Creating a vision for a freelance business

How I learned by building

For six months after leaving the world of universities and entering into this freelance operation I tried to come up with words that would explain my vision and purpose. For some reason, I struggled. I even employed the help of a coach, but something never quite rang true with anything that I tried to put down onto paper. Somehow the result didn’t sound quite like me. It just sounded pretentious and perhaps a little as if I was trying to be something that I wasn’t.

This all changed when I finally started to build my website. Finally, I had to ‘design’ the pages, including text which described my vision and purpose. I started with what I had originally written and began to change it to fit the page. Eventually, I ditched the first version of the homepage, favouring instead, a different division of content. I realised that I was talking at cross-purposes. The focus of the website is the blog posts and newsletter subscription – my exploration into the world of pedagogy. The secondary focus is to provide information about the services that I offer and the courses that I run and create. I was trying to put them all front and centre on the home page – giving them equal weight – and it just wasn’t working.

I came to realise that my services and courses needed to be on the website, but that the main method for encouraging uptake was through networking and via the newsletter. Indeed, that very week, in a group coaching session I was asked why I seemed to be doing a ‘round-about’ way of attracting clients.

“why not just talk directly to them?”

It was a good question and it made me think about what my purpose with the website actually was. Then a week later one of the group told me that they had been advised to:

“not worry about a website too much, that’s not where your effort should be, it’s an extra rather than a necessary element to what you offer. Networking is where your effort would best be placed, especially when you are just getting started.”

But, there was a difference between us, I realised. Yes, I do want to attract clients, but that wasn’t the only thing that I wanted to do. I also wanted to sell courses, many of which would be online, and sell my writing (in some form at least). That required a different approach, I thought. Thirdly, I really wanted to run a blog where I could explore my thoughts about learning and teaching approaches.

Thus, I came to the realisation that services and courses were of secondary importance on the website itself. This was something of a mini revelation for me and I don’t think I would have figured it out without working my way through a design process.

Is this an example of gaining understanding through a visual type of learning (such as suggested by the VARK method] method)? Perhaps. I think it’s more complicated than that. Talking with a coach about what my mission and purpose is, hadn’t fully worked. It took me so far, but not all the way to understand what I needed. That’s not always the case. I’ve seen in action how fantastic coaching can be in drawing out that special message that describes in a nutshell who you are and what you offer (and why someone should buy what you are offering). It’s incredible when it works.

Writing my ideas down in a word document, only got me so far as well. I spent months writing and rewriting the elevator pitch, and three keywords that described me, and a paragraph that I could use to describe my worth whilst chatting over coffee. I knew what I wanted to do, but I couldn’t quite figure out the connections or the best way to put it across.

Then came the website build. Suddenly faced with a visual design, where my words needed to find a home in small chunks on a digital page, alongside images, menu items, and widgets, something clicked. Or rather, it didn’t. The page was clunky as I was trying to fit too much on it to try and explain that I offer services as an instructional designer and learning technologist, that I design and create courses that can be purchased (or used for free), and that I also research and write, including blog posts about ‘how do we learn…and how do we teach’. That’s quite a lot to put in one place, especially when trying to keep things simple.

Simple. That’s the word that popped into my head. The homepage needs to be simple, otherwise, people will go away confused and disinterested. Simplicity meant a clear message. My message was three-fold, and each part was pushing the other parts out in a war for control of the page. So why not give them freedom by granting each part a landing page of their own. Room to breathe was needed simplicity!

Thus, this website was born and went live in September 2021. Is it perfect? Definitely not. There will be changes over the coming years. But I like to think that it expresses who I am and what I offer in a way that feels real and right to me, at this moment in time, and isn’t that what it was meant to do, after all?

Now the big question. Do you agree? Do you like the way this website is setup or do you think that it’s still confusing or difficult to navigate? Is it interesting (or dull?)? What could I do differently that you would prefer? Let me know in the comments below. All criticism is welcome!