Web Design Business with Josh Hall

👉 View this newsletter entry

🙏 Check out SiteGround's new Coderick AI

** sponsored **

Links mentioned:

• AprilRayCreative.com
• PRO CON 2026 Behind the Scenes
• Web Designer Pro Mastermind

→ Apply for the WDP Mastermind here

• First round applications open now through Sunday, May 10th, 2026
• Closed until it opens up again and depending on spots available
• 5/12 spots currently filled (at time of this release)
• First-come, first-served

Any questions, head here!

- Josh

In this special edition episode of the Web Design Business Podcast, I’m sharing a recent live interview I did with my mate from down under – James Barnard – one of the most prolific designers in the graphic, branding, and logo design space.

James invited me into his Designerrrs community for a live Q&A session which turned into a masterclass chat about how to build, grow, and scale a freelance design business.

He was kind enough to let me repurpose this interview for you! Whether you’re a web designer, graphic designer, or brand designer, this one digs into my experience from starting out to scaling up with a big emphasis on how to SCALE YOUR WAY.

Gosh doesn’t that sound like a good course?!? 

In this episode, we cover:

• My full career trajectory in web design
• The key stages of building and growing a design business
• What scaling actually looks like (and when to do it)
• How to start thinking about team building and hiring
• Ways to get everything off your shoulders as a solo designer
• Mindset shifts required to grow beyond freelancing

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/426

Your special offer:

Get 3 days free access to my scale your way course (actually, my entire course suite) inside Web Designer Pro® here!

Claim my 3-day trial to all Web Designer Pro Courses →

After trial, continue access to all courses for only $49/mo.

Here's a recap of our recent PRO CON 2026 event with a behind the scenes look of putting on an event of this scale, takeaways, lessons and tips for you to help you grow your web design business!

Full recap post to come soon...

Thanks to our PRO CON 2026 sponsors:

• 17hats
• SiteGround
• Termageddon
• LocalSEOAcademy
• Design Day Blueprint
• WP Umbrella (use code JOSHHALL for a full free month)

Links mentioned:

• Marc's post on LinkedIn about the power of having "your people"
• Austyn's agency - our PRO CON event assistant & coordinator
• Alexia's agency - our PRO CON brand & design strategist
• Circle which kept our community connected during the entire weekend! Special episode coming later this week about how I'm using Circle for Web Designer Pro®
• Join Web Designer Pro® 

Also, be sure to check out hashtag #PROCON2026 on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook to see all the posts around the event!

We're in a trust recession. 

Anything in real life and in person (networking events, meetups, workshops, etc) have become a web designer's edge.

In this special solo episode, I share how important this is in 2026 with getting clients and building relationships that last for years, especially in the age of AI, social influencers, and scattered online overwhelm.

Links mentioned:

• See the latest posts from our PRO CON 2026 this past weekend on my Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook
• Sign up for my free newsletter
• Join my community Web Designer Pro®

Over the last several months, I’ve seen more and more chatter in my community Web Designer Pro about WP Umbrella – a new platform making quite the dent in the WordPress site manager space.

Personally, I wondered how there was even room for a new tool for managing WordPress sites (updates, optimizations, backups, reporting, etc) when it’s already a crowded market with tools like Manage WP, Main WP, Infinite WP, and many hosts that offer automatic backups, updates, reporting, etc.

But it just goes to show…when you have a new, fresh, innovative tool that’s customer-focused and is designed with best, modern UX practices, it can absolutely start to make waves in the market.

That’s been the story of WP Umbrella so far and in this exclusive interview, I got to sit down with their CEO and co-founder Aurelio Volle.

We covered a lot in our time together, including:

• The opportunity that he saw which led him to start a WordPress website management tool in an already competitive landscape
• How they made it past the first phase of growth where most SASS companies die
• Why UX design and customer focus are more important than EVER before
• Auerlio’s personal philosophy for vision and goal setting
• How to run a successful online business of any size in today’s market

And a whole lot more.

It’s not every day you get to sit down with the CEO of a major SASS product in the WordPress space so it was so cool to see and hear how thinks about vision, goals, customer service and product-market fit in today’s competitive web design space!

P.S. Big thanks to WP Umbrella for being a sponsor of our upcoming Web Designer PRO CON 2026 event! I took notice when members of my community started talking about the tool and their experience with the team/support behind Umbrella and I can tell you, they are the real deal! Great team and a SOLID product that I’m excited to keep a close eye on moving forward.

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/425

🔗 View the newsletter with all links

Sponsored by:

SiteGround's new AI Studio

Other links mentioned:

Mark Syzmanski's free AI Crash Course video

AI SEO for Web Designers - ep 401 with Michelle Bourbonniere

Morning routines, air-tight calendar blocks, calls at 5pm, hustle and grind culture…all very doable. Unless you have kids..

That is, if you want to be a fully present parent > a hustling entrepreneur.

We’re getting into that in this conversation with my good friend Kady Sandel who’s been on the podcast before and even did a training inside my Web Designer Pro community talking about niching, pricing and agency building, but in this chat, we’re diving into what’s going on via the other side of the keyboard…the family side.

With two young children of her own, and with three under 7 on my side, the way we run our businesses looks different than it did even a few years ago.

Our challenge? Being fully present parents while also balancing being a driven entrepreneur. And good news, we’ve both found a sweet spot in work-life balance.

We’re sharing what’s working for us and what DOESN’T work for us, which led me to the topic of this chat…who the heck do parent-entrepreneurs follow?

Like, seriously?

I want to know where the entrepreneur thought-leaders/influencers are who have at least three children and, in my case, ones who are specifically parents of special needs as well.

If you know if any, drop them in the comment section below.

Otherwise, I’ll continue turning a blind eye to hustle culture, morning routines and things that absolutely don’t work in our season of life and enjoying working 20-30hrs per week and not missing these years with young kids.

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/424

▶️ Watch the Manually Migrate WordPress video

Thanks to our sponsor WP Umbrella

👉 Start your free trial

Use coupon code JOSHHALLWPU for one full free month!

📰 Sign up for my free weekly newsletter

This is a first – and a very special guest for the podcast because it’s an interview with one of my best web design clients!

Gary Sigrist, founder and CEO of Safeguard Risk Solutions hired me back in 2012 to do branding, graphic and web design for his new company. What he didn’t know at that time was that I was very green and new to the industry.

Fast forward to 2026, his company is STILL a client of my agency In Transit Studios and he remains one of our best clients to date.

We did into:

• What business owners are looking for in a creative/design/marketing partner
• How good communication and responsiveness made them feel like my only clients and build immediate trust
• What his thoughts were when I told him I was selling the agency and brining in a new CEO
• What my agency continues to do to keep his trust and business going after 14 years
• His reaction to when I let him know my hourly rate was doubling
• And much more

It was so great to reconnect with Gary and to take a little trip down memory lane but more importantly, it was awesome to hear so many of these great lessons in business from HIS perspective as a client.

Hope it helps you in your web design business as well so you can find your next “Gary, A client!”

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/423