With Emilia Farrace, founder of Launch It By Simply Elaborate and WordPress Website Academy, is an entrepreneur in the business of helping people follow their dreams and create organizations that impact their communities. Emilia helps entrepreneurs in the health, wellness and lifestyle space have a sustainable online presence so they can focus on their passions, impact and share their voice with the world. 

In her free time, Emilia loves to do yoga and explore the local trails and wineries close to their home in Niagara, Ontario with her husband and two young daughters, while connecting with other moms of neurodivergent children.

In this conversation, Emilia discusses the importance of confidence in business, choosing templates for specific niches, and the success of creating versatile templates. She also shares her journey to the digital world, the concept of a “child theme,” the impact of motherhood on her business approach, and the thoughtful website design process and its alignment with personal and client preferences.

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Takeaways & quotes you don’t want to miss from this episode:

• The importance of confidence in your business.
• How to choose the right template for your niche?
• Creating beautiful, functional templates that blend with multiple industries and businesses is a great success.
• How important is it to work with a design company that understands the business model and niche of the client?
• How much thought goes into the process of designing a website?

“The only way that you’re going to get started and actually launch is to ask someone to work with you.”

– Emilia Farrace

Check out these highlights:

• 06:57 How Emilia got started in the digital world.
• 09:21 What does “child theme” mean in website building?
• 22:32 How motherhood changed Emilia’s approach to her business?
• 30:29 Emilia shares what she loves about her work and what keeps her going.

How to get in touch with Emilia on Social Media:

You can also contact Emilia by visiting her website here.

Special gift to the listeners: You can get 20% discount on ALL our shop products by using the code: HEATHER20. Note: Coupon will expire after 100 uses.

Imperfect Show Notes

We are happy to offer these imperfect show notes to make this podcast more accessible to those who are hearing impaired or those who prefer reading over listening. While we would love to offer more polished show notes, we are currently offering an automated transcription (which likely includes errors, but hopefully will still deliver great value), below:

GGGB Intro  00:00

Here’s what you get on today’s episode of Guts, Grit and Great Business®… 

Emilia Farrace  00:04

Because websites and building a website is a lot easier in terms of platform and templates. And there’s just really so many places you can go. And there is a trendy look happening right now. And it is beautiful. It is gorgeous. Like there’s no doubt about it. But to me, they all look the same. All the sites are the same, all the businesses look the same. And when I land on a website, I just see the same thing over and over. And now I don’t want that for people. I want them to use these elements in these fun trends, but also in a way that creates longevity.

GGGB Intro  00:41

The adventure of entrepreneurship and building a life and business you love, preferably at the same time is not for the faint of heart. That’s why Heather Pearce Campbell is bringing you a dose of guts, grit and great business stories that will inspire and motivate you to create what you want in your business and life. Welcome to the Guts, Grit and Great Business® podcast where endurance is required. Now, here’s your host, The Legal Website Warrior®, Heather Pearce Campbell.

Heather Pearce Campbell  01:09

Alrighty, welcome. I am Heather Pearce Campbell, The Legal Website Warrior®. I’m an attorney and legal coach based here in Seattle, Washington, serving online information entrepreneurs throughout the US and the world. Welcome to another episode of Guts, Grit and Great Business®. I am super excited about this one. I’ve been looking forward to connecting with my friend and a website and designer expert extraordinaire Emilia Farrace Amaro. Welcome, Emilia. 

Emilia Farrace  01:43

Hi, thanks for having me. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  01:45

Oh, so great to see you again. So the backstory is that Emilia and I actually first met I don’t even know how many years ago, it was are we in that mastermind for a couple of years together?

Emilia Farrace  01:57

I think so. I think it was 2016 To be honest, or 2017. It was a lot.

Heather Pearce Campbell  02:04

So we were in a mastermind together. And then since then I’ve been in touch and then most recently. I hired Emilia and her company to completely rebuild redo my website. So we went through a massive redesign and that overlapped with COVID, which made some of the timing interesting. I’m sure Emilia is like, Oh, you were like one of my hardest clients. But you were not. I love, love, love the outcome. Anyways, we’ll talk more about that. But for those of you that don’t know Emilia, Emilia is an entrepreneur in the business of helping people follow their dreams and create organizations that impact their communities. At The Launch It Co., Emilia helps business owners in the health, wellness and lifestyle space, you need to add legal to the list. I’m kidding, create stainable online presence so they can focus on their passions, impact and sharing their voice with the world. Offline, you can find Emilia connecting with other moms of neurodivergent children, who we need to talk about this, moving her body with yoga and exploring the local trails and wineries close to home in Niagara Ontario, with her husband and two young daughters. So before we went live, that’s what we were chatting about just catching up on life and kids and motherhood. So Emilia, welcome. I’m super happy to see you again. Thanks for having me. It’s nice to be back. Oh, totally. I know paths too. So yeah. All right. I know it’s taken a while. But the timing is always right. So here you are. And for folks that don’t know your history, you know, what led you in? Because we were just talking about timelines and how long you’ve actually been involved in the design and website space, the entrepreneurial space and helping people really create a brand presence online. Share with us a little bit about your backstory.

Emilia Farrace  04:10

Well, I would love to thank you for asking. I guess what we were talking about right before record is just how like, I think from a business standpoint, when did I first get my master business license and started up I believe it was March of 2010. But only recently I’ve been really looking at my history and like that’s when I got my master business license, but I have been exchanging services in exchange for money or value for I’d say probably about 2007. So it’s kind of sorry, not 2007, even 2003 2002, so I’m just adding years because being interested in the online world and coding and websites and like showing up online has interested me since I’ve been 14 and I I don’t even know what your I probably should have prepped that. I don’t even know what year that would be. But I figured the 90s we were definitely using AOL hours as our time online. And every time we got one of those discs in the mail for a trial, oh, I would get it. And I’d sign us up. I remember signing up for my first email address with my mom’s like, you know, it was Hotmail, and it was free, and my mom going nothing is ever free. Like, and it’s a valid question, which is just really funny, because, you know, Hotmail is free, and, you know, she has a Hotmail account. And stuff like that, and just kind of dipping my toes into the online world, it’s been a long time. And by the time, you know, 2000 to 2003, I was in university, I had already, I guess, what you would consider expert status at that for the level at that point, because obviously, things change all the time. And I never realized that. And definitely just, you know, doing our own website redo and looking at the history of myself and the business. And it’s just kind of like mind boggling of how long I’ve been in this world and enjoying it. And part of that transitions and seeing the expansion of Alicia and like, you know, HTML is like, one tiny little language now, like, just for one thing, like, there’s just so much so much you can, you can literally do anything. And it’s, it’s been a pleasure to kind of be able to see it, and be a part of it.

Heather Pearce Campbell  06:34

Totally, I love hearing your backstory, and really how young you were when you got started, like experimenting, diving into the digital world? What was it about design that really caught your attention, like, share with us where it became like your emphasis became designed specifically?

Emilia Farrace  06:56

Oh, that’s a good question. So when I was in university, Sex in the City was really popular, and I like was really, I just loved Kerry’s job, I loved being there and typing. And so I had a blog. And that’s kind of like what I would do. And it was funny because I was writing about the experiences of being in school, and dating and all the same things and like a 20 year old school version. But what I did notice that slowly, it would start to, I just like, I didn’t like the way something looked. And then I started diving into WordPress, which was super new, started in 2003. And I was able to just kind of play around with the way my blog looked. And I found that a, I liked doing that I liked getting inspiration from other websites that I was seeing other blogs, because blogging was really cool but not to everybody, no one else knew what it was, it was like if you had a blog, and you were online, it was cool. And just seeing all of the different website of options and being able to kind of curate my own, I would notice that I would kind of get stagnant with my commitment to writing. But if I spent some time redesigning and doing a refresh, it would jump kick my inspiration to like, oh, I want to write today. And it’s just cool to match this new design. And I just had so many different designs. And that’s I think that’s the best way to describe when I started shifting to the design and just kind of having that power. And I mean, at that point to that design is very, very minimal. Because WordPress didn’t have a lot of options and you really had to code. There was no seems like there are now like there was because I mean, that’s how it runs. But there was like literally three themes, and you had to just create your designs from those as a base. It’s where I learned a lot of mistakes like something like a child theme when you are using a theme as a base, and then you do a lot of changes. You want to do a child theme because when a new update comes along and you update your theme, it will overwrite everything you’ve done.

Heather Pearce Campbell  09:13

Oh, and explain. So for people listening who are like I don’t even know what a child theme is. Explain what that means.

Emilia Farrace  09:21

When you install a theme onto WordPress, especially you need to use a theme, the default theme that is installed usually is 2021 or 2023. Whatever the year is WordPress has that theme. But let’s say you love that framework and it works for you and it’s great, but there’s just a few tweaks that you want to make. Creating a child theme creates a sub theme. So it’s kind of like a subfolder within a folder. And it allows you to put all of your styling into that theme so that when the developers 2023 or whatever theme you’re using create updates because they will just that main theme is updated but all of your style at It’s stay safe in that subfolder child theme that you’ve created. So not a lot of people do that, or like, are aware of that when you’re new. So it’s like things like that I got to make the mistakes on myself. So it was like, I have never made that mistake on a client website, which it’s okay. Like, it sucks. But you can, you know, you just redo all your styles. But that was like something that, you know, you learn off of yourself. And the more you’re able to play around with just making those mistakes, I was just really fortunate to like make all those mistakes on my things when I wasn’t charging people.

Heather Pearce Campbell  10:42

Totally, what is it? Do you think about your personality that allowed you to be somebody like, who jumped into that and figured it out? Because I think there were plenty of people who were interested but didn’t go exploring on their own and sorting it out. Did you? Like how did you learn code? How did you start to learn some of these things on your own?

Emilia Farrace  11:03

Well, I think we were talking about this before we started recording about just diving into the online world and having it available at such a young age for me. Not a lot of people in my world did or knew what it was. And I was obsessed with it. I loved it. Pretty soon, though. I mean, there’s only so much internet browsing you can do like this was a really long time ago, not everyone had a website. So after you know, you go on there, you check your same usual three sites, and then you get bored, I wanted to do something else. And that’s where I think I just got the idea. And I yahoo’d because there was no Google. So I use the Yahoo search engine. And I came across a website called Alyssa Explains It All. And it was a 13 year old girl explaining code to other kids. The site is still up.

Heather Pearce Campbell  11:55

Yes, I love that so much. Amazing.

Emilia Farrace  11:59

So because part of her thing was, you know, and it still exists, if you type in, you know, I want to learn how to code, you know, an underline or something like that. At the time, that just the response you get was just like three paragraphs, super wordy language, essay style, encyclopedia. Because that’s the like world, we were still in it, it was very difficult to understand like, well, what’s the code if I want to underline something, and Alyssa explains, she just laid it out, she had a really easy to understand menu really easy to understand how to steps from start to finish to creating your own website with all the different features. So I think she would have been the same age or if not even younger, but I know that she that site was hosted on DreamHost, it still is DreamHost then became my favorite host of choice and still is and I remember recommend to a lot of my clients and students. And the stuff that’s on the website now isn’t super relevant. But all the coding still works because it is like the base HTML coding. So some of the tags and whatnot might have been a depreciated, but they still work and I just find that really cool. I think it will continue to stay up because it’s kind of been like one of the historical websites of of the world if if that’s a thing, because it was so instrumental. She even talked about just like aligning it with copyrights and legal she had a lot of people steal the way she was writing things. Your site even introduced me to Copyscape because she started to have to do that because she was seeing her language popping up on all of these other you know, super scientific type websites, articles, news articles, like with these big wigs, adults writing stuff, and they were using her stuff and I just so it’s like, even from that early age to just tying this into legalities of just understanding the power and like, the the scariness of putting stuff on the web and like is it yours? Is it not yours? How do you make it yours? How do you make sure it is all of that stuff was I was exposed to really, really young and I got to see a lot of that through that website which was funny. And I think that’s how I just got into it you just kind of get bored of doing one thing and I wanted to try something else. And fast forward a couple years when I was working on my own sites and like kidding walls because I couldn’t figure something out. I usually had to fix something on my site and so I was like, No, I gotta figure this out. I gotta keep doing this and to the to the point of I decided to minor in computers because I needed to up my marks. And I did I got a minor in applied Infotech purely to up my marks because the assignments were so easy for me. And I just think back like why I never considered even like going into computer science as a major for myself. Instead I went to To communications, because I just at the time, it wasn’t actually something that was encouraged for girls, that’s for sure. But if I look at my old report cards, my highest marks for computers, high 90s, High 90s. But I was I was like, No, I want to be a writer. And my English was not my English marks were not nearly as high as my computer. But I think it’s like a perfect blend for me. And I’m, I’m really happy. I never went down the computer science path, because I think I learned so much from majoring in communications and going down that route that’s helped me create such sustainability, my business because I don’t think I would have been able to properly understand or articulate all the other things that have to do with the website, especially in 2023. When a website I mean, I feel like sometimes coding is the least of your worries nowadays, because…

Heather Pearce Campbell  15:53

Right. Well, because there’s all these tools that have made it so accessible, right? So and that’s what did not exist before. There’s a couple of things I really love about this path. One is that there was a 13 year old girl on the internet that you found teaching people about coding and her site, you’re right is still up. And at the bottom, it says this website is registered with the Library of Congress Copyright Office, right. So clearly, she at some point went and got all of her stuff registered. And I mean, this is one of the other realities of being online is even now you know, it’s so crazy, because I just think ethics, a big dose of ethics would stop a lot of people from doing this. And yet, I’ve still intersected because I use Copyscape, which is another tool you mentioned. And so I find people who have ripped off not only my content, but content belonging to some of my clients, because I will monitor for some of my larger clients as well. And Copyscape is a tool that’s super helpful for that. But it means I have to issue communications to people who have literally duplicated work that was paid for by another client, and get them to take it down. And many of those people act like they have no idea how it got there, you know, you get the big lies in the stories, and some of them are good humans are like, oh, yeah, I did do that. Oh, my gosh, you’re right, I should see now that even the legal stuff is proprietary, like, like, I shouldn’t have done that. How can I pay you and just become your client? And have you create that for me, right? And so it makes me realize, like, awesome, right? I can judge everybody too harshly because some of these people genuinely made a mistake. And they should have known but for whatever reason, they didn’t. And, you know, and so I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. And across the board, I work really hard to teach my clients like, you didn’t create it, if you didn’t pay for the creation of it. You know, you don’t otherwise have a license to use it like you do not take copy or images from the internet and just use them. Anyways, we can that’s a whole different rabbit hole. But you know, when you and I intersected pads, you know, gosh, whenever it was 2016 or so right? I was a few years in and I know this is a big jump forward. One more thought actually, even before we get to that phase in time, what you said about like really having this knack when it comes like the skill when it came to understanding like computers and computer code first, I love that you took that class just to improve your marks. I’m strategic, a lot of people, right would not be doing that. But then your journey really speaks to this, like beautiful blend of how like we all have certain talents and skills that that are just inherent, you know, that are just like, we’re going to excel at that stuff, because it’s naturally in us. And sometimes we pursue that route exclusively. And sometimes, like you’ve done, you end up like utilizing that and layering over leaning into learning some additional areas that, you know, when you look backward, you’re like, Oh, it’s so obvious why that was the right choice and why you know, even when I didn’t know it like those, that was the perfect combination of worlds. For me, I feel the same thing about like legal and business. I never once thought about legal growing up, I thought a lot about business unit, I mean, and then ended up kind of taking this fork in the road. And now where I’m at, it’s like, of course the perfect blend of those two things. Because legal really allows me to utilize the problem solving that I love doing so much. So it is it is fun when you see those dots, you know, connect in ways that you’re like of course like Now it makes sense.

Emilia Farrace  19:53

Yeah, definitely. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  19:55

All right, let’s pause for a moment and hear from today’s sponsor. Are you an entrepreneur who is on track to make a million or more in revenue this year in your business? If so, your business is likely facing a host of legal issues that are right for support. And if you are like so many of my clients at this level, you are likely tired of taking unnecessary risks and a DIY approach to legal support in your business. You’re ready to tackle the mess of legal documents, six legal gaps that you have. You want to take care of your IP, your clients, your business, and avoid unnecessary conflict and risk in the process. If this is you, and beyond just being an entrepreneur, you are a catalyst and are committed to your mission and your impact in the world. I invite you to get in touch. You could be a fit for my catalyst club, a small business legal support program that I designed for my high level clients. Just like you, you can find out more at legalwebsitewarrior.com. Just click on the Work with Me tab to learn more about the catalyst club and other ways that I support my clients, a fabulous group of world changing entrepreneurs, I might add, you’ve done the initial legwork in your business. And now you want to soar. And you know that you can only go as high and as far as your legal foundation lets you go. So get in touch today, hop over to legalwebsitewarrior.com, click on the Work with Me tab. And if you have any questions, get in touch through the Contact link on my site, I look forward to connecting it would be a joy to support you on your path.

Heather Pearce Campbell  21:38

Fast forwarding your journey because I want to hear a little bit about the entrepreneur journey, right and what that looks like. And I know like it’s changed a lot even since you and I first connected. You know, I had my second child in the meantime, you’ve had two children and become a mom, do you want to share a little bit about and I’m particularly in interested in the way motherhood has changed your approach to your business?

Emilia Farrace  22:10

That’s really funny. I just got asked this question yesterday on a or no Tuesday on a catch up call with someone. And it’s funny because even though I’ve just answered it really, it feels like it’s a different answer every day. And I think back to, to answer that as the answer of how now with motherhood, how do I approach business? If I approach it, like it’s a different answer every day because I even now, I don’t know if my child school is going to call me and these kids are going to need to come home because of whatever reason. So it’s like those kinds of little details of, of just motherhood and now not only being solely responsible for myself and my business, it’s the magnitude of responsibility in general, is just triple, I think, and it’s actually made me better. So with that level of, I guess it’s anxiety of like, never really knowing what the day’s gonna hold, but a different level of preparation. Because the more I can be secure in my service and my offer and working with people who would be a okay with rescheduling or something like that, the more the that anxiety isn’t as real. So my kids have both been in daycare, like both of them now for over a year when my youngest turned one. And so it’s taking me only now I’d say only for the last few months have I truly felt comfortable with this new arrangement. And so technically, I’ve been back from ally for over a year and I didn’t feel like it. I felt like just all over the place and just kind of trying to chase and get ahead and now just really leaning into well, this is the process that I have and just owning it and being confident in this is what I have to do and just realizing that well a a lot of my clients are moms are like, yeah, I get it. And so it’s like it’s okay, and kind of that anxiety is not as bad as I thought like in actuality. And it’s just from like a financial standpoint, too, though, of someone who is running the business and when you don’t work primarily service space, if you don’t work, you don’t get paid, just creating a different kind of a process that allows flexibility for those days of not working and really leaning on my team and making sure that the work gets done and the clients are served from start to finish whether I have to leave for a kid appointment or not. And I think that level of organization is something that I didn’t even know I had the power to do and would have been really helpful. When I was just me and my business, I think, like, it’s kind of interesting to look at it, I was like, if I was this productive, and this focused and this, like, have no choice for the first like, 10 years of my business, it’s like, pretty interesting where I think I would could be because the level of can’t procrastinate, like I literally can’t procrastinate as much as I might have. Because I only get six hours a day if that. And I love meetings, I love like connecting with people one on one. And I’ve found like a happy medium of like blending that all in, but I get so much work done. My new process, everything that we’ve done, like I actually had to like, re jig, my own thought process of like, oh, wow, like, I actually did quite a bit of work in that little bit. And I think that that’s kind of what’s really helped open my eyes of, it doesn’t matter how many outside people tell you like how much you’re doing, or while you’re balancing it at all. I do have an approach of like, I’m not the only mom in the world. And I’m not the first mom in the world. So I don’t, I’m kind of I think I’m a little hard on myself on that. Because I hear it a lot from other moms and from other people of like, you’re doing so much are you you’re all this, to me, I go, I don’t know, I just everyone else is doing the exact same thing. And in actuality, a lot of the people I know have a more traditional nine to five job. Yeah. And I’m like, I don’t know how you do it. I don’t know how you serve a boss. And you have to do all these things and be point of contact for your kids like that, to me, I’m like, I applaud you. Because I just like that, to me is out of this world, I have no idea how that is accomplished. And I look at it as just so grateful like that I can, if I have to pick up my kids at 330, I pick them up at four. This was not the experience I had when I was younger. Like I was the one in the take care for a really long time. And I just think that it’s like a lot of gratitude, a lot of organization, a lot of days where I don’t feel organized, and just showing up and serving my clients and students, and then my kids and my husband and my family. So I’ve been meaning that I definitely take time out for me though I do.

Heather Pearce Campbell  27:25

Oh my gosh, such a great description of motherhood I can relate to so much. I mean, it’s so crazy because you work through like these even different phases of motherhood, where you think you know, and this happened to us pre-COVID Like, oh, I finally have got some good supports in place. And then COVID hit and everything went away. And it’s like back to square one. And how many moms actually just left the workplace because it was unsustainable, you know, and I feel the same way you do like, oh my gosh, I’m like, yes, certainly, like my time has taken a hit, you know, business looks a little different these days. But even this last year, you know, quote unquote, post COVID coming out of COVID the amount of illness my five year old has had and I know a lot of families with littles where they’re like holy cow, you know, every, like, she gets sick or sick for two weeks. And then she’s like, you know, rounding the corner gets better. We have like two or three days of wellness, and then she comes home with something new from school. And that has been I mean, I think we’re 100, I don’t know 100 And I don’t even know how many days into the school year, maybe around 150 She’s had 66 sick days. Oh my gosh, yeah, I mean, like 30 to 40% I feel like of her calendar year this year has been home sick with mom and my son that doesn’t account for his sick days as well. And so I’ve literally this year, like had half my time go to my kids and doctor’s appointments and some of these illnesses are not just like you know, stay home and watch cartoons. It’s like we are getting them into providers, sometimes multiple providers, sometimes urgent care. I mean, it has been such a circus and I’ve had the same thought repeatedly like I don’t know actually how I would have survived this year. If I was a W two employee. Yeah, you know, I just been no I wouldn’t I wouldn’t have been

Emilia Farrace  29:36

I would have been like, oh, under the guise of something else. Yeah. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  29:40

Oh, totally. So so much to juggle and so I feel that so hard and just the you know, just the the real job that moms have, especially working moms to keep it all going and to keep all the balls moving and people healthy and happy and and then ourselves Right. And that’s a whole nother conversation. I would love to know, what is it that you really love about your work? Like, what is it that does keep you going, you know, and I want to first of all honor the fact that you have built in systems, you have an amazing team, you’ve got a level of organization that is been so supportive of your ability to continue to do this work and do it at a very high level. What is it about the work that you love, and that keeps you going?

Emilia Farrace  30:29

I love the people that we work with, I think that the companies and the individuals that we attract are just like that the lifestyle wellness healers, everyone who is creating a project or a business that’s helping someone else or community. And I’m always so drawn into whatever it is that I just want it to work so well for them right from the get go as much as possible, because I believe in what they’re doing, and they believe in what they’re doing. And I know that it takes a lot longer to get somewhere. And it doesn’t mean you’re not going to get there. But it takes a lot longer when you don’t have someone in your corner batting for you. And I think that me particularly and the business that I’ve created, has that innate ability to really connect and see the power and the Division of whatever the project to the website and the businesses, and all of the systems and the processes and everything that’s really going to make you succeed, as well as like your customers and your people really flourish with your service. Because I think a lot of people get stuck on the fact that they’re supposed to be good at the tech stuff and the processes and all those things in order to be successful at whatever it is that they are. And I think that that’s the disconnect in this industry, that it’s like, if you just knew how to do all this stuff, it all falls like into place, which isn’t the case, if you know, at your core, what it is you’re doing and what who it is you’re helping in the world. And you know, like what you need to do, you just don’t maybe you’re like 50-50 on the process. It’s so doable. And I want to be a company that helps you with that 50-50 like, just be like, oh, all you need to do is set this up, and then start on this process and serve your people, like, do your thing. You don’t have to worry about all of these things that help support you online, I think it’s important that you learn about them. And that is like the base of what we do. And just making sure that you feel comfortable. Because it is important. And when you have competence in the items that are supporting you and your business, it’s easier to support the people in your business. Because I know like within when you have confidence in everything else, and you’re not doing everything in your business, you’re just really able to explore the service you’re providing. And I love doing that for people like I love people getting to do that for themselves. So if that was like a really long winded way to answer that, sorry.

Heather Pearce Campbell  33:09

No, no, no, the the gems in there, the gems and there are that. One people do absolutely get bogged down by the tech and the website stuff and thinking like I should be able to figure this out or do it or whatever. And it’s like no, like you like like none of us have the capacity to go learn the expertise in every area, right. And like one of the things that I loved about working with you guys, as I think I had a pretty specific vision of how I wanted things to look, do you think I had any idea how that was actually going to happen? No. Don’t work with somebody like you and your team that’s like, Oh, here’s how we could do that. And here. Like I literally watched it come to life in a way that I was like, yes, yes, that is what I wanted. You guys were able to translate that vision into functionality and beautiful design. And if you’re listening we’re going to share obviously all of Emilio’s links and we’ll ask you where you are in a minute, as far as you know where you like to be online and how to connect with you. But I will invite you to pop over and check out because one of the things I think you really excel at is like really beautiful use of color in your designs. And I know that that early part of the process was one of my favorite parts of the process.

Emilia Farrace  34:42

Oh good, like the Pinterest and the

Heather Pearce Campbell  34:45

Yeah, well exploring, like how do you want your brand to feel, you know? How like, what is it that you want people to experience when they and obviously you know, that’s so much bigger than just Your website like it relates to your services and how you deliver and you know, all of the follow through everything but, but that initial experience of somebody finding you online or interacting with your, with your website, I just I had so much fun in exploring, you know, the color the fonts and like going through the full branding package with you. And I don’t think everybody excels at that, like, I wasn’t even clear on myself how we were gonna, like, bring all the color together. And I love it, I love that we ended up choosing and that, you know, work on my site. And, and even when I look at the other examples on your website, right, you’ve got a page that highlights some of the, you know, showcases some of the other websites that you’ve worked on. Like, it’s just a really beautiful blend of colors, each one. And so, anyways, yeah, I think just You really helped people come to life through their site and their work come to life. And, and it’s, you know, the difference between I think, and for anybody listening, like, clearly you’re in the online business space. I mean, you can’t be a modern business and not have a strong online presence. And, like, how many people do you connect with that are like, have website shame like, oh, yeah, don’t, don’t go look at my site. It’s not really, you know, up to date, like, so many people. And the difference between being able to, like, operate from a place of like loving your website, feeling like it’s authentically you, it’s representing you, your work your brand, whether that’s personal brand, or business brand, it really makes a dramatic difference in, I think, how you feel about your online presence, and therefore how you show up and interact with people and interact with clients.

Emilia Farrace  37:00

Yeah, and also who you’re attracting as well. So I love that you brought up about the color and everything because I feel also what makes us different is I believe, a really strongly with connecting trends that we’re seeing with classic functional design and user experience. Because I find that especially in the last few years, because of websites, and building a website is a lot easier in terms of platform and templates. And like, there’s just really so many places you can go, I feel like we tend to kind of get into a certain look. And there is a trendy look happening right now. And it is beautiful. It is gorgeous. Like there’s no doubt about it. But to me, they all look the same. All the sites are the same, all the businesses look the same. And when I land on a website, I just see the same thing over and over. And now, I don’t want that for people. I want them to use these elements in these fun trends, but also in a way that creates longevity, like I think, too, if you really talk about it, like we did a rebrand for you. But it’s actually been a few years. But if you were to go to your site, it does not look like it’s been a few years, it’s like we really do that with all of our sites that we really take on that challenge as well. Because you know, your website’s always evolving. And you probably will need to redo eventually. But we want to try and make that go as long as possible, as long as you are, of course serving the right ideal client that you want, you know. So for us, too, we are always guiding like, Who is that ideal client? Who are you making your website for, and we want to make sure that we’re catering to that person as well as you, which is that added element that I do feel is lacking a lot in the industry because we come to clients such as yourself for and when I say such as yourself, I mean like entrepreneurs, you’re coming, you want to hire a company, and you think you have this idea. I want it to look like this. I want it to look like that. This is so pretty. You know, I get a lot of like, I wanted to look like Marie Forleo site, I want it to look like Jenna Kutcher site. You know, these people are at a certain level. And they usually have different ICA, they usually have different people that they’re serving, they’re usually selling completely different things than the person wants, but they’re just looking at it from the look portion. And it’s like these sites are beautiful. And these like it’s not it’s not about that it’s like but what do we want them to say like these people are serving magnitude like huge, huge audiences that are coming at from all over the place. And you know, we’re helping small to medium sized businesses that are we have people that have large audiences, but usually because they come from one or two places, where as it’s like a lot of like navigating that conversation, and that is part of all the colors and the fonts and like what they’re seeing. And so like, it’s really fun for us to do that it’s sometimes can be jarring to hear that from a client, I think from that perspective. But it’s, it’s really nice to be able to be a part of that, because it’s all part of creating that sustainability. Because if you’re just going to create something that you saw on another site, because it’s beautiful, and because you really liked the way they’re transitioned, they’re Fontan, but we’re not really looking at the fact that, you know, maybe the handwriting is a little too handwriting and you can’t read it, you know, those kinds of things. If you’re not a designer, you’re not really thinking about it. And just having that UX background, that the user experience, and just really wanting to focus on what that client is going to feel like when they come on your site, I want them hit in that book now button, I want them to hit the buy now button, whatever their goal is, and it’s like my job to make sure that happens for you, so that you guys can just show up and do your thing in focus on whatever your expertise is. And like working on blending those two experiences together on the website, on the project. And like whatever it is we’re working on, and it’s just, I love it, I get I get carried away.

Heather Pearce Campbell  41:36

No, I love it. I love hearing you talk about your passion definitely comes alive. And I think what you’ve just demonstrated is how much thought actually goes into it behind the background that so many people don’t even think about when they’re kind of walking this process themselves. They’re like, Oh, I like this. And so therefore I want it on my site versus like, who am I speaking to? What resonates with my ideal clients? You know, like, I think there’s definitely certain elements that we can draw from and figure out why do we like those things. But you’re right, it’s a much bigger conversation and so much, I think of why, you know, websites can have that same feel that you’re talking about is because people literally are like, design me a site that looks like that unit, I mean, versus going through this really detailed process of exploring with somebody like yourself, you know, what a unique sight for you would look like. And I love your emphasis on like drawing from trends, but also really remaining really classic, so that you will stand the test of time, even though we all know, you know, every probably four or five years minimum, we need to be updating, evolving our work in our site. And if you haven’t a little bit like your headshot, I’m looking at my super old zoom headshot. Right, we’ve got to get those things updated.

Emilia Farrace  43:03

Yeah, you know what, and it’s really good, really good point, it doesn’t mean you need a whole redesign. If you’ve got a good website, which hopefully you have a really strong development theme, all you have to do are all you could do to get that refresh. If this is something that you’re looking to do, just for anyone who’s listening, it doesn’t have to be completely redo, freshen up those images, freshen up your headshots. And even if you want it to go this far, this one’s a little bit trickier. But playing with your font. It’s amazing what fonts will do to a site. And like that’s also what we aim to do with the theme that we use as the base theme for all of our websites is that really strong core framework that then you guys can play with, we have an easy spot to be able to change your colors, we teach you how to change the images, all of those things, in case you want to play on your own. In the future, you don’t have to reinvest such a large amount into like a complete redo, especially if you’re not ready. It’s like a nice way that you have that control into play without needing to jump back in all the time. And, you know, if you want to, sure.

Heather Pearce Campbell  44:16

Well, there’s a couple of things about the way that you’ve designed your business and your services that I think is really phenomenal and does make what you’re talking about even more accessible. One I wanted to emphasize like the fact that you work within a specific niche so that you understand these business models very well. Right. And that’s what it takes, I think to really achieve a design that works is like you need to be working with somebody who understands your business. And like I was connecting with a former client who is in the website design, SEO marketing space, right. He’s got kind of a whole thing going on. But when I asked him who his primary clients are, he was like it’s real. interesting because it’s like automotive, like he had these niches where I was like, whoo, and then some professional services. But it was vastly different than the folks that I’m talking to every day, right. So it’s a bit of a mismatch as far as like, you know, helping him share his story or whatever, because my audience is not his audience. But those niches can really develop even amongst designers, like I know people who work exclusively in the legal world. And I was really clear, I did not want a website that looks like other legal websites. We achieve that right? Anyways, yes, I, you know, that’s a really important piece of I think selecting the right design company to work with. And it’s one thing that I love about what you do well, and then, on the accessibility side, you have this whole way that you offer training and for certain clients access to like that additional support, where if they want to go in and do some of those tweaks and play with, you know, a few elements that are easy to update, like you give them access to how to do that, so that they’re not having to hire a redesign every time they need something done. 

Emilia Farrace  46:12

Yeah, I love that too. So that kind of expanded because we wanted to obviously offer different services, some people didn’t need a full website, it was it sort of expanded from I had more of a new entrepreneur coming to us for websites, and I just felt like, you know, I don’t think you’re ready, like, but sometimes people don’t want to hear that. But it’s more like I also we don’t do rebrand, we don’t do brand identities, like with the one you were describing for yourself, unless you have been in business for at least three years. And unless you’ve seen success in your business, how you define success. And usually that means financial, and also making, sorry, working with clients and understanding who it is you’re working with. Because the amount of time energy and financial resources that go into a brand identity, you really need to know who you’re working with, and who you want to work with, for us to create something that is going to stand this test of time. And so I wanted to kind of create something that people could just launch with, get started on your website, just get it up there. Because, you know, it’s like a catch 22. A brand is important for so many reasons. But a brand isn’t only your logo and what colors you are a brand is how you are operating as an entire ecosystem. And until you understand how that works for you, you’re not going to find the perfect color, the perfect color, and the perfect font in your logo is not going to bring that out. So I wanted to create like beautiful, again, functional, nice templates that could really blend with multiple industries and multiple businesses so that they could launch with something gorgeous. It’s not DIY, in the sense of do it yourself, it’s like you’re just putting your content together. And having that available, that they could just pop it in there. And it’s it seems such great success because again, it gives them the same results as it gives someone like you who came in for a custom website. The result is a website, you’re proud of a website that makes sense for you and your business at the like at the whatever stage you’re at. And something that you can easily update and change, which is again, like after they’ve played around with the templates, they know how to do that. And like doing this drastically changed our entire business and drastically changed who we’re working with. Because those people come back, those people come back after those few years are done. Then when they’re ready to do the larger website, there’s in around our ecosystem. So they’re constantly learning how to make the website work for them that isn’t only about design, it’s actually about function. And how do we integrate all these different platforms that has come up in this day and age like consultation? How do we use email service providers like you know, an Active Campaign? How do we integrate all of these things? How do we make it work? So like our business, too, we do websites and develop them. But we are also helping people create that ecosystem that serves their client. And that’s why we expanded to other templates like lead generation templates, event registration templates, sales page templates, because a lot of people feel like they have the idea for the the service or the product, but they don’t have everything else together yet. So having these templates and being able to just launch something so you have something up there that people can see while you start promoting yourself. It adds to that competence level and just getting ready to like, go after it. Go after the thing that they want. Start making money start working with people start really developing that core. This is my business cool And then expanding on their own business ecosystem from there. And it’s just like, it’s been remarkable to see the confidence shifts in people. It’s like I hardly even talk logos anymore. Logos happen when we’re like, we’re ready for a logo, which is fun. It’s funner. To design. It’s funner to reveal. It’s like, they’re just because there’s just so much more gumption behind it, you know?

Heather Pearce Campbell  50:28

Yes. Well, that, you know, experience does wonder from the perspective of identity of a business of their clientele, some people launch and they think this is who I’m going to serve, and they end up serving a completely different audience. Right. And that just takes time to sort out. And so I do love the way that you have made this whole level of design very accessible. And so it’s interesting, because you will often hear designers in the marketplace, and I’m sure you do, as well, to some extent, for some of the quote unquote, template sites that are out there. It’s, it’s like legal for me, if it’s not a fit for your business, it’s not a fit for your business, you know, like a template is not going to serve you. But what you’ve done differently is you’ve created these beautiful, like really customized templates with all of these ways that you can further customize them for a very specific niche. And it’s a niche that you understand the business model for, right. So there’s all of this extra that goes into it. So like even when I talked to other designers, and they’re like, oh, templates suck, blah, blah, but I’m in the back, like, except for my friend, Emilia, you definitely need to go. So if you’re listening, and especially if you’re a little bit newer on your journey, and you’re like, oh my gosh, look, I really want a beautiful site that’s representative of my brand and my work and you’re not yet to the place of having a full custom design. Oh, my gosh, Emilia, is for you all day long and twice on Sunday. So go visit the links, Emilia. I know we’ve totally pushed you on time today. But I would love to know, where do you show up online? And how do you like for people to connect with you?

Emilia Farrace  52:21

Yeah, I just for easiness it’s just launch-it.co. You could type that in and it’ll redirect you to launch-it. So the launch-it.co, you can find me online @emiliadoesstuff. I find that the easiest because I do a lot of things I like I like exploring and I like share about it all on that one account. And those are the two places.

Heather Pearce Campbell  52:48

I love it. I really am showing up. Yeah, I love your Emilia does stuff. And I know that I see your stuff regularly on Instagram. So we’re gonna share those links. Anything else you want us to share? I think you maybe have something for the audience today.

Emilia Farrace  53:05

Yes, I have a little spin Oh, course. Thanks. I know I was sharing it by as like a thank you everyone who’s listening if anyone is interested in checking out our shop. By all means when you go to the launch-it.co just hit on the shop on our main menu and any template that you see their bundle individual template, or even our launch theme, please use the special code. Heather20. I think I set it out as and enjoy 20% off anything in our shop. And we’d love to welcome you into our ecosystem.

Heather Pearce Campbell  53:47

That is so generous, and particularly because you’ve already made that level of design so accessible. So if you’re listening, we will share the details for both the code and the link over to Emilia’s store. Super, super amazing of you, Emilia. What final I feel like us there’s so much more I want to ask you. But what final takeaway or thought would you like to leave people with today?

Emilia Farrace  54:12

I think when you have something that you want to launch into the world, just really think about what it is that you want to do. And lightly how you want to do it, who you want to work with and like get something up there that just allows people to easily connect with you and explore. Don’t wait until everything is perfect. Don’t wait until you have a perfect process from A to Z because you’ll spend ages trying to figure it out and guaranteed it will not actually deliver like that. And just share and just be real with what you want to do an ask. The only way that you’re going to get started and actually launch is to ask someone to work with you. Here. This is my service. I would love to work with you and And here’s how we can get in touch and like, let’s get started. So like with us, you want to get a website up, you want to launch. Just a quick website, you know, please come on and work with us with the launch code. And here is the discount. Heather20. So, yeah, I believe it that just lean into whatever you want to do and explore and launch it.

Heather Pearce Campbell  55:23

Oh, I love it back to the theme and I love your website so much and the name the launch it.co. So launch-it.co. We’re going to share that link and many others, folks, you can find those on the show notes page at legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast look for Emilia’s episode. Emilia, big hugs to you mama, there was so much we didn’t even talk about I feel like there’s going to be around two to this conversation. So I love to. So appreciate you appreciate you sharing all these gems today. I really look forward to connecting again.

Emilia Farrace  55:55

Thanks for having me and have such a wonderful week.

Heather Pearce Campbell  55:59

You too.

GGGB Outro  56:00

Thank you for joining us today on the Guts, Grit and Great Business® podcast. We hope that we’ve added a little fuel to your tank, some coffee to your cup and pep in your step to keep you moving forward in your own great adventures. For key takeaways, links to any resources mentioned in today’s show and more, see the show notes which can be found at www.legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and if you enjoyed today’s conversation, please give us some stars and a review on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast so others will find us too. Keep up the great work you are doing in the world and we’ll see you next week.