Courtney Buel

I took the Squarespace Design Course and one of the biggest things I learned was that it’s okay not to know something. Embracing that knowledge gap and using it as a chance to keep learning was huge for me. I also love how the course encourages you to explore—even if you go down a rabbit hole with the inspect tool or CSS. Whether you get it right or not, you’re still learning, and that’s what really matters. It's all about embracing the journey!

Here are a few of my favorite things about the course: First off, the entertainment value was spot on—I loved how the curriculum was structured, and getting to feel like I was learning 1:1 with Puno by my side was amazing. Diving into the coding side of things and discovering how much customization you can do with CSS was so satisfying. There's nothing quite like popping in some code and seeing your design idea come to life! The custom site build, though daunting and a lot of work, was actually one of my favorite parts. It taught me so much about troubleshooting and really boosted my confidence in offering this new skill to future clients. I could practically feel the doors of opportunity opening the more I got into it. Plus, the Discord community has been such a great resource—it's reassuring to know that I have a whole community of fellow designers to reach out to as I dive deeper into my freelance career.

Good things will come your way! I used to worry that the web design market was too saturated and that no one would want to work with me. But after diving in fully, I realized the opposite is true. If you invest the time and focus (it takes a lot!) into this course, it will pay off, and there will be people eager to work with you. Don’t be afraid to put your design work out there and keep practicing your skills—what you might see as 'meh' could be a huge 'wow' to someone else. And most importantly, remember to be kind to yourself!

So many goodies! But the top highlights are an enhanced sense of confidence as a designer, finally finding a web platform that works for me (and that I know future clients will enjoy using), and most excitingly, it's landed me my first real-life web design clients!

Honestly, this course was exactly what I needed to jumpstart my freelance web design business. It gave me an incredible foundation, and I’m so excited to see where things go from here! If you ever consider adding to the course, I’d love to see more lessons on advanced coding features, like those in the Standout Squarespace Course, or maybe a section on how to sell Squarespace templates. But truly, everything has been amazing, and I'm so grateful to be part of the ilovecreatives community! Time to start saving up for my next course investment, hehe 🙃