Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lauren McEnaney. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Lauren, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
From a young age, I loved to be creative and crafty. I loved making jewelry, learned how to sew, and created picture books and magazines. In high school, I was the yearbook editor, losing myself in hours and hours of page design and editing. However, I was never “the best” at these creative arts. It would take me twice as long as others to finish projects in my art classes. One of my brothers was a real artist, going to architecture school. One of my best friends was beautifully gifted at art and became an art teacher. When I compared myself to them, I didn’t feel like a true creative. I loved it and had fun, but my “real” talents were organization, project management and working with people.
In college, I built upon my love of languages and cultures and switched from magazine journalism to international studies. I developed an interest in helping others and began my career working with students in higher education. I still sewed and painted as a hobby, and this worked for a while. However, it never quite felt totally right, like I was sort of living in my purpose but not really.
Fast forward to the joyous birth of my first child. It was a special love that no one can prepare you for, and as I returned to full-time work, I found myself constantly Googling part-time professional jobs, flexible jobs, remote jobs…anything that would give me back more time with my child in her early years. After a couple of years, I learned about working as a freelancer.
With the support of my spouse and after having a second child, I decided that freelancing would be a great way to be available to my children while continuing to have a career and support my family. After working as a marketing virtual assistant for a few years, I fell in love with web design. I pursued additional education in web design and found that I could help others while getting to be creative and using my organizational skills.
As a third-generation entrepreneur, I also realized that I love the freedom and flexibility of being my own boss. I can’t imagine going back to working in a traditional work setting. And, just like seeing my students succeed in my former career, my greatest success is the success stories of my clients.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I love helping heart-centered women entrepreneurs showcase their expertise and brand in custom SquareSpace website designs. Whether it’s their first website or they DIY’ed their first website and need to uplevel their branding, I want their voice, passion and personality to shine on their website. For me, getting to combine the technology and the creativity in designing a website is a dream job. I also love using the SquareSpace platform for it’s affordability and ease of use, so that my clients can easily maintain their finished websites themselves, if desired.
Something new I’m doing this year is free website audits. If you sign up on my website, I will give you free website advice on what’s going well and what you could change to improve your website’s performance.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The 3 qualities that were most impactful in my journey were courage, persistence, and a service mindset. It has taken courage to believe in myself to become an entrepreneur. As I am not a traditionally trained web designer, I have had to rely on my persistence to continually learn and improve upon my skills and my craft, as well as put myself out there to gain clients. With a service mindset, I lean into my natural inclination to be as helpful as possible to others. This mindset allows me to be aligned with one of my core values of integrity. I am truly happiest when my clients share their success stories. Their success is my success.
My advice to those who are early in their journey is to simply start taking action towards what you want to accomplish, whether it’s learning web design or becoming a copywriter or anything else, even if you don’t have a formal education in that “thing.” You just have to believe in the process and dive in. It will be messy and uncomfortable and frustrating at times, but if you keep going and persist, then you will become what you set out to be. If you keep serving others’ and solving their problems at the center of your business, then you will be unstoppable.
Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
My ideal client is a woman business owner/entrepreneur who may have a small team or may be a solopreneur. She is transforming her clients’ lives in some way, whether it’s through coaching, consulting, speaking and/or the services she provides. She knows who she wants to serve, how to serve them and is an expert at what she does. She’s growing in her business but her current branding/website no longer match the business owner she is today from where she started. She also no longer has time to DIY anything. She’s ready to invest in an expert to design the website of her business now and where it’s going. She also doesn’t want to solely rely on social media to promote her business. She is likely a mom and likes to work with and support other mom business owners. She is driven by serving her clients, supporting her family, and living a freedom-filled life.
Contact Info:
- Website:www.elleelaine.com
- Instagram: @elleelainedesign
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-mcenaney-elle-elaine/
Image Credits
Kate Mundo
