$150/Hour as a Web Designer & 5-Hour Workweeks – Helen's Story
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Picture this: you’re landing $10K projects, earning thousands from affiliate links (with zero ongoing effort), and effortlessly landing new client projects all while enjoying your best life on a Caribbean tropical island.
Sounds like a dream, right?
Well, past Square Secrets Business™ student Helen is living proof that it’s entirely possible.
Helen, the creative mind behind Rising Tide Creatives, is giving us an all-access pass to her web design business that she’s operating from the stunning french island Martinique.
Now Helen and I chatted about all things travel + web design a few years back (you can catch up on that interview here!)
Since then, her business has blossomed in all the best ways, so I thought it was time for a much-anticipated round two!
From genius ways to incentivize referrals to lessons learned about efficiency, business regrets, and what she’d do differently today—this interview is packed with insights for web designers ready to grow with intention and strategy.
Now, for transparency: Helen was a paying student in my course, and later on, she joined my team—so yes, she’s someone I’ve worked closely with.
But this is all about her journey and what she’s achieved. So, grab your tea (or wine), and lets dive into it!
From Scuba Diving to Web Design
Helen, before becoming a web designer, what were you doing?
Answer: Before I became a web designer, I had quite the adventure! Immediately beforehand, I was running a dive and yoga center on a tiny island in Indonesia with my boyfriend (now husband).
Before that, I had a completely different career as a charity director.
So, you could say my journey has been a mix of scuba tanks and spreadsheets!
Did you have any experience in website design before?
Answer: None whatsoever! My only design experience was dabbling in Canva to redesign some dive menus and yoga schedules when I was running the dive shop. It was a leap of faith, really.
When COVID hit, everything changed.
I lost my job, my home, and suddenly found myself in a country where I didn’t speak the language. It was a challenging time, and I had to figure out what to do next.
Web design wasn’t something I planned for—it was more like something I stumbled upon out of necessity. But it felt like the easiest door to push open at that moment.
Peek Helen’s gorgeous site here! 👇
How did you land your first web design client?
Answer: My very first client was actually the wife of one of my husband’s best friends. She didn’t know how much to pay me, so she asked me to set my rate, and I told her to just pay me what she thought it was worth at the end. It was surreal at the time because I wasn’t even sure I could make this a “real” thing yet.
After that, I started teaching yoga online as a way to keep myself busy during the pandemic. That’s when I created a website for my yoga classes, and a few friends saw it. They asked me to create websites for them, and it sort of snowballed from there.
Finding Joy in Design and Strategy
What’s your favorite part of web design?
Answer: In the beginning, my favorite part was figuring out how to make things look beautiful and learning new skills along the way. I remember learning CSS early on, and when I finally got it to work, I felt like a magician! I was so excited about creating little interactive features like hover effects—it was like unlocking a secret world.
Now, my love for web design has evolved. While I still enjoy making things look beautiful, I’ve grown to love the strategic side of it even more. Combining aesthetics with functionality is incredibly rewarding, and it allows me to bring both my creative and analytical sides into play. It’s the perfect balance for me.
From $500 Projects to $10K Clients
Is the process of finding high paying projects different from finding smaller projects?
Answer: Honestly, it isn’t that different. A lot of my work now comes from partnerships or referrals. When I say partnerships, I mean people I’ve worked with in the past who continue to send clients my way because they enjoyed working with me.
One thing I do that’s been very effective is incentivizing referrals. For example, I’ll offer past clients a bonus or a thank-you gift if someone they refer ends up hiring me. I’m pretty generous about it, especially with clients I loved working with—those who had similar budgets to the ones I want to work with now.
That said, the difference between finding a $10K client and my first smaller clients is definitely in how I position myself now.
Back then, my first clients were personal friends or people who were starting small side hustles with limited budgets. They weren’t serious, established businesses yet.
These days, I’m much more strategic about making it clear to my ideal clients that I want to work with people like them.
I also encourage clients to share my work if they enjoyed the experience, and I make it a point to express my gratitude—sometimes even with a dinner or a thoughtful gift.
How does a $10K project compare to smaller projects in terms of workload? Is it worth it?
Answer: Absolutely. In fact, a $10K project often requires less time than some of the smaller projects
I worked on earlier in my career. For example, one of my first projects was for €500, and it was for an artist with over 120 pieces of artwork. Each piece had to be set up as a blog post with tags for the size, medium, and year. It was hours and hours of admin work.
In contrast, the $10K project I recently completed included brand strategy, design, and web design. We turned everything around in about three weeks, and I wasn’t even working full-time hours on it. I’d say I worked about 20–25 hours a week on that project, which is significantly less than the time I spent on those €500 projects early on.
The key difference isn’t the time spent but the value provided. For the $10K project, I focused on creating a brand and web presence that could help the client land their own high-ticket clients and significantly increase their revenue.
It was about helping them meet their goals, which made the project much more valuable than just completing admin tasks or designing something visually appealing.
What helped you transition from smaller projects to offering such high-value services?
Answer: It’s really a combination of time, experience, and education. Each project I’ve taken on has been 50% about doing the work for the client and 50% about learning. You gain so much insight from immersing yourself in the world of your clients’ businesses.
Most of my clients are service-based or run online businesses, so I’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t. This allows me to offer more value without it necessarily taking more time.
I’ve also become better at asking the right questions and having coaching-style conversations with my clients, which adds a lot of value to the process.
In the beginning, I wanted a clear answer—like,
“What’s the one thing I need to do to succeed?”
But the reality is, the most important thing is to stay open to learning. Ask lots of questions, engage with other web designers, and be a sponge for knowledge.
While investing in education is important, so much of the growth comes organically from simply doing the work and learning as you go.
Navigating Expectations and Profits in Web Design
Is there a difference in client expectations between a $10K project and smaller ones, like $3K or $5K projects?
Answer: Surprisingly, I’ve found that clients who pay more are generally lower maintenance.
In the beginning, I used to project my own financial mindset onto my clients. For instance, when I was just starting out, €500 felt like a huge investment, so I assumed my clients would feel the same. That made me overthink their expectations.
But the truth is, what’s significant to one person might be insignificant to another—some people might not even notice €500 missing from their account.
Stepping into the mindset of your client is critical. Over time, I’ve learned to stop placing my own financial lens on my clients and focus on delivering the value they’re looking for. At the end of the day, it’s a business-to-business transaction. It’s not personal—it’s a business investment for them, and I’m providing a professional service in return.
This mindset shift helped me let go of the fear of “needing to overdeliver” just because the price tag was higher. I simply focus on delivering what I promised, and that’s mutually beneficial for both of us.
How do you focus on profit and evaluate the time you invest in projects?
Answer: I’m all about tracking profitability—not just revenue.
Recently, I crunched the numbers in my business to figure out how much time I spend on different revenue streams and which parts of my business are most profitable.
This year, I made around $35,000 from client work while only working 4–5 hours a week on average.
When I broke it down, I realized I was earning roughly $150 an hour from client work, which includes everything—design time, review calls, setup calls, emails, and admin.
Interestingly, my VIP days are even more profitable than custom projects.
For example:
I charge around $6,000 (€6,000) for a VIP day, which typically involves 7–8 hours of work.
In comparison, while my recent $10K project was great, it wasn’t as profitable as my VIP days.
This reflection has been so important for me because it’s not just about how much money a project brings in—it’s about how much time it takes and what I’m left with at the end of the day.
Taking the time to look back and evaluate profitability is crucial. Revenue is one thing, but profitability is what truly matters.
What are your other revenue streams beyond client work?
Answer: One of my main marketing strategies is blogging, and that has opened up additional revenue streams for me.
I’ve earned a few thousand dollars from affiliate links on my blog, which feels like “money on the side.” It’s such a nice supplement to my client work, and because it’s largely passive income, it doesn’t require much ongoing effort.
Expanding Revenue Streams with Blogging
How did you start building blogging as a revenue stream?
Answer: Blogging was a strategy I connected with when I took Square Secrets Business™. It just clicked for me. When I started my business, my blogs weren’t amazing, but I approached them as helpful resources for my clients.
For example:
If a client needed guidance on something, I could point them to a blog post, which made the process feel less daunting.
Over time, I learned more about content marketing, especially through Audience Academy, which helped me refine my approach.
Now, my site gets about 2,000 visitors a month, and my email list has grown to over 1,000 subscribers. It’s still small, but it’s growing steadily.
One of my top-performing posts is about Squarespace plugins. In it, I share free plugin options and also link to paid plugins or tools, like a Chrome extension for SEO. Many of these links are affiliate links, which generate a few hundred dollars a month without any extra effort.
It’s not a huge amount, but it’s significant because it covers my business expenses like website and email subscriptions.
Leveraging Squarespace Circle for Extra Income
What is Squarespace Circle, and how do you earn from it?
Answer: Squarespace Circle is a program for designers who’ve worked on at least three Squarespace sites. It’s simple to qualify, and it comes with perks like learning resources and a supportive community.
A few years ago, Squarespace introduced a referral payment for Circle members. Essentially, if I start a Squarespace site for a client and they subscribe, I get a kickback. This includes subscriptions for websites, e-commerce, scheduling, email marketing, and more.
For example:
With a business plan subscription, I can earn $100, and it increases with higher-tier plans. If a client adds other features, the referral earnings can climb to $200–$300 per project.
Offering Free Templates and Lessons Learned
Have you used templates as part of your strategy?
Answer: A couple of years ago, I created a free Squarespace template as a lead magnet.
While it worked well for growing my email list, I’ve mixed feelings about it in hindsight. It was good enough to be a paid product, so I feel like I missed out on revenue there.
That said, the upside was earning Circle referral benefits every time someone built a site using the template. Offering templates to clients is another way to tap into this benefit.
Affiliate Links Beyond Squarespace
Do you earn affiliate income from other tools?
Answer: Yes! There are so many tools that clients need and these extra links can add up. If I recommend a tool as part of a project, that’s another potential $50–$100 kickback. When combined with the Squarespace referrals, this can easily add $300 or more per project.
A few ideas:
Cookie policy generators
Email marketing software
Stripe integrations
Building an International Client Base
How do you manage budget & langauge barriers with clients in different countries?
Answer: Great question! Initially, I thought I’d specialize in bilingual French websites, especially for tourism businesses in France targeting an English-speaking market. But interestingly, I’ve never really worked with French clients—maybe once!
I’ve found that the budgets in the local expat or small business groups I joined didn’t align with the type of clients I wanted. So instead, I focused on marketing where my ideal clients are—mainly in the U.S.
This has worked seamlessly. Even though I advertise in euros (as required by my French-based business), it’s never been an issue. My clients don’t care where I’m based, as long as I deliver quality work.
For anyone in a similar position—whether it’s a language barrier or budget concerns in your local market—it’s all about being intentional.
Market where your ideal clients are and build visibility there.
If English isn’t your strong suit, you could target expats from your country living in places like the U.S.
It’s such a flexible industry; you can work with amazing people globally if you position yourself right.
Why Invest in Online Courses?
Why did you decide to invest in Square Secrets Business™?
Answer: Honestly, I hesitated for a long time. After losing my financial security, investing in a course felt like a big deal. My confidence was low, and I didn’t trust myself to make it work.
Eventually, I realized I needed guidance. Despite having a solid career background, I wasn’t seeing results in my business.
I had too many questions and didn’t know what I didn’t know. Taking the course gave me clarity and confidence.
It showed me I was already doing a lot right, but it also taught me so much about running the business side of things—things I hadn’t even considered.
What was the biggest game-changer for you after taking Square Secrets Business™?
Answer: Simplifying everything! Before, I thought I needed an overly complex, hyper-personalized process to justify my prices. But the course helped me see that’s unnecessary.
Now, my contracts are simple, clear, and aligned with what I actually want to deliver.
It also taught me the importance of profitability, not just revenue.
I used to take on projects that were way too time-consuming, but now I focus on what’s both profitable and enjoyable.
For example: I’ve started doing VIP days—designing simple websites in a single day. These are joyful to deliver, super efficient, and highly profitable.
What would you say to someone considering the course?
Answer: Ask yourself: “What’s my goal, and what’s the fastest way to achieve it?”
If your goal is to build a successful web design business, whether as a side hustle or full-time job, it’s hard to see a better option than taking the course.
It’s not just a roadmap—though that’s invaluable—but it also addresses mindset, which is often the biggest barrier.
The templates save so much time and stress, and the community is a huge bonus. Starting a business can be lonely, but having people to share the journey with makes a massive difference.
If I could go back, I’d take the course from day one. It would’ve saved me so much time, energy, and second-guessing.
For anyone serious about their goals, it’s absolutely worth the investment.
Wasn’t that inspiring?
Hearing real success stories like this reminds us that building the business you dream of is absolutely possible—and it starts with finding the right clients.
Here’s the thing:
The best client-finding method isn’t about chasing the latest trend or jumping on every shiny object someone says is 'the thing.'
It’s about discovering a strategy that feels natural, works for YOU, and helps you connect with the clients you actually want to work with.
With my quiz: 'Which Client-Finding Method Matches Your Personality Type?' You’ll uncover the perfect way to land dream clients—without the overwhelm or endless trial and error and start building your dream business today.
I can’t wait to hear about which result you get!
