Podcast S3:E5 Magnetic Websites with Kerstin Martin

You can connect with the brilliant and wise Kerstin over on Instagram or on her website!

Show notes:

In this episode I talk to Kerstin Martin, a Squarespace expert and educator about making the most of your website.

Kerstin believes in a heart-centered approach to business: providing great service and delivering high quality content and training. She has designed and launched over 80 websites and is the creator of the Eule Planner, an analog planner specifically designed for digital entrepreneurs.

You can find out more about Kerstin on her website www.kerstinmartin.com and follow her on Instagram @kerstinmartin

This podcast is presented by Ellie McBride from Calibrated Concepts. It was produced by Emily Crosby Media.

Transcript:

(Please note that this is computer generated and therefore imperfect).

Ellie: [00:00:00] Welcome to the capable collective podcast. He plays for women who want to ditch the overwhelm and learn to run their business with ease. I'm your host, Ellie McBride. And I firmly believe that as women and non-binary folks, we work best as a collective. So together with my. We are sharing the tools, systems and ethos behind a simple yet thriving business.

This season, we will be talking all about making great content from your website to social media. My guests and I are here to help you create content that attracts and engages your audience episodes drop on alternate Wednesdays. So make sure to subscribe, to catch everyone ready to dive in. Kirsten Martin is a leading Squarespace expert and an online business educator who helps [00:01:00] service providers simplify their business tech so they can focus on working with their clients.

Kirsten also publishes the popular ULI planner and analog business planner, specifically designed for digital entrepreneurs as an HSP and empath Kirsten's approach to teaching and running an online business is calm and gentle with a focus on delivering high quality content, service and training. She advocates and practices, kindness, integrity, and inclusivity.

Kirsten is originally from Germany and lives in the Pacific Northwest with her American husband and fluffy gray cat. So today we have Kirsten Martin and Kirsten is a Squarespace expert. You'll have already heard the full bio, but I am just really excited to have her here with me. I've been on her newsletter for.

Um, and she has so much expertise to share with.

Kerstin Martin: Hello. Hey Ellie it's so great to be here, you know, and, uh, I, [00:02:00] I really loved when I, uh, I came across you, when someone on my Instagram shared about you and I, you know, looked you up and us all, she is a person I need to be connected with, you know, so I was really happy when you reached out to me about the podcast.

Thank you.

Ellie: No, it's really good to have you here. So are you ready for the rapid.

Kerstin Martin: Uh, I think so. Yeah.

Ellie: So where are

Kerstin Martin: you from? So I'm originally, as you can tell by my accent from Germany, from cologne in Germany, but I did the opposite to you. I live in the U S now, uh, and I live in Bellingham and Washington, which is about two hours north of Seattle, about an hour south of Vancouver.

Um, before. So we're only 20 minutes away from the Canadian board actually, which has been closed Ava at the moment, you know, unfortunately. Yeah.

Ellie: But BC is

beautiful, so

nice

and non COVID times to just kind of [00:03:00] nip over there.

Kerstin Martin: Oh, I love Vancouver. I used to live in Vancouver in my twenties, and I still have a lot of friends up there actually.

Um, so I haven't actually seen any of my friends in like a year and a half. And, uh, but this area is just so beautiful. Even here, you know, I live in a seaside town, so we are on the ocean here too. And, uh, we have islands and we have a volcano in our house. Volcano. I call it, you know, which you know, from Oregon, you might have.

Uh, you used to that too. And, um, yeah, it's just a beautiful part of the world. I have to say.

Ellie: I know I miss, I miss home all the time. There's nothing like, quite like the Ireland is beautiful. Like I, I visited Ireland many, many times before I moved here. I do love it. Yeah. But there's something so magical about the Pacific Northwest and the outdoor culture that kind of goes along with it there.

Kerstin Martin: Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's really special. I have to say, you know, although I'm a see Europe, you know, so I [00:04:00] know, I mean, I lived in England for 16 years, you know, and that I still consider that very much my home. And, uh, and, and I miss that a lot as well. So what kind of nomads, right? I know

Ellie: people who've chosen to have.

Split into multiple places.

Kerstin Martin: Yes, exactly. Yeah.

Ellie: So what are your preferred pronouns

Kerstin Martin: she

and her?

Ellie: And when did you start your business in 2015?

Kerstin Martin: Yeah. So six years ago, almost six years ago. Yeah.

It's wild. How fast time flies. Cause I'm coming up on my four year mark. I'm just like how, when

Ellie: I know, I know it's crazy and I'm, and that's actually one of your know, how did you start your business?

Kerstin Martin: So I'm totally an accidental entrepreneur actually. Um, you know, so we, six years ago we were moving from the UK. You know, to Bellingham and, uh, the idea of us for me to, or the plan was for me to get, to get another job, you know, to get a new job. And, um, [00:05:00] but in the transition, I designed a website for a friend of mine, for her business.

Uh, not been dabbling with a web design forever. You know, I've been a blogger since 2005 and I was always redesigning websites. You know, it's like web design has always been my creative outlet and I discovered Squarespace in 2008 and, uh, softening using them actually at that point for quite a few years.

And so it did have a website on Squarespace and it was a huge success. It actually changed her business overnight, which was the main. And so I thought, oh, okay. That was fun. Why don't I become a better designer instead of looking for a job? And so I did, you know, we landed here in Bellingham. I, um, I actually rented an, um, offsite office for the first year, which was the best decision I could've made because it puts me in a business community, you know?

So there were [00:06:00] lots of other businesses in that building. And also in that part of town, So I really became embedded in that business community and that's how I got clients. And, um, so that was actually a, really, a really good idea. I used to savings to do that, you know, to pay for the office rent. And, um, that was one of the best investments I've actually made.

So, and that's, that's how it all started.

Amazing. And what if you don't mind me asking, what did you do before you guys moved to.

Oh, well, I did a lot. I have,

Ellie: I, you

Kerstin Martin: know, it's actually funny because it's only now looking back that I realized I've actually always been an entrepreneur at heart because I've had many jobs, you know, I've always wanted to travel.

So I've worked for the airlines for many years, have a full of tons. That was a flight attendant. I worked at Heathrow airport. You know, I worked in that town office, which is where I got into technology. And also I worked with reservation systems. [00:07:00] Then I was headhunted by an it company. So I worked as a project management it for a while.

And, um, then I got into corporate sales and then when we moved in, then I met my husband, who is American. We moved to America. Then I've worked for college here as a secretary for the German department, you know, for Amherst college in, uh, in Massachusetts. And, um, Uh, then I managed a hotel and then I moved back to Germany where I became the registrar of an international school.

And just before we moved here. Um, so then we moved also to England again for a little while. Um, this was always because of my husband's company, you know, they kept relocating us. Uh, so in England I was a travel agent actually, before, before we decided we actually decided our, we had what we called our radical rethink because this company was next one to move us to Asia.

And [00:08:00] we always wanted to come to the Pacific Northwest. That was always our dream to live here. So we decided, uh, so we went England and they were going to move us to Asia and we thought, you know, That's it, you know, but then we want to like be the master of our own fate here. And so we both could our jobs and took the modest savings that we had and relocated ourselves back to, uh, America.

And, um, yeah, the rest, as they say is history. So I've done a lot of different things and, um, you know, so I've always been very customer focused in art. I've always loved working with people. And I've always loved technology, you know, so always use technology to improve and streamline processes. And, uh, my employers always loved that because every job I had, I always left in a far better shape than what I found.

But yeah, once I kind of had, you know, uh, you know, put things in order. I will ready for the [00:09:00] next project. You know, that's kind of why I moved around, but I always sold. It's interesting because I always also felt a little, oh, something wrong with me because if I cannot stick to one career path and I always felt a little jealous of like doctors and lawyers, because they have such a straight line, you think from the outside anyway, you know, straight away.

But now I realize that was actually all a good thing because all of this really, you know, merged into becoming an entrepreneur. I think this is why it was in a way so easy for me to do this because I had all that experience. So I just really fell into this. And, and I I've been profitable from, from, from day one, really, you know, so, um, Yeah, so it's kind of nice, you know, how it all came, came together at last.

Ellie: That's amazing. [00:10:00] There's so many little points there. You did so much work and so many different industries. And so you had all that experience to draw on in creating your own business, but then you obviously had the resilience of like, you had to start your career essentially over and over and over again.

And so entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. And so you had kind of. The guts, I guess, to just like, do that, um, along with all of your experience as a blogger and such, which is really, really cool.

Kerstin Martin: I mean, I think in a way, I mean, I have to say the internet is amazing. Uh, and uh, I mean, I, in on to be honest, I also look at my own mother, you know, she was actually the first entrepreneur in our family, in her sixties, you know, and because of the internet.

Um, when she retired, you know, she always worked in, uh, you know, for four companies and when she retired, she always loved books. She always wanted to have a bookstore, you know, but she was a single mom of three kids. It just never [00:11:00] quite happened, you know? And, but she was passionate about books. And so she started an Amazon bookstore and her living room was her bookstore.

I mean, she had a whole huge wall full of books. Uh, she had go to flea markets and people would also give her books like, you know, someone passed away that whole collection would always go to Oola, you know? So for 10 years before she passed away, she ran a very successful Amazon bookstore. I always think that's amazing, you know, and it's, it's really why I always say, you know, it's never too late to, to reinvent yourself and, um, you know, and to do something that you're really passionate about.

Ellie: I love that. I love that so much. So speaking about what you're really passionate about, what do you love about your work and about what

Kerstin Martin: you do? Oh, many things. Um, I, I mean, I obviously love that design, you know, I'm, I'm very passionate about design, not, I was never sure in the past, you know, but I really want to [00:12:00] do it.

It's, it's one thing to be, have a passion and to enjoy it for yourself. But to actually do it for other people, you know, CA can be a little tricky, but I have to say was back design. That was never really an issue because I think I developed my own style and that's what people were drawn to. So I have never really had a lot of, um, friction with my clients, you know, who would say, oh, they wanted something completely different.

Because they knew kind of what they were getting when they came to me and they liked it, you know, they, they were drawn to it. So I was able to, to design, you know, still in my, in my own kind of signature style, if you want, you know, obviously make it, you know, customize it for the client in also that's unique to them, but yeah.

You know, so being able to actually, uh, design professionals. It was amazing, but I also love teaching, um, in my, um, professional life, I have actually ran workshops a lot in all, like in my [00:13:00] corporate career. I used to be a workshop facilitator and I always really enjoyed that. And I always loved the idea of being an expert at something.

So I became a Squarespace expert because I love Squarespace and have been using them for a long time. I was on version five. I was still out. Yeah. I still remember version five to be an expert in something that I love doing is fantastic. I still get to work with people which I really enjoy. Uh, I also love, of course the entrepreneur lifestyle allow.

I mean, I work a lot, you know, so let's not a friend of mine once said you can either work eight hours for someone else or 24 hours for yourself, you know, and that's kind of true, but I love the flexibility. I, I really love the flexibility and freedom because if it's, you know, like today is a beautiful day.

So if I want to go for bike ride along the sea this afternoon, I can, you know, unless I have an appointment, of [00:14:00] course, but I have that flexibility. Of course, because I don't do one-on-one work anymore. Um, so I sell my courses at any point in also my business was still taking a loan and, um, you know, but I wouldn't have been able to do this, like in the first year of offering online courses, I don't think, you know, because I had to build it up to the point where it is now.

Uh, you know, I've been doing it for almost a month. For five years. I've been teaching online. Now I used, I did both for a long time in our one-on-one and courses. Um, but now it is at a point where I can do that. I can step back for a little bit and, and my business doesn't fall apart. So that is really what I love about it.

You know, it's just the freedom and the flexibility, which I know you completely understand. Definitely.

Ellie: Yeah, on the back of I'm on the back end of having just gone to America for six weeks and totally like I did very, very light work while I was there. I outsourced almost [00:15:00] everything in my business. And aside from the two web design projects I had while I was over there for six weeks.

But

Kerstin Martin: even there, you know, that's the beauty of that too. So even if you still have work, but you can be wherever you want to be, so you can still travel, you know, I mean, there's really a magic to that. You know, that, that is, I mean, there's a lot of crap on the internet these days, unfortunately, but, uh, but I really like.

Fall for how it has enabled so many of us to, to create this kind of lifestyle. So,

Ellie: yeah. Yeah. And I think that as we become a more global society, right. I probably, if I, if it weren't for the way the world is, I wouldn't have probably married my husband because while we met on Tinder, so let's start with.

Kerstin Martin: I met my husband online on a dating site too. And I love that. Yeah.

Ellie: And then we wouldn't have been able to keep in touch doing distance very well if it weren't for theater net. And then I moved here and was like, yeah, I need to be able to go home more. This is hard. And so I started a [00:16:00] business. So talking about how we make it a little bit easier.

I want to talk about what help you have in your

Kerstin Martin: business. I mean, I do do a lot of, a lot myself. I have to say, you know, but of course having systems and technology in place helps me do that, you know? And, uh, so when I started out, obviously using Squarespace is a, is an easy to use platform. Uh, so I, you know, I've had my own Squarespace website for ages.

And then also when I did one-on-one work, I very, uh, I was an early adopter of 17 hats, which is, uh, like and tiny books. You know, there there's a lot of other cysts, but they were kind of the first ones back then, you know, who, um, to help you with your client manager. So I automated a lot of stuff. You know, contracts, quotes.

I had workflow set up in there, um, for communications and it really made managing stuff very easy. And, uh, [00:17:00] I, I loved it. Uh, I also, at the time that my bookkeeping through 17 hats, you know, they have bookkeeping feature. Yeah. So I probably, I think in my second or third year, I did hire a contractor to help me with, uh, websites in the background.

And also he did a lot of like the making sure that all the loose ends were tied up, you know? And, um, he helped a little bit with CSS stuff. But I did. And still, I still do to an extent, a lot of myself and the, because I utilize. Technology, you know, and it's also why I love Squarespace because Squarespace, since the early days when they were really just a website builder, they have grown to this all in one platform.

And so I do my email marketing through Squarespace. I do my scheduling for my ask me anything. Uh, through Squarespace. I do so much, you know, through my website. It's yeah, my, my courses, you know, host all of [00:18:00] my courses on my Squarespace website always have done. And now that we have member areas, it makes it so much easier.

I used to just have a password protected page, uh, page, but now, you know, so I love that. It just makes my life a lot easier. Um, but as I have grown, that does come a point where you've very, where you can't do everything yourself, you know? So, uh, so of course, you know, for instance, on the finance side, I have an accountant and a half had an accountant from the beginning.

Uh, I do my own bookkeeping though. I tried hiring bookkeeper. But the ones that are found at the time that didn't really understand online businesses. And it was a bit of a disaster. I have to say, I tried to local people here and it really didn't work out. But then I had, so I taught myself how to use QuickBooks online.

Uh, and there's a fantastic extension called greenback. They, although they're, they're they're rebranding, [00:19:00] so they might be called something else now, decks or something. Uh, that basically pulls all the transactions from Squarespace because I sell everything through my Squarespace website. Uh, it pulls it into QuickBooks.

It separates the transaction fees for PayPal and Stripe, which was the important thing. It's perfect. I mean, my bookkeeping is it used to take me hours and now texts me minutes. Yeah. I like having that control still, you know, I mean, Probably outsource it to someone else now, but I still like doing it. So that really helped.

But I also have a studio manager now, because last year things were just getting a little too much. And I realized, you know, because I get a lot of emails and there's a lot of customer service, which has always been very important to me. Good customer service. So I, uh, it's actually a friend of mine as well.

And, uh, Shauna, you know, Uh, who listened to Scotland's and, um, and she, she's [00:20:00] amazing, you know, I mean, she does so many things for me and, uh, she helps me get organized, stay organized and keeps me on track with things. We have strategy sessions. Uh, we have weekly check-ins and she does a lot of my blog, you know, like iPhone, since I do block interviews with other entrepreneurs.

So she organizes all of that for me, which is fantastic. And, uh, she, you know, deals with my emails so that I have to say, I think when you get to a certain point, I'm always, you know, I think as, as, as a solid entrepreneur, we kind of feel. You know, working for ourselves, but, and, and I never wanted to, for instance, I always knew I didn't want to have an agency.

I didn't want to manage people. I've done that in my corporate life and I never really enjoyed it that much. And I, you know, I don't want to be a responsible, responsible for employees and. Right. Maybe one day I will change that attitudes, you know, because I can also see if you want to scale, [00:21:00] uh, which is what I'm looking at right now.

If you want to scale, you do need a team. So it's something I am considering, you know, but right now, um, just having, if you are just have a really good VA, you know, or studio manager, like. That can also go a long way. Yeah, definitely. And help a lot, you know, and then I also have Chris Schwartz, Edmiston, who is a CSS expert.

Uh, I've hired him to, to help in my group, you know, so I have a Facebook group for my students and it's great, you know, because I mean, I love CSS. I, I even had a CSS course at some point, but I also realized. You know, I love using it. I don't love teaching it. And that I'd have to say that has been, that is such a lifesaver and such a weight off of my shoulders, you know, to, uh, and I have to say my people are very good at helping each other as well, but it was just wonderful because you don't want to be the only person who does that [00:22:00] you have.

Don't do that. You know, I make sure that people are engaged with each other as well from the beginning. Yeah. And thankfully my, my students are,

Ellie: yeah. I think that's really important. I think sometimes building community online is something that I've quite struggled with, but I think. Like, it's not a nut that I've cracked, but if you do, it's really, it can be really, really helpful.

Yeah.

Kerstin Martin: So I think between using the right kind of systems in also, there's a lot of technology that can help you manage your business and then having the right kind of people in the right place. And that can really allow you to run a business, uh, in a way that it's also always a really good experience for your clients, you know, because ultimately.

For me, it's always about my clients or nowadays my students. Um, I want them to have a good experience. Absolutely.

Ellie: I think that people don't really care. If you can do a good job. I mean, obviously they want you to good do a good job, but they care how they [00:23:00] feel during the process. And if you do an amazing job of working with you is as an unpleasant experience, they're not going to refer you on.

So you have to make sure they experience. Working with you as amazing.

Kerstin Martin: I don't know. I mean, I actually have been at the other end of that in the very beginning, I hired a graphic designer, uh, to do my logo and she was someone that followed for a long time. She was a really good designer and I loved, I just loved everything she does.

And I have to say the process of working with her. It's the design didn't quite work out and she refused to get on the phone. This was actually before we had zoom. We had Skype in those days, but, uh, she just only did everything by email. And for me, when you have a bit of a touchy situation, I don't like to do that by email.

And, um, I like to speak to people then, you know, I need to speak to you at least on the phone, if you [00:24:00] don't want to do, um, video. And she just didn't want to do that. She just refused to do that. And so the whole process just fell flat at that point. And I actually then fired her and halfway through the project because it wasn't a good customer service experience for me, you know?

I mean, she is a wonderful person. She was, she's a really good designer and a graphic designer. Yeah. So I was really heartbroken because I really had wanted to work with her for so long. And, uh, but yeah, the, the customer experience completely fell flat, which is a shame, but you know, what we all learned from that, you know, I mean, I certainly learned from that too.

And, and that's what we do. We cannot be afraid, you know, to, to, to have difficult situations because you will in business. I really don't like. But I have learned that sometimes I have to, um, accept conflict and [00:25:00] I have learned to manage it. So that was probably one of the biggest lessons actually in running my own business because I now don't have a boss.

I can go to, Hey, I'm having this problem with this customer. Can you please deal with this? I can't do that. I have to deal with it now. And, um, so that's been an interesting, uh, learning experience

Ellie: and I think entrepreneurship really forces you to face yourself. Yes. If you have any outstanding drama going on inside, really gotta deal with it.

Cause it's, it will rear its ugly head in one way or another. And your business.

Kerstin Martin: Yeah. That's.

Ellie: All right. So today we're here to talk about websites and website content specifically. So tell people what it takes to have content that attracts people to their website.

Kerstin Martin: That's of course, when you want to attract people to your website, they have to find your website first.

Right. You know, so, so the it's [00:26:00] actually a step before that, but you need to create the website first, before you can address that step, which is a lot of times SEO. Uh, so I'm always very, um, passionate about, you know, you need to take care of your. But when people get to your website, you want to obviously yes.

Attract them and keep them there and make them feel, oh, this, this is what I'm looking for. There are many ways to do this, you know, as you know, I mean, there are many, you know, people have different design, ascetics, uh, different styles, but I feel that always some very basic features, you know, and, and, and pages that you need, you know, so.

Uh, my thing has always been, I want it to feel welcoming, you know, the website has to feel welcoming. The messaging has to be on point you know, so when people land, they have to feel, okay, this is addressing what, what I need. So let's have a look. [00:27:00] Let's, let's see what this person does, you know, but there's a lot to do with, um, I mean, websites are very visual and I actually feel, I mean, content is very important, but to be honest, people have such short attention spans these days.

Unfortunately. They rarely actually read everything. It can be, you know, as great as, as it can be. But if, if visually it's not presented in a, an appealing way, which is why often sales pages, I see sometimes sales pages, for instance of copywriters who are amazing at writing, but they're not amazing at presentation, you know, so they have this, this amazing content on their, on their sales pages.

But it just falls flat on the design. And so people leave because you have to grab the attention with the visuals, you know, which is the combination of, of imagery of photos using photography, um, of, uh, using styling [00:28:00] options. Um, uh, like in Squarespace, you have, we have all the different headings now that you can use and off using things like color.

You know, uh, don't have these paragraphs that are like really wide, you know, on a, on a, on a desktop screen, a website or webpage should not read like a book. My friend and fellow designer, Christie. She said it has to read more like an outline, you know, so that you have the, the highlights in there that kind of tell the story.

And actually storytelling is important in that design. Your website should tell your journey. It should tell the story. You know, so it's the combination of, um, you know, imagery of styling, the text and the content, you know, using little graphics for instances great. And visually leading people down the page so that they stay engaged, you know, and then have really clear call to action points [00:29:00] of what to do next.

You know, where to go next to find out more information, but ultimately we'll leave. To your service or your product and help people to get to know you. So, so I feel, you know, in design, the basics really is have good high quality images, have a good flow on your webpage and use styling options like headings and columns to create that.

And have your call to action points, you know, that take people, you know, through your website, you know, and then, you know, you'll be set, you know, absolutely infuse your personality. You know, don't be afraid of that. I have to say to this date, I have not had a professional photo shoot of myself. Most images of myself on my website that aren't that many, you know, uh, they are selfies or I think I have one that was taken, uh, the one on my homepage that was [00:30:00] taken as part of, you know, you know, I have this planner, I have an analog planner that myself and I did a photo shoot for the planner, but the photographer also took a couple of pictures of me.

So I'm using one of those. So I know some people really struggle with. Th they feel shy. They feel so. Don't worry too. I mean, you should have photos of yourself. Absolutely. And there should be nice ones, but you know, don't, don't worry too much about it. You can have a friend take really good iPhone photos of you.

Everything will work. You don't have to have yourself in a banner for instance. Um, but put your personality into it, you know, and, um, and make sure you have the right kind of pages at the minimum. You want your homepage. You absolutely want an about page and make the about page about you, not about your client.

That's what I see a lot, a lot of power pages all about, oh, you are here because you have this problem, this problem, this problem, and then at the bottom. Oh. And I [00:31:00] can help you with that. Doesn't work like that. I don't think I want to learn about you. I want to know who you are. What's your story? What are your credentials?

Uh, you know, why are you the right person for me? Why should I trust you? Right.

Ellie: Your blog posts on this the other day was very much kind of nail on the head where it's yeah, it is about you, but it's about why you're the right person for them.

Kerstin Martin: Exactly. Why are you, why should I trust you? You know, to help me with this problem that I have.

So you can, of course mentioned that on your, about page, you know, like here is how I help people. Here's what I help people. But really the pain points and all of those things, they should be on the services page, you know, or work with me page or, you know, whichever on your sales page, you know, that is where you go more into all the pain points you know, about about it's like online dating, you know, if you see a dating profile yeah.

Oh, are you a lonely heart? And, uh, do you feel, uh, you know, do you [00:32:00] sit alone at home, uh, in the evenings and, uh, you know, drown your sorrows and wine and cookies and, uh,

Ellie: I, I get you, I

Kerstin Martin: understand you. And, uh, let me whisk you away. I'm the prince for you and, oh my gosh, no, you haven't taught me anything about you.

You've just been some army and whatever, you know, Uh, no, that would not attract me to you. You know, I want you to tell me about you when I go to, to the about page, you know, anyway, so I'm quite, as you can tell, I'm quite passionate to fund the above page and, uh, you know, have a contact page, have a scheduling page.

If you work one-on-one. Use automation, you know, so for instance, in Squarespace use the scheduling feature, which is actually acuity. I don't find it. It's not that easy to set up. I have to say, um, I've always found acuity a little overwhelming when I first got into it. But it's very powerful [00:33:00] monster. You kind of know your way around it.

It can do so much. It's actually a really much you're right. It's, it's an amazing shadow, uh, feature. It really is. And also it's, it's. Spending that time, you know, learning it. Yeah.

And

Ellie: I think where acuity is way stronger over something like Calendly as where it can do so much more. It's not just a scheduling tool.

You can do payment plans, you can book packages, you can teach classes. Like it's a great for yoga teachers. Like I have a lot of yoga teachers that work. And it's great because they can do installments and all these other things. It's not just, I'm going to book a

Kerstin Martin: one-to-one call. Exactly. And that really is where the power is, you know, and even like, I know I have coaching clients, you know, who use acuity for their contracts in also.

That form and people have to agree to it before they make book a session, you know? So, uh, yeah, it's extremely powerful. So utilize that because you know, it, it, again, it's, it's all about automation and makes things easier, you [00:34:00] know? So for instance, uh, you know, I have this ask me anything. I don't do anything upfront.

I have my page for it. I have the book button, people book it, they pay right there. And then, so all I do is I get the email, oh, someone has booked the session, you know, and that's, you know, so I don't have to do any upfront work. You know, I don't have to do emails back and forth when there's a good time for you, you know?

Automate, whatever you can automate your should absolutely automatically you can. And you can do that on your website. I

Ellie: think when I was a tech virtual assistant, I realized a lot of people have this fear of spending money on automation tools. They get like really weirded out about spent. They're like, how much does that cost?

Because if I were to tell you what I spend on my software in my business, just software people would probably be mind boggled, but do you know how much time it seems? How much time I get to spend with my husband or out walking or out in the sun that I'm not doing admin very, very much worse.

Kerstin Martin: And it [00:35:00] also helps you grow your business because, you know, because again, it's a time-saver and it also, for the customer, it makes it really easy because the customer doesn't want to do back and forth stuff either.

You know, they just want to go, they want to do it there. And then, yeah. And you touched on something important too. The cost of doing business. I see that a lot, you know, by people really try to skimp and too, I get it. You know, if you're starting out, you know, you usually don't have a lot of money to spend.

Which is why for me, I always talk about the safety net. You know, always feel when you start out as an entrepreneur, you should have a safety net because they don't want to spend from day one all your time, worrying about making enough money, you know, to, to pay your rent and for food and all. So make sure first you have your safety net, which could either be savings and you can invest part of those savings.

For instance, in technology or a partner who has a job, or it can be a part-time job. There's various ways [00:36:00] to do this, you know, but don't skimp. There is a cost to doing business. And to be honest, running an online business, it's still a whole lot cheaper than having a brick and mortar business. I mean, a lot cheaper and there's a lot more, you can do that.

So don't, you know, do your research, you know, and, and find out what you need, but then have a budget for your technology from Deyvon make sure you have a budget for it.

Ellie: So if you were to recommend a couple of tools that would help people to have outside of here. So it would help people to have more engaging website content.

So other than Squarespace and acuity, but maybe places to find some of the images or graphics that you're talking about to kind of keep things, um, visual or any ideas of where to find. Layout ideas or things like that, that help people around that.

Kerstin Martin: So, yeah, so, I mean for, um, thankfully stock photography is great these [00:37:00] days.

It used to be very cheesy, but now like with Unsplash for instance, um, you know, we're just still my goal to, um, stock photography, uh, place actually. And, uh, I also like Getty images or I stock photo that's the, um, like the cheaper part of, uh, of. Uh, the boss built into Squarespace and also it's kind of a no brainer.

So definitely have a look at those, uh, people like to use Pinterest for visuals. I'm personally not that much of a Pinterest fan. I find it very overwhelming, but I mean, I, you know, when I design, I just designed straight on the page, actually, I don't really do much. So anything. Uh, so what I often do is I go to Unsplash or I stopped for two, I select images or an, an special, even though I can download them in Squarespace, I actually often download them to my computer first, uh, and have a folder so that I can see, you know, what spot.

And then I start putting it on the [00:38:00] webpage. And then also technology wise, there's a lot of great plugins stores, you know? So if you need an extra feature, like an accordion feature, for instance, On your website or you want to have different layouts, you know? Um, I mean, for instance, I really love where you have like a full page, you know, like an image and then a text block next to that, like a side by side layout.

And, um, you know, so there are places where you can get these, you know, there's a lot of great plugins and like my favorites are, uh, I have three favorites for that. Ghost, uh, plugins and, uh, SQS P themes. Yes. And also Chris, Chris actually has really good plugins too. So definitely have a look at that.

They're also little things, to be honest, to make, like I have this little tool in my like Chrome. I always use Chrome for design and a Chrome [00:39:00] extension. You know, so one really good promise. Extension is square websites.com. For instance, if you want a copy of websites, they make that very easy. They have also added does like, you can create tables for instance, on your webpage.

You know, they have a table feature, they have a ton of stuff and they are really, you know, certainly for designers they're really worth it. Yeah. I think it's a must have for every design. But there's another little lifted. One that I love and it's yeah. Format savor in our it's a little saver, uh, extension.

So it's just a win. So I click on it and it pops up a window. And I just have texts in there and I put my cops snippets in there that I use most often. So for instance, my horizontal lines or my a little arrows. So I have those coats snippets right in that. So I literally just go click on that button, copy and paste immediately.

[00:40:00] I don't have to go to another app or I don't have to open another window or anything. I love that, you know, it's just a little tool, you know? I mean, there's a lot of tools now. I mean, if, if, if that's the, if I mentioned that, you know, I actually have, um, a very popular toolbox page where I mentioned a lot of this stuff and, um, uh, so it's just coasting martin.com forward slash.

So, um, that is that, uh, links to all the, um, plugin stores, but there's also legal resources in there. And there are a lot of bits and pieces, you know? I mean, another thing that really helps me that I love using is, uh, I I'm on a Mac. I use apple notes. Yeah. I use that with my VA actually, you know, we just have a note with check points and that's our running conversation.

And it works great. I love it. You know, and you have folders and [00:41:00] subfolders. It's really great for organizing. It's simple though. It's very simple. I don't need all the bells and whistles for this. I don't need an Assana or that, you know, at least at this point I can see a Santa if you have a team.

Absolutely. Yeah. And I'm, I'm all about simplicity. You know, I tried a lot of those productivity tools. But ultimately I just used, you know, apple notes and, and lets my clients we'll just use Dropbox, but also, you know, important find what works for you. You know, and, and, uh, you know, and I know places like a sauna are great.

I mean, many people use them for, for reason because it's very good. That helps you get organized. I mean, you know, and for the website, you know, ultimately there is a lot you can do in Squarespace already. You know, you can actually design a beautiful website even without any plugins or without any custom.

Yeah. Just by using really stunning images and by making use of all the built [00:42:00] in design features. Definitely. So it is absolutely possible. And that's the beauty of square space. You don't actually necessarily need a lot of additional staff, you know, to create a beautiful website.

Right.

Ellie: But if you are looking for.

Visuals. We've talked about Unsplash and we've T and I personally use creative market quite a lot to find just the right thing to

Kerstin Martin: it displayed for icons and. I like also now the non-project I love that for a simple,

Ellie: I use flat icon

Kerstin Martin: a lot too. Oh yeah. That's quite too.

Ellie: Yep. And yeah. So there's places to get these graphics Canva.

Of course you can create them all in Canva.

Kerstin Martin: Forget about Canada.

Ellie: I don't think anybody, I don't think I've had a podcast episode yet that CAMBA doesn't get mentioned. Uh,

Kerstin Martin: you know, it's funny because I, when kind of first started, I used to, but I wasn't quite. I dunno, I didn't quite take to it, but partly because the PNGs [00:43:00] weren't quite as crisp as when I designed them in, um, like illustrator and, um, so I thought, ah, I don't know, but now I revisited CAMBA and they've become a lot better and now I use it all the time.

Yeah. Yeah. And I'm glad you mentioned that because, um, Canva is actually great and it's, it's, it's a really easy. To like, I do a lot in Canva now that I used to do it with CSS. And I think, well, now I can just create that image with that border and that shape, but I can just do that in CAMBA, you know? And I don't need complicated CSS code for this.

Uh, yeah. So Canva is actually a huge one. You don't have to be a graphic designer to use it either.

Ellie: No, they've got gorgeous templates and it's super easy to use even easier when you have the pro version. So you've got a little, just a little bit of time left. Tell me about your biggest win in business so

Kerstin Martin: far.

I [00:44:00] think it's actually just kind of growing my business the way it has, you know, and, and I don't know if the. There's so many little things as well, you know? So, so starting to do online courses and you know, and they've done really well. So I guess there's, you know, uh, I mean, if you look at financial terms, I mean, I'm in my fourth six-figure year.

Uh, with that, I think also being a recognized, so at Squarespace experts, you know, also with Squarespace, you know, I'm, I'm a circle leader, you know, and I talk regularly to them, you know, to have established. Ask the experts, which is something I always talked about all my life. I just want to be an expert at something.

Ellie: Yeah. And you really are like you beta tested members' areas. You do workshops in the circle for other community members like myself that are designers. It's really, really.

Kerstin Martin: Yep. So, so I think that that is it's this great. [00:45:00] And, you know, having built a really nice community, I actually still don't have a huge audience.

Um, certainly not compared to, to other people in, in our space. Uh, but it's, it's a really nice community, you know, I love my community and not just students, also, you know, fellow designers, you know, other entrepreneurs and, um, You know, I'm in a couple of mastermind groups and, um, I, I mean, I just love what I call mingling, you know?

So, so I don't know if it's a one big win, you know, about maybe one of the things also is creating a planner. You know? I mean, I, you know, I've created my own planner because I decided. I never could quite get the planner that I've wanted. So one day I thought, well, why don't I create my own amazing, hence, hence, maybe that is actually one of my biggest wins.

Um, I'm really proud of this little planet and it has a very dedicated fan base. [00:46:00] Now it's not a huge thing at first thought, oh, I I'll. I had all these ideas for creating a planet business, but I also realized actually, I don't want to have a retail. So I just print a very limited edition of this every year, because I have these fans of the yearly planner, but you know, it's not something that will ever grow to something really big, right.

You're not going to be

Ellie: in all the bookshops and non-Amazon and all the places I'm

Kerstin Martin: not, I'm not. You know, because I, I did try, I did talk to . Uh, I did actually talk to someone there a few times, um, because I wanted to see if they would take it on and as part of their range and they were interested, but it wasn't quite the right time, you know?

So, um, and that's fine, you know, I figured, well, I tried, I tried to go big with it. Uh, it didn't work out and that's okay. Because I think that also made me really. Actually, I don't want to have a retail [00:47:00] business. You know, I prefer to do online services. I love online courses. You know,

Ellie: what would you say has been your biggest mistake or learning experience and running?

Well,

Kerstin Martin: I mean, you, you, you make mistakes, you know, and, and, um, I think definitely, but I don't know if that mistakes really, you know, I think they're just, you make decisions, uh, which at the time you don't really know that they're not going to go work out. So for instance, experience I had with the graphic designer also, um, you know, having a couple of times I fired clients because.

Uh, they were not a good fit and, uh, they, they did not respect my process, you know, so I learned a lot about setting boundaries, actually, you know, so maybe the mistake I have made is that I try to spread myself too thin. Uh, I try to say yes, more than I should do or have done, you know, um, because I like to [00:48:00] help people.

So that is something that I've, I've had some hard lessons around saying. When I should have said no. So now I have a bit more awareness around that, you know, and, and boundaries, boundaries, you know, as a business owner are so important,

Ellie: I feel like in a way that brings us sort of full circle, because one of the easiest ways to set boundaries is to use a scheduler.

So you only take calls at a specific time. Yes, that's right. That and removing. Your inbox from your phone, your emails from your phone and only checking them when you're at your desk.

Kerstin Martin: Oh, I know. I know. I know you have to set love boundaries with yourself, you know? And so yes, I know that that's, that's great.

I love that.

Ellie: And are you working on anything exciting right now?

Kerstin Martin: I am actually, yes. Um, because I'm always, um, right now I'm looking at how can I scale my business, you know, because one thing, and this might be interesting for some people in your audience who are looking at maybe [00:49:00] productizing more, you know, who are maybe looking at offering online courses, for instance, when you don't have a huge audience yet, you know, because one thing I've realized is because my audience isn't that.

I can sell to my audience. I have to keep creating new products, you know, because you exhaust that tool at some point of available customers. And that's basically what I've done for the last few years. I've created new courses every year and my existing audience buys them and which is great, you know, thank you.

So I really appreciate that. I have a very loyal customer base, actually, which, which is nice. So I am looking at, you know, scaling, I'm looking at things like evergreen funnels. One thing that I'm doing as for next year, I'm really going to simplify, um, what I offer and now we know teaching Squarespace, um, because Squarespace have now adopted this iterative design approach where they make changes all the time.

It constantly changes. Yeah. I know. Which is really not easy as a, as an [00:50:00] educator to keep up with, you know, so. I used to update my courses that needed updating like twice a year, but now I find that doesn't work anymore. So I'm actually reworking what I do. And I you're the first one where I'm going to mention it.

Um, I will launch a new program next year, called simple start and simple start is all about helping, uh, new business owners, uh, service providers, especially. Uh, for instance culture. So just out of coaching school and, oh, I need a website. I need a website. I don't know where to start. I don't know what to do.

So in simple start, uh, I will, um, you know, teach you how to design your own website and also how to set up your scheduling, how to set up your email marketing, and it's going to be all integrated. Um, because Squarespace is this amazing all in one platform. So, you know, and then there will be a simple biz, which is my business course for [00:51:00] online entrepreneurs.

You know how to start and set up your business. It's all about the logistics and marketing and all that and simple scale. It's going to be actually a course that I already have. That's just going to be a rebranding, uh, about, um, how to, um, use member areas and how to create an online course. And it's the whole process from, uh, having your, you know, um, your teaser page, uh, to drum up interest, uh, to sales promotions, you know, I address the whole cycle and, uh, but simple start is going to be my, my new program.

Specifically aimed at, uh, you know, new ish business owners or people who just want to simplify the business. I am all about simplifying. So yes, that, that is, you know, if you want to remember me for anything it's yeah. Question's all about keeping things simple and streamlined and easy and enjoyable. Yeah.

That's [00:52:00] that's, let's not forget the joy in business, and that's why I like Squarespace, you know, because it's actually enjoyable using that platform. And unless, you know, they keep making changes that that's, that's a bit frustrating at times, you know, but, uh, we deal with it, you know, so. Uh, yeah. So, so watch out for that.

Uh, I have a tentative date of 2 22, 22. Oh, that's pretty cool. Because two, this is my favorite number. So I thought, I don't know if I'd be ready by then, but so it's tentative, you know, but that's, that's my goal, you know, to launch that, uh,

Ellie: amazing. Well, thank you for joining us. Tell people where they can find

Kerstin Martin: you.

On my website, that's always the best place. Kirsten martin.com and Kirsten is spelled K E R S T I N. And then M a R T I N. And then you can also find me on Instagram. I share a lot about my daily life on Instagram. It's not that business focused, actually my Instagram [00:53:00] and your flying my food journey, my weight loss journey, my weight loss journey.

And, uh, yeah. So again, Kristin Martin on Instagram, uh, those are the two best places to find me. Perfect. So I'll make

Ellie: sure those were the show notes. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing all that wisdom around your website and around business simplification and automation. Um, those are a lot of my favorite topics, so it's a really fun

Kerstin Martin: conversation for me.

Yeah. Yeah, me too. Thank you so much for inviting me. This was great. Thank you.

Ellie: Thank you for listening to the capable collective podcast. I really hope you enjoy this episode and if gotten value from it, if you did, please subscribe on your chosen listening platform. And if you happen to be listening over on apple podcasts, please take a moment to leave a [00:54:00] review. It helps other people to find and trust this podcast.

And it would mean the world to me, this episode was edited by Emily Crosby media. She's amazing to work with. And if you are looking to start a podcast or for some practical media solutions, definitely two. Thank you so much. Again, have a great day.