June 18th, 2012
I’m Having A Baby. And All Your Website Problems, Solved.
It was a sunny day. Blue skies. Slight breeze. Fresh air and early morning. I had never been to the dog park at this hour. 8:15 am. And it was nice. Quiet. Different. Solitary, in an introspective way. It was a respite in my already hectic morning, a calm before the rest of the workday storm. And it was lovely.
I am a Scorpio, so by nature I’m a creature of routine. I eat the same thing for breakfast every single morning. I snooze the same amount of times every day. And so naturally, my dog park walk has a usual path. Straight, left, right, then right. Well today, I decided to go left first. Down a path I’d never been before. Reluctantly, because I didn’t know exactly how much time it would take me to get back. But I went anyway.
From this path, I saw the tall weeds sway in the breeze, their leaves, a sound of slight rustle. Pussy willows peaked out from behind a bush of yellow flowers. The Golden Gate Bridge from this angle look 100 miles long. And the rocks under my feet seemingly scurried with each step, as if to clear my path. Lovely, I thought. What a great new perspective this is. Just from going left instead of right. My mind was able to wander and think in a way I don’t usually, as I’m always walking my routine, with a pointed direction and goal to get back to the car in 37 minutes (so I can get back to work within an hour including drive time). The routine was thrown off, and so was my pointedness and this allowed for freedom and fluidity and a chance to have new experiences.
And as I was thinking about this, I thought about all the times in my life where I went right instead of left, where I did something I hadn’t done before and was perhaps reluctant to do, and amazing things happened because of it.
One in particular was going to Marie Forleo’s RHH Live in the Fall of 2010. I had never done anything like that before. A live event, all by myself, in a big city that intimidated me. But I just felt pulled to go. And so I went. And not only did I meet people that would fill my practice for almost two years straight, but I made a business partner. I didn’t know it at the time, but a year and a half from then, an amazing collaboration would happen.
And that’s what I want to share with you all today. I’m SO excited and happy about this venture and have been keeping a bit quiet about it until now. We were a bit in beta mode but we’re ready to bust out and share our idea with the world.
The skinny is: Amanda Aitken: Web designer extraordinaire. Me: Coach extraordinaire. Together: Website Therapy. You combine creating a website, with coaching to get you clear on what you actually want your website to be and VOILA! Website Therapy is born.
Now…for me…this idea is reflective of the experience I had of working with my first web designer. I was totally new, had never done a website before and had NO CLUE how to do it. I gave her all this conflicting information, had her make a million changes, and it took a couple months. I loved the final outcome but during the process I remember saying to myself that I wished she was also a coach so she knew how to pull out of me what I REALLY wanted and needed for my site.
Enter Amanda, who has all the webby techy prowess any girl could want, an extensive client questionnaire for her web clients, and yet was still feeling like her clients could use some support getting clear and excited about what they really wanted for their site. And so…our collaboration was born. Website Therapy.
Anytime you sign up to have Amanda do your website, you get a free Website Therapy/clarity session with me. Whatever it is you’re questioning about your website (“what is my brand?” “should I have a blog or a website?” “what is my message?” “what should it look like?”) we will get to the bottom of it, so when you have your session with Amanda, you will be crystal clear on what you want.
AND, for all you do-it-yourself’ers Amanda has this amazing program “Girls Guide To Web Design” that is absolutely awesome. It takes ALL the guesswork out of creating your own site and teaches you everything you need to know about how to create a beautiful site for yourself. And when you sign up for that program, you ALSO get a free Website Therapy session with me. Really…it’s win win. ☺ And she’s launching her brand new “Jetsetter” program today, which includes the training plus all kinds of personalized Facebook support, to pick up where the coaching support leaves off. Prittty Cool. Click here to check it out.
So there we have it. Our baby is born. And I’m so excited to share it with you all. For anyone who is creating a site, check us out. And if you’re ever uncertain as to whether or not you should take the road less traveled, I’m here to tell you to do it. Go right, instead of left. Do something different. See new perspectives. Meet new people. And you never know…you might find yourself with a new baby by the end of it.
WooHOOOOOOO! So very glad this is loud and proud in the world. You two are a freaking dynamic duo of love. Also the first part inspired me to get my ass to the dogpark earlier than 10am to enjoy some non-crowded waterfront time. Rock on!
Heck yes Ellen! It was SO awesome working with you both on your site and it looks AHHHMAZING. And yeah, Isabel at that hour is way different than say, a Saturday at noon. :)
So funny, Alex and I were just discussing how I should go about making my professional website. I am a total do it yourself lady (or maybe just a control freak :), but I know nothing about web design, so the thought of taking a cool online class to make my page rock sounds awesome! Plus I get to talk to you about it for an hour….icing! Not quite there yet as I still have some tests to pass, licences to acquire, life planning to do, but hopefully in a few months I will ready to design. Congrats on the new endeavor, you are a juggling extraordinaire….and thanks for this post, I was definitely in need of the answer to one of my ruminations to fall in my lap :)
Lady…OF COURSE!! Hahhaha. I love how the universe does that. And YES. This course would be PERFECT for you then. I’ve taken it. And I’m totally not a do-it-yourself person when it comes to tech stuff and this class was so thorough and easy to understand. I totally suggest doing the one where you get all the FB support and Q&A calls and everything. Keep it bookmarked. Ahhh this is so awesome! Love you and miss you.
I wish I had this when I did my first website. Would have saved me lots of mula! Adore you both!! xoxo
Seriously!! And love you.
Congratulations! As my culinary adventure continues, I’ll be needin’ ya! Looks like an awesome adventure!
Thank you lady! And YES! Definitely keep us in mind. You’d be the perfect client for us both. Woooot!
Congratulations and all the best for your new venture- it looks awesome and so well thought-out! As Ellen said, you two make an amazing Dynamic Duo…move over Bman &Robin ;-)
AHHHHH! I LOVE the Batman and Robin analogy. Pow! Bang! Boom! Here we are. :)
Congrats! What an awesome and unique approach to this – I’m sure you will be doing some amazing things for people with your magical intuitiveness and insight. And I’m definitely interested in the Girls Guide to Web Design… I like that there are different options for different types!
Good luck on the new venture! :)
Thank you!! It’s been really really great so far. So many times people think that their challenges are with the mechanics of their sites, but really it’s much deeper than that. About self-worth, knowing what they truly want etc. And that’s where the coaching comes in. So it’s really fun for me, as you can imagine. Thanks for reading and for your support lil lady.
Early morning dog walks rock!! And when they have bright sun (a rarity in scotland) it’s even better. This is such a fantastic idea. I could have used this two months ago having just done my website (for the fourth – and freaking final time!). In fact I could have used this two years ago when I was first starting out. Would have made my life so much simplier and saved all those hours of searching on the internet to figure out how to DIY your own wordpress site!
Congratulations! I think this idea is genius and wish i had you a month ago when I was nail biting my way through my current design. When I plan a re-design, I’ll be knockin’! You also remind me of the genius of live events. I used to admire the RHH events and then think…”Me? What about all that dancing, I’m too introverted.” Now that I found my dancing ass, I’m planning to go and can’t wait to form amazing relationships. xoxo
Thank you SO much. It’s funny…Amanda and I were talking the other day and were like “why hasn’t anyone thought of this yet?!” It’s so much fun and definitely keep us in mind when you do a re-design. And YES!! Live events are so amazing, and I never knew that before RHH Live either. And don’t worry! The vibe there is so great that even non-dancy introverts will find themselves grooving. It’s just such a great and safe environment. Perhaps I’ll see you there!
Sally + Amanda = super fab, super brilly, super site.
Love that you are collaborating and making other people look good.
Lots of aloha mama!
Thank you!! We are having a blast. Hope you are rockin too, Miss Jenny From The Block. :)