Meet Danielle: The Queen of Website Design

Danielle has a heart of gold, and her mission to empower other fellow female entrepreneurs is captivating. Danielle addresses so many critical topics within the female entrepreneur industry: perfectionism, comparison, fear, cold-calling, and being an introvert while running a business! She has taken so many leaps of faith and trusted her confidence to build websites for female entrepreneurs without the large price tag! Read on to get the full scoop on how Danielle has propelled herself in her biz to where she is now!

1. Tell us about who you are and your journey to where you are now!

I'm Danielle, and I own a website design business Create with Danielle. I originally made the big move to Toronto from a small town to pursue my dream of wedding planning six years ago. After spending years studying and working in the wedding field, I knew it wasn't right for me. I thought to myself - I put so much time and effort into it, might as well continue it? People would tell me it was too late to switch career paths. It was a scary feeling to think of calling it quits after spending my whole life working towards this career. I decided to go with my gut, and I stopped listening to others! I always liked the design aspect of weddings and knew I had to continue on a similar path. I left the wedding industry and launched Create with Danielle within weeks of coming up with the idea!

I had no design/school experience, portfolio or income to support myself. I couldn't believe it when I landed my first client within a week! My first clients were female entrepreneurs who wanted to support me in my new business venture, and ever since I’ve dedicated my business to helping other women as they had done for me.  A year after launching, I've officially quit my part time job as of last month and can begin focusing on my business full time! I design easy-to-use custom websites and templates for small businesses and female entrepreneurs. I'm also launching some courses later this year on how to grow your service-based business successfully to help other female entrepreneurs who may not know where to start or struggle to get clients. 

2. What is the mission of your brand? How does it empower women?

My mission is to provide female entrepreneurs with a website that truly speaks to their brand & that is easy for them to manage on their own afterwards. I noticed that many entrepreneurs were getting frustrated with managing their websites through complicated softwares like Wordpress since no business owner (outside of the design industry) has coding experience or has money to spend on a developer. It's baffling how much developers can cost! No small business owner should be limited to what they can/cannot change on their website; that's where all of the magic happens. I want everyone to be confident in their online presence and manage their site without coding expertise or the hefty price tag.

3. How do you collaborate with women working towards a better world?

I'm all about collaboration! I get messages weekly from aspiring female entrepreneurs asking for advice on launching their own business who are inspired by my work. I know many business owners who would ignore the message, but I'm always there to provide some guidance. I've taken calls out of my workday to help other soon-to-be designers, and I don't ever think of them as my competitors. There are plenty of clients for both of us! I also love to support female entrepreneurs within my business to help them gain business. Each client I work with receives a list of my favourite graphic designers, social media managers and other entrepreneurs that could help them grow their new business. These entrepreneurs probably don't even know they're on my list! I genuinely love their work and want them to be recognized for their excellent work.

4. What is the biggest challenge you've had to press through as a female entrepreneur, and what are the steps you've taken to overcome it?

I'm an introvert entrepreneur, and this has been a challenge to overcome. Before I started my business, I was told that I am "too reserved and quiet" to pursue in this field. That didn't stop me! As I've always said - You don't have to be the loudest person in the room to run a company.  Introverts can be entrepreneurs and succeed, and knowing my strengths and weaknesses helped a lot to overcome this. I see entrepreneurs posting IG stories of themselves talking so confidently, or attending big networking events when that's just not me. I used to think I needed to do these steps in order to succeed. I learned that it's okay that I may not be able to network like an extrovert or have the confidence others have, but introverts have some fantastic skills (such as listening skills) and focusing on the positives has helped me a lot to feel more confident in myself. 

I used to dread phone calls with potential clients. I would be extremely nervous, but it all just takes practice and patience. After being in business for a year, I love phone calls! It helped to do it over and over again to start feeling confident and learning what worked/didn’t work for me, in order to overcome this challenge.

5. What advice would you give to a female entrepreneur in the beginning stages of launching her brand or business?

My biggest advice is just to be yourself and not to become a victim of the imposter syndrome. When I first started my business, I was always let down and comparing myself to other successful entrepreneurs in my field when scrolling through social media. It can be really tough on your self-esteem. It made me feel unmotivated at times and felt like I wasn't good enough to be an entrepreneur. But I realized over time that everyone has their own pace to success, and that's okay. You aren't meant to do the same things another entrepreneur is doing at that time or reaching those goals. There's always headlines on Instagram "How I Gained xx Clients a Month" or "How I Hit Six Figures in a Year." You start to stress about how to speed up with these entrepreneurs when you don't! Don't doubt yourself or stress about it, and only focus on what you're doing and what makes you happy. As a perfectionist, I learned that it’s okay not to be perfect. Nobody is. Start to acknowledge your accomplishments, and don’t take criticism from others in a bad way where you feel like giving up. Use them as a learning experience to better yourself and your business!