S1E11: Creating a boutique design firm with Lisa Ghisolf

Laurence:
Hey guys, what's up? It's Laurence Bradford. Thanks so much for tuning in to the Learn to Code With Me podcast. In today's episode, I'm talking with Lisa Ghisolf. Lisa is based in Chicago and she's the founder of Gizmo Creative Factory. She's been running Gizmo for over 10 years. Before starting her own firm, however, she was working for other agencies. But, entrepreneurship was in her blood. So, back in 2003, she decided to go off on her own. Today Gizmo is a small graphic design studio that focuses mostly on WordPress websites and graphic design.

The thing that I love about Lisa is that she's a one woman show. And she has a life entirely outside of Gizmo. Lisa has a bunch of side projects, she's very involved in the Chicago networking scene, and she speaks at conferences. If you want to run your own design or dev studio, or simply be self-employed, this episode is for you. Remember, you can get the Show Notes for this episdoe plus a full transcript at learntocodewith.me/11. Enjoy the show!

Hey guys, I'm here today with Lisa Ghisolf. Lisa, thank you so much for sitting down and talking with me.

Lisa:
Yeah, it's great to be here.

Laurence:
I would love if you could just get things started by introducing yourself and who you are and what you do.

Lisa:
Sure. I'm a lot of things actually. I'm a designer and developer but also a writer, more recently I've been delving more into that. I've been working on my own for the last 13 years and probably about 17 overall, for a variety of agencies, small businesses, non-profits, that kind of thing, doing print and digital WordPress design, development, fixing, kind of the whole thing, all together.

Laurence:
Yeah, very cool. So, you've been running your own business, Gizmo Creative Factory, for about 13 years?

Lisa:
Yes, since 2003.

Laurence:
2003, wow, cool. So how did you kind of get started with that? What made you decide to start your own business?

Lisa:
I was working for a really small agency and some of it is just kind of seeing how much the company is really making off of you and the amount of time you're putting into it vs. how much you're getting back from it. I think it was just a really easy decision at the end of the day. And also, my father is an entrepreneur, so is my grandfather, so it kind of felt like the natural progression, really, just to start my own thing and work on my own.

Laurence:
Yeah, that definitely, I think the family influence can be big. When you just mentioned that I was thinking about how my grandfather actually started his own business now, it's kind of like still in my family and whatnot. Yeah, I never even put that together. That's really cool. You were doing design stuff initially and then kind of moved into web, is that correct?

Lisa:
It's kind of funny because I was actually still in college and it was in '96 I got an internship at the American Marketing Association and it was doing web work. Really, back then, the web wasn't much of anything. It was very young and it was really straight HTML, not even CSS or anything else beyond that. I really just learned the ropes there, learned HTML straight out of a book and was kind of thrown in feet first. That was really where I got my start and from there I just kept learning. Eventually, back around 2008, was when I picked up WordPress and started getting more into PHP and that, but I feel like they've kind of gone hand in hand, the design and the development, just at the same time, really.

Laurence:
Alright. Thank you for clarifying that. I wasn't sure if you maybe did one initially, the design first and then moved more into development. That's really neat that you had that experience in college, like an internship where you got to kind of get your hands dirty and learn on the job, but also as you said, from a book as well.

Lisa:
Oh yeah.

Laurence:
So then in 2008 you began learning WordPress.

Lisa:
Yes.

Laurence:
When you began learning WordPress, did you start doing websites right away for clients?

Lisa:
Yeah, I was doing kind of very small websites, pretty non-complex and not too custom. I did start doing website templates that I had another developer build in WordPress and they were super simple. They had none of the responsiveness and WordPress was such a different animal back then. It was much simpler so I actually had a couple templates built out that I was selling to clients and that was kind of my jump into it. Then I went more custom design just because it was my natural inclination not to want to just use templates off the bat.

It was kind of like a slow, trying to figure out where I wanted to end up with WordPress and really figuring out what I could do with it because it was still kind of an unknown at that point.

Laurence:
Yeah. I should probably know this but when did WordPress first kind of come into existence?

Lisa:
I feel like, I think it was like about 11 years ago, I think it was? Something like that. So not terribly long ago. Maybe it was a few years old when I got into it.

Laurence:
Yeah, but I can only imagine how much has changed since then.

Lisa:
Oh yeah.

Laurence:
I just think about, sometimes on YouTube I'll watch some tutorials and they'll be five years old or six years old, who knows, and I'll see the WordPress dashboard and just how much it looks so different now.

Lisa:
Oh yeah.

Laurence:
One thing that I found really interesting when I was perusing your site, again it's Gizmo Creative Factory, for the listeners, is that you do in person WordPress training. Can you kind of share a little bit about that?

Lisa:
I actually also do it via shared screen with those clients who are just too far away or they want to record it or something, but in general, it works pretty much the same. We kind of do an overall intro to WordPress, how everything works, what the taxonomies are, just because they're so different than what anybody is really used to. And then getting more specific into that person's or that company's particular website. So if they have galleries or membership or something like that, exactly how it works and how they can use it themselves.

A lot of the folks, at the end of the day, usually someone comes in that's like a marketing person and just needs to be able to update the site and keep it going without constant intervention from someone like me which is basically what the whole content management system thing is about. Putting that power back into the actual owner of the website instead of constantly calling a developer.

Laurence:
Yeah, no definitely. I feel like WordPress is something that's so good to know. You don't have to be a developer for it to come in handy. You can be a marketer or a writer or what have you. I'm curious, the businesses that you're training how to use WordPress, are those clients of yours that you also build their website for generally?

Lisa:
Sometimes they are. It's one of those things that I feel I should be making mandatory for clients just so that they're forced to do it. Honestly, I would say probably half of them are people who just have a website that their developer just isn't able or isn't around to do the training and so they need someone to come in and teach them exactly what the heck is going on.

Laurence:
Yeah, so I was also going to then ask, as far as your overall business, and I know you have a lot of side projects as well which I would love to get into in a bit, like how much time is spent doing the training, the WordPress training, vs. designing sites or developing sites?

Lisa:
It's usually much less to do the training. I actually ask for their login credentials so that I can get in there and take a look at it, which maybe takes me a half an hour, if that. Just to kind of take a look around and see what needs to be done with their site or what's going on with it.

As far as design and development, I feel like that takes up a majority of my time. Also, training is at tops, two hours. I just cap it at that time because sometimes things can go on for ages and you never know. I spend a lot of time fixing websites and creating them and kind of the back and forth of the project itself, whatever it is, if it's a redesign or it's adding something to the site, whatever it may be.

Laurence:
Yeah, that's interesting. How long have you been offering the, I'm still stuck on it, how long have you been offering it for? A couple years or something?

Lisa:
Yeah, it's been a couple years. I think it was, I had a client craft a...through another agency who, they had a constant wave when they were actually splitting, of people coming in who were needing to do stuff within the site but then they would move out and then the next wave of people would come in to do their part and everything.

We actually did it virtually even though they're local and they recorded it so that people could consistently just go in and find out exactly what they had to do, how to do it and keep going. From there it was kind of a no brainer to me that client's needed a little something more, especially more formalized, just to say, "This is how you do it," rather than, "If you have questions, ask." I'm in this day in and day out but 99% of my clients are not, so it's not something that I really expect them to know on a regular basis or remember, I should say.

Laurence:
Yeah. Okay, that was my last question about the WordPress training. I just think it's really interesting because I don't see that many agencies or firms offering that, at least the sites that I've been on. I think it's a really great idea. That's also why I was so curious about it. It's something I've thought about before I've never done. I feel like it would be such a good idea for someone to offer that because, exactly as you said, a lot of people, clients don't really know all the ins and outs of WordPress.

Lisa:
Yeah. Honestly, I also did it as kind of a small, in person class. Sometimes I'd have 20 people in a class doing the two hour WordPress in a nutshell seminars. Those just kind of got unwieldy at a certain point just because there's so many people and so many levels of knowledge that you can't really satisfy everyone. It definitely is something that a lot of people overlook and it definitely is kind of an ongoing maintenance. Keeping that connection alive with the client, I keep telling clients this, even though a lot of them don't really believe it, websites are like living, breathing things that need to be constantly kept up or else Google kind of tends to forget you. It's not just a one and done kind of thing, like print work.

Laurence:
Yeah, or of course, WordPress updates and then sometimes things don't work the same or they look different or you have to make changes based on the updates. I'm going to transition now a bit because another thing that I noticed while I was looking at you online and the different things that you do is that you have a bunch of other side projects. Could you share a bit about those?

Lisa:
Sure. They've evolved over the years. The first one was networkinchicago.com which essentially is just kind of a feed of networking events around Chicagoland and was more or less just kind of borne out of people constantly asking me, I used to network a ton and people would constantly ask me the best networking events and this was just an easier way of pointing them to my website instead of telling them where to go.

From there, actually, some of my clients are bloggers, a good number of them are, of all stripes like mommy bloggers and travel bloggers and lifestyle bloggers and fashion bloggers. One thing I've noticed over the years as I've been working for them, I have a journalism degree as well as an art degree that I wasn't really utilizing. My journalism degree. I felt like there was something that I wanted to say, which led me to create Thriftista, which no one can ever spell, back in 2009. I have a friend who wrote for it for one time as well. It's basically like a Chicago lifestyle blog and it's just something that I kind of kept up over the years but it kind of lost some of its excitement for me.

That's what led me to worktraveltech.com which is more or less just about digital nomading because I'm so fascinated with the idea of it, but also technology, travel, that kind of thing. So it's kind of my slow introduction into all of that. They’re more or less just passion projects of, these are the things I want to talk about, so hopefully there's other people who want to hear about them. I think the funny thing, more than anything, I don't always get to spend as much time as I'd like to on them, but the people that I've met because of them just have been really fabulous.

It's also opened me up professionally because I've been speaking at blogging conferences and other things, basically the same things I've been talking about with clients, which is how to run your website, how to run it well, how to avoid getting hacked, different stuff like that. It's interesting. It's kind of come full circle and I don't feel like I'm anywhere near done with any of them but they're just interesting things to keep me going. Keep me from just endlessly doing client work only.

Laurence:
Yeah, so just to kind of recap, you have three: Network in Chicago, Thriftista, WorkTravelTech?

Lisa:
Yes.

Laurence:
Okay, cool. I think it's really awesome that you have those and I loved what you said about, I'd love if you could even speak a little more to that, about the people you met through the different projects and just kind of like how it opened up new opportunities for you in a professional context.

Lisa:
Yeah, I'm definitely used to the traditional way of networking and going to events and handing out cards and all that kind of thing. I think this was more just meeting people who were in these same, who basically have the same interests as I do, like travel, like going around Chicago and finding the unique and interesting things to do. Just finding friends that way, but also clients. It's interesting when you get into another area like that, like travel blogging or something. WordPress is still incredibly relevant because people still have to keep their websites running, even though they're abroad wherever they may be, for months on end, doesn't mean that other things just stop. It all kind of came together and I just made the effort to speak.

I think that's one of the things I'd like to mention is a conference I went to last year, writespeakcode.com, I think they're coming up again in June in Chicago, it’s really about tech women. It's about writing more about technology or the things that we're doing. Speaking about these things at conferences, because in the tech world especially women are not very well represented and coding and actually getting your code out there on GitHub or wherever it may be and sharing what you've learned.

That's one of the things that I've, over the years, it's easy to kind of fall into a one-person silo of working by yourself. The WordPress community and working with all these other folks, sharing my knowledge, learning from them, that kind of thing, it really does open up your world into so many other people who are doing similar things and great things and, it just grows it, honestly.

Laurence:
Yeah, and I've definitely been to the Write/Speak/Code website, several times I ended up there for one reason or another so I know what you're talking about. It's a conference, is it in Chicago?

Lisa:
This year it is. Last year it was New York and I think it happened the year before, I can't remember.

Laurence:
Okay, got it. I've definitely been to the website at least, the Write/Speak/Code website and I think what you said is so true about going to these different kinds of conferences, whether they're directly in your industry or maybe not even, just an interest of yours. Kind of meeting people that way and just getting out there and connecting with others. It's something great for yourself but also for your business, especially if you're like a freelancer or small business owner.

Lisa:
Yeah, definitely.

Laurence:
I always tell people all the time, I encourage them to start blogs or start passion projects because a lot of these new coders want to build things to show their new skills, like build some kind of website and many aren't sure then what to build. I always say, "Well, build something that you care about because if you care about the site you're going to keep it up rather than building some random quote generator where you maybe don't really care about the quotes. Or a to-do list app or some of those common projects. If you actually build a site like how you built the WorkTravelTech one, that's something that you're interested in and you keep up with it. Out of those three sites, is that the one that you spend the most time on now, out of the side projects?

Lisa:
Yeah, Network in Chicago really runs itself and Thriftista, I randomly blog. I will admit that I've been pretty bad, I think my last post on WorkTravelTech was back in January, so you'll see something new soon. It's just work, gets in the way of course. That's my latest and most interesting thing to me, especially as I'm trying to do more travel. Speaking of conferences, wherever they may be, it just gives me a lot more opportunity to explore.

Laurence:
Yeah, so do you speak at conferences quite often?

Lisa:
It's something I've been growing. I did, I'm trying to remember how many I did last year. I feel like it was maybe three or so, I wasn't really pushing for it. This year I have about five already booked and I'm just kind of seeing where the rest of the year takes me because some are just rolling, they don't really tell you when things are going to happen until they're ready to do it. It's something that I'm trying to grow that side of. It's not necessarily always to get clients, but it's always, to me, good just to get out. Especially on the side of Word Camps, WordPress camps, just meeting developers and other people who are doing exactly what I'm doing. It's a great network expander and place where you can trade war stories with other developers and designers.

Laurence:
Yeah. That's something I think I mentioned before, but I've done a bunch of interviews already for this show, for the first season that is, and I don't think anyone's mentioned yet speaking at conferences or speaking at events or meetups, so I'm really glad you brought that up. I'll be quite honest, speaking publically, especially on the computer for a webinar, in front of an audience that way doesn't really make me nervous. Speaking in front of people live definitely does.

Lisa:
Oh yeah.

Laurence:
Do you have any tips, I know we're getting a little off track here but I think this is really important. Do you have any tips for people like me who get afraid to speak in public?

Lisa:
It's kind of funny because I don't really get the nerves about it until maybe a couple hours before it actually happens. So much of that is trying to figure out my message, that I'm not just leaving people wondering what the heck I'm talking about. I feel like so much of it is just practice and talking about what you know.

I think that with something that Write/Speak/Code really instilled in me is that there's always someone who knows less than you that wants to know what you know so don't feel like you have nothing to say or that you can't bring something to the table. It's something you can speak authoritatively about. There's always somebody who wants to learn. I don't know. When I'm actually up there it's one of those, I just do it. I try not to think about it. I try to focus on a couple people who hopefully are not frowning at me and wondering what the heck I'm talking about. I just try to get across what I'm trying to say as clearly as possible, hopefully.

Laurence:
Yeah, that's something I need to do. Maybe in 2017 that will be my goal to speak at a few different events. I feel like I have to start small though because I think if I were just to try to do, in front of a huge audience, that could be too much. Or maybe it's kind of like going swimming. Just jump right in, don't put the toe first. Just dive right in and put your head under water.

Lisa:
Yeah, sometimes it really is. I think that the biggest thing is just having the right message. I know early on I didn't really ask who the audience was and sometimes with tech, or I should say always with tech, your audience can be kind of across the board from newbies on to people who are doing stuff that's 10x more complicated than what you're doing but still want to hear you speak about it. I just kind of feel like getting what you want to say clear and really sharing what you can. I don't know how else to put it. Just knowing who your audience is. That will make it much more successful in the long run. Just because, I know I've spoken to some large conferences but it wasn't really clear who was in the audience so some people were loving it and some people were completely lost. I think that's one thing that I've always tried to get clear.

Laurence:
Definitely. I think that for speaking or for writing online or anything where you're kind of putting out information, knowing the main audience and what their needs are, what the problems they're facing are and how you can best address that is definitely a great way to prepare and know you're on the right track. That is very good advice. I think I just need to make it a goal and just dive right into that. That's a whole other thing. Thank you for sharing. I think that, especially for listeners that do like public speaking. I know some people naturally enjoy it. They like being in front of crowds and sharing information. I think it's a great way to position yourself as an expert. And of course, get some more exposure, and hopefully some new clients or some new business leads or some other opportunities and overall it's just a great way to market yourself, really. Just speak at events.

Thank you for sharing that. We're kind of heading towards the end here but I just want to ask a few final questions. What has been the biggest lesson that you learned since starting your own business?

Lisa:
I think just trusting your gut, especially if you're not sure if someone you're going to work with is going to work out well, like if they get what you're doing or if they just want it to be quick and fast. Not only that, if you're going to be underselling yourself, it likely isn't going to work out well, ever. Making sure you know what your limits are and just not underselling yourself is really important.

Laurence:
Awesome. Where do you see yourself/your business going in the next few years?

Lisa:
That's an excellent question. I'm more of a seat of my pants kind of person. For me, it's just continuing to do the stuff I love doing. Working with the clients that I really like. Working on the projects that really interest me. Continuing speaking. That's a big thing and it's been a goal and it's a really fulfilling one.

Laurence:
I can only imagine the adrenaline rush of being on a stage in front of people. That's definitely awesome. Here is the final question. If a listener out there, they want to start their own design/dev firm, what is one thing they can do today to take a step in the right direction?

Lisa:
It's kind of the same thing I tell a lot of my clients too, if you're hiring tech help or design help or whatever it may be, to learn as much as you can. I really don't expect people to know enough to do my job, but learn as much as you can so you know what you're talking about when you're hiring these people so that they're not one, taking you for a ride or that you know exactly what you're buying. Because if you're not actually doing the work yourself, sometimes people just kind of become glorified sales people and they don't really pick up everything that they can. At the end of the day, if you are doing the work yourself then it's definitely, keep learning. Especially in tech, it never stops.

Laurence:
Yeah, definitely, that's great advice. Thank you for sharing. Finally, where can people find you online?

Lisa:
My Twitter, which I'm often on, is @Gizmodesign, all one word. Also, as you said, gizmocreativefactory.com. It's also gizmo-design.com and I'm also on Instagram as WorkTravelTech. I'm kind of all over the place. You can find me, generally, somewhere. And also my other sites, Thriftista and WorkTravelTech, definitely.

Laurence:
Okay, great. Thank you so much again, Lisa, for talking with me.

Lisa:
Thank you.

Laurence:
I hope you enjoyed the episode with Lisa. Now I know I have to start speaking at events and conferences too. Remember, you can get the Show Notes for this episode, plus a full transcript at learntocodewith.me/11.

Now, I would love to tell you about something special on the Learn to Code With Me site. My free portfolio course. If you're an aspiring web developer or designer, you need a personal website. But, I know how hard it can be to get started, which is why I created the free portfolio course. You can sign up for it at learntocodewith.me/freecourse. Inside this free course, I'll show you what makes a great portfolio site, what you should include on your site, even if you have no real work experience, examples of what not to do, and much more. Again, you can sign up for this free course at learntocodewith.me/freecourse.

Thanks so much for tuning into the show today. If you enjoyed it, I would love if you could hit the subscribe button on whichever podcast player you're listening on. I'll see you next week!