Marsha Lindsey’s business Findable Design offers website therapy

Findable Design LLC was born in 2012. Through it I offer small business owners web and graphic design services. On the general design side this includes logos and branding, print brochures, business cards, fillable forms and banners for social media. For the web I specialize in custom WordPress websites, aIso helping people who have sites on peer platforms. Other services include monthly maintenance and website reviews. In addition I do a fair amount of coaching and “hand-holding” to educate my clients and help those I refer to as “recovering do-it-yourselfers.”

This is my third career. My first was in horticulture, working in retail, mail order, and landscaping, also serving as the propagator for my own collectors’ nursery. Along the line were stints doing bookkeeping, illustration, hotline counselor and as a seamstress.

My second career was as a gift buyer for Powell’s Books. While at Powell’s I made the decision to follow the dream of supporting myself creatively. This led to going back to school to finish my degree, yielding a BS in Graphic Design with a Minor in Time Arts for web and multimedia. I decided to focus on the web because it could be done from anywhere and I wanted to be able to travel. I began working remotely with clients via Zoom and phone several years before Covid hit.

Early on, I participated in a networking group exercise where we were to create our elevator phrase (as opposed to pitch), choosing 2-3 words which best condensed down what we do. The objective was for the phrase to be intriguing and lead the listener to say “Please tell me more.” This is how my job title of “website therapist” came to be, allowing my combined creative, counseling and technical skills to help small businesses.

Something I count as a success is a large percentage of my work comes to me via referral or is with repeat clients. The relationships I have with my clients are very important to me. In many respects they are my teachers because they all have different needs, ways of expressing themselves

and reaching their own clients. It’s my job to make the websites I create reflect these differences. Jackie and I have a unique relationship in that I originally came to her for coaching and ended up, among other things, redoing her website. She continues to serve as a mentor for me.

Takeaways: Networking, referrals, and listening to clients

In the past, networking has been an important source of new clients. Many of my favorite groups no longer exist, and Covid has changed the dynamics. Current challenges include the development of new sources of clients, as well as new services to offer to them. I used to blog regularly with informative pieces and may revive this practice. It’s been suggested I consider teaching. We’ll see what the future brings.

I think one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned is the importance of listening to your client. In the beginning, I had a few projects where the client and I were “butting heads”, disagreeing on how to present something on the website. By listening and responding accordingly it led the projects to turn out better and more authentic to the client. I think this has been the key to having loyal clients.

Need website therapy? Visit Marsha’s website to learn more:

https://findable-design.com

Read other success stories on Jackie’s wisdom blog.