The Design Business Show 046: Becoming a Female Design Industry Leader with Promise Tangeman

Director : Melissa Burkheimer | August 12, 2019
From sharing her work on social media, to speaking on stages, being featured in Forbes and really becoming a master at listening to what her audience struggles with, Promise Tangeman shares her story of becoming a leading female designer in our industry.

Promise Tangeman is the CEO, Creative Director and certified digital marketing strategist of the web design agency, GoLive. It’s mission: helping businesses launch the website of their dreams. GoLive has created over 3,000 websites (and counting!), for brands such as Girlboss, We Wore What, Sadie Robertson, A Beautiful Mess, Create & Cultivate, Jasmine Star, Life With Me by Marianna Hewitt, TLC’s Randy Fenoli, Kendra Scott, WorkParty, and Margo & Me.

Promise is an expert and thought leader in the following topics: the importance of defining and owning your niche; brand building; social media strategy; digital marketing; productivity and goal-setting (and goal-meeting!); the importance of focus and how to attain it; and on a lighter note, creating rad “workflow” Spotify playlists, combining current fashions with thrift store treasures; and mastering #hairgoals.

Promise has spoken at conferences including The Girlboss Rally, Create & Cultivate, Yellow Conference, Circles Conference, Catalyst Conference, Alt Summit, and CreativeLive. Promise’s business and design expertise have been featured in Forbes, Girlboss, Glitter Guide, Buzzfeed, Martha Stewart, and more.

Here’s what we cover during episode 046:

  • How she started working on her business while working full-time
  • How sharing her first projects on her blog, social media, and even MySpace helped her get clients
  • How saving her money while working full-time helped her be take the leap to take her design business full-time
  • How she tapped into all of her creative talents when she first started by doing it all (like photography, design, fine art, and even making dinosaur necklaces)
  • After connecting with a mentor, she realized “doing it all” wasn’t going to work long-run, and she decided to specialize in one thing
  • How creating her own unique corner of the web helped her find her love for branding and web design
  • What her transition from doing all the things to becoming a specialist looked like
  • How being one of the only female designers out there who was blogging and showing off her work helped her stand out
  • Who her first hire was and what that person did for her
  • Her process for sharing her design projects early on her blog
  • The story behind how GoLive HQ, Promise’s web design company, was born
  • How listening to her clients frustration of how long websites took gave her the idea to create 2-day workshops where people published their website in 2 days
  • The platforms Promise used to help her ideal clients create their websites
  • How she became a leading designer in our online space
  • Tips for designers who want to market themselves on social media
  • The types of services she offers in her business now
  • What her process looks like for producing her Restyle service
  • Her process for creating custom sites
  • What she charges for each of her current services
  • The story behind how she created her SquareSpace templates and the behind-the-scenes of how she runs that in tandem with her custom services
  • Why her templates work really well for designers
  • The inspiration behind her getaway for Designers, called Designer VACA
  • How you can join one of her upcoming workshops

Links mentioned:

Connect with Promise on Instagram

GoLive HQ

Designer VACA

 

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