Episode 185 : How to Grow your Design Business and Serve Clients Well with Michelle Pontvert

Your design business can be as successful as you want to make it, but what impact could passion have on your business? When you’re passionate about the brands you work on, know how to make a difference and solve their client problems, you’ll be able to grow your business and serve your audience well. Michelle Pontvert joins us to share all about how she has found success in working with brands she loves and creating functional, problem-solving websites. Meet Michelle: Michelle Pontvert is a brand and web designer working with businesses who support mothers and babies, and are ready to make a bigger impact on the families who truly need their support.  Making vital resources for new mothers and families easily findable and accessible on the internet is Michelle’s core mission, along with supporting other female-run businesses to create the success and balance they deserve. Michelle has a design background in set decoration for film as well as experience working with small businesses on their marketing teams. This background gives her a unique perspective to her branding and web design work, which is based on a strong foundation of strategy and empathy to ensure that her design solutions work for her clients as well as looking polished and professional. Becoming a mother redefined her life, and Michelle is now dedicated to supporting the types of businesses who have been so valuable to her as a mother. If you help mothers and babies, then she’s here to help you find more clients and grow your business through your branding and website. Michelle is Australian originally, studied in the US, and now lives in Paris, France. Being an expat has been a formative experience for Michelle and has informed her inclusive and empathy-first approach to her business. Finding a Niche You’re Passionate About In the design world, we hear all the time about the importance of finding a niche and narrowing down the audience that you will serve. Michelle shares so thoughtfully about how she has always been passionate about working with mothers and attracted to brands who supported them, and this passion came from an early age. While you may not have always been passionate about the niche you land on, finding one you’re passionate about now can make a big impact on how you serve your audience, brand yourself, and market your business. What’s even more powerful is the excitement you have when working on a brand that you enjoy or are passionate about. For example, Michelle has a special place in her heart for brands that offer Baby Sleep Trainers, because she herself struggled with sleep training her son until a sleep trainer came into the picture. No matter who you’re working with, it’s important that you not only enjoy it, but that you also can help them make an impact. Making an Impact Through Branding & Web Design We’re expected to be online constantly in our lives, it’s important to look at your website as a storefront for your brand. Your website can do a lot of the hard work when it comes to converting leads into paying clients—that’s where a good designer comes into play. When you focus in on using your zone of genius and where you excel, you’ll be able to show up and serve the businesses that you’re interested in by doing incredible work and making such a difference in their brand and in the lives of the clients that they get to work with. Investing in Educational Offerings