The Importance of Personalized Websites for Introverted Entrepreneurs | Working Moms of San Antonio

Welcome to the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. We're your hosts, Erika Radis and Marie Lifschultz, a realtor and lender here in San Antonio. But most importantly, we're working moms just like you. This podcast is all about creating a space where we can come together, share stories, and learn from each other. We love connecting with local moms in business Hearing about their journeys and how they're balancing it all, because let's be honest, it's not always easy, but it's so worth it. Before we dive in today's episode, we're excited to share some big news with you all. Our business community and coworking memberships are officially open. Whether you're looking for a supportive community of moms in business or need a beautiful space to work and grow, we've got just what you need here at Working Moms of San Antonio. You can visit the link in our show notes or workingmomsofsanantonio.com/membership for more info. Now on to today's episode. Grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and let's get started. Uh, welcome to this week's episode of Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. Today we have Carla, and I'm so excited. She's with Styled Essence Design. And why don't you tell us, Carla, a little bit about how you got started in your business?

Yes, of course. Thank you for having me here. It's been a pleasure to start coming to Working Mom of San Antonio. It's a godsend place. So I started with websites about 11 years ago.

Okay.

When I was in California, my husband is in the military and we just got married and I moved into his town.

Okay.

And I didn't have anything to do.

Yeah, yeah.

The town was too small. So I start playing with Photoshop. I started first with Photoshop. I always love like photography and So design was kind of in your background? Yes.

Got it.

Yes. If we want to go all the way back, if we have that kind of time.

Yeah.

Even before I moved here to US, I had a salon, a hair salon.

Okay.

I designed my own logo and my own name and everything.

So you got that creative background. Yes.

And I had no clue what to do. I think I went on Word document and I created like a circle with the typography name on it, and that was pretty much it.

So old school.

Very, very. Yes. That's how back we can go. And then after that, when I moved here and then I start playing with Photoshop, photography, I started with photography, babies, doing baby photography. And but the part that I love the most was the editing.

Yeah.

And then I start playing with Photoshop and from Photoshop it was An evolution.

So you gradually got into web design?

Yes, because then I started with the editing and then I started like putting elements and then playing with the elements, playing with the words. And then that's how I kind of pretty much started there. Yeah. And then because I wasn't looking for a job because we are always on that thing that, oh, we are about to move, we're about to move.

Because the military family, right? Yeah.

So, and then a little bit after that I got pregnant and I was like, oh, I I think I would best if I start doing something from home. So whenever we move, I literally just bring my job with me instead of going. At that time, there was— it wasn't like today that we have so many, um, work-from-home positions.

Got it.

You know, it was really hard. Either you were a freelancer working for yourself, or you have to go to some kind of work to do something. Yeah, in local present. So I start playing with that and then I created my first website as a VA, virtual assistant. And then from there it just escalated. From there I like, I created another website to sell some dropshipping and then I kept creating and then I create a whole completely baby line that I designed the whole baby line because it was the designing that you really enjoyed. Yes. And I always, every time I finish a project, instead of like staying on that project. No, no, I have to sell it. Like, I created this baby line, I have to sell it. Then I was already thinking about creating the next line or creating the next website because that's what it actually brought me joy. It was the creative part and not the selling part. Got it.

You know, I think I can understand that. I feel like that in my job when I love creating the loan part, but getting the business or the selling part of my job, I'm like, oh, I'm so bad at that.

Yes.

Like, just like me and come and get me my product. Like, come get my product.

Exactly. It got to a point one time I created, and after that I just kept creating websites with the excuse that I was creating a business. So it was a website for, first it was the baby line. I created the whole baby line, then I create the website for that baby line because I had to sell it online. And then after that I created another website with a different, it was a website more for a blog, but it was also baby related because I was pregnant. So everything, I was like living and breathing baby. Living and breathing baby. That's right. And then after that, I created— I just kept creating. And at one point I created a whole website for skincare. And then after I did that, there was something that it went really wrong with the hosting.

Okay.

That I pretty much lost the whole website.

Oh no.

Oh, I didn't get really very sad because I had to create it another. Like, it didn't bother me that much that I lost it.

You got to do it again.

I was like, wow, I got to do it again because I wasn't really liking some stuff that I put on that one, so I created a whole new one.

Oh, how funny. So you like— you will— you like your job so much you got to do it twice.

Exactly. So I didn't even have to find another excuse or another, another thing to sell because I can just redo, redo that one. Yeah, redo that one. So it's And finally I came to the realization that I actually love to do— create websites. That's what I actually like to do. It's not that much of the business part, which I still know that, yes, I do create websites, but I need to have that business part on me that I need to sell those websites. Like if I wanted to keep creating it, at some point I need to start selling it because just creating for myself.

But so you— and so obviously you enjoyed having your product, but making the website to sell the product was your— was your— where you found your joy.

Yes, absolutely.

Well, and I think what's unique about you is you joined Working Moms, so we're so glad you're part of this. And but your unique approach to different types of personalities, right? We had kind of talked about before the podcast started was, you know, everybody focuses on social media, right? Everything like, you know, what do your videos look like? What does this look like? And people kind of forgot what websites should be for you, and you kind of have a very unique clientele. Why don't you talk a little bit about that?

Yes, I serve mostly introvert women, and the, the reason that I'm more into the website and I advocate so much for people to have websites, because most introvert women, their jam is not social media. Yeah, they literally hate to be on social media, and to them it's like pulling teeth.

Honestly, it's hard.

It's hard. I know some people thrive on social media. They love it. They do that with such a pleasure that— but for some people it's really hard. And I know that because I'm my own client. Yes, I am my own client. And the reason that I love— I think I love to also create websites so much is because of that. It's because I can have a presence without being on social media so much, you know, like I can just like send it to, to the website and, and people after the boom of social media, which I believe was like a few years back after that boom. Now it's— I feel like people is kind of settling down a little bit more and they're realizing that not everybody has to be on social media. Not everybody wants to be on social media. People are getting so burned out. People are getting depressed, people like all kinds of mental problems because of social media.

I think it's because you see all the filters and all the things and you think that's all real. And you see all the great things happening, right? When you, when you look at someone, if someone's going to post, it's typically, hey, look at me, this is a great thing happening, but it's not really reality. So I know I've gotten frustrated with social media and the fact that when I scroll, everybody's selling to me. I don't want to be sold to all the time. Like it's every other you know, real or whatever the case is. I do like to see— I mean, I got on social media, I remember the day that I signed up for like Facebook. And it was because a friend of mine was fostering kiddos. And she had posted something and I wanted to see— oh, she was happy. And I wanted to see the photos. I couldn't see it unless I signed up. So that made me sign up. But I do feel like when I go, if I see a product on, let's say, social media, and they don't have a well-put-together website, it turns me off completely. So if I go, or if it's not user-friendly, or if I can't find what I'm looking for, or I can't connect with them through the website as well, like, meaning I don't— it's not just a product, it's— I don't see the person in the website, if that makes sense.

Yes, because this is what is happening. Most people are focusing so much on social media that they forget the website, and some of them, they just literally put like a website in 5 minutes, which It's nowadays is very easy. Even if you, you don't want to hire a web designer for you to do your own website, it's, it's easy. But you can see when people took 5 minutes and when people took 5 days to create a website, you can see total the difference. And another thing that I think about social media is that over there you're just putting pieces of it. You don't have the whole story of your business. You don't have the whole picture of anything. You just see pieces here, pieces there that it's really hard to connect. But when you go to the personal website, if it's a well-structured website that tells exactly who you are, what you do, to whom you do that, for like, for who you serve, and you make it very clear over there, it's so much easier for you to— now I know what that person does. Yeah, I like what she does, or I don't like what she does, because now I can see the whole picture of it. So and that is something that people need to kind of remind themselves that there's websites, that websites are not dead at all.

No, I— yeah, I agree.

And I feel like we need to just go back to basics a little bit, you know, like sometimes we need to take a step back and then like, let's go back to basics because the basic well done, it works.

Absolutely. I think even here, like with working Moms of San Antonio, when I'm here in in the studio, or I'm in— I'm here at our networking space, people will walk in, or, how do I know about you? I send them actually to our website. I don't send them— I mean, they might have like, oh, maybe I've seen you on Instagram, or I've seen you on Facebook, or the group, or whatever. But I always direct them to our website, because if you want to know more about us and all the things we do, that's our story. It talks about how we started, why we started, and you can tell who our clientele is, and if that's going to meet your needs or not. So I think you're right. And I think when I think about other things that I've gone to see for websites and they're not well put together, like, I'm like, what do they do? Like, I— you sometimes you don't know.

Yeah, you feel like they don't care. That's the way that they treat their website. That would— should be like their business, because nowadays you don't have like a physical business, right?

Yeah.

So this is the way that they treat their business. Because that's how you judge. It's looking at their website. So you cannot really trust them. Are they gonna do a good job with me, me as being their customers? Because they don't even treat their own business well. What makes— what guarantee I have that they're gonna treat me well? Yeah. And that's, um, I think that that's the, the main thing. Like, it's a website, it's gonna speak so much for you that you sometimes literally you don't even need to open your mouth because your website, it's to say, tell everything you need to, everything it's there that you want people to know.

Got it.

On the social media, like I said, people just keep getting bits and pieces here and there and it's hard. They, it's like a puzzle that they needed to put it together.

Well, and sometimes it's recycled information. Like a lot of people will record content and then use it every couple of months and they're like, wait, did I see this already? Like that kind of stuff. So it's not a true picture of what's going on with the business. So I think, I think social media, unfortunately, sometimes is a necessary evil at some point. But there's times when we would, we just all ran through the whole TikTok shutdown not too long ago. So if that's all you use for your business and don't have a website, then you've lost all your, your people, they can't find you. You know, at least with the website that's there for you and they can find you and find your information, find your content there as well.

That's that. I'm glad you brought up the TikTok. Because that's how people should get a big rude awakening with that. Some people, even on TikTok, I saw them talking about some people were about to lose their whole livelihood. Yeah, they were about to lose their whole business because their whole business, it was on TikTok. It's borrowed land. You need to own your own, even though, like, I am not against social media. Don't, don't get me wrong. Don't like I— because sometimes when I talk about— I advocate about the website, people think, oh, I'm completely against social media. No, no, I'm not. I just feel like you need to have your foundation, your foundation. It's your website. Because if anything happens to any social media, you have, you have a way to direct people to one place where you own that place. You control every aspect of that place. Social media, you control nothing. Literally, and every other month they come up with a new algorithm. And I see people that have their whole business model based on social media that they need to literally relearn everything from scratch. Okay, now what do I do? How do I need to start promoting my business here? And they have to learn everything.

Because it's changed.

Because it keeps changing. Every other month you have a big algorithm change. That you need to literally relearn everything. And with your website, no. And the people that you're going to connect with through blogging, through email, because that's where you're going to capture those emails. Nobody controls that email but you. Nobody controls what's going to be being said on that email but you.

But you, yeah.

So you can do whatever you want.

Well, I know I was following actually a an influencer that I enjoy watching. She's in my industry and she kind of disappeared for whatever reason off, you know, and she came back. She goes, oh my God, apparently her, her, her Instagram stuff got hacked or taken or it got shut down for whatever reason. And she goes, I— she— and she's like, I— from— she needed— she had no way to get a hold of her audience, no way to send out email like, hey, I'm still here, I'm still thriving, and I'm still— I still have a business. You know, that kind of thing. So it really made us all kind of hone in, like, hey, having a website, having some way to capture emails, or somewhere where people can find you, you know, if you Google it, you can at least find your, your website or something, um, versus just the, the social media. So it should complement each other in a sense, but have that— it truly is a foundation of your business is having that website that's well put together. Um, so tell us a little bit about, like, can you give any— for, let's say, a startup startup company, brand new business, they're leaving their 9 to 5, right? Which a lot of our members are doing that and they're wanting to open their business. What are some like basics of, let's say, that maybe they're looking to either hire someone to help with the web design or they're trying to do it on their own? What are some basic things that your website should have?

Your website, the strongest page should be your home page. On that home page, and we call like above the folder, it's like as soon as you open the web page, the website, you have that, that page that right above before you start scrolling. So that is called the home here, the hero section.

Okay.

That hero section should, as soon as the person look at it, it should say they should know everything about what you do, about your business.

Okay.

So I serve this or I sell this. This is me. This is what you're looking for. You need to have everything there before they even start scrolling. I'm talking about if you're looking at your phone.

Yes.

But if you're looking at computer, the same thing before you start scrolling. So above that folder, your business, as soon as you open, you need— a person needs to know what is that business about.

Okay.

It can be like a phrase, a catchphrase or something saying, who do you serve? Or what you are as a business. And then when you start scrolling and then you have a little bit of the about you, who you are, oh, this is me. Like I'm saying, I'm a coach. I do this, this, this, and that. You're still going to have your about page. But on that page, right below the hero section, you have something about you saying like, who are you? Why you're here and like your experience, you like something that can, um, how to say it, like that can certify who you are.

Okay.

And then you keep scrolling a little bit and then you're gonna have all your offers there. This is my service, this is what I do. You don't have to have prices, nothing on that first page. You just kind of tell all the things that you're gonna serve, and then you have a little bit of description about it. Like, you can talk about each— let's say it's a coach that has packages, so each package, what you, what you offer, what a little description about it, because you're also going to have your service page. So for a good, good website, the minimum pages that you're going to have, it's your home page.

Okay.

And this structure, it follows like this one that I just said with a few variations. Obviously, we vary, you, we can do a few variations because you don't want the same website like over and over, but you have the homepage, you have your about page, you have your service page, okay, and then you have a contact page.

That's the big thing. For some reason, I've gone to several websites, I'm like, how do I get a hold of them? A lot of times they don't have a phone number, an email, or you have the sometimes not even, well, if they have a brick and mortar or an address, it'll be at the very bottom typically on the first page I go to, but trying to get a hold of people is very difficult sometimes. They forgot that on their—

Yes. And one, one big important thing, if you're service, service-based, what you have to do, like, you know, like the very, very top, that bar on the top where you have your menu, you need to have a button right there. Contact us. That button should be right there, like visible for everyone to see. Everyone. And then throughout the homepage, you're going to have several buttons, call to action buttons, the call to action buttons. It will vary, vary according to—

depending on the industry, right?

And what you wanted the person to do. Do you want to take them to your service page or do you prefer to take them to your about page or you just prefer to take them straight to your contact page? The call over there, it's going to depend on what, what's the next step. Because we as a business, we need to guide our visitors through your homepage. You're going to guide them on what you wanted them to do. Or what you wanted them to see first. So first you're going to read this, you're going to see this. Second is this. Second is this. Because then it makes sense. The way you can instruct is going to be in a way that it's going to make sense for them and they, they're going to get the whole thing and they're not going to be confused.

So it's logically, like, logically what you're— how you're— like you said, you're guiding them kind of a roadmap.

Yes, exactly. Exactly. That's exactly what you do. And you have— you need to have your contact page as well. Also on the homepage, it's preferably you can have your freebie there. That's the way that you're gonna get their email. But the freebie I'm talking about, it needs to be something good, worthwhile. Because here's the, the problem nowadays, a lot of people offer freebies, or a lot of people, they wanted to have this mailing list, but people are like, I don't want to give my email.

Yeah, I'm one of those people. I'm like, oh, I gotta fill it out, never mind.

Yeah, it's like, what am I get— what isn't there for me? I'm just gonna give you my email just because you say, oh, join our, our mail list or join our newsletter. You don't— there's no incentive over there. Like, why am I gonna just give you my email? I don't want you to pouring, you know, like filling up my email inbox with a bunch of things that— yeah, but I'm not getting anything. From you. So you need to make it a really good freebie and people will sign up. And that's what you're going to do with the social media. Social media, you're going to entice them. You're going to kind of say, oh, you want this, this, and that? I can give it to you, but you need to come to my website and you sign up over there and you can have it. And it's— freebies nowadays are so easy to— yeah, to have. Like, you go on ChatGPT and you're like, give me ideas for free before my, my area, for my business. And it's very, very easy to, to do and doesn't need to be something big. A checklist like as a realtor, this is a checklist for you to prepare before we go out together to for showing.

Yeah, definitely.

And then the person has a check and then you, you offer that checklist and that person is going to go, oh, I need to have this, this, this, this and that. And then they go out with you for just a showing or whatever, you know, like it can be anything.

Anything goes, but something of value, something that, that's related to what they're looking for, but not, you know, um, but I mean, the biggest thing is capturing that, that contact information for that client. Yes, you know, and, and typically if they're— our thought process was when we were setting up our email list for the Working Moms of San Antonio was we want them to ask for our information because we want the information we're giving to them something that's of value. Like, we want them so we don't You don't want to spam people or anything like that. No. And take advantage of them, you know, offering their email because I know it's hard for you. It's hard for companies to get me to give my email out because you get so much, you know. Yeah. You get a lot.

And also after that, after you get those emails, you need to be very thoughtful on what kind of emails you're going to send. You're going to send it out.

Yeah.

So you cannot just go and, you know, like just whatever. Oh, I woke up this morning and I felt like I wanted to just vamp a little bit and then you complain about something and you send out that email because I'm talking about that because I have received. Yeah, I was like, what was the point?

Yeah.

You know, like, I don't want to hear about your complaints. I don't want to hear, you know, like you need to value, give value. It's the word is value. Give value all the time. All the time. So you have, you can have like an evergreen sequence. So that meaning you don't need to worry about every week, what am I going to talk today? No, you can have like a whole sequence. My sequence, it's like almost 15 emails long. That means that the person that signed up with me, they're going to be hearing from me for at least 15 weeks. My goal is to get up to 52 so I can have a whole year worth of email for that person. Without me even having to touch it for months because every email I put at the bottom of my sequence, I don't send it out as a standalone email. I just keep stacking at the bottom of my sequence.

Got it.

But obviously it needs to be something that it's not time sensitive or it's like it's not a promotion or you're going to have to sign out, you know, here's a 10% discount for Mother's Day.

But if it's information that you're wanting to share that's related to your business that your client will find value in.

Yes. Not, not a pitch email, nothing like that. Just educational, like, or informational or, or curiosity, whatever, but not a pitch email. You're not going to be selling on those emails. Maybe you can add like an email between 2 or 3 emails and you can put one like, oh, have you checked my packages yet? Have you seen what I'm offering here? Here and there, yes, you, you do that, but it's not going to be every email you're going to talk about. Sometimes you— the, the, the word is like, forget about your business, forget about your, your, your product, and just focus on what, what kind of value you're going to give to that person. If you don't know what to do, because one thing that I highly recommend for people that has website, it's have blog. And yes, blog is not dead. It's very alive.

I know our friend Erika, she loves blogs. She does love those.

Exactly. But a lot of people think, oh, blogging is dead. But no, no.

I mean, I think when anytime I'm sitting around, if I can have a quick read or something, if I'm sitting and we could— we do a lot of sitting sometimes. Now I'm reading, I will read a good blog and I'm like, and it makes me think of that person later. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, we are so bombarded right now with videos, video, video, video. And blogging can be videos too. You can put videos in the— in your blog, but Sometimes you need to put in words, one, because you're writing blogs also for Google. Yeah, that's how people are going to find you because people are not going to find you all when they put like they just want to looking for a service. Sometimes people are just researching on Google about like, how about like I ask questions on Google, like, oh, like how does something XYZ do blah blah blah.

And so typically it will pull up someone's website with a blog on it saying, well, this is how you do that.

And since we are talking about that, structures, and that's one of the main things that I also suggest when you write a blog, at the very end of your blog, always, always put Q&A questions there. Put a section there because that's how Google is going to pull it out.

Gotcha.

And because now we are kind of— we are writing blogs not just for people but also for AI.

Oh, that's right. Because you see, I know both. Obviously, you've seen all the changes in this last year with AI suggest things and it's pulling information that it's reading online.

Yes, exactly. So that's how they're doing. So if you put at the end of your blog, there's two sections that you need to have at your, your blog. It's the, the, the features or the, the key takeaways that you're going to have there. So at the very beginning of their blog, you're going to put this, the key takeaways. This is what we're going to be talking about this blog. And then you make like a bullet list there. And then at the very end, you do a Q&A. And that's how you're found on Google, because we are, we are preparing those pages now for AI, not just for people. Obviously, it needs to be something readable. It needs to be things that make sense. You're not gonna put a bunch of BS.

Yes, I can say that. Definitely say BS. A lot of bullshit out there.

You're not gonna— and You're not gonna— that, uh, the, the way that people say, oh, blog is dead, is because back in the day, uh, the way that people were doing, they would just stuff a lot of keywords in that, and a lot of the times it would not even make sense.

I hadn't realized that.

Yes. So now it needs to make sense. It needs to be something that human— it's gonna— they're gonna read and they're gonna enjoy. But you also need to structure your blogs in a way that AI can find you.

Well, you know what, now that you said that, I, I think of things I've read before. I'm like, Did they not learn how to put a beginning, middle, and end? Like, sometimes you would read stuff and like, like, what? Let me read that again. And you would read it a couple times. I'm like, well, that doesn't make any sense.

They were not writing for you. They're not writing for people. They were writing for SEO only, exclusively. There was a time back in the days, it was about like to tell you, the people are gonna know my, my true age.

Yeah, well, you won't tell by your skin, so you're good.

Thank you. Back in the day when I started, I started with a bunch of websites. I even, I remember I got a, I bought this, this course that teach you how to create websites with blogs. It was just pretty much blogs.

Okay.

And back in the day, people would put a bunch of keywords randomly, randomly in white so people wouldn't read it. But Google will pick that up.

Oh, well, that's kind of smart.

But yeah, it was stuffed with keywords. There was this, this hack that they did, that they did that. It used to be that they white out the words. The words were still there. We couldn't see it because the background was white.

Got it.

Right. And but the words were behind it, the keywords. So Google could pick that up.

Oh, wow.

Yes. And then after that, kind of Google is always learning from us and getting smarter and smarter than us. So they picked it up and they kind of, they were banning all those blogging, those bloggers because of that. So, and then people start writing a bunch of gibberish because of the keywords. So, there were blogs that were, they were literally repeating the same keyword over and over and over and it was not making any sense. So, Google picked that up as well. So, it's not that blogging is dead, it's just that the way people used to blog is dead. But you can still write. Now it's all about being thoughtful and about knowing what your stuff and just sharing that.

Yeah.

So, if your knowledge on something, you just want to share that, and that is gonna be perfect.

Well, I mean, I think now in our day and age, people want authenticity. They want you to be authentic. They want you to be real, you know. I think that's why we kind of have our networking group, right? We were changing our old ways. We're not all online, we are in person.

Yes.

Um, I, I know in my business, I want people to realize I'm a real person, and what I do feeds my children and feeds my family, you know, keeps the roof over our head. Um, and I'm your neighbor, you know, but I think a lot of times in my industry, I'm virtual a lot of times, or I'm an email, or I'm sometimes a website. I gotta work on that. I'm sometimes that, but they don't realize there's a real person behind that. And I think now we want to buy, we want to purchase, we want to interact with real people. We have too much— AI is great, and I think we need to embrace it and, and learn with it, but I still want to be around. And I think blogging, having a website and stuff like that makes you real. Yes, definitely.

And I think that is one thing that social media did to us too. It kind of pushed us because you had that boom, you had that, you know, like that app.

Yeah, yeah.

Of social media where everybody was on social media, everybody was faking everything. And then people start getting tired of that. And people start wanting to go back to basics, wanting to go back to connection, to real connections. They wanted to go back to see who you really are. Who is Marie? You know, like, I don't care what you put on social media. I want to know who you are, what you do. And I— it's that real connection that people start missing because it's our human nature. We are— we are as human, we are wired to have human connection. We do not survive when we are isolated. We do not survive. You see, you can have the biggest proof. It's over there during the pandemic.

Yes.

That people are like dying, killing themselves because they could not deal with the fact that they were alone. They felt completely hopeless. So we need that connection. And I think that the, the overdone of social media that we had, we got to— we kind of get tired of that, right?

Yeah.

So we are going back.

I'm definitely kind of worn out. Also, I mean, I do get value out of it. I do find entertainment in it. But when it looks like when I'm trying to find a business again, My— for me personally, buying from a person is so important to me. It's very, very important. But again, you also give people the ability to be successful with their websites because we do all have different personalities. And I think that's something I would love for you to continue to elaborate more on, the introverted person. Because I know like here in our group, we talk about, you know, we— you know, there's once a month we get around, we get to talk and talk about our business. And it is difficult difficult for a lot of us to get in front of people and talk about who we are and what we are. And this— you specialize in really helping women show their personality, show themselves when they're not able to maybe do it in front of a camera.

Yes. And, um, you know, it's been very hard for me.

You've done very well.

I'm very proud of you today for being here because we have talked so many times on those meetings over here about all that. I am my own client.

I told you, I was like, oh my God, I'm so sorry you're at the end.

I always try to make you go first so you don't have to wait the whole time. Yes, because— but introvert people, it's not just shy people. It's not that we are shy to a point that we can't function. It's not that. Introvert people is that they do their best work when they are kind of by themselves, when they are literally focused on something, because it's their soul over there. They are not the kind of people that thrive with a lot of noise. Some people do. The extrovert, it's— they're exactly the opposite. They're going to—

they need that noise.

They need that noise. They need that mess, and they need that— all that confusion and all that, um, high or fast pace. The introvert, it's exactly the opposite. It's not that we— oh, we don't like to be around people. That's not true. It's not that we don't— we are too shy. We don't like that. That's not true. But it's just that we do our best work when we are in a calm and secluded environment because we need that calmness, that quietness for us to think, because our thoughts, they come out better that way. Yeah, but for, for the website, if I— when I build a website for an introvert person, you can even see that on my website, is that I use a lot of bold things there. I like bold colors. I'm not like that, you know, like, oh, trying to hide. No, I'm not like trying to hide or anything. No, I'm bold. I'm loud on my website. So that's why the website for introvert people, it kind of complements your, your personality because, yes, you're kind of, you don't like that. Loud, that loudness. You don't like that too much thing, but your website can do that for you. So you kind of have the best of both worlds.

Got it.

And your website is going to speak for you because sometimes introverts, they don't want to speak up. They don't want to speak. They just want to do their things, their area of genius.

Yes.

Which most of the time it's not public speaking or it's not talking. It's not talking to—

Getting on a podcast.

God knows what it's taking me. But it's like, it's just that you have a kind of a mouthpiece for you.

Okay.

Because as an introvert, sometimes you cannot— you have good thoughts, but you don't know how to verbalize that. You don't know how to put that out there because then you kind of get a little bit nervous or frustrated. So the website is going to do all that for you. That's why when we are here, I always said it's a website that is going to speak for you. It's going to be your best salesperson because that way we can do— you can do what you do best. It's getting your work done, you know, like your, your area of genius, that it's creating that business or creating that, that, let's say, a course. So, you know, whatever you create, but you don't have to go out there and sell it. Because your website is doing it for you.

Yes, got it.

Exactly.

I even think as an— I think I teeter between sometimes that I need that when I do, when I work my best, it is the quiet, it is the solitude that I enjoy. But I feel like I thrive with people sometimes as well. So I kind of teeter between extrovert and introvert. But I feel like having a good website can make my craziness or my extrovert personality all put together. Like, it makes sense because sometimes I can be all over the place. Yes, I can feel myself like, wait a minute, I'm not making sense. But my website keeps my thoughts in line so you can understand where I'm trying— what I'm trying to sell or what I'm trying to offer as my services.

You organize your thoughts. Yes, yes, like they're organized. Yes, they're organized there. Yeah, because that happens with extrovert people too, because since they're very loud, they're all over the place. They tend to be— their thoughts tend to be very disorganized. So they— when they're going to explain something to you here, they started here, all of a sudden they're at the end of the whole story, and then they go back to the middle and then they go all over the place. And when you're watching, you're just like—

very guilty. Yes, very guilty. And I think as I've gotten older, my menopause, something has happened because I'm like, where are my thoughts? What am I doing? Yes. So I think having a website and like for what I do, is I work for a very large company, but I am an individual and I don't like the website they give us. Like, it doesn't do all the parts and you don't really know about me. So having something for just me, because I— when people use my services for what I do, it's not the company I work for, it's me. So having even something like that on, I guess, on the side or like that I utilize would be ideal.

And for you and for a lot of people and not, not only you, I feel like also real estate people, right, uh, that they work for a company, you do not have to rely only on that company's website. Yes, it's good you have a directory there, that's what people are going to find out, but it's a great idea actually for you to have your own website because then most— some of those clients can become just your client.

Yeah.

And or you can, you can capture clients from other places that they wouldn't have known you through the, through the company. So it's not a bad idea for you to have your own website that it's you, you, and it's going to represent you. It's going to show who you are, is going to have your style, your voice, because that's another important thing. One thing, like you have a company website that, that website doesn't have your own voice.

That's true.

And the website can reflect that easily. The person's voice. So when the person meet you in person— too many persons here.

Yeah, yeah.

But yeah, but when someone meets you in person, they're gonna know, oh, this is, this is she, you know, like that's exactly how she talks on her website. That's exactly the way she behaves on her website. It's over here and they can relate better to that too. So even if you work for a company that has their own website and you're kind of part of that website, you can always have your own. Yeah, you use your name, you know, like just use your name as a domain name. You don't need to the company's name, you know, even if you don't want to, you don't even need to.

Because if they're Googling you and they're looking to see, to find a little bit about you, they're gonna Google your name.

Yeah, they're not gonna Google Marie from Working Home, Working Mom. No, they're gonna look, Marie, I'm looking for you. I'm not looking for the company or anything. Yeah, very, very true.

Yeah. So Carla, talk a little bit about if someone's looking to have a consultation or something like that with you, what does that look like? Like, what information should they bring or what does that kind of look like if they're like, hey, I think I need a website, but I'm not really sure what it, you know.

My consultation can be as short or as long. I prefer being very long because although I'm introvert, I like to talk.

Got it.

And I, as an introvert, it's another trade. We listen, we listen too much, we listen a lot. So because we are introverts, We— you're talking to me and I'm processing everything you're saying. That's why they're not so loud, because they don't have that need, you know, like to, to be talking or we listen. And I— my consultation usually can be like 1 hour, 1 hour and a half. Okay. Because I'm going to ask you a lot of questions. I'm going to ask you not just like, okay, I know what you're looking for, but I need to know you. I need to know your voice. Who are you? Because that's how I build my website. It's based on you because the website needs to reflect who you are. It's not me. It's not my website. It's not going to reflect me. Got it. It's not going to reflect my style. Obviously, you're going to kind of see traces of my style because everybody has their own style. Every, every web designer, if you go to their portfolio, you're going to kind of recognize their style a little bit. But it's going to be one website. It's going to be completely different from the other one. So I'm going to talk to you because I wanted to know everything about your business, what you do, how you do it, because that needs to be reflected on your website. Also, I really like to do work with branding as well. I do like if you don't have a brand, we can create that brand because they go very well with their website. It's actually, it's way easier for me if I create your brand and then we create the website because everything is going to be connected.

Yeah.

Yes. But like, let's say, no, I have my brand and I love my brand. Great. We can work on your website based on your brand for sure. But sometimes if I see like, yeah, your brand is a little bit outdated, that's not reflecting you or your business. Why don't you— why don't we just go here and do some adjustment, do some rebranding, some changes? Because sometimes people, they have branding and I know a lot of people, especially on the financial area, they're not into design, they're not into those things. They're like numbers people. And I know that they don't look at those things and they think that they have like a 15-year-old brand that needs screaming a rebranding. And it's not that they don't want to do it, it's just that they're not even thinking about it.

Our brains don't work that way. When you work with numbers, I work with numbers, obviously, and I'm very, very analytical. Analytical. I crave the creativity, but I can't see it. Like, I have— I can't visualize it. I can't even describe it. Like, I just know I want it to be pretty. That's all.

But some people— but you actually, you're not even the normal, because usually they don't even care about that, you know? Like, they're like, they're not even thinking about it. Oh yeah, maybe I should upgrade a little bit, you know?

Like, they're like, yeah, it works.

Yeah, it's like, yeah, it's there, it's doing its work, you know? It's doing its job. But Sometimes, no, you kind of need to breathe a little bit.

Yep.

Make it more modern a little bit.

So you're really, during the consultation, you're just really trying to find out about that person?

Yes.

The personality, obviously.

It's a one-on-one, you know, like I'm gonna— it's, it's personal. Not just the personality, but it's personal. I need to know that person. I need to read that person. I need to know what their business is so I can I can create something that is tailored for them. So it's a personalized website. It's not, it's not a website that I'm just going to go there and, you know, I get to get a template over here. Oh, here and put your name on it and that's it. No, it's personalized. I'm going to do it for you with all your, your, your personality or your, your specific, specific trades and your specific works that you do with everything personalized for you. So the name of the game is like personalization.

No, I think that's wonderful because a lot of times I'm very big on I don't want to be cookie cutter of something. Like, I definitely, even though I am in the finance world and things seemed like I am different from that other person, and I want that to be seen. I think I'm assuming most entrepreneurs or most people or even small business owners, they want their product to be unique and them themselves are unique and it's going to tell the story of why you should buy from me or them, you know.

Exactly. Because everybody's unique. So then the website needs to reflect that. It cannot be a cookie cutter. Like if you go on my website, I'm kind of completely the opposite of most website designers over there because most of them, they use very like soothing colors and very like a kind of a beiges and pinks and things. And mine, when you go there, it's literally as if my website is screaming at you because it's very bold, you know.

That's how you feel about your business too, right?

I do.

Yeah, very passionate.

It makes you stand out too.

Yeah.

Because if most everybody's doing one way, you need to be the crazy one. The crazy one, it's always remembered.

Yeah. Yeah, it's true.

You want to stand out. Yeah. Crazy in a good way, not in a cuckoo way. But yeah, it's because it— and that's exactly what it is. I'm bold because I am. I have all that passion and you can see it. You can literally see it on my website, even though because I'm introvert, I cannot express that as well. But when you go on the website, you can really definitely see it.

So that's where you get to have the craziness.

Exactly.

It might not be in person, but it's definitely on your website.

Exactly.

Well, this has been so informative and understanding. Like, I mean, I do, I do agree with you having Having a website that speaks to you, speaks to your client, but also represents you, you, the, you, the business owner, is very, very important. And as social media continues to grow, I think more people will honestly want to find you in a different way. And this is going to be a way that you own, that you have, and that you, you obviously will be able to capture clients and obviously show yourself off in your business. So I think it's wonderful.

Yes, it's just don't let it goes to waste when people go to a website and you don't get any information from them. Yeah, because then you need to have your website ready to connect with that person and make sure that you, you have a way to talk to that person after they leave your website.

Absolutely.

So that's the main thing, because social media can be great for, for a lot of things, which I do think they are great for a lot of things. But website has its own way as well, has its own benefits.

Definitely.

But it's a lot of ways, like when you said at the beginning that some people, they just put like a website over there, but when you go on a website, you feel nothing. So you're wasting that person's time and you're wasting your time because you're sending a person, which is really hard to find someone that actually wants to go to your website and know more about you. And that person gets there and gets completely lost. Yeah, because they don't— why am I even here? Who are you? And they sometimes— I've seen people have to go back to the Instagram and like, it doesn't connect. You know, the Instagram doesn't connect with this website. And why am I even here on this website? They don't even know why they went there anyways because they don't— they can't remember the person.

You're right. Because I think I've clicked on stuff and I'm like, what? What's happening? And then I have to go back sometimes. I've lost it. Okay. At that point, you've lost my interest. I've moved on.

Yes.

Like, this isn't— or you have to chat with them on the Instagram and I don't want to do that. I want to go and I want to read. I want a little bit to know about the business. Where is it located? Is it local? That kind of stuff. And then we can move on.

Because some people, a lot of people, I'm not the kind of person that picks up a phone and call or is going to immediately send an email. Oh, I'm interested in this. I wanted to know everything about it. No, I want to know everything that you can tell me. Up front, even your prices if you can. I want a transparency. I want to know everything. If I want to go further, if I wanted to know more, then I would go and ask you a question or something. Yeah, but it's very frustrating. And the, the website loses me when I get there and I look for information and I find nothing. It was like, well, I was about to give you my business, but since you don't want it, you're not being— Yeah, you know, like you're making me work harder.

It's a really bad first impression. Right.

Because you're making that customer that goes to your website work harder to get information. They can't— if they can't go, they can't get that information. Guess what? They're going to get that information from your competitor that it's giving, that it's putting everything over there on your website. That is why it's so important to have a good structured website where they can find everything, even Q&A. You need to have Q&A on your website. Because especially as an introvert, I am not going to waste my time calling you or send you an email, oh, I was looking for this, do you even offer that? No, if it's not there, I'm assuming that you don't and I'm gonna move on.

Move on, yeah. So no, I, I think it's extremely important, very important. I think knowing my own consumer habits, uh, you're right, if it's not a good website or something I can find easily, I move on to the next one. Yes, so get your websites done. Well, it's been so, like I said, so, so informative. And I, like I said, a very, very important part of owning a business is having that website, that design, and that support of someone who will take the time to understand who you are and what your business is. So what is, what is the best way that people can get a hold of you for your services?

On my website. Okay.

And where is that website located?

styleessencedesign.com.

Perfect. And we'll make sure to have that in our show notes so everybody can see it.

Perfect. And I do have a LinkedIn with— it's my name, Carla Romig, and then I'm on Pinterest as well. But the fastest way would be on my website because you do have a contact page over there. So you just go on the contact page and if there's anything in there that you can't find, which I doubt, like it's all the information that you need is there. So you're not gonna— and you're not gonna— and it's very well organized. You're not gonna go like crazy all over the place trying to find that information because everything is there, trust me. But if there's anything that you can't find, just go on the contact page and send me an email and I'll answer right away.

That's perfect. So everybody, we'll make sure to have your website located in our notes. So, and I just want to take the time to thank our listeners this week. Thank you so much, Carla, for being here. And everyone, we'll see you next week. Bye! Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. We hope you loved today's chat and found a little inspiration to take with you into your week. If you have a podcast topic suggestion or a question you'd love for us to cover, definitely send us us an email at hello@workingmomsofsanantonio.com. We'd love to hear from you. And until next time, see you in the community.