BWOTW: The day I tin-foiled an entire living room taught me something important about business (and other lessons from Sally!)

Featured

17 Feb

This week’s Bizwoman of the Week is Sally!

Sally shared some of her journey and goals as a woman in business in our community this month, telling us how spaces like She Owns It has supported her personal and professional growth.

Introducing Sally

The day I tin-foiled an entire living room taught me something important about business.

Stay with me here

I used to throw quite elaborate parties. A Shiny Party where every surface (including the bath – for drinks, of course) gleamed with tin foil, and (my personal favourite), a Beach Party, where the living room was an underwater world complete with a school of fish hanging from the ceiling (made from overhead projector film, because of course). I loved watching people walk in and laugh with delight.

Turns out, that same love for creating experiences - envisioning all the details, bringing something to life that delights people - is exactly what I do now as a web designer.

Except instead of tin foil and fish, I'm creating websites that make small business owners feel genuinely proud when they share their link.

I started my business the way a lot of us do - ready to stop building someone else's dream and start building my own. I was working for a boutique engineering firm in Auckland, feeling like I didn't quite fit, and tired of my days revolving around someone else's needs.

When my contract ended, I negotiated to redesign their website as my first client. That was the beginning.

Now I work with small businesses in NZ and internationally, designing and building websites that do more than just look good - they help my clients feel confident. Confident that when potential customers land on their site, they'll see someone trustworthy and professional.

What I love most? That moment when a client sees their design for the first time and they're genuinely thrilled. Like they didn't expect something that felt so right for them. That's my tin-foil-and-fish moment now.

I'm especially great with people who are anxious about the process or who've been burned before by designers who didn't deliver. I take time to explain things clearly, check in regularly, and make sure you're never left wondering what's happening.

My services include website design and build, my "Back Pocket Expert" packages (for those smaller tasks you need help with), hosting and care plans, and the Website Confidence Collective - a membership specifically for midlife women who want to feel confident managing their own websites.

Looking forward to connecting with you all here this week!

Five things about me as a woman in biz you should know:

1. I don't rush.

I know many web design businesses slot their clients into a set timeframe - content needed here, images provided here, first round of revisions sent here and due here. But I don't work well like that, and I want to honour the creative rhythm (and my client's needs), so I take the time that the project needs to get it done to the best of my ability. Your website deserves more than a cookie-cutter timeline.

2. I'm not a natural marketer.

Talking about myself is hard. Selling my services is harder. But I know what I do makes a difference for my clients, so I've had to reframe that reluctance. Now I think about being visible so the people I can help can actually find me. It's not about selling - it's about being findable for the right people.

3. Your website won't magically bring in customers (sorry to burst that bubble).

Some people think that if you build a website, customers will just appear. A website is like a bricks and mortar shop - you have to let people know it's there and keep driving traffic to it. Marketing is essential, whether that's social media, email marketing, networking, or whatever works for you. The website is where you send people to show credibility and earn trust. It's a very important part of your business, but it won't bring in business until you do the marketing work to make that happen.

4. I strength-train to undo the damage of sitting hunched up like a prawn all day.

My job is pretty sedentary, and building a strong body helps counteract all those hours at the computer. (Plus, it means I can keep managing my overgrown garden. Weeds don't pull themselves!) I strength-train regularly with a group of women, and the benefits of having a natter about all things life while lifting heavy things has made a huge difference to my mental and physical health. It’s what enables me to keep turning up at my computer.

5. I wish more women gave themselves permission to build a business that suits them.

Not everyone is living the digital nomad life, working from Bali and making six figures. Business is hard. You have to be everything - accounts, admin, marketing, plus actually do the work. It's easy to fall into the belief that you're not succeeding if you're working from home, looking after your clients, hating posting reels but knowing you should, juggling life and work, never having enough time. Not all businesses are social-media-shiny. Most are a head-down grind at least half the time! But the benefit? You get to set your own hours, your own salary, and no one steals your lunch out of the staff fridge.

What would you add to this list?

3 tough lessons I have learnt:

I've learned some hard lessons in my business journey. Here are three of mine so maybe you can skip the pain!

Lesson 1: Saying yes to everything is actually saying no to the right things.

At the beginning, I pretty much said yes to almost every enquiry. Wrong fit clients. Tiny budgets. Vague briefs. Scope that grew like weeds in my garden. That's normal when you're starting out (and you need the money!) but it creates overwhelm fast.

Learning: I had to learn to look for the sweet spot - the things I love to do and am good at, AND the things that people actually need and will pay me for. Everything else? Outsource it or let it go. Your business shouldn't feel like you're constantly firefighting just to stay afloat.

Lesson 2: Underpricing doesn't just hurt your bank account - it attracts the wrong clients.

I underpriced for a long time because I felt I wasn't qualified enough (hah! Imposter syndrome much?). And with that came clients who perhaps didn't value my time, because I didn't value my expertise. That's a road to burnout, and I walked it for longer than I should have.

As soon as I figured out what I really needed to bring in to make my business viable and started charging accordingly, something shifted. I started attracting and working with clients who matched my energy and who genuinely valued my work.

Learning: Not everyone can afford to work with you, and that's okay. You're not for everyone, and everyone is not for you.

Lesson 3: Your business needs you as much as your clients do.

This one still bites me sometimes. Spending time on my own business - marketing, my own website (yeah, one day…), learning, the admin - all that sort of thing takes time, and it's non-negotiable. But if I'm busy with a client project, it's the first thing that goes out the window.

Learning: Do one thing each day that's focused on my business. Whether that's networking (for relationships and connection), a post on social media (for visibility), email marketing (for relationship building), or working on a new service (to meet potential client needs).

My business needs to be as important as my clients' businesses. If I don't tend to it, who will?

Can you relate to any of these? Or have any of your own?

3 Wins I’m Proud Of:

Apparently January is a month just like all the others, but doesn’t it feel like it goes on forever?

So today I’m supposed to tell you about three things I’m proud of, which is pretty broad, and gives me a lot of scope to pick out the gems, but honestly, hasn’t this been a year already? We’re living in very strange and unsettling times, and it feels disingenuous to crow about the good things.

But I’ll give it a try.

What I'm really proud of in recent times is stepping into the unknown and agreeing to be the Website Support expert for a friend’s membership.

I reckon that moment of being brave and saying yes is changing the trajectory of my business in ways I hadn’t even imagined

The weekly calls I have with women struggling with tech overwhelm, and being able to help them see that their website isn’t something to be anxious about has been a bit of a revelation. I teach them. They do the work. They feel more confident.

Each week they learn and grow and I’m so proud of them for stretching out of their comfort zones.

So the second thing.

I’ve decided to start my own membership, doing the same thing, but for me. For my business. Not under the safe umbrella of someone else.

That’s launching tomorrow. It might be right for some of you.

And that’s the third thing. However it goes, that’s a step out of my own personal comfort zone and into growth. Who knows where it will take me and the women who come along for the ride

Let me share about how I can support you:

Rather than reading about me today, I have something for you.

Particularly if:

You're a woman who didn't grow up with tech (rotary phones, anyone?)
You DIY'd your website, or someone built it for you a while ago
Making changes feels risky, like you might break something
You feel a bit silly not knowing how it all works

Here's the thing: you're not silly. The tech just wasn't made with us in mind.

So I've opened a small membership specifically for women who feel anxious about their WordPress website.

It's called the Website Confidence Collective, and it's a calm, supportive space where you'll get:

The Website Review Template so you can assess your own site and know exactly what needs attention
Weekly live calls where you can ask questions and get hands-on help to actually fix your problems
A growing library of short, focused videos - no more wading through endless YouTube tutorials or buying courses you'll never finish
Website reviews and feedback so you can improve your site and feel confident making changes yourself (with my hand-holding every step)
A supportive community where it's completely okay not to know everything

This isn't done-for-you web design. And it's not about becoming a tech wizard.

It's about feeling less scared and more capable with your own website, one small step at a time.

Because I'm launching today, I'm offering Founding member pricing of $26 USD/month (around $43 NZD) that never increases as long as you stay.

Cancel anytime. Always open. No pressure to decide today.

If you're tired of avoiding your website, this is for you

Join here - https://www.skool.com/website-confidence-collective-9577/about