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[100] When the Answers Get Easier, What Makes You Valuable? · ThinkInsideTheSquare

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: You are listening to episode 100 of Think Inside the Square.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Think Inside the Square is a podcast for Squarespace users where I, Becca Harpain, love to share tips and tricks for helping you create a website that's uniquely yours.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I never thought I would reach 100 episodes of my podcast.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it is pretty cool that we're here.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now I could sit back and do a highlight reel or maybe talk about some of my favorite people that I interviewed, but forget that.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what we're talking about in this episode.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: For a transcript, visit insithesquare.co forward slash podcast.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: And for a link to any resources that I'll mention, visit insidesquare.co forward slash podcast.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: One more important note, the term Squarespace is a trademark of Squarespace Incorporated, and this content is not affiliated with or endorsed by Squarespace Incorporated.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: I know I just said that I don't want to talk about the past, but I do realize I've got one quick little piece I want to share with you so we can truly talk about the future.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: We've got to set the scene, okay?
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I want you to think back to 2019, oh so long ago, when the world was very different.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was sitting there in my living room looking for more web design clients because I hadn't been hired for a couple of months and I had a mortgage to pay.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I decided to share one of my favorite Squarespace CSS tricks in a video.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: I put it out there on the internet and I hoped that someone watching this video would say, Whoa, that's a cool code trick.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: I better hire her to help me on my project.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that didn't exactly happen.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: But quite a few people did comment with, whoa, that was a cool code trick.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have any more?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And lucky for them, I sure did.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I had a massive Google Doc that was full of random little code snippets that I had written over the years for different client projects.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I started making a video for each one of those code snippets, and I took that code collection and I cleaned it up and put it in a PDF that I started to sell.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that business basically built itself.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Someone needed to find a super specific answer.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: They'd find my content.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: If they found me more than once and they liked my stuff, they'd usually go about purchasing the one thing that I had to sell.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: It grew pretty fast, and that is what turned me from a website designer, an expert, into an educator.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: My business was built around being easy to find when someone needed an answer.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: But things have dramatically changed.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: And what I've been thinking about a lot is what happens when the thing that people used to need me for suddenly gets a lot easier.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Squarespace now does a lot of the things that we used to have to code.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: AI can generate a lot of the answers that I used to share, and people don't need to search the internet the same way that they used to.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: I've started to realize that the problem I was solving hasn't disappeared, but the way people solve the problem has changed.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Over the last six or seven years, over four million people have tuned into my YouTube tutorials to learn how to customize Squarespace.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: But we have now reached the age of the internet where people don't really need CSS tutorials anymore.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: But something has not changed.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: People still want control over their Squarespace website.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: So the problem that I used to solve, it's still there, but the solution that I've offered for years is no longer going to cut it.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: This format is just not needed.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: So things are changing here inside the square.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now I want you to think about this in the perspective of your own business.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Episode 100, it's not just about me.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: What is your version of CSS tutorials for your own business?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: What's the thing that you give to people to help solve the problem?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: And what would happen if technology changed and that version of the solution, the way that you solved it, wasn't working anymore?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: The answers that I used to provide are much easier to get.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: But the core problem that people are trying to find a solution for is control over their Squarespace website.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: The code that they're having AI generate, that still needs to be evaluated.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: An AI mock-up, we still need to see if that actually makes sense for a website.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: A client can have 10 ideas and still need someone who knows what to do and what not to do.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: So just because the answers are easier to get, that doesn't mean the decisions are easier to make.squarespace.com.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: But here on the podcast Think Inside the Square and on my own website, I'm shifting the way that I teach to focus on the core problem.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: How do we make Square something unique?
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: How do we make it a website that does exactly what we want it to do?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: The internet is changing rapidly.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so is my business.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really excited about this new direction here.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to encourage you to think about your business differently too.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: When technology changes, how can we change what we're sharing with the world to still solve the problem that we want to solve?
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: For me, I want to help you make Squarespace uniquely yours.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it might be easier for you to find an answer that you're looking for.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: So let me help you make sure that you're asking the right questions.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: This is actually why I made Now What?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is a new resource for Squarespace designers who are finding AI infiltrating their work in ways you might not have expected.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: I've been working with clients a lot more in the last six months than I have in the last six years, and it has been so fascinating to see the dramatic shift in AI adoption from their perspective.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: I've had people bring in briefs that were written by AI.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: I've had people give me copy that was so clearly not them.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I've even had people show up to a meeting with AI-generated code and mock-ups that really shouldn't be on a website.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I've created now what to give you an example of how I'm responding to these situations.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can find it at insidesquare.co forward slash now what.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: So for episode 100, I want this to be about you as much as it is about me.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm changing everything here inside the square, but my core mission is still exactly the same.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Help you make a Squarespace website that's uniquely yours.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: So for your own business, as you're navigating whatever technology shifts and innovations you're navigating, I want you to think about these three questions.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: What problem are you actually helping people solve?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: What has changed about how people solve that problem?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And what part still needs your experience, your judgment, your taste, or your perspective.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you're not a Squarespace designer like me, you could be finding your business affected by the way the internet is changing.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: The way people found the answers to their questions, it's different.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: The questions people are asking are different.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: But the solutions that they're looking for are usually still the same.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: So think about your business torn down all the way to its foundation.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: How are you helping people solve a problem?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: And how can you do that in a new and innovative way?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm working on here, Inside the Square, and I hope you're along for the ride.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for tuning in to episode 100.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed it, give it a like, let me know in the comments, and feel free to send me an email anytime.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to hear what kind of conversations you're having in your business and how I can help support you.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hello at inside the square.co.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: My inbox is always open.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Becca from Inside the Square.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for tuning in, and most importantly, have fun with your Squarespace website.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Bye for now.