About me

Given that I’m literally making up my own values it’s probably not surprising that the first one is about taking a bit of an alternative approach.

One of my favourite things about having my own business is being able to run it however I want to (legal and tax obligations notwithstanding). I love experimenting with how I can make my business work for me and my clients, and challenging the conventional ideas around growth.

I also tend to see creative solutions that others often don’t.

I try to support small and independent businesses as much as possible and take part in local initiatives like beach cleans.

Because I want people to have a great experience working with me, I am selective about my clients. I generally only work with non-profits, freelancers and micro-businesses as these are the worlds that I understand and the types of organisations that I can add the most value to when building a website. I’ll also say no to a client if they don’t fit with my values or ethical approach. It can be scary to do this, especially if there’s not a lot of other work in the pipeline, but I’ve never regretted it and surprisingly often an amazing project will come along really soon after, as if to reinforce my decision.

My desire to take an ethical approach is really closely intertwined with wanting to be open and transparent, but this does feel like a separate value as it’s so important to me. I want to talk honestly about life as a small business owner; I’m candid about my struggles with mental health and how I like to do business.

I’m upfront with my pricing and the costs for all my services are on my website. I don’t offer hourly rates as I’d rather agree a fixed price in advance; that way everyone knows what they’re getting. In the past I’ve even shared a breakdown of my income and expenditure, which is something that I’d like to do again.

I’ll let people know if Squarespace isn’t the right tool for them, or if I’m not the right web designer for them. It might seem counter-intuitive to turn away business, but often these would-be clients are grateful for my honesty and recommend me to other friends or colleagues who do need a Squarespace website.

On a call with two awesome clients, one of them said “We feel like you’re quietly in control” which made me laugh as the idea of me doing anything quietly is quite funny. She expanded on her comment to explain that she felt like they were in safe hands, being gently guided (but not pushed) through the process of developing their website.

This made me so happy, as part of my “why” is to help people who aren’t technical feel like creating a website is a fun experience, rather than a stressful one.

When I first went freelance, I had massive imposter syndrome because I didn’t have a formal background in web development. I was terrified that someone would ask me a question about code and I’d have to confess that I was a huge fake and they’d fire me on the spot! Of course, that never happened and over time I realised that my lack of formal training was actually an asset, as it meant that I wasn’t used to speaking in jargon; I would default to using normal human language to talk about technical concepts because that’s how I think about them in my head.

Since then, I have learned the relevant coding skills that I needed to create more custom websites, but have made sure that doesn’t affect how I talk about websites.

I also know from experience what it’s like to feel like you’re being stupid because you don’t understand something, or you have to ask the same question five times and still not have a clue what the answer is! When working for a non-profit prior to going freelance I was tasked with working with a team of web developers to create a website for the project. They were a lovely group of guys and I was reasonably technical, but I was still overwhelmed by the words that they used and struggled to make myself understood as it felt at times like we were speaking different languages. So I get it, and want to stop other people from feeling that way.

This is one I've definitely never seen on one of the business values lists.

When I first started out, I wanted to reach a wider audience and so booked a stand at the Business Startups Show, held at the mahoosive ExCel conference centre in London. Long-time followers will have heard this story before, but it is one of my favourites so kindly indulge me.

I'd maxed out my credit card to pay for a stand (borrow responsibly, folks) but had forgotten that I'd also need furniture. Whilst scouring the internet for some low-cost options I came across a site selling cardboard flat pack tables and chairs; I loved the idea of having plastic-free furniture, and it was much more affordable.

Now usually, the company would have branded it for you and sent it directly to the venue. But as I was on a budget, I asked if they'd send the plain versions to me so I could brand them myself. I created some stencils based on my logo and some key letters, bought some cans of black spray paint, and added the words "Websites! Woo! Yeah!" on all of my furniture.

After an interesting train ride down (flat-packed, the furniture was still taller than me and I caused some consternation amongst the Virgin Trains staff who couldn't decide if I should be paying for an extra seat) I made it to the venue, and began to assemble everything. My spatial reasoning skills are basically non-existent, so I'm not sure why I thought this was a good idea and I was almost in tears trying to figure out how it all fitted together.

Somehow I eventually managed it, but then I looked around and realised that I was surrounded by a sea of corporate professionalism. All the other stands were gleaming, with their shiny branding and here I was, wonky cardboard furniture that said "Websites! Woo! Yeah!". It was gloomy with a chance of teardrops again.

At that moment, an angel appeared in the form of a lady from the HR booth around the corner. She told me how she loved my stand, that it was so unique, and that she would send people my way if they needed websites (and true to her word, she did). After that, another person walked past, and commented on how much they loved my stand because it was so different and fun. And this continued throughout the weekend; all of my ideal customers were drawn to me and it was only the crusty middle aged men in suits that walked by and scoffed at me. Oh, and one told me off for not having sweets on my stand 🤷🏻‍♀️

So I have no desire to be "professional" if that means stuffy and uptight. I want to be silly but still be considered a legitimate business owner. I want to have a fun, colourful brand that doesn’t look like so many of the other female Squarespace web designers with their pastel shades and floaty script fonts (not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s not me).

And to me, being professional actually means meeting deadlines, delivering quality work, listening to clients and turning up on time; essentially doing what you said you were going to do, when you said you were going to do it (and if for any reason you can’t, then be proactive in communicating about this).

In fact, I think a lot of my values come down to that human factor; I have really lovely relationships with a lot of my clients because I genuinely care about them and the work that they’re doing.