226. How can you be creative as a business owner? (f. Promise Tangeman)
Ever feel like being a business owner is more about firefighting than entrepreneurship? 🧯 Instead of ideating, you're stuck managing your inbox for the latest crisis. That's why I'm constantly inspired by today's guest, Promise Tangeman from GoLive. Promise, a good friend of mine, founded the number one agency for Squarespace templates, and I've admired her work for years. Now we're in a mastermind together, and I'm always learning how she scales her business without compromising creativity. Let's get into it. I promise you'll love this episode.
Episode transcription
Phil
Some days being a business owner can feel more like being a firefighter than an entrepreneur. Instead of ideating, you're managing your inbox for the latest fire of the day. That's why I'm constantly inspired by today's guest, Promise Tangeman from GoLive. Promise is my good friend. She founded the number one agency for Squarespace templates, and I have admired her work for literally years.
Now we're in a mastermind together. I'm constantly learning about how she scales her business without compromising on creativity. Let's get into it. I promise you'll love this episode.
Lauren
Your content is so good Promise.
promise
Oh, thank you. Yeah, I'm trying. Working on it.
phil
Let's start this podcast with a compliment for Promise because, for content listener, Promise just got back on the content train. That's the train, right?
promise
Yes. Content train. Oh, it is a train. And sometimes it's moving slow. Sometimes it's moving fast.
lauren
But no wrecks yet.
promise
No, no wrecks. No. No. Thanks to your strategy, guidance, and encouragement. Thank you. I feel like I'm off to a good start.
lauren
I love how playful you're being in your content because you're such a creative person. And I think it makes sense to kind of share your delightfully quirky self with the world while also balancing it with how savvy you are with business.
So I love it.
promise
Good. Well, I only did that because that was an encouragement of you guys. I got an amazing strategy session with Phil and Lauren about my personal brand, and that was super helpful.
phil
Well, it was also fun. I mean, it's, yeah, it's work for us, but at the same time, we had so much, like, vested interest in your brand.
I mean, you already know this, but I've been buying GoLive templates for literally years. I think I sent you a screenshot of all of my GoLive templates. I literally have a library of GoLive templates. Because I told you this, and you'll remember this, I think for a long time, that GoLive templates for me was like continuing education as a Squarespace designer.
promise
That's so cool. I love to hear that.
phil
I would buy your templates to learn how to do new things. And your business savviness would always find one or two things where I couldn't just look at a template and figure out how to do it. I was like, damn, I got to buy this and look at the code. Buy it and look at the code.
lauren
I remember Phil freaking out. Oh, years ago over the five template. Do you remember five?
phil
Oh, yeah. Five was the super flexible Squarespace template that you built the majority of your templates on.
lauren
What was the one that was like a mosaic style?
phil
It was a Squarespace template. However, it was the most customizable, the header. You could do so many different things with the header and Promise you chose five as the, you know, the basis of all the, yeah, as the majority of your templates back in the day.
lauren
But there was one, like, name that the template had that go, I mean, this is probably so boring for the listener, but there was one template that I guess you adapted from Five in particular that Phil was frickin obsessed with.
And it was, like, mosaic style.
phil
That's back in the day. I don't remember the name of it, but it was Yellow Promise. And it was, like, this, like, five or six years ago.
promise
It wasn't Keira Reid.
phil
No. Mm mm. Earlier. I think it was before. I think it was like your third ever template and it was like a bright yellow peach color and it was kind of a mosaic layout.
lauren
Yeah. Maybe it's not even available anymore. It's like vintage.
phil
I'm going to find out by the end of this podcast. So when you hear me not talking, I'm going to be researching on your website.
promise
We have a ton of templates in like what we call the vault. That someone really wants it. We can reach down bigger, find it, but it's not going to be the best quality if you know what I mean.
phil
How do you describe to the average person what you do for a living?
promise
To the average person, it depends if they, if I think they know what like website design is, or even savvy with what marketing is. I say I own, um, a web design agency specializing in Squarespace. If it's someone who I don't think really knows anything about marketing or web design, I would just say I own a tech agency.
lauren
Smart. Love it. Love it. Adapting for your audience.
phil
The name of the website template, the first one I ever bought, was in 2016 and it was called Every Day.
lauren
That's it.
promise
Oh, that was a peachy one.
Lauren
That's the one. And it was, it was using five, right? I remember five because five is my favorite number and Phil also like wouldn't stop talking about it for probably three weeks straight.
He's like, look at how they do this. Oh my God. I love it. Brilliant. Yeah. Anyway,
promise
And that wasn't with any code or anything that was just thinking outside the box, outside the square.
phil
But you make it sound easy and it's not easy. And you've consistently done that with every Squarespace evolution and iteration.
promise
Yeah, well, that's where I feel like the creativity. That's where I love the creativity part is like when you get to know a platform well enough where you know, How can I utilize this feature, but do it in a very unconventional way? I feel like it's like the funnest thing for me in particular. And so I encourage all of our designers too when we're creating new templates, like let's look at the existing features, like what isn't being used on Squarespace very much right now, and how can we utilize it and then use it in a different way, an unexpected way.
Cause I really like limitations. I really feel like I'm most creative when I have limitations and I just think it's so fun.
phil
I'm exactly the same. And that's what has always drawn me to web design is it's entirely based on what you can't do and what you can do. But really like what you can't do comes first.
And so it's like, okay, here's our sandbox. What can I do in this sandbox that's gonna be true to whatever it is I'm trying to represent? And that's why photography has been hugely important for us and trying to capture things and say things differently so that people take notice.
promise
Yeah. Yeah, that's so good.
phil
Remember back in the day, Promise, when we would like, to change the background color on Squarespace, you'd have to save a single pixel of that color and like, upload it as an image? Oh, yeah. Yeah, zoom in really far and it'll fit to a color that you like. Yeah. Screenshot it. That's what we could do.
phil
Sorry, I just remembered that and I had to say it out loud because it's hilarious.
promise
Yes. Hey, I'm all up for a good hack. Oh yeah, absolutely. We were back in 7. 0 Squarespace land on a client project, a client that refuses to upgrade, because obviously she has to pay us to like, you know, facilitate that. She's like, nope, let's just leave it as is. And we got back there and I was like, ooh, these are dark days.
promise
Yeah, all these spacer blocks? Yeah, we got hell on ours. And you really have to finagle those spacer blocks. You do. Because they are unruly. You have to like really maneuver and I had a rule. And you have to game it. You have to game it.
phil
And I think my rule with spacer blocks was drag it in and do not touch it. But if you're gonna touch it, then make it as thin as possible and put two normally. Those are your only choices. The second you start adjusting a spacer block, you will never get it consistent across pages.
promise
Yeah, I would say that was one of our top support questions that people would email in is they could not finagle their Squarespace, um, spacer blocks.
So now that's gone.
lauren
So, listener, for everyone's reference, I was enrolled in a program actually one year ago that GoLive hosted, teaching their system on how to adapt their website in a five days methodology. I met Promise, which was akin to meeting a celebrity, as far as I'm concerned.
I was, I actually messaged Phil in the first Zoom. I was like, OMG, Promise is on this call. I, like, was, like, shocked.
phil
But, um. What's so funny to think about where we are now is I remember Lauren basically pitching to me the idea of us buying your program for us to learn for our own business. And I remember thinking, God, should I do that?
I mean, I've been buying templates, but not even like sometimes secretly, because if I buy a template, it'll save the client hours to develop and create and try. Right. And so, but that in the early days, I didn't even disclose that I would buy a template that I would normally even get a get two or three and like be inspired by page layouts and stuff was more how I would approach it. But then I was like god should I buy this like business program from technically a competitor?
That feels weird. Like, how funny is it to think that that's where I was mentally a year ago? And now look at us.
promise
Yeah, I know. And I remember has, I am usually the one that goes through all the template purchases and finds the cool sites to feature out of all of our customers. And I would owe it. This is before I knew who you were and was in your community and all that.
And I would see this Phil Pallen guy and I was like, Okay, but he'd always leave it blank what the website is going to be for. And I was like, What? I can't ever see. I'm sure this guy is creating like the coolest things.
phil
He keeps buying things, but I don't see them.
promise
Yeah. I love it. It makes sense now that it was more for education and inspiration and, and all that.
lauren
So one of my favorite things that we discussed on the call was actually the evolution of you, your business and GoLive on our very, I think it was the first call actually, there is this like beautiful timeline that you all presented showing the evolution of, you know, going from what was your original agency name?
It had your name in it.
promise
It was Promise Tangeman Creative. Yes. Yeah.
phil
It was Phil Pallen Creative back in the day. Hey, talk to me.
lauren
There we go. So going from PTC and I guess PPC to go live. And so the listener knows this by now, but I am leaving PPC to focus on my side venture. And it's really created, I think, great discussions between Phil and me to further innovate his agency.
So it's not, dependent on me, and it's also more aligned with what Phil wants to do without me, you know, influencing any of those decisions. And I guess for what I'm really interested in learning Promise from you today is, how did you make the decision to actually hire someone to work with GoLive? Like, what was the, was there like a catalyst or a moment where you were like, I need someone else to take over this?
Did you have too much work? Were you thinking strategically about where you wanted your business to go? Like, what was happening there?
promise
Yeah, I would say all those things, actually. So back when I had Promise Tangent and Creative, I was one of the first, I wouldn't say the first, I was just active on social media.
And at that time, this was back in 2010, there really wasn't a lot of female graphic and web designers. And so I just had a ton of work of people who were other females wanting a feminine touch on their websites. And I got a lot of inquiries and felt overwhelmed. And so my first hire was Sheerly out of overwhelm.
And I know my strengths and my strengths is not to, I'm just not very quick to get back to clients and customers. I'm slow at email. Cause I'm stuck in my creative hole, if you will. And I feel like I thrive better in that, like, um, creative hibernation zone. And I really wanted. My clients to have a good experience working with me and I knew that speed and overcommunication was something that was like really important to me.
And so my first hire was with Promise Tangent and Creative and it was an assistant role in really on the side of like answering emails and client onboarding and all of that, but it was out of just sheer overwhelm. Like I can't do this on my own and this is not where I thrive. And I'm actually like, this part of my business is really draining me.
And then to just like take it to the next place. So then I had this other template company called SiteHouse. So Promise Tangent and Creative was like all custom stuff. And then SiteHouse was really templated designs on a web platform that I was using at the time. It was ShowIt. I was one of the first designers for ShowIt and the first template shop for ShowIt, it was called SiteHouse.
And then I started doing these workshops where my team and I, so I had an assistant at the time, and then I had some designers that were friends in my industry. And I said, hey, let's do a workshop, like a two day in person workshop where people could come from all over and we'll help our customers build a website in two days using our template.
And we did it like as a classroom setting and we called it Go Live. And I fell in love with the concept of going live quickly. And there was just so much buzz in the atmosphere in those two days of seeing people who felt like they couldn't do their own website, but then they blocked it off on their calendar, took a flight, got a hotel, like wanted to be in the room to learn and do things as a group together.
And that really inspired the next iteration of the business, which is Go Live. Cause I was like, there's nothing I love more than going live quickly with someone's website and all the momentum and excitement that comes with helping people like literally launch their dreams because when your website is live, that's when it actually feels real.
That's when your business actually feels real. And so it was just a really cool moment that I wanted to capture. And so that really, was the next iteration.
phil
You are jogging my memory I remember now when you used to do those like girl meetups that were basically like make your website I forgot about that, but I remember like the photos of you documenting that and having the upcoming dates in Newport, etc
prom ise
Yeah, yeah, we did tour we did like Nashville. Yeah, Colorado and Washington it was really fun Not that profitable, but really fun.
lauren
You know, it's interesting because even in the example you brought up with the go live in person workshops and making your first hire. You do this amazing, amazing thing, maybe you are or are not aware of, but you make decisions based on your values and what's important to you, and then you also make decisions based on what brings you energy.
It's clear to me that you love coming up with ideas and trying things out and getting your hands in there and working things and seeing what happens. You don't have energy being kind of the front lines of customer service. And I just think that's so, it just is very, it demonstrates the high level of self awareness that you have, which I think is critical for business, you know?
promise
Yeah. Well, and I think for years I thought, am I not meant to lead a team because I am not, I'm just going to like, just say it. I don't feel like I'm that great at leading people, you know, it takes a lot to like motivate different people and nurture relationships and cultivate who they want to be and all of that.
And I feel like I am more excited about the ideas and what we can do together than I am about, you know, signing off on people's vacation requests and like doing that kind of stuff. It's just not meant for me. And for a while, I had guilt and shame about that. Like I am not meant to be a leader of an organization because I'm not good at that.
And then I had to realize I can hire people that are good at that. And I don't have to be good at that. Like I should just find my own lane of genius and not apologize for being in that position, or if I'm not the type of leader that people are expecting or want, I just tell them I'm not that type of leader.
And if that's something they want, then like, we're probably not the organization to work for. But I have found that it's important to me to find out what I'm not good at and then hire, hire those types that can cultivate team that can be the resource and support that sometimes I can't just cause I'm not wired that way.
lauren
So smart.
phil
And just like strong self awareness.
lauren
Yeah. And I do think you are a good leader, just for the record, from, I've seen the way that you like, interact with your team, I see the way that you show up online, and It's just so funny how we all have our kind of hang ups in areas that we're self conscious of.
But I, like, absolutely think you're a leader. You're a creative one at that, but I don't know. It's just fascinating.
promise
Thanks. Yeah. I know. I think sometimes we have a picture of what it should, what we think it should be in our mind. I'm like, oh, I'm not that. Like, oh. Well, how can I make it my own and still accomplish our goals and nurture the people around you?
phil
We had a very good laugh about this when I met you in real life finally. You are not what I was expecting. I thought, I don't know why, I just thought from consuming you for so many years online that you were gonna be not as like easygoing and carefree and goofy in a really endearing, lovable way. And I was like, I called Lauren after we had spent a day together in New York with Becca Harpain, bless her heart, I was like, Promise is so goofy and I love her.
I know. I thought, I didn't know if, I thought you were going to be mean or you were going to be, had an ego or like. I don't know, I had made all that up in my head, I guess. And then met you in real life, I was like, Oh my God, she's so silly. But like, I'm also silly. And like, we're just, you know, and we just, we were in New York, and we just talked for hours.
We sat there for hours. We, you and I could have literally sat there for eight hours and not even be interrupted and continue to just like brainstorm. And what about this? And, oh yeah, like, so funny.
promise
Totally. Well, and I think that goes back to, you know, how you guys were encouraging me to show up on socials too, to show more of who I am, and I think that's a, that's something that I've always known that I should do, but I guess, like, I thought I was doing that until you guys pointed out no, you're not. You, how we're perceiving you online isn't how you are, and I think sometimes when I would think to showcase, I don't know, I don't really, I don't even know, like, I guess I just wasn't, wasn't aware that there was part of my life that I wasn't showing, or personality.
phil
You're also so close to it. You're so close to that. It's your personality, and I always remind people, the way that you hear your own voice is very different than how someone else hears your voice. They are not inside your body. It sounds different. I sometimes sit here, and talk, and do a voiceover, and then I play it back, and I'm like, that is so weird, because that, that, I point to the speaker, that does not sound like how that sounds.
I think that to myself, but I know how to speak in a way to make it sound like how I want it to sound, but it's not how I hear it. It's just one of those things.
promise
And I think that's so important in even branding ourselves as designers. Like when you're a designer, I think it's actually really good to have another agency brand you. And I know, I feel like a lot of agencies feel like that would be not aligned with like what they should do as designers.
Like, oh no, we should design ourselves if that's what, but even to get consulting, to get coaching, to get, a rebrand by someone else who can look at what you're doing and help you articulate what you do, is so helpful because you're right. We get so stuck in our heads and I'm, I'm even to the place where, you know, I have a website template shop, a Squarespace template shop, and I'm wondering what are people actually like, we're, we're thinking about through our FAQs on our website, what are people actually asking, you know, like when someone comes to our website now, cause I've been doing this for years, What do they know and what do they not know?
What kind of info do they need help with? And that's where it's just super helpful to get other people's opinions and observations and and feedback. Whether from designers or non designers, but in this case, I think it's just so helpful to get branded by somebody else.
phil
I could not agree more. That was my first gift to myself after my first year of successful business.
I figured out, okay, I made not a lot of money, but I made enough money to like call this a job. I saved up more money than I had ever spent on any one thing in my life, which was, I think, $2,000. And I hired an agency in Dallas that was just like two guys, you remember that? Uh, Foundry Collective, they were called.
They do not exist anymore. I loved their style, and I hired them to do my logo. And I was like, I kind of feel guilty and weird doing this, but I really just want to see from someone I admire, how this can be done will, I'll have great branding, but it will also inspire my own process. And it was from that interaction that they said, Phil, what's your title?
This is so embarrassing. But at the time I called myself a social media designer. Cause like I was trying to just do everything, you know? And they were like, um, we think you're actually more than that. It seems like you're a brand strategist. And I was like, Oh, that's good. No one ever gave me permission to use that title, but.
I'm going to start using it. And that's what I've used ever since. And that all came from just like that experience of seeing how other people work, but I think we are that mirror for our clients also promise you are that mirror. When you're taking someone through the website process, you are holding up a mirror and saying, here's what we see in here and the beauty of your process of what's so unique.
And also. Let me just say you are the one that innovated that. There are other people that do, you know, websites on a certain timeline, but that was you. You have always been at the forefront of innovative ways to do Squarespace website, be it templates or be it amazing websites on a timeline. I also think you are proof of how important it is to focus in business.
There are lots of template sellers out there, and I feel like every day there's more templates, but like, trust me. I've been buying and investigating templates for over a decade, because it's how I've learned to become better as a designer myself, and you are the best your templates are the best. And every template you create is a little bit better a little bit better and your business is proof that it is rewarding to focus on one thing and do one thing well. And I've said to Lauren, you know, I'm at the point in this business where I do a lot of different things. And while I love websites, oh, I love it because I feel like Picasso bringing all these elements together for the first time that we've spent so much time building separately, it is not the one thing that I do. And therefore, I think templates and I think focused agencies like yours are better.
Quite frankly, you're better because it's what you do and it's what you specialize in and every time you create, be it for a client or a template, it gets that much better.
promise
When you just focus on one thing, that creates a room to like only investigate and research and learn that one thing.
And then you very quickly become the expert at that one thing, which allows you to charge more. Just plain and simple. You know, when people are doing everything, they don't necessarily are experts at any one thing. And that's really what customers, when they're looking for something, they're looking for an expert in that one thing thing that they're looking for.
phil
Even you going to the FAQs on your own website being like, what's missing here after a decade of doing this is kind of hilarious to me, but it is, it, like, it shows that you are curious and that you are business savvy and almost like business humble in that it's kind of like, what, what do I still not know, even though I've been doing this for a while?
promise
Well, and I think you have to revisit it at times because, From when we started templates, a lot has changed and there's been a, like what you just said, a lot of other template sellers have started selling and maybe even doing things more innovative because they're doing it for the first time now. And maybe they see something that a template shop like mine doesn't see because we've been doing it for so long.
So I think you get comfortable in your business and then it's time to change because you have to innovate. And I really think that's the key to staying at the forefront of innovation with business. It was being a business owner is if you get too comfy, then you're probably going to plateau soon. And for a while I struggled with that.
Like I felt so stressed out just feeling like, why does my business always feel like it's in transition and why do I feel like my goal for, for, for whatever reason was just to feel like at ease and to feel like in a flow with my business. And at some point I realized, I think we can get there to a certain point, but when you get there and you're completely comfortable, that's not where you want to be because you always want to be changing and innovating and shifting.
That's how you're going to stay at the front. So I think that feeling, after I learned that feeling was actually a good thing, I feel like then I was able to just step into that even more.
lauren
I also love how I feel like even that FAQ example, it's proof of how when you have focus and you have headspace on your headspaces is centered on like one thing, you can go deeper instead of wider.
And that's how you can ultimately be better at what you do. Something that's been always so challenging for PPC is clients all have very, very different needs, and they don't like being put into a box with a particular service. They want to feel that something is completely custom for them, and it's tough to say no to money.
Like, it's really, really tough, and it's just something that I know Phil and I have been working through for, like, years. Years, every single time we say like no more custom quotes, it's like basically a guarantee from the universe that within the week we'll get like five requests from like amazing clients from the past.
promise
Oh my gosh, yeah. Yeah, those custom quotes will take you a while. Yeah, they're pretty tough.
phil
Do you have any tips with hiring? Oh. All the tips, please. Truth is, I haven't had to hire a lot of people over the years, because we've stayed small, and each person that we've hired typically does two or three things.
Lauren is a great example, and now we're in a position. Well, we've been doing this for months. Thankfully, she told me far enough ahead. I've known for a while and just been keeping it secret. Actually, and for the record, the first person I called after Lauren gave me her news address. Was promise literally immediately after I said, promise help because you had gone through something similar about six months prior.
promise
Oh yeah. I mean, I have a lot to say about hiring just cause I've done it a lot and been in business a long time now. I would say the first thing is if someone is making the first hire and they're not sure where to hire, like I just had a conversation with this about, with, about this with Becca yesterday.
My first thing is, and I know it sounds very tedious, but it's to write down everything that you're doing in your business. And I know it sounds silly, but to time track how long things are taking you to do certain tasks, because as a business owner, you know, you've probably heard the quote that says something about like, you don't want to continue to work in your business, you want to work on your business. And I'm always like, I don't understand like, what does that mean? But it basically means like, stop acting like an employee, stop doing urgent things in your business and start to look at it as like, if this business has to function on its own, who do you hire and what kind of systems do you put into place to actually make it run?
So like taking yourself out of the equation, like what does your business look like? And so when you're able to put everything down on paper and you know, you're assigning different time, different time limits to different things that you're taking to do things that you're able to see how long are things actually taking me and what tasks are taking me the longest to do.
And then look at that list and figure out. Now, which tasks need my special sauce in particular? Because not all tasks need your special sauce. So for instance, back in my business example, like my special sauce was not getting back to people quickly on email or sending quotes to people or invoices. And that does not need my special sauce at that time.
My special sauce was doing the actual design work, which is why clients were coming to us. So if I could just stay in my zone of genius and just create designs, that's where my sweet spot is going to be. So if I could hire people to support me to just do that all day long, then we could take on more work.
So figure out what's that area of genius. What's the thing that only you can do and then start to hire people around you to support you in doing that.
lauren
It's hard to know what that is. It's really tough to figure that out when you're used to kind of doing it all.
promise
Yeah. I mean, I would also say though, sometimes the things you're really good at bring you a lot of joy.
YSo what in your day brings you joy? And it's going to change in every season, which is crazy because back then that was a thing that, that was my special sauce, sauce was actually doing the design work. Now that I have a team, I'm not, I'm rarely doing the actual design work. So what is my special sauce now?
The team grows and shifts and changes and you know, I have to re evaluate that every season. So that would be my first place to start in hiring.
lauren
And then when you interview people, are there any kind of green flags or red flags that you look for?
promise
Um, it definitely depends on the people I'm hiring for work.
Someone gave me a really great tip and I wouldn't say it's like right or wrong, but it would just, it's been great for me. And the tip was like hire the get shit done people as like your core team. And then hire out contract more of the creative talent, because when you try to get the creative talent to do some of the admin work that you need to run a successful business, it's hard to make that transition in that leap, you're going to be like nagging them and things, it just might not get done.
But if you can put people in their sweet spots, and I feel like that's been so helpful for me in hiring. So who am I going to put around me? That we can really take on the world together. And then her project or whatever we're working on, we can find the right creative talent to support whatever we need to get done.
And I feel like that's been like the best puzzle for us. Um, and all, that's where all the pieces come together. Is that, is that structure?
lauren
Oh my God, that's so brilliant. I don't know about you, Phil, but like this light bulb just went off in my head hearing that. I was like, Oh, that's why this hasn't worked.
phil
Yeah. We've been talking about it. And so that's why I'm saying it's so funny. We went one year ago. I was like, Ooh, should I buy this thing from GoLive? Even though they're a competitor to now, like Promise, we text basically every day. We'd like, what trip should we go on next? We're in a mastermind together.
We're going to New York again later this year. You're going, right? Square Space Circle day, you're going to go? Yeah. Sure. If you're going, I'm going. If you're going, I'm going. Becca's going, we're going. Yeah. Um, but it is true.
promise
Yeah. And I would say like another tip would be figure out what position you want to hire for, and then really write down everything that you think that person would need to do and like people like they thrive on clarity. If you hire someone and you're not really exactly sure what they're going to be doing, they're going to be asking you all the time. Hey, where's this? What can I do for this? And you're like, Oh, I just hired you to do that. But they don't really know.
Like, it's just no clarity there.
One thing my team, well, I've found it as a high value. And so I've encouraged my team and they've just totally ran with this was that we need to create a manual for every, job description that we have and that's such a great starting place. So, when you're looking to hire somebody, think about the repeatable tasks that happen on a regular basis and write all of those repeatable tasks down and the system that it takes to do those.
Like we just created a very simple Google doc and literally have tutorials and pictures, literally screenshots of how to do things. So when someone, if we hire someone's new job, sure, we'll train them. But then we give them this document, and if you have any questions, visit the document, figure out how it works, and then you can ask us.
And then once that person feels comfortable and confident in their role, then they can expand and do things that weren't on their original list. But to, as, as you're hiring your first or second employee or contractor, whoever's going to support you, you really need to take stuff off of your plate. And so to take things off of your plate, having that very specific manual and those very specific repeatable tasks for them to do, is really going to take that time off your plate and you're not going to have to micromanage or you're not going to feel like you have to delegate all the time like. One thing I hear so often is, you know, I want someone to do this for me, but then by the time I explain it to them and show them how to do it, I should have just done it myself.
But if you say, Hey, I want you to do this a hundred times, like I'm going to document this process. I'm going to teach it to you once you can revisit this and sure, it's going to take a long, it might take you a few hours to put together this manual, but it's going to save you 50 hours in the next month or so, or less than that, a couple of weeks, because they're going to be the ones doing it.
So I think it's worth the time it is. It's worth the time to document everything.
Lauren
And it also ultimately helps you stay in your zone of genius in the long run, which is The end goal. Yes.
promise
Yes. For sure.
lauren
Oh, you're so smart, Promise.
phil
That's what I love about Promise. She's like lovable and sweet and then just like, just like zaps with this business acumen.
Just like zap, like a little, you know?
lauren
What's the more, the more that you were thinking?
promise
Yeah, the more, the more I would have. Okay, so.
phil
Do you see how that Promise and I can sit for eight hours straight? Do you see? This is how. I know. Well, this is just me blabbing on over here. Yeah.
promise
Yeah. If you have like a already established brand and you have like fan people, I would say it's not in your best interest.
And I say this knowing that we have also done this and sometimes we do this, but it's not in your best interest to post the job description to your own community. And that's because I have found that when I hire people that, Oh, they've been a big fan of go live for, you know, 10 years or so. What I have found that is that they have more selfish interest into learning our process and learn exactly what we do.
And then going off and doing their own thing. Then they do like actually sticking with us and wanting to be a part of the team. So I have found a lot of luck in asking around, who do you know? Here's what I'm looking for. Creating that job description, having some of the example tasks and then sending it around to people.
Like I literally did that. Last week and had two interviews this week and I hired a girl this morning. So using that same, like I reached out, I reached out to Christie Price. I reached out to, um, Christine reached out to several people in our, um, Squarespace community. And then, um, Christie had someone right away.
She's like, oh, this person would be awesome for that.
phil
I was texting with Christie five minutes ago. And, uh, right before this podcast interview, I was interviewing Will Myers.
promise
Amazing. Hello. We're all friends. Yeah. And so I feel like first stop is who, like, reach out to the people who you think might know somebody.
And then after that start, you know, peeling back the layers on where you post the job description and all that.
lauren
So smart. Brilliant. You're amazing.
promise
I've just, I've just had lots of failures. I learned from them. No, but I like how your brain works. Our brain works in similar ways. I think about I am always preaching the importance of time tracking.
And just like, you know, making sure you're accountable for where your time goes. We've believed in that for so many years. What is something that you're excited about right now? What are you excited about this year? Could be related to websites, could be related to business growth. What are you just excited about?
promise
Well, I just moved to Georgia for those that don't know, um, from California. I lived in California, like almost all my life. And then moved to Georgia this last summer. And I have noticed in my story that any time I move, I end up starting a new business. I don't know what it is, like maybe just a new, a new, a restart or just something that jogs my mind and my heart and like, huh, I want to start something new.
And that happened. So when I moved to Arizona from Washington, that's when I started Promise Tangent Creative. And then when I moved from Arizona to California, that's when I started Go Live. And then now moving from California to here, I'm like, hmm. What's next? So I have this vision of, like, go live running well, like a well oiled machine, and I would be involved in it still.
Be bringing, you know, strategy and advice and thoughts and stuff, like, on a weekly basis. Definitely be involved. But I would love to free up my time and have a solid enough team where I feel like I can explore some other fun initiatives, maybe a new business. That's what I'm excited about.
phil
I love it. Well, maybe I'll put this as a little tease, but we are exploring ways in which we can collaborate because I really strongly believe that you guys are the best at Squarespace websites.
And I'm just excited about a future that involves more focus on education. You know, your templates have been so amazing for me, not just in learning, but also just bringing website projects to life quicker. And those kinds of constraints we talked about, I'm just a huge believer in them. And so, stay tuned, folks.
We have exciting things that we're cooking up. Where can people get more from you? Promise.
At our website, golivehq.co, not dot com, dot co is our website. Go, @golivehq on Instagram, @promisetangeman on Instagram. And you can sign up for our, if you sign up for our freebie, you can end up on our email list.
Which is great.
phil
It's a good freebie.
lauren
And a good email list, I love all of your emails.
promise
Yeah, thanks. Thank you.
lauren
Well, you're the best. Thank you so much, Promise for hanging out with us on Brand Therapy.
promise
Oh my gosh, thanks for having me.
