From Laid Off to A Successful Business: One Web Designer’s Story

Some times the most inspiring stories come out of disappointment. That certainly was the case with this week’s guest: Jasmine Glasgow.

Jasmine had a fairly steady job at her family owned company. Then COVID hit and they had to make cutbacks. Her job was one of the first to go.

BUT, instead of going the safe route and looking for something similar she decided to start freelancing as a web designer and that’s when things took off.

Her problem now?

She has too much work and clients waiting in line for her help. I hope Jasmine’s story will inspire you if you find yourself in a similar situation.

Like Jasmine says, “You either shrink into comfort or grow into opportunity.”

The challenges you’re facing right now might be the perfect opportunity for you to grow in ways you didn’t think possible.

Main Takeaways from This Episode

Here are the main takeaways from my conversation with Jasmine.

1. Find Your Community

One of the main reasons Jasmine was successful when she launched her web design business is because she had been building relationships in a facebook group.

She didn’t join the group with the intention of finding clients. She just wanted to be a part of the group. She made friends, offered advice and in general was a good human being.

When she decided it was time to launch her freelance web design business she told the group and hiring her was an easy “yes.”

As a freelance web designer it’s so important to know that you have to be willing to give more than you get. Many clients will take anywhere from 4 to 7 interactions before they hire you.

Every interaction is your chance to establish trust. Once that trust is built it won’t be difficult to convince them to hire you.

2. Establish Systems ASAP

Once Jasmine began getting clients she quickly realized she need to establish some systems to make her processes easier.

There are a lot of things as a web designer that you find yourself doing over and over again:

1. Setting up a meeting
2. Talking about pricing
3. Outlining your process
4. Getting feedback

These are simple tasks that don’t take much effort BUT if you’re not careful they can take up ALL OF YOUR TIME.

That’s why it’s so important to have things in place that will AUTOMATE those reoccurring tasks.

This is such an important topic that I’ve talked about it with multiple guests on the Self-Made Web Designer podcast.

It’s super easy to get crazy busy doing the work that gets you paid like busting out a project BUT it’s essential to slow down and think about your processes and then find a way to make them more effecient.

3. Just Pick a Lane

There are a lot of different avenues you can take as a web designer, a lot of different tools you can decide to master. It’s enough to make you paralyzed wondering if you’re making the right decision.

When it’s all said and done you’ve just got to pick something and go for it.

Jasmine admits that she’s the type of person that loves to analyze and re-analyze before finally making a decision. But, at the end of the day you just have to pick a lane.

What I’ve found when it comes to learning new things in the web design world is, it’s hard to make a good decision on the right thing until you have a little bit of an idea of how it all works.

So, it’s better to just pick something and figure it out as you go. You can always go back and start again.

Becoming a Web Designer After Getting Laid off

There is a ton of opportunity to be successful as a freelance web designer if you find yourself in a similar situation as Jasmine.

My own story is very similar.

This might feel like a big set-back. BUT, it might be your biggest opportunity yet.

[fusebox_transcript]