Hilary Booked Out 2-3 Months Because She Stopped Designing Her Own Website

Okay, so I MUST talk about this branding and website design project, because Hilary is one of my favorite humans. AND I got to work with her on this project, which genuinely made me SOOO happy. But before I ramble about the project, let me set the scene.

Backstory: Hilary who is a copywriter, had been “online” for about a year, quietly losing leads to the fact that she didn’t have a real website. Only true stories here. Soooo what did she do? She tried to DIY it. As one would, as we all resort to when we are starting out.

Reader….she DIY’d HARD. Over 100’s of hours, Fonts (her words: “why are fonts SO HARD?!?!”), color palettes that went from red-and-pink to brown-and-yellow to neon in the span of a few months, like she was going through a full brand identity crisis in real time. Which, honestly? Relatable.

Here’s the thing nobody tells you about a DIY website… it doesn’t just sit there, not looking right, after hours of your time. It actively drains you. Hilary put it perfectly:

“It was sucking the joy out of the writing process for me. It was taking away my energy for all of the other components of growing my business.”

That’s the tax nobody budgets for. And it’s exactly why so many service-based entrepreneurs end up choosing to hire a brand and website designer (HIII) instead of losing another year to trial and error. A custom website that actually converts leads is almost always faster (and cheaper, energy-wise) than the DIY route.

What she actually wanted from me

Not more decisions. Hilary had made enough decisions. She wanted someone to just TAKE OVER. Sound familiar?

Someone to see her, capture her, and hand her back a website without making her sit through 47 rounds of “which shade of beige speaks to you.” Because just no.

“I wanted Michaela to take the reins as the expert and do her thing. I didn’t want the responsibility.”

Say less. This is my love language.

We eased in with a landing page first

Instead of throwing her into a full site build with a ticking clock waiting for launch day, I built her a one-page landing page. It acts as a 1 page website that teases what’s to come while we build out the rest. Because a freaking coming soon page with an email capture that DOES NOTHINGGG FOR YOU!

I am very anti old coming soon pages…clearly.

And guess what.

That “temporary” page ended up pulling in more leads than her old DIY sites ever did…. people were shocked to find out it wasn’t even the real site yet. *Ayee, I know that’s right*

“That landing page totally removed any pressure AND worked to bring in hot leads, more than my DIY sites EVER did.”

The design process was almost suspiciously easy

Her feedback throughout was basically “ooh add a frame here” and “let’s swap this photo.” That’s it. Because I wasn’t guessing I knew exactly what she needed. I was translating a whole, layered, funny, slightly unhinged-in-the-best-way person into something that truly felt like her.

“Michaela took all the pieces and somehow made them a work of art that read Hilary.”

Goose icons and all. Playful without losing an ounce of credibility. Exactly the vibe.

And then the results started rolling in… fast

Two weeks post-launch:

• Weekly inquiries that name her services specifically
• Booked 2-3 months out, consistently
• Clients telling her they binged her ENTIRE site before booking
• Instagram content that finally feels effortless because it’s all finally cohesive
• More time and energy for actual client work instead of self-website-spiraling

Immediate results. Not “give it six months and see.” Immediate. BUT not without the help of her now marketing her business at the level that it was ready to be seen at. Now she had no reason not to share the shit out of her business!

Her one-sentence review of the whole experience:

“It will open up things within yourself, your business, and your future potential that you had no idea you were capable of.”

I’m framing that, honestly.

*adds that to my to-do list*

Ready to stalk her website and brand IRL?! Head to her website HERE

Okay, but real talk…. Is this you?

If you’re currently DIY-ing your own brand at 11 pm, cursing at fonts, changing your color palette for the fourth time this year, and low-key wincing every time you have to send someone your website link… hi. I see you. I was Hilary’s someone. I could be yours too.

I take the whole thing off your plate. The strategy, design, the words to describe you all of it- and hand you back a brand that actually sounds and looks like you. No 47 rounds of revisions. No guessing games.

The Perfect Pair bundles your full brand + website design with copy that doesn’t read like it was written by committee (shoutout to my copywriter Hilary, yes, the lady this was designed for is my kickass partner in this package!

One-and-Dunn is my full signature experience, start to finish, of branding and website design.