The best thing about building your own website is that you can do whatever you want. The worst thing about building your own website is that you can do whatever you want.
Unencumbered by project briefs or creative restraints, you set off on an adventure of exploration, fuelled by those two magical words that have set imaginations ablaze for thousands of years:
What If?
What if I add this here…
What if I change that there….
Today, a million what if’s after I started building this thing, I’ve taken the Studio Raconteur website out of maintenance mode and made it live for the world to see.
Here’s What I Learned:
Let me share a few thoughts on the creative, technical, and professional lessons I learned building my portfolio site.
1. Clarity of Creative Purpose
The one question I always stumble over is: “What do you do?”
I do a lot – writing, websites, creative projects, even a stint in counselling and hypnotherapy. So my answer usually turns into a jumbled mess of “Well, I used to do this…and now I do that…but sometimes I do..,”
Pulling all my work into one portfolio made something clear: it’s not about the tools I use, it’s about the passions that drive them, a passion for stories and helping people.
That’s what ties it all together. That’s my elevator pitch for you. That’s the answer to the big “What do you do” question:
I tell stories that help others, and I help others tell their story.
2. There’s A Whole Lot of Cool Stuff Out There
One of the most exciting parts of building my own site was getting to experiment with tools, layouts, and features I don’t usually get to use.
In the end, I chose to keep things super simple, but the process sparked a ton of ideas for how to build better, faster, more effective websites moving forward.
I came up with custom WordPress block layouts that would work brilliantly for eCommerce, and developed new best practices for collaborating with clients on their sites.
3. This Site Isn’t Finished – And That’s a Good Thing
Remember the days when people used to stick “under construction” signs on their websites to signal that it wasn’t finished?
The thing is, the best websites are rarely ever “finished.” They should be constantly “under construction.”
Not in the sense of flashing GIFs and broken links, but as living, evolving platforms that reveal new chapters to your story, adapt to new audience needs, and keep up with shifting technologies.
Studio Raconteur isn’t “done,” and that’s by design. While the creative instinct to endlessly tinker is real, that’s not what this is.
I built this site to do one thing well:
Make it easy for you to understand what I do, how I work, and how to hire me.
I achieved that with three things:
- Simple navigation
- Lightweight design
- Clear content.
That’s the foundation. Now I get to build on it. Over time, I’ll be adding case studies, blog posts, how-tos, and resources. So check back in, follow the blog, or connect on Facebook to see how it grows.