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The Things Clients Apologize For Before Working With Me

A lot of my clients say this within the first few minutes of a consultation. They feel like they should have it more together by now or they feel insecure of the quality of their site. But the truth is, most businesses start this way. Its good business practice starting out to get things built quickly, use DIY tools, and hold off on investing into professional design until the time is right.

I hear this often. My clients usually already have a level of awareness there and during a consultation they usually admit to this. They can feel that something isn’t working, even if they can’t fully explain why. It’s less about one specific issue and more about an overall feeling that the site no longer matches the quality of their work. I cover navigating this during my consultations and help walk clients through this step. 

This one is almost always said with a bit of hesitation like it needs to be justified. But my clients never need to feel this way. I totally understand that building your own website is part of the process for most business owners. It’s how you start. The problem isn’t that you did it yourself, it’s that your business has grown past what that version can support, which is where I now come on! 

This is usually where frustration starts to set in. Building and maintaining a website is a ton of work and requires time tweaking, rewriting, rearranging, and hours and hours dedicated to trying to fix it on their own. But instead of improving, it just feels like more work with no clear result which can be very irritating for clients. 

At this point, it’s not about effort anymore. It’s about not knowing where to focus. Everything feels slightly off, but nothing stands out as the obvious starting point. That’s usually when people reach out. Sometimes it takes my clients months of feeling defeated before they reach out, but I have processes for navigating all this so they don't feel alone and receive the support they need. 

None of these are problems in the way people think they are. They’re not signs that you’ve failed or fallen behind, but rather, they are signs that your business has grown and the foundation that was built early on isn’t meant to carry you forever. Most of the people who say these things have done a lot right. Often times, when I hear some of these "confessions" it gives me peace of mind knowing my clients are truly ready to work with me! It gets me excited because I know how wonderful the transformation is going to be.