We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Barden a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jennifer, thanks for joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

Being a business owner comes with it’s challenges, but I could never work a “regular” job again.

As I was starting my business as a side hustle, my goal was to leave my day job as soon as humanly possible. It wasn’t because I didn’t like my day job, it was because I wanted the freedom that comes with owning my own business and I wanted to follow my joy and do what I love and what I feel I was meant to do.

“Freedom” can mean different things to different people. Certainly owning your own business doesn’t always feel so “free.” It can mean putting in a lot of extra hours, taking risks, setbacks, lean months or even years.

But to me, I feel much more free owning my own business than I ever felt working as an employee, even during those “lean” times.

I have the freedom to earn as much as I want. I can make my own hours. I can work from anywhere. I can make my business whatever I want it to be.

The last time I thought about what it would be like to have a regular job again was when my Dental Hygiene license was up for renewal–and I didn’t renew it!

This is a big deal, because getting that license was difficult. When you let your license lapse, you can’t just renew it any old time that you want. In order to renew it after letting it lapse, you have to take the Board exams again.

Essentially, if you let it lapse, it means you never plan to practice Dental Hygiene again.

While I admit I mulled it over quite a bit before making the decision, the thought of returning to work was simply out of the question. I didn’t want a backup, a Plan B, a “just in case my business fails.” I only wanted Plan A where failure was not an option.

Jennifer, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

In 2018, I was a Dental Hygienist, divorced, and co-parenting 2 teenage daughters. Dental Hygiene was a great career for being a Mom. I worked at a small family practice across the street from the school my daughters attended and I worked 4 days a week.

I was also (and still am) an avid cyclist living in the cycling mecca of the Northeast. My friend, Jen Duby, and I decided to start a women’s cycling blog. I was a founder and board member of the local women’s cycling club, so I had a lot to draw on. I was also well-connected with the movers and shakers of the cycling community, such as race organizers and shop owners, so I had a lot of material and resources.

Jen and I decided to use Squarespace as our blogging platform. I spent hours learning the ins and outs of Squarespace, blogging, and lead generation while Jen, being that writing is her profession, wrote 90% of the blog posts.

I discovered that building websites and blogging are right up my alley. The more I worked on the platform, the more I wanted to learn and know. I shifted from the cycling blog to designing websites for clients. I had to abandon the blog (and so did Jen who is now running her own copywriting business) in order to focus on my web design business.

After about 2 years of doing this as a side hustle, I was able to quit my day job and give my business 110% of my time and energy.

It didn’t take long to learn that websites need to be more than just a pretty face. After reading Building a StoryBrand and Marketing Made Simple by Donald Miller, I decided to go all-in and become a Certified StoryBrand Guide.

This was a huge monetary investment that turned out to be totally worth it.

After becoming a Guide and learning how to create Brand Messages for my clients, I was able to help my clients niche down and create messages that resonate with their target audience. I convey it on a Squarespace website designed to attract and engage their target audiences in a way that we know people predictably interact with websites–it’s science!

But there was still one problem: these website weren’t getting any traffic. StoryBrand doesn’t teach you that part, and people have a misconception that Social Media drives website traffic, and it doesn’t. Social Media wants you to stay with them, not click off their platform.

Google, however, helps people find what they are looking for online.

Enter the blog.

How perfect for me, considering how I got into Squarespace web design in the first place with the cycling blog.

After blogging consistently for my business, Jen-X Website Design and Strategy, for 1 full year, I can attest to the fact that blogging is an extremely effective content marketing strategy. My traffic and leads have increased exponentially and I rarely post to Social Media anymore and it feels great!

85% of Squarespace websites get 0 traffic, and despite a nasty rumor that “Squarespace is bad for SEO,” SEO is NOT platform-dependant. In other words, Squarespace is not the problem, the problem is that people who use Squarespace are generally not SEO savvy (I wrote a blog post about this if you want to check it out called “The Truth Behind the Myth That Squarespace is Bad for SEO.”)

To help Squarespace users drive traffic to their websites, build trust with their target audiences, grow their email lists, and convert website visitors into paying customers, I created a course called Traffic Transformer that teaches my students how to increase organic website traffic to their Squarespace websites by blogging so they can grow their businesses.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

By the time 2020 rolled around, it was clear to me that I had a solid business model that I could do full time, but only if I committed to it 100%. Meaning, I would have to quit my secure day job and essentially end my career as a Dental Hygienist.

As a single person with 2 kids in college, this was a big risk. But you know what they say: No risk, no reward.

In order to afford to quit my day job and commit to my business, I had to sell my house.

Yep, you heard me right. I sold my house.

I LOVED this house, but I loved the idea of owning my own business and working for myself more. A house is just a house. Freedom is priceless.

So, I sold it, which allowed me to buy a condo for cash, leaving me mortgage-free and allowing me to focus 100% on my business.

Now THAT’S what I call commitment! No plan B.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Consistently adding content to my website and YouTube that my audience finds valuable is the method I used (and continue to use) to build a reputation in my market.

Your blog is the best way to do this, and adding YouTube videos to your blog magnifies the results.

By showing your audience that you can solve micro problems that you know they are experiencing, you demonstrate your authority to solve macro problems while at the same time building trust with your audience and your peers.

It is also really helpful to collaborate with others in your industry who you trust and want to be associated with. It’s not as hard as you think. Finding people whose products or services lend themselves to yours and vice versa is a great way to grow your own audience and build a professional network.

Being generous with your help and free advice, cross-promoting products and services that align with your own business, and building a strong network in your industry is important to building a reputation not only with your audience but with your colleagues and peers. Stop “competing” and understand that we live in an abundant universe where there’s plenty of room for all of us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jenxwebdesign.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenxwebdesign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenxwebdesign
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-barden-b01077139/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jenxwebdesign
• Other: https://www.marketingmadesimple.com/Jenxwebdesign