Level Up — Five Lessons I’m taking away from Squarespace Circle Day 2023
“Circle Day” is a summit for Squarespace Creators held annually both in person (hello New York) and online (hello local). The theme for this year’s summit was “Build Your Toolkit” and I’ve come away from the summit with a phrase resounding over and over in my mind. That phrase is ‘Level up’.
It’s hard (even virtually) to be around so many inspiring designers, creatives, entrepreneurs, developers and team leaders and not feel challenged to take things to a new level. I’m reminded again that we can easily get bogged down working in our businesses and neglect working on our businesses.
Here are five things I plan to level up as a result of this Circle Day.
1. Level up my client processes
I’ve become accustomed to a rather chilled approach to client processes, from getting around to signing contracts to setting defined milestones, being abundantly clear with my communication and firm on boundaries. I think it’s time to reinstate some of the things I’ve let slide. I’ll be digging out those client contracts both for the sake of the client and for me. When we both know what to expect from each other, it paves the way for a smoother project process. I’m updating my client onboarding process to have a more thorough initial questionnaire and discovery call, and I will redo my client website workbook, in which I guide clients through the sometimes tricky process of putting together content for their website.
2. Level up my personal commitment
From time to time, I forget how amazing it is that I get to do the kind of work that allows me flexibility, creativity, autonomy, independence and the ability to work from anywhere on a platform I enjoy. I can take all of this for granted, and I don’t want to. I want to level up my personal commitment to excellence, create and stick to a pledge of originality, and a pledge to serve. I need to stick this paragraph up in my office so that I am reminded daily of the privilege I have.
Stuck to my office wall. (I guess I could also make a pledge to get a pinboard!)
3. Level up my input
I am a big fan of ongoing learning. But I also struggle to complete the things I start. Am I the only one? I have signed up for some brilliant courses in the past, and neglected to finish them. As a starting point, I would like to return to some of those courses and bring them full circle (ha, the pun!) by completing them. The first of these is Rachel Luna’s Standout Squarespace course, an extensive online course for Squarespace design and coding. What I’ve completed so far has been well worth the investment, and her teaching is really thorough, excellent and empowering. I just need the fortitude to keep going with it and to keep my brain switched on for all the technical elements I must wrap my head around.
I am also watching Kerstin Martin’s business pivot with great interest. She is a next-level Squarespace educator who has transitioned away from Squarespace web design and into a “Calm Business” direction. From my understanding, Calm Business is the antithesis of a manipulative hustle culture, a different way of doing business than what is fed to us constantly via social media.
4. Level up my systems
Being a web designer is like having a plumber for a parent (my dad started out as a plumber, so I’ll use this example). You’re so busy fixing everyone else’s bathrooms that you neglect the one in your own house, or in my case, I’m so involved with other people’s websites, that mine often takes a backseat. This is the year of:
updating my website design
finally publishing a regular newsletter
figuring out how to leverage LinkedIn for marketing purposes
writing and publishing more (and useful) blog posts
making sense of ChatGPT for my business
implementing scheduling
wrapping my head around Notion, Evernote, Asana and Google Docs for business.
5. Level up my investment
I am a bit of a bargain hunter. If I don’t have to pay for a product, I won’t. Sometimes this requires a mindset shift. Paying for tools that work daily for me is critical.
Some of the professional tools I’ve recently upgraded are:
Loom — for video messaging and video tutorials
Evernote — for organising my tasks, notes, learning and scheduling
Google Workspace — for professional email and Google tools
Canva Pro — I don’t know how any of us survived before Canva!
Office Chair — yes, I finally bought myself a half-decent office chair.
