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

Hi Stacey, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I’ve always been creative. I went to school for photography, which laid the foundation for what I do now. After a few years working as a wedding photographer, I realized I was close to burning out. I shifted to graphic design so I could still be creative but without the stress and travel of weddings.

When I was starting out as a graphic designer, I watched a lot of how-to videos, but realized that I needed more than technical skills – I needed to push my creative thinking. Design challenges helped keep me accountable and gave a bit of competition to push me beyond the first idea.

I continued to build on my photography and graphic design foundation when I shifted to website design. Recreating websites that I liked was the best way for me to wrap my head around coding and building sites. I leaned into my background to learn to design websites and figure out website strategy.

Photography taught me how to see, graphic design taught me how to capture emotion, and web design taught me how to make it interactive.

I’m always learning and growing as a designer. I fully believe that just starting, learning in real-time with real projects is the best way to speed up the learning process. Nothing makes you figure out something faster than a client trusting you to create something for them.

It takes a lot of confidence to dive into a new area or work outside of your zone of genius. Being willing to make mistakes and learn as you go are some of the most essential skills that have helped me. Finding the right teachers to figure out your learning style will help too. I learn best hands-on, but that doesn’t work for everyone.

Stacey, 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?

I’m a website designer working to connect small business owners to their target audience through intentional website design. I focus on making websites not only visually appealing but accessible, ensuring that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can use the site.

Growing up as the kid of entrepreneurs, I saw how challenging it can be to grow a business while staying true to your strengths. That’s what inspired me to start Space Cookie Designs—helping small business owners create websites they’re proud to share.

I love working with small businesses because I get to dive into different industries and learn what drives my clients. It’s a rewarding process, and I approach each project with a focus on accessibility, branding, and connection. My mission is to help you connect with your audience through a website that reflects your hard work and passion.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Seeing my work in the wild. It’s so cool when I’m out and about and see something that I created in grocery stores or on social media. Since most of my work is digital, it’s easy to forget the impact it has until I see it in real life.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

It did! I first played with websites in college and loved the possibilities it opened up. At the time, I had decided I was going to be a photographer, so I put websites down.

Over the years, website design kept popping back up. I was fascinated with code and trying to figure out how the cool websites worked.

I finally gave into the pull and took a course. This gave me the foundation and the confidence to tell my friends and family what I was up to, and I started designing sites for them.

When I got laid off at the end of 2023, I had a choice: search for a new job or go all in on Space Cookie Designs. Not really much of a choice in the insane job market!

I put the word out about my business and started networking like crazy to build up some momentum for Space Cookie. It’s paid off, and I’ve been very grateful to work with a lot of great clients since I got laid off.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thespacecookie.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceynicholls/
• Other: https://thespacecookie.com/newsletter-sign-up

Image Credits

Erin Waynick Photography