054. Corine Pettit: Building a Web Design Business

Today is a special day! We are kicking off a month-long student series! You’ll be hearing from four of my past students sharing their journeys from money fears, insecurities, and uncertainties to financial empowerment, freedom, and joy! Whether you consider yourself a lover of spreadsheets like today’s guest, Corine, or terrible with numbers I hope this series sheds light on how simple but transformative knowing a few key numbers in your business can be! 

When Corine took my business finance course, The Blueprint Model, she actually didn’t feel lost when it came to her numbers. An engineer by trade, she knew her way around a spreadsheet! Yet even with her savvy numbers skills, when it came to paying herself consistently, she was fearful of running out of money and overdrafting her account. She took The Blueprint Model in hopes of putting some great financial systems in place, and I’m excited for you to hear more of her story and how things have changed for her financially in today’s interview. 

WILDFLOWER SHOWNOTES : shannaskidmore.com/corine-pettit/

Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):

She hired me for a website and I charged her $600 for her website and I talked to her. We got the idea of what we wanted, and then I built the whole thing out, all of it, did it, built it, sent it over, and was like, okay, give me your feedback. And she was like, I hate it. And I was like, oh my gosh, what happened? I just panicked. She's the first person who's ever paid me and she's not happy, and I was just sick. 

Speaker 2 (00:32):

You are listening to Consider the Wildflowers the podcast episode 54. Today is a special day. We are kicking off a month-long student series. You'll be hearing from four of my past students sharing their journeys from money, fears, insecurities, and uncertainties to financial empowerment, freedom, and joy. Whether you consider yourself a lover of spreadsheets like today's guests or terrible numbers, I hope this series sheds light on how simple but transformative knowing a few key numbers in your business can be. When today's guest, Corrine took my business finance course, the blueprint model, she actually didn't feel lost when it came to her numbers, an engineer by trade. She knew her way around a spreadsheet. Yet even with her savvy number skills when it came to paying herself consistently, she was fearful of running out of money and overdrafting her account. She took the blueprint model in hopes of putting some great financial systems in place, and I'm excited for you to hear more of her story and how things have changed for her financially. 

Speaker 2 (01:23):

In today's interview, if you dig professional bios, here goes Corre. Petta is a strategic website designer for online service-based entrepreneurs, agencies, and educators who uses her strategy first approach to website design to create websites that actually convert in an era of pretty websites that just collect dust. With her unique strategic approach, Corrine designs websites that not only convert at rates that crush industry standards, but more importantly, that support and align with the unique goals of each and every client to help move their business forward without requiring more hustle In a world that wants us to do all the things when she's not five layers deep in all the strategizing, you'll probably find her in the mountains on a lake or planning her next trip to some breathtakingly scenic corner of the world. Okay, formal introductions over. Let's dive in. Hey, it's Shanna, and this is Consider the Wildflowers, the podcast. 

Speaker 2 (02:13):

For the past 15 plus years, I've had the honor to hear thousands of stories from entrepreneurs around the world. As a former Fortune 100 financial advisor turned business consultant, I have a unique opportunity to see the real behind the highlight reel. I'm talking profit and loss statements, unpaid taxes, moments of burnout, and those of utter victory. Or as my husband says, the content everyone is wondering but not many are talking about. And now I'm bringing these private conversations to you. Hear the untold stories of how industry leaders, founders, and up and coming entrepreneurs got their start, the experiences that shaped them and the journey to building the brands they have today. Stories that will inspire and reignite encourage to redefine success and build a life and business on your own terms. Welcome Wildflower. I'm so glad you're here. Hi, Corrine, welcome to the show. I'm so glad you're here. 

Speaker 1 (03:01):

Hi, Shanna. Thank you for having me. 

Speaker 2 (03:03):

Well, this is really fun because thanks for being a loyal listener of the show, and I love that you've listened to every single episode 

Speaker 1 (03:12):

I have. I just love it. Your podcast is hands down, my favorite. When my phone was, I messaged you this, but for everyone listening, my phone at one point was so full, it was like delete stuff, and I went through my podcast up and cleared everything except consider the wildflowers because I just love it. So thank you for having me. 

Speaker 2 (03:31):

I'm just so excited to chat today. So for everybody listening, Karina's awesome and one of my students, we've gotten to work together, so this is just a really fun episode and I'm excited to get to know you even more. And just thank you for listening to the show. It really truly means so much. So let's just dig in, tell everybody who you are and what your current business is, and then we'll kind of kick it back to life before business. 

Speaker 1 (03:58):

So I'm Corrine Petit. I am a strategic website designer, so I work with a lot of online businesses, a lot of agencies and online educators. And my main goal is just helping these business owners create websites that actually work for them instead of just looking pretty and not really doing a whole lot because I'm a very freedom, motivated person and time motivated person. So I want to set things up so that they work well and I don't have to work as hard, so I try to do the same thing for my people, 

Speaker 2 (04:32):

People. I love that. Tell us about your background life before business. Take us back a little bit. 

Speaker 1 (04:40):

So it kind of all started in the summer of 2015. I was in graduate school, so I went to undergrad and grad school for engineering, and I loved it. I was always the person who was going to do the thing that I said I was going to do. I was going to go to college for engineering, I was going to graduate with that. I was going to have a career in that, and that's what I was going to do. I never really had a business bone in my body. And in the summer of 20 15, 2 acquaintances that would later become really good friends of mine wanted to go on a trip to South America. So during grad school in where I went to school, it's year round. So they were taking a summer trip to Peru and Ecuador for five weeks and invited me. And at the time, honestly, it's kind of embarrassing, but I probably couldn't have told you where Bar and Ecuador were. 

Speaker 1 (05:34):

I couldn't even have told you what continent they were on. I just didn't know travel wasn't a thing that I really cared about at the time. And I was like, why would I want to do that? And then they were like, let's go to Applebee's and we're going to get half price apps and margaritas for happy hour. And we do that. And then they're showing me pictures of all the things they're going to be doing. And next thing I know I'm calling my parents and I'm like, Hey guys, you think I'm going to go to South America this summer for five weeks? And then we did. And the trip was amazing. And one of the really common icebreakers among the travelers, I'm not sure why, but it's always very common to be like, Hey, where are you from and how long are you traveling for? 

Speaker 1 (06:17):

And here I am on a vacation for five weeks and I don't know anyone who's traveled for five weeks being from the us that's not really common. And we're meeting people and they ask that question and I'm like, oh, I'm traveling for five weeks. And so many people, person after person were like, oh, only five weeks. I'm traveling for five months, or I'm traveling for a year. And I was like, oh my gosh, what do you mean that's not a thing? So that was kind of a little bit of an eyeopener for me, and they kind of planted the seed a little bit, and at the time it was like, oh wow, that's really cool, but that's just not a thing you can do in the us. So I go back to grad school after the trip is over and finish out grad school, start my career in engineering, and it was the career that had I chosen and whipped it up in a little cauldron of the perfect job, that's what I would've done. 

Speaker 1 (07:18):

And pretty quickly into it, I started having a really hard time with the whole 10 days of vacation a year, having to sit in my chair until five o'clock, even if I was done working at two 30. So those things were really hard for me. And eventually it kind of all came to a head and I was like, I don't think I can do this. And the same friends I went on the trip with, they were like, let's start a travel walk. That'll be fun. And none of them could figure out the website. So I kind got put on my plate and they were like, here, figure this out. And I knew nothing about websites, so I just kind of played around with it and realized it's kind of fun and just kind did that again for fun on the side and then eventually sort of realized people that's a thing people would pay me for. 

Speaker 1 (08:09):

So I was doing that on the side for a while, and then in the end of 2018 was I ended up teaching myself enough in the website realm kind of working with some friends and family who own small businesses saying, Hey, let me build a website for you and your business if you need it for free, just give me feedback, testimonials, tell me how it goes. And then at the end of 2018, I was like, yep, okay, I'm leaving my job and doing that, not on the side anymore, doing it full time. And then that's how it all started. That's how the business started, and I've been doing it since then. 

Speaker 2 (08:50):

Oh my goodness. Okay. I love all of this so much. I love how you brought up the point that I don't know if it's a US thing or if other countries and cultures are similar or completely different, but it sounds like a lot of people I know in the US it is very work driven and that idea of five weeks of traveling being rare or not very long, how interesting that is. And even with Kyle, my husband, who also was an engineer, the idea of sitting and being finished with your work, but having to stay, I know was something that made him stir crazy as well. So how long were you in the engineering field before leaving 

Speaker 1 (09:34):

School? Itself was four years for my bachelor's, two years for my master's, so six years in at that point just in school. And then I was in my quote real girl job hub for a little bit over two years. 

Speaker 2 (09:48):

Okay. Yes. And I would love to hear, talk about leaving your full-time job. I know because I'm married to an engineer, when you leave engineering, you're leaving. It's not a path you can easily, I mean, I guess you could step back in, but I mean that's a big decision. So will you just talk about the decision of leaving and what gave you confidence to do that? What were your fears? How did you figure out your money? What did your parents say? Tell me about that transition of leaving. 

Speaker 1 (10:24):

It was terrifying. I thought about it for a really, really long time. I think I started officially doing website design on the side as a side hustle. I was doing this while in my job, obviously, and I think the overlap of side hustle until turning full-time was probably close to two years. So it was a long time of should I shouldn't I, should I shouldn't I. And one of the biggest struggles that held me back was honestly health insurance, which seems like such a, I don't know, it seems like such a minute thing. It's not like I was afraid of leaving because I was going to live in a cardboard box or something. I was afraid of losing health insurance because I was over 26. I couldn't be in my parents' plan. I was not married. And all of the plans that are out there for people that don't have employment or an employer are really expensive and they cover almost nothing. 

Speaker 1 (11:26):

So I hung onto my job for a really long time, and then I actually just kind of had a really, really big meltdown. I just kind of broke and I was like, okay, I just need to leave. I don't have health insurance, but at this point I need to just go. Actually, it was a Thursday, I remember I lost it. I was a puddle of a human on the floor, and then I called in sick Friday, and then I went in on Monday and put in my notice. So my parents and my family and friends were all so supportive. I kind of held it close to my chest, the desire to leave because I'm someone who needs to feel good in my own decisions before I share them with other people, because if people are skeptical or looking out for your best interest, I can get discouraged by that. 

Speaker 1 (12:19):

So I really didn't tell a whole lot of people that I was going to do that or thinking about doing it, but the ones I did were so much more supportive than people tell you they will be. I just have such a good support system. So I was so grateful for that. And then once I actually did quit, then I was a little more comfortable being like, okay, this is what I'm doing. But still you have that imposter syndrome too. So yeah, it was scary. It was super scary and I mean, there's always something about it that's scary. Even afterwards when you quit and you've been full-time a while, you never know. It's just like the unknown. But yeah, really glad I did it all these years later. 

Speaker 2 (13:00):

Yeah, yeah. Okay. Did you go in with a plan for your business? Did you set financial goals? How did you come up with your packages and get, so tell me about those early days of business and almost just that first year. I mean, did you set a financial goal? Were you like, I have to replace my income, or Yeah, just walk me through the first couple years. 

Speaker 1 (13:25):

I think in my mind I was someone as an engineer who's very analytical. I was like, I need to have a goal. I needed to meet certain numbers and all of that. In my mind, I knew that was important, but did I actually do it? No, I did not. I didn't actually have a revenue goal or anything like that. It was basically just survival. It was like, I need to just make enough to live. And that was the goal. I think it's easy to, in the beginning days, have someone tell you, oh, you want to make this much so charge this much and get this many clients. That sounds so simple, but that's just not often how it works. So for me, it was just more of kind of playing around and seeing how it goes and hoping for the best, which is a wild way to start a business. I had no plan. It was just I know this is what I need and what I want, and kind of just hoping it would go well. And that meant having really low price services at the beginning, taking on lots of projects of different varieties and just being open to saying yes to a lot of things to A, see what I like, but B, also make enough money. So that's kind of where it started. 

Speaker 2 (14:42):

Well, first let me say I think thank you for sharing that because you were so right. Well, because we've worked together, I love having a plan. I love knowing how many clients you need and what price point you need to take on because I think that gives me a lot of peace of mind. But that first year of my own business, I always say it was throwing spaghetti on the wall. I was doing anything and everything people would pay me for or give me gift cards for or pat me on the back for. And I think there's something about that first year of just trying a lot of things that brings so much clarity. 

Speaker 1 (15:20):

Yes. 

Speaker 2 (15:22):

And I just don't think we talk about that enough. I am such an advocate of a plan and setting good goals and having profitable pricing, but it takes some time to get to that and figuring out how you said what I liked and what you didn't. So talk through what went well, what didn't go well, and when did you start seeing some traction? 

Speaker 1 (15:46):

Yeah, what went well right out of the gate was honestly just my clients were really happy. The people I worked with were so happy with how things were going, and now I can kind of look back at that hindsight and I have an idea of why that is. But I just remember working with people time and time again and everyone was like, this is great. This was so easy, this was so fun. And so that was reassuring to have that external validation of, okay, I'm not terrible at this and doing this in a way that's helping people and impacting them. So that went well. I knew that I had that, and as long as I could just please the people, I'm a people pleaser to my core, as long as the people who are working with me are happy with what they're getting, that was like, okay, I can keep doing this. 

Speaker 1 (16:36):

What didn't go well was actually my very first paying client was kind of like a funny story. She's a client who I've worked with for years at this point to this day, I don't think she actually knows. She's the first person who ever paid me. She hired me for a website and I charged her $600 for a website and I talked to her. We got the idea of what we wanted, and then I built the whole thing out, all of it, did it, built it, sent it over, and was like, okay, give me your feedback. And she was like, I hate it. And I was like, oh my gosh, what happened? Something went wrong. I just panicked and I'm sweating. She's the first person who's ever paid me and she's not happy. And I was just sick. I was like, okay, let's figure out what happened. 

Speaker 1 (17:29):

So the interesting thing was the site that she hated and the site that she ended up with weren't all that different. And it really came down to she didn't have a great way to give me feedback. And she knew she didn't like it, but she didn't know why. So once we were able to hone in on that and figure it out, then I was able to go back through redo everything and create something that she really liked. And after that project, the next project, every single project I've ever done in my business since then, I've now created a process. So the big learning from that was that now anytime I do a website, I start with just the homepage. So we do just the homepage, build it out, send it over, ask them for feedback in a really constructive way. It's not just like an open-ended, here it is, what are your thoughts? 

Speaker 1 (18:22):

Because that doesn't give them a clear channel for giving good feedback. They might just say, oh, it doesn't pop. And I'm like, okay, well that's not helpful. So now we do just the homepage, get really good feedback, course correct if we need to, and then build out all the other pages, and that works really, really well. So that was kind of something that didn't go well, but it was almost a blessing because now all of my projects follow that same process, and it is one of the biggest blessings for me. It makes projects predictable in terms of timeline, and it's a blessing for them too, because everybody's so happy with how it comes out. It comes out better than they could have thought. So that was really a good learning experience. Yeah, 

Speaker 2 (19:09):

I think that's so interesting what you said too, because so often when we do something custom, it feels like, oh, I'll build you out this kind of custom process. Or so often if we hear feedback from clients that isn't necessarily positive, we feel like, oh, we just failed at this or something. But really I think so often clients see us as the expert and we have to show up as the expert and walking them through a process makes it so much easier for them. So I can see how imagine how your clients feel so much more at ease and trust you because you have this system that you do every single time. And so often we can be afraid of that if it's like, I'm going to build this custom thing. But that's what I saw when I worked in finance. I saw these same similar patterns in any industry that I was working with. 

Speaker 2 (20:07):

We need to get your pricing, we need to forecast some sales, we need to understand cashflow. It's kind of the same fundamentals that every business needs. It looks different because it's based on different industries, but I think when you can, as the expert lead someone through a process, it makes it easier for everybody. So that's so interesting. What would you say that you learned about pricing? Was that something that came easy to you or sales especially when you got outside of your warm market, friends, families, friends of friends? Did you see things shift and change? Did bookings become harder? Just walk me through the growth of the company. 

Speaker 1 (20:45):

Yeah. So pricing wise, when I was in the beginning of my business, I kind of took the approach of increasing my pricing after pretty much every project because with a website, that's a large project. It's a large time commitment. You learn so much to this day. Every time I build a website, I learn something new, which I really enjoy. So at the very beginning, I was, like I said, my first website was $600 and then increased that. I don't remember how to exactly what amount each time, but it was like every one to two projects, I was like, okay, I need to be increasing my price. I need to be increasing my price. I knew that a $1,500 website, which is more than double the 600 still wasn't something that sustainably could support me. So I didn't have an outline per se. I wasn't saying, okay, I want to increase this amount each project, but it was, I kind of followed, you would, oh my gosh, I probably shouldn't say this, but somebody, I can't remember who it was, but I remember hearing the advice of when it comes to pricing, think of two numbers, one number that's way too low, that just like your work is worth more than that. 

Speaker 1 (22:05):

Your time and energy is you need more than that for what you're putting into the project. So that's your low number. And then they said, choose another number that is so high it makes you want to throw up. You're not comfortable with that. You know that you can't charge that, and then find a number in the middle and charge that. And I know you're rolling over right now with this advice, but that was sort of what I did for a little while. Not long, but it was like I knew that I needed to have confidence in the number I was asking for in order for people to also have confidence in me. So I took that approach for a while and then 

Speaker 2 (22:47):

What's so funny, wait, I'm done this a long time now. 15. I mean a long time. There is not often that I hear something I've never heard before, and that is the first time I have ever heard that. 

Speaker 1 (23:03):

Yeah. Yep. I wish I could remember where it came from, but that was I 

Speaker 2 (23:08):

A while won. Hey, but I love what you said and you intuitively knew, and I teach this all the time, you have to know why you charge what you charge. If you don't have confidence in your price, like you just said, your clients aren't going to have confidence either. So you knew that innately. It sounds like that you had to have a confidence in your price. And so I think that's why probably your clients trusted you when you said, here's my price. 

Speaker 1 (23:37):

So that was my approach then. And now it's become, since the blueprint model, I have so many great things. We could have a whole nother episode about the learnings from the blueprint model, but that just helped me outline a price that is going to actually help me successfully achieve my enough number, that survival number that isn't just pure survival and getting by the skin of my teeth, but is enough for me to have that level of comfort that I can actually pay myself on a routine basis rather than taking the scraps that are left over. 

Speaker 2 (24:13):

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We are going to have circle back. This isn't a blueprint model testimonial, but you did start paying yourself consistently. And I hope, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but there's so much just like your pricing information, I would say, I don't know how to say what you heard about pricing before it got you so far, but I think I hope what I can teach my students and through the b blue rental and is now, I hope you just have maybe confidence in the numbers. I think there's so much information about business and finances kind of floating out there that you can take it and you can learn from it. Just like this podcast, people take stuff and learn from it and grow from it and utilize it. It serves them. It serves them for a time and a period and a purpose. But I love that now you're confident to pay yourself, which just recently happened mean and you're fourth or fifth year in business. 

Speaker 1 (25:07):

Yeah, that was such a blessing. And I've talked to my husband about that numerous times. Just online business is a roller coaster. And I used to, so when you and me talked a while back, now, I was getting some financial advice from you, and I started with talking about how I only have the personal bank account, and you literally cut me off and you're like, wait, wait, wait, wait. What did you just say? And I was like, well told you. And you're like, okay, when we get off the phone, you're making a business bank account today. Oh my 

Speaker 2 (25:39):

Goodness. I remember that. 

Speaker 1 (25:41):

Yes. 

Speaker 2 (25:42):

I'm not always that pointed, but I was like, today is the day 

Speaker 1 (25:46):

You were like, do it today. And I did. And honestly, that has this whole year, I did that so long ago. Now, this whole year has been the first time where I always had money coming into my personal account, and that was where the business money came into. I used it to pay my business bills. I used it to live off of personally, but now it's like that separate business bank account where that is sort of that buffer of the rollercoaster. My business making account might grow a lot one month and then a little the next month. But every two weeks I have the exact same amount going from there to my personal. So my personal is just calm and zen and peaceful. So that seriously has been so worth everything. 

Speaker 2 (26:34):

It's been so amazing. You're so amazing. Your business was doing well, you were growing, you were getting clients, you were increasing your price every time. But I love hearing just with some simple financial principles in place, like a separate bank account for your personal business, what a difference that's made just for your peace of mind. And I'm so glad for you. Okay, we got off. But your story is so relatable, I think, and I'm so grateful you're here and I'm so glad you're sharing it because it's the story of all of us stepping out in faith and using our gifts to serve the world and figuring it out as we go along. And I just love that you're here to share the growth over time that happens. I think so often we only see these big flashy stories or these influencers online or these huge followings or people in the industry that are industry leaders, but this is the dream to pay our bills and every two weeks get your paycheck and have zen at home and your personal, I mean, that's the dream, and you get to live it. So, okay, so on a tangent, let's keep moving on. Looking back at your business, do you see a big turning point or did you have any kind of major pivots or shifts, anything pop out? 

Speaker 1 (27:53):

Yeah, this year actually has been very different than previous years. And from a financial standpoint, my business has always grown what I think is a pretty substantial amount. Each year. I've had anywhere from 15 to 20 or 15 to 25% growth each year. So that's really exciting. Amazing for me. And I remember last year, last July, I had a really big project. I think at the time it was one of the highest paying projects I had tech-wise, just the number of things had gone wrong. I had outsourced a little part of the project, and that didn't go exactly as I hoped it had. And I got to a point where I literally, for the first time in my life, and fortunately so far, the only time in my life I was throwing up because I was so anxious and upset about the project, I just felt terrible. 

Speaker 1 (28:46):

My client was a godsend. She was so kind about everything that was just more difficult than it should have been. So that was last year. Earlier this year, I landed the biggest client I've ever had, times three. I've never, this project was three times revenue of anything I've ever done. It was a luxury vacation resort, and they wanted me to build their website. So I took that project on, and just from a financial standpoint, it was a huge project, but it was one project that paid me the amount that usually three projects would pay me. So it was less projects being paid more, so I was being paid more and working less, which was on paper the dream that was, I feel like that's the advertisement of everybody, whoever wants to run their own business. That's what we all say in that was going really well and has been going really well. 

Speaker 1 (29:44):

So that's been an interesting shift this year in terms of financial goals. And then the interesting other side of that coin has been okay, I'm also feeling a little bit more lonely because I'm working with less people. So that's kind of where I'm at currently. It's not, like you said, it's not like the shiny sparkly influencer story, but it's been a big shift this year. So I love where I'm at in terms of that work-life balance is really, really good. Right now. I'm not throwing up from overworking myself and stretching myself too thin. And I'm currently, I feel like on the other side of the loneliness coin where I'm like, okay, I need to actually do something about this. So I'm being more social. I got a membership at a coworking space and I'm reaching out to more people and connecting with more people. So that's been really, really great. So that's just been a big change this year. That was a really, really big shift is taking on projects that are just way bigger than anything I've ever done before, which is really kind of assuring that, Hey, I've got here. There's people out here willing to pay that amount and being thrilled with the outcome. So 

Speaker 2 (31:02):

Yeah, that's so cool. And also neat to see in working through that project that you can find your own sweet spot. I've heard from so many entrepreneurs that I've worked with who say when they reached that luxury level, whatever that was in their own industry, that for them, that was a fit or it wasn't a fit. I think we all, like you said, the dream is often advertised as do less, make more money, but sometimes when you get to the do less, when your projects are that big, it can come with a lot of pressure or for you, you want to work with more people. So I'm excited for you to use what you're learning this year and then see how that moves your projects forward in the future. This is what your fifth year in business, you're still figuring it out. And I love to see how each year things change. Years ago, someone, a friend of mine, Brit told me, she's like, the only constant in business is change. And I just thought that was so interesting and so true, and well, how cool that we have permission to pivot and change and try new things. 

Speaker 1 (32:15):

I think that's what keeps it exciting, being able to try new things and see what you like and what you don't like, and learning why you like certain things, why you don't. Yeah, it's fun. 

Speaker 2 (32:26):

Okay. Let's talk numbers for a little bit. Yep. What would you say your relationship with money was maybe before starting your business versus now? It sounds like in the last year, a lot has changed. What came naturally, what was really hard, I would love to hear kind of relationship with money. 

Speaker 1 (32:45):

So in the beginning, just from a planning and expense tracking and keeping track of everything, that stuff is what was super, super easy for me. Again, detail oriented, analytical. Exactly. Yeah, that engineering mind, spreadsheets, all of that. It's my jam. I'm real good at it. My mom taught me from a very young age, here is your first credit card. Do not put more on it than you can pay off every month. And I've always lived by that, and I understand there's a level of privilege to that as well. I am able to feed myself, and I know some people are in tougher situations, but I've always been really good with that and making sure business wise, I'm not going into debt in order to take a course for $5,000 when I don't even have a $5,000 project or something like that. So that was always very easy for me. 

Speaker 1 (33:43):

And then the hard part, which we kind of already talked about was that feeling of I really want consistency and I want predictability. And with my type of work where it is a little bit of that feast or famine, you have a project that may be, you might have an $8,000 project, but then maybe you have nothing next month. So it is that roller coaster. So that was really hard mentally being like, okay, I'm making good money. Why do I feel stressed? And I truly, to my core believe that it was just because I didn't have the bank account stuff set up properly. Once that's in place, I look at my business bank account and I'm like, oh, I have four months worth of money to pay myself. If I do nothing, I could sit here for four months and I'd be fine. So that has been such a peace of mind, but that was really hard, was over and over in my head. I was like, how do I get that consistent, predictable money that you have from salary, from an engineering job or whatever type of career you have? So that was tough, but I'm grateful to have learned and sorted that out and it just feels so much nicer. 

Speaker 2 (34:58):

Yeah. Oh, that's so good. I literally just had this conversation today about our business. Everybody talks about fluctuating income fees or famine, inconsistent income, and I think that's just a part of the reality of business. There's high seasons, low seasons, we can add and diversify our income to create more consistency, but I think that ebbs and flows might always be there, but what you said in our personal income, it doesn't have to be. If we can, and I was just talking this idea of filling up the bucket in the high seasons and low seasons and then just letting it drip out, paying yourself the same amount every two weeks. If we can create consistency in our personal finances that even if it's a hundred dollars a week or whatever it is, that brings such a different piece of mind because it does. That's how we live. That's how we pay our bills. I mean, we have to pay our bills. Oh, that's so good. Okay. What would you say is the best thing that you have learned about money? 

Speaker 1 (36:01):

The way that I grew up, we lived in a small town and my high school was small as well, like a rural community. And there wasn't a lot of money, and there was kind of this attitude almost that people who had money were evil. And I've always kind of struggled with that. I've always kind of thought, okay, if I have a lot of money, I'm a bad person. And I don't remember, again, I wish I remembered where I learned these things from. Maybe not the last thing, but this one, someone said something along the lines that money is just a tool to amplify the type of person you already are. 

Speaker 2 (36:42):

That might've been a podcast episode, 

Speaker 1 (36:44):

Was it? I would love 

Speaker 2 (36:46):

That. I feel like I've heard somebody on the podcast say that. Yes. 

Speaker 1 (36:50):

Yeah. And it, 

Speaker 2 (36:50):

It might've been Mary Marts. Yes. 

Speaker 1 (36:53):

So just kind of hearing that it was like, okay, money is not innately an evil thing, and I know I'm not alone in that. I know a lot of evil who view wealth or anything like that as this scary thing, but it doesn't have to be. You can use money for good things, and if you have a lot of money, that just gives you a lot of opportunity to do more good with it. So that was really just really influential for me to hear and to sort of help alleviate that fear of, okay, I'm allowed to make more money and I'm not going to become a bad person. 

Speaker 2 (37:32):

Yeah, that's so good. And something I think a lot, there's so many money mindsets and things that we carry in to our business. Thank you for sharing that. And I don't know, maybe that's a famous quote. We're going to have to find that out, but I know I have heard that before as well, and I just think that's so strong that it amplifies who you already are. I'm writing that down. Okay, let's end before we go into a quickfire round, let's bring it all the way full circle back to the day of going to Peru and Ecuador and just talk through, you had this vision of a business that allowed you time, freedom and to live this life that you want. And I would just now in kind of a world that asks us to do everything well, and what does that harmony look like for you? How do you enjoy your work but also love your life? 

Speaker 1 (38:25):

Yeah, I think for me, I've always known that I'm very motivated by time off in vacation days and being able to sneak out on a workday and go for a hike or leave early and get out on the lake on the boat. So for me, we kind of talked a bit about the process that I use for my clients already, but having that process. So when I work with clients, I have a three week process and we know our start date. We know our end date. So that allows me in planning and in work to be like, okay, this is a time where I'm going to be busy with work, but this is when it ends, or this is when the next one starts. So just having that kind of built into my business helps me predict when I'm going to be able to be working less and hiking more or getting out on the lake more. 

Speaker 1 (39:20):

And it gives me that assurance that I'm actually doing the things that I built my business for. I know that that's why I wanted to do that. So I wanted to actually actually do that. And I also, a couple years ago, when it comes to the end of year, when you go back and look at your numbers and see how things went, I started tracking my days off. So when you have an employer, you know, get 10 days off and your boss is keeping track of that, okay, you've used all your days up, but when you work for yourself, you don't always do that. And I was like, I want to make sure that I'm actually doing the thing I said I was going to do with my business. I feel like I'm taking days off, but am I really? So that's been another really big thing for me is every year I track my numbers and days off and happily, last year I think I had like 42 days off, and that's a metric that I put in place to make sure that I'm keeping that harmony or that balance between doing my work, but also making sure I'm taking that time off and traveling or getting outside the things that I like to do. 

Speaker 2 (40:27):

I'm so obsessed with that. I'm also very time motivated. Track your days off. That's amazing. That's so good. 

Speaker 1 (40:36):

This is a shameless plug for you. The business stats tracker that you have in the shop, that is it Creative Money Shop. That's one of the metrics that I measure at the very bottom. Love it. Trips take in and I have a goal for the year and then days off and I have a goal for the 

Speaker 2 (40:51):

Year that makes me so happy. I'm glad you plugged that. That is my favorite spreadsheet in the entire shop. It's so good. And I am literally going to go add that to my business stat tracker because yes, 

Speaker 2 (41:03):

For those of you listening and who've never taken a course with me, but in the blueprint model, we started off with what I call core motivators, and it's thinking about the business you want and what success looks like to you. And so we have these four core motivators and challenge time, different things, and one of them is time. And so I love that you have identified and you knew I think before the blooper model even, but time and freedom of your time is so important to you and you're tracking that. I just think that's amazing. My follow-up question though is have you ever felt when you take time off, you are giving up time at work and the potential may be for more income? I don't think that's necessarily true, because I think time off is so mentally good, it makes us more productive when we're working. But have you ever wrestled with building it bigger or feeling guilty or lazy or No. Does not a struggle you have? 

Speaker 1 (42:01):

For me, I don't think it is. I think, I don't know how to exactly phrase it, but I have definitely witnessed in myself the truth that I will fit what I need to in the time that I am given where this summer, so this summer, another one of my maybe metrics that I've been using is I've been taking summer hours, so I'm not working on Fridays. And so I know Monday to Thursday are my workdays Fridays off and I still get the same amount done. I'm just less distracted. So I think for me, taking time off, I'm never like, oh man, I should be working and getting more projects. It's like, no, I have enough projects. They're just not running right now. So that has helped me. Yeah, it's not something that I've really struggled with. I kind of been like the days off or the days off, and I'll get my work done when I'm 

Speaker 2 (42:57):

Back. Yeah, I love that. Corrine, this has been so good. This is so fun to spend time with you. And I think so much insight into building a business that you just enjoy that works for you, that makes the money, you need some just real life things that I think a lot of us struggle with about managing money or I don't know. It's always good to spend time with you. I do want to go into a quick fire round putting in the hot seat a little bit. You ready? 

Speaker 1 (43:25):

Yeah, I'm ready. 

Speaker 2 (43:27):

Okay. What is one thing you would be embarrassed if people knew? 

Speaker 1 (43:32):

So it's not necessarily embarrassing, but it just feels more like shameful. So I grew up with, my dad was always really embarrassing us, so I'm kind of an embarrassed, embarrassment proof type of person to an extent. But I think in terms of business, I almost have a little bit of shame or maybe embarrassment that my business is super heavily referral based. I think in the business world sometimes people are like, oh, you need to be landing clients from SS e o or all these other different approaches which work great for some people. And there's almost this maybe a stigma about running a referral based business. It's going to dry up and you're not going to have any clients eventually, which I mean maybe it's true, but there's definitely a level of shame or embarrassment that when clients come to me for a website, they're like, oh, you must have really good s e o. And I was like, no, that's not actually the visibility strategy that I took. I just took a different approach. So I don't know. I think that's something for me in that category. 

Speaker 2 (44:42):

I am so grateful that you shared that. And I think it brings back what I've been thinking but haven't been able to put into words this whole time. You have built a business that is based on key important, I mean really important things like visibility. We all need a marketing plan, understanding your money, we need to know how to pay ourselves, but you've done it in a way that is you. And even your first year in business when you took a website for $600, and sometimes I feel like now in a good way, there's so many educators, there's so much information and that's good, but also there can be so many voices that's really loud. And you said just even feeling shameful that you're word of mouth, you've probably felt the urge to start an email newsletter or work on your ss e o. And while those are good things, you have a visibility strategy and it's word of mouth. 

Speaker 2 (45:40):

So I think that's just really neat. And I love that you have gotten the fundamentals right in your way, and I just want to congratulate you on that. And the good news is you can always work on SS e o, you can always build an email newsletter. You can't always have great referrals. I mean, that's not going to go away. What I'm saying is that's harder to build, I think. So I think that's amazing. I still think word of mouth marketing is the most important form of marketing for anyone listening who caress about my 2 cents on marketing, I love it. Okay. Any regrets or wish you could do over moments? 

Speaker 1 (46:17):

I don't have one particular one, but just myself in general. I'm not always a very patient person with the people I love, which is really frustrating for myself. So I think some of my regrets are could do over moments would just be those moments where I get frustrated and I lose my patience, especially with my poor dog hunter. He is blind and deaf and very anxious and clingy, and sometimes I just get frustrated with him. And those are my wish I could do over moments is when I wish I could just call on a little bit more patience than I have at the moment. 

Speaker 2 (46:55):

So tough and I can feel that. Yes. Okay. A big win or pinch me moment. 

Speaker 1 (47:01):

We talked about it a little bit earlier, but that big project that I got earlier this year, my friend Gabby was doing the interior design for the resort and had sent me their website and was like, Hey, I want you to look at this. Let me know. Do they need help? And when I opened up the website on my phone, she was just texting me. I opened it up and they had two menus at the very top of their website, and I was like, well, that's confusing. That's not a great start. And just going through the website, I was like, yes, they definitely could use some work. And she's like, all right, well, it's a really, really big project for a really big resort, so you need to come in at a much higher price point. And so I sent out a proposal with a number on it, and I, in my head was literally like, they're not going to accept this. And a few days later I was in the basement with Davis, my husband, helping him with some woodworking, and I get a text and it's Gabby saying, yep, they want to move forward, please send us an invoice for deposit. And I started crying. So that was really huge. 

Speaker 2 (48:06):

That's so fun. I love those moments. 

Speaker 1 (48:09):

Yeah. 

Speaker 2 (48:10):

Okay. Best advice ever received. 

Speaker 1 (48:13):

Do what works for you, which is so funny because I feel like that's what this episode we've kind of circled around that. That is almost a mantra that I live by. I feel like in business and in life and in all the things, everybody has opinions on how you should do things, and I'm just such a big advocate for doing what works for you because what works for you and what works for me aren't necessarily going to be the same. 

Speaker 2 (48:39):

Yeah, that is, that's been our theme. 

Speaker 1 (48:42):

I know. It really has. It has. 

Speaker 2 (48:45):

Okay. Last quick question, then we'll send it off. What are you working on now or one resource that you would like to share? 

Speaker 1 (48:50):

I'd love to share a resource. I've spent so much time over the last couple months just rebuilding it from scratch. I have a 10 website must-haves workbook, and it just walks you through five strategic things to think about and five design things to think about in your business and in your website to just set it up in a way that's going to work for you. So it's not sitting there collecting dust, it's carrying its weight, it's kind of your silent salesman to some extent, and I'm just really proud of how it came together and it's just a great, great workbook to actually work through and implement into your site easily. 

Speaker 2 (49:33):

Oh, I love that. We will definitely share the link in the resources, but do you want to just share the U r L for everybody listening? 

Speaker 1 (49:42):

Yes. It's at reen petit.com/workbook. 

Speaker 2 (49:47):

Okay, perfect. And it'll be, you can click it right in the description of the podcast too. Reen, thanks so much for hanging out with me. It is always a joy to spend time with you. It was wonderful to have you in the blueprint model and when you shared about taking your paycheck consistently, I mean, that's such a huge win. Let's send it off today with what would you tell yourself on day one, quitting your engineering job and starting your web design business? 

Speaker 1 (50:16):

I would say to just keep going and keep pivoting and shifting until you find what works and what you enjoy. I think you to make the rules, and if you're trying something and you want to change it or do it differently than someone else is doing, then just do it. You're in charge. You left your business or left your job to start your business the way you want, so make the rules and do what you want. 

Speaker 2 (50:44):

Amen. This is been so fun. All right. Well, I'm sure I'll talk to you soon. Thanks for coming on today and sharing your story. 

Speaker 1 (50:50):

Thank you so much for having me, Shana. It was a pleasure as always. 

Speaker 2 (50:54):

Hey, wildflower, you just finished another episode of Consider the Wildflowers the podcast. Head over to consider the wildflowers podcast.com for show notes, resource links, and to learn how you can connect with Corinne, a little sunshine from our wildflower of the week, Andrea Shanna in my ears, weekly the best. I've been a follower of Shanna since 2018 when I was new to owning my business and my personal finances were shall say, we say less than stellar. Shanna's been a constant voice of reason and has made a, managing finances for my business and my family is so much easier. I'm no longer afraid and actually look forward to doing my monthly numbers. There's a lot of noise on how to run a business out there, but there is only one who constantly reminds you to assess what is enough. Thrilled to have shanna's sage, words of wisdom and calmness coming to my ears every week. I've been hoping for this forever. Andrea is a sweet student of mine, an all around wonderful human. Thanks for the sunshine today, Andrea. One final thought for today from Maryanne Rad. Marker. Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, I'll try again tomorrow. As always, thank you for listening. I'll see you next time.