From 401(k) Consulting To PW Designs: Building A Side Hustle That Works
What happens when a senior workplace retirement plan consultant decides not to choose between a steady career and a growing creative studio? We sit down with Julie to unpack how she built P&W Designs—an SEO, branding, and web design studio—after hours, while staying the breadwinner and keeping the benefits that her family relies on.
We trace the path from custom planners to a full-service design practice, and why being equally analytical and creative gives her clients a rare advantage. Julie explains how she blends brand messaging with real SEO research and smart AI prompting to produce website copy that converts and ranks. She’s candid about assets that actually matter, from annual lifestyle branding photos to site structure and speed, and she shares a simple test for pricing: if every proposal gets an immediate yes, it’s time to raise rates.
The conversation doesn’t dodge the hard parts. We explore student loan realities, insurance tradeoffs, and why stability can be a strategic choice—not a lack of ambition. Julie opens up about postpartum anxiety, the identity shift of matrescence, and the self-care that works in real life: walks, fiction before bed, and design sessions that quiet her mind. We dig into boundaries that protect her corporate role and her business, the systems that save hours, and the power of outsourcing with an 80/20 mindset so progress doesn’t depend on perfection.
If you’re a parent with a steady job and a spark for entrepreneurship, this story will give you a practical blueprint for scaling without burning it all down. Subscribe for more conversations on branding, SEO, sustainable business, and the honest realities of work and motherhood. If this resonated, share it with a friend and leave a quick review—your support helps more women find their path.
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Everything's Figureoutable - Marie Forleo
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Thanks for listening & cheers to Reclaiming Your Hue!
