Nadia Soucek

About Nadia Soucek

Posts by Nadia Soucek:

October 18 2023

Greening Your Online Space: Why Sustainable Web Design Matters for Small Businesses

Nadia Soucek Business, Sustainability

Greening Your Online Space: Why Sustainable Web Design Matters for Small Businesses

October 18, 2023

Let’s chat about sustainable web design and why it’s a big deal for small businesses.

Imagine your website as a digital storefront – it’s where your customers come to browse, shop, and learn about your business. Sustainable web design is all about creating that digital space with an eco-friendly and user-friendly twist.

So, why should small businesses care about it? Here are a few reasons:

1. Saves You Money

Sustainable web design can cut down your website’s energy consumption, which means lower hosting and operational costs. That’s more money in your pocket.

2. Keeps Customers Happy

When your website loads faster and works like a charm on any device, your customers are happier. Happy customers tend to stick around and buy more stuff.

3. Good for Your Image

People love businesses that care for the planet. Making your website eco-friendly is like putting a green badge on your brand. It looks good and can attract more customers who value sustainability.

4. Helps Your Google Game

Google loves fast, mobile-friendly websites. When your website is sustainable, it’s likely to rank higher in search results, bringing in more organic traffic.

5. Future-Proofs Your Business

Regulations and consumer expectations are changing. Being sustainable now means you’re ready for whatever rules come your way in the future.

6. Lasts Longer

Sustainable websites are built to last. You won’t need to keep revamping your site every year, saving you time and money in the long run.

7. It’s Good for the Planet

Small businesses, collectively, can make a big impact. Sustainable web design is your way of reducing the carbon footprint of the internet.

In a nutshell, sustainable web design is a win-win for small businesses. It trims costs, keeps customers smiling, and shows you care about the environment. Plus, it gets you noticed by Google and sets you up for the future.

So, it’s time to make your online presence as green as your business dreams! Schedule a call to get started on your new website here.

December 20 2021

2021 End of Year Review

Nadia Soucek Business

2021 end of year review

december 20, 2021

2021 has been a year! I’m in a season of change in life right now where everything is in flux and then to add a pandemic on top of it all has been tough. Change is the only constant right now and I’m doing my best to go with the flow, however, I would be remiss not to acknowledge how challenging things are right now. Balancing parenting a small child, running a design business, maintaining my house, and having any kind of downtime feels nearly impossible and I know I’m not alone.

In my personal life, there are some big life changes on the horizon while daily life marches onward. In the past year, I’ve experienced new parenting challenges like potty training, outgrowing naps and a crib, and despite the pandemic sending my kiddo off into the world.

This fall my daughter started going to preschool a couple of mornings a week and it’s the first time since she was born that we’ve had outside help with childcare. It’s been a big transition for all of us, one that we were all ready for but has not been without challenges. At first, she wanted nothing to do with any of the kids and complained about how loud it was at school. I understand where she is coming from since my husband and I are fairly quiet people and she is at home with only us 95% of the time. It’s been wonderful to watch her develop new relationships with her classmates and to learn so much about social and emotional skills from her teacher and peers. She is now thriving and we love being a part of the co-op preschool community! It’s become a real source of joy, inspiration, and support when we needed it most.

My husband has been working towards his Ph.D. for 8 years and is now in his final year! He’s currently teaching, polishing his dissertation, and applying for any and all academic jobs in his field. We’ve been working so hard to get to this point and it’s really exciting to know that we could end up pretty much anywhere in the U.S. by next fall. The academic job market is wild! There is one listserv for all of the academic jobs in the U.S. and in years past there have been only 1 or 2 positions available. The odds are stacked against the applicants and it largely depends on your connections and your area(s) of expertise. By some miracle, there are already at least 20 jobs available in his field and he’s applied to nearly all of them. A few haven’t been a good fit, both in terms of the locations of the universities and the feel of the programs. We’re waiting on pins and needles to see where he might get interviews, fingers crossed!

There is so much up in the air right now that it’s difficult to feel settled. Will we be moving in the fall, and if so, where? It’s an exciting time of life but also riddled with anxiety. I know that life is only going to speed up and that’s been a major factor in many of the business decisions I made in 2021.

For my business, it wasn’t a year of rapid growth, rather it was a year of intentional work within my business. That meant taking on fewer clients than in past years to have the time and space to focus on internal projects that have been on the back burner for far too long. The less sexy stuff like creating a more holistic and supportive process for collecting web copy from clients, fleshing out my sustainability policies, and revamping all of my client onboarding documents. I’ve put a lot of time and effort into clarifying my mission, vision, and core values so I can better attract and serve the clients who need my services. It’s been tedious and challenging but the slow and steady progress has been worth it. All of this behind-the-scenes work has allowed me to create a better foundation for my business moving forward.

By far the best decision I made this year was hiring out my rebrand! Working with Jeanne at Spark and Bloom Studio to give my business a new look was a complete joy. It was a completely new experience for me to be on the client-side of a design project, and I learned a lot. Collaborating with a fellow creative was really fun and I hope to do more of this in the future. I feel more confident than ever in the outward appearance of my business and have a newfound sense of energy and creativity that I want to bring to the table in 2022.

Over the past year, I intentionally worked with fewer new clients than in past years. These new clients were incredible to work with on their branding and web design projects. I’m really proud of the designs we were able to create together! It fills my heart to the brim to help small businesses bring their design visions to life to grow their businesses. From floral design to yoga and barre instructors, I feel honored to be a part of their journeys.

I’m excited to bring more curiosity, knowledge, and fun into 2022! I’ll be spending the rest of December relaxing and soaking up the holiday memories with family. Since I started my business in 2017 I’ve never taken a true break from work and I’m giving myself permission to do so over these last two weeks of December. Rest is the best gift I could give to myself this year and I hope you are also able to rest, relax, and reflect over the New Year.

Thank you for being part of my community and business journey this year!

September 1 2021

3 Signs It’s Time to Invest in Professional Branding

Nadia Soucek Business

3 signs it’s time to invest in professional branding

July 13, 2021

In my last post, I shared that I’ve *finally* invested in hiring a professional branding designer for my own business. I’ve been working with Jeanne from Spark and Bloom since early June and we’re rapidly approaching the finish line.

Today I’m taking you through my thought process of knowing it was time to hire another professional designer. In the end, there were four reasons that pushed me to invest in branding now.

01. Not attracting my ideal audience

When I started my freelance journey I was taking on any project and through many wonderful referrals I ended up with a wide array of clients. This is a great problem to have, and I soon started taking note of the types of projects and clients that made my heart and soul sing.

In the beginning, I slapped together a wordmark logo and website without any kind of strategy. I was afraid of niching down and honestly, I didn’t know how to go about it. It took a lot of trial and error through working with different kinds of business owners, non-profits, and types of projects to start to understand which direction I wanted to take my business.

I’ve found clarity in the types of projects and clients that I want to work with in the future. I have limited time and energy and I’ve realized that in order not to burn out, I need to feel a true connection with any project and client.

02. I was trying to be like everyone else in my industry

In my heart, I knew I wanted to focus my efforts on sustainable & ethical design but felt discouraged every time I talked to more established designers.

I was told that sustainability or green design wasn’t really a niche and I should consider changing course. It was frustrating to hear that sustainability was not valued in the realm of design and that I should really be focusing on how I could earn six figures. Cue eye roll.

In the fall of 2020, I connected with a community of designers who are also passionate about sustainability and ethical design and this has inspired and motivated me to dream bigger. There is clearly a need for designers who are experts in sustainability while we are in the midst of a climate crisis! This community has helped me narrow in on who and how I serve clients.

03. My DIY method was lacking perspective

After learning more about brand strategy I tried no fewer than three times to put myself through my own branding process. I would get inspired, make a fun moodboard, and make it maybe 50% of the way through the process before a more pressing project would pop up. Needless to say, I never gave my own branding the time or attention it deserved.

Even after spending a lot of time sorting out my own brand strategy, I struggled with aligning my designs to that strategy. My biased opinion on the color palette, fonts, and style got in the way of connecting with my ideal audience. I spent years trying to craft a monogram that I embraced my brand, but it never came to fruition and in the end, held me back.

Why now?

I first started seriously considering investing in hiring another designer in early 2020, right before the pandemic hit. In fact, right before the first wave of lock-downs were given here in Seattle, I had been in communication with a branding photographer. I had a few irons in the fire, as they say, and they quickly became backburner projects once we all realized how different life would look after March 2020.

Now that we’re slowly coming out of pandemic lockdowns and there is light at the end of the tunnel it feels right to pursue growth in my business. I’ve been leaning into my intuition more and honestly it feels so good.

This summer was the perfect time to work with a branding designer so that I have everything ready to roll out this fall. My daughter will be starting preschool and it will be the first time in her three years that we’ll have outside childcare. I’ll have more time to dedicate to client work and putting in the energy into my business that I’ve wanted to for years!

In hindsight, I’m glad I did not hire a brand designer when I first started my business. I have so much more clarity about who I want to serve, how I want to serve them, and how I want to position my own business in the design world.

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In my next post, I’ll dive into how I chose a designer to work with and tips for anyone who is looking to invest in professional branding for their own business.

July 21 2021

Confessions of a Branding Designer

Nadia Soucek Business branding, branding designer

Confessions of a Branding Designer

July 21 , 2021

Have you ever heard the saying “the cobbler’s kids wear no shoes”? Currently I find my business in this situation — my branding is not cohesive, does not attract my ideal audience, and does nothing to support my long-term business goals. Yeah, I said it. I’m a branding designer without proper branding.

The problem

My business has changed since I started in 2017. My mission, passion, and values haven’t changed, but my goals, direction, and ideal audience has changed significantly.

It’s common to hear from fellow creatives that it’s tough to design for yourself. Why is that?

I’ve spent a lot of time pondering this over the past year! For me, it’s hard to see my own blind-spots. I’m much too close to the project and business to have any kind of impartial opinion or perspective. What does this look like in practice? Using my favorite colors or fonts, for example. I know it’s my own business, but branding is more about the audience, not the owner! It’s so much easier for me to do this for clients, but for myself? Forget about it!

How I Got Here

It was never my intention to let it get like this, no, I wanted to have an intentionally designed brand from the start. However, I found myself in a cycle of working on my own branding for a while and then inevitably client work would come up. I would think “good enough for now” and quickly update my website and print materials.

When I first started designing websites and logos it was in 2010 and I was taking any project I could. That mentality followed me into my full-time design work and over time I’ve taken note of all of the projects that made my heart and soul sing.

As a result, I am now listening to my intuition more and taking on projects and clients that align with my mission and values. I love working collaboratively with eco-minded small businesses and entrepreneurs who are working to make the world a better and brighter place.

What I’m Doing Differently

I’ve already put myself through my branding process three times and I don’t plan on trying again right now. Instead, I’ve taken my own professional advice and I’ve invested in hiring a professional brand designer!

Hiring another designer is something that I’ve been thinking about for the last two years, but with the pandemic hitting last year it pushed back the timeline of many internal projects. A few weeks ago I reached out to a wonderful designer, Jeanne of Spark & Bloom, who I met a couple of years ago through a design mentorship group and have long admired her approach to design and business.

It’s beyond thrilling to know that this piece of my business will be getting the attention it deserves and it won’t end up on the back burner again in 6 weeks! IFKYK.

I wholeheartedly believe in the power of branding and not feeling confident in your own branding is tough, especially when you are a brand designer. I’m looking forward to feeling more confident and having a more cohesive set of tools to use in my business.

Just to be completely transparent, this is not at all sponsored. I am *happily* paying out of my own pocket! Investing in my own business is important for future growth and I want to take you all through this journey with me. I’ve learned a lot from fellow creatives and entrepreneurs openly sharing and now it’s my turn to add to the community.

Follow Along on my Journey

Over the next few weeks I’ll take you behind the scenes with me. I’ll take you through the process of how I decided it was time to hire a professional designer, how I decided who to hire, how I hired a designer, and what it’s like to be a client in the branding design process.

Nadia-Soucek-Design-Field-Guide-Certified-Green-Graphic-Designer

April 22 2021

Certified Green Designer

Nadia Soucek Business, Sustainability

Certified Green Designer

April 22, 2021

Exciting news!

At the end of 2020, I completed the Green Graphic Design Course taught by Little Fox Design.

I’ve been working to incorporate my background in natural resource conservation, environmental justice, and environmental policy with my design work. Earning this certification as a Green Designer is something I’m really proud of and I finally feel like I’ve found my niche in the design industry.

Through the course, I learned about the best sustainable practices in graphic design. This included how print design can be done to minimize the impact of paper fiber consumption on forests; which packaging materials are appropriate for what projects and their respective pros and cons in terms of sustainability; how to avoid green-washing and adhere to FTC guidelines on appropriate marketing language; strategies on how to effectively incorporate sustainable practices and aesthetics into diverse businesses and more.

Want to learn more? Let’s have a conversation!

Nadia-Soucek-Design-Field-Guide-My-Sustainable-Business-Journey

December 10 2020

My Sustainable Business Journey Pt. 1

Nadia Soucek Sustainability

My Sustainable Business Journey

December 10, 2020

Since I started my business in early 2017 I’ve been thinking about how to incorporate my passion for living a sustainable lifestyle into my work. Over the past year, I’ve dug deeper into the role of sustainability and ethics in business and my role as a designer to facilitate best practices.

I have spent a lot of time behind the scenes incorporating more sustainable and ethical choices into my business and while it’s very much a work in progress, I thought I’d *finally* share.

01. Working From Home

Working from home reduces my commute to nothing! Emissions from fuel are typically the biggest source of CO2 for individuals, so not having to use any transportation to get to work is fantastic.

While the majority of my clients are local, I still meet with them remotely. Unless there is a special need for a face-to-face meeting with a client or a printer I can easily accomplish all of my projects online.

02. Shutting Down My Laptop

Instead of leaving my computer in sleep mode, I’m in the habit of shutting it completely down after I’m done working. When your laptop or desktop computer is in sleep mode, it is still drawing power which ends up being wasted. This is a really easy thing to do and adds only 30 seconds to the process but can save a lot of energy in the long run.

03. Unplugging Electronics

Whenever I’m done charging my phone or other electronic gizmos I do my best to unplug it from the wall. Even if you’ve unplugged your device from the charging cable but leave your charging cable plugged into the wall, power is still being drawn down. There are products on the market that will automatically turn off the power to your charging cable once your device is fully charged, but I don’t own one and try not to buy more than I need.

04. Areas of Improvement

There are a few areas in my business where I know I could do better in terms of my environmental impact:

My web host claims they are doing good things for the environment, however since I’ve learned more about green web hosting this year I have not had the time to dedicate to researching their claims. I’ll be sure to do a full post about what I find out and if I decide to switch web hosts.

I’m also very interested in making my business carbon neutral through a third-party but have not found the right fit yet. More to come from this topic too!

Looking at the Bigger Picture

While I am a huge advocate for taking steps to reduce your own carbon footprint, there is only so much one person, design studio, or family can make.

We live in a society that doesn’t offer as many sustainable or ethical options for every product or service you might use in your everyday life. It was a crushing blow to learn that only 10% of all the plastic ever made has actually been recycled. Multinational corporations that promote and produce plastics, and other harmful products, should be held to a higher standard and take responsibility for the environmental damage they and their products have caused. In 2020 the top three corporations responsible for plastic pollution were Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Nestle. Big industry has done a great job at deflecting blame and responsibility to us the consumers, but we should not accept this narrative.

As a designer, I want to change the business industry to accept and embrace sustainable and ethical practices. By helping guide my clients to more sustainable paper stocks, web hosts, or even getting the conversation started is a big win in my book.

How did about you? Are there creative ways you are reducing your carbon emissions? I’d love to hear what steps you’re taking in your own business or personal life to reducing your environmental impact!

Calculating Carbon Emissions

Since I work from home it’s difficult for me to separate reducing my carbon footprint for my business from my personal life. Sustainability is a topic near and dear to my heart and I have been working at making more sustainable lifestyle choices for many years and is an ongoing process. I was curious to calculate the carbon emissions my family creates and used the CoolClimate carbon calculator to get a better idea. See how my business + family did:

If you’re curious to calculate your own carbon emissions check out http://coolclimate.org/calculator.

April 12 2019

5 Essential Tools I Use to Run my Business

Nadia Soucek Business, Tips & Tricks

5 Essential Tools I Use to Run My Business

April 12, 2019

Running a design business can be exhilarating and overwhelming at the same time. It’s freeing not to have a boss to answer to, but it can also stink when I don’t have an accounting department to deal with bookkeeping and invoicing. Luckily there are so many resources and tools available to help streamline running your design business!

I’ve rounded up 5 essential tools for you below, including my favorite project management tool, what I use to record videos for clients, and favorite ways to create to-do lists.

For my business, I know that the more organized I am, the better customer service I can offer my clients. These tools help me set, manage, and exceed client expectations. Which is what we all want, right?

01. Asana – Project Management

Tools I Use To Run A Design Business Asana Dashboard

Depending on the services you offer each day can look very different. For example, on Mondays I set aside time to update my bookkeeping and send out any client invoices but that is generally followed by maintaining client websites or digging into client research.

Since I am constantly switching tasks it is imperative that I keep everything as organized as possible! Organizing is my jam and almost nothing excites me more than an organizing project. Keeping my projects organized helps me stay on task and makes it so much easier to provide a great customer experience for my clients.

I use a project management tool called Asana to keep all of my tasks and projects organized.

I am able to invite my clients to view their project and even assign tasks and due dates to them to help our project stay on track. It helps me communicate each step of any project clearly and is easy for my clients to use.

If you’re looking for something to help organize your ideas, design process, and design business tasks I would highly recommend.

The best part? The free tier is all you need! Woot, woo!

02. 17Hats* – Proposals, Contracts, Invoicing & Lead Management

Tools I Use To Run A Design Business 17hats Dashboard

Sending proposals, contracts, and invoices is something that every design business is constantly doing.

I used to spend forever drafting custom proposals in InDesign, saving PDFs, sending a PDF to a client, and waiting for them to electronically send it back. If they were ready to sign on they would then have to send a check through snail mail. While this worked for my business, it was such a time sink.

I’ve been using 17Hats* to send any proposal, contract, or invoice for two years and I absolutely love it!

I created templates so that I can send a proposal and contract to a prospective client within a few minutes. Clients can sign a proposal or contract and even pay the deposit online. You can also link your business bank account to keep track of your bookkeeping and generate profit/loss reports to hand over to your accountant at tax time.

I’ve also setup canned email responses and connected my contact form on my website so any potential lead emails I can quickly answer, saving me so much time every week.

Clients can view proposals, contracts, and invoices via a client portal which is convenient if they need to reference them for any reason. There are a lot of functions that I don’t yet utilize with 17Hats, such as time tracking, automated workflows, or to-do lists. They do have a vast user training section to their site if you were interested in learning how to use those features.

A powerful and functional design business tool indeed!

*This contains an affiliate link. You’ll receive 50% off any annual subscription if you sign up using this link.

03. ManageWP – Manage Multiple WordPress Websites from One Dashboard

Tools I Use To Run A Design Business ManageWP Dashboard

Managing multiple WordPress websites can be very time consuming, especially if you maintain multiple sites for clients like I do. I used to have to log in to each website individually to update plug-ins and themes, as well as check analytics, security, etc.

Now I use ManageWP to accomplish all of these tasks and more! With a couple of clicks, you can update plug-ins and themes for multiple sites. I can easily generate reports to send clients so they can see exactly what has been updated, backed up, and maintained.

Pricing for ManageWP is stellar! It’s free! They do have premium add-ons that are super affordable and helpful like uptime monitor, SEO ranking, and auto-backup. Some of my clients host their websites through GoDaddy and because of that a few of the premium add-ons are free too.

Handy tool to keep all of your WordPress sites organized and accessible from one dashboard, two thumbs way up!

04. Loom – Screen & Video Recording

Tools I Use To Run A Design Business Loom Dashboard

Recently I started incorporating video presentations into my design process since the majority of my clients do not live in the same city. Loom is super simple to start using and has been a game changer for how I on-board, educate, and present designs to my clients.

When I have a new client I send them a short welcome video that explains how we’ll use Asana, the project management tool mentioned above. Some of my clients are visual and tactile learners so a multi-page PDF was hard for them to follow. By creating a short video that walks them through each feature and aspect of the project and how we’ll work together has improved expectations and communication all around. Win, win!

For presentations, I used to send a PDF to a client and go over the design over the phone, which worked okay but wasn’t ideal. Now I can record a short video that walks the client through each part of the design concept that they can watch and digest on their own time. They can watch it as many times as they like, rather than relying on memory or notes from a meeting.

Loom will alert you when your video has been viewed, which is a feature that I didn’t expect to enjoy as much as I do!

The free tier is all I use and so far it’s been fantastic.

05. Tuexdeux – Designy to-do app

Tools I Use To Run A Design Business TeuxDeux Dashboard

Do you notice a trend here? I love all things organization! I’ve been a huge fan and avid TeuxDeux user for nearly six years, maybe more? It is a paid service, but I pay that fee every year with glee.

This is in no way sponsored, just genuine love for the design, functionality, and team behind this app.

The user interface is based around the weekly calendar, though you can create custom lists that are more like “someday lists”. While I love Asana for more in-depth lists for my design and website projects, TeuxDeux is perfect for keeping my family organized and jotting down project ideas.

I have a weekly and monthly recurring to-dos, as well as packing lists for upcoming trips, book recommendations from friends, movies to watch, projects to put on the back burner, and everything in between.

It helps me organize high-level design business tasks, life tasks, everyday tasks, and dream tasks all in one beautiful space, which I desperately need in this sleep-deprived stage of life.

There are plenty of tools that I use that weren’t mentioned, but these are all heavy hitters in my book.

Are there any tools that you use in your design business that I should know about?

I’m always on the lookout for functional tools to streamline processes so please share if you’ve got a favorite that wasn’t mentioned above!