Justin Verrall and Amanda Aitken are the husband and wife duo behind The Girl’s Guide to Web Design, an online course that teaches women to unleash their creativity on the web. What was the inspiration behind their business? Find out in today’s YEDaily…
Elevator Pitch: Describe your business in a nutshell.
The Girl’s Guide to Web Design is an online course that teaches women to unleash their creativity on the web by learning to design and code totally unique WordPress blogs and sites.
Why did you start your business, what was the inspiration?
Amanda: I wanted to empower women to wake up to magical new possibilities through learning web design. So many people have such great entrepreneurial ideas, but they never get those ideas off the ground because of the cost and fears associated with hiring a designer/developer. By learning web and graphic design skills yourself (choosing a program that will teach you in a fun, non-intimidating way), you’re giving yourself the gift of an awesome new creative outlet AND the possibility of a whole new income stream – or even a different career. That’s really what I hoped to see by launching The Girl’s Guide to Web Design: a bunch of ladies being able to quit their jobs to do what they love – whether that’s running an online business without needing to pay a “web guy” to do it or designing sites for other people as a full-fledged web designer.
What is the best part of what you do on a day-to-day basis? The most challenging part?
Justin: The best part is watching these women develop and implement a new and powerful skill set. We’ve even seen several of our students leave their jobs to run their online enterprises full time. Giving someone the tools and the know-how to do that is extremely rewarding. Also, being able to work from anywhere and more importantly, with Amanda, is pretty great.
Amanda: The most challenging part of running the business is probably forcing ourselves to unplug every once in a while! When you’re this passionate about what you’re doing, it can be hard to tear yourself away from the students and all your ideas for empowering even more women across the world.
Where do you see your business going in 5 years?
Justin: Aside from our Level 2 Girl’s Guide to Web Design course that’s currently in the works, we’re excited to develop The Guy’s Guide to Web Design. We’ve had quite a few men enroll in The Girl’s Guide, so we realized there’s a demand for a course of this nature aimed at dudes.
Amanda: We also want to start offering live events that will teach women branding, web and graphic design in a fun “getaway” format.
What does success look like to you?
Justin: Success to me is feeling like you’re making a difference every day. I also think that empowering people to be successful on their own is a success in itself.
What is the most memorable milestone in your career?
Justin: Probably leaving my corporate job of nine years to come on board full time with Amanda. Although it’s not necessarily a milestone yet, I’m confident that it will be in the not so distant future.
Amanda: For me, it was the moment I opened registration for The Girl’s Guide to Web Design, in the summer of 2011. I had taken three full months off of my web design work to create the course, and I really poured my heart and soul into it, so it was exhilarating to open the floodgates and watch the first wave of students sign up.
Do you have any advice for other young professionals?
Amanda: Be flexible. When you start a business (especially an online business), know that that business will evolve and change over time – and that’s OK. You don’t need to 100% stick to the exact thing you initially set out to do. Entrepreneurship is one of the most powerful journeys of personal and spiritual development that you can possibly embark on, and you need to leave some wiggle room in your business for all that change and growth to unfold the way it’s meant to.
Do you support any charities? If so, which one(s) and why is that important to you?
Justin: We do! We sponsor a little girl in Vietnam through Plan Canada, and we also contribute to Oxfam and Surfers for Cetaceans.
What is Notable to you?
Amanda: Anything that represents a new approach. Products and services that challenge the status quo, and inspire people to express themselves more fully in their lives.
Blackberry, iPhone, Android, or Other?
Justin: Our work arsenal includes two Windows 7 Ultrabooks and two iPad 2s. Being that we’re currently travelling the world, we’ve ditched our iPhone and Android phones in favour of Skype.
How do you keep active, energetic, and vibrant?
Amanda: we try to work outside as much as possible, which is such an awesome alternative to any indoor office space! We also like to run and hike together, and Justin is about to revive his surfing activities now that we’re in Hawaii and headed to New Zealand in a few weeks.