They Think They’re Hiring a Web Designer. They’re Not.
If you’re a small business owner in New York looking for a Squarespace web designer, you’ve probably looked at a few portfolios, compared prices, and tried to figure out who actually knows what they’re doing. This post isn’t a sales pitch. It’s an honest look at what separates a web designer who only designs from one who brings a full business perspective to the project — and why that difference matters more than most people realize when they’re hiring someone to build their online presence.
Most of my clients come to me the same way.
They look at my portfolio. They like what they see. They book a call, trust what they hear, and decide to work with me. And they leave that first conversation thinking they have hired a web designer.
What most of them don’t realize until we are deep into the project is what they actually hired.
Here is what I mean. And more importantly, here is why it matters for you.
The Career Behind the Career
Right out of university, I spent over ten years building a career in marketing in New York. Events. Campaigns. Press outreach. Brand positioning. I worked my way from an internship at a luxury PR agency to running a marketing team of five or six people.
In 2013, I left New York and moved to Berlin. New country. New language. New everything. I needed to figure out what was next. Someone gave me advice over coffee that I still think about.
He told me my marketing background was strong. But then he said something that changed my direction completely. He said most Europeans don’t know how to sell the way Americans do. Why not go into business development?
I took his advice. I spent the next several years building a sales career I never expected to have. Learning how to handle rejections. How to control the conversation. What moves people from interested to ready. I had no idea at the time how much it would shape everything that came after.
When Covid hit and I got furloughed, I made the leap into web design. And I brought all of it with me.
What Your Background Is Really Worth
Here is what I tell my clients when the project is done and they ask how I think about what I build.
The marketing background taught me how to position things. How to understand what a brand is actually saying and whether it is landing the way it is meant to. How to build something that connects with the right people rather than just looking good on a screen.
The sales background taught me something different. It taught me that awareness is just the start. What actually makes someone buy is trust, clarity, and the feeling that the person across from them genuinely understands what they need. That is not something a good layout can fake.
When I put those two things together and apply them to how a website is built, structured, and written, the result is different from what you get when you hire someone who has only ever designed.
But here is the thing I want you to sit with.
You have a version of this too.
The Asset You Might Be Ignoring
When you start a business, it is easy to define yourself by the service you are selling. I am a designer. I am a coach. I am a consultant. You lead with the skill and quietly leave everything else at the door.
But the experience you had before this chapter is not irrelevant. It is probably one of the most valuable things you bring to the table. And most first-time entrepreneurs never think to use it.
The ten years you spent in operations taught you how businesses actually run from the inside. The years in customer service taught you what people really want when they say they want something else. The time you spent managing people taught you how to hear what someone is not saying.
None of that disappears when you start something new. It comes with you. And it is often exactly what your clients are paying for, even if they don’t know how to ask for it.
The move is not to hide your background and lead with your offer. The move is to understand how your background makes your offer different from everyone else’s.
That is not a small thing. That is your positioning.
You are not just the thing you do now. You are everything you did to get here. The question worth asking is not what service am I selling. It is what does my whole story make possible that nobody else can offer.
Shawn
Working With a Squarespace Web Designer in New York
I work with small business owners and first-time entrepreneurs who need more than a website that looks good. They need one that positions their business clearly, speaks directly to the right clients, and is built on a platform they can actually manage themselves after launch.
If you’re based in New York and looking for a Squarespace web designer who brings marketing strategy and sales experience to the project, I’d love to have a conversation. You can learn more about how I work or reach out directly through the contact page.
