Business

Breakthrough Brand Podcast – Online Business Growth, Website Design Strategies, Grow a Podcast, Motherhood and Business, Passive Income, Christian Faith, Showit Templates

Welcome to The Breakthrough Brand Podcast — your go-to for relatable, raw, and tactical business training designed to help you hit those big goals! I’m Elizabeth McCravy, a website designer and business educator for female entrepreneurs. I’ve built a multiple six-figure web design business in my 20s, and I’m passionate about sharing what I’ve learned so you can do it too. No secrets, just real talk and proven strategies for building a thriving business.

I’m a Christian business owner, mama to two boys (with baby #3 on the way!), and married to my high school sweetheart. I sell Showit website templates at elizabethmccravy.com and teach fellow designers how to build booked-out businesses through my course, Booked Out Designer. I also teach business owners how to start and scale a podcast in my program, Podcast Success Blueprint.

On this podcast, you’ll find solo episodes packed with actionable, easy-to-follow advice and inspiring expert interviews. We’ll dive into everything from online marketing, branding, podcasting, and business strategy, to faith, motherhood, productivity, and scaling your business. Let’s create a business that not only looks amazing from the outside but feels amazing on the inside too. It’s time to build your breakthrough brand!

Latest Episodes:

186: From Side Hustling with a 9-to-5 to Her First $10k Month as a Web Designer with Katelyn Dekle Oct 27, 2022

Show notes

Today I’m chatting with Katelyn Dekle from Launch the Damn Thing. Katelyn and I first connected when she heard me on James Wedmore’s podcast and she sent me the world’s sweetest email. This was BEFORE Booked Out Designer even existed, but later when the course was created, she joined and has been an essential part of our community ever since. We’re talking through her business journey, her advice for niching down and finding clients as a designer, and her experience with Booked Out Designer! I love Katelyn, her unique approach to business and marketing, and her love of teaching what works for her is so evident. I hope you all enjoy this conversation!

Also, today is my 30th BIRTHDAY! You can bet that today I’ll be relaxing, reflecting, and appreciating life and these last 10 years as I leave my 20s and enter a new decade. And perhaps a 30th birthday reflect episode will come later.

Highlights from this episode:

- How Katelyn made the free time to work on her business while also being at a 9 to 5

- Katelyn’s story of leaving her day job during the pandemic and going full time in her business

- How Katelyn isn’t very active on social media, and 98% of her clients are finding her through Google search

- Alternative ideas for “niching down” — Katelyn shares how she niched to a personality-type not an industry

- How Katelyn made $10k after implementing just 2 modules from Booked Out Designer

Links mentioned in this episode:

- Get the full show notes for this episode: https://elizabethmccravy.com/186

- Check out Booked Out Designer: http://elizabethmccravy.com/BOD

- Connect with Elizabeth on her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethmccravy/

- Connect with Katelyn on her website: https://www.launchthedamnthing.com

- Follow Katelyn on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/launchthedamnthing/?hl=en

- Get the ASAP Client Booking Guide to help you find your next client as a designer: http://elizabethmccravy.com/asap

If you're a new business owner who still doesn't have a website yet, I made something for you. It's a free 15-page guide that walks you through exactly what you need to launch your first website — what to skip, what actually matters, and the five steps to go from zero to live. No coding, no big budget, no perfection required. Plus you'll get 20% off my Showit templates inside! Get it FREE at https://elizabethmccravy.com/

Need some extra pages to improve or add onto your Showit website, BUT you’re not in the market for an entirely new template? You need my Add On Templates for Showit! You'll find add ons like speaker pages, podcast pages, quiz lead magnets, favorite things pages, Link in Bio pages, and more.

Use the code “BBPOD”to save 15% on your add on or full site template for a limited time: https://elizabethmccravy.com/shop

185: My 3 Most Unpopular Opinions About Branding/Website Design Businesses Oct 25, 2022

Show notes

I’ve been thinking about unpopular opinions lately, as I asked a question about this to guests on my podcast and now I’ve been like “hmmm… what are my unpopular opinions about different aspects of business?” So, here today I’m sharing 3 of my unpopular opinions about branding and website design businesses specifically. So whether you’re a Showit designer, Squarespace designer, Wix designer, brand designer, or maybe you focus on other types of design collateral… this is for you. And aspiring designers, this is for you as well! It is OKAY if we disagree on any of these things, we can still be friends! :) Let me know on Instagram what you think — send me a DM @elizabethmccravy.

Links mentioned in this episode:

- Get the full show notes for this episode: https://elizabethmccravy.com/185

- Check out Booked Out Designer: http://elizabethmccravy.com/BOD

- Connect with Elizabeth on her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethmccravy/

- Get the ASAP Client Booking Guide: http://elizabethmccravy.com/asap

184: From Multiple Part-Time Jobs to Going Full Time as a Brand and Website Designer (+ Increasing Her Income Every Month!) with Stephanie Duke Oct 24, 2022

Show notes

Today I’m chatting with a friend and member of my Booked Out Designer community, Stephanie Duke! We first connected in 2019 before I ever made Booked Out Designer because she was one of the people I “interviewed” about what they needed help with in their business. Since then, she’s been a long-time podcast listener, and eventually joined Booked Out Designer and has had HUGE WINS from the course. I just love Stephanie, and I think her joy and heart for her work will come through so well in this episode. I know many of you will be able to relate to her story. She’s always been the artsy kid and after years of doing various part-time jobs, ended up going all in on her design business. She also runs a successful Etsy shop where she makes polymer clay art, which you can check out here. (<< Seriously perfect place to buy gifts as Christmas is approaching, and you can support a fellow small business owner!)

Highlights from this episode:

- Stephanie’s experience with always working multiple jobs

- Stephanie’s college experience learning design skills in remote schooling

- The details on her first ever $40 logo project (very relatable designer experience!)

- How Stephanie learned to think like a business owner and learned business skills early on

- Losing her job, applying for jobs and not hearing back, and ultimately following God’s calling through the whole experience

- Stephanie’s business creating polymer clay art before starting her brand and web design business

- Stephanie’s experience going full time in her design business

- How Booked Out Designer impacted Stephanie’s business growth

- Homesteading lifestyle stuff (yep, Stephanie has tons of chickens and ducks!)

Links mentioned in this episode:

- Get the full show notes for this episode: https://elizabethmccravy.com/184

- Check out Booked Out Designer: http://elizabethmccravy.com/BOD

- Connect with Elizabeth on her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethmccravy/

- Connect with Stephanie on her website: http://www.stephanieduke.co

- Follow Stephanie on Instagram: www.instagram.com/stephanieduke.co

- Check out Stephanie’s Etsy Shop: https://rstyle.me/+MpmidoSi-3zJAQ1aQ0gBvQ

- Get the ASAP Client Booking Guide to help you find yo

Use the code “BBPOD”to save 15% on your add on or full site template for a limited time: https://elizabethmccravy.com/shop

183: 4 Questions to Ask When You’re Not Booking Clients Oct 21, 2022

Show notes

If bookings are slow for you — whether you’ve been in business for years or just weeks, I’m sharing with you 4 important questions to ask yourself as you examine the situation and strategize what to do next in your business! 3 of the questions are really strategic, and the final one (worth staying to the end for) is a heart check question with some encouragement for you because I know when you’re not booking clients it can be really hard emotionally.

Links mentioned in this episode:

- Get the full shownotes for this episode: https://elizabethmccravy.com/183

- Check out Booked Out Designer: http://elizabethmccravy.com/BOD

- Connect with Elizabeth on her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethmccravy/

- Get the ASAP Client Booking Guide: http://elizabethmccravy.com/asap

- Get the Designer’s Guide to Mastering Discovery Calls: http://elizabethmccravy.com/discovery

- Get 30% off your Dubsado subscription: http://elizabethmccravy.com/dubsado

182: From Quitting Her Job with No Plan B to Building a Successful Design Business with Katy Boykin (Imposter Syndrome, Selling a Blog Business, Following God’s Calling, and More!) Oct 20, 2022

Show notes

Today you get to hear from Katy Boykin, who is an incredible brand designer and WordPress designer. My goal with this interview (and the 3 coming next week) is to show you what’s possible in your business. You’ve heard my story time and time again on the podcast, but this time I’m interviewing 3 friends to share their stories with you. These women are all 3 designers who design on different platforms, and have all taken Booked Out Designer. They’re sharing things like how they got into business, their pain points along the way, what helped, what didn’t, where they are right now in their journey, and more!

In this interview with Katy, you’ll hear so much GOODNESS. Here are a few noteworthy highlights:

- How Katy’s time as a yearbook editor revealed her love for design

- Katy’s experience dropping her art major in college for hospitality management

- What it was like quitting her 9 to 5 cold turkey

- Katy’s experience starting and selling a blog

- Katy realizing a call to leave her Christian blog and to website design was just a different way to serve God through helping others

- Katy’s great advice for dealing with imposter syndrome

- Her experience as a WordPress designer using Elementor and Cadence builders

- How Katy joined Booked Out Designer and quickly landed her first $6,000 website design project

And more!

Links mentioned in this episode:

- Get the full shownotes for this episode: https://elizabethmccravy.com/182

- Check out Booked Out Designer: http://elizabethmccravy.com/BOD

- Connect with Elizabeth on her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethmccravy/

- Get the ASAP Client Booking Guide: http://elizabethmccravy.com/asap

- Connect with Katy on her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katy_boykin/

- Connect with Katy on her website: https://katyboykin.com/

Use the code “BBPOD”to save 15% on your add on or full site template for a limited time: https://elizabethmccravy.com/shop

181: 2 MUST HAVE Contract Clauses For Designers (Shhh…These Special Clauses Will Help You Make More Money!) Oct 18, 2022

Show notes

CONTRACTS…OMG. Do they make your heart beat faster? Maybe you wrote yours yourself and that makes you nervous. Or, maybe your contract is so confusing that you yourself don’t even understand what you’re saying or how to enforce it if needed. Or, the worst… maybe you don’t have a contract at all, and you’re just kinda hoping for the best. Wherever you are — no shame. Seriously. But, I can tell you you need a contract that you understand, is comprehensive enough to protect you, and that is custom to your design business needs.

In today's episode, I’m sharing 2 contract clauses in particular that designers need to have that are very specific to your design business. These are ones you might not think about until it’s “too late” and aren’t ones you see mentioned everyday. And even more specifically, these clauses relate to helping you make more money as a designer, which we all want, right?

Links mentioned in this episode:

- Get the full show notes at https://elizabethmccravy.com/181

- Check out Booked Out Designer at https://elizabethmccravy.com/BOD

- Get my FREE resource, How to Find Your 1st (or Next) Paying Design Client Asap, at https://elizabethmccravy.com/asap

180: How to Build a Design Business That Won’t Drain You Oct 11, 2022

Show notes

Designer friends, this is for you! If you’re feeling drained by your business or wanting to AVOID feeling drained in your business, these strategies I’m sharing will help. I’m going to teach some mindset tips, some super practical working with client tips, and even some marketing and productivity tips that will help you not be drained (or at least not as drained) by your business because you’re focused on the right things. These 4 tips are all very particular things that have helped me in my business, some literally right now and others in past seasons of my business.

If you’re not a designer, but work with clients in another way, listen up as well, there is plenty in this episode for you as a lot of what I’m sharing relates simply to businesses that work with clients. I hope this episode encourages you wherever you’re at right now and pushes you towards taking action in your business to create a business you LOVE.

Links mentioned in this episode:

- Get the full show notes at https://elizabethmccravy.com/180

- Check out Booked Out Designer at https://elizabethmccravy.com/BOD

- Get my FREE resource, The Designer’s Guide to Mastering Discovery Calls, at https://elizabethmccravy.com/discovery

Use the code “BBPOD”to save 15% on your add on or full site template for a limited time: https://elizabethmccravy.com/shop

179: How to Make Space for Your Brain to Be Creative (and GROW Your Business with Bold Ideas) Oct 04, 2022

Show notes

Short but, I think, this will likely be a very inspiring episode for you today! Do you know where your best ideas happen? When you think about brilliant ideas (or even just good ideas) you’ve had, when did the idea come to you? And how can you make more time for that place? That’s what I’m exploring in this episode. I’ll be sharing my process and where my best ideas come to me, the research around why our most creative ideas don’t come to us at our desks, and more.

I hope you enjoy this one! Tag me on Instagram (@elizabethmccravy) and show me how you’re applying this to your business and life once you tune in!

- Get the full shownotes at https://elizabethmccravy.com/179

- Connect on Instagram at https://instagram.com/elizabethmccravy/

- Research I mention in the episode: https://www.thindifference.com/2018/01/best-ideas-come-shower/

178: From Cabinet Maker to Multi-Six-Figure/Year Website Design Business with Josh Hall Sep 27, 2022

Show notes

I’m so excited to have fellow web designer, Josh Hall, on the podcast today. Josh is a web designer turned educator for designers, and he’s bringing the good stuff today! Josh and I jump all over the place from his business story to his advice for scaling your web design business, maintenance plans, messaging as designers, time management, fatherhood, and so much more.

Josh built his business to 6-figures/year as a soloprenuer, and we talk extensively about this journey and the exact HOW of him doing this. We also talk about his journey as a cabinet maker by day and drummer by night in 2009 to starting his freelance web design journey. He built his web design career as a soloprenuer from 2010-2016 and scaled his web design agency up before selling it in the summer of 2020 to focus full time on teaching others how to build web design businesses of their own.

Josh and I had so much fun together chatting. We actually did back-to-back interviews for both of our podcasts. I interviewed him, and then he interviewed me. So all together, we chatted for about 3 hours. I’ll link to my interview on his show (Web Design Business With Josh Hall) once it airs.

Some highlights we discuss:

How to do maintenance plans as a designer (I LOVED this!)
How maintenance plans can work as a Showit designer too
How Josh made over $100k/year as a soloprenuer
Scaling an agency, then selling it and that whole process
Building a team as a designer and working with contractors
What it was like moving from an agency to a personal brand educator
How it could actually be a BENEFIT to you if your business is your side hustle

Connect with Josh and Elizabeth:

Get the full show notes for this episode at http://elizabethmccravy.com/178

Connect with Elizabeth on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethmccravy/
Connect with Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshhallco/
Connect with Elizabeth on her website: http://elizabethmccravy.com/

Use the code “BBPOD”to save 15% on your add on or full site template for a limited time: https://elizabethmccravy.com/shop

177: Try These 5 Strategies to Get More Done with Your Limited Time in the 1st Year of Motherhood and Business Sep 20, 2022

Show notes

To create this episode, I basically asked myself — What would I want to tell a dear friend who owns a business and now has a baby or is expecting about doing motherhood and business together? And, these are the things I wrote down! Whether you’re an expecting mama, a new mom, or have been doing motherhood and business longer than me, I think you’ll find some great tips you can implement right now about motherhood and business, particularly in the realm of productivity as moms.

I’m approaching this from my own experiences of being a new-ish mom to a recently 1 year old baby boy. I know some of this may look different in your particular circumstances or if you have multiple kids or older kids. Take what you can from my advice to apply to your life and leave what doesn’t work.

I did an episode a few weeks ago that could be considered part one of this! That was episode #172 titled “My Top 4 Productive Mom Hacks for Running a Successful Business with a Baby or Toddler” — so tune into that one after this if you haven’t already. And, I’ve done TONS of episodes at this point about motherhood and business that are worth scrolling through the podcast feed to find and listen to!

Links mentioned in this episode:

- Get the full shownotes for this episode: http://elizabethmccravy.com/177

- Scroll back to episode #172 for more tips on a similar mom + business topic

- Visit my website: http://elizabethmccravy.com/

- Shop Showit website templates: https://elizabethmccravy.com/shop

- Get details on Breakthrough Brand All Access: https://elizabethmccravy.com/bbaa

- Join Booked Out Designer: https://elizabethmccravy.com/booked-out-designer

- Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethmccravy/

Use the code “BBPOD”to save 15% on your add on or full site template for a limited time: https://elizabethmccravy.com/shop