Anne DeButte
Line of Work
Life after Loss Coach, Author, Speaker, Podcaster
Web Address
Anne’s Gifts
My business is called Reconnect from Grief, a coaching service designed to help mid-life women grieving a loss, who feel overwhelmed and alone. I help them understand their grief, support them to feel less alone and uncertain and inspire them to create a life after loss, find self-confidence by working through their grief.
Reconnect from Grief is my signature 3 month and Finding Life after Loss is a 6 month.
Key outcomes
Anne learned more than just how to build and maintain her website. During the COVID lockdown, she didn’t feel right promoting her business, as there was already so much grief present for people. Instead, she spent time creating content that she can now use in blog posts and marketing campaigns. She not only built her site, but she learned what she needed to do to attract clients to that site, which she was able to put into action this year with measurable results.
Anne is proud to send potential new clients to her site to learn more about her and the work she does. She knows that the site is doing what it’s supposed to do when these same people contact her to book her services! She has also seen evidence that the site is attracting new clients because she can track her freebie downloads and other key marketing metrics that inform her strategy going forward.
“I feel proud that I actually did it!
I never thought I’d be a “web person”, but I can add that to my resume. I built my website and I’ve got the skills to add new content whenever I like.
I know if I run into really, really technical problems, Vicky’s just an email away. She’s amazing that way, and has responded very, very promptly. So it’s nice to know, even though I’m through the course, she is still there in the background, willing to help when I reach out.”
It can be daunting. It can be overwhelming, but don’t let your fear stop you. You’re in good hands if you choose Vicky as your mentor, because she will guide you from beginning to the end, until your website is exactly as you want it.”
Summary
Anne has a unique coaching business where she helps clients work through the difficult experience of grief.
She had previously jumped into building her own website, but after several weeks of effort found she was out of her depth.
When she committed to working with a mentor, she was able to design and build a website she’s now proud of and can update to reflect her business as it grows.
Challenge
Anne tried to create her own website in the past, but after spending a few weeks playing around with WordPress and the Divi theme with no real direction she ended up with something she called “Frankensteinish”.
There were nuances to the process that she was missing, and as she wasn’t a graphic designer, the site lacked coherence.
She was tired trying to figure out how to build it herself, and realised she needed professional help.
At one point, she also had a static website built for her, but the process of putting in requests to the developers to change copy or add pages was slow, cumbersome, and ineffectual.
She wanted to be able to proactively make her own site changes as she had new ideas, and to have a hand in the creative aspect of the site without needing to filter it through someone else.
“I got the confidence that I could do it myself.“
Solution
Anne met Vicky and learned about her website building program which ran for 12 weeks at that time.
Anne didn’t feel she had the time for the course, so she didn’t sign up. Looking back, had she just taken the course she would have saved herself weeks of angst of trying to build her site with no guidance!
When the course was offered again, this time six weeks long, Anne was sold on the idea of professional mentorship and the fantastic price, and she enrolled.
Vicky came highly recommended by Anne’s colleagues, both for her experience in building websites and her marketing background.
Anne knew that if she took the course, she’d end up with a functioning website in six weeks. She was up for the challenge!
Outcome
At the end of the course, Anne had a functional website which she continues to add to as new ideas arise. She now feels confident in her ability to build new pages, resize images, and change visual elements of her site.
She knew she wanted her website to be a certain way, because the topic of grief is already somewhat difficult and sad. She didn’t want dark colors or a teary theme. Vicky recommended a designer who helped Anne find a palette, fonts, and an overall organizing direction to create a site that feels warm and welcoming.
Now Anne is proud of her site and has received feedback from multiple people about what a calming and positive experience they had on it, despite the gravity of the subject matter she works with.
Find out more about Anne’s entrepreneurial journey
Vicky took us by the hand and really took us through the basics. She explained it all and even though I knew some of it already, I still learned lots of little tips and tricks that I wouldn’t have otherwise known about.”
If you’ve tried to build your own site in the past and gave up because the process was more difficult than you imagined, it’s worth it to try again with an experienced mentor.
With the right guidance, you can build the site you want faster than you might think, and gain the confidence to grow and maintain it long after the course has ended.
