Web Design Business with Josh Hall

As a web designer, you may eventually get to a point (or maybe you’re there now) where you want to connect, support and continue to empower your clients in one place. 

One way to do that is by offering a customer membership or community. It’s a great way to build MRR, stay top of mind, create powerful customer relationships, partnerships, etc.

I get it, as a web designer, you didn’t sign up to be a community builder BUT you might be sitting on a golden opportunity here so to dive into this subject, I’m excited to share a conversation I had with Carol Dunlop – a Web Designer Pro member and entrepreneur of over 30 years, recently on her podcast!

While she interviews me in this one about online community building and about how to reignite HER customer marketing membership, everything we discuss can be implemented by you if you’re considering having a customer membership of your own.

We dive into:

• How a little change in her maintenance plan massively increased her MRR almost instantly
• How to build an online customer community
• When to sell said community in the lifetime of a customer
• How to balance community building and service work
• How to price a customer community

And much more.

Big thanks for letting me repurpose this chat with you and to Carol for having me on her show!

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/367

Ever wondered how to have time to market your business while still having time to get design projects done?

Well, there’s no magic formula and striking the balance between the two is tricky. But a great example of someone doing this well is my dude from down under, word-class logo designer James Barnard.

James follows a simple 50/50 approach. Meaning 50% of his work is dedicated to marketing (social media, videos, speaking, interviews) and 50% is dedicated to service work (proposals, calls, logo designs, admin work, etc)

It was awesome catching up with James to dig into this topic more which – speaking of 50% – is actually only 50% of this conversation. This turns into a coaching call about halfway through as we dig into James’ lead funnel and we pinpointed some very interesting challenges that I helped walk him through.

I hope everything we covered together helps you and your lead funnel/bad-fit weeding out processes as well.

P.S. I recently posted about the website audit I did for James following this call that you can check out here! It’ll be a great next step after hearing our convo.

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/366

Building landing pages or sales pages that convert isn’t rocket science. But there is some science to it. Most of which is proven and can be learned from (and implemented) into your own sales pages very quickly.

So, let’s cut right to the chase on how to create high-converting landing/sales pages with an expert who’s been around the block MANY times over.

This is a chat with Alisha Conlin-Hurd who’s worked on, optimized and deployed thousands of high-converting sales pages across hundreds of different industries. She’s a wealth of knowledge on the subject but in this one, we get into the specifics you can apply to your web design services pages and lead generators including:

• How long a sales pages should be
• What common elements are high-converters
• How to balance images, graphics and copy together
• If AI converts
• What “stand out” practices you can try out without veering too far off the proven path of conversions

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/365

An unexpected topic of conversation I’ve consistently had over the last couple years when coaching members of my community Web Designer Pro privately is around managing ADHD and running a web design business.

When thinking about ADHD, I’m probably not alone in immediately jumping to the visual of the wild 7 year old kid who can’t sit down in class. But since the conversation around this has become more prevalent for me both personally in my coaching DM’s and in the web design community at large via other forums or groups I check into, I wanted to dig into what this looks like practically for adults running a web design business.

Since this is a sensitive topic, I wanted to chat with someone who I could level with and learn from versus being educated from an “ADHD Coach” per say.

That’s why I’m dang pumped about sharing my recent convo with my old friend (literally, we were doubles tennis partners in High School) Rob Chaplin. Rob and I reconnected a couple years back when he was considering jumping into a creative field like web design. Since then, he’s been through all my courses, built up his freelance business and became a member of my community Web Designer pro.

But in 2024, he let me know that he hit a wall…feeling disorganized, down, scattered and disoriented about how to move forward in business and in life. Now, many of these feelings are natural when you start a business, do something new or take on the common stresses of building something – but for Rob, it was more.

After some self-research, he dipped his toe into pursuing ADHD treatment, most of which are behavioral and habitual and I have to say, I’ve seen a noticeable difference with his output and his overall energy and state.

For all those reasons and more, I wanted to have an open chat about HIS experience and journey managing ADHD as a web designer and because he’s so new in the journey and he’s really passionate about sharing what’s working for him.

We dig into:

• The red flags that led him to research ADHD
• How he started small and began making better progress in becoming more focused and productive
• What tips, tricks and strategies he uses to help his ADHD (daily) now
• How creative fields like web design are actually ideal for folks on any spectrum of the ADHD scale
• How ADHD can actually be used in a very positive way with boundaries and constraints

Again, this is purely an explorative chat for me to learn more about this world without judgement or preconceived notions.

Disclaimer: Rob shares HIS journey, methods, strategies and medications that work for him but this is not medical advice or recommendation. See your doctor or consult with a professional before exploring any of the medications that are mentioned.

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/364

Many web designers don’t want to scale. I get it - because I had that mindset too. I never wanted to be an agency with overhead, payroll, extra stress from managing people, etc.

But the good news is, especially nowadays, you can scale a web design business your way. In a low-stress, low-pressure way that works for you no matter where your business is in revenue and profitability.

Sandy Burns, a founding member of my community Web Designer Pro is a perfect example of this. She was on the podcast recently sharing her story of passing 10 years in business and how she (reluctantly) HAD to scale because she had become so overwhelmed with projects.

We got to hear from her perspective what it was like to scale and how the timing couldn’t have been more crucial because shortly after she began to scale and reduce her workload, she was diagnosed with cancer and immediately began a journey of chemo and cancer treatment.

That’s one angle of Sandy’s story but another one is the other side of her scaling journey. Who did she hire? What was it like for them as she began to send more work their way and when Sandy was diagnosed, what was it like taking over projects and speaking directly to her clients?

Well for that, I’m excited to introduce you to Alexis. Another founding member of Pro who was on the podcast a ‘little’ while ago when we chatted about her first client experience 🙂

This is a very different podcast chat because we have both Sandy AND Alexis on and we get to dig into both sides, both perspectives of their successful scaling story.

From Sandy, we get to hear the ins and outs of her transformation from proud solopreneur to finally scaling and getting to a point where she’s “never going back to being a freelancer.”

And from Alexis, we get to hear how she got connected with Sandy and how, learning from a web designer who’s further along in the journey, helped her build her own business up fast while also doing design and development work, and even improving systems for Sandy.

We dig into:

• How Sandy and Alexis began working together
• How they began trusting each other
• How they arrange payment and percentages for projects
• How 2 minds on a project is often way better than 1
• How to make a win-win for both owners and contractors when scaling 

A big thanks to BOTH Sandy and Alexis for coming on and sharing their experience from both sides. We can all learn a lot from this one. I mean honestly, how often do you get to hear an owner and a contractor’s point of view in a working relationship?

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/363

Let’s talk about money.

How’d that make you feel? Nervous? Icky? Excited? Opportunistic? Weird?

The very thought of money brings a variety of emotions depending on how you feel about it. And I firmly believe how you feel about money today all goes back to your money story – and every one of us has a money story largely based on how we were raised.

When you build a web design business, you probably don’t realize that you’re subconsciously making business decisions based on your money story. And if that story isn’t pretty…well…it makes sense why it’s hard to charge your worth, raise your rates, build profit, sell with confidence, etc.

So to take a deep dive into the psychology of money and to most importantly, to help you build your business with a mindset of plenty and opportunity, I’m pumped to bring on someone who’s changed their money story from scarce to plenty…Austin Church. He’s the author of the book Free Money - a Guide to Pricing Your Services so You Can Unlock a Better Lifestyle.

His book was referred to me as a MUST READ from a trusted colleague and let me tell ya, after this conversation, I have to agree. Austin’s approach to changing your money mindset is a must for creative business owners. Especially if you don’t come from money. Which, let’s be honest, most of us don’t.

We dig into:

• How our upbringing affects our money mindset today
• Steps you can take to change your money story TODAY
• How the internet opened up the door to different money mindset compared to previous generations
• How to take small steps to build confidence with pricing
• How $100,000 is not a gross goal to get to – but a base standard of living in the West

Highly recommend checking Austin’s book out and connecting with him below.

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/362

No better way to kick off the year than to plan some new marketing strategies to get more leads and convert more clients, right?

I honestly believe email marketing – along with some focused forms of content marketing – will be a HUGE differentiator for web designers who choose to go this route. Which is why I’m a big proponent and supporter of it.

After all…as Abe Lincoln once wisely said “He who sendeth the email gets thine customer.”

Now, you know I’m not going to just tell you to go “do something” without giving you a roadmap and some solid tips to help implement so, I’m thrilled to have copywriter, digital strategist and award-winning designer Michelle Martello on the podcast to share about all of that and more.

Things we cover include:

• How to create your “content goldmine” for social, blog, newsletter and podcast content
• The power of having a newsletter in 2025
• How often to send emails and/or post on social media
• When content should be brief vs long form
• How – coincidently or not – those who send more emails make more money

And a whole lot more!

Michelle’s resume includes working with MTV, the National Park Service, Marie Forleo and more so she is truly an industry expert with years of experience backing her.

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/361

Happy New Year friends! I wanted to kick off 2025 with a special episode of the podcast to share what I learned from having two down revenue years (125k down from 2022-2023) to having the best revenue year yet in 2024!

This episode is broken down into 2 main parts:

1. What caused my business to have two down revenue years
2. How I rebounded to having the best year yet in 2024

As I and many other entrepreneurs have learned, business is not always up and to the right. There are hard months, quarters and even years. But there are a handful of things you can do in any situation to keep things going and growing.

In this one, I’m sharing:

• What led to my business going 125k down in 2 years
• What I did at my lowest point to keep going
• The beautiful aspect of compounding recurring revenue
• How meeting members of my community in person changed everything
• A look at my actual revenue growth chart (and when things turned around)

And much more.

I hope what I learned through my business rebound helps you whether you’re in that season now or if you eventually hit a rough patch.

In short, here’s the checklist from my business rebound:

• Didn’t stop
• Committed to WDP being the main thing
• Used courses at a lead in to Pro
• Met members in person at WCUS
• Doubled down on marketing Pro (in podcast, socials, YT, etc)
• Did some lives on YT
• Consistently shared member wins on socials and newsletter
• Started bringing more members on the podcast
• Worked on better retention for members
• Let go of my “course creator” identity

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/360

For the last episode of the year, I think it’s only fitting to look ahead and share some goal setting tips for 2025!

In this episode, I’m sharing a lesson from my Web Design Business Course on my 5 step, annual goal setting framework.

We’ll dive into:

• Setting an achievable revenue goal
•  Separating Net vs Gross
•  Rocks, Stones & Boulders goals
• Pricing that aligns with goals
•  How and when to measure

Again, this is just one lesson inside my signature Web Design Business Course available now (along with my entire suite of courses) inside of Web Designer Pro when you’re ready to dive in!

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/359

Since this is Christmas week, we’re going to take a break from talking about business and dive into a much more important subject…Christmas movies.

I’ll break down my top 10, what I love about them, why some have remained in the top 10 and why some newer ones have made it and I’ll even give you a bonus which has an incredible business lesson that I’ve held strong to even today.

In short, my top 10 Christmas movies are:

• Christmas Vacation
• Home Alone
• Home Alone 2
• Jingle All The Way
• Christmas Story
• Elf
• Grinch (Jim Carey)
• Grinch New
• Rudolph
• The Family Man
• Bonus: Miracle on 34th Street (original)

Hit me with your favorites at joshhall.co/358

Oh and since it’s a week of gift-giving, I have a little something special for you at joshhall.co/xmas

*** Limited time offer ***

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday’s ya filthy web designer.