114: How to Integrate Zoom with Squarespace Scheduling

Zoom is now a part of every day life! When you use Squarespace Scheduling for your online booking system, it’s really helpful that one can integrate with Zoom. This way, when a new client books an appointment with you, a zoom event is automatically generated. All you then have to do is go into your Zoom account and start the meeting at the appointed time!

Watch this quick step-by-step video where I show you how to integrated your Zoom account with your Squarespace Scheduling or Acuity Scheduling account.

113: Four Books from January 2022

This month, I wanted to read two books. I managed to read four This was only possible because I scheduled 25 minutes for reading every day and entire Sunday mornings for reading. This month, I also read on a couple of Sunday afternoons , one Saturday evening and another Saturday full day for reading!

This is all in an effort to get a lot more reading done this year. In the past, reading has fell through the cracks of my calendar as other urgent things have taken up my time. But I love reading books and feel a great sense of happiness and satisfaction when I can read a book without feeling that I “should be doing work in my business”. And so I have scheduled time in my calendar so I can “officially” read and not have a voice of guilt nagging my conscience!

Here are the three books I read:

1 | Mahamudra by Lama Yeshe

This is book that is a compilation of teachings given by the Tibetan Monk, Lama Yeshe, during a retreat in Australia in the early 1980s. The Australian Buddhist Nun, Venerable Robina Courtin has edited this book. And I found many insightful things about the nature of the mind and about meditation. I highly recommend it.

2| Tax-free Wealth by Tom Wheelwright

This book is one of the books in the Rich Dad Poor Dad series and was written by Robert Kiyosaki’s tax advisor. There are many ideas in here that a self-employed business person in the US can benefit from and the concepts can be used by anyone worldwide. A couple of concepts didn’t sit well for me such as showing your less income on your taxes so you can get the poverty tax credit; that just felt ethically inappropriate. But the author gives context to why he suggests that strategy. Many interesting ideas and strategies in this book which definitely have made me think. This is my first book about taxes and the author made it quite an interesting and fascinating read.

3| Financial Freedom by Grant Sabatier

This has been a very enlightening book about creating financial freedom and giving yourself the choice to retire early and not wait till you are 65 to retire. I learnt many new ideas about building wealth from this easy-to-read book which confirmed some of the things I am already doing and encouraged me to think strategically about creating financial freedom in my life. Very inspiring and I highly recommend it. My last blog #112 was a result of reading this book.

4| The Money Tree by Chris Guillebeau

I finally had one of those days where I did nothing but read. I read this book from start to finish last Saturday. How delightful it is to do nothing but read. I haven’t had days like this in a while so it was a very special treat. Designing my life so I can have many more of those days. In fact, this book is all about finding alternate ways to build wealth other than the 9 to 5 full-time job. In fact, it shows the precarious situation we put ourselves when we only have the job to support our family and our life. What we think, or what he have been taught to think as secure, is actually among the most un-secure thing! Create multiple revenue avenues and help fellow beings along the way! Another takeaway of this book for me was - When creating your content, product pages, products, marketing and so on, speak only to your target audience and to NO ONE ELSE. Big takeaway!

Well, that’s it for the January 2022 books. See the 25 books on 2021 book list here and the 20 books on my 2020 book list here.

112: What I need to feel successful

One month of 2022 has come to an end. January, goodbye. Hello, February!

Financially, this was again a record month. I got to build Websites In A Day and serve clients with a variety of website related needs. I am grateful.

As I step into the next month, I remind myself of what’s important in my life and business. At the moment, I run my web design business and although I have some leveraged products and offers, majority of my revenue does come from one to one services. That means I am exchanging my time for dollars. And even though I enjoy my work designing websites and solving website related problems, I know that at a certain point, I will need to find other ways to grow my business so I have a greater sense of time and ease.

What I need to feel successful?

So I am asking myself, what do I need to feel successful? Is it x amount of money in the bank? Is it x amount of time during the day, week and the year? Is it praise and appreciation from my clients and students of my programs?

I think what it comes down to is this: I want to feel financially free.

I want to feel and be financially free. I want to know that if I want to read all morning sitting in my hammock, I can do that. Or if I wanted to make videos all day of streams and waterfalls or of birds and the sky then that would be fine.

I am clearly not there yet. I am working on creating a life where I can experience that level of freedom. I am not interested in fancy cars or precious jewelry or big mansions. I don’t yearn to be famous or be celebrated. What I want is to simply have the choice to sit in my hammock and read an inspiring book all morning. Or take my video camera on a hike and watch droplets fly into the air as the sunlight hits them creating a rainbow of glistening colors. These videos would help people feel a moment of peace in their lives, a quick escape to nature even when they live in concrete city jungles. And I want to do all that knowing that my family of husband and cats will be provided for and I can support animal shelters that take care of all the animals in our area. And then I can also design websites or do coaching calls from time to time.

So in essence it is not so much the money but the freedom of choice and freedom of how I use my time that the money can offer that I am wanting to create for myself.

I believe & I know that this is possible!

I know that this dream is possible as many others have done it. That level of financial freedom is what will make me feel successful. Until I get there, I will make my plans and strategize my way so I can become financially free and help others do the same. And in the meantime, I am grateful for all that I do have and all that I get to create through my web design business. That’s a true blessing.

It feels vulnerable to write this all out in a public post. I’d love to know in the comments what would make you feel successful right now.

Peace,

Sophia

111: How to enable comment box on Squarespace 7.1 (why is it not showing and how to fix it)

I ran into this issue recently and wondered why is the comment box not showing up on my Squarespace site. It turns out that there’s a simple fix. Watch the short video tutorial or the steps listed below the video.

How to enable comment box on Squarespace 7.1

1. Go to Settings Panel

2. Then Blogging

3. Then Comment Settings

4. Then enable Allow Anonymous Comment

That’s it. No need for CSS or other extraneous steps! Hope this was helpful. Thank you for watching!

110: Squarespace Website for Mental Health Counselor in Philadelphia

Type of Project: New Website Build - Website In A Day
Client Site: CarlyEllman.com
Platform: Squarespace 7.1
Niche: Mental Health Counselor
Location: Philadelphia Area, Pennsylvania, USA

Website for a mental health counselor built in a day!

This month, I had the pleasure of being hired to create a Website In A Day for a Mental Health Counselor and Professor in the Philadelphia area. Below you can see the pages that were created:
Home, About, Services, Contact and Intake Form.

Color Scheme:
The colors palette includes light tan and light green along with the foundational white and black. The client wanted warm colors that didn’t overwhelm anyone visiting the site looking for mental health resources or counseling.

Fonts Used:
The fonts are simple and easy to read and two of my favorites.
For Headings: Raleway
For Paragraph text: Proxima Nova

---

Home Page

My client wanted to have as little scroll on the home page as possible to make it easy for the site visitor to see all the info they needed at a glance. To meet this preference, you’ll see that there are only three sections on the home page. The first one has a warm photograph of the counselor, a bit of introductory text and three buttons that lead to the Services, About and Contact pages.

Carly has also presented a talk for a Tedx event so along with her other presentation, I laid those videos out in the second section.

Finally, the third section leads the visitor straight to the contact page to start the process of working with Carly.

My client loved this presentation and the choice of photograph. They can always switch out the images later for a quick site refresh down the road.

Home Page

---

Services

Services page features an accordion tab to list multiple pieces of information in an elegant and attractive manner. There’s also a listing of all services offered by the counselor in the at-a-glance list. A quote from the counselor to ease the visitor’s concerns and finally a call-to-action button linking to the contact page.

Services Page

---

About Page

Clean and personable, the main job of the about page was to give a warm and welcoming feeling to the site visitor. Four images of the client’s family add to that feeling.

About

---

Contact

A contact form notifies the client via email anytime someone wants to reach her. Also added a warm and smiling photo of her on this page to make it complete. We actually created the Contact page during the one hour training and handover call so the client got and additional page!

Contact

---

In-Take Form

Finally, a quick presentation of the two download forms on an un-linked page. This was not part of the Website In A Day, but since the client had already connected their domain, it left me with some extra time to deliver this second extra page (Contact page being the first extra page).

In-Take Forms Download

---

109: How I am simplifying my web design business in 2022

In the course of this year, I will be simplifying my business even further with the aim of streamlining my work, getting more focused on the main priority and being effective during my 4-day work-week. Here are some more details on each so that you know what’s coming up in 2022 and how it will effect you as the participant of the Abundant Creative community, client of my design services or as students of the MWD program.

1| Merge sophiaojha.com and millionairewebdesigner.com websites into one site
You may know my web design services from sophiaojha.com which I have been running since 2016. In November of 2020, I launched my coaching program for web designers along with a new website millionairewebdesigner.com. This is also the website on which I launched the Millionaire Web Designer Directory in 2021 to showcase 25 web designers with various skills such as graphic design, branding, copy writing.

But I continued the blog and offering web design services on sophiaojha.com.

When I created blogs and video tutorials on sophiaojha.com for the coaching program, it seemed more fitting to have those blogs on the millionairewebdesigner.com website. However, the idea of running two blogs was not appealing so I continued to have all articles and videos on the sophiaojha.com site. I started thinking, instead of running two blogs on two sites, how about one blog on one unified site? That’s how I came to the idea of merging the two sites.

So, I’ve now decided to merge the two sites to double the impact of my marketing efforts. I will have both domains go to the same site and I will promote different domains depending on whether I am talking about the Directory or the Coaching Program or my web design services. This way, all traffic comes to one place and I can further benefit the web designers who are on my directory so that clients can find them easily. It will also help me focus my content creation efforts to be all on one site.

Also, I’ve decided to move everything to the new millionairewebdesigner.com site which is built on 7.1 platform while the other was built on 7.0. This is a tall order as I will be moving a blog of 108 articles from the sophiaojha.com site to millionairewebdesigner.com site along with all my supporting pages, service pages and so on. But since 7.1 is where Squarespace, Inc is putting all it’s focus in terms of development, it will be worthwhile to make this switch. I’m carving out three months for this project, as I don’t want to stop all my other client-serving activities to do this. This will be done on afternoons, during my days off.

2| Continue third year of my 4-day work-week but with a different rhythm
Two years ago (Jan 2020), my husband and I chose to follow a 4 day work-week because we wanted to make time for volunteering in our community. This schedule has worked really well for us as we’ve gotten more done in less time, had more time for things outside of our work and also grew our businesses as a result. We would work Monday-Tuesday, take Wednesdays off and then work Thursday-Friday. Looking back, especially in the last six months, I noticed that although it was nice to have a break in the middle of the week, it kinda interrupted the momentum we were creating in our work.

Starting 2022, we will work Monday through Thursday and take Fridays off. It’s an experiment just like the 4 day work-week has been and I am eager to see how this unfolds. Fridays have now been committed to volunteer for the High Country Meditators group where we hold weekly events to help people practice meditation and cultivate positive mind states. Any other free time on Fridays, I will use for merging my websites.

Setting-up the 4-day work-week has not been without its own challenges. There certainly have been weeks when I worked all 5 days or worked into the evenings and weekends as I tried to manage a 4-day schedule. But I have become much better with respecting my own boundaries, being less distracted and more focused. For 2022, we’ve also put into place a hard 5 PM cut-off for ending our work. That’s when we begin taking care of the house and prepping dinner and I am looking forward to seeing how this unfolds as well.

3| 25 minutes for 24 books in 2022
If you are book lover, you need no convincing that books are life-changing. I owe my life to books! But in the hustle-bustle of running my web design business, reading has not been a daily priority. In the last two years, I have made an intentional effort to read 2 books a month but have done it in an irregular manner - squeezing long reading blocks during weekends or on volunteering days.

Now I want to make it a real daily habit. So, I’ve carved out 25 minutes in my morning routine to read. My annual goal is 24 books once again (see the 2021 book list here and for 2020 here), averaging 2 books a month and I think this plan will help me do that.

4| Stick to My Streamlined Offers

As a web designer and and a coach to web designers, I have in the last few years streamlined my service offers. They are:

a. build websites for online entrepreneurs via Website in a Day package or the Two Week Website Package
b. help web designers grow their business through my coaching program
c. teach online entrepreneurs how to build a website in a 90-minute workshop, Squarespace Fundamentals
d. help entrepreneurs migrate their email marketing set up into ConvertKit and help with segmenting, funnels and launch sequences.

I am brimming with tons of ideas for workshops and other focussed offers. So, the challenge will be to stick to my main offers and use all my creative energy to create more resources inside the Millionaire Web Designer program for my web designers. That program is my signature offer for web designers and there's so much I want to share and teach. So I will channel all my efforts into that program.

5| Focus on 1 Social Media Platform Only

You may have read in this blog post how I quit all social media in 2020 and still grew my business. I quit everything but YouTube. Well, later in 2020, I started getting active on Instagram again because a platform (99Designs) wanted to feature my business on their Instagram and then link to mine. So I set one up. Since then I’ve struggled to really maintain a presence there and it’s always a nagging voice in my head that I should publish something for Instagram. It’s simply taking precious brain power and peace of mind so in 2022, I will no longer publish on Instagram.

Instead, I will focus creating content for my website in the form of blogs and videos. The videos will continue to publish on YouTube. This will be my simplified approach to content marketing and keeping my focus on one social media platform. If your social media presence is working for you and your business, I congratulate you. In sharing this, I am in no way preaching that you should do this too. It’s simply what works for me and is a choice I am making for my business. But if it inspires you to reassess your own social media activity, I highly recommend doing so.

6| Focus on the main focus
In 2022, this is what I will be focusing on doing:

a) publishing one video/blog a week
b) serving clients with Web Design and ConvertKit services
c) coaching web designer students

Anything that supports these, I will do. Anything that takes away from these, I will not do.

——

These are the six things I am doing to keep my business and life simplified in 2022. There a handful of other things that will support these six and I am so eager to make that effort this year.

How are you simplifying your life and business? Is simplifying a matter at all for you or do you have other aims you are working on? Please share in the comments and enlighten us all in the process. :)

Peace,
Sophia

---

108: 25 Books from 2021

2021 was a really full year. A lot got done. But one of the things that I am most happy about is that I made time for reading - one of my priorities which in the past would get sidelined by money-generating projects. I love to read and the challenge was to make time for it and get it done.

So when I sat down to review all the books I read in 2021, I was delighted that I kept up an average of 2 books a month and have a total of 25 books read during the year. Here they are listed in hopes that you may be inspired to pick one or two of these titles from your local library:

1. Atomic Habits by James Clear

2. Profit First by Michael M.

3. Failing Up by Leslie Odom Jr.

4. This is Marketing by Seth Godin

5. Show Your Work by Austin Kleon

6. Chillpreneur Audiobook by Denise Duffield Thomas

7. Hello Habits Audiobook by Fumio Sasaki

8. Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World by Willian Walker Atkinson (1906)

9. Your Invisible Power by Genevieve Behrend (1921)

10. Law & Promise by Neville Goddard

11. The Creative Use of Imagination by Neville Goddard

12. The Bank on Yourself Revolution by Pamela Yellen

13. Playing the Matrix by Mike Dooley

14. How to Win At the Sport of Biz by Mark Cuban

15. If Trees Could Talk by Holly Worton

16. Why not me? by Mindy Kaling

17. We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers

18. The Leveraged Business by Fabienne Fredrickson

19. Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki

20. The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish

21. The Magic of Believing by Claude M. Bristol

22. You Are So Money by Farnoosh Torabi

23. The Next Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and his daughter

24. Deep Work by Cal Newport

25. Ladies Power Up Your Brand by Faith James & Stacey Graiko

Want to know the 20 books I read in 2020? Check this blog for the book list.

112: Realizing I don't need x$ to feel successful

As we embark on the final week of 2021, I'd like to wish you a wonderful time with your loved ones. May you have time to celebrate the year, enjoy the company of your beloveds and give thanks for all that has been - for the challenges as well as triumphs and everything in between. 🎉
​
I certainly have a lot to be grateful for. The biggest one is a reminder that I don't need to earn x dollars or serve x number of clients to be and feel successful. I am realizing that feeling successful just like being content, satisfied and happy comes from within. It is from realizing that I have made an honest effort every day to the best of my capability to add value and be of service in all that I do with integrity and kindness - both in my business and in my personal life. It's the recognition of that effort fuels my sense of contentment and abundance. And I have reminded myself of my personal and business values of Simplicity, Naturality and Kindness as I interacted with people and crafted plans in my work.
​
What else fuels my feeling content with my year is that I persevered through the moments of challenges in 2021 and I focused on solutions. What fuels my sense of satisfaction this year are the many authentic conversations with clients and fellow web designers that I've had. The real connections with real people has added meaning and joy into my life.
​
And lastly, my wonderful husband, our five cats and our life together basking in the breathtaking beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains has been priceless. I am feeling grateful for 2021 and I am grateful you've allowed me into your inbox and into your life this year. Thank you! ❤️

Wishing you a peaceful holiday time,
Sophia

107: Inside the Circle Platform for my group coaching program

Recently, I made the switch from Member Areas to Circle for my group coaching program, Millionaire Web Designer. I share the many reasons why I love Circle in the video below and I also give you a walkthrough of what my students will see inside the MWD platform (built on Circle).

You can see Blog 106 for what Member Areas used to look like for my course materials.

Watch the short video below:

Like to try Circle? Get a free trial: https://www.sophiaojha.com/circle (my referral link).

If you have any questions, just reach out to me at so@sophiaojha.com.

106: Walkthrough of Student Experience of Member Areas in Squarespace

In this video, I’d like to show you how a student experiences your course materials inside Member Areas.

Member Areas is where I used to house all my video course materials for my group coaching program, Millionaire Web Designer. However, due to some specific needs, I have since migrated to Circle.

If you’d like to know more about the Circle experience and how the platform looks from the inside, check out my video walkthrough in Blog 107.

But for now, a view of Member Areas from the student’s point of view.

Watch the video below:

105: How to deal with scope creep on web design projects?

In November, we re-opened doors to the Millionaire Web Designer, my group coaching program for helping web designers build a thriving web design business. And I created three live events as part of the promotion for it. Here’s the first one where I share some tips and actual email conversations on how to turn situations when clients want to add more tasks to your list into profitable interactions.

Watch the video below:

104: What to do when a client starts negotiating your prices?

In November, we re-opened doors to the Millionaire Web Designer, my group coaching program for helping web designers build a thriving web design business. And I created three live events as part of the promotion for it. Here’s the first one where I share how to handle price negotiations from a client.

Watch the video below:

103: How do I find my next web design client?

In November, we re-opened doors to the Millionaire Web Designer, my group coaching program for helping web designers build a thriving web design business. And I created three live events as part of the promotion for it. Here’s the first one where I share how I find my web design clients or rather how they find me!

Watch the video below:

102: One Big Reason To Create Content

Recently, I hired a web designer + graphic designer, Anna Roszak, regarding creating a logo for Millionaire Web Designer, my exclusive group coaching program. And we had a great chat about that. But at one point she mentioned how she loves my YouTube videos and that recently a client emailed her asking her about something and she sent her my video tutorial as it explained exactly what she needed.

And this made me so happy. Now, of course, I know that designers share links and resources with their clients. But to hear her share with me how my video helped her solve the client’s problem filled me with utter happiness and satisfaction. This one video that I created saved people time and helped solve a problem! Wow. I am myself amazed at how happy that make me feel. Like super happy.

Watch the short video below:

It’s probably because I create these videos and tutorials and then it’s out in the world. I have to let go of any expectations of how well the video will be perceived, whether it really solves a problem, or whether it will be really helpful and viewed by people. That’s not something I can influence. I know my intention is to solve a question that I have faced or seen my clients face. But whether it has a benefit to others is often not obvious or clear. Plus, right after the video is published there’s no instant data on how many people see it or clicked like and that kind of information remains to be seen until a future date. And so, my mindset around creating content is more like - create it and let it free.

That’s why when Anna shared that very specific instance of how she sent off a link to my video to her client, it filled me with an unexpected delight and it gave me such a high. It’s true satisfaction of knowing that your time creating that content was not wasted. It made a difference! That’s an incomparable feeling.

So there you go - if you were looking for a reason to start or to continue your content creation journey, here’s one more reason: the joy of knowing your content makes a difference.

That’s all for today’s blog! I’m always open to hearing more stories of how my videos, blogs, webinars, etc. have helped you in any way - so send them my way via email or in the comments below.

Have an abundantly creative day!

Sophia

101: Learn Squarespace CSS Tricks From These Six Experts

Now, it’s a given that you can build a decent website using the pre-designed layouts and templates from Squarespace. But from time to time, you will want to add a design element to your Squarespace Website that will requires a some CSS code.

I’m self-taught when it comes to CSS and I have many of my talented colleagues to thank for showing me their tips and tricks when it comes to adding that special look to any Squarespace website.

And today, I’d like to share 6 of them with you so that you can tap into the wealth of resources they have created. Let’s get started.

And oh, none of them have paid me to promote them. I am genuinely grateful for these experts for sharing and teaching what they know.

Uplevel Your Squarespace Website with CSS

Click the image below to watch video:

Here are six of the CSS experts that have paved the way for my own learning.

1. Carl Johnson
Not only do I love his accent, Carl teaches CSS specifically for the Squarespace platform and his YouTube channel is fantastic. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/c/MrJohnoCP

2. Inside the Square with Becca Harpain
You may have already seen Becca’s videos on using CSS for Squarespace. I’ve found them easy to follow and very helpful. Check her YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/InsideTheSquare

3. Beatriz Caraballo
Beatriz’s videos are very helpful as well and her blogs have very in-depth screenshots and step-by-step descriptions of how to use code. Check her YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwDJktnCURFGiJdINrDwRcg and her website here: https://beatrizcaraballo.com/

4. Chris Schwartz-Edmisten
Chris not only teaches CSS tips and tricks but also has many videos on the many features of Squarespace. Check his YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/SEWebDesign

5. Will Myers
Will creates fun and engaging videos all about Squarespace. I found him when looking for how to build a Mega Menu on Squarespace. Check out his YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2pYFwXEwVolfeDumbNAUyQ

6. Rebecca Grace Designs
Rebecca’s channel is very helpful and not just for CSS. Check out here videos on all things Squarespace as well as about running a web design business. Her YouTube channel is: https://www.youtube.com/c/RebeccaGraceDesigns

Let me know in the comments if you have checked these experts out. And also let me know who else you would recommend so we can continue the trajectory of learning and growing together.

To your success,

Sophia

100: Turbo-Charge Your Email Marketing with Evergreen Lead Magnets

Hello my Abundant Creative,

I am celebrating. 🎉 My article just got published on Honeybook's website!!
​
The article is called 7 Evergreen Lead Magnets to Grow Your Email List (link will bring you to the Honeybook/Rising Tide website). And to celebrate, I am sharing an in-depth 45 minute video presentation in which I show you how to implement one of these lead magnets (a digital library) using ConvertKit.

It's called, Turbo-Charge Your Email Marketing with Evergreen Lead Magnets (Within An Afternoon) and I cover:

You’ll learn:
1. why you should go evergreen with email list building?
2. seven types of evergreen lead magnets you can use (many of them without creating new content)
3. 10 examples of these lead magnets in action
4. how to figure out which one is right for your business (my four steps will help)
5. a live demo of me setting up a lead magnet on my website (I show you how l set up Lead Magnet example 5)

Sign up below for instant access:

Do you have a way to build your email list currently set up on your website? In other words, an opt-in form that folks can sign up and then receive a free gift (lead magnets) in return? If not, then I've got a juicy presentation where I show you how to do just that. If creating an opt-in on your website has been on your to-do list, watch this presentation and check it off today!

To your success,

Sophia

099: How to Add Social Media Icons to Default ConvertKit Templates

Hello my Abundant Creative,

In today's video + blog, I am showing how you can customize the default email templates of ConvertKit using some code in the HTML block. Follow my step-by-step guide so you can format the template specifically to add custom branded social media icons and better serve your email marketing clients.

See code below video.

Copy but Customize the Following Code

This code will not work if you do not customize the url source of the image (see bolded text) and if you don’t change up the link of your social media

Table to be added in the HTML block inside the CK default template:

<table>

<tr>

<td><a href="https://instagram.com/sophiaojha"> <img src="put the url of the image here" alt="Instagram" width="150" ></a></td>

<td><a href="https://www.youtube.com/sophiaojha"><img src="put the url of the image here" alt="YouTube" width="150" > </a></td>

</tr>

</table>

To your success,

Sophia

098: Millionaire Web Designer Directory has launched

Update: September 2023: This directory is no longer active. After hitting my first $22K/month and then hitting burnout, I had to scale back my activities and refocus. Although the directory is closed, the intention that led to its creation is still alive - Check out the newsletter here.

Hello my Abundant Creative,

Less than a month ago, I had this idea of creating a space online where businesses could easily find a web designer. And now that idea is a reality. 🎉 Meet the 24 Founders of the Millionaire Web Designer Directory (MWD Directory) who are designers from around the world and with a wealth of expertise - including copywriting, branding, graphic design, web design, email marketing and more. Please check it out and find your next project partner in the MWD Directory. I love all your smiling faces, designers; welcome!

How will the Directory be promoted?

1. My email list - which is made up of both web designers but also of online entrepreneurs who are specifically using Squarespace. They will want an upgrade or maintenance at some time.

2. My YouTube channel - I will start promoting the MWD - Directory in new content that I create teaching Squarespace tips.

3. I will promote the Directory on various platforms (such as Squarespace, Inc) where I will be doing presentations/webinars as well as blogs and podcasts where I will be interviewed.

4. My current client feed for my own business - whenever I am asked to do web design projects, the majority of those requests will be passed on to those designers who are on the Directory, as I can only take a certain number of projects per month.

5. The Directory will be the first place where I, myself, will hire from.

Intention for the Directory

I also hope to create a community of designers who can serve each other and whom I can serve with everything I know and have learnt about web design. My intention is that the directory becomes a real source of projects for the designers and where entrepreneurs and non-profits can find wonderful people to collaborate on their projects.

How is this for?

The Directory is for online business, solopreneurs, non-profits and small businesses as well as start-ups looking for web designers. These web designers also bring expertise in various marketing areas including graphic design, copyediting, social media marketing, branding and more. You can use the search criteria on the directory main page to select for your specific needs.

How does it work?

Simple steps to finding your next designer:

Step 1: Search using criteria
Step 2: Note your top 3 choices
Step 3: Contact each via their websites

Step 4: Discuss project details
Step 5: Hire & get that project done!
Step 6: Celebrate!

No commissions or kickbacks
Client and designer communicate directly with each other and arrange for payment amongst themselves. Each of the Web Designers has paid to be present on this list. We (Millionaire Web Designer.com) don’t partake in commissions or receive any financial kickbacks from any transactions. Our aim is to bring you and the web designers together.

Welcoming You as You Are
As a woman of color and first-generation Indian American, I often run into designer or tech directories where I do not see anyone that remotely looks like me, leaving me with the question, "Do I even belong here?". And I want the MWD Directory to be welcoming to all people of all genders and all backgrounds from around the world.

So if you are or know a designer who comes from groups that have been traditionally/currently been marginalized, please know and let them know that I welcome you and there is room for you here. (Feel free to forward this message to them).

And I am extremely delighted and happy that we have so many women represented in the directory which is also not very visibly seen in tech/design industries, although there are tons of women working in this niche. I truly hope that you can find from this directory a designer for your online business needs.

To your success,

Sophia

097: How to Record Your Screen and Your Camera at The Same Time (Mac)

If you create video content for your audience using screencast apps or want to do so, today's video will help you streamline your production workflow.

You may have noticed that in my videos, I usually have an intro where I talk into the camera. Then I do a screencast showing whatever it is I am teaching. And then again I jump in with an on-camera appearance for an outro.

I've liked the idea of showing myself on camera for the middle section where I do the screencast, but doing a double workflow process was not something I wanted to add to my task list. But now, I found a way to show up on camera without doing a separate on-camera take.

And I am using the same Quicktime app on my Mac like before, just with a little tweak. Wow! I love it. It amazes me how these little setting tweaks have such a huge impact in my work.

If you are using a Mac and the in-built Quicktime video app, then watch the video walkthrough.

To your success,

Sophia

096: The Poison of Comparison

As web design business owners who want to grow our businesses, we are often on the look out to learn from others. We see successful designers or online entrepreneurs and get inspired. But sometimes, our mind goes into thinking we are not good enough thoughts. Here’s my experience with this tendency and how I help myself get back on the right track.

It happens much less often to me than before but it does pop-up from time to time in my mind. Thoughts that say:

”I am not there yet.”
”I am not good enough.”
”She can do it, then, why can’t I?”

Let’s talk about the last one because it can throw you off when you least expect it. It happens like this: You are working on client projects. You are working on your acquisition goals, creating the content and then some how you land on a post or and email or a piece of content created by one of the entrepreneurs you look up to. Someone whom you admire for what they have built and how they show up in the world.

At first, there may be a sense of amazement and wonder. But out of nowhere you may start thinking, “Ah, man, how come this is not happening in my business. How come I am not there yet! How is it that she can do it and not me? What’s wrong with me? I am not good enough. I am still not there where I want to be!!”

The Poison of Comparison
Let me give you an example. I recently saw something written by someone I am a huge fan of. This entrepreneur has really helped me through her videos, blogs, courses, and her books on up-leveling my business. I am totally inspired by her and uplifted by her. And have been for several years. She has built multi-million dollar business while having a busy life and raising a family and that’s just been awe-inspiring for me.

So, in one of these posts she wrote about the importance of creating content and how she has not missed writing and sending out a weekly newsletter for the last 12 years or so.

When I read that, I was first amazed. “Ah, that type of consistency is remarkable”, I thought. Then, I began feeling this sense of lack. I know that I have created lots of youtube videos, spending hours and hours on creating and editing them. This blog itself is no. 96. But I definitely have not been able to publish on a weekly rhythm for years on end. And this awareness of not having been able to produce such regular content started to gnaw at me, to bother me.

But this type of thing has happened before and I caught myself this time.

And if I don’t catch it in time, these thoughts can spiral downward and can lead to a full-blown pity-party mired in self-doubt and feeling a sense of overbearing burden and struggle.

I don’t hear many web designers talk about this. This is not in our content feed - at least, not in mine. But I feel it is so important to talk about this. Because these types of mindset obstacles set us back more than any gaps in skills or knowledge around web design and marketing.

It’s this mental virus of comparison that often poisons our progress to greatness.

Rebuttal like a Lawyer
So what to do about it?

1. The first thing to do is to simply become aware of the type of thought that’s emerging and the feeling that you are getting in your body. I often feel a heaviness in my chest and a tension in my shoulders. And breathe into it. It’s important to not fight that feeling but step into awareness and acceptance: “Ah, okay, this is not feeling very good. I am having this type of thought right now”.

2. Then, you have to put on a lawyer hat. Lawyers present evidence and they make a case for why they support a certain statement. When you have these thoughts of “I am not good enough” or “why have I not done like so and so”, you must bring out the rebuttals. You present statement to your mind that support the contrary.

For example, you can begin by saying, “I am good enough. Look all the _________ you have created or done (insert success evidence)”.
Then bring up a very true statement such as, “You cannot compare your success trajectory with someone else’s. There are so many different factors involved. And we are each on our path.” Being Buddhist, I also remind myself of Karmic patterns and that often soothes me.

So we need to offer rebuttals to our selves on why we cannot be comparing ourself with another. And also present all the good things we have done and accomplished despite challenges and roadblocks. “Look at what you have done even though you faced ________ (insert past struggles challenges, and roadblocks).

There are other ways to go about it but the important thing is to remember that we need to help ourselves and lift ourselves from thought patterns that are not helpful. And we need to that actively. Catch yourself when you find thoughts of comparison showing up - even if in a small way. We can begin to train our mind on the small occurrences - which is easier to do than when it’s full-blown pity-party!

This is a message for any web design business owner who is driven to create success in her business. This mental roadblock may emerge on your path in different forms and it’s important to address it now with love and kindness.

Well, I hope you found this helpful. Thank you for reading and I wish you a peaceful and harmonious day.

To your success,

Sophia