Create a personal website that creates serendipity

Give me three minutes to show you:

💻 Why you should still have a personal website in 2023
📣 A creator doing $2m+ annually just updated their personal site
🎨 How to get better at visual design

For 48 hours straight I collected every single portfolio piece of design work I could find into my new website. I was applying for my first job after spending the previous couple of years learning design.

It was a temp job with a shopping network in Minnesota, and I badly needed some stability.

Thankfully I was good enough and landed the temp job.

My ​own site​ has been like an ever-changing piece of real estate that I have torn down multiple times to build something new. Over the years, it's introduced me to friends, clients, and business partners.

A woman at a party even recognized me because I had created some videos and posted them from some trips I had taken.

What I love about having a site is that it has been a lab to tinker in. To write, draw, and design. A reflection of where I am in life.

But in many ways, personal websites have changed over the years. It's now easier than ever to create one, and many are defined by the pre-packaged templates they come in.

The prevailing wisdom for the least amount of effort is that, ”Maybe I'll just use Carrd.co and create a one-page site, or Substack for my own site because it's simple and they do everything for you.“

But the tighter these solutions are, the more limiting and less visually intriguing they become.

Personal websites today

Today, I believe having a personal website is still a rare thing. And I have some thoughts on what it should include at a minimum. Five pages.

You don't even need a blog to start, but you should have three ideas to share.

Check out the article below. It's 5k+ words but filled to the brim with page breakdowns, design tips, and something I call Story Spokes (including a free template) to replace your blog.

20 years ago when I landed that temp job, my boss offered me my first full-time role in less than two weeks.

He told me later, “I loved your website and rarely see people with their own domain.“

🎨 Better Design Decisions

​Creator Justin Welsh just updated his own personal website​. His site powers his solopreneur business now doing $2m+ annually.

​Entrepreneur Sari Azout launches Sublime​. A new way to search and discover your favorite content. The new home page is ​fun​.

A simple breakdown of how to improve your own ​visual design​.

Need some personal website inspiration? I am building a collection of ​1,000 inspiring websites here​.