Creative Law Shop® Customer Highlights: Paige Brunton
Keep reading for an inside look at how creative entrepreneur Paige Brunton avoided the 9-5 grind and created an online business that worked for her.
Today we are featuring accomplished business owner and Squarespace designer, Paige Brunton! Paige Brunton has built her business to work for her at any time, and all around the globe. A couple of months ago, I got to speak with Paige on the Online Business Besties podcast, found here. Paige had such valuable advice for business owners on the podcast, and today she is answering even more questions, from how she has adjusted to a changing industry, to how her online courses can help clients create the job of their dreams.
Name: Paige Brunton
Company Name: Paige Brunton
Industry: Online education, found here & Squarespace website design
Years in Industry: 4
Location: Hannover, Germany
Website: paigebrunton.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paigebrunton/
How did you get started in the industry?
Back in college, I decided to start a travel blog for fun. The good news was I knew how to travel, the bad news was I was completely clueless on how to build a website for my blog. So I did what everyone does, and Googled “how to start a blog”. It was then I found out about the website-building platform Squarespace and fell head over heels in love. It was the first time I felt like I could actually take the picture of what I wanted in my mind and put it onto a website page!
Still in college, between lectures and tailgates, I started a Squarespace web design side hustle. I truly enjoyed playing around with the design of my site just as much as I like to blog about travel, so I figured, “instead of redesigning my site for the zillionth time for fun, why don’t I build sites for others and get paid in the process?”
Fast forward to graduation, I hopped on a 1-way flight to Germany to be with my then German boyfriend (now fiance). Lucky for me, I had already worked with clients and been bringing in income from my web design side hustle in college, so after graduation I began running my web design business as my full-time job.
I now teach 2 courses on how to build a fabulous Squarespace site and how to build a successful Squarespace web design business from my laptop as I digital nomad around the globe and travel.
What industry changes have you seen since you began? How have you adjusted to those changes along the way?
The biggest change that’s happened since I began is that Squarespace has grown in popularity. The myth that ‘you’ll only do well SEO-wise if you have a WordPress site’ is slowly dying and people are more and more frequently moving over to Squarespace to build their site.
It seems that people are so over tech nightmares, coding issues, and confusing plugin problems, so Squarespace has been gaining greatly in popularity as it offers a website-building experience people actually - dare I say it - enjoy!
For me adjusting to this issue meant I really needed to switch my business offerings to a more scalable option. Though it seemed like a far-off dream when I started, I quickly booked out my web design calendar and then started booking clients months in advance. It was a wonderful problem to have, but regardless, still a problem. I knew I couldn’t dream of meeting the demand with my 1:1 Squarespace web design services, so I was presented with basically 2 options, become a web design agency or build an online course.
I decided to go with the latter and built my course Square Secrets. It’s the most comprehensive, advanced, and popular Squarespace course out there! It teaches all the lesser-known hacks & secrets to using the Squarespace platform which took me years to learn, that even many designers still don’t know! Basically, it enables complete web design newbies to build a Squarespace site that’s a perfect reflection of their business and which they’re super proud to show off, with the help of a Squarespace expert from start to finish.
Before as a 1:1 custom site designer, I could help maybe 20 clients a year. Now, I’ve helped over 500 business owners launch a site they love with my course!
Are there any mistakes you made early on in your business that you learned from/ what taught you the biggest lesson when you began your business?
Ohhhh yes, so many! My biggest fail? My ‘birthday sale’. I was in month 2 full-time in my web design business and was trying to find a way to increase bookings. I offered a sale on my services in honour of my birthday and got not a single sale! (How’s that for a birthday present?)
The truth is, I had no marketing game plan really. I was launching a sale to an empty room and hadn’t yet learned the power of an email list and putting your offers directly in front of the people who are genuinely interested in them.
With time, I learned how to create content that attracted site visitors who needed info on my topic of expertise and then built an email list of people who were highly interested in what I have to offer. Now, I can send 1 email and drive a flood of sales.
Basically, I learned that giving away free content is the best way to build an extremely profitable online business! (Unexpected, right?!) And that email marketing (not Instagram) is the #1 way to drive sales.
What advice would you give to another entrepreneur in the creative industry?
If you want to be the Queen (read: leader) of your industry, give your expertise away for free with genuinely useful, valuable content.
Choose the format of the content (YouTube, blog, podcast, webinars, live videos, etc.) that works best for you, and then produce it consistently.
Free content is the best way to make an exceptional impact and income.
When I look at the true leaders in many different fields I’ve consistently found that the ones who have all the dreamy clients headed right to them, the ones who others in the industry are girl-crushing on, the ones who are generating unbelievable revenue, and the ones who are considered to be the go-to expert in their field, they all produce quality content!
What was the biggest quantum leap you made in your business?
Honestly, I’d say setting myself up for success by creating an environment that is conducive to getting serious work done has been one of the best things I did for myself and my business.
I spend months in digital nomad hotspots around the world when I really want to get work done. The 3 months I spent in Bali was without a doubt the time I was able to make the biggest quantum leap in my business.
In Bali, you’re set up perfectly to be productive. You don’t need to worry about cleaning your house (villa), cooking (eating out is so inexpensive), or doing laundry (it’s often included as a service in villa rentals), and you’re surrounded by other successful digital nomads at coworking spaces who are all determined and getting work done too.
So if you’re looking to make a quantum leap in your business too, I’d really suggest setting yourself up for success too! Authors go on ‘writing retreats’ for a reason because when you remove yourself from the distractions of everyday life, that’s when you’re able to get into your genius zone, knock out some serious work, and make some serious strides forward in your business!