The Long Game of Creating Work You Love with Christy Price

In this episode, Hannah interviews Christy Price, a beloved Squarespace designer known for her authentic presence and soul-filled style. Christy shares her unconventional journey from cognitive psychology to web design, and how she's built a thriving business by focusing on authenticity and client experience. They discuss strategies for building trust through content creation, knowing when to pivot away from platforms that aren't serving you, and the value of creating digital products that align with your values. Christy also shares insights on her YouTube success, course creation, and finding balance in creative growth. Watch the video or continue reading below.

From Psychology to Web Design: An Unexpected Path

A headshot of Christy Price.

Christy's journey into web design began in an unlikely place: a cognitive psychology doctorate program where she was coding visual experiments. When she realized academia wasn't her path, a friend at an Austin startup offered her a lifeline: "You're miserable. Come work for us because it's really fun."

That leap from graduate school led her through a series of startups in the late 90s, where she learned to build websites by designing in Photoshop and coding HTML tables. But it was the collaboration with designers that sparked her passion for the creative side of web development.

After the internet bubble burst, Christy took another unexpected turn—starting a soap company. Yet even while crafting handmade soaps, she found herself most energized by the branding, marketing, and website work. "Maybe I'm not done with technology yet," she realized.

The takeaway: Your path doesn't have to be linear. Every experience builds skills that can serve your future work in unexpected ways.

The Foundation of Authentic Business

What sets Christy Price apart in the crowded web design space isn't just her technical skills, it's her commitment to authenticity. As one client beautifully captured: "You give us confidence. I love the format [of your course] and you're always calm, objective, open and receptive to questions."

This authenticity wasn't a marketing strategy; it was a natural extension of who she is. "I've always been the person who's like, you get what you get, here I am," Christy explains. "I don't want to hide anything from clients."

Her grandmother's advice shaped this approach: "You're not a hundred dollar bill. Not everybody's going to like you." This wisdom freed Christy from the exhausting work of trying to please everyone and allowed her to build genuine connections with the right clients.

Key strategies for authentic client relationships:

  • Be transparent about your process and any challenges that arise

  • Develop strong systems that support clients through every step

  • Focus on how you make clients feel, not just the final deliverable

  • Acknowledge when you make mistakes as it can strengthen relationships

Advice for New Designers: Start Where the Money Is

For designers feeling overwhelmed by all the possible directions they could take their business, Christy offers clear guidance: "Start in the place that will bring you money."

One-on-one client work provides immediate income and invaluable learning opportunities. With each project, you can refine your skills, improve your processes, and gradually increase your rates.

"When you're starting out today, there's so much that you could be doing and you feel like you need to be everywhere," Christy notes. "But the most important thing is learning your craft and doing that well."

Getting started priorities:

  1. Focus on finding and serving clients well

  2. Hone your design skills and processes with each project

  3. Create content around problems you're solving

  4. Build one marketing channel at a time

  5. Leverage the supportive Squarespace community for learning

Building Trust Through Strategic Content Creation

Christy's business growth didn't happen through flashy marketing or expensive advertising. Instead, she built trust through what she calls "stealth marketing", creating helpful content that positioned her as an expert while genuinely serving her community.

Starting in 2018, she began blogging whenever she figured something out, reasoning that if she had a question, others probably did too. She would create blog posts on demand: "We'd see a question in a forum and say, 'I can figure that out,' write a blog post, and drop the link saying, 'I have a blog post about this.'"

This strategy accomplished two crucial goals: it helped with SEO, but more importantly, it demonstrated that web design wasn't just a hobby for Christy—it was a career she took seriously, with expertise to offer new clients.

A Formula for YouTube Success: Consistency and Authenticity

Despite her blogging success, YouTube felt like an insurmountable challenge. Christy's first attempt in 2020 lasted just four months before she quit, declaring she'd "never publish another video."

But when Google's AI answers began threatening her SEO-driven business in 2023, she knew she needed another search engine strategy. Choosing between Pinterest and YouTube, she committed to YouTube despite her previous struggles.

The breakthrough came when she realized a crucial truth: "People don't care what my hair looks like. They don't care what I'm wearing. They just want the answer to the question they have."

By letting go of perfectionism and embracing authenticity—even leaving in small mistakes that showed the real experience of using Squarespace—Christy found her rhythm. After 14 months of consistent weekly videos, she reached YouTube monetization and discovered something surprising: she was actually enjoying the process. You can also catch her podcast alongside Will Myers, Somewhat Useful, a show about Squarespace, web design and entrepreneurship.

YouTube success principles:

  • Consistency matters more than perfection

  • Authenticity resonates more than polish

  • Focus on answering real questions your audience has

  • Don't quit too early—the long game pays off

Strategic Use of Social Media Platforms

Not every platform will serve your business, and Christy learned the importance of recognizing when to pivot. Despite giving Pinterest eight months of dedicated effort using all the recommended tools and strategies, she wasn't seeing results that justified the time investment.

More importantly, she wasn't enjoying it. "Life is too short," she reflects. "That's the beauty of working for ourselves. We get to be the boss and I get to tell myself, you don't have to do Pinterest anymore."

Similarly, while Instagram brought engagement and comments, it wasn't converting to actual clients or sales. Christy made the strategic decision to keep Instagram as a "fun thing" rather than a business activity, freeing up energy for platforms that were actually driving results.

Signs it might be time to pivot:

  • You're not getting early indicators of success after consistent effort

  • The platform drains your energy without bringing joy

  • Time investment doesn't match business results

  • You have better options that align with your strengths

Creating Digital Products That Serve

Christy's approach to digital products centers on solving real problems she encounters in her own work. Her Squarespace Pre-Launch Checklist began as a personal tool—a list of 50+ items to check before launching any client site.

When she offered it as a lead magnet, the response showed her the power of productizing her existing systems. But the real revelation came with her Starter Template for web designers. After showing people how to build their own version in a YouTube video, she was surprised by how many chose to purchase her ready-made version instead.

"I thought people would just build it themselves, but I've been really grateful to everyone who's purchased one," she shares. "People were like, yes, I could do it myself, but this will save me so much time."

This experience reinforced a crucial business principle: people value their time, and they'll invest in solutions that help them work more efficiently.

The Power of Web Design Templates

As budgets tighten and clients look for more affordable website solutions, Christy sees website templates as a strategic advantage rather than a shortcut. "I think a lot of designers are now coming to the SquareKicker Template Store to purchase templates because it's a starting point that's already done for you and it can make a project go so much faster."

The key insight: clients don't care where you start, they care about the value you deliver and how you make them feel throughout the process. A designer using a premium template can still deliver exceptional value through their expertise in customization, strategy, and client service.

The Long Game of Creative Growth

Creative growth for Christy means continuously pushing beyond comfort zones while staying true to her authentic approach. From public speaking at Squarespace Circle Day to mastering YouTube after initial failure, she embraces opportunities that feel uncomfortable because they lead to genuine accomplishment.

"Just opening yourself up and saying yes to things that maybe do feel uncomfortable can help a ton in just you growing as a person," she reflects.

The key is balancing growth challenges with regular breaks that allow creativity to flourish. Whether it's hiking with her dogs, swimming laps, or simply taking a bath with her phone nearby to capture sudden insights, Christy prioritizes giving her brain space to think beyond immediate work demands.

Building a Business That Reflects Who You Are

Perhaps the most powerful theme throughout Christy's journey is the integration of personal values with business success. By staying true to her authentic, transparent approach—even when it meant admitting mistakes or showing vulnerability—she built something more valuable than a successful business: she created a practice that energizes rather than drains her.

Her advice for the Squarespace community reflects this philosophy: focus on serving others well, invest in tools and resources that save time, and remember that every expert started as a beginner asking questions.

"We didn't just show up and know everything about Squarespace. None of us did. We all had to figure it out."

Connect with Christy:

Ready to explore premium templates that can help you deliver exceptional client work more efficiently? Discover the SquareKicker Template Store and find designs created by experts like Christy to give your projects a professional head start.

Next
Next

Best Squarespace templates for Therapists