How Ana Put Family First with Scale with Templates
A conversation with past students crafted by copywriter Nailah King of The Content Witches.
Welcome to Student Stories
Explore the journeys of past students and discover how Scale with Templates has helped web designers build their own successful Squarespace template shop. Learn about the challenges they faced, their triumphs, and their exciting plans for the future. These stories will take you behind the scenes of what it's like to be part of Scale with Templates and give valuable insights to anyone forging a new path on their design journey.
“I would definitely say to take Kate’s course because I do think she really does give a solid foundation not just for marketing the templates but also hooking everything up in terms of the backend tech and setting everything up.”
Meet Ana Lea
Ana Lea (Ana) is a Squarespace Designer, Content Strategist, and Founder of Ley Design Studio. Initially working with WordPress, Ana's shift to a then new and innovative platform, Squarespace, would transform her business. In Squarespace, Ana saw an opportunity to continue to make the content easier to update and maintain websites for her clients.
A platform of possibility
After many years of working exclusively with WordPress, Ana's clients had one recurring piece of feedback about this platform: that it could be overwhelming and confusing. Ana also grew frustrated with the platform:
“It seemed like every time I log into it, there was an update that I had to do. And if you don’t update WordPress, there’s a risk that your website might end up getting hacked, and there’s just a lot of security risks with it.”
Squarespace seemed interesting, but would it be a truly simpler alternative?
“I realized that the platform itself is more manageable than WordPress. And I was like, okay, I’m moving. I don’t need this complication. I’m just gonna move everything to Squarespace. And I moved to Squarespace in 2016, and I haven’t looked back.”
Centering and supporting family
As Ana's business continued evolving, she noticed that more and more people were looking for a DIY option for their websites.
But consumer trends weren't the only thing changing in Ana's life.
After Ana learned that her son has autism, she wanted to continue running her business while providing even more support for him and her family without being bogged down by one-on-one client work.
In 2018, Ana launched her template shop, but it was a slow start.
Ana was already successfully managing the tech and delivery of the templates.
Her challenge?
The marketing.
Ana knew that to eventually transition fully from client work, she needed to strengthen her marketing efforts for her template shop, so she signed up for Scale with Templates:
“I was mainly interested in the marketing aspect because I knew how to get clients by networking and whatnot, but selling a digital product is different than getting clients. How do I tweak my strategy so that it’s more geared towards digital product sales rather than me networking in person to actually get clients?”
Substance over surface
But, of course, not all courses are created equal.
According to the 2023 Online Business Investment Survey from BS-Free Business, poor quality within courses and programs is a recurring critique when it comes to participants' worst investments.
For Ana, what sets Scale with Templates apart from others is its straightforward approach. She got what she needed and more without fluff or filler.
“She really gets straight to the point, and there’s no fluff. I absolutely cannot stand fluff. I like when somebody gets straight to the point and gives me what I need and then moves on to the next thing that I might need. So I love that. That it’s like no-fluff approach. No unnecessary things that I might not even need.”
Through Scale with Templates, Ana expanded her marketing efforts, including adding affiliate marketing and leveraging social media marketing, to gain more consistent sales. Ana also extended her post-purchase sequence to strengthen the client experience and give her customers even more support after they purchased their template.
Ana isn't stopping there and has even more exciting plans, including strengthening her funnel and marketing for her template shop. Plus, she's planning on creating one-page website versions of her existing templates.
While Ana is still in the process of moving completely away from 1:1 client work, taking the course has allowed her to spend even more time on the things that truly matter to her: her family and enjoying her hobbies.
Thank you, Ana, for sharing your story with us! We can't wait to watch your shop continue to grow.
Ready to build your own successful Squarespace template shop?
