Anecdotally, 2023 was a weird year for a lot of people in small business. There was lots of talk early on about a recession, drops in inquiries, and shake ups in service offerings. While we had an objectively good year here at Due West Design (about 15% growth over last year), it was a little different than previous years and has made me reflect a lot on our business model and strengths. One thing I am learning over the years is that nothing stays the same and change is a constant. The better you can adapt to it, the better off you will be.

Thinking about using Squarespace or WordPress for your small business or nonprofit? Wondering which is easier to use and better for SEO? Here, we’ll compare each web site platform and go through the pros and cons for Squarespace and WordPress. Squarespace has great integrations and is very easy to customize and update, but WordPress is great for blogging and for more complex sites.

Holy cow, I feel like I blinked and 2022 was gone! I always love reading about how other small businesses do things behind the scenes (I always learn so much!), and started doing my own recap last year too. I don’t usually set huge goals each year so much as try to fine tune the next baby steps to move the business forward. Hope it’s helpful!

The last several months have been a substantial period of growth with our business and it felt like a good time to reflect on what got us here and how we plan on shifting into the next phase ahead. If you’re an aspiring designer or online service based business, my hope is that some of this will be helpful for your own journey. There is so much advice (and noise!) online about building a business and I wanted to reflect on what has actually worked and helped to move the needle for us since we’ve launched.

Wow, what a year! I always love reading about how other small businesses do things, which is why I wanted to put together a recap of the last year. It’s been exciting, busy, and at times exhausting, but we’ve learned a ton and have big plans for 2022!

As a long-time solopreneur I always shrugged off the idea of hiring help. I was used to doing it all myself, and it seemed like I never quite had the margins to pay someone yet (let alone take time to train them). Once 2021 got going, my perspective quickly changed. I was buried in deadlines and knew it wasn’t sustainable, especially if I wanted to scale.

We get this question a lot from new business owners, and honestly, it depends! Most people rely on a cell phone (vs. a landline) now for both personal communications and business. If that’s the case, how do you feel about clients having your phone number?

Maybe it’s the extra hour of daylight or the new blooms on our daily walk, but spring always feels like an opportunity to refresh your surroundings and shake the dust off. The same can be true for your business! Our latest blog post shares some of our thoughts on spring cleaning for your small business.

Every once in a while, we get a client who has a really solid business idea but for whatever reason hasn’t landed on a good business name yet. This can hold things as up, as you need a business name potentially for your business filing (LLC, etc.) or DBA status, the wording used in your logo, and your web site domain, custom email addresses, and social media account handles.