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

Lori, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My mission is to follow my passion while serving small businesses and non-profits with high-quality, relationship-building, and income-generating websites. The story behind this mission is the story of my finding my passion through a brain tumor diagnosis in 2015. I had recently started a new job and found out I had a meningioma, the most common form of brain tumor that is benign 97% of the time. I also found out I had suffered a minor stroke one year prior. My tumor is benign, but could not be removed because it sits on my pituitary gland and has become part of my carotid artery. I did have surgery, however, to get the tumor off of my optical nerve because my eye was drooping badly. The first surgery went awry when the surgeon nicked the carotid and caused a brain bleed, leaving me mostly blind in my left eye, ironically the eye they were trying to fix! Following the surgeries, I suffered from tremendous headache pain, language and communication issues, and did not handle stressful situations well so I knew I would not be returning to the corporate world anytime soon. Instead, I took the time to find something I could do when I felt I could function so I could remain productive and maybe even find something that I could make money doing. And that is when I discovered my passion – building websites! I had been in technology for 25+ years, but had never been hands-on and had never had a creative job. Now I found something where I could use my creative talents as well as my analytical talents! And, for that, I will be forever grateful to this tumor! I wake up every day looking forward to doing what I love!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I have been in technology for over 25 years in a variety of roles – project management, software testing, documentation, and, as of 2016, web design and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Though my roles have changed, the one thing that has remained consistent is my superpower, which is explaining technical concepts and situations to non-technical audiences. I find this especially important in my business because I work with small business owners and non-profit board members who typically don’t have the time to sit and try to figure out what is wrong with their website, how to update it, research how to be found online, etc. They are focused on getting the word out about their business or organization and completing the hundreds of other tasks that they ARE able to deal with. When I start working with a new client, my primary goal is to ease their concerns and let them know that, first and foremost, it is okay if they don’t fully understand everything going on with their website and that I will teach them what they need to know so they can support it themselves IF they want to. This is one of the areas that sets me apart in my industry – I want to enable my clients, not charge them ridiculous amounts of money for things they could do themselves. The first way I do this is by developing client websites on a platform that is NOT WordPress (unlike most of those in my industry). I specifically avoid WordPress because of the plugins that have to be frequently updated in order to keep WordPress sites working properly (and to avoid the risk of going down or even being hacked). I also find that most non-technical people find WordPress to be difficult and confusing. Instead, I develop on a platform that is easy for just about anyone to use (Duda), requires no updates, and is very SEO-friendly. In addition, when we are done building a new website, I provide training videos to the client so they can learn how to do their own updates if they want to. (Of course, I’m more than willing to update as well, but this gives the client options!)

Another area where I feel I stand apart from my competition is my overall approach to websites. I feel there are two critical concepts with any website – (1) it is consistent with the client’s brand and (2) it is built with the intention of building know, like, and trust with prospects. (According to marketing expert, Bob Burg, in his book “Go-Giver”, “…all things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to those people they know, like, and trust.”) Notice I don’t say that the most important thing is to convert visitors into clients. Yes, that is the ultimate goal, but most people don’t click on a website and immediately fork out hundreds or thousands of dollars. They need to relate to the person or company and they need to know their pain points are being addressed, and this comes through building know, like, and trust. Once the brand is understood, we build the site to “speak” to the customer avatar (AKA the right type of client) through colors, images, language, etc. We also incorporate freebies and opt-ins, videos, blogs, and/or podcasts to give the website visitor exposure to the person or business and their personality as well as their knowledge and expertise. Through building with these intentions in mind, educating the client on the importance of making their website the hub of all marketing efforts, and implementing Search Engine Optimization, our client is more likely to be found by their customer avatars and to convert them into clients, resulting in more business!

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

Over the past 7 years I have been in business, 95% of my clients come through direct referrals, and most of the clients have been small businesses, solopreneurs, and/or local non-profits. Prior to 2021, I had never pursued government contracts or any government-related work. Then the phone rang in March 2021. The caller ID said it was a call from the Florida Department of Health. I immediately assumed it was a personal call. The person on the other end introduced herself as a Coordinator with the C.R.O.W.N. program that specializes in addressing opioid addiction in Nassau County, Florida. Then she said she found me on the Nassau County Chamber website and wanted to discuss having me build a website for them for the purpose of addressing the stigma around opioid addiction, educating addicts and family members, and offering helpful information.

I have to be honest here. My response was “I don’t think I can help you.” because I was immediately convinced this was way out of my wheelhouse! She laughed and said “You do build websites, don’t you?” Of course I did! So we kept talking and truly bonded. I was up against several other companies in the area, but my business was selected, primarily because of my enthusiasm and the relationship (know, like, and trust!) we built through the proposal preparation.

She had a healthy budget through the combined CDC/HHS programs designed to address the opioid addiction epidemic and she wanted to only use resources from our county. As a result, over the next 6 months, we built an incredible website! I sub-contracted an amazing videographer who did interviews with 10 individuals who were either recovered addicts or family of addicts; an equally amazing photographer; a copywriter; and an expert in accessibility, and I personally pulled the entire site together. And I could not be more proud of the work we did and the impact the website has on our community! We have pulled together multiple agencies to share the site and refer it as an outstanding county resource. You can find the site at https://www.nassaufldrugprevention.org/ if you’re curious!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

As I mentioned, at least 95% of my business comes through referrals. And you don’t get referrals without providing quality work. I moved to our small town of Yulee, FL outside Jacksonville in 2017 without knowing a soul. I started my business in 2016 so it was really just getting going. In order to get to know people in the area, I literally got on Facebook’s “Discover” option (I’m not even sure if it’s still there!) where you can find people in your general area. I looked for women who I thought I could relate to and messaged them that I was new to the area and was looking to connect. As a result, I found a gal who introduced me to a local women’s group of approximately 100 women across Yulee, Fernandina Beach (Amelia Island), and Jacksonville – and a group that literally changed my life and business!

I can honestly say that the vast majority of people I know in this area came directly or indirectly from that group. The great thing about the group was that it was not a business card sharing or even business networking group. Yes, we talked about our businesses, but we mainly got together to build relationships and learn from each other. And that, to me, is the best business-building and marketing you can do – relationship-building. It started with doing a website for one person in the group then another person in the group then for someone referred from someone in the group. And, before I knew it, I had built a reputation as someone who could build exceptional websites at a reasonable price. From there, I continued to meet people in the community who got to know me and my work and they started referring me.

When Covid hit, the group was not near as active so I started going to online networking groups. And I did the same thing – started building relationships. Again, before I knew it, I had a group of women (and men) who knew me, loved my work, and enthusiastically referred potential clients my way.

What makes this work? A few critical things: (1) It has to be about relationships first. You can’t just go to a bunch of networking meetings, hand out cards or drop your info in the Zoom chat, and expect people to come running. (Dare I say it – build the know, like, and trust!) And (2) you have to provide high-quality work and you have to be reliable. If your work is great but you are always late or don’t come through at all, it shows. And if your work is not worth what you charge, you also will not see referrals. And, finally, (3) your price needs to be in line with your target audience and the level of your work. I started out charging very low rates as I built my business and reputation, and have gradually increased it every year (sometimes more than once a year) as my quality and confidence increased. And I still get referrals because my work is in line with what I charge. I even had someone say to me the other day “That is a lot of money and I’m not sure where I’ll get it, but I have to go with you because you came so highly recommended”. And that is what you want at the end of the day!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bizbolster.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bizbolsterlori/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bizbolster
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loriaosborne/
• Other: Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/web-basics-and-seo-for-the-small-business-owner/