Stuck under a pile of website angst
Internal clarity begets external clarity
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Aila had been working on her website for six months when I met her. She kept fussing over the sentences, going back and forth about the layout, and getting stuck on photos. She came into our first coaching session positively boiling with frustration: “I just want to finish this!” she said, shaking her head.
She’s not alone. The biggest sticking point for most new self-employed people comes up when you first face your website. For most people I know, building a website is an absolute doozy.
Why? First, setting up a website forces you to face something you’ve likely never done before, from a technical perspective. You may not know how to build one. You may freak out about needing to code (you don’t need to code). You may not be sure how to write clear copy. This makes sense! In past jobs, you were probably hired based on the skills you already had. When you decide to work for yourself, much of your success becomes contingent upon learning how to do things you don’t know how to do.
Second, building a website requires you to get clear on what kinds of services you’re offering. Most of us have absolutely no idea which services we’re offering when we launch our self-employment journeys! In fact, most of us haven’t even thought much about the word services. This lack of clarity becomes very obvious when you sit down to write about your work. (Snag my biz planning workbook if this is you; it’ll help!)
Third, your bio. Oh, the bio! You’ll need to talk about yourself, and it has to sound both professional and personal. If you hate talking about yourself, this one gets really sticky. It can feel absolutely excruciating to try to write about yourself boldly, knowing that other people will read it. If you have any inkling of people pleasing in you, this becomes even more difficult. You’ll find yourself buried in a pile of questions:
What should I say to make them like me?
Which of my experiences matter most here?
What is the most appealing way to frame this?
Then there are the testimonials; asking for them can feel cringy. And you’ll need to share examples of your work, which is when imposter syndrome rises to the surface again. Is what I’ve done so far good enough?
Obviously, all of this constitutes a huge mental and logistical barrier. It’s like climbing a massive brick wall. And because it’s so uncomfortable, most of us just stop here. We leave our websites unfinished.
Aila and I talked about all of the above blocks, and she started to feel relieved: It made sense that she was stuck on her website. It was about so much more than a website. Launching a website is the moment when our internal desires and clarity make it into the external world. For a lot of us, we’ve never had a chance to vocalize what we really want. And vocalizing that is scary.
Aila and I decided to start at the beginning. Here’s what we discussed for the next hour of our session:
What kind of work Aila wanted to offer: She planned to work as a content marketing specialist, offering both strategy and writing services.
Who Aila wanted to work with: She imagined that her potential clients would be mostly start-ups or women-led small businesses in the environmental space. She had a background in science and wanted to make use of it to support good companies; her ideal situation would be to come into those organizations and offer a strategy session up front. If that session went well, she would be there to implement the work they now needed to do on a retainer basis.
What those potential clients needed from Aila: She identified that they needed information about content marketing; she would be the teacher. They often had few resources and couldn’t hire someone like her full-time. She would be the person to fill the knowledge gap and assist with execution.
What made Aila unique: Aila had a background in environmental sciences— she’d worked for 10 years as a wildlife ecologist — and she was also an adept writer. She’d dabbled in journalism for a few years but wanted something more stable, hence the decision to pursue content marketing. But Aila knew that her superpower was her deep scientific knowledge; she could speak these clients’ language. That, combined with her writing expertise, made her a perfect candidate. She was also calm, grounded and meticulous. She could be trusted to provide detail-oriented work.
Once Aila was able to say these things out loud, a light bulb went off. I could see it happening: She suddenly realized that this was all that mattered. I transcribed as she talked, then sent it back to her. A week later, she launched her website. It wasn’t perfect, but it was enough to recruit clients. And Aila knew that she’d continue to refine it as she went, too.
This process is tough. When we come to self-employment, we bring with us myriad experiences from different jobs, and possibly even different careers. Putting that all onto one website is tricky! Of course it is. It’s hard to sum up a lifetime on one website. Here’s where you start: Do the best you can to sum up your life and desires at this moment, then know that you can update your website as you change.
Go change one little thing on your website right now to bring it into better alignment with who you are and what you want to bring to this world.
And if you want to upgrade your bio, become a paying subscriber for just $5/ month. Today you’ll get an exercise that helps you experiment with talking about yourself, boldly.
I’m rooting for you!
Jenni
Curious about my background? I’m a writer and business coach based in Central Oregon. I have two small children and I work part-time so I can spend a lot of time with them. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with non-linear business building and teaching people how to build successful businesses that support their human needs first. Check out my coaching offerings here and follow me on Twitter & Instagram!
By the way: My new business coaching program, SUSTAIN, is now open for early-access registration. Sessions start in September 2023. Read more about the program here:
Yep! 💯💯 well said Jenni!!