From tweenage HTML to slinging $500 websites

Part two of the story about the early days of my design business and what didn’t click.

Jun 05, 2025

s/o Andrew Bortz, the OG brand photographer

The business that couldn’t survive a pandemic

When Covid hit, our business got turned upside down.

If you read Part One, you’ll remember that my husband and I were running an organization of community choirs. This was essentially our entire livelihood at the time. And it was working well, bringing in more money than I ever thought possible as a self-employed musician living the freelance gig life.

Then came the lockdown.

Singing with other people was suddenly one of the least pandemic-friendly activities around. And while we rallied: four nights a week of Zoom rehearsals, virtual choirs that break my heart to rewatch, and an online Christmas concert. But, it just wasn’t the same.

We were disheartened.
Tired.
Sick of social distancing and singing at screens.

And, we were also starting to ask some tough questions about our future.

If a global pandemic could put our entire livelihood on the line, what kind of risk were we living with? We were newly married. Standing at the edge of what (unbeknownst to us) would become a long, emotionally and financially demanding journey toward parenthood.

We needed the kind of stability that our current setup couldn’t offer.

A new chapter (in a totally new industry)

So, we made big changes.

Andrew was accepted into a doctoral program at the University of Alberta, one step closer to his long-time goal of becoming a professor. And I made a leap of my own: into the online business world.

Quietly, in the background of 2019 and 2020, I’d been toying with the idea of running a website studio.

I’ve always loved design.

This is a very niche reference, but if you’re a Canadian ‘90s kid, you might remember Nexopia? Basically a watered-down Myspace. I was the 13-year-old who raced home from school to code her profile with creative HTML hacks.

More than a decade later, I stumbled my way through building a half-decent Squarespace site for Crescent Choirs. Then, with a few design courses under my belt, I turned this website into a key part of our fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants marketing strategy.

Then, I built a website for a local non-profit. Then, helped my beautiful mom launch and sell out her new painting series with a custom site.

I was hooked. But, to be clear, I was also still clueless about how to turn this love for design into an actual business that makes good money.

No winging it this time

This time, I didn’t want to experiment.

Yes, some marketing guesswork still crept in (like posting 7 days a week, trying to be everywhere, and creating random lead magnets with no long-term strategy... we’ve come a long way). But overall, I knew I wanted to build this thing intentionally.

I wasn’t the Winging-It Creative anymore. I was the Smart Newbie.

In the Spring of 2020, I officially decided to launch my design studio and enrolled in a business course for Squarespace designers. It taught me a lot, some of it great, some of it… not so great. I learned how to pick a niche, understand my audience, build out a client experience, write copy, manage contracts and payments, and market my services. Most notably, I learned the two-week website process that I ended up selling.

What looked good on paper (but didn’t feel good in practice)

Here’s the thing, though. The two-week website wasn’t really my jam.

If you’ve been in my world for a while, you’ve probably heard me tell a version of this story before. The two-week website was a strategy that “worked” on paper. The course creator who taught it has made bajillions teaching other designers to do it, too.

But even after I started booking clients, something felt off.

For one, I wanted to spend more time in deep, strategic conversations. My clients didn’t just rave about the websites I built for them. They adored the strategy. I was helping them with their offers, messaging, content, and business models, and I loved that part.

Also, I could feel the exhaustion setting in before it even landed. Selling and delivering full websites every two weeks? Charging… next to nothing? I was mentally heading toward burnout before I’d even booked out.

So even though I had taken the “smart” route of learning someone else’s proven method, I intuitively knew that this wasn’t going to be sustainable for me.

The moment things opened up

What I really needed was personalized support. So, I found a mentor. Even when it didn’t quite make financial sense yet, I invested. And that’s when everything opened up.

(So much so that I eventually became the Burnt-Out Founder… but that’s the story for Part Three of this series.)

A reflection for the Smart Newbie

If you’re new to the business world (or dreaming up a new iteration of your business), you might resonate with today’s story.

You don’t want to fumble around in the dark anymore. You’ve learned the ropes. Maybe even taken the course or built the funnel or already launched the thing.

But you’re still looking for your way of doing it.

You want simple strategies that become deeply intuitive. Support that meets you where you’re at (and takes you where you’re going). And, a business model that makes sense for your actual life, not someone else’s.

So here’s your reflection for today:

Where are you still following someone else’s plan when what you need is your own?

Sending lots of love,
Samara

P.S.

If you want to hear more stories (and perspective shifts) like this one, you’ll love The Shifts: my free 5-day audio series kicking off on June 9th.

AND–letting you know that the $300 discount for the next cohort of my group mentorship program ends on Saturday. My inbox and DMs are open!

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