SPEAKERS
Karyn Paige, Sam Munoz

Karyn Paige 00:00
A lot of times resolutions are centered around things that we want to cut out, or things that we think are bad. And we want to stop doing bad behaviors, right? So I want to also push all of that to the side. And think about intentional goal setting really as how you want to grow and how you want to get better at how you want to evolve, and just even switching the way that sounds like makes you show up differently, like taking things away, or like, you know, everybody’s resolution is always like to lose weight or to stop smoking or something like that. That feels like a lot of punishment. And so it doesn’t, I think sometimes when people don’t want to, or have trouble sticking to a resolution, where it’s like no, my my intention for this year is to like, grow and be better and to try things like that sounds a little bit more fun and also like something you want to show up and keep working on.

Sam Munoz 00:55
Well, welcome to Making website magic where we empower women to step boldly into their web design, businesses follow their intuition and claim the success they’re worthy of. I’m Sam Munoz.

Karyn Paige 01:06
And I’m Karen Page, where the Tech Wizards behind sanguineous consulting and the making website Magic School of Business, where two women here to talk about what it actually takes to run a web design business that’s aligned with your vision.

Sam Munoz 01:18
Spoiler alert, it probably isn’t what you think it is ready to hear about everything from refining your business vision, networking with intention and creating a magical client experience.

01:28
Let’s do it.

Sam Munoz 01:35
Well, hello, Karen and happy 2022 Happy New Year.

Karyn Paige 01:39
Hey, Sam. Yeah, welcome to the new year. I’m excited to be here.

Sam Munoz 01:44
Me too. I’m like popping a mini pretend confetti popper over here at my desk to sound effects included.

Karyn Paige 01:54
Yeah, it’s good to be back.

Sam Munoz 01:57
It is. And I feel like we have to address the fact that we’re back right. Like we took some time off from the podcast, and had a little bit of a break and a hiatus. And I think that’s really exciting. And I am stoked to be here for season two of making website magic. This is awesome.

Karyn Paige 02:17
Indeed, indeed it is. It’s like more here. We’re back. We’re refreshed, recharged and ready to start ready to take on the New Year.

Sam Munoz 02:25
Yes, exactly. Which is why today we are talking about intentional goal setting for web designers. And I love that we use the word intention. I love that we use the word goal setting. And it was really interesting. As we were coming up with the title for this episode, we had quickly written down something that said like starting your year off, right, which is like kind of what we’re discussing. But we were also like, Wait a second. What does it mean to like, start your year off, quote unquote, right? Like, there is no right way to do anything. You get to decide everything in your life, you get to decide everything in your business. And so there is no right or wrong way. So as you’re listening to everything today, I want you to keep that in mind. And remember that we’re two people with two unique perspectives and experiences. And you can take what you want, you can leave the other things that don’t feel right for you. And yeah, you get to decide what is right. So we’re not going to put that in the title.

Karyn Paige 03:21
Yeah, yeah. So like, We’re not advocating for resolutions, you know, like, I feel like at the beginning of the year, everybody is setting new year’s resolutions like, and all of that implies, but I’m not really an advocate for that, because I feel like it puts a lot of pressure on you to, to follow through on something that maybe is not, you’ll find that it’s like not in alignment, or it’s a harder target to hit than you thought it was gonna be. So like just kind of like setting goals with intention and giving yourself like the space to be flexible. That’s what I’m about

Sam Munoz 03:53
the word flexible. Yes. And what’s really cool is you talk about this in the mentorship sometimes, and it’s something that you and I maybe I’ve mentioned on the podcast as well. But this idea of just like experimenting with something, right? So it doesn’t even have to be like a goal or a resolution that you have to commit to for a year. It can be an experiment, you can decide, like for the next 30 days, I’m gonna like try this thing. And we’re gonna see if I feel good doing it and we’re gonna see if it feels right. And that can be a quote unquote goal. And some might see that as a resolution. But in reality, what you’re doing is you’re giving yourself the chance to try something and to evolve and to experience it. And for it to be okay if you decide, You know what, this is not for me, whereas resolutions to me have always felt very limiting. And also the idea of like, every year I have to come up with this like resolution because I wasn’t good enough last year. I hate that idea of like starting off the year by saying like, last year sucked in so I’m going to do better this year. Like what no take last year for what it was.

Karyn Paige 04:53
Yes, that makes me think too. Like a lot of times resolutions are centered around things that we want to cut out or things that we think are bad. And we want to stop doing behave bad behaviors, right? So I want to also push all of that to the side. And think about intentional goal setting really as how you want to grow and how you want to get better, and how you want to evolve, and just even switching the way that sounds like makes you show up differently, like taking things away, or like, you know, everybody’s resolution is always like to lose weight or to stop smoking or something like that exercise. Yeah, that feels like a lot of punishment. And so it doesn’t, I think sometimes why people don’t want to, or have trouble sticking to a resolution where it’s like, no, my, my intention for this year is to, like, grow and be better and to try things like that sounds a little bit more fun. And also like something you want to show up and keep working on, you know, right? Yes.

Sam Munoz 05:49
And something that we talk about is this idea of goals in general. And what a goal really is. And I don’t even really like the SMART goals. You know, sma RT, but I prefer to think of a goal as is two components, there’s a target, and then there’s your commitment. So the target is like the thing that you would like to achieve an outcome that you would like to have happen. This is outside of your control, though. And I’ll give an example in a second. And then there’s a commitment, right, there’s the thing that you’re saying, I’m going to commit to and I’m going to decide to do this thing. And that’s the thing that you actually have control over. And so a good example of this is like booking a project, you can have a target to book one project in January. And that’s kind of outside your control, right? Like you can’t really dictate whether someone swipes their credit card, or whether they sign the contract, like you can’t fully be in control of that. But what you can be in control of is how many discovery call invitations, you send out how many times you send a proposal, how many follow up emails you send, all of those things are within your control. And so together, they can create a goal. And so I really think like thinking about goals as targets and commitments can be really helpful as we’re talking about this idea of intentional goal setting. So we’re not setting things like I’d like to make X amount of dollars and like, again, that just coming from something outside of yourself anyway. But then also like setting goals that feel unrealistic, and also stress you out more than they actually motivate you.

Karyn Paige 07:19
Okay, so I love how you gave the example of like a really professional goal, right? Like booking one project this month. Like, that’s always why we’re here. That’s why the title of this episode is like, you know, intentional goal setting for web designers, because that’s what we’re talking about professional goals sometimes feel a little bit, maybe more tangible. And like maybe something that, I don’t know, I don’t use the word official, you know what I mean? But it’s like, Okay, we have some goals over here, in the business side, the professional side of things, but then we also I would love to make space for personal goals as well, like what we want out of the year as humans, right. And so the really cool thing about like thinking of the personal and professional at the same time is that they will go hand in hand, right, as you are intentionally wanting to, like, grow professionally, you will end up growing personally as well. So, you know, it’s like we’re always talking about fitting business into life instead of fitting life into business. So how can we like feed two birds with one seed?

Sam Munoz 08:21
Yes, yes. And I like this idea that that’s another way to think about goals to is not just as this like outcome, but also as like a growth, right. So like you’re moving forward in some way, even if it’s this tiny, little incremental thing, you are moving forward. And so moving forward, professionally, moving forward, personally, they do go hand in hand, the more I grow in my own personal development, the more I bring into the business, and likewise, back and forth, and like my life gets richer when my business and my professional development grows. And the business gets better when I grow as a person, you know, when I do counseling and therapy and read books that helped me understand myself better, like I show up better in the business. And so it is really cool to set those goals and also to think about goals as growth. And I don’t think that we talk about that enough, right? We talk about goals as this, again, this external destination point, when in reality, goals can be something that we kind of are always living with, and they change and they evolve. It makes me think about how there’s this external goalpost for success, right? Because these things are all connected, right goals, growth, success, but we can be successful right now just like we can be growing right now, just like we can have a goal that we just achieved right now. And then we can maybe move forward to another one or be moving towards a goal. So hopefully that made sense. I just like I want it to be really clear that like all the growth and the goals and all of these things. They are connected and they’re related. And it doesn’t mean that you’re not there. Now it doesn’t mean that you’re not successful. Now it just means that we can grow a little more, right?

Karyn Paige 09:55
Yeah, it reminds me of sometimes how we think of like a goal being a desk The nation that we hit and then then what then where do we go from there, whereas like growing is like a consistent practice that keeps happening, right. And also, as we’re thinking about intentional growth, professionally, personally, etc. Like, I do also want to point out that there are legitimate seasons where it might feel like you’re growing in one area over the other, and that’s okay. Right. So for you, in 2022, listening to this, this might be a year where you’re like, my focus is going to be professional growth. And you might be listening to this and say, you know, what, I feel like I’ve really grown a lot professionally. And I’ve kind of come to like a good resting point. And now I want to focus on personal growth, right? So it doesn’t always have to be 5050. It is okay. If it’s, like, more focus in one area than the other.

Sam Munoz 10:53
Yes, yeah, totally. And I actually love that we call the title of this episode, intentional goal setting for web designers, mostly because that we are talking about that, but also we’re not. And so like, I hope that you clicked on this, like wanting that. And then we’re kind of doing I hope, it’s not like too much of a bait and switch. But it is like, we’re talking about growth and improvement, we’re not necessarily giving you tactics to like, sit down with your planner and like, set 90 Day goals. This is about why we’re inviting you to look at your professional life, look at your life life, or the two of them together, see areas where you want to grow and develop and improve, and then move forward with those things. So again, it’s not like a 90 day 365 day plan. It’s more of the why, which is what we talked about on this podcast in the first place.

Karyn Paige 11:47
Yeah, and those plans are great for some, if that’s how your mind works, and if that’s how you feel comfortable operating. But I know for me, it’s like, when I have done those really micro detailed goal setting 365 I can stick to it, because that’s just not how I flow. You know what I mean? So that’s why it’s like, okay, maybe it’s more of like an overarching theme.

Sam Munoz 12:11
Yeah, like, or just like a brainstorming session. Yeah. Right. Right. Which like, makes me think of what we did last year. Karen, you know, how we did like the 2022 planning. And we did break down things that needed to be on the schedule, like some calendar stuff, right? Because it was like, we want to make sure that we get these on the calendar so that everything else can fall into place. But when we were setting those overarching goals, I really liked how we approached that, because it was a lot about growth. And it was about like, we’re going to do this thing and like there’s going to be an outcome. We would like it to be this. But also if it’s not that that’s not in our control, and that’s okay.

Karyn Paige 12:51
Yes. So when we had our like, planning session for 2022, what I really loved about it was like you said, we got some dates on the calendar, because they needed to be there in order to have everything kind of fall into place. But we didn’t like micromanage the dates on the calendar, you know what I mean? It also left a lot of room for other things to be added.

Sam Munoz 13:14
Yes. Right. Yes, the growth piece. Okay. So let’s talk about, can we dive into professional goals a little bit, because I love the idea of professional growth. And just this idea of like, continuous improvement getting better at your craft, I was just thinking about this today in the shower naturally, as all good ideas come? Yeah, I was thinking about how, as you grow professionally, the ability to charge more money, for example, just naturally comes as well, because you’re getting better at your processes, you’re getting better at like actually building a website, you’re getting more efficient, which means that maybe you can book more projects, or you can, you know, there’s just all these benefits to your clients that inherently raise the value of your work. And so growing professionally is one of the biggest ways to have the desired outcome of like making more money. And so I love that that can be like kind of the incentive, almost, if you can’t find another incentive of just like the desire to grow professionally, that incentive can be I would like to make more money this year. So I would like to grow in my professional development.

Karyn Paige 14:22
Yes, very, very, that it’s, like we were talking earlier about like, the benefits are like kind of like the side effects of growing and how that affects, like, personally, professionally, I think when you you give yourself the space to focus on professional goals. One of the results of that is also like just building confidence in yourself, which allows you to make those other changes that you were talking about, right?

Sam Munoz 14:48
Yeah. I really like talking about this because I have been building websites personally for a really long time, not just since we started SMC but like long before that and And I still love growing in my skills and staying fresh on what’s, you know, what are the new features and updates, and we do things in WordPress and WordPress has had this like huge, massive upgrade over the past couple of years. And I’m excited about exploring that more because I want to just continue to grow in my own skills. And I think that creating that culture within your business, even if it’s just you is so cool, right? Because it’s like, we value continuous improvement, we value staying on top of trending technology and all of these things. And like, I had this life coach in the past, who would always tell me like, if you’re not growing, you’re dying. And I just love applying that concept to the business and just this idea of like getting better for you getting better for your clients. And it is a net positive for everyone when you grow as a professional and in your expertise.

Karyn Paige 15:56
Yeah. So let’s talk about some of our professional goals I can in the company, right? Yeah, paint a more vivid picture, so to speak. Do you want

Sam Munoz 16:07
to go first? You want me to go first? Sir, I’m happy to share first if you like,

Karyn Paige 16:14
Yeah, go for it. I feel like you already kind of touched on some of them. But yeah, let’s go for Sam.

Sam Munoz 16:18
So there is the kind of mentorship and education side of SMC which is where this podcast falls, right making website magic falls within that branch of the business. And so in that branch of the business, I really want to continue to be a better coach. And I’m doing that by enrolling in programs. I’m in this really, really awesome coaching program right now where I’m learning lots of great skills and how to better support our mentees and understand how to support and like the healing process that happens behind the scenes and is underlying to all professional and personal development. And that has been really exciting to do already. And I want to continue that this year. In addition to that, in this side of the business, I’m really excited to explore kind of extending our visibility as podcasters and as leaders in the web design space. And so that is an area I want to grow to which I’m an introvert and so that I feel like can sometimes be like sometimes they don’t quite align. However, I’ve noticed that I do like to be in more visible roles when it relates to things that I actually care about. And so I’m excited to grow in that area too. And then on the SMC studio side of things, which if you’re listening, this might resonate with you, very specifically, I want to continue to grow in my development skills. So WordPress has this like full site editing thing now where you can edit absolutely every part of WordPress and I love digging into the code. And I love learning more about that kind of stuff, and taking everything that I learned and sharing it back on the other side of the business in the education side of things. So I’m excited to just grow and learn new skills that I can then share with you all. So those are some of my professional goals and areas that I’m growing in professionally in 2022.

Karyn Paige 18:15
Yes, yes. Okay. So my professional goals for 2022 are very aligned with yours. Not surprised for some listeners, like y’all, if y’all only knew like how many times Sam and I will have like a team meeting. And it’s like every one of us will say something and the other one will say yes, 100 Fully agree, like totally aligned, blah, blah, blah. So that’s just a little peek behind that curtain. But definitely like improving my coaching skills, right, improving my mentorship and guidance skills. So I think I’ve mentioned this on the show, like, I’m really interested in like human design and stuff like that, right. So I’m a generator. And what that basically means is like my personality type is really just about like mastering crafts. And so kind of where I am right now is I want to like Master coaching. Right? So like, last year, I was a beginner in that space. And I kind of can get this idea of like, my desire to go in that direction because I just want to like learn as much as I can’t I’m like, where are the skills? Where are the books? Where are the programs? How like, where’s the code that I can crack like I’m just like, almost like ravenous for like information and making it happen. And so I my personal awareness of that is like okay, well this must be the direction that we got to go in because I’m like really responding to all of this external stuff. So that’s like my number one focus and then tied into that is really like embodying like leadership because if like coaching and leadership really do go hand in hand. You know, as now as the Director of Education and mentorship for making website magic like that division of the company gets just like a natural progression, right? And so even that makes me think of, you know, as you’re thinking of your own goals, while you’re listening to this podcast, like what feels like a really natural progression for you where it could be like easeful, or something that you enjoy doing, or almost like you’re running towards this thing like that might help you discern what a potential growth area for yourself could be. But also, like, those were just two goals, you’re like, Okay, this is what I wanted to talk about. But and we’ll maybe pivot into this is this idea of like, over goaling yourself, like, I really just have two main growth areas that I want professionally. In my personal life, I got a lot of stuff I got, like, so many things that I want to tackle in 2022. But I’m also leaving a lot of space to be like, you know, what we’ll get there. And I trust that like, the, the top priority, or the top three priorities will like, reveal their way to the overview themselves, they will, like the seeds that I’ve planted will like push through the soil, you know what I

Sam Munoz 21:16
mean? Yeah, well, okay. So that’s, I’m really happy that you shared your goals as well. Thank you. And what’s interesting about that, and what you said, relating to kind of what feels easeful is, that’s like, another thing that we should mention on this episode is like, how to figure out what your goal should be, or what your goals maybe should be professionally. And I think that when I’m thinking about my own professional goals, I’m really trying to consider a few factors, right. It’s like, the thing that you said, like what feels easeful? Like what feels good, what feels right. What’s something I’m excited about? Right. So like this full site editing thing, it sounds super nerdy, and it is, but I’m excited about that. And so that feels like a good direction. And then also, and this is a very business related thing is, how is this going to be an ROI for the business? How is me investing my time is going to result in a higher ROI for the business because these are professional goals, right? And so if I’m thinking about, you know, growing in my skill set, let’s use a different example. Let’s say that I am a Squarespace designer, I love designing and Squarespace, and I haven’t quite learned how to do membership sites or E commerce yet, but I know that my ideal clients really want that that would be a good professional goal to set for myself to learn those things, right? Because that can have an ROI for my business. And likewise, if you’re thinking to yourself, I actually feel really, really good about my tech skills, right? Like, I know how to build websites, I know exactly what my clients need all of that. However, I’m not so great at the business side of things. I don’t know how to conduct a discovery call. I create proposals, but no one says yes to them. I feel like I undercharge my process is crazy. Those might be other areas of growth. And that might be something to consider growing in this year. And I would be remiss not to mention that we have a six month mentorship for you to grow in those areas called the making website Magic School of Business, where we’re kick starting the third cycle in February 2022. So just something to consider if those are areas of growth, as well.

Karyn Paige 23:26
Yeah. Okay. Having talked a lot about goals, growth, setting intentions, all that stuff. I want to point out if you’re listening, like if you are feeling overwhelmed about that, now’s the time to take a deep breath, right? Like pause that out? Like, let’s pause because it doesn’t have to feel overwhelming to go through this, this process of thinking and creating, envisioning, right. And if it is feeling overwhelming, that might be an indication that we need to pause and maybe reset and reframe a little bit, right? Because, like I said earlier, there is such a thing as overhauling yourself, right, there is such a thing as overloading yourself with expectations of what you quote unquote, should be doing. And like we said earlier, like maybe if we’re thinking of targets and commitments, maybe there’s too many targets in front of you, or commitments, that it actually becomes unrealistic for you to follow through on that and hit all those targets, right. Like we have this thing that we like to say in the company where it’s like, we like to set targets that we know he can hit. Yeah, yes. And that, that feels a lot more easeful. And it allows you to, to not get distracted by all of the things right. And it’s like, we’re just like laser focused on like a couple key things or maybe even like one key thing, right? So if you’re feeling overwhelmed, maybe take a look back and ask yourself, Am I overhauling myself? Right? Another piece of that is like break things down into smaller chunks of time, like we’re talking about the entire year of 2018 too, and that can feel very overwhelming, because sometimes it’s difficult to think, six months out, 10 months out, et cetera, and be trying to plan and set things down that far in advance. And that’s okay too, right. So I’m a big fan of breaking up time into smaller pieces that feel more manageable, right. So like, I really leaned into the idea of quarters, and I’m like, this is a quarter one thing, that’s a quarter four thing, like, we’ll deal with quarter four things later, or maybe it’s like, you know, what, I’ve never really planned out a year or set goals for myself that all this is all very new to me, if you’re that type of person, maybe consider just setting a goal for the first quarter of the year, and then, you know, penciling in some time to revisit this for the second half of the year. So that can also like relieve the sense of overwhelm,

Sam Munoz 25:58
something that you said related to like the should, and all the overcommitting and all of that really is having me think about the stuff that I’ve been learning about minimalism, and how we have these, like, idealized versions of ourselves that, for example, maybe I have an idealized version of myself, and she crossed stitches. And so I keep all this cross stitch stuff in a box, because I’m like, you know, eventually I’ll do it and whatever. And I’m going to keep these things. And that’s like, I’m probably not going to do that. And so I’m not being like, realistic with like, who I actually am. And I feel like that is coming out for me too, in what you’re saying with regards to goals, right? Because it’s like, you know, if we set a goal, like a personal goal of like, exercising five times a week, and we’re not really the type of person that enjoys exercising, or you know, we don’t really want to be doing those things, or it’s just not who we are like, all of this is coming up, right? And those are the shoulds. And so that’s where overcommitting comes from too, because we’re taking on the goals and the roles and the ideals and the shoulds. And the what’s right from other people, instead of starting with what we want. And starting internally, because I think that gets overwhelming too. Because we get very overwhelmed by this idea of like, my goals aren’t good enough. So I have to add more to them. And then we create these idealized versions of ourselves that you know, you’re freaking good how you are girl, like you are good as is. Improvement is awesome. But you are good as is and so are your goals.

Karyn Paige 27:28
Yeah, and also, like, your goals are just for you, like somebody we got to know about what your goals are, first of all,

Sam Munoz 27:34
share them, you can keep them all on a post it hidden away in a box if you want to. And that doesn’t make them any less real.

Karyn Paige 27:40
Right? And also, everybody else is, is thinking about their own goals. So they might not even be checking for you. And that’s okay.

Sam Munoz 27:46
And if they are, they’re not the people that you know, you need to be catering your goals towards.

Karyn Paige 27:51
Right, right. So that is a whole other tangent where I could truly go off, like maybe I need to start a tick tock account or just like, go wild. Okay. Maybe I can add that to my 2022 personal goals. There you go. But like in honor of all of that, of like, releasing yourself of pressure, releasing yourself of overwhelm, declaring that your goals are good enough, and that’s okay. Right. Like one thing that we do every week in the mentorship on Mondays, is we start a conversation around what is your one focus for this week? Like, what is the one thing that you want to work on, right? And it’s like, let all that other stuff fall to the side. And just pick one thing?

Sam Munoz 28:35
Yeah, there’s this awesome book called essentialism. And I absolutely love that book. And we will link it in the show notes. And it is really about like, what’s important to you in life. And it definitely applies to business. And the biggest takeaway that I got from that is that the word priorities really means one, you know, like, or priority. And so you can’t have 15 priorities. It’s overwhelming. And then which one is at the top? Right, which one is the most important? And so it is helpful to think about, like, what is your one focus, if you’re like getting overwhelmed by this idea of goal setting, like, what is the one thing you want to improve on this year, and it can be high level, we don’t have to like break it all down. In fact, I want to do an episode later on about like productivity ideas for web designers. If you think that would be helpful, let us know, you know, on Instagram or whatever. But that is like a different thing. Like being productive, being efficient, being focused, that’s a separate issue than setting the goal and like dreaming in the first place, right and like having ideas for personal growth, but you don’t have to set a million of them. For it to be valid. What is your one focus? What is the one thing what’s the highest priority? What’s gonna have the highest ROI for your business? What’s gonna make you feel the best in your business? What feels right for you? For you?

Karyn Paige 29:57
Yeah, I mean, that about sums it up. Sam I’d say that’s a wrap on this episode and here’s to a 2022 where you get to decide you get to decide