Natalie Rivera spent three years trying to build a website for her coaching business before hiring Ian Peterman's design firm. The team delivered a professional site, branding, and business cards that earned unsolicited praise from peers and boosted her confidence enough to start networking and sharing referrals.
Chapters
My name is Ian Peterman. I'm with Natalie with Well Within, and we've done a website and branding, got to do some social media stuff, and just want to talk about what you were looking for and what we've done and how, how that's gone. Gone so far working together. What were you looking for? What were your, what were your goals you were trying to get done?
Yeah, so I run a life coaching business and I do a lot of workshops and I work one-on-one with people and in small groups, and that is what I really love to do, and that's where I feel like my skill set is, and And making a website was really, really challenging for me. I tried a lot to do it on my own, and I have a child, so I was paying somebody all the time to— so I could work on my website, and it just wasn't getting anywhere. I worked— I tried to do it for 3 years by myself. Zero success. And finally I just decided I need professional help. And, and so I was recommended to work with Ian. And once I did, I just felt this enormous weight lifted off my shoulders. And I felt all this forward momentum where I can finally focus on doing what I love to do and not working really hard at this thing that I'm really terrible at, which is making a website and branding and designing a business card. And It's just not what I'm very good at. And it was great to be able to hand that over to somebody. And they just treated me really well. I felt like, oh, of course, like, yes, of course. You don't have to be good at this. That's why I'm good at this. I will help you. I will do this for you and listen to what you want. And then make it even better than what you— what you were wanting. I didn't even know how good my stuff could look until I gave my, like, few little ideas to Ian, and then it just turned into this really beautiful, amazing website and brand and business card, and I'm really proud of them.
Awesome. Well, thank you. I'm very glad that you like what they are. Yeah, it was definitely Fun working on it. And yeah, you don't have to be the expert. That's why other people are. So, you know, through this process, kind of what's been your favorite— what was your favorite part of the process of going through this?
Yeah, I loved how easy it was to— I felt really valued where I would send an email requesting something Or a time to talk, and the response was really quick, and I felt like I was being made a priority. And my— the magic, it felt like, is I would tell you a few things of like, oh, this is kind of what I'm going for, these are the colors, this is what I want. And then what would come back would be something really stunning. And I might have a couple notes on it, and then they would come back and be even better. And even things that I had thought of like, oh, I need to tell him this. I want it to be like more centered or something, then it would just come back. It was like you could read my thoughts or something. So my favorite part was just like how easy the process was and how it felt very timely and very responsive and very interactive. And I just felt really, really valued.
Good, good. And I think that you've had quite a bit of positive response from sharing your website now, and you finally looked at it too yourself. So yeah, that was, that was good to hear that you, you were told it was good and you finally looked at it.
Yeah, yeah, that was really funny. I knew the website was going to be amazing because just I knew the quality of work that you did and I completely trusted you. And I just was like, oh my gosh, I'm really scared to see myself being presented in this way. So I don't want to look at my website. And, and when I saw the business cards, I was like, oh my God, these are amazing. I love them. And I was so— it was the first time I felt proud and like, hey, take a business card. Yeah, these are super cool. Um, And because the ones that I designed, I just felt a little embarrassed by them. But the ones that you made me, I felt really proud of. So I've been giving them away and putting them in, like, in places around town and in businesses and offices. And the—
Really good.
I started to get emails from people telling me how awesome my website was. I hadn't even looked at it yet. And they're like, wow, it's so professional. I love the colors. Wow, the wording is so like authentically your voice and really clear and really inspiring. And the pictures are so good. That's what I was getting, all these emails from all these people telling me how awesome my website was. Um, and yeah, that just brought to me more confidence in putting myself out there and going to events and networking. I've just felt all this open, Like all these open channels for me because I have this really awesome website that I feel proud of, that I feel like, oh, please go visit this and get to know me through this website because you're really going to get to know me. And that was really important for me because my business is so personal.
Right, your business is 100% you. So it's— yeah, people have to know you. They want to work with you.
Yeah, and I want them to work with me because we resonate and they find something about me that they really like. And so I want it to be as authentic as possible. And yeah, just really share who I am and what I do. And that was really hard for me to do by myself.
Yeah, yeah. Talking about yourself and keeping it authentic can be It can be hard sometimes. It definitely takes practice to get there if you're doing it yourself. So, you know, that's why we do copy editing.
Great.
Awesome. Well, obviously, so would you recommend, and is there anything else that you wanted to add that you would say about the process or project and anything like that that you just want to make sure is said?
Yeah, I would definitely recommend your business to other people like me. I actually have a fair handful of friends and coworkers who are colleagues who are also starting their own businesses, or they have their own, like, ventures that they are struggling like I was to, you know, do the website, get the branding, and just kind of like get themselves set up on that platform. So I've been mentioning— I've already been mentioning you.
Is there any last words, thoughts, things you want to put out there?
I feel like if making a website and branding and getting yourself on all the social platforms isn't your thing, to just Be okay with that and hand it over to Ian because him and his business will really just like take— make it worth it. Well, you'll be able to just take that off your plate and get something really amazing.
Well, thank you very much. Appreciate your time, and we'll be working together more.
