Website Designer Spotlight with Samantha and Rachel of Northfolk & Co

If you want a website designer who is walking to the beat of their own drum – you’ve found two here! Behind the creative duo of Northfolk & Co are two website designers who don’t prescribe to the usual fanfare of inspiration. Through Samantha and Rachel’s years of business, they have learned that systems and tools are the things that make the difference between a successful creative career or struggling side-hustle. While the designers know how to get the job done well, they also know where to find the balance and tuck in some fun. Here’s a little Website Designer Spotlight with Samantha and Rachel of Northfolk & Co.

Website Design Specialty?

Building templates.

Location?

Alaska and Colorado

Years in Business?

7 years in business together, 10 years individually.

When did you first feel the creative itch?

We both come from a huge family of artists and have always had the creative itch.

When did you realize you wanted to (or could) pursue a creative career away from your original career path?

We both started in photography and in the process of working in our own businesses, we transitioned to web design. A big push was having kids at home and transitioning to something that didn’t pull us away for client sessions.

Best advice for those just starting on their own as a website designer?

Our best advice after nearly a decade in business is to systemize – and don’t try to do everything.

What’s something you wished you had learned sooner?

How much we loved Showit. 🙂

For years we actually designed for different platforms, but struggled with the fact that it didn’t come easy for our clients. With Showit, we are able to hand a site over, knowing that someone has complete control over one of their most powerful business tools.

What’s something you are still learning?

We are learning to better systemize. A big part of this is learning to let go of control.

Are there any creatives that influenced you? How did they influence your thinking, design, and career path?

I wouldn’t say that we have been directly influenced by specific creatives.

We got into template building after seeing the passive income abilities while designing for other platforms nearly a decade ago.

As far as design, we are more influenced by lifestyles and primarily minimalism and Scandinavian design. We try to look in the more unordinary places for inspiration like architecture and books for typography.

How does social media play a role in your website design business?

Honestly social media is a pain point for us. We are the definition of “post and ghost.”

People have actually reached out to us asking us to teach based off our success WITHOUT using social media. Over the past decade, we have been fortunate to have built our business mostly by word of mouth.

When creating a business, most people focus on ___A___,when it’s more helpful to focus on ___B___

How did you find out about Showit?

We’ve always known about Showit because we started out as photographers, and Showit caters to photographers. This year is our first year exclusively designing with Showit – a choice we made so that we could finally hand a website over to a client and know they can maintain it.

Has it changed anything about how your business runs?

While we have never had the opportunity to attend Showit United, we kicked off 2020 down in Cabo with Showit and 15 other top website designers. It was an absolutely amazing time and we couldn’t be more thankful to be part of such an awesome community of designers.

More About the Website Designer Behind the Business…

What kinds of books do you like to read when you have the chance?

Sam is all about “who has time for reading” unless it’s anything related to blog posts or courses to better our business. Rachel is totally into escaping into fiction daily.

If podcasts are your jam, whatcha been listening to?

Podcasts don’t happen to be our jam BECAUSE we are too busy rocking out to classic 80’s tunes while we work!

If you had all the money in the world to spend on one piece of art, what would you buy?

Definitely an original Byron Birdsall!

Favorite quote?

“Perfectionism is a slow death; it will kill your skill, your spark, your art and eventually, your soul. Ideals are a guide. Let your heart do the rest.” (excerpt from essay here)

Any last pieces of advice you could share?

Try not to get stuck in analysis paralysis. We find that if we get too much in our heads we will let an idea or goal fall to the wayside and let the opportunity pass.

There you have it. Proof that you can be an utterly inspired creative, and run a reliable and organized business. So turn up your 80s jams like Sam and Rachel! Then go see what else this ridiculously talented website designer duo are up to. You can see their work on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and of course, their very own custom Showit site at Northfolk.co

P.S. Find more of Norfolk & Co’s amazing designs that you can customize on Showit over here.