395 - Going Full-Time Web Design (a WDP Coaching Call with Ben and Alexia)

This episode is a recent coaching call I had with two members from my community Web Designer Pro™, all about going full-time with your web design business.

Alexia JUST went full-time at the time of publishing this episode and Ben went full-time in Dec of 2024, so it was great hearing both of their perspectives about lessons learned going full-time with them having just done it.

What’s particularly of note is the mental shift when opening up an additional 20, 30 or 40 hours a week of freedom along with the challenges that most web designers aren’t aware of after the fun and excitement of going full-time wears off.

Excited to hear how this one helps, especially if you’re gearing up to go full-time with your web design biz!

Join Ben, Alexia and 270+ active community members in Web Designer Pro™ today.

Community members get first dibs to upgrade to the Coaching Tier to get access to these weekly coaching calls and 24/7 DM access to me for personalized, private coaching!

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/395

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Episode Transcript

Alexia Lynn (00:02):
Welcome to the Web Design Business Podcast, with
your host, josh Hall, helpingyou build a web design business
that gives you freedom and alifestyle you love.

Josh Hall (00:14):
Hello, my web designer friend, it's so great
to have you here, especially ifyou are interested in taking
your web design business fulltime, because that's what we're
going to dive into in this one.
This is actually taken from arecent coaching call I had with
a couple of members of mycommunity, web Designer Pro.
If you didn't know, WebDesigner Pro has tiers, so
there's an option to get accessto just my courses.

(00:35):
You can get access to thecommunity and all of our
features there or the top levelright now is the coaching tier
and we have these weekly groupcalls.
You also get access 24-7 accessto me for direct message
coaching, and these calls thatwe have every week are generally
a mix of live Q&A, reviews,website strategy and coaching

(00:59):
and hot seats, and that's whatwe do in this one.
In fact, the members who you'reabout to hear from have both
gone full-time.
Alexia literally just wentfull-time in her business
recently at the time ofreleasing this, and then Ben
went full-time back in Decemberof 2024.
So we had a really fun, justkind of roundtable, loose,

(01:19):
casual discussion aboutfull-time lessons, learned, what
they've both done well and whatthey would maybe do differently
all of the above to help you gofull-time in your web design
business as well.
So big shout out to Ben andAlexia for coming up and sharing
everything they've learned onthe subject and for being kind
enough to allow me to repurposethis publicly for you.

(01:39):
So again, if you like thisconversation and you want to get
in on these weekly coachingcalls, so again, if you like
this conversation and you wantto get in on these weekly
coaching calls, join WebDesigner Pro today.
Currently, our coaching tier isat a wait list, but I open up
spots every month or two monthsto community members.
So all you need to do is tojoin the community in Web
Designer Pro and then you willbe notified as soon as coaching

(02:00):
spots become available.
So jump on in and I hope to seeyou on one of these weekly
coaching calls soon.
And for now, here's Ben andAlexia.
Let's talk about going fulltime.
All right, alexia, good to go.
Looks like.

(02:20):
Hi, hello, it's really good tosee you.
Welcome to the team officially.
How has your first month?
I'm going to put you on thespot.
What's it been like going ayear and a half?
You commented on a YouTubevideo, you came into Pro and now
you're making graphics foreverything that we're doing here
.

Alexia Lynn (02:34):
Yeah, that is super exciting, One of my highlights
of the year.
I've got to say Amazing.

Josh Hall (02:40):
Well, one of my highlights is seeing your work
and being like, oh my gosh, Ishould have worked with Alexia
months ago, so I'm reallythrilled to have you be a part
of it.
I mean, yeah, we've shown somework off, but people are going
to start to see a lot more as wemove forward here, so I'm
pumped.

Alexia Lynn (02:55):
Yeah, I'm super excited.
I guess that leads me into Ihave a major dilemma that I need
your advice on, josh.

Josh Hall (03:02):
Is it a full-time dilemma?
Is it a full-time dilemma?

Alexia Lynn (03:05):
So I'll start with.
Normally on Tuesdays, I get up,I get ready, I go to work.
But I didn't do that todaybecause I went full-time.
Visual vibe.

Josh Hall (03:20):
Oh, you already went full-time.
Yeah, wow, all right, I figuredthis would be in preparation
for it.
I didn't realize you pulled abin forward and, just freaking,
went for it before I told you toWow, look at that.
Well, hold on, I feel like Ineed to go get some champagne
downstairs or a shop bong for ushere.
Alexia, we'll get Hans on here.

Alexia Lynn (03:35):
I already started drinking today.

Josh Hall (03:37):
Good for you.
Oh, that's freaking awesome.
Alexia Congrats.
Digital round of applause.
So when did you?
When did you officially?
When did you officially go?

Alexia Lynn (03:47):
so I had, like I feel like I've had the craziest
like couple of weeks.
Um, like I don't know, and it'skind of weird, it all started
when I got my hair done.
I haven't gotten my hair donein like years, and so I got it
professionally done and thenafter that it's just like
everything fell into place and Idon't know how else to say it.
But I was like, yeah, I'm ready, and you were kind of coaching

(04:11):
me a little bit.
You're like I think you'reready for full time and I'm like
I know you're right.
You kind of put the pressure onme a little bit, but I had kind
of almost trapped.
I was trapped in my mind oflike, ah, but like this little,
like it's just the smallesttinge of like security that I
was holding onto for some reason.

(04:31):
Um, so yeah, I was like I washolding onto that and then when
I decided I was like, okay, I'mgoing to go put my two weeks in,
I talked to my coworker first.
Turns out she wasn't workinganother job anymore, so she was
able to take over like my stufffull-time, and so I was like,
okay, that's awesome.
So I put in my, I go to put inmy two weeks and as I'm gearing
up in the car, I get a messagefrom you and it says you're

(04:55):
capital, ready to go full-time,and I was like I'm taking that
as a sign.
So I was like I went in thereand I put my two weeks and my
boss tried to get me to staylike any way she could,
including a 50 cent raise atChristmas.
That was her big contribution50 cent raise.
Yeah, yeah.
So that did not entice me.

(05:16):
I'll just say and then I wasgoing to officially be like do
the two weeks.
But then I was talking to mycoworkerworker and she's like,
well, I've got the time, likeI'll just take over your shifts
now and then we'll just do it.
So I was able to do that andthen like, um, just some awesome
, crazy stuff happened.
Like I was thinking about a guythat was in my bni group for

(05:37):
when I went to like my mom'scleaning business and stuff.
I was just thinking about himand that day that I put on my
two weeks, like like two hourslater after I did, he texted me
and he's like hey, can you subfor me for BNI?
I haven't talked to him inmonths and I'm like, okay, this
is kind of like it's like allthe things are pointing.
And then I got off a call onFriday with a business coach

(05:59):
that my hairdresser had likehooked me up with and she's
wanting help.
I did like a brand blueprintfor her and so, um, it's $1,200.
And then she goes.
She told me she was like well,one thing I don't want this to
be is like a one-time thing,like, and she just casually
threw out she's like, well, ifit's like you know, a thousand
dollar retainer or somethinglike that, just for you to help

(06:20):
me like ongoing, like implementthis stuff, then that's so cool
and I have a great feeling abouther.
So I am, I'm so excited Like itjust feels like everything's
working out.
And then, of course, yourexperience with your retainer
has like helped me kind of ironout my processes and made that
an option.
And then I was also on a calltoo, and the lady for brand and
web design for a different lady,and she was like well, that's a

(06:43):
little bit higher than what Ithought.
And then I just got theconfirmation today.
She's like actually we'd loveto move forward, like we're
ready to go, and I'm like how isthis happening to me right now
I feel like on cloud nine.

Josh Hall (06:54):
Oh you should, Alexia .
Well, that's so amazing andwell-earned too.
I mean I told you prior toeverything you know you've
earned all this success andpositive momentum.
You've worked really hard overthe last year and a half.
So to see it all compound foryou number one, I'm not
surprised, but number two, I'mpumped for you and it's just
yeah, it's really cool to see,you know, all these seeds that

(07:17):
you've been planting and workingget to this point.
So, gosh, that's amazing.
Hold on, I want to grab apicture real quick.
Let me change the view on herebecause this is too cool.
Can I post this on social andgive you a shout out that you
went full time?
Yeah, okay, here we go.
Thumbs up, everybody give adigital thumbs up on Alexia
going full time.
Oh, that's so awesome.

(07:37):
So I mean what is interestingand I think a lot of people who
have gone full time willprobably say this too it's like
there is that feeling of holdingon to a little bit of security,
even if the security doesn'tmake any sense.
And I remember this on a highlevel.
I think a lot of you probablyknow Pat Flynn.
He's an OG in theentrepreneurial space author

(08:00):
course creator.
Author course creator.
When he was on the podcast, hetold me he neglected going
full-time because hisarchitecture job was paying him
$60,000 a year and at that timehe was making $25,000 a month
with his online business whileworking full-time.
So he was only workingpart-time and making $25K per

(08:23):
month, but that $60,000 securitykept him for months without
going full-time and once he wentfull-time, that's when things
skyrocketed.
So yeah, all that to say getready, because now it's really
going to skyrocket.
How many hours were you working?

Alexia Lynn (08:39):
Yeah, I was working , so a little bit of a story,
and of course I'm a yapper, sokind of a little bit of a story,
and of course I'm a yapper, socut me off if you need to.

(08:59):
But so I was working three daysa week and then, like I went to
WDPCon and I was so, oh my gosh, like that experience like wake
up in the mornings and go towork and, would you know, take
time and just like sleep on theweekends because I just didn't
want to, I wasn't excited forlife, and that kind of followed
my bad client experience.
And so I kind of got shook up alittle bit there and being in a

(09:20):
room full of people that arehigh achievers, that are doing
so much more revenue than me,that are so much farther in
their businesses, I felt kind oflike little but in the best way
that there were so manypossibilities out there.
And so I came back and Iimmediately wanted to.
I was like how can I make thishappen?
But then I slowly kind ofstepped back into like well, you

(09:41):
need this security, you needthis thing, and so I kind of got
a little bit down again.
But then just the transition ofhow everything happened to just
like I thought I would feelworried.
I thought I would feel stressed, I don't feel stressed, I don't
feel worried and it's kind oflike a weight of somebody else's
businesses off of my backbecause I did a lot for my boss

(10:03):
and so that weight has beenlifted.
And like when I put in my twoweeks, I woke up at five in the
morning no alarm, no, nothinglike got ready, I was dancing
and singing in the kitchen, andthat's when I was like okay.
So this has changed, like Ifeel happy about life again.

Josh Hall (10:19):
Gosh, that's so awesome, alexia.
Well, I mean, I can't say itenough Congrats, you're getting
lit up in the chat with so muchcongratulations for you.
So I mean, the big thing iswith confidence and going full
time.
Some people do it in a way that, like you know, ben's here.

(10:40):
Ben went full time and I waslike, oh, you went way sooner
than I would probably recommend,but he's killing it.
Probably recommend, but he'skilling it.
Um, you, I think, have a.
You're in a point to where youhave enough pipeline and
retainer work and obviously likea pipeline of leads.
That, I would imagine, probablyadded the confidence.
I say that to say like youdidn't just jump off hoping it
would work out.
It's like it's clear as dayit's, it's working out just fine

(11:02):
.
Now you actually have the timeto fulfill stuff.

Alexia Lynn (11:07):
Yeah, I feel like I have a crazy amount of
confidence that everything'sjust going to work out, moving
forward.
And yes, there's going to belike low periods and high
periods, but I've ridden thatwave for a year, so I feel
confident in that.
And then just a lot of, likethe website projects that I've
been doing.
I've been spacing them out forsix months so that I have that
reoccurring revenue coming in.
So I feel more secure aboutthat, like the reoccurring

(11:32):
revenue has now matched overwhat I was making at my my job.

Josh Hall (11:34):
That's amazing, yeah, cause I mean it was based it
wasn't at like 1200 a month.
That was basically holding youto that job, something.

Alexia Lynn (11:42):
Yeah, it was like.
I mean, mean I was getting paidlike 16 bucks an hour for like
two days a week, so that's noteven like nothing, um, and I
don't know why it held me therefor so long.
Like again, like the I think yousaid it was pat flynn or who
who was your 60 000 a year yeah,pat flynn yeah, it's like it
doesn't make any sense, but butit was there and I like I was on

(12:04):
a weekly hangout a few weeksago and they kind of walked me
through.
They're like so you don't like,it's not the money that's
holding you, like it's somethingelse.
And so they kind of they helpedme out.
I know Lisa was there, judah,louise, christian was there, and
they kind of walked me throughit and they're like girl, you're

(12:28):
not really, it's not the moneythat's holding you back, it's
something else.
And I figured it was thatlittle piece of security.
But then, since I've done, Ifeel fully secure in my business
, which is crazy.

Josh Hall (12:33):
That's amazing.
Great plug for the weeklyhangouts, by the way guys.
I can't recommend enough thatyou guys dip into the weekly
hangouts.
It's something I need to dobetter job of promoting.
But, um, they're not recorded.
They're they're really they're.
They're loose and casual, butthat's the kind of thing that's
happening there, like you get asmall group and you can talk
through stuff like that.
Um, oh, that's awesome.

(12:53):
Alexia, I'm so pumped for you.
It is interesting that there's.
There is I think it's moreabout a mental.
I think there's a mental umsecurity block.
Most everybody, especially ifyou've had a job for a long time
, going on your own gives youfull ownership, which is amazing
and freeing, but also moreresponsibility.

(13:14):
So there's like an added levelof responsibility to where, when
you have even a small incomecoming in and it's quote unquote
stable, there is something thatyou have to like break free to
get past that.
But you did it Like.
I'm so freaking pumped for you.

Alexia Lynn (13:30):
Yeah, I was so excited and I was like I
remember when I told you thatOctober 1st was my deadline and
I was like I'm telling you onceI may take a while to make a
decision about them.
Once I make a decision, it'slike boom, boom, boom.

Josh Hall (13:42):
Yeah, that's what I noticed make a decision.
It's like boom, boom, boom yeah.
And, by the way, emily said I'dlove to do the weekly hangouts
and tricky in UK time.
Yeah, the one thing we haveexplored is maybe doing like one
earlier call, especially forthe UK folks, and then, uh, the
afternoon call.
So, emily, we'll, we'll talkabout that here, follow up on
that, see if we can get a UKfriendly time.
Um, I'm curious, ben.

(14:07):
Ben, would you like to pop upand join the chat on this,
because it'd be kind of fun totalk to ben, who is eight months
since going full-time andalexia when, when did?
when did you go full-timeofficially, alexia?

Alexia Lynn (14:17):
last thursday was my last last thursday so like
three days in three daysfull-time, so three days full.

Josh Hall (14:24):
Ben, let me know if you're in a place where you'd
like to come up.
If not, totally, you know it'sokay.
Cool, he's down.
So we're gonna have some funtoday.
Guys, we're gonna do a verydifferent call today, but this
is kind of something I, by theway, I want to do with the
coaching calls more is move itmore towards conversational, you
know, high level strategies,all kinds of stuff.
So get ready, cause we're goingto have some new fun on the

(14:47):
coaching calls, just like we'reabout to have with a little
group call because we've got Bennow.
Good to see you, ben.
Hey is my video working.
No, that must be a circle thingthen.

Ben Forred (14:59):
Okay.

Josh Hall (14:59):
Hang on Okay.

Ben Forred (15:06):
Even then come back in and it put me right in
awesome, leave the meat, oh,leave the leave the meeting and
then come back in and it likeput me right in it okay, we'll
wait for you, ben.

Josh Hall (15:14):
Let's see if that works.
Yeah, that actually brought youright back up, alexia, so I
think what ben comes back, Ishould just bring him back up.
Uh, my gosh, so awesome.
I thought for sure we weregoing to be mapping out your two
weeks notice, but hey, there'sour troubleshooting tip of the
day for circle just leave andcome back it said uh, you have

(15:34):
to rejoin as a co-host.
Yeah, maybe that's somethingthat they've, that they've got
going on that could be well, ben, what uh'm going to totally put
you on the spot, but I know youlike being on the spot, so
thanks for popping up.
Man, what advice do you havefor Alexia, being that you're
not too far removed from thefeelings of going full time and

(15:55):
the ups and downs?
What should Alexia be preparedfor over the next few weeks?

Ben Forred (16:09):
uh, I, I wish I had like really sage wise words to
offer here, um, but I guess Iguess what I'll say is that your
, your hair is probably not ason fire as you think it is, uh,
and so, like you don't have torun around like crazy, you know,
get your bearings uh, go touchsome grass and and just kind of
recognize that yeah, it's a bigchallenge, like you're
responsible for yourself now ina big way, but break it down

(16:32):
into as little chunks aspossible.
I liked Josh's like budgetplanner because it forces you to
think about project-based youknow sales like okay, I gotta
close this many sales in thismonth to do this thing, but that
kind of a plan all of a suddenmakes it not as scary.
You don't have to boil theocean, you can just get started

(16:53):
on taking that first step.

Josh Hall (16:56):
Yeah, and that's the revenue calculator that Ben's
mentioning.
I'll put that in the chat foranyone who hasn't checked that
out GoMap out.
Thank to alexia because shespruced up the revenue
calculator with the branding um.
So check that out to give yousome confidence.
Now it's interesting, though,because you know ben and alexia
had very different um stakes.
Going full-time because benfather of four, husband a lot

(17:19):
more, you know, financiallyriding on him in the way of,
like, his support system.
Alexia, you picked a great timeto go full-time because you
have a little bit of freedom inthat sense of where you can do a
little more exploration,probably, and not have some of
the stress that folks have whenwe have a support system behind

(17:40):
us.
Ben, you're still killing it,man.
You've been a little quiet,which means, I'm guessing,
you've been pretty busy.

Ben Forred (17:47):
Very busy.
Yeah, I was glad that I wasable to join today because I've
missed the last few.
It's it's just, you know,better than the better than the
alternative.
That's what I'll say.

Josh Hall (17:59):
Yeah, yeah.
So well, I wouldn't like Idon't know.
Alexia, I want to like I don'tknow.

Ben Forred (18:03):
Alexia, I will.
I just thought of one piece ofadvice that's like tangible If
you haven't taken the scalingcourse, do the.
Do the entire scaling course,start to finish, watch it and
then go back and just kind ofrewatch it and frame things to
where you're at.
Because I did not go into.
I thought I would be all on myown for years before I would

(18:24):
need to onboard, and maybe it'sbecause I am in a different
phase in life, but I hit thatwall as soon as I got three
projects at the same time, justbecause there was no time, at
least not to be responsible.
You know, responsibly handle it.
So get prepared to hire peopleand bring on consistent help,

(18:50):
because the faster you do that,the faster you can take a seat
as more of the strategist andthe you know directing the
activities of everything.

Alexia Lynn (19:01):
That's amazing and I just want to say like that
advice came at a really goodtime because, given the influx
of what I'm doing, I'm not quiteready to hand anything over and
hire yet.
but yeah it's something that, asI'm going to be working with
this coaching client, she'swanting to do more things, more
operational than just like techthings.
Um, we've already talked aboutlike well, and she's scaled

(19:24):
teams and stuff before.
So she was like, yeah, if weneed to like find somebody and
put it in place, like, I justwant you to be more of the
strategist and help me pieceeverything together and figure
out things there.
So I think I'm going to havelike a wide scope of doing that
in her business, that I can dothat in mine as well.
So, yeah, that came at a reallygood time.

Ben Forred (19:40):
Yeah, oh, totally Well.
And there's this resistance toit, right, because you're like
there's no way I can justifythis, I'm not busy enough, I
just have to.
I think this is just grind time.
I need to work, you know, 24hours a day and it's not
sustainable.
So, as I felt myself going downin a blaze of glory, I hired
somebody, and now I'm now I'mless out.

(20:02):
Hey, ben, can you?

Josh Hall (20:05):
but.

Ben Forred (20:05):
I wouldn't have been able to do that without the
scaling course.
I would have been, I'd beenfrozen.
I seriously the scaling course,just do it I'm gonna clip that
and use a testimonial.

Josh Hall (20:17):
Thank you, ben.
By the way, ben was not paid torave about the scaling course.
You guys all have access to itanyway here in pro.

Ben Forred (20:22):
So I'm a non-attorney spokesperson yeah,
yeah, uh.

Josh Hall (20:27):
But yeah, Ben, thanks for mentioning that man.
I mean, I think I do think it'sinteresting, because the idea
of scaling I think a lot ofpeople immediately think agency
owner, overhead payroll.
But that's not the case.
Like you can, you can scalemicro parts of the business.
You can scale like one projectcould be scaling just to get
some help.
So I do love that reminder, Ben, because what happens I've seen

(20:49):
with a lot of people who gofull time is because you have 20
, 30, 40 hours extra a week todevote to your business.
You go so much further, so muchfaster, but that leads to a
whole new slew of challenges.
When all those seeds thatyou've been planting compound
Because Alexia heads up, you'reat a place where, like, the

(21:12):
momentum is cooking right nowand then, if it doesn't stop, if
the momentum doesn't stop,you're not gonna be able to do
graphic design work for us andI'm going to be, you know, fresh
about that.

Alexia Lynn (21:18):
So I will always make time for you, okay.

Josh Hall (21:23):
All right.

Ben Forred (21:24):
You heard it.
You know I put it in the chat,but I think it's.
I think it's worthre-mentioning.
I think one of the biggestthings I've learned is that
there is this like barrier thatyou have to overcome to put the
stakes of your own livelihood onyourself.
When you've been conditioned torely on an external employer,
you're like, yeah, I'll just geta different job or I can go do

(21:46):
this and you can always, likeyou, leave it as this fallback
thing.
Yeah, I'll try it, but I'll geta job when I fail.
And you kind of you have toswitch your mindset to this
thing that like hell, yeah, I'mon my own because I can do
better for myself than anybodyelse can.
And the thing that you do pickup in the scaling course isn't

(22:07):
like here's the step wiseprocess to hire somebody, it's
how do you set yourself up forthat next evolution Right now?
What types of things do youneed to think about yourself?
What do I like?
What do I have a team, like Iam my own team, so what things
do I want to hand up?
And just having that thoughtprocess like baked into going

(22:27):
full-time, doing that scalingcourse at that time just gets
you set up in the right frame ofmind so that when it is time to
scale, you've already done thatwork.
Um, you don't have to likefreak out and really quick, stay
up all night watching josh'sscaling course.
It's just kind of, it's justkind of already there and you'll

(22:48):
make mistakes and you'll dostuff the wrong way or whatever,
but that's part of it, um, so,yeah, that's, that's the last
thing I'll say well, I wanted tokind of ask alexia, like it's
you don't want to put too muchuh pressure on you to, you know,
feel like you have a, a clearvision already.

Josh Hall (23:05):
You just went full-time, literally three days
ago.
But I'm curious, even brand new, feeling full-time, do you feel
like, are you in vision mode?
Are you in vision casting modefor you as a business owner?
Where are you at right now,having just made the leap,
you're still falling down.
Just made the leap, I mean,you're kind of like still like
falling down.
You know like you made the jump, but what's the what's your,

(23:26):
what's what's vision like foryou now?

Alexia Lynn (23:28):
Um, straight, just partying all the time, getting
no work done.
Like that that's my mode, Uh no.
So the first thing, it's solike I'm telling you, I'm taking
all these as signs because it'sit's all happening so like
crazy, like together.
But the first thing that I wasthinking about as I was going
full time, I'm like how can Ioutsource the things I don't

(23:49):
like to do more of the things Ido like?
How can I outsource some of theparts of my business, like,
maybe, SEO or websitedevelopment, to where I can
still design and do the things Ilove?
But I can scale those highticket services that can be done
by other team members, like SEO.
So that's one thing that I'mlike okay, well, how can I do

(24:10):
that and build up that part towhere I'm not constantly having
to have my hand in it, Cause Iam particular about my design
stuff, as as Josh knows, butthings like SEO and some of the
technical things I'm not as likeI have to make sure this is
pixel perfect type thing.
So I've been thinking about howcan I scale those services to
give me a cushion to where I cando the stuff that I love, which

(24:32):
is design and some of thestrategy stuff.
So yeah, that's great.

Josh Hall (24:37):
I love that you have that mindset out of the gate.
That's huge.
Are like.
I think one of your valuepropositions to alexia is that
your, your attention to detailand your craftsmanship in your
work is something that, yeah,you don't want to.
You don't want to hire that out, you know.
I love that.
You already know there's abunch of stuff that you want to

(25:00):
focus on and be the lead on anddon't want to give up any
control on, especially right now, which is awesome.
And then the other stuff yeah,absolutely you can get some help
on, just like ben talked about.

Ben Forred (25:09):
And there's so many specialists here, I learned
pretty quickly I don't want tohave anything to do with SEO, it
just doesn't do anything for me.
And so I just called Sam andwas like hey, I want to offer
local SEO because there's moneyin it, but I don't want to do it

(25:30):
local SEO.
I just don't want to.
And so he and I worked out this, this white label arrangement.
I still have to send him thefirst client, but you know it's
a thing when, if I want to offerlocal SEO, I can do it.
You know, take my part forrunning the communications, but
Sam and his team would do it andyou can copy that with

(25:51):
Christian's custom development.
And you know I've used allsorts of pros.
So not just you, but everybody.

Josh Hall (25:59):
I think maybe it might be interesting.
I don't think Alexi is going tohave quite the dip or the
feelings of dread, ben, that youhad, where it's like the two or
three weeks after you go fulltime, where it's like the two,
what two or three weeks afteryou go full time and you're like
, oh my God, what I do?
Only because, just becauseAlexia's job wasn't, you know,

(26:23):
at the point where, like your,your business was making way
more than your, your job wascoming in, so it was almost a no
brainer.
But, like Ben, you know, you,you told me and I think you were
public about saying, like, aswe all often do, when you make a
big decision and you're like,oh my god, what I do, can you
speak to that dip?
What are you through?
Because maybe alexia will havea feeling of some sort, maybe
not, it's not that extreme.
But I guess the question is,how did you get through the

(26:43):
inevitable once the high, youknow, subsides and you're like,
or you're just, you get to theboring part of the work when
you're just going to do the work?
How did you get through thatdip?

Ben Forred (26:52):
Yeah, good question.
You know, I think there wasjust like a.
It was just kind of an initialfreak out Like, oh God, I, just
what did I just do?
I have four kids and a wife andI just and I just gave away my
entire livelihood.
But it was, it was short livedbecause I think what I, what I
did, was just focused onbringing clients in, so that

(27:13):
first month of January I justhad so many meetings with people
because I was just shamelesslysetting up time with people
wherever I could find them.
I joined BNI, hit theone-on-ones really hard right
away and just thoseconversations talking to other

(27:33):
people who are business ownersthat I could be working with and
they could be working with mefor stuff.
It's like a confidence boost tomeet other people who are like
you, have the same goals andbasically finding commonalities
to say, oh yeah, I know thatfeeling, but don't freak out,

(27:53):
you'll be good.
So just having other people sayyou can do this and then
jumping up and doing it.
You know, I think that that'sthe thing.
It's kind of like a differentversion of the advice that my
older brother gave me when Iwent to college.
He's like you know, don't diveinto this feeling like you got
to have it all figured out.
Your first couple semesters,take classes you're interested

(28:16):
in, dive in to explore yourcuriosity, and then go to those
classes.
You know and it was the secondpart that I struggled with so I
I think that like it's the samething, it's like celebrate being
by yourself, enjoy, like, thefreedom that you've now got,
recognize the work that needs toget done and then, like, go
freaking, do that work.

Alexia Lynn (28:38):
I love that so much .
I'm learning so much.
I love this so much.

Josh Hall (28:42):
Well, it's so great to as, alexa, you said you
alluded to a little bit agocoming to the conference.
It was like you felt like youwere in the house of greatness,
with so many web designer pros,who, who.
You are at a certain level, butyou know, on all seriousness,
you, I think that that can't.
You can't help but be like,look what's possible, like all I

(29:04):
need to do is commit to it andthen figure it out from there,
because I think everybody's at aplace where, if you commit to
it, you sound super cheesy butyou can make anything happen,
you really can.
So it's so cool to, but you canmake anything happen, you
really can.
So it's so cool to see.
I saw those seeds being plantedand then the last six months or
so just kind of worked throughwhere you're at and then all the

(29:28):
work that you did compounded tothis point to again have a
no-brainer jumping off point.
But it is cool to see.
I feel like there feel like you.
There was definitely a beforeand after version of you, before
and after procon yeah,definitely like I just I love
the whole experience.

Alexia Lynn (29:43):
I'm so like I'll be the first person to buy a
ticket for next year, but beingin a like when I, when I used to
go to work, uh, surrounded byjust like it was me and my boss,
and it was just like in abusiness that really wasn't
going anywhere.
She was on the tail end ofretiring, so there's no momentum
there, there's no excitement,it was just kind of, and it was

(30:03):
an insurance as well.
So it's just like super boring,not not my jam, um, but then
like I'm not aroundentrepreneurs other than you
know, pro, and then being inperson with everybody and like
going into a room where I feltlike everyone was miles ahead of
me, but in the best way, like Inever felt like I was like

(30:24):
inadequate or anything.
I was just like, oh my gosh, ifthey're here and they can do
this stuff, I can do it too.
And I'm like looking up toeverybody and taking little
pieces of advice here and there,like I mean, it was just the
whole experience was amazing andit really set my mindset of
like being around a group ofentrepreneurs who want to be
high achievers, that want togrow their business, that want
to do better is.

(30:45):
I can't even express just beingin that room and being around
people that are high achievers,like that are.
It's like unmeasurable, likethe difference between like
evenmeasurable, like thedifference between like.
Even your vibe changes, so yeah.

Josh Hall (30:59):
Gosh, that's so true.
I think that's awesome.
Sorry, you just got me buzzing.
I'm like that's got to go on theevent page for next year, just
because you nailed the power ofthat and we have the digital
version here in pro, which islike people are at different
levels, but you see people makesuch fast progress, like Alexia.
I mean, ben, you and Alexia,just a couple of years ago, a

(31:23):
year and a half ago, werenewbies, complete newbies.
But I think the power of whatwe have in Pro is you're able to
make such fast strides.
This is also, by the way, onereason why I'm really big on.
I don't have a minimum.
You need to make a certainamount to come into pro and this
is why you guys are bothshining examples of.
You went from builders completenewbies to growing and now

(31:46):
you're both scaling.
Alexia's going to be scaling inthree months.
Mark my words Alexia will bescaling by the new year for sure
.

Alexia Lynn (31:53):
No pressure on me.

Ben Forred (31:57):
It totally worked with my two weeks.
The pressure will.
The pressure will come to you.
You don't have to worry aboutthat.

Josh Hall (32:01):
No, I'm just calling what I see.
I'm just.
I got a pulse on this stuff andI'm telling you, ben nailed it,
go through that scaling coursewhile you have some time, just
to be ready for the influx.
It to be ready for the influxthat's going to happen, yeah,
but no, I really appreciate youguys both.
This is just, it's awesome andyeah, anyway, alexi, do you have
any questions for Ben, sincehe's?
You know, I don't know, I do.

Alexia Lynn (32:25):
I kind of have one, ben, are you doing more custom
work now?
Are you doing more with the?
Is it special disease or like,how would you?

Ben Forred (32:33):
Yeah.

Alexia Lynn (32:35):
And how has that affected your business?
Are you doing like, like?
Have you preferred doing thatbecause it's more scalable and
more like your target audienceand stuff and you can make those
sites quicker?
Is that?

Ben Forred (32:48):
how you're able to scale so fast.
That's a great question.
I think this is something I wasgoing to pitch to Josh about a
future podcast once I get mylife together.
But it was like my idea when Iwas going through this was I can
do custom websites for localsmall businesses.
I love doing that.
I love learning about people'smarketing, their strategy, their
challenges and just helpingthem represent themselves better

(33:10):
online, and so I love doingthat.
But I also spent like 15 yearsworking in this rare disease
space and I have theserelationships and those folks
desperately need helprepresenting themselves better
online.
So I have 4A Web Design andthen I had this other brand
called Zebra Site Studios andthat was going to be this rare
disease thing.
This was going to besubscription model.

(33:31):
This was going to be moretraditional and um is.
It was like my strategy tobuild recurring revenue while
also having these other things.
And the thing I didn't accountfor is that there's not two of
me Um like I, that I basicallystarted two businesses, um and
and so it's like decent strategy, hard to parse out on your own.

(33:55):
So I have been scrambling tokind of and scrambling is the
right word to use.
I've been trying to get theZebra site template and thing
built out to the point whereit's much more Jason Grazia
style.
I'll be at the thing onThursday because I want to see
just soup to nuts how he hasthis all pieced together.
I want to see just soup to nutshow he has this all pieced
together, and I will beessentially changing my offer on

(34:17):
that sales page to just be thisis the Zebra site, this is what
you get, and I have my contentsnare already set up for Zebra
site.
So it's like homepage, you know, put your blocks of text here,
upload your photos here and itis just going to be the.
The selling point is you'regoing to have your website in
like two weeks and it's going tobe bomb.

(34:39):
It's going to work because Iknow it works, and you're going
to have all this other stuff andum, so I, I, uh, I've been
trying to templatize that, so Ithink maybe the best answer to
your question is I want to getto a point where, yes, that's
much more like here's a solutionthat's going to work for you in

(34:59):
this niche, and then Ioutsource that to a person that
doesn't exist yet and I'll behiring someone.
They'll do all of those things.
They'll also do management ofmy monthly care and support
clients, and then that wouldfree up me and then my full-time
developer, penn, that we canput much more of our energy into

(35:20):
the local bigger projects,custom jobs for small businesses
.
And so, yeah, the strategy wasalways there, but the execution
has been this like really toughmoving target.

Alexia Lynn (35:33):
That is so much good information to know and I a
hundred percent like it's funny.
I've been thinking about atemplatized sort of offer
because, again, I pour so muchjust energy and love and design
and time, most of all time, intomy custom work.
So how can I take that and kindof templatize it?

(35:55):
And I know, as I was thinkingabout this, Josh, you know the
newsletter, you have to earn newand I'm like, well, shoot, I
haven't you earn new?

Josh Hall (36:05):
you earn new.
You don't need to work, youdon't need to do something for a
decade to do something new.
Yeah, you can earn new.

Alexia Lynn (36:15):
I have the idea but I put it on the back burner.
But it's how can I take myskills and what I have and
templatize it for a niche market?
Um, similar to that.
Because, as I'm growing, likewhen I first started freelance,
I'm like I just want to be likethe best designer, I want to be,
like you know, known for mywork and all this stuff.
But now I'm kind of getting inthe mode where it's like I want,
want to make some money, like Iwant to make some money, money
when I don't have to, where it'sa revenue stream, where I'm not

(36:37):
constantly having to be theperson doing the stuff, and
that's a big change that I'vemade.
Just like when I joined Pro, Iwas like, oh, I'm going to be
the best designer, I'm going tobe the freelance, like I'm only
going to do my stuff.

(36:57):
How can I templatize this tomake the most money, so I can
truly be an entrepreneur and notjust a freelancer or just a
small business owner?
I have big picture goals ofmyself.

Josh Hall (37:01):
And so how can I achieve that?
I think for you, alexia, whereyou are at in the market, with
being such a good designer, sogood at creating brand style
guides and literally justgetting the visual vibe down,
that could be the more customaspect from what I see for you,
especially for a while, which iswhere you spend a lot of time

(37:22):
investing in clients and, likeyou did with me, you really get
a sense of what's the goal ofthis, what's your vibe, and then
creating these assets that thengo to the templatized stuff.
So I could actually see for you,the bulk of your creativity and
your custom work isn'tnecessarily in the actual
literal design of sites like thefunctionality.
It's in the branding and thedesign overall.

(37:45):
And then you have your visualvibe site, which is like the
framework, and then you take theassets, then we take the button
styles and that gets translatedto the website and, as we all
know, if somebody has reallygood branding, it makes the web
design way easier Because you'vealready got copy, you've
already got assets, you'vealready got design styles,
already got font colors,typography, it's all nailed down

(38:07):
.
So I think for you, you'reactually really primed to have a
templatized site, even if it'snot niche-specific, but you
invest in more of the brandingand design side, I think that
could work out really well foryou for a while.

Alexia Lynn (38:24):
Definitely and I don't want to say my idea
because I have been working onit a little bit on the side but
it does combine those elements.
It does combine some of thepieces of the industries I've
already worked in and so I knowwhat they need and they.
It combines branding, websitesand SEO.
So so, having all of thosebecause, again, if you get them

(38:46):
on like a templated thing, Iwant them reoccurring.
I don't just want it to be aone time they buy this, I want
them to be on a reoccurringbasis, so like a subscription
model, just like Ben Ben has.

Ben Forred (39:00):
So I've been thinking more about that.
I think that the can you guysstill hear me?
I'm getting an error?
Yeah, sounds good.
Okay, you know.
I think the thing that I learnedtoo late was to really think
about pricing.
Like, think about pricing twiceas much as you think you need
to think about pricing.
Think about pricing twice asmuch as you think you need to

(39:20):
think about pricing.
It's because when you have aservice you're offering, it's
more abstract than when you'reoffering a product, and to offer
the product, you have to beable to represent it well enough
to get the money.
And so it's kind of thedifference between, like,
running into somebody who needs,you know, like who needs a hole

(39:41):
dug.
You can sell them a shovel andbe like this this makes holes.
Or you can say I will dig you ahole and it's going to cost
this amount.
Or you can say, oh, you'regoing to wind up with a freaking
swimming pool.
You know that swimming pool isgoing to cost so much more than
the hole in the ground.
No-transcript and realize thatyou don't really get to decide,

(40:07):
that All you get to control iswhat the offer looks like, and
then the people your customersare gonna tell you whether or
not it's worth what you'reasking for, and so I think it's
always easier to go down inprice than to go up, and so I
just intentionally have beensetting things a lot higher than

(40:27):
I thought I would need to,because it never fails that
there is going to be some kindof ongoing project expense that
will eat into your profit.

Josh Hall (40:37):
So think about pricing a lot.
And real quick.
Speaking of pricing, dylan hadasked can you charge more for a
template, since it will reduceyour project time Absolutely?
And the reality is somethingthat you can bust out faster
with a proven process is,honestly, even more valuable
because you get it done fasterand serious business owners want

(40:57):
stuff done as quickly aspossible.
If you gave somebody the option, would you like to get this
done in seven days or sevenweeks?
Seven days is going to be muchmore appealing than a long,
drug-out three-month process.
So absolutely those productizedwebsites as much as you can,
even more so.

(41:17):
They're more valuable even ifit's for you a template.
Quote unquote.

Ben Forred (41:22):
Yeah, I think for you, alexia, it's a matter of
trying to make sure that you'redoing the best thing for you.
You can templatize things andgive yourself the sense of
security that's there, but youalso will lose the degrees of
freedom to customize and be thecreative person that you are.
And so the question kind ofbecomes do I drill down to this

(41:44):
and make it a productizedoffering that is like something
that I know can execute on?
Or do I just need to charge ashitload more for the awesome
custom work that I'm doing andmake the same amount of money
and really get to like flex mycreative muscle?
That's why you got into it inthe first place, and so you it's
.
It's like a.
I would not recommend startinga subscription based brand and a

(42:09):
regular based brand at the sametime.

Alexia Lynn (42:11):
Yeah.

Ben Forred (42:13):
So I'm not trying.
So, yeah, so I'm activelytrying to talk you out of that,
but I am trying to talk you intojust making sure that you
understand where the tradeoffsare and put your own personality
preferences and all of thatfirst, because at the end of the
day, that's what peopleinteract with, that's what
people see is you.
So make sure that whatever thedecision you make is going to

(42:37):
contribute to your overallhappiness and stuff as a
business owner.

Alexia Lynn (42:41):
Yeah, and I agree, and I would actually say that,
with the route that I would wantto go, it wouldn't be either or
it would be both to have thisproductized type offer and then
raise my custom rates.
And if you want a custom thenyou know you can always
transition over from mytemplatized offer to custom and
it would be worth more.

(43:02):
There's more value thereworking one-on-one with me, but
again, not wanting to like drumup a website and a landing page
tomorrow for this.
It's just something I had beenthinking about as I'm moving
more into business owner insteadof designer or freelancer,
looking at it more of a businessthing, which I hadn't really
done before.
Yeah, Like I was always like,oh, I'll be the best designer,

(43:25):
I'll be this, but it's more ofokay.
How can I make money, be takencare of, know that I have those
different income streams so Ican eventually do whatever I
want whenever I want, because Ihave that as a back, you know.

Josh Hall (43:43):
For sure want whenever I want, because I have
that as a back.
You know for sure, the freedomI still really like.
You're in a great spot, alexia.
I don't want to, you know,throw too much at you all at
once because I want you to enjoythis season.
Finally, you know going fulltime and everything, but I do
feel like you can productizewithin your suite of services.
Ben had two separate businesses.
Ben, you know, we all knowBen's a wild man.
He's going to dive headfirst inthe deep end without any

(44:03):
swimming lessons.
He's just that kind of guy.
Luckily it's worked out.

Ben Forred (44:07):
But like Ben, said With concrete, with rocks in my
pocket.

Josh Hall (44:10):
With rocks in your pocket.
Take the rocks out, ben, butyou know he had two separate
businesses.
I think for you, from from allthat you could, you can still,
you know, productize within yoursuite of services.
So one thing else I'll say toowhen it's one client and one
project, you don't need to gofully custom on everything.

(44:32):
The beautiful thing about doingbranding and getting the visual
vibe first and which I think isgoing to happen for you, alexia
, with a lot of your projects90% yeah.
So you start out with brandingand design, productize
everything else Because, like Isaid earlier, that's what lights
you up.
I can sense it working with you.

(44:52):
You love helping a brand.
You can't help yourself, butcome up with all these new ideas
and it's amazing for me as aclient now of yours.
It's just so weird Now I'm aclient, but also it is cool
because I have a uniqueperspective working with you.
I can say for your futureclients they love that You're a
part of their business.
You're coming up with thesebrands.

(45:13):
If you present it to me, we canmake a website out of everything
we already created.
It's our visual vibe system.
You get it in a week and we'lltake everything we've done in
your branding.
We'll take care of everythingfor you.
We've already got half the copy, so we just need this and this
and this and we'll take care ofyour websites up in a week.
Sign me up if I'm a client.
Now, if I wanted something supercustom, larger site, that's

(45:34):
where you have your custom rates.
But I think if you had like awebsite in a week model, that's
where you have your custom rates.
But I think if you have awebsite in a week model, which
is basically a website in a day.
It's based off of your template, based off a brand you've
already done, and whether it'ssubscription or one time, I
think you'll be gold with allthat.
So I know we'll have some timeover the coming weeks to really
kind of flush out your new suiteof services or your offers, but

(45:56):
you're in a really good spot tobe able to mix all that with
both custom and productized.

Alexia Lynn (46:02):
I love that and that's kind of.
That's so crazy that you'resaying that, because I have been
like, because I have my wholeFigma files of all the websites
I've done, so I've been goingthrough and like, hey, there's
like five different good ways todo a hero section, so I'll have
all those and then I could justtake them, do a hero section.
So I'll have all those and thenI could just take them, piece
them together and then add thedesign onto them.
And that's what I'm doing.

(46:22):
Staying with like footers andand things like that.
That it's just like okay, howmany different ways can you do a
footer before it's it's notthat big of a deal, um.
So I have been taking someinspiration from that.
Like this whole conversation isjust like right, in line with
everything no, that's great.

Josh Hall (46:36):
I think you're primed poison ready for a more
templatized website offer,because I still view you as a
brand.

Alexia Lynn (46:43):
I don't know what to call you, yet you know, I
know you're probably workingthat out too, but like I you are
.

Josh Hall (46:50):
I don't view you as a web designer necessarily and I
don't mean that you knowdisrespectfully at all, like
that's what you mean.
Josh, but you're actually likebrand designer pro.
That's kind of actually whatyou know, because alexia is
eventually going to start branddesigner pro, um, because she
has aspirations of having acommunity one day.
So that's like I say all thatto say like, yeah, templatize

(47:12):
your website stuff as soon asyou can, because I, you, your
superpower is the brand and thevibe and everything but.
But obviously that's a hugepart of the web design.
So I'm very excited.
I'm very excited to see whathappens here.
All right, guys, well, this wasa blast.
This was one of my favoritecoaching calls.
We will be doing more of this,for sure.
Any final thoughts from AlexiaI appreciate you guys both

(47:34):
coming up for this impromptupodcast chat.
Basically, we're definitelygoing to repurpose it both
coming up for this impromptupodcast chat.

Alexia Lynn (47:40):
Basically, we're definitely going to repurpose.
This has been great, yeah.
First I want to say thank you,ben.
Like being able to kind of pickyour brain a little bit and
hear advice from you that youknow.
It's not like Josh that's beendoing this for so many years,
you've kind of new in it, butyou're, you're enough steps
ahead of me to where it's like,hey, I've made some mistakes or
this has happened.
So hearing your perspective.
From that, I always like to tocreate that access.

(48:02):
And then Josh, who's been doingthis forever, hearing your
advice.
So taking both of those andincorporating it in my own way.
Like I'm so excited, Like I'm,I feel like a new leash on life,
Like I'm like I'm all over theplace.
I have this crazy delusionalconfidence.

Josh Hall (48:16):
Now, oh, there's no delusion there there's that's
real confidence right there nodelusions at all.

Ben Forred (48:25):
I, I think, my last word.
I first of all a huge shout outto my wife, because I can only
take credit for, you know,probably 25% of what's happened
in life here this this year.
So she's, she has been atremendous support.
So I would be absolutely remissif I didn't mention that I'd be
homeless right now.

(48:47):
And the other thing is, I thinkI've unintentionally and no
offense to you, josh, I thinkI've begun in some ways to take
Web Designer Pro for granted asa part of just how I work now,
um, because it's like, okay,yeah, it's a, it's a thing that
I joined and it's a communityand stuff.
But you guys are like myco-workers, um, and it's like,

(49:10):
uh, it's like a connection whereif I'm having a problem, I'll
like hit somebody up with a dmand we'll get on a zoom meeting
and like, just hash some stuffout, get back, you know, go back
to work.
You know there are peoplethere's a Daniel Mediger and I
meet every other Friday morningand and just like hash out

(49:31):
what's going on, cause we'rekind of at similar stages and so
, um, I would also be remiss ifI like had this whole
conversation with you guys anddidn't mention just the value
that pro has, because without adoubt, I would not be doing this
.
Without a doubt, no way in hellwould I be doing this.

Alexia Lynn (49:53):
I know a thing, to take in, that's amazing Ken.
Yeah, 100% to piggyback off thatlike just pro in general it
feels like co-workers, like ohman, that was the perfect
analogy um, getting like helpgoing through the different
stuff, and I mean even the josh.
Your courses are great, but I'mtelling you, the community and

(50:13):
the coaching is is the best partof pro, like no doubt the dms,
the conversations, the coaching,like this like I I just I can't
think it enough and it'ssomething that I don't think
other people that, if they wereto try to do a carbon copy of
what you do, could do what youdo with pro either.
So that's like your usp, likeyou're, you're unique in that

(50:35):
offer and the people here areunique with they're willing to
give without like just being apart of the community.
So, and it's hard to findanywhere else- yeah for sure.

Ben Forred (50:48):
And Josh, I think you're, I think your coaching
style too, is a lot like wherethere's just the honesty behind
it, where, like this, halfwaythrough the year, I did my
mid-year finances and I was kindof like, and I like put it all
together and sent it to josh andjosh looked at it and was like,
yeah, man, I think you're good.
You're I mean, depending onwhere you're at, I think you're

(51:08):
probably good.
You got a plan, just do theplan.
And I was like, oh okay allright and all of a sudden felt
like I was back on the horselike oh okay and that's what you
need out of a coach.
Um, I have no doubt that joshwould have been like oh yeah,
shit, you should probably gopick up some bartending shifts,
um, like that was the case.
But you know, just knowing thathe's got like an independent,

(51:31):
objective head on his shouldersto tell you whether or not
you're making the right stepsinvaluable invaluable.

Josh Hall (51:37):
There's also a sense of I think I've been doing this
long enough, especially being inmore of a mentor coaching role
with pro, to where I have apretty good sense for people and
I can tell, like I think youshould, yeah, like take your
time, go slow, don't make anyrash decisions.
And then there's people who I'mlike I think you're fine, just
go for it, like with ben.
You know, like I knew, like youknow, even the numbers weren't

(51:59):
where you wanted them to be.
Halfway through the year Irealized you've got all the
makings of what you need to do.
You just need to keep on doingit.
And you were just at a placewhere the first six months of
going full time and buildingyour business is very trying.
But I think already you'veprobably seen things compound in
different ways and you have alot of expenses up front that

(52:19):
you don't have later on.
Um, you do less learning andmore implementation once you get
to a certain point.
So, yeah, for all those reasons, I'm like yeah, you're fine,
you're totally fine with alexia.
It's like why are you holdingon to this 1200 job?
Like, get the heck out of here.
You can make 5 000 a month ofretainers tomorrow, if, if you
want to it was literally like Ithink you're ready, like dot,

(52:41):
dot, dot.

Alexia Lynn (52:41):
And then the next time the next text was like
you're ready to go full time.
I can't say it enough Like it'salmost like you were trying to
say nice the first time and thesecond time you're like, okay,
like get it Go ahead.

Josh Hall (52:55):
Oh guys, this is awesome.
Well, I tell you what whileyou're both here, if you want to
hang out with me, either one ofyou have to go, feel free.

Alexia Lynn (53:02):
I don't have a job to go to Right.

Josh Hall (53:04):
Alexi is free to burn now, yeah me.

Ben Forred (53:06):
My boss suddenly doesn't really care what I do
for the next half hour yeah same.

Josh Hall (53:14):
So Dylan is about to go to his first B&I meeting so
he posted about what he shouldexpect on BNI groups.
Ben you, uh, you've got someBNI experience.
Any advice?

Ben Forred (53:25):
I've been in BNI for the since January and my
chapter has got about 35 peoplein it and, um, you show up and
the premise is you've got awhole bunch of people who have
their own networks and if theyget to know you then your
message all of a sudden isamplified like exponentially.
But that does not happen orlike automatically.

(53:49):
The first few months I was inBNI I just like hit what they
call the one on, ones where youjust meet with people outside of
the BNI meeting and get to knowthem.
I just did a ton of those,probably three, four a week,
just meeting people for coffeeor lunch and getting to know
them and what they do.
And I think the best BNI adviceI got was actually from somebody

(54:12):
here in pro where they saidlike when you join there will be
a period of time before you doyour first presentation and
officially you know, talkthrough what you do as a, as a
group.
You're like before you get tothat, meet with everybody in the
group and shut up aboutyourself.
Unless asked, like it was, itwas your.

(54:33):
You should learn everything youcan and if you can send
referrals to people, then startsending them.
Learn everything you can.
And if you can send referralsto people, then start sending
them.
And then when you get thechance to get up in front of
everybody and say I'm Ben andthis is what I do, they'll know
what's going on.
And if you've already helpedthem steal some business or help
them with some leads much morelikely to have them take what

(54:54):
you're saying and run with itand then future one-on-ones
after that are a lot moreproductive.
Yeah, I know I was just going tosay.
I think the biggest thing withBNI is like think about what you
, what you would ask anotherbusiness owner to listen out for
when they're doing their thing,so that they know what to tune

(55:15):
their ear to, to refer you.
So, like with my one-on-ones,I've started just saying, hey,
if you're talking to somebodyand they say X, Y or Z, you
should think of me right awayand just say, hey, I know a guy
that you could talk to and givehim my number and that's all you
have to do.
And, um, that's just doing.
That has really changed thingsaround for me.

Josh Hall (55:38):
Yeah, you will learn, dylan, anyone who does BNI or
networking groups.
You'll learn how to become morereferable, which, by the way,
everything you learn in pro andjust being a web designer is
going to translate to every areaof your life, no matter where
your career takes you for years,which is really exciting.
I know one thing I learned inmy networking group, like the

(56:05):
biggest.
If I had one piece of advicewith networking, it's to not
view the people in the group aspotential customers, but it's
who they know and who's in theirnetwork who could be potential
customers.
And that's the best way to sell, because there's no pressure
for you to feel like you need tosell to people right there.
You just offer what you do, whoyou serve, where your expertise
is be referable and then askthem about In your network.
Do you know anyone who needswebsites and suddenly they're

(56:26):
going to feel much more open torefer you and, by the way, they
probably need a website at somepoint.
So indirectly selling withnetworking groups is gold,
because there's low pressure.
There's no hard sellingdirectly.
You just offer your advice,look like the expert and you
will get leads from those peopleand people they know.
That's my biggest takeaway withnetworking and, alexia, you've

(56:51):
done some in-person networkingright.
You're doing a lot of workshoppresentations which are amazing.

Alexia Lynn (56:57):
So I was actually in a BNI for my mom's cleaning
business back a few years agoand so I still have connections,
like the guy that I was talkingabout earlier in the call.
Like I was just thinking abouthim and all of a sudden he's
like hey, can you sub for me atBNI?
And then I get a chance to goback into the old BNI group that
I was, which has changeddramatically.
It changes all the time.
But one piece of advice that Iwould give as somebody who was

(57:20):
really shy in going to in-personnetworking was it's okay to
slip up, it's okay to makemistakes, it's okay to get up
there and be talking in front ofpeople and completely forget
what you're saying, like these.
A lot of these people,especially in my bni group, were
so supportive of like newbiesyou know what I mean like
because they all went throughthe thing where it's like

(57:41):
they've gotten up there, they'reso like nervous and tense and
and so they know what thepressure is like.
But it just gets easier overtime, like even um, public
speaking and some things likegetting up there and doing the
workshops that I do.
I wouldn't have been able to dothose things if I hadn't been
in bni for like a year, becauseI got used to getting up in
front and talking andconversating with strangers to

(58:06):
talk about their stuff.
So I would say like, even ifyou feel pressure and you're an
introvert, like it's okay andit's okay to mess up, mess over
your words, just like kind ofpause and then restart and
people, it's not as a big dealas you think it is.
And I just want to put that outthere, cause I know a little
bit about Dylan's personalityand he's more introverted.
So yeah, yeah.

Josh Hall (58:26):
And that's such a good point.
I remember, um uh, jeremy, whowas a founding member of pro.
He's on pro currently, but hisfamous story was he went to a
BNI group and was just petrified, introvert, you know, like
really had to get out of a shellto go there.
He sits down and sits next tothis gal and she's she turns to
him and she's petrified andshe's like it's my first time,

(58:47):
what should I expect?
I'm so nervous, and he's likeit's my first time.
I'm so nervous.
That led to I think it was likea sixteen thousand dollar group
of projects for that one leadthat he met right there they
were, were both nervous and bothfirst-timers.
So you just never know.
You just never know who you'regoing to meet and how it's going
to go down.
So I hope that helps anyonewho's getting into networking

(59:09):
B&I regardless.
Well, ben, oh, go ahead, goahead.
Lexi.

Alexia Lynn (59:13):
I was going to say also do there are
extracurricular activities thataren't just in BNI, like going
out for drinks or going out forthat stuff.
That's where you make realconnections, because people see
you in like not just this, it'skind of.
It's kind of like what we did atpro, like at the pro con.
It's like, hey, when we went tothe bar and had like drinks
there or whatever, you get toknow people in a better way and
you build trust and rapport withpeople.

(59:34):
That's not just getting upthere for 30 seconds and telling
your thing.
So building relationships andconnections are worth more in
the long run than just trying toget quick sales.

Josh Hall (59:45):
Yeah, absolutely yeah .
And to your point earlier,alexia, with Pro, I wanted to
say I really appreciate yousharing the connection piece of
Pro and how hard that is toreplicate which is community.
And it's interesting becauseit's one of those things where,
just like in a networking group,it's hard for us in pro or BNI
to say if you come here, youwill meet this person and you

(01:00:08):
will hit it off with this person.
It's those kind of organicexchanges that I'm pretty sure
these people are going to hit itoff.
But then when it actuallyhappens, that's where the gold
is.
So that's the beauty aboutnetworking it's a group of
people.
Anytime there's a group ofpeople, you just never know
what's going to happen.
But when the magic?

Ben Forred (01:00:29):
hits.
It's freaking awesome.
That's because people at BNIare there explicitly to make
money.
There's a guy in my BNI groupthat whenever it's his turn to
stand up and and say what BNImeans to him, he's always like
I'm not here to make friends,I'm here to make money.
And then he just kind of sitsdown and it's like oh, that's
actually why all of us should behere.
And you know, it's, it's.

(01:00:52):
It's true, you're representingyour business and you go out to
the bar and you you have drinksor appetizers or whatever.
That's different, like nowyou're.
Now you're having, you'remaking friends, you're talking
about how's the family, what'sgoing on, but when you're in
that meeting the, you're thereto make money.
Yeah, and that's, andeverybody's on the same page.

(01:01:14):
That's the nice thing.

Josh Hall (01:01:16):
Well, guys speaking to be on the same page, this was
awesome.
I really appreciate.
Ben, thank you so much forpopping up impromptu.
Alexia, huge congrats again,everyone.
Yeah, give some.
Uh, give us.
Give a round of applause foralexia, who just went full-time,
and a round of applause for bentoo, for, yeah, you know, being
well eight, almost nine monthsover nine months now we still

(01:01:40):
got food.

Ben Forred (01:01:41):
We still got food in the cabinet.

Josh Hall (01:01:42):
There's still food in the cabinet Huge win.
But yeah, no, I'm super proud.
I'm pumped for both of you guys.
I might end up repurposing this, if you're down with it,
because this was such a goodchat.
If you guys enjoyed this typeof thing for the coaching call,
let me know, Cause I'm we'regoing to do more of this kind of
stuff.
Um, I want to switch up thecoaching calls a little bit,
make them more conversationaland more like this, a little

(01:02:03):
more impromptu and just drillinginto certain subjects.
Um, so I'm really, I'm reallyexcited to to continue to take
this to the next level.
But, yeah, this is great guys.
So super proud of both of you.
Thank you for both of yourinsights on this.
So loved it, Thank you so much.

(01:02:24):
Well, I hope you enjoyed thatone, my friend.
Again, we do this kind of thingevery week in Web Designer Pro
in the coaching tier, where youcan come up for one-on-one hot
seats or little mini groupcoaching sessions, like you
heard here today.
So I hope to see you in WebDesigner Pro Again.
Join the community tier andthen you will be notified as
soon as coaching spots open upso you can join in on the fun,
get access to these weekly callsand have 24-7 direct message

(01:02:47):
access to me for personalizedcoaching.
For the show notes for thisepisode go to joshhallco, slash
395.
You'll have links there toBen's website, Alexia's website
and you'll be able to connectwith them there.
So go to joshhallco, slash 395for more.
Again, huge thanks to both Benand Alexia for allowing me to
repurpose this for you publicly.
I truly, truly, truly hope thishelps give you a good idea of

(01:03:09):
what it takes leading up to andafterwards and going full time.
So cheers, my friend, and Ihope to see you in Web Designer
Pro and I hope to be able tofeature you maybe on the podcast
as the next success story whenyou take your web design
business full time.
Cheers, my friend.