Dana Watkins
Snaply Sites
Facing the Scariest Jump: Leaving a Safe Job to Find Freedom as a Solopreneur | Dana Watkins
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"I've been struggling with this line of like private versus personal, like trying to show up more on the human side of things. I know like, especially with the topic of AI of just me having so much coming up. in my life personally, that's going to change in the next few weeks, trying to balance current clients, trying to get pipeline for that when I come back from having the baby that I actually still have a business. That's like a, a genuine fear
Key Takeaways
- ◆Dana started her web design business while keeping her full-time job at Boyd Innovation Center by waking up at 5am to find gaps in her schedule, which let her experiment and validate before going all in.
- ◆Her husband pushed back on the transition until Dana proved the market existed for her services, turning his skepticism into a concrete challenge that motivated her to ramp up revenue.
- ◆She exclusively chose Squarespace over WordPress, Wix, and other platforms because going deep in one tool gave her the reliability and customization she needed for client work, even though she uses Lovable for design inspiration and internal tools like survey generators and CRMs.
- ◆When a prospect told Dana he could build a website in 10 minutes with AI, she recognized he was not her target audience, noting that over 30 million small businesses exist and most need something unique to stand out rather than a generic AI-generated site.
- ◆Dana structures her web design work as subscription-based recurring revenue and positions herself as an extension of each client's team, available to pick up the phone when their site goes down or they need a feature added.
- ◆When Dana announces major life changes like pregnancy to clients, she's learned to lead with vulnerability and authenticity on LinkedIn using the know, like, trust framework that Natasha Wallstrom teaches, shifting from generic AI-generated content to personal storytelling about what it's like to work with her.
- ◆Dana has battle scars from taking on red flag clients early on and now uses that experience to confidently refer prospects to other web designers when they're not a fit, knowing that saying no protects both her capacity and the client's actual needs.
Full transcript
Show
Chad Paris
What's up everyone. Welcome back to Process Over Pressure. I'm Chad Paris. And today we're talking to someone who's in it right now. Not five years past the hard part, not looking back from the other side. I mean in it. Dana Watkins went full time in her passion called Snaply Sites just five weeks ago. Yeah. Five weeks. She walked away from a steady job at the Boyd Innovation Center in Columbia, South Carolina. Wow. And did I tell you she's 36 weeks pregnant and she's building a web design and marketing business in a world where every potential client thinks they can just prompt their way to a website on lovable or wigs and say, Hey, it's done. She knows better. She seems what happens when small businesses try to skip the strategy, the process, the actual thinking that goes into the site convert that converts, but knowing that that and convincing a skeptical market while you're trying to make pro payroll for the first time. That's two different fights. We're going to talk about the AI panning, the confidence gap, what it's like to present yourself as an expert when you're secretly Googling Mac shortcuts because you just switched from a PC. This one's going to be honest. It's going to be uncomfortable in the best way. And if you ever wonder whether you're cut out for this, you're going to want to hear what Diana has to say. Let's go.
Dana Watkins
I am good. Yes. I am feeling the pressure right now. I'm definitely in it.
Chad Paris
How are you? You're out.
Chad Paris
Yeah. I mean, hey, listen, I think what's, what's so cool about you and your story is, that, you know, when we first talked, you're very open about all of it. And I, and I, I can, I can completely understand where you are. You're excited. You're nervous. You're happy. You love in life, but you're scared to death at the same time.
Dana Watkins
Gosh, yeah, all the things.
Chad Paris
And it can be, but kudos to you. so we need to say congratulations to you for, one fixed to be a soon to be mom. So congratulations to that. And then the other is, is that you did it. Like you, you, you said, you know, I'm not going to talk about it anymore. I'm going to do this. And, and you did that. And so, yeah, kudos to you.
Dana Watkins
Thank you. has been a long journey. wasn't just like an overnight decision where I woke up and it's been a lot of like setbacks and roadblocks and all that, but yeah, we're here.
Chad Paris
So when you, you know, I think for people listening that are sitting exactly where you are now, where I was a few months ago. Maybe they're there that have been wanting to do this for a really long time. And they're just like, I just, don't even know where to start. What would you give an advice? Just like start here. Like just, just take a baby step forward. What would that baby step be?
Dana Watkins
Yeah, I think because I started this journey. I mean, I've always been very entrepreneurial. So I've been doing things while working full time and had stuff work out and not work out. And I think just getting started is definitely the hardest part. But start small and find those. I found those gaps of where I could be productive and experiment while having the security of a full time job. I think that's what's helped with the helped with the growth is because when you go all in on a business and you're just getting started, there's, you you're trying to pay your, your mortgage and your rent and your groceries and you're kind of coming from a more, from a different place. But I was able to come from it from a more like kind of experimental, like what, value can I give? What can I create? So I would get up, I'd find, find, find somewhere in your schedule where you can dedicate time to that side hustle business that you want to start. and just start. So for me, that was a few years ago, getting up at 5am. I didn't have, I don't, didn't, we didn't have kids, just a couple of cats to take care of. So I could get up, get up at 5am and like really focus and get, get into kind of like a flow state. And, and then I think that's, that's what helped was finding some consistency in a schedule there and just kind of growing from there. So yeah, getting started is the hardest part.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Chad Paris
It is. And I think, you know, you, you bring up a very important part is that if you have something that, you know, you have a comfort of a job and you, you call it the side hustle, then you can do some of that, you know, and on the side and get an opportunity to get a feel for it. That's a great opportunity and way to do that. If you're, if you're fortunate enough that you've, that you've got money saved up or you've been able to do that and you're like, Hey, I want to do that. I would still say the same advice, you know, start small, start, start somewhere where, uh, you know, what, one of the things about being an entrepreneur is that it's not like it's, you're never going to be just an entrepreneur of one. It just doesn't work that way. Once you become an entrepreneur, it's kind of like, okay, I got this going. Now what can I do next? I mean, it's kind of a part of the DNA. Um, so what you'd start today may not be what it looks like in two or three years, but if you don't. The key word there that you said, and I think it's so important is you have to start somewhere. You got to go.
Dana Watkins
Yeah. And then, and then to give yourself time to validate too. I talked to a potential customer. It was, was yesterday. She has a business that she's wanting to start. She was wanting to build a website for it, but it was something that she hadn't even really validated. Do people want this product that she's building? So I encouraged her to kind of like, Hey, go do some market testing outside of your friends and family, set up something simple and see, do people want this before you kind of.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Dana Watkins
go all in, but you're right. It's circumstance. I was fortunate to have a steady job and the time that I could put to the side to grow the side hustle.
Chad Paris
That's great. So one of the things we're going to, we, we, we, want to, I want to really get it. some really good stuff here that I want to talk about that. I, you know, some people would be like, this is kind of uncomfortable, but it's really true. And what's what we deal with. So one of the things that you and I talked about, you know, in our pre-call was, is I call it the AI panic, right? It's, it's, it's real. And so, you know, when you went on our pre-call, you, you kind of had, we were talking about lovable and I just use that.
Dana Watkins
Yeah.
Chad Paris
not bashing that product, it's a great product. That's not what we're here to do, but it's a, I use level. It's a great product. So I say all that, say this is not about the product's not good. It's just, I want to talk about the reality of
Chad Paris
People, people can go and build a lovable site tomorrow. Right. It's pretty user friendly. It's pretty, you know, it's pretty intuitive. Like that they can do that. So, and I think if you were an outsider looking in, you know, and maybe you don't have any experience with that, you'd be like, well, why do I need a, why do I need someone like Dana? Like, why do I need that? I can build a website and you can from the surface and you're looking at it from the surface. But when we really start. pulling back the layers. so, so I would like for you to, I kind of want you to walk through, you had talked about, man, this is kind of like panic a little bit. Like I'd like for you to walk through that and kind of what that was like, uh, for you. And, and, and then I want to move into talking about what the differences are and why they're important.
Dana Watkins
There's.
Dana Watkins
Yeah, yeah, I know. I definitely that day we first talked, I was feeling that there's those ups and downs with owning a business. It was one of those down moments where I was like, Oh, everything's going to go away. I think, yeah, yeah. Um, there's, I don't know, there's a lot to unpack with that question because I do use lovable also. So there's so many different platforms out there that you can build your websites in. I have.
Chad Paris
yeah.
Chad Paris
Yeah, sure. mean, that's real.
Dana Watkins
decided to just exclusively work in Squarespace. I've built in WordPress before, I've built in Wix and Coursera, Circle, other sites, but I found knowing one platform really well and going deep in that Squarespace has been very reliable, all in one, you can customize things. So work in Squarespace, but I discovered Lovable recently when I was working at the last job I was at that was supporting people who are building tech startups. We're a nonprofit and so we got access to lovable credits and it's pretty incredible what you can spin up with some prompting. And I did feel the panic then, but what I realized is the clients that I work with are not, it still takes a lot to sit down and prompt correctly to get the site to look how you want it to look. I will say there's, it just kind of depends on where your business is. So if you're just starting out and you have a really you know, you're very budget conscious and you just need something simple. Those AI generators are a great place to go like GoDaddyAero has one. And they all look a lot better than the traditional like when somebody gets in and tries to handle a drag and drop and you can tell it's DIY. These AI generated sites have a look to them where you know they're they're pretty generic, they're AI generated. They're not unique, but they look a lot cleaner. So
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Dana Watkins
It depends on where you are. And I work with a lot of service-based industry, a lot of owner operators who have realized, I don't want to spend time prompting and searching for inspiration to put into the site. And there's still a lot of the human touch that you need. So I'm working with a really big client right now where I have used Lovable to help me. on the design side, but I know what to prompt it with. I know how to find inspiration. know how to correct the hallucinate. Like, know, AI will make mistakes and it won't take into account every little thing. So I think it just, it really just depends on where you are in your business and you know, what do you, what do you value? Cause it is good for some people. And then there's the whole search engine optimization piece to it as well. I have a good friend that's an SEO, she owns an SEO agency and she has an SEO tool called MetaMonster, that I've been using. but she's given me some advice and some of these AI generated sites are more challenging to get to rank because of how they're, generated than traditional Squarespace or WordPress sites. So, yeah, it's a lot to unpack. definitely still will feel lots of panic and I've had. Was that a networking event the other day where a guy came up to me and told me like, he said, no offense, but I can make a website for my clients in less than 10 minutes. I was like, okay, well, that's not my target audience. Like there's there's over 30 million small businesses in the U S and, um, not all of them are going to want to AI generated website. We're going to need something unique to stand out.
Chad Paris
No, I think you, I mean, you're absolutely right. And so, you know, I will tell you, and I think you, did say a lot there and which is, which is beautifully said by the way, but I think you're right. mean, look, if you're, if you're looking for a website that you just want to spend up, that you don't really care about necessarily traffic going there, or you're not, you're not on the side where you're trying to drive awareness or stuff like that. I think, I think those sites are great. Like they're, they're, You know, one of the ways that I use it and you said it is, is for design, because I know the prompt to put into it that I, that I want to do. Cause you're right. If you don't know those, I mean, if you just, hey, build me a website, X, Y, and Z it, it, it, it, it can do that. Uh, it will, it will miss things. So I use it in my company more of a presentation material. Like if I'm going to present to a client, things I use it as a. Instead of using the traditional PowerPoint, I use it as a presentation tool because it can, it can, it's really good about that. I already have what I want and I just put the prompts in and say, I want a presentation material comparing this and this. I use it that way. Um, but as far as a website, like I can tell you, cause I've built two websites now for my own different businesses. There is a lot more that goes into it than just going and building a beautiful picture. And I think for most people. Like the guy that came to you and said, can build one in 10 minutes. Anybody can, you're absolutely right. But I will tell you that I have seen those that are been built in 10 minutes, not perform or not do anything that just, other than just being a void space. and, and so you got to understand, I think you said it right. Where are you and what you're trying to do is it is a big difference.
Dana Watkins
Yeah, absolutely. I do use Lovable too for other things besides, like you said, presentations are great. I've made some internal process apps. So one of the things I do for my clients is I send out surveys ahead of time. Like we'll do a design preference survey. So I built like my own survey generator in Lovable. I have a CRM in Lovable that I've built. The tool side's really incredible and it's kind of helped me on the back end running the business.
Chad Paris
Yeah. Yeah. Same here. Uh, again, I think it's really, when, when we think about AI and we think about this, this world of transition really, because, know, there's, there's a ton of marketers out there. There's a of people that do web design. There's, know, all these, all these different avenues. And like you said, there's 30 million small businesses, way more business than there are people that can do this stuff. I think there's a, I think there's a, uh, Almost like a false narrative. Like I always tell people all the time, like I think the AI and AI tools are incredible and they're very, very good. They're also overly powerful. And so if you don't know what you're doing, you can get into a, cause I've, I've, I've seen it happen where you get into like this, I call this deep dark hole, not like a bad thing, but like you could be trying to do something and it gets down into a hole and then you're really like, It's kind of confused or bogged down or whatever, and it doesn't really generate the right information that you want. it can, it can, it can easily is good, fix things. It also can lead you down a path where it doesn't really accomplish what you started out doing. And the next thing you know, I've heard a guy tell me this yesterday. He's like, man, before I knew it, I was up to two o'clock in the morning trying to build something because it took me down to go to rabbit holes. And that's very common.
Dana Watkins
Yeah, yes, absolutely. And then it just, depends on what, again, what, business are you running? Like I'm working with a construct, you know, residential commercial construction building company. Does she have time? Like she wants, she knows she could do that and could go down the rabbit hole, but she's like, how am I, it's the opportunity costs. Like I'd rather be focused on some other area of the business than kind of playing around with this.
Chad Paris
Yeah, it's, it's, it's a preference. It's a time, right? If you, that's stuff that you're good at and you love sitting, because it, mean, to sit there and do the prompts and all that, you're, you're looking at, I mean, it's still going to be ours, right? It, it's going to generate, you're going to, it's going to feed you. You got to feed it back. You know, there's a lot of back and forth. but you know, right now, I think you're right. There's, there's two worlds. You can go the AI route fully automated and let it build your website and, and look, it does great stuff, but there's a lot more to.
Chad Paris
the purpose behind a website. got to ask yourself, what am I trying to do? it, is it just to have a website so I can say I have a website? Right. Or are you more of the, know, we're trying to convert business and we're trying to sell a product or, know, we're trying to, you know, sell ourselves or whatever. There's more to it than just, uh, than this staff.
Dana Watkins
Zip box to check.
Dana Watkins
Mm-hmm.
Chad Paris
So what do you, when you, when you, you know, kind of go back a little bit here and talk about this. So when you, when you look at the world of AI that we are there, that we're in and it affects all of us. It's here, right? It's not going anywhere. what, what do you, what do you see as the biggest hurdle in your opinion that you've dealt with people on? Maybe it's not just a website, but other things that people are, are maybe falling into this just like, you know, This could be hard for me and could be hard for them as well.
Dana Watkins
I think, I guess the trap of like finding time to not the trap, but like finding time to experiment and play with AI. you're right. It's here and it's coming and it's like, if you're not using it, you're going to get. Left behind in some ways. So, I mean, that's something I struggle with myself as just a single solopreneur is finding time to, to play with these tools and like, see what, cause you're right. You can go down these rabbit holes and you're there for hours and it is incredible what it can build. So I think that's the big thing is like finding the time to setting aside the time to set those systems up. And then also just kind of still realizing that there's still the human expertise to things that is going to be really powerful. AI is a tool. think people are trying to use it as a shortcut for a lot of things and to fully replace things. And when everybody's doing that, we're all using AI to generate these Instagram posts. can tell in the captions. We're just going to start ignoring it again. So think that's a big trap is remembering it is a tool, but to find where can you be an expert and
Chad Paris
That's it.
Dana Watkins
How can you use that tool to get you further ahead, I guess?
Chad Paris
Yeah, that's, I mean, that's a big thing. I, I, of my job is, you know, not necessarily just business processes, but it's, it's, it's implementing AI tools and AI automation. That's, that's what I do. And, and I always get asked this question all the time when I'm in meetings is like, Hey, we need AI. Like I hear that all the time. We need it. We need it. And I'm like, it's like a drug. We got to have it. I'm like, and I always tell them, said, Hey, look, I'm glad you're there.
Dana Watkins
Yeah, I'm sorry. I plan,
Chad Paris
Like that's a, that's a huge hurdle, just the fact that you're there. And, and my business approach to people is, is that I look at their business and I understand what they're doing and what they're trying to do or where they're trying to go. Because everybody's sitting at where I'm at and where I'd like to be. That's, that's everybody is like you're here, but you want to be here. That's, that's, I don't care who you are. I care how big a business you are. That's what you ask, is what you ask yourself. So what my job is, is to look at what they currently, I always look at current first, like what are you doing and where are you spending your time? And I, and that's where I implement AI tools in areas. I don't go in and just say, we're going to do everything automated because I don't think that's the right way. think that it's about areas that can have improvement. Like for example, bottlenecks or things that, that is a time consumer. I use this if, if you're 30, 40 days trying to close the books from the previous month. This is a great place for AI automation to help with that. Is it going to take away a job? No. But what it may do is it may be some downstream that can help close the books a little faster so you can get reporting better. So that's an example of where I think that you're right. It's a tool and you need somebody that can help look at your business as a whole and recommend where it needs to go to help not only like your process better, but it helps you to get back time. Because if you're You know, I always ask this question and, and, and I get looked at crazy every time. All right. I want you to think about this week. I want you to tell me where you spend most of your time. And I mean, the puzzling look that people do because they're like, where did I spend my time? Cause by Friday you're so exhausted. You don't even remember where you spent most of your time. Um, but that's a, that's a, that's an exercise I like to make people do and think about where you're spending your time. And that's a great place to look at where AI could work. So if you can get, if I can get you eight hours back at the end of the week, I think you'd be typical of that.
Dana Watkins
Yeah.
Dana Watkins
Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's question I need to think about is where I'm spending my time right now.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Chad Paris
Yeah, it's tough, right? We all need to do that. And it's, and it's something you just don't think about, especially as an entrepreneur or business owner, you're, you're going and going and going and solving problems, fixing things, not at that. And then you stop and go, man, where am I spending all my time? you know what? can, Hey Chad, how can I make this where I can get five hours back? Awesome. That's a great place to think about it. So anyway, that's a, I I think, I think it's here and I think you got to think about it as a tool. You can't replace, you know, I always hear this, it's going to replace people.
Dana Watkins
Yeah.
Chad Paris
Not really. It may, it may replace some, but what we want to do is get those people to be more efficient. most everybody's just reactive. Think about it in your office or anybody's office. They're all being reactive. If we can switch that to proactive, look at the opportunity to make the company grow.
Dana Watkins
Yeah.
Dana Watkins
Yes.
Dana Watkins
Yes.
Dana Watkins
Yes, yeah. And it absolutely not every, always look at like, is the juice worth the squeeze? Like not everything has to be automated, but there's a lot of opportunity.
Chad Paris
He's so true. And that's a great point. You're absolutely right. So one of things you said is fake it, fake it while you make it. I love that, comment. I love it. love it. love it. I love that. But I, know what I love? I love that because you're saying something that I've said it. We all have.
Dana Watkins
I I said that. I was feeling very vulnerable that day.
Chad Paris
Let's just be real. We all have said that if you're, if you're sitting there and you're a business owner, you're like, Oh, I've never said that you're lying. It's not true. Yeah. Um, what, what you said you want to, you know, just talk about that, you know, because I think it's real. And I think we've all done it. I've done it. Um, what is that? Listen, as an, a business owner, we want to present ourselves in a, in in a, in a very professional way, but look, we're a business owner too. It gets messy.
Dana Watkins
Yeah.
Dana Watkins
Yeah.
Dana Watkins
Yeah!
Chad Paris
And we all have it. And so let's talk a little.
Dana Watkins
Yeah, think that... I've been struggling with this line of like private versus personal, like trying to show up more on the human side of things. I know like, especially with the topic of AI of just me having so much coming up. in my life personally, that's going to change in the next few weeks, trying to balance current clients, trying to get pipeline for that when I come back from having the baby that I actually still have a business. That's like a, a genuine fear. And it's, it's hard to talk about that stuff because you have this fear of like, am I, are people going to not want to work with me? One of the things I was nervous about was announcing that I was pregnant. Like I was on the fence. I have lot of other female business owner friends that are doing really well, multi six figure businesses. And some are in the camp of I didn't tell anybody that I had a baby and, and, then some did tell and like had some, some surprising things happen, like of, you know, like losing clients or people saying like, well, I don't think you're going to be able to, you know, not wanting to work with them. So Yeah, I think the fake it until you make it. I'm just kind of trying to be more, I'm trying to be more personal. And one of the people that I follow, Natasha Wallstrom, she is on LinkedIn, she's a LinkedIn coach. I'm in her LinkedIn cohort. And she talks about the no like trust framework. And like the knowing and the liking piece are big. we
Dana Watkins
I do business with clients and clients do business with me because we like working with each other. I think that's important. just trying to find the line of being vulnerable, but not too vulnerable, personal, not too private, and just trying to share a little bit more, especially in a world of AI where it's gone of generating these like top 10 lists of things that...
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Dana Watkins
You know, here's why you need a website. It's kind of like, instead of shifting out, like, here's what it's like to work with me and kind of attracting people that way.
Chad Paris
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's man, that's so good. And it's, but it's reality, right? You know, not only, not only are you starting your company or, or, or I say starting it, but you're full time in it now. You're a female, you, you're having a child. Yeah. I mean, you know, I get it. Like the fear of telling people that because they are, you're right. There are people out there that'll be like, you know, I'm not doing that because they're not going have enough time. and so it's. It's unfortunate, but it's true and it's real and it's raw. And it's exactly the way the world works. but I love that, you know, you've embraced it and said, look, you dang right. I'm a, I'm I'm a female, smart, good, and you dang right. am. And I'm also having a baby, but I still can work too. And so, so kudos to you for taking that stance because, know, really at the end of the day, we all have clients and the reason we have our clients and we all want to work with people that we want to work with. I don't, I don't want every client. And you don't even, right? Like there's a, there's a certain group, you know, looks, I have a certain personality. You have a certain personality. You have beliefs. I have beliefs. all do. And I think that's what makes it great is that people that want to work with, with, with you or people that they, they, they're commonality. They see, they see your vision. They see what you do. Right. So I love going, go back to what you said to the guy that walked up and said, you know, I can build a website. Well, perfect. That that's not my client.
Dana Watkins
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Dana Watkins
Yeah. Yeah.
Chad Paris
and that's true, right? Not everybody is, not everybody's for me and not everybody's for you. Fair.
Dana Watkins
So true. And I think that's too why it's important to have for other friends that are web designers that I refer to, that I'll say like, hey, I might not be a good fit, but I've got lots of other web design friends, point them in the right direction.
Chad Paris
Yeah. Absolutely. I do the same thing. And I think that that's the, you know, that's the thing is it, it's tough because being in a business owner, you're fearful to take a client and say, no, I'm not going to work with you because listen, we, we, we have to make money because we have a life too. I mean, we're not sitting on a chest of money over here. Like we have to make money too. We have to do our, know, this is how we get paid. The only difference in you and us is that you go to a business and this is our business. and we, and, but, but we also, we, are in a little bit of a different situation because when you work for a company, you don't get a say on who you want to do business with. But as a business owner, I do. And I can look at people and say, you know, we're not a great fit. and I, and I've learned that it's okay to do that on some because really you're helping them because you know that you're not going to deliver what they need. And so why would you lie to them and tell them that you could.
Dana Watkins
Yeah, comes from that place. Yeah, if you come from that place of scarcity of, I think you have to have, it's one of those things you have to get your battle scars and like take on some red flag ones to know I'm not doing that again. You kind of have to put your time in.
Chad Paris
You do. Right. I mean, you have to, you have to be willing to just be honest and admit it. Right. Like, you know, you, you, you can't be, I have certain skills sets that you have, you don't have. And you have certain skill sets that I don't have. And I think as a business owner, whether that be in the consulting business or that's just, you I don't care. Let's say you're a roofer. Well, you're not going to get every roof in the town. Like you're just not. Right. But. You can go and do that one job and be really, really good at it. And you can be personable and people have a great experience and you walk away and you do everything that you say you're going to do, which is turn is going to turn around and give the next job and the next job. Same thing with us, right? We want to do a really good job for people and we want to show and prove them what we're doing and giving them values. So they look at it and go, well, it doesn't matter what it costs. It doesn't matter because this person did X, Y, Z for my company.
Dana Watkins
Yeah.
Chad Paris
same thing with the website. yeah, you're right, but there's a big difference. so when, when, when Dana builds a website and it does X, Y, and Z. And I know that I have in the middle of the night when it goes down, I have somebody I can, I can call and like, Hey, we want to add this tomorrow. We decided to do this because these are real things that happen. Hey, we want to do this. We want to add this. Okay. Not setting for the next 10 hours, trying to figure out how to do that. that's reality. So, so.
Dana Watkins
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Chad Paris
So now that you've full time in this, and you're not at innovation anymore, innovation was the name of it, Yeah. Are you happier now?
Dana Watkins
Yeah, Boy Innovation Center, Columbia. Yeah, I mean, I loved that. That job was such a great opportunity. so very, I'm so really connected there. I'm going to an event there tomorrow night. But my goal was has always been financial freedom and flexibility for a long time. And so, yeah, I'm really happy I made the leap. I wasn't financially ready. I had wanted to replace the full time job with the side hustle before I made the leap, but just the way timing lined up, like I didn't have maternity leave. I was kind of riding the fence too long, like trying to do the full time job and the side business and it was kind of stalling out. So I knew I needed that fire to under me. So. Yeah, I'm happier. I'm more, I'm pretty busy. I'm busy and stressed, but I'm happy. Yeah, that makes sense.
Chad Paris
Yeah. So are you, like, and you clients right now, you have some clients that you're working with because I know you've mentioned some before. how, is, how is that going as far as just interacting with them and stuff like that? Has that been fun that part?
Dana Watkins
Yeah,
Dana Watkins
Yeah, I think what's so what I did before I made the leap was I took my my time off like I was still full time. They knew and they knew that I had this web business, which was really I was really fortunate because it was an entrepreneurial support organization. So they're like, naturally, we support entrepreneurs. But the day job came first. But I took I took a week off to just see like, what would it be like to be a full time business owner? And then I started talking about
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Dana Watkins
it to everyone. was just telling everybody I designed websites. And so then I started getting more traction of people being like, well, hey, can you help me? so I had this really nice uptick that's kept me very busy. And then, so yeah, so it's, it's been great, but it's just been challenging trying to figure out how to manage my time. I thought I was going to be I thought it was going to be easier because I was like balancing the full time job.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Dana Watkins
Also, and the side hustle. Like, how was I doing that before? I don't know. Yeah, it's been an experience.
Chad Paris
Yeah. Yeah.
Chad Paris
So how was it when you, and this is going to be fun. When you walked in and told your husband, Hey, I'm going to go full time on this. was that?
Dana Watkins
Well, we don't, was some, was several discussions because he's also very entrepreneurial too. And he's going, he, we had started Snaply sites together and then he started working on something else. He was helping me with sales. He'd do outreach for me. He'd get on Facebook, send out Facebook messages, but it's definitely just me now. And, we, was a series of discussions. He was like, I'm all for it, but he was like, but we have to, he was like, you see, he's like, I think you need to prove that you can.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Dana Watkins
replace like, like, is there a market for it? Because things had been really kind of slow. And his concern was like that I would quit and then because we have again, we have bills to pay where double income like I, this was an IVF baby. So that was like with bills from that. And so that was just like a concern. And so I was like, okay, challenge accepted. Let me ramp up and prove that because he's right. That's a good point. Yeah, so
Chad Paris
Yeah. Yeah.
Chad Paris
Yeah, kudos to you.
Dana Watkins
But yeah, it's great having a supportive entrepreneurial partner because I think it would be a lot. It would just be different. It's nice that we both are very entrepreneurial so we can, we just have a level of understanding. If I wasn't, I think it'd be harder.
Chad Paris
Yeah. Now that's true. I think it's, you know, for, you know, for, for me, mean, I, I mean, look, that's the fear I have now is like income, right? Like I made a great, I mean, I walked away from a very nice income, to, do this to, you know, no income, to build it, like to build it up. And so, I mean, look, you're like,
Dana Watkins
Yeah.
Chad Paris
You know, we still, I still, I still like to eat and I still like to have the lights on and you know, our lifestyle has been a certain way for a really long time. It's real hard to go, well, you know what we're going to, we're going to, we're going to downsize into a 1200 square foot house. then, you know, I mean, it's just, it's, it's, it's, it's not something that for me, you look at and you go, how do I make this work and still be able to, to provide and, and, and, and look, that's, that's the scary. That's what I mean by the scary part. It is.
Dana Watkins
Yeah.
Dana Watkins
Yeah.
Dana Watkins
Yeah. Are you happier? Yeah.
Chad Paris
Way happier, way my mentality, my demeanor, my wife would tell you, she's like, I've never seen you as happier. I love what I do. mean, sometimes I'm, I work to six or seven o'clock at night, not because I need to, but I'm just really enjoying it. I look at them and go, my God, seven o'clock. so, that was not the case before. And so, I really love what I do. but yeah, I mean, look, it's, it's all about. trying to provide for your family too. I mean, that's what we work for. want to, mean, you got a baby on the way, got a husband. mean, we got, we have responsibilities too. And so as an entrepreneur, you know, it's a lot of added stress. but I think you have to, that's, that's a normal thing for an entrepreneur. You have to be willing to do that. Yeah.
Dana Watkins
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I did take the leap.
Chad Paris
So. The last thing we're going to do is what's called the quick fire round. it's, it's, it's five questions. It's, we're going to throw out there. You, there is no wrong answer. You just get to answer freely and what you think. So, not a, again, not a, not a wrong answer here, but I call it the quick fire round and, there'd be five questions and then we'll just, we'll, we'll end with these. This is kind of the fun part. So, all right, here we go. First question.
Dana Watkins
Hello. Okay.
Dana Watkins
Okay, Real quick.
Chad Paris
Yeah. First question. First hour of your day. What does it look like?
Dana Watkins
well lately because I'm pregnant, it's like, just struggling to get out of bed in the morning, spending an hour to get the courage to get out of bed in the morning. A few months ago though, I was very rigid with my 5 a.m routine. I'd get up and I'd walk on my treadmill. But yeah, lately it's just a struggle.
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Chad Paris
I understood. I bet there's a lot of moms or fixed to be moms or have been moms would be like, I am with you. I mean, you already got two there you're having the energy for. So great answer. Next question. A tool, out, or ritual you couldn't run your business without?
Dana Watkins
Yeah.
Dana Watkins
Yeah.
Dana Watkins
my gosh, Claude. I'm like hardcore Claude user. have yet to get into Claude co-work. My husband set up, fully set up Claude co-work and is doing amazing things and that's on the list, but yeah, Claude.
Chad Paris
Yeah, it's a fantastic product. really is. Again, it's a great tool and it does what it needs to do as a tool. Don't start making it a human, make it a tool. The things you wish more clients understood upfront.
Dana Watkins
Oh, huh. I know I'm supposed to be a quick fire here. I guess that maybe with. I feel like my clients understand this pretty well, but maybe with potential clients and I'm an extension of their team. If I, I do subscription based like recurring and I like them to think of me as their per pick up the phone and call like, websites down or Hey, I need this new service added. so I'm very invested in how their business is going, how they're doing personally, what's changing, how can we update the website to reflect that? So yeah, extension of their team.
Chad Paris
That's a great answer. And I totally agree with that. And that's a, that's a, that's a big thing that does happen. Being a consultant is a lot of people look at it it's not, I don't know. It's just the way, because it hasn't been structured this way, but I'm like you, I always tell people upfront, look, I'm, I'm devoting my time to this. And I kind of give them an idea about how many hours a week I work on this. but I tell them I'm an extension of your team. I'm, I'm, I'm not physically, you know, you're not, we're not employed there.
Dana Watkins
Yeah.
Chad Paris
But I'm, I am working here on your behalf. So everything I do is confidential and it's going to help your business grow. So we are an extension of their team. love that answer because that is, that is true. And a lot of people get to where it looks like, like, well, they're, they're over here. They're doing X or doing Y and they, and I see it happen a lot. And when I was an executive, it happened where the consultant and the business fights.
Dana Watkins
yeah, I know the full picture.
Chad Paris
Yeah, it's not good. I've had consultants that work for, I hired when we worked with, and it didn't go well. And, it was because there was just a misconnect. It wasn't, it wasn't good. So here's a kind of a tough question. Maybe not most expensive mistake that you'd happily make again.
Dana Watkins
hmm. Like in life or in my business?
Chad Paris
It could be business, be lying, could be whatever.
Dana Watkins
Yeah, I got, I have a couple answer. think expensive mistake for business taking on red flag clients, like taking on pro, taking on projects without clear and clear expectations. I learned a lot. Like I lost a lot of time and money, but I learned a lot about setting clear expectations. then personal,
Chad Paris
Vroom.
Chad Paris
Great.
Dana Watkins
moving. We've done this several times. We've moved across the country with one of us not having a job. But it's really, yeah, when I moved here to South Carolina, I didn't have a job. I was a teacher for seven years, actually, high school teacher. And I that's right. I forgot we had talked about that. And super burned out, but didn't have, you know, but I figured we figured it out. And I got out of teaching.
Chad Paris
I was a teacher for 10 years. That's cool. Yeah, that's cool.
Chad Paris
Love it. You guys like Thresher.
Dana Watkins
Yeah, maybe that's that's what it
Chad Paris
Y'all work well with pressure. love that. That's good. All right. Last question. This is easy. What does process over pressure mean to you?
Dana Watkins
okay. Well, I guess I do like pressure. I have demonstrated that we seem to operate with pressure. I think having what's that? What's that saying about like you fall to your systems? Not have you heard that one? Yeah, it's I think it's a James Clear quote. But yeah, systems something about like, like, yeah, falling to your systems, not your goals or something like that. But
Chad Paris
Yeah.
Dana Watkins
I think systems are such an important part. And that's how I've gotten to where we are, like our, my process of getting up and like being consistent during the boring times and keep moving the needle like a little bit, moving things a little further along and having a good process has helped get me to where I am now.
Chad Paris
Yeah, I agree. think, you know, that's, that's a great answer. Process is so important. And, you know, there's no such thing as you can over process it. I know people say it, but there's not you. You may tweak them and you may change some things, but I don't believe there's such thing as that. So that's, that's, that's fantastic. Well, listen, thank you again for being on today. What a, what a great time. What a great, guest you were, congratulations and good luck with the baby.
Dana Watkins
This is fun.
Dana Watkins
Thank you.
Chad Paris
I hope to hear, I hope to hear about the, all the fun stuff. but I'm sure we'll talk again, but, thank you for being on the show today. It was very, it was a, such a pleasure. If people were out there and they're looking to have someone to help them with their website, how could they reach you?
Dana Watkins
Yeah, well, thank you. This was really, this is really fun. This is only my second podcast and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. You're a great.
Chad Paris
Hi.
Dana Watkins
Great hose. So snappleesites.com. And then I also have a newsletter, so you can scroll to the bottom of my homepage, you can sign up for my newsletter. And every week I share tips on how to better show up online. I share a little behind the scenes in the business. And then I also share a copy chat or good connection to follow. I think, yeah, find me on there or connect with me on LinkedIn. And I'm always happy to. to do virtual coffee chats and meet somebody new and see who I can connect to with. So, yeah, thank you for having me. This is great.
Chad Paris
That's great. Yeah. And, and, as always guys, I'd love for you to, if you like this content, if you like this show, subscribe to my channel, I'm on LinkedIn, YouTube, is where my podcast is, but, you know, again, subscribe. I have this type of contact and, you can also be able to, to, to reach out to Dana there as well, if, you wanted to from that. So. As always, thank you for being on the show. What a great day. Remember, process over pressure. Until next time.
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