128: New Website for Dog-Friendly Vacation Rental Listing on Squarespace 7.1

Type of Project: New Website Build - Website In A Day + hybrid
Client Site: www.dogs-welcome.net
Platform: Squarespace 7.1
Niche: Travel - Vacation Rental Directory
Location: Northeast USA

Color Scheme:
The colors palette includes the blue from the logo for accents and highlights and bright orange for links and navigation.
White: #fff
Black: #000
deep Blue: #152982
light blue: #dae8f7
Beige/Brown: #dd9159

Fonts Used:
Headings: Cormorant Garamond
Paragraph: Adelle Sans
Miscellaneous: Adelle Sans

A few weeks ago, I got an opportunity to serve dogs through my web design service. Actually, I got to serve travelers who want to bring their dogs along wherever they go. Sara Sokol who owns a vacation rental herself and is an accomplished dog trainer herself, got the idea of creating a resource for people who want to travel but are heart-broken when they leave their dogs with friends or at a kennel. They would rather travel along with their furry companions. Thus, Dogs Welcome was born - a directory of North American vacation rentals that welcome dogs on their property. She asked me to create a website that includes a directory of vacation rentals that welcome dogs (and cats) along with their human companions.

The color scheme for the site was derived from the logo which was created by Garry Atkinson. Garry is not only a graphic designer but also a Squarespace web designer and you can contact him here for your graphic and web design needs: https://www.texplora.media/

The creation of the directory itself was quite a technical process and I used two different plugins (pre-designed code) to make it happen. My client was a delight to work with and we had a few outbursts of laughter (especially when co-creating the fun lines of moving text at the bottom of the home page). How can you not when you are writing about Sarah Jessica Barker and Dumbledog!

This was a unique project (was outside of any of my packages) on Squarespace 7.1 with the new Fluid Engine.

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Trivia: My client Sara is the owner of Mr. Dog Training, a positive reinforcement dog training facility that has been voted best dog trainer in Maine for the past seven years!

And she has authored all of Coastal Humane Society’s behavior handouts, training class descriptions, and their “Caring for Your Newly Adopted Dog” packet. Her wealth of experience and love for the furry ones is truly admirable.

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Kind Words from the Client:

“Perfection! One of the best decisions I've made was hiring Sophia for my project. Sophia is easy to work with, beyond helpful, supportive, and fun. I look forward to having a chance to work with her again!” ⏤ Sara Sokol, Dogs Welcome

Your Turn:

What’s something amazing you’ve noticed about your clients while working with them on their websites? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

127: Website In A Day - Video Production Company Website on Squarespace 7.1

Type of Project: New Website Build - Website In A Day
Client Site: www.paperplanevideo.com
Platform: Squarespace 7.1
Niche: Art & Design: Video Production Company
Location: NYC, USA

Color Scheme:
The colors palette includes the blue from the logo for accents and highlights and bright orange for links and navigation.
White: #fff
Black: #000
Light Beige/Neutral: #F5F3EB
Blue: #1498D5
Orange: #D55114

Fonts Used:
Headings: Europa
Paragraph: Proxima Nova
Miscellaneous: Proxima Nova

In early September, I had the chance to create a website for a video production company run by Christopher Nuut of NYC.
It included a Squarespace 7.1 walkthrough training (recorded) and moving the domain from his old 7.0 site to the new one. This project involved a lot of gifs, multiple video embeds for the portfolio as well as a full-bleed video on the home page banner. Although the Website In A Day package includes 3 pages, I built only two pages (Home and Social Media Ads) as each page contained multiple sections (9 and 7 respectively). Christopher was able to use those two pages as templates and went on to build some more pages on his own. He was super easy to work with because of his prompt response and availability throughout the day and sending all the visual assets and web copy well in advance of the project start date. And by the way, his videography is truly outstanding and makes this website shine.

This was a Website In A Day Project built on Squarespace 7.1 with the new Fluid Engines.

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Trivia: Christopher’s videography is really outstanding and after the site was built I went on to watch a lot of his example videos on the home page and the Social Media Ads page. When I get a video made about my business down the road, I hope I can get Christopher to create one for me!

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Kind Words from the Client :

“Sophia is very friendly, professional, and talented. She worked with me to understand exactly what I wanted beforehand, and provided a new website in just one day.” ⏤ Christopher Nuut, Paper Plane Video

Your Turn:

What’s something amazing you’ve noticed about your clients while working with them on their websites? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

125: Website In A Day - Foundation Website for Tim Howard Foundation on Squarespace 7.1

Type of Project: New Website Build - Website In A Day x .5 (built over 1.5 days)
Client Site: www.timhowardfoundation.com
Platform: Squarespace 7.1
Niche: Non-Profit, Youth Development
Location: NYC, USA

Color Scheme:
The colors palette includes dark grey from the logo and bright blue for links and navigation.
White: #fff
Black: #231F20
Light Grey: #EFEFEE
Dark Grey: #7C7B7A
Blue: #031E9B

Fonts Used:

Headings: Anton
Paragraph: Proxima Nova
Miscellaneous: Poppins

Recently, I had the chance to create a website for a foundation that serves youth development in our communities through soccer. This foundation has been started by US Soccer legend Tim Howard and aims at bring mini-soccer field into communities where there are no such resources. As the website’s about page states, they have partnered with the U.S. Soccer Foundation to help build mini soccer pitches in underserved communities to provide the opportunity to explore the sport of soccer, to learn about teamwork and build confidence while participating in a healthy activity. What a wonderful mission!

This was a Website In A Day * .5 Project (Built in 1.5 days) and built on Squarespace 7.1 with the new Fluid Engines.

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Not so Trivial Trivia!: Tim Howard is an American soccer legend. He has the most caps and wins of any goalkeeper in US Soccer history. He played in three World Cups and holds the record for most saves by any goalkeeper in a single game in World Cup history.

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Kind Words from Tim Howard’s team :

“Sophia was great to work with! Efficient, professional and helpful. Very happy with how my website turned out.” ⏤ Amber Olivieri, Team Tim Howard

Your Turn:

What inspiring moment you can recall while working with your clients? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

124: Idaho = potatoes?

Whether or not you like potatoes, can we agree that Idaho sums up to more than that?
​
Maybe, maybe not. But why am I talking about Idaho today?
​
Well, it's because a few years ago, I got to witness Nathan Barry (founder of ConvertKit) have his Steve Jobs moment in Boise, Idaho. Imagine the scene. A room full of online entrepreneurs watching Nathan do a live demo of the email marketing platforms' newest feature - Visual Automations. As he clicked through an automated sequence of emails and trigger rules, the audience was releasing "oohs" and "aahs" like the famed Apple CEO Steve Jobs caused in his presentations.

Okay, enough nostalgia.
​
I am writing to you today to invite you to a brand new workshop I am doing where I show you how to use this email marketing platform to build your email list, send newsletters and to create automations based on actions of your readers. It's an in-depth live foundational workshop on ConvertKit which is designed for the perfect newbie as well as someone who has dabbled with it, yet wants a complete walkthrough from the beginning!
​
This is the workshop I wished I had access to back in 2016 when I became a user and then a ConvertKit Certified Expert. (Psst... That's how I got my start in online business before I pivoted to becoming a Squarespace web designer - as an email marketing expert and consultant.)
​
By the end of the workshop you will know how to add an opt-in form to your blog and website, how to send out an email to your email list and how to deliver a PDF using sequences and even how to create automation rules for creating an evergreen marketing system.
​
It's called ConvertKit Foundations Brunch Workshop and is happening online via Zoom on Saturday, Sept 3rd from 10 am to 1 pm EST (sorry, brunch is not provided!).
​
Early bird price is a mere $95 but the regular price kicks in at $295 next Wednesday, Aug 31st at 1 pm EST.
​
​See all the juicy details of what the workshop consists of and enroll here.​

​
To your email marketing + business success,
Sophia

123: Website In A Day x 2 - Artist Website for Theodora Miller on Squarespace 7.1 (Using Fluid Engine)

Type of Project: New Website Build - Website In A Day x 2 (built over two days)
Client Site: www.theodoramiller.com
Platform: Squarespace 7.1
Niche: Art & Design
Location: Richmond, Virginia, USA

Color Scheme:
The colors palette is soft cream and light olive green and grey for section backdrops and some title colors. The navigation and links are in the main brand color of teal.

Fonts Used:
The fonts are light and elegant.
For Headings: Minerva Modern
For Paragraph text: Montserrat

This week I got to work in a completely new way. Most of my projects are done either via my Website in A Day workflow or my Two Week Website workflow. Theodora Miller, a fine artist in Richmond, Virginia suggested a third way: Website In Two Days! Wednesday and Thursday of this week, we collaborated on moving her 7.0 artist site to 7.1 and up-leveling the design and functionality in the process.

This 6 page-site features a portfolio of her art work, commissions page, a shop for prints and gifts, an about page, a contact page and a home page. Of course, SEO, keywords, image optimization and mobile optimization plus an hour training of Squarespace was part of the package. Theodora has an inspiring healing story which guides her art that takes inspiration from her Greek heritage. Even before she hired me, I looked at her work and started dreaming of a vacation in the Greek islands!

This was a Website In A Day * 2 Project (Built in 2 days) and built on Squarespace 7.1 with the new Fluid Engines.

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Trivia: Theodora takes inspiration from her Greek heritage and memorizes inspirational quotes in Greek and then transmutes those words into her art!

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Kind Words from Theodora:

She is truly excited about her website and this is what she had to say about our work together:

"Sophia has been an amazing partner from the moment of our initial free consultation to our customized 2-day sprint. She has the perfect mix of technical prowess and creativity. She was thoughtful about making value-added design solutions that delighted me and elevated my brand even further than I had imagined. Her compelling expertise of Squarespace 7.1 features made the training portion of our project a breeze. In a very short duration of time, we developed a comfortable rapport that made the collaborative nature of this initiative so enjoyable. All of this is attributable to Sophia’s willingness to think outside of the box, investing the time to understand my unique needs and developing a web design that showcases my art in the best light.

As if that was not enough, she blew me away with the SEO capabilities that she built into the site and taught me do so I can optimize performance in the days and months ahead. She’s joyful and optimistic to work with and I will likely have withdrawals tomorrow after working together for two solid days.

I can’t wait to see what my friends and art collectors say about my new website.” ⏤ Theodora Miller

This is the commissions page.

Your Turn:

What inspiring moment you can recall while working with your clients? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

122: Website In A Day - Squarespace Website for Actor and Voice Over Artist (Using Fluid Engine)

Type of Project: New Website Build - Website In A Day
Client Site: www.jenniferugarriza.com
Platform: Squarespace 7.1
Niche: Entertainment
Location: Connecticut, USA

Color Scheme:
The colors palette is monochromatic with black and white as the main colors with a splash of terracota orange to add some color for links and buttons and footer.

Fonts Used:
The fonts are elegant and modern at the same time. Squarespace offers a plethora of font combination options so there’s no lack of choice there.
For Headings: Acumin Pro
For Paragraph text: Poppins

This week, I had a lovely opportunity to build a Squarespace website for an Actor/Voice Over Artist - and I built it in a day!

Jennifer purchased my Website In A Day package to get a lovely site that serves as a digital business card for her acting and voice over work. We presented her voiceover demo on the Media page along with acting clips as well as a separate page for all her headshots. With everything in one place, she can send the link to this website to potential clients, agents and post it on her profile.

This was a Website In A Day Project and built on Squarespace 7.1 with the new Fluid Engines.

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Trivia: While we were doing Zoom calls to review the new design I created, Jennifer’s dog, Paco, a little dachshund, was barking softly while sleeping, which I found totally adorable!

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Kind Words from Jennifer:

"I loved working with Sophia--she made the process super easy and seamless for me and was responsive to all of my questions. The website design turned out exactly how I wanted--actually even better than I had anticipated! I would recommend Sophia, she is friendly, professional, and knowledgable in graphic design. Thank you for your great work!!”
⏤ Jennifer Grace Ugarriza

Your Turn:

What inspiring moment you can recall while working with your clients? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

A New Chapter Begins: Reflection Pond is now Queen of Visualization

Many of you have followed my journey with Reflection Pond. Some as far back as 2010 when I first launched reflectionpond.com.

Now, as of July 2022, reflectionpond.com is queenofvisualization.com.

Below is a bit of the backstory of how this change has come to be.

From 2010 to 2022

The aim of my videos, blogs and programs on reflectionpond.com so far has been that of helping people create inner-peace and happiness. I have been guiding meditation classes since 2010, first for friends in my living room, then for a music band who hired me to guide a visualization before each of their practice for several weeks. We (Cristof and I) even published our first CD: Creative Visualizations for Abundance. I was also publishing many useful videos doing book reviews as well as cultivating new habits of gratitude and cover many other personal development topics on my YouTube channel.

Later, I conducted guided meditations for individuals online via Skype and eventually group sessions via weekly Zoom sessions for our local High Country Meditators group (HCM).

When the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, people were still meeting in groups indoors. But I had a strong intuition that this is different. I made a last minute decision to move our in-person meeting to an online Zoom meeting back in Feb 2020. This decision was an important one and it may even have saved some of us from contracting the virus at a time when there was no vaccine or a cure. Since then, Cristof and I held weekly guided meditation sessions for the HCM group on Zoom along with delivering short presentations on things ranging from cultivating inner-peace, topics of forgiveness, gratitude and the Buddha’s teachings of the Noble Eight-Fold Path.

Something new was brewing
And as 2022 came around, I started to feel that something new is wanting to emerge. I didn’t know what it was. But what I knew was that the weekly sessions needed to come to a stop.

Isn’t it often that way in life? We have to make space for the new by shedding the old. To add a new book to an already full bookshelf, we need to choose which book needs to be donated. The old book fulfilled its purpose and can now go on to help another reader.

It was something similar that I was feeling. I know that our meditation group members enjoyed our weekly meet-ups online and loved to meditate together. But for me, instead of an enriching and enlivening experience, these sessions had become energy-draining. I couldn’t understand why that was. It could be that showing up on video each week live was getting to me. All I knew was that I needed to stop doing these sessions.

I am pretty happy with what Cristof and I have created for our community - a total of 93 sessions over a period of two years. That’s quite a consistent effort and output. You can watch all these sessions here as part of the High Country Meditators Video Series.

We stopped our weekly HCM meditation sessions in Jan 2022. And I went quiet for more than 5 months.

Then, towards the end of June, this new but also not new desire came to surface - do creative visualizations.

A New Chapter and a New Journey

Throughout these years, one thing that people in my sessions really enjoyed was creative visualization. If you want to know my approach to creative visualization, read about it here but in short, these are guided visualizations where I create a world of imagination which is out of this ordinary world of ours. We go to a place where we receive guidance from our future self or higher self or guides as well as create a vision of the life we want.

So creative visualization, itself, is not new for me; the desire to fully focus on creative visualization, however, is new. And I am very happy about it.

Over and over again, folks have told me that they enjoyed these visual journeys. Plus, I also love doing them. So in short, here are some of the reasons why I have chosen to go on this path of Doing Creative Visualizations from now on:

1 | People have liked my visualizations. They have come back for it. They like the rest and relaxation factor. Guided Visualizations are attractive to people. Almost everyone has said that “I could use some of that.” They have received messages, they have felt peace.

2 | My visual skills are my strongest skills/ talents. This shows in my poetry which is very visual, in my speech as well as in my imagination. I have a very strong sense of visualization when something is mentioned, I can very clearly SEE it. So don’t ever mention worms when I am eating! LOL!

3 | It comes naturally. It is the only thing, that I don’t need to prepare for. It comes to me naturally. The words flow. The images flow. And it all comes so beautifully to me with ease and I enjoy it. It seems to be coming directly from the divine. I am rarely nervous or doubting whether I can do it. I just know that I have it in me and the guided meditation will come out beautifully. I feel good doing it. And I feel confident and happy when I am guiding a visual journey.

What this means for you?

Now that reflectionpond is queenofvisualization, what this means for you is that you will receive content in your inbox and on the website and on my YouTube channel that is all about creating a life of our dreams using the method of creative visualization. There will be free youtube videos with guided visualizations, book reviews of books on creative visualization and related topics as well as workshops and retreats around creative visualization.

You will get these in your inbox, so sign up here!

I am working to build the best resource online for creative visualization so that you can have the tools, methods and inspiration for creating a life that you want by design.

If this resonates with you, I am happy to have you part of this email list. If you are not finding this exciting, I will not mind if you unsubscribe. And if you are not sure, stay on the email list for at least until Aug 31st to see what kind of content I am sharing and assess if it’s helpful to you. Only then make a decision to unsubscribe - that’s my recommendation!

Onwards!

I am super excited for this next chapter on my journey and I can’t wait to share all that I have envisioned for you plus all the new things I will be inspired to create for you down the road.

With gratitude,
Sophia

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Now, it’s your turn.
Let me know in the comments any supportive comments you have on my new chapter!

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Hi! My name is Sophia and this is my message to you:

It’s possible to live the life you want.
Visualize the Life of Your Dreams + Believe + Take Action + Sprinkle In Some Gratitude = Create A Life You Want

To learn more about my approach to creative visualization and how you can use it in your life , see all the details here.

121: New Squarespace Website for California's Regional Association LACFDA

Type of Project: New Website Build - Two Week Web Design
Client Site: lacfda.org
Platform: Squarespace 7.1
Niche: Non-Profit/Association
Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA

Recently, I had the opportunity to create a website for a non-profit organization out in California. It's not very often that I get a request from an organization of this nature. So, when the President of the Los Angeles County Funeral Directors' Association contacted me to rebrand their existing website, I was intrigued. Ms. Jenna Moerk is a fountain of sunshine, has an amazingly sweet personality and was a total delight to work with during this two week project. It certainly is one of my larger projects with lots of detailed pages.

Jenna wanted me to design a fresh, clean and uplifting site which exudes the coastal California flair. And yes, that means, you will see a lot of palm trees on the site! It includes an extensive Member Directory, Resources page, password protected Members page as well as a way for members and vendors to purchase tickets for an upcoming event.

I often pick up a nugget of insight or wisdom from my clients. And this project was not an exception. One of the things that Jenna told me during our off-boarding call when I handed over the finished website was a reminder that (I am paraphrasing): "Life is too short. Don't wait for an opportunity to do what you love.”

This project was a Two Week Web Design Project and built on Squarespace 7.1

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I learn so much from my clients and in this project my client reminded me to “not wait for an opportunity to do what you love”!

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Kind Words from Jenna:

"Sophia has the best eye for design. We love the creative ideas she created for our website - from the look to functionality, we are extremely happy. I strongly recommend her services."
⏤ Jenna Moerk, President, LACFDA.org

Your Turn:

What inspiring moment you can recall while working with your clients? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

120: A beautiful new way of scheduling clients with DotCal

Update: As of Jan 2024, DotCal is no more! Alas!

Today, I want to show you a beautiful new way for clients to book a meeting with you. It’s called DotCal.

The first step before a client hires me for a web design project is a 30 minute consultation call. We designers put so much time in creating a visually pleasing experience for our potential clients on our websites. But when it comes time to book a meeting, the experience drops aesthetically. Dotcal changes that.

As you can see Dotcal is a beautiful new way for booking clients. Watch the video below where I show you how I created a 30 min booking link which has my branding, my colors from my website. It’s friendly, approachable and simply lovely.

Click the image below to play video:

I love this app so much I have now partnered with DotCal as an affiliate so if you open an account using my link and discount code, you will get 50% off for the first six months. Plus, I will share with you a case study of how I did a 30 minute consult call with a potential client who went on to hire me for a web design project. I will also share a bonus video of me analyzing the call so you can learn what you can do in a consultation call to get hired for the design project. Email me with a screenshot of your new account you opened with my referral link and I will send you the case study and bonus material.

So go and try dotcal using my link: sophiaojha.com/dotcal and then use my code SophiaOjha50 to get 50% on your first six months. It’s starter plan is free. So try it out today!

Your Turn:

What are your main challenges with booking clients? What booking app do you use at the moment? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

119: New Artist Website on Squarespace Brings Happy Tears to My Client

When a client sheds happy tears when they see the website you’ve created for them, then you know you’ve got a job well-done.

Recently, I was fortunate to experience such a moment with my client, Debra Hille. She is a fine artist based in Tennessee, over the border from us here in North Carolina (hello, neighbor!). She creates personal sanctuaries through art and values peace, beauty, and meaningful engagement. For the last ten years, she has worked in healthcare by offering patients a positive diversion by making art. She also oversaw the selection, purchase, and installation of original art in multiple hospital and healthcare settings, channeling more than $100,000 in art purchases directly from local artists. She has also curated and installed art shows in hospitals that brought staff and visitors joy and respite. Now, she is back in the studio crafting the next chapter of her artistic journey.

Debra found me via Squarespace Marketplace and shared that she wanted to move her site from Wix to Squarespace. She loved the idea of a Website In A Day. guided her with all the prep materials she needed to send me over. And on our design day, I set about to create here website. Below is the result.

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Magical moments with clients makes my web design work so rich and satisfying!

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Kind Words from Debra:

"Sophia was a pleasure to work with, professional, prepared, patient, and friendly. A winning combination. She provided a welcome package on design collaboration and a step-by-step document, so I knew what I needed to do and provide for her. I must admit I became emotional on the first view of the website design. It was just right!

After completing the website, some issues connecting my third-party domain to Squarespace arose. But, again, Sophia was right there to troubleshoot and make it all work.

I look forward to working with Sophia again and recommend her without hesitation."

⏤ Debra Hille

View fullsize

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FREE TRAINING FOR FREELANCE WEB DESIGNERS

If I had known 3 years ago what I know now, I could have short cut my progress towards becoming a successful web Designer. I could have saved myself from heartache and progressed my business faster and seen these benefits earlier. And I am sharing these insights with you in a brand new free training, so if you are freelance web designer or making your plans for starting your freelance web design business (and quit your 9 to 5), then come to my free training where I share the 3 Essentials to Earning $10K+ Months. Sign up here.

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Your Turn:

Have you experienced a magical moment when working with your clients and showing them their newly designed website? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

118: 7 Perks of Being A Successful Freelance Web Designer

I love being a web designer. I have a design business which allows me to help people with an online presence that they love and that helps them grow their business or spread their message.

I started my self-employed work in 2016 when I was focussing mainly on email marketing with ConvertKit. Then in 2018 that I began building websites professionally. At that time, I tried a lot of different things to get booked. And it was not easy. I had the skills and I knew I could do excellent work. But I didn’t know how to convey that to my potential clients.

Are you relating to that as a web designer? You know you are talented and you really want to run a successful design business. But perhaps, you are not there yet and sometimes wonder when will your dreams and goals become your reality.

I know that feeling very well. There were times when I wanted to quit and in 2019 I actually applied for a full-time job and got hired. But I declined the offer after they explained I had to show up on weekends and evenings and would qualify for a two week vacation only in the second year. I am so glad I kept at it and now grateful for the fruits of that perseverance.

If I knew what I know now just three years ago in 2019, I know that the journey would have looked much different. And I am sharing these with you in a brand new free training. You can see details and sign up for it here: 3 Essentials to Earning $10K+ months (without working nights and weekends).

Today, I am enjoying the perks of being an independent, self-employed web designer which I am sharing as a reminder for anyone who is on the journey and wanting the same. Keep the faith, keep making efforts and believe you can do it.

1 | Creative Freedom

I have creative freedom to try and experiment on new design elements. Yes, in the end, the design is a collaboration with the client but I get to steer the design conversation more freely than if I had to “design by committee” as one of my clients jokingly referred to a team of decision-makers.

2| Location Freedom

Knowing that I can work from anywhere is a definite perk. I have moved homes 21 times through out my life. So even though I am happily perched on my mountain, I love knowing that I can fly anywhere and still be able to bring in revenue (as long as they have high-speed internet). Plus, no lunch bags to pack nor lengthy commutes. (I used to travel 3 hours each day back and forth from New Jersey to NYC during my United Nations job and am so happy I can work from home)!

3| Wear What I Want

I enjoy wearing colorful clothes. And if I had to wear a uniform with uncomfortable heels (like I had to at the UN) or wear only black (as I had to at an upscale home furnishing boutique - I resigned after one week), or not be allowed to wear braids or have other restrictions of that sort, that would be no fun.

4| Choose What Client Projects I Want to Work On

This was not always the case but now I am happy to say no to projects that will otherwise make me depressed. I am acutely sensitive to animals being used for human use and so I passed on to a fellow web designer a project that had to do with leather items. I also cannot make websites for butcheries or farms (not because I judge others but only because I myself don’t want to be part of an industry that deals with animal meats or skin). When one needs to pay the bills, one may take on projects that don’t inspire but eventually you can make such choices with ease.

5| Freedom to Craft A Workflow That Brings Out My Best

My clients are often surprised to hear that I can get them a Website in Two Weeks or a Website In A Day. I have crated a design workflow that brings out the very best in me. As a Sagittarius, I am able to be hyper-focussed and stay with a project until completion but I need to have a clear end-goal. If a project goes on and on, I get impatient and it doesn’t give me the dopamine hit of project completion. I would not enjoy working at a design agency for this very reason.

6| Quarterly Breaks | 4 Day Work-Week | Afternoon on the Hammock

There is no rule that says you can’t be creative on a hammock! I love hammocks and when the weather is nice in the Appalachian mountains, all one wants to do is to sit outside and listen to the song birds. I remember on nice sunny Autumn days back in NYC, I would sit at the United Nations visitor’s plaza and have my lunch. I enjoyed looking at the blue sky and feeling the sun on my face before I had to go back to the dark basement office. I remember dreaming of being able to work from outside, away from a dark office. Now, I am blessed to experience that dream as a reality. Plus, I have designed my business to have 4 quarterly breaks each year, a 4-day work-week and afternoons on the hammock, weather permitting!

7| No Income Ceiling!

This really is an important one. As an independent web designer, I am constantly learning and improving my skills and increasing the value I bring to the market place because I know that I can influence my income. The better I get, the more valued my services and programs will be.

All of these are possible for you, too.

If I had known 3 years ago what I know now, I could have short cut my progress. I could have saved myself from heartache and progressed my business faster and seen these benefits earlier. I’d like to share some of these insights with you, so come to my free training where I share the 3 Essentials to Earning $10K+ Months. Sign up here.

Your Turn:

What perks of being a self-employed, freelance web designer do you want to create for yourself or currently enjoy? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

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Benefits of being an independent web designer are limitless!

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117: 4 Ways to Create Interactive Maps for Squarespace

Recently, I had a prospective client ask me about an important feature they wanted to add on their website. Their business offers domestic and commercial cleaning services but only for postal codes within London, UK.

In Squarespace, there’s no in-build way of doing that except of placing a Google map. So I did some research and there’s a ton of information out there. I sorted through it all and here are my three suggestions on how to add an interactive map to your Squarespace website.

1 | Create A Clickable Map

This is something I saw Pat Flynn show in a YouTube Video. This tool allows you to create a map of the world or different regions of the world. You can add different titles and links for each sub-region and set it to change color when one hovers over a selected region.

The pro is that you can easily create lovely colorful maps with titles and colors. Although, I didn’t see a way to add multiple listings for the same region, say for example if you had three shops in London, you can only add one title.

Also keep in mind that on the World Map, some smaller countries are missing such as Barbados and Saint Lucia in the Carribbean and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The tool solves it when you go to the Carribbean Islands sub-region and there you can see those countries but still it doesn’t show up on the World Map. And we just can’t have a world map with the island nations of Barbados and Mauritius and Saint Lucia missing from it, now can we? (No, we cannot!)

Check it out for yourself here:
https://www.createaclickablemap.com/

2| Store Mapper

Here’s a tool where you can upload shop names, addresses and website links and then pull an embed code from the tool to place on your Squarespace website.

You can have a list of multiple shop show up on a map as a database. People can even type in zip code and see what stores are available nearby. It looks very professional and easy on the eyes. There’s no freemium version of this tool nor is there a one-off payment feature which is an important consideration for new small businesses. Instead, there’s a monthly cost which is worthwhile as the tool is pretty impressive. They do have a free-trial.

A special thanks to my colleague, Emma of Queenie Creative over in the UK for informing me of this tool. Emma is a web designer on Squarespace and Wix and a digital marketer. She is also part of the Millionaire Web Designer Directory, a listing of talented designers from across the world. Thanks, Emma!

Check it out here:
https://www.storemapper.com/platforms/squarespace-store-locator/

3| Map Hub

This is a really fun tool to customize your maps. There is a free and paid version of this tool so you can test it out and add more features of the tool as needed.

As the site describes their tool in their own words:

”You can easily make your own map by adding points, lines, polygons, or labels.
Add photos, organize items into groups.
Import and export data in GeoJSON, Shapefile, KML, GPX, or CSV formats.
Embed interactive maps on your website.”

Check out the Explore Maps feature to see examples and then go and build your own.

Check it out here:
https://maphub.net/

4. Good old Google Maps

You can also create interactive maps on Google Maps. You can add multiple points of interest, you can add website links and address, you can then easily embed it on your Squarespace site. It’s free. I have done this for a client before which you can see an example of here: https://www.supervisedparentingtime.org/providers

Customize a map on Google Maps:
https://www.google.com/maps/about/mymaps/

I customized this Map on Google Maps for SupervisedParentingTime.org, a non-profit organization in Minnesota helping parents.

Your Turn:

Have you used any of these tools? Do you have a tool that you like? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

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Create Interactive Maps On Squarespace

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116: Becoming Like A Tree - How I am working through my content creation block

I feel like I have been censoring myself. Recently, when I got inspired to write a blog post or make video, I told myself that I already talk about it in my coaching program, so why post about it. When I got an idea on how web designers can raise their pricing, the thought arose, “I teach that within my coaching program”. Or when I came up with a perspective to share on how to handle the workflow of a design project, again my mind said, “Don’t you share that in-depth in the coaching program curriculum? Why give it away for free?”.

My Program Is Substantial. But That Shouldn’t Be A Reason Why I Don’t Blog On Those Same Topics

Yes, it’s true that I have laid out everything inside my group coaching program which is an exclusive program I created to help web designers build a thriving business - not just a six figure business but grow to a Million $ Net Worth. I share everything I know, share my emails, my processes, my strategies, and my game-plans. I show actual screenshots from within my business. It’s my way to pass on everything to other designers. It’s a fantastic program, my best work - if I may say so myself.

Because I have all my gems inside this program, when it comes to creating new blog and video content, I’ve censored myself. And this is exactly what I want to work through and break free from because I have been feeling suffocated. As if I can only talk about certain things and not others and my mind was not free to share and explore with my audience new ideas and perspectives.

My Wise Husband Speaks

So I asked my very wise husband for some guidance. Cristof, who is also the finance coach inside the program and an overall genius when it comes to finance, business and online marketing, shared an exercise with me. And I want to share it with you, in case, you too have some kind of a content creation block, or some kind of a block in your business.

He said, “Journal a response to this question, “Why is it worth blogging freely about what I know?” and then do this for a month every day.”

Why Is It Worth Doing …?

There are two key things to note about this exercise:
1. The question is very purposefully presented in a positive action oriented format. The question asks why is it worth blogging freely, instead of why is it worth letting go of this block. Both ways of posing this question will work for different people in different moods. For me, the former is easier to grasp because “blogging freely” is an action I can do, “letting go” is an action that feels abstract and intangible.

2. Cristof asked me to do this exercise every day. It can be a quick one minute journaling. And it’s okay if I come up with the same answers as the previous day. The key here is repetition. Clearly, this block is a result of some way of thinking, a belief that is deep in my subconscious. And just one time writing it may not be very effective (it can be sometimes, of course). We often need repetition for things to settle into the trenches of our brain and to replace old subconscious beliefs! So writing this out every day for a month will help me highlight the positive reasons and benefits of blogging freely and break free of the block.

So phrase the question in a way that it is tangible and action-oriented (blogging freely, in this case) and journal every day for a month.

Answers That Came Up For Me

I want to share some of the realizations of this simple exercise that are helping me breakthrough my content creation block:

Why is it worth blogging freely about what I know?

Because Nathan Barry (founder of ConvertKit) said to me, “Teach Everything You Know”. (He actually wrote this when he signed his book at his Craft & Commerce conference some years ago).
Because I have benefitted from others sharing freely.
Because I want to have a positive domino effect in the world.
Because knowledge is power only when it is shared and not when it goes to the grave with the knowledge-holder.
Because I can save years and years of time for a fellow web designer and that time saved is priceless for us as humanity.
Because I can help another designer be independent and stand on their feet and not have to kill their dreams before they had a chance to sprout and bloom fully.
Because I can show other designers how to earn $5-$10K monthly with web design services with ease and this kind of revenue can mean a world of difference for most web designers.
Because I believe that if an action can help even just 1 person in a small way, then it is an action worth taking.
Because there is no guarantee that I will have another day to share my experience meaningfully (because tomorrow is not guaranteed to any one of us.)
Because there are many avenues through which abundance finds its way to me, and the coaching program is just one of them.
Because sharing is what trees do; they share all that they have and in doing so they prosper naturally.
Because I am a creative being and restrictions on what I blog about is like putting a candle inside a vacuum.

Becoming like a Tree

The two key take aways from this exercise. One is that I must become like the tree. Trees share all they have. For example, they share their fruits which are eaten by birds who then pass those seeds in some other area and in this way new trees grow. That’s how they prosper. They let down hundreds and hundreds of acorns which the squirrels put away for their use but only use 20% of what they “plant" away! That’s wisdom! Share freely and simply in doing so we prosper and thrive. I just love trees!

Abundance Has Multiple Avenues

The other key realization for me is to remember that abundance has multiple channels to find me. I have been narrow-minded in thinking that just one program will be the main source of growing my business. But abundance has found so many different avenues to come into my life already and I know that there’s more than one channel that it uses to get to us. The ocean has rivers flowing into it from all directions. And as self-employed web designers, we are like the ocean; not dependent on any single source for our income. It is freeing to think this way and to remember the vast and infinite possibilities that exist.

Now, It’s Your Turn

So my dear, web designer, if you find yourself in a situation where something feels suffocated, or you are inadvertently stifling your creativity or sense of ease and peace, journal to receive some breakthroughs. Ask yourself a positive action-oriented question starting with, “Why is it worth doing …xyz?” And see what comes up as insights and inspirations. Share in the comments for us all, if you feel inspired!

Cheers to you and your abundant creativity,
🦄🦄🦄 Sophia

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One needs an abundant mindset for creating content!

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115: What is Your Biggest Business Challenge Right Now?

Hello Hello. Sophia here.

First I want to thank you for having signed up to the Abundant Creative Newsletter, formerly Squarespace Tips. It means so much to me that you welcome me in your prime digital real estate which is your inbox. That shows me that my blogs, videos, course and programs and services are useful for you and you are receiving value from what I am creating.

Free Workshop Coming Up
Speaking of creating, I am working on a brand new free workshop and I want to make sure it is most relevant to you. So I am asking you to help me by sharing what’s the biggest challenge you are facing in your business right now. Or think of this question: What one thing do you need to solve in your business that will make everything start working as you envisioned it.

What can the questions be about?
It can be question regarding your website, it could be about running your web design business, or online marketing. It can be about Squarespace or ConvertKit or some other app you are using right now in your business. The more specific you can get, the better. The more context and details you can share, the better.

I will collect all of your ideas and see what the most common or urgent topic emerges and then help you out in a free virtual workshop very soon. That's why I'm asking your response by 8 PM ET/New York Time on Friday, Feb 18th.

It’s a Win-Win when you help me!
If I don’t use your topic for my free training, I may end by writing a blog or creating a video tutorial for you or email you with my thoughts. So it’s only a win-win.

So go ahead and share with me by filling out the form below and let me know.

Thank you so much for taking the time and I am so excited to create content that’s relevant to you. And remember that no matter what challenge you are facing, there’s a gift within it and the answers you are looking for, are also looking for you.

Much love from the Blue Ridge Mountains. Bye for now! 🐬🐬

Click image below to watch 3 min 22 sec video

What is Your Biggest Business Challenge Right Now?

What one thing do you need to resolve in your business that will make everything easier, that will help you achieve the goals you set out to achieve in your business. Please add as much detail and context as you can.

Please send in your response by 8 PM ET/New York Time on Friday, Feb 18th, 2022

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.

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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. 🎉
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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.
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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.
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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.