like raise my prices for this. I see exactly what I could charge for it. She's like, I work with a an influencer right now who's doing brand deals. I want to package Matrix her brand deals for her. Will you create a certification program for this? last May, May of 2025, when I was at Josh Hall's ProCon,

my friend Jason Grascia of Million Dollar Websites was there. He heard me do my very first public presentation outside of the Web Designer Academy on package matrix at that. And I came and sat back down. He was like, You need to turn that into a licensing model. He was like, Yeah, great, sell a course, but there are so many business coaches out there that could use package matrix, like could that could

help their clients implement package matrix. There are so many people teaching in other industries, like teaching VAs, teaching loy like teaching these professions how to run their business online. You could license package matrix to them. They could embed it in their courses. They'd have a way to teach their people about pricing. He's like, nobody's teaching anybody about how to price other than like, don't use, don't charge hourly

Do value-based pricing, pick a price, raise it a little bit. like nobody's teaching an ex like an exact strategy like you are. You should license this to other people. And I'm like, yeah, good idea. but then I'm just like moving on with my life business as usual. I'm like, I've got a Web Designer Academy to run. I've got like I've got salaries to pay, myself and Erica. I've got business expenses that I've committed to.

Shannon Mattern (23:02.509)

And the thing that is pay keeping the lights on and paying the bills is the Web Designer Academy in the next level mastermind. So, you know, I'm I'm putting all of my time, effort, and energy into those things. but the opportun like, I don't know, like when something is right, it's right and it like show like it just keeps knocking on the door, you know? And so

Finally this year I see Jason again at ProCon in April. And you know, we sat down and we like put together a little mini plan for beta testing the certification. He was like, you're gonna start doing outreach to find people to beta test this certification offer. And I'm like, cool, I'm totally doing that. So I, you know, I have a list of I have a never-ending list of people I can

Follow our own Web Designer Academy one-to-one outreach marketing strategies and reconnect and ask them to take the next step to h to hop on a call with me to ch chat about package matrix certification in their business. If they know anyone who would be interested, I'm beta testing this offer. I'm looking for three people to

come through it at a significant significant discounted price for being willing for it to take a little bit longer. I'm building the resources, you're giving me feedback. maybe there's something I didn't thought think of. So I'm gonna build that for you, giving you extra time and attention to like apply apply it to there. So I'm I'm gonna like do it at a discounted price in exchange for like

more time and participation from you to help me build out the program for for three people. And so I sent start doing my outreach and I reach out to four people mid May. And the next week I'm I was leaving or you know I do it in like the first week of May. And in a couple weeks I was leaving to go on vacation for a week.

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in Barcelona, Spain, with my sister to hike a half marathon along the coast of Spain, which I'll tell you more about in a minute, but it was absolutely incredible. So I'm like, I'm only gonna reach out to four people, you know, because then I'll I'll do more when I get back from from Spain. Well the first person I reach out to is Austin Church. He's been on this podcast before he has a book called Free Money.

He runs a community called Freelance Cake. He hosts a summit called the Advanced Freelancer Summit. And we're friends. Like whenever he's come into Columbus, he's reached out and said, let's meet up for coffee. So he, Josh Hall, and I have met up for coffee. He's just a good dude. I just really respect and like him. And so I reached out because I just really wanted to see, like, hey, Austin, like, do you know anybody who would be a good fit for beta certification?

For for this, like in your network. So I reach out and he was like, I'm really busy right now. I'm hosting the advanced freelancer summit. He was like, I'd be happy to chat with you after it's done. I'm like, cool, I'll reach out after I'm back from Spain and your event's done. And I was like, by the way, if you need a last minute speaker to fill a gap in if you have one, I'd be happy to put together a presentation on pricing strategy for freelancers.

And he immediately wrote back and he's like, what would be like a grand slam for you? He was like, that's intriguing. What would be like a grand slam for you? And I was like, what a generous question. And so I answered it. I was like, well, me doing a presentation at your summit on this day. I noticed you don't have I looked at the lineup. I noticed you don't have anybody talking about pricing strategy. so I think I'd fit in on this day.

And I can get you a presentation this weekend. and I will get everything filled out, I'll get it turned around and you'll have it in two days and you'll be ready to roll and I'm happy to like promote your event to my entire list. And I was like, and maybe after that we could collaborate on a workshop when I finally have this package matrix method course done. And he was like, Cool, let's do it. And I was like, What just happened? What just happened? I did outreach for

Shannon Mattern (27:48.781)

One reason, beta cert beta testers for the certification program. I ended up with an opportunity to get in front of my exact ideal audience that we Lee and Erica and I had been planning the Shannon Mattern.com website around. We're like, who is this person? The target audience for the Advanced Freelancer Summit is this person. Didn't know Austin was hosting a summit at all.

And offered to add value to him and be like the best summit participant or speaker ever, like get you all my stuff right away, complete. and he said yes. And so I did. And I got a bunch of new email subscribers on Shannon Mattern.com. And then what happened after that is another person who spoke at the summit.

who his name is Preston Lee. I had not heard of him. I think I'd heard of him before this, but because I haven't been focused at all on like the wider freelancer market, it just hasn't been on my radar, but I've heard of him because I think, you know, he and Austin collaborate on some things together. And he reached out after like during summit week and was like, great presentation, Shannon. Like it was so good. Would you like to speak at my summit? in

I think it's happening in August now. Would you like to speak at mine? Here are all the details. I'm looking at all the details and it's an audience of a hundred thousand freelancers. And I was just like, what is happening right now? The other three people that I reached out to and followed up with, I have not heard back from. I don't want to say that they've ghosted me. I'm gonna continue to, I'm gonna change the channel. I'm gonna like, you know, follow all of the things that we've done. But those two, those two outreaches didn't bear fruit.

This one bore unexpected fruit. And it's like, okay, so I'm still doing outreach for the beta certification piece, but also there's a huge opportunity here for me to just finally make the package matrix method course. I have people in my inbox literally asking me, I got your high converting proposal template off your website. can you review my package matrix? I'm not sure if I'm doing this right. I would actually like the

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script and the resources and all of the other pieces and parts of this beyond just the template. And I would love your eyes and your feedback. And I'm just like, okay, well, how I that that's the way to do it. So I'm like, you just never know what opportunities are gonna come up and you have to like be open and take the chance. And and all it has to be like one person can open up so many doors and opportunities for you. And so

when we're like when we talk about marketing in the Web Designer Academy, there's like a lot of overthinking and overwhelm that happens in next level too, especially for people who are like opening up new business models and new markets and things like that. A lot of overwhelm about like what platform should I choose? What strategy? Where are my ideal clients hanging out? I need to figure that out. Is it Instagram? Is it LinkedIn?

Is it like if I just create enough content for SEO or like this and that? And like, sure, all of that can work, but like you really only need one person who can open up other doors for you. And I was talking to another web designer academy student who was niching into attorneys. She was like, I met one person who invited me into a networking group that like opened up the doors to all of the people that I needed to talk to. So

Think smaller. Think smaller than you're thinking. And I know that's like opposite advice of what people give you, but I want to invite you to think smaller. I will get into the numbers for May, but I wanted to tell you about all of the good things that happened. So I do the presentation. I honestly think it's the best one I've ever done. Also because I shifted who I was talking to a little bit. I stopped.

Talking about package matrix through the lens of your undercharging and overdelivering. and started talking about it through the lens of you have hit an income ceiling and you want to break through it, but you don't want to hire and you're at capacity. Because that's like the person who

Shannon Mattern (32:37.566)

doesn't have a whole lot of objections to solving that problem. I think one of the challenges that I've that I've run into, and rightly so, and I'm not saying that these aren't real objections, but it's like the timing isn't right. I don't have the money. What if I don't ever get another client again? And so it takes those people longer to build the courage to join the Web Designer Academy.

and maybe they never build the courage. They sit on the sidelines for a really long time suffering. because they they their belief isn't there yet that it that like their business will actually work for them. and what the Web Designer Academy does is help make your business work for you. But there's like a belief gap there that that the the the

for like the target audience of the Web Designer Academy. So it takes someone months, sometimes years, of listening to this podcast, being on my email list, coming to all my free events before they d finally decide like, actually maybe if I maybe it's time to like have the courage to give myself

the support tools and resources I need instead of trying to like piece it all together on my own and not spend money. versus a little tweak in the messaging for package matrix method for an advanced experienced freelancer to be like, you're already like hit hitting your you're hitting your capacity. You know your business is going to work. I don't have to talk you into like the idea that like, this like

This will help your business work. Your business is already working, but it's breaking you. and that's the that's the shift. It's like, your business is actually breaking you, and we need to create more capacity without tanking your revenue. Which Patrick Package Matrix, Patrick Matrix, here we go again. Package Matrix does that too. So just a little bit of a shift in the messaging for the for the wider.

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For the package matrix method for the wider freelance community, and we'll see what that does. and so yeah, just those opportunities opened up. I was so excited. And then back in January, I I am a member of this app called Yoga Body. And it's like the most chill workout ever. It's like 15 minutes of strength, 15 minutes of stretching, and then walking.

30 minutes a day, and it's an app. And the two guys that run it, like they post new videos every day. But then they sent out this email back in January of they're doing this thing called the mindful marathon along the coast of Spain, along the Quimita Ronda, which is a series of like footpaths along the coast of Spain. And I think it's like 500 miles long. I'm sure I'm sure many of you listening know more about this than I ever did, have maybe have done it, experienced it. It's freaking gorgeous, absolutely beautiful.

What got me was mindful marathon. What got me was this is not a race, it's a go at your own pace, it's whatever. and I was like, that I wanna do that. So I sent the email to my older sister and I was like, Hey, do you wanna do this with me? And she said yes, and I was like, What? I've never been to Europe, you guys. I've never flown across the Atlantic. I I it sounds so crazy to say, but I I never have.

And so she said yes. We started planning the trip and it just so happened that the actual marathon itself was on her 49th birthday. So it was kind of perfect. so we left on May 19th. We came back on the 26th. I was agonizing for lack of a better word on whether or not to bring my laptop. I'm like, it's gonna be a really long flight. I could get so much work done. I could work.

in the mornings while she's sleeping, like like I do on every single vacation. and then I put my laptop away when everybody's ready and like we go and do the thing. And she's like, do not bring your laptop on this vacation. I'm like, why? What do you mean? She was like, everybody sits around and waits for you to be done working. I'm like, you do? I thought I was just working till you guys are done getting ready. She's like, no, we're always waiting on you. And you're always distracted. And you're always like, let me do this thing, one little thing real quick. She was like, don't bring your laptop.

Shannon Mattern (37:19.368)

on vacation. And then my husband was like, She's right, don't bring your laptop on vacation. And I was like, okay. So then I was like, well maybe I can just bring like a wireless keyboard so I can like work on my phone. My husband's like, do not do that. Take a break. And I was like, okay. Plus when we were packing carry on and I was not going to be able to fit it anyway, but it was a hard decision. not because of

I have no I don't think there's gonna be any emergency while I'm gone or any like there it's not about that, but it's about like I have so much content to create, so many things to write, so many things to plan, podcast episodes, like there's just always a lot to like do. And I was like thinking of of not doing all of those things for a week and like getting behind and all of or having to get ahead or whatever just felt very urgent. And then I was like, this is why.

I need to not bring my laptop because it's an opportunity for me to just practice like it's okay to not work for 10 days or whatever, whatever it was. So that was the lesson. So I didn't take my laptop. it was awesome. I also did a thing where I played what I call the inbox game. I'm like, I'm so curious how many emails I get in a week across all inboxes.

So I'm just gonna let them pile up and let the number pile up and see how big I can get that red notification, see how high I can get that. and then I'll just like see how long it takes me at the end of the week to go through all of it. So just a completely different mindset on email. and I allowed myself to like scroll through it, which I'm glad I did because I freaking forgot to send my credit card payment and I got a notice that it was due. And I was like, shoot, I need to take care of that. So

I took care of that. but then when I got back and I had like a thousand emails or something, and then I just like bulk deleted most of them. I think at the end of the day, eleven needed tending to in some type of way, and only like four of those needed like work from me to be like

Shannon Mattern (39:39.592)

Seven of those were just like a quick response from me. And then four of them needed me to actually like do something to be able to respond to them over the course of a week. So I was just like, okay, I'm so glad I did that experiment to just kind of see what the reality was and and really just detach from my inbox. But so we get to Barcelona, never been, absolutely gorgeous. We spend two days in the city.

And then we meet up with the other 50 people doing this half marathon along the coast. some people did a full, some people did a half. And we get on the bus, we drive an hour and a half north to San Feli de Jules, or I'm saying it so wrong, but that's where we went. We stayed in a hotel there, spent the night, got up the next morning.

got bust to the drop-off locations for the full and the half marathon and we just started walking. And in the weeks leading up to this, they were like, your training is to walk you know, fif up 50 stairs today, a hundred stairs today. Like the the training was like increasing numbers of stairs. And I did some of it, but I didn't really do all of it. I was like, I'm fine, I can walk upstairs. So

We're walking along the coast and it is stairs. The whole thing is stairs, stairs, stairs, stairs. Maybe we got in some prairie areas that were flat, maybe some wooded areas that were like steep uphills and and sharp declines, some trails like that, but mostly it was like paths and up stairs up and down. Sometimes we would get into towns and be walking along roads, but it was mostly stairs and like

They were like, there's three points at which if you're like too far behind the group and you're not gonna keep up with the time, we will take you back to the hotel. You can go relax. or if you just feel like it's too much for you and you can't do it, no harm, no foul, like we'll take you back to the hotel. And I like I just remember thinking a couple of times, like, that's not for me. Like, of course I can do this. It never occurred to me that I wouldn't be able to do it. And

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Like we'd get to the bottom of a staircase that like you couldn't even see where the stairs ended. Like maybe they curve around and it just looks like it's like a hundred steps. And I would hear people get to these staircases and then they'd be like, ugh.

When is this gonna end? Like just complaining about like how many stairs there are and like are there more after this? And just like really negative attitudes. And then I was just like, just one foot in front of the other. Like, just one foot in front of the other. And it occurred to me after we were done, I'm like, those two lessons have are like business related.

Like one, I couldn't skip any of those steps. To get to the top, I had to walk up every single step, one foot in front of the other. I didn't know what was gonna be around the corner. Was it gonna be more steps? Was it gonna be back down? Like I had no idea. I just had to trust and keep walking and not worry about what was around the next corner, trust that I could handle it. And it just never occurred to me that I couldn't do it. I've literally never run a half marathon in my life or walked a half marathon in my life.

I know I've walked like 10, 12 miles in a day, just like being on vacation, like walking around. Like in December we went to visit some of my husband's family in Orlando. We went to like Disney for the day. Like I know I walked 12 miles that day because of my Apple Watch. Like so I know I'm like capable of doing it. It never occurred to me that I couldn't do it. And I had the realization that I was like, I could.

apply that mindset to so many other areas of my business that I don't like I have this pervasive thought that like I'm bad at sales. I mean you could look at my revenue over the past 10 years and be like, if you're bad at sales, you would think you wouldn't make any money. But like my brain tells me that I'm bad at sales. So I spend a lot of time, effort and energy trying to solve the problem of being bad at sales. asking people like just trying to like solve that problem.

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And I'm like, what if I just stopped believing I was bad at sales? I know it sounds so silly to think about that, but it's like, if I like got on a plane, went to Spain and walked 13 miles and it never occurred to me that I couldn't, while I saw other people who appeared very fit and capable, like saying, I can't finish and dipping out and going back. But it never occurred to me that I couldn't, and I'm not the fittest person.

But I finished. and I finished like with the the front group because it just never occurred to me that I couldn't. It was just like one foot in front of the other. And why can't I just decide that for the things in my business that I have been just believing are hard or difficult or that I'm not good at? And so I came home.

From Spain. It was like I need to like go do this stuff more because it was just beautiful. It was absolutely gorgeous. My sister and I were both like, when we would absolutely go back. We walked like 13 miles the day before all around the city, 13 miles a day in the two days after. I was definitely like sore, but not like immobile. and it was just it was incredible. So I get back and I'm realizing I'm like,

I haven't really I haven't had any new sales this month. I've had recurring revenue come in from Web Designer Academy payment plans and next level mastermind payment plans, but I have not had any new enrollments in May. I had four people request to come to a live strategy call, which is typically the first step in the funnel is like someone's like, Okay, I'm interested in joining the Web Designer Academy. I want to check it out, I want to see a live strategy call. So

they fill out a form and tell us more about their business. And then I review it and I make a video and I'm like, either you're too early in your business journey for us. here are some other resources, which that doesn't happen very often, but sometimes it does because I'm like, just fill out the form. I will tell you if we're a good fit for you and if I think I can help you. And if I don't think I can help you, and I think that this investment would be.

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not in your best interest, I'm gonna tell you because the last thing I want is to have somebody come into my program and struggle and not get the return on investment. Like that's not okay with me to take your money and have you not do that. And we have we have a 30 day trial, we have a ROI guarantee. So we have all of those things in place. And so I'm just like just fill out the form and I'll tell you and I will be honest with you if I don't think that

were the right fit for where you're at in your business. So I had four people request to come in May. Two of those people just never responded to my invitation to come to the live strategy call. They did not attend the call. so that's just two people that didn't come. That happens all the time. I get people who fill out the form and I think I don't know what they think they're filling out or what they think they're coming to or if they

realize what it is, but then when they realize like, no, you're like coming to inside, they just don't come. Who knows? Because I can't maybe they won the lottery and don't want to come anymore. Like, I have no idea because they don't typically respond to my communications. It could very well be I'm just landing in their spam folder and they think I'm ghosting them. Who knows? but then I had two people attend and both of those people chose not

To enroll. And so what I was testing out in May, which I'm going to continue testing because I love it, is a ready to join special offer. So we have people coming that have been sitting on the sidelines for years. And so they come to the call. And then after the call, we just talk more about their business. I share more about the Web Designer Academy. And then I'm like, and if you are ready to join.

Here are, here's a special limited time like enrollment offer with some bonuses and some price breaks and and things like that. but even with that, not everybody is ready to join. And that's okay. And so I had two people come and and one of them was like, I had some stuff happen in my life in between yesterday and today that I'm not gonna be able to enroll right now. And the other one just did not respond. And I always say yet.

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Because I just assume that they'll be back. But I had no new enrollments in in May. And so our inflow in May was $11,489. And our outflow was $17,096. And so that outflow is my salary, Erica's salary, and all of our investments in marketing this business.

Podcast production, conversion rate optimization, those types of things, all of the software that we use to run the business, email marketing, just all of those pieces and parts. like all of our subscriptions and website hosting and circle and payment processing, just all of that stuff, plus business insurance, accounting, like all of the overhead of of running the business. And that's about 17,000. So I took

$6,905 from reserves to run the business in May. And to be very honest, as I saw my reserve balance getting lower and lower and lower, I felt like something's gotta happen. But I didn't feel like that fear, anxiety, and worry. Part of that could be the medication, but part of that could be the mindset shift of like.

I can figure this out. I can figure anything out. This I've been here before, one foot in front of the other. I'm playing to win. I'm not playing to lose. I'm not putting my head in the sand. but you know, it's time to make a different offer. Because if I continue to be like pouring all of my time, effort, energy into the Web Designer Academy program, and the Web Designer Academy program is

not responding quickly enough, then it doesn't get the it doesn't keep to get it doesn't get to keep getting the resources that I'm giving it. if it's not sustaining those resources. And I have lots of other things that I have been putting on the back burner to

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for testing or even putting my time, effort, and energy in to put it into marketing and promoting the Web Designer Academy. And that's that's the shift that's happening. it's already happened in June, is like, if those things aren't moving the needle for Web Designer Academy, then I get to put my efforts into other things and just let the Web Designer Academy be for a while.

Maybe that means closing the doors on enrollment for a while and putting my time, effort, and attention elsewhere. Maybe that means some other things. I'm still not sure. I'm I'm figuring out what that looks like. but I have so many other ways that I can go that that just is what it is. It's the Web Designer Academy is not going anywhere.

And the June income report will be so interesting to share with you guys because like it's so arbitrary when a month ends and when a month begins and when things happen. because June's picture looked very different in the first week of June. So if I were to just look at May as a snapshot in time and be like, chicken little, the sky is falling, whatever, that would not be

having the full picture of the story, if I were to then look at what happened in the first week of June, which was insane. And I'll tell you more about that in in the June income report. But really like the story of June is kind of like the pivot. It's really the start of the true external pivot to pack putting my efforts and energy behind package matrix method. And if you look at

My rolling six month averages for the past three periods of time for the past 18 months, what my data shows is that revenue is typically lower in the first six months of the year. or so, like if I look at December to May of 2025, the average inflow across those six months was $22,000.

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the average inflow from June to November 2025 was $27,000 a month. And then December to June 2026, average inflow $21,582. So yes, May was like the lowest inflow month I've had since November of 2024. but our average six rolling six month average is just a tinge lower than it was a year ago.

So not concerned there. We are on track. and then the data shows that it's the second half of the year, like I plant all the seeds in the first half of the year, the Simply Profitable Designer Summit, all of the summits you hear me speak at, all the collaborations, and then those start to bear fruit in the second half of the year. And that's just how I've been doing things. And so like

normally I'd be like, my gosh, the sky is falling. but what my reaction was was like, okay, well, what can I do? I'm gonna send out an email. and I sent this email out at the end on Friday, June 29th, saying I'm looking for three new private coaching clients. And once I fill these three spots, the price for private coaching is going up. And

I'm only taking discovery calls for these the first week of June. and I got like five discovery calls booked from that email, which literally never happens. And I will tell you what happened with that in the first week of June. But as at the time of recording this, I'm onboarding some incredible private coaching clients that I'm like so super excited to support.

So that was May. And yeah. I think the Spain trip was was pivotal and a pivotal moment as well as just putting putting effort into outreach and just seeing like allowing it to go where it's gonna go, being willing to ask. I talk about that all the time. We have the just ask framework.

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inside of our Web Designer Academy program and the marketing momentum module, like like the way we teach outreach and the way we teach asking and the way, you know, all of that is just so not pushy, sleazy, salesy like you would think. And it creates opportunities that you might not expect. So that's it, I think, for my May 2026 income report. If you are one of those people who has been sitting on the sidelines

waiting for the perfect time of your life to join the Web Designer Academy. I just want to tell you there is no perfect time. Life is always gonna life. And why continue delaying making changes in your business that can help you create more more money and time from the opportunities all around you right now and will help you like

leverage all of the opportunities around you right now. like now is the time. And every month that you wait to make these changes in your business, it's like you're delaying your future results. And so I would love to meet you, introduce you to the rest of the Web Designer Academy family, and like just help you make a decision one way or another.

but just take the next step. It's super low pressure. You fill you go to WebdesignerAcademy.com forward slash open house. You fill out that form. You tell me more about your business. And I review it. I take a look. If I think I can help, I will invite you to come to our next Web Designer Live Strategy call, Web Designer Academy Live Strategy call. I only work, I I want I want us all to be successful. I only say yes to people I know I can help.

So if I know I can help you, I will invite you to come to the live strategy call, sit in, see what that's like. After that call, you and I and anybody else who's a guest on that call, I will walk you through here's how the Web Designer Academy works, here's how the support works, here's how the 30-day trial works, here's how the ROI guarantee works, here's how the ready to join special offer works. you do not have to make a decision.

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on the call. I'm not gonna be like, now get out your credit card and it like, not at all. I'm gonna send you all those details and then you will have you'll have a timeline to decide whether or not you want to move forward. And it's as simple as that. So if you are tired of the same thing that you're doing not panning out and you want a different way, I would love to help if you're feeling stuck.

If you've hit an income ceiling, I would love to help. Just go to webdesigneracademy.com forward slash open house and request to come to our next live strategy call. And if you're not on my email list, you can go to Shannon Mattern.com and Shannon Shannon Mattern.com or Webdesigner Academy dot com. See my mind's already going to Shannon Matter dot com, Webdesigner Academy dot com.

Opt in for whatever freebie I have going on now. You'll get on my email list and you'll find out when I'm offering the package matrix method as a standalone course. And I'm sure I'll have some some information on the podcast about how you can learn more about that. So that's all I got for you this week. Erica will be back with us next month for my June 2026 income report. And I'll see you then. Bye.