Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katlyn Paskorz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Katlyn, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I graduated from college in 2009, right smack dab in the middle of the recession. I applied to every place I could for 6 months and finally found a job with benefits. I was hired at a big bank as a teller. I eventually moved to work in one of their offices and stayed for eight years. During that time, I began to feel really lost about my place in the world. It was a tough job mentally, and I often felt underappreciated and overworked. My husband, a software engineer, saw me struggling and told me just about every day that I should take coding classes and learn how to build websites. I honestly thought I wasn’t smart enough to learn something so technical, and I also felt that if I completely changed careers, it would be like I worked the past eight years for nothing. He insisted I could, and after a tough day at work, I gave in and asked him to suggest a few online courses. I would work all day and then take online classes at night. It was the hardest thing I ever did, especially when I got to Javascript. I failed the Javascript test 6 or 7 times before I got a passing grade. By then, I was so high on learning something that I had told myself for so long I couldn’t, that I was not going to give up. Eventually, I passed the front-end development course and focused on learning how to design websites in WordPress. I got my first client by joining a marketplace for freelancers. After about 6 months of freelancing, and working really hard, I became a top-rated web designer in the marketplace. It was going really well so in 2019 I decided to start my company Katydid PGH. Many of my clients were asking about SEO, so I started training myself on ranking for Google. During my research, so much of the documentation and tutorials were complicated to understand. I had taken a few teaching prep classes in college and had also had a lot of experience training employees on technical procedures at the bank, so I felt like I could do a better job teaching SEO than most of the resources I was finding. I decided to write a few guides and focus my social media on teaching SEO by using a down-to-earth approach. I really feel like I found my calling in the end. Even though working for the bank was such a struggle, it taught me excellent customer service and problem-solving that I use in my business day to day.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

There are a few things that set me apart. A website is essential for any business. To many, it is their primary source of profit. If you don’t have a physical location, it is the place where your business lives. I want the websites I build to feel like that to my clients, their business homes. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by creating a website because it can be very technical. Even with all the great site builders out there, you have to basically learn a new skill to build a website yourself. So even if I am the one doing all the work of designing and building a website out, I want my client to feel in control. I really take the time to educate clients on using and updating their website, so they are not scared of it, scared they will break it if they touch it. Second I take the time to listen to their whole business journey, not just their current needs. That way, designing their site feels more personal to them and their business. I have a high referral rate, that I am really proud of, and that is partly because my clients know I listen to them and am personally invested in their stories and success.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media has always been challenging for me. Before I had my business, I deleted and re-downloaded Facebook and Instagram a hundred times. I knew it wasn’t good for my mental health and would constantly second-guess anything I posted. When I started my business, I knew I would need to be active on Instagram to market my business to potential clients. One of my goals was to teach people that even though websites and SEO are technical and overwhelming, they don’t have to be scary. I knew Instagram would be best for that. It was a lot of me fumbling around at first, and you can tell that when you look at my old posts. I kept hearing social media managers talk about engagement and building a community. So that is what I did. I don’t think new business owners realize how much time they will have to spend “doing social media,” you have to research what to post, write the posts, research hashtags, create stories, and engage with followers and non-followers. I tried to batch post and spend most of my allotted social media hours engaging. What really helped me grow my following at the beginning was tagging other business owners and being genuine with my engagement. It eventually became less challenging for me. Then further down the line, I hired a social media manager to help me, which was the best decision I ever made. They send me what to record, and they write captions and make posts. It is such a weight off my day. I have much more mental space for what I am actually good at. My advice for someone starting out would be to be authentic, focus on engagement, and not be afraid to pay an expert for help. Also, don’t worry about the number of followers you have. The follower count is meaningless if you are getting valuable leads from your social media.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

The best way to foster brand loyalty is to listen to your clients. When I have an introductory call, I ask questions beyond what they want their website to look like. I want to understand the story of their business and what they are struggling with at that moment in their journey. I also want my clients to feel heard. It’s easy for a business owner to take things personally when a client is critiquing their work. Ultimately I want my clients to love their website, so if someone wants changes or tweaks, I listen to why they want them, not just the change itself. If the change they want is crucial to the user experience, I explain why instead of brushing them off. I get a lot of feedback from clients who have had bad experiences with web designers or developers. Most of the time, it comes to the designer not taking the time to explain why something is important or why they don’t want to make a change. Which results in a communication breakdown. My experience in customer service prepared me for this. I have a high client retention and referral rate, and I am proud of that. It means I value my clients and their opinions.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.katydidpgh.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katydidpgh/
• Other: Tik Tok : https://www.tiktok.com/@katydidpgh

Image Credits
Headshots – https://www.instagram.com/gigiolivaphotography/