Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we start, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
My name is Jessica Rhoades, and I grew up in a small town outside Indianapolis. My parents valued education, and I had a normal midwestern 80’s — 90’s childhood full of adventuring, exploring the neighborhood with other kids, and playing sports. If I wasn’t moving, I was laying down in the grass staring at the sky talking about what each cloud looked like. I loved to dream and create; I was often complimented on my creativity. After highschool, I attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and studied Management Information Systems. I loved computers and the ability to create with them.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My favorite quote is Romans 8:28, “All things work for good for those that love God.” I trust that no matter what happens in my business — good or bad — God is there and directs me where to go. It helps me stay grounded and remember that there is both good in the struggles and the wins.
You have been blessed with much success. In your opinion, what are the top three qualities that you possess that have helped you accomplish so much? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
My top three qualities are persistence, a positive attitude, and humility. At some point in your career, you will fail at something, sometimes through no fault of your own. When that happens, you need to be able to pick yourself up quickly and rebuild what’s fallen apart. Sometimes, this means rebuilding a product; other times, it means rebuilding yourself. I had a client several years ago who contacted me to maintain their website, as it hadn’t been touched in 3 years. The updates went horrifically, and I crashed their site. I had to quickly pick myself up and figure out how to fix it. Though it took many steps and more time than I planned, we got it back up, updated and looking better than before. It was a great lesson, and the client was grateful that we were able to repair and update her website. This experience showed me the value of my own persistence and positivity; I didn’t allow myself a pity party, but went straight to work to resolve the issue. My relationship with the client benefitted from my own humility; I was able to explain the delay while assuring them of positive results.
Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about ‘Second Chapters’. Can you tell our readers about your career experience before your Second Chapter?
I had always wanted to go into web design, but I graduated college with a business degree right after the dot-com bust. I went down another career path as a healthcare integration engineer until about 7 years ago, when I was put on bed rest with my third child before his premature birth. It was no longer a good choice for our family for me to stay at my current company. While I was home, I realized it was the perfect time for me to switch to my dream career of web design. I took advantage of the time during naps to educate myself on the new career I wanted to pursue.
And how did you “reinvent yourself” in your Second Chapter?
I checked out many books at the library, took a community night class at my local arts college, and practiced in my very limited spare time. When my child started preschool, I started building websites pro bono for nonprofits, then for individuals at a discount. I built up my portfolio and started increasing prices as I gained experience. As I had more free time, I started refining my web design prices, networking, and increasing marketing. When my youngest started kindergarten in the fall of 2019, I pursued web design full-time. I now have a full-time web design, web development, SEO, and content marketing business. Over the past two years, I’ve expanded my business by adding additional services at my clients’ request, and I now have several subcontractors on my team.
Can you tell us about the specific trigger that made you decide that you were going to “take the plunge” and make your huge transition?
Being put on bed rest was a giant surprise, and it forced me to start my maternity leave 6 weeks early. My son was born 3 weeks early, and though he was healthy, it created complexities with daycare. For our family, it was a better choice for me to stay home. I decided I no longer wanted to go back to my old career path integrating hospital systems (it was as complicated as it sounds), and I was ready for a change after being in the career for 15 years. I took about 6 months to decide what my next career move should be. I read lots of books about career change, talked to a few web designers, and then dove right into building my own website, and taking courses.
What did you do to discover that you had a new skillset inside of you that you haven’t been maximizing? How did you find that and how did you ultimately overcome the barriers to help manifest those powers?
The challenge with starting a new profession was how to acquire the necessary skills. I became a seeker of knowledge. I needed to learn the graphic part of web design, so I took a community education course at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, and an additional online course…and then, I just practiced. The professor at the Art Academy told us, “Never give your stuff away for free; someone will always want to purchase it.” I experimented with different designs, started a small shop on Etsy to see the response, and determined where I needed more practice. This was really helpful in transitioning to web design. The web development piece came naturally as I had a coding background. Additionally, the SEO portion came natural as I have an analytic and strategic background as well. Surprisingly, the hardest part was figuring what information is correct on the internet and what isn’t. This I had to discover through trial and error.
How are things going with this new initiative? We would love to hear some specific examples or stories.
To me, the most important metric is how happy I am with how my business is going. Right now, I love to serve my customers; I’m attracting the clients that I want to work with, and I’m right where I want to be.
I am the only sole women-owned business ranked in the top 15 for Cincinnati Web Design. I was listed as one of the best Web Designers in Cincinnati by Expertise.com in 2020 and 2021. I was also named one of the best Web Developers in Cincinnati in 2021, and my company was the #8 Best Web Design Agency in Cincinnati by SEOlium in 2020.
Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I’m grateful to Aubrey Backscheider at Cinci360, another local web developer and SEO strategist. We met because our kids were on the same soccer team. She took me under my wing and gave me great advice, passed along some ideal clients for me, and was super helpful. We regularly have lunch and talk shop about our businesses.
I’d also love to say thanks to Jamie Starcevich. I took Jamie’s course, “Spruce Your Studio,” which taught me the ins and outs of owning a web design/graphic design studio. After taking her course, I joined her membership (when she offered it) in order to receive one-on-one advice for my business. Her guidance allowed me to grow the agency that I wanted. She also taught me saying “no” means saying “yes” to other opportunities that could be bigger and better.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started in this new direction?
I landed a huge project with a well known local business. I hadn’t believed I’d land the client, but they really wanted to work with a small woman-owned boutique web design studio, and they loved my presentation, proposal, and portfolio. They believed in supporting other women entrepreneurs.
Did you ever struggle with believing in yourself? If so, how did you overcome that limiting belief about yourself? Can you share a story or example?
100%. To have doubts is to be human. I’m an introvert in an extrovert world. I really have had to come out of my shell. In order to do that, I’ve leaned in on the certainty that I’m good at what I do; I just have to articulate it with confidence. I’m also a perfectionist, and I’ve worked really hard at letting my perfectionism go. I remind myself that, “done is better than perfect.” That doesn’t mean that my work is bad; it just means it ultimately needs to be completed so I can move to the next thing. I use a project plan and lists of what I need to accomplish each day to stay on track. I used to carry a lot of stress over the small things, until I realized that I’m the only one who truly notices them. Instead of endlessly making tweaks, I need to move on to the next thing in order to best serve my clients.
In my own work I usually encourage my clients to ask for support before they embark on something new. How did you create your support system before you moved to your new chapter?
In the beginning, I found most of my support online through Facebook groups. The best support that I’ve received came from participating in a group mentorship program. We were a group of women that took the same graphic/web design online, and the course creator formed a mentorship program. Everyone was so encouraging, and I learned so much along the way. The mentorship program ended, but a group of 20 of us are still in contact with each other and offer support and encouragement..
Starting a new chapter usually means getting out of your comfort zone, how did you do that? Can you share a story or example of that?
I remember the first phone call I had with a potential customer who contacted me to make some changes on their website. I spoke confidently on the phone and asked the right questions, but I got off the call and thought I was going to throw up. I was terrified to send him a proposal because I was certain I was going to fail at: 1. Getting the client 2. Doing the work successfully. I sent him a proposal that day and he signed it. I did the work; it was fun; and I couldn’t wait to sign on more clients. To move forward, I had to strike down that fear of failure.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started leading my organization” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
1. Don’t limit your beliefs — As a child, I constantly heard the term “starving artists.” I was great at art but never wanted to pursue it because I wanted to make a good living. This misconception is not true at all; there are many careers in art that make great salaries. I had needlessly limited my beliefs.
2. Failure is a part of business — You will fail at something in your business. Pick yourself up quickly. Treat it as an experiment that didn’t work rather than a failure.
3. Know your strengths and gifts — Know what you really like to do and what you don’t. If you don’t like to do it…outsource it. I’ve found several tasks in my business that I can sub out to other professionals. For example, I don’t like writing…so I’ve outsourced my copywriting. This alleviates the stress of that part of my business.
4. Saying “no” means saying “yes” to other opportunities — It’s really hard to say no to some big projects that come across your desk. There are lots of great opportunities, but make sure you are saying “yes” to the ones that fit your business and are right for you. You want to make sure you are happy with your work. I said “no” to a web design/development project because I truely felt the customer wasn’t a great fit, and it was extremely challenging to turn down the work. However, the next week, I received an interested potential client that was a fantastic fit and needed help with a huge and fun project. I landed the client; the client was wonderful to work with; and it was valued at a higher price. By saying no to the first client, I could say yes to my dream client.
5. Let go of your perfectionism. — Any other type A personalities? You need to get over perfectionism, otherwise you will get stuck in your business, drive everyone around you a bit crazy, and your projects and goals will not move forward. I struggled with this in the beginning of my entrepreneurship, and the first few years were a struggle because I moved too slowly. I know that I’m putting my best foot forward, I’m not dwelling on the little things, but instead, I move the picture and goals forward.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Time is short. Love what you do and who you serve. Don’t follow the money…follow your gifts, and the money will follow. Make sure you always view every project as a chance to serve another business. Ask, “What I can do for them,” rather than “What can they do for me?” You will have happier clients and be fulfilled in the work that you do as a result.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them. 🙂
Oh, what a fun question! I would love to have lunch with Joanna Gaines. I find her so positive and inspirational. Even though she is in a different field of design, her interior design work is gorgeous. It’s simple and stately. I’d love to find out where she draws her design inspiration. I also love how she intertwines her faith with her business.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can follow me on Instagram to see our latest work at https://instagram.com/createitwebdesigns/ or LinkedIn at https://linkedin.com/in/jessicarhoades/
You can find more about our services at createitwebdesigns.com
Jessica also teaches an online course called SEO For Designers (seofordesigners.com) which is A Step by Step System to Implement SEO with Confidence for Web & Graphic Designers.
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!