Why I Went to San Francisco for a Week + Why I love Webflow :: A Personal Post

I spent the past week in San Francisco working, and had my life totally and completely changed – but I didn’t divulge to anyone what kind of work I was doing because…well. Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

And by beginning, I mean, the very beginning.

I’ve always been an artistic, creative person. The more ways I can find to express myself creatively, the happier I am. Whether that’s through painting, clay and pottery, drawing, knitting, sewing, writing, photography or web design, etc. – I like it all.

Waaaaay back in the stone ages (ok, perhaps not quite that long ago), I dabbled in web design by writing simple, basic HTML. While I was in high school, my family had come across a lost, abused dog who needed a home and I thought – aha! I can make a website for him to try to find his owner! We never did find his owner (which worked out because we ended up adopting his silly little self, thus enriching all our lives), and in the process of all of this lost-dog-not-lost-dog-stuff, I found that I really liked what one could do with web design.

Fast forward some years, and again, I found myself designing a website. This time for my master’s thesis in photojournalism. I had found a program (Freeway Pro or something along those lines) that allowed me to custom design a site the way I wanted it to look (not the way website templates thought it should look) and it was great! I didn’t have to hand write code! But it was still early on in this type of visual design. It worked, but it was more clunky than it was awesome, and it definitely had its limitations.

Zip ahead a few more years, and again, I needed to design another website – this time for my photo business I had decided to promote to a full time operation. Again, I used another program that was a visual designer by proxy of Photoshop (SiteGrinder was the name). But it was bloated and pretty painful to use. However, it still allowed me the freedom to stay away from templates and coding. But to my chagrin, its developers pulled the plug and I was left looking for another design platform to use. (I guess I’m stubborn and didn’t want to spend precious time learning code.)

Enter Adobe Muse. I (mostly) happily used that program for years up until April of 2018 when (again!) it was added to the growing heap of other programs that had its development and support removed. So there I was again. Looking for another design program. Again. And, of course, it was literally about two days before I was about to go live with a new site I’d designed in Muse. So I found myself tearing my hair out and frantically searching for something that could replace Muse.

Cue Webflow’s entry stage left and Muse’s serendipitous exit stage right.

After poking around some Muse help groups where I, along with many other web designers, were absolutely freaking out about Adobe’s announcement, suggestions for alternatives began coming in. And one of them was Webflow.

So I checked it out. Suspiciously. Remember that heaping pile of abandoned visual web design programs? I was bound and determined to not be hung out to dry yet again.

So I began investigating it. Trepidatiously. Dipping my toe in here and there. Wary of what it offered.

But as I explored more and more of what the program offers designers, the more I liked it and the less suspicious I became. This seemed like one heckuva solid product. Their documentation blew…just BLEW…me away. The videos outlining their program had me in awe. I specifically remember thinking to myself that if a company could invest time and energy into making educational videos as spectacular as these, then it really was doing something fantastically right. And I wanted to know more. In fact, I wanted to throw my money at a company like that.

I jumped into their user forums because I had many, many questions to ask once I decided I’d design my site using Webflow. And, once again, I was blown away. The fellow designers on that forum and the moderators I encountered were so kind, open, and eager to help me, even when my questions were totally newbie silliness (sidenote: everyone starts somewhere – newbie silliness is ok!).

I began geeking out and telling my friends and family about Webflow. “It’s super cool! And I can do the most amazing things with it!” Kindly, they listened to my nerdy soliloquies. My terror at leaving Muse had been replaced with a sense of gratitude and joy. Sometimes big, scary changes are the kick in the pants we need to find something better. Thanks, Adobe, for kicking Muse to the curb. You changed the entire course of my life.

Fast forward a bit, and summer began and my busy season started up. I worked on my website on slower days and into the wee hours of the morning because I had made a promise to myself that I was going to get a new website up sooner rather than later, no matter what.

Finally, September rolled around. I had (mostly) finished my website to the point where it was acceptable to go live. So I published my brand spankin’ new site that I had put so many, many hours into, shared it with the world, and then also shared it within Webflow.

Remember that forum I mentioned earlier? They have a show and tell category within it where designers can share their most recent projects. There’s also a showcase area for users in another section of their website where projects can be shared with the community there as well.

Before I knew it, I began to receive the most incredible feedback. People were blown away. I was blown away by how blown away they were. I was giddy! They were giddy! We were all so very, very giddy! My website was in the top list of the most popular sites showcased on Webflow. I seriously couldn’t believe the response I was receiving. I mean, I liked my site, but I never in a million years expected it to garner the attention it did.

And then, literally one day after I shared my finished site on the forums and in the showcase area, I received an e-mail from Webflow asking me if I’d be interested in talking with them about a potential job with them.

I. Was. Floored.

Say whaaaaa?!?! This amazing company might want me to work for them? No way. No way in a billion years, no waaaaay. This can’t be real!

But it totally, totally was.

Since September, I’ve had several video chat/interviews, I made another website in four days explaining why Webflow should hire me, they invited me out to their San Francisco office to do a trial week with them (which was the most fantastic whirlwind week of amazing people, packing my brain with all sorts of new things, oodles of laughter, incredible camaraderie, lots of excitement, the most Lyft rides ever, and on and on), and……drum roll please….

I got the job!

I think a lot of people may be pretty surprised by this. Maybe even a little shocked. To be honest, I kind of am too, but at the same time I’m also not.

Here’s why:

I love my photo business. I always have. I always will. More importantly, I love my clients, many of whom I can call friends. Seriously – it’s the best job in the world. I still stand by that.

But Webflow is in a tie for the best job in the world too. It offers me things my photo business cannot. I will get to have co-workers again – and they are some of the most incredible people ever. I don’t say that lightly. I know I’ve been a bit loquacious in this blog post and that it’s full of superlatives, but I truly mean every word of its superlative-y goodness (did I just do that? Yes, yes I did).

The people at Webflow are so dedicated to being good people, doing good things with their work and their lives, and they constantly encourage and help one another to bring everyone up higher together. It really is unlike anything I’ve ever seen at a company. And I love it. Not only that, they feel the same about their product and its goals in the world too. I can totally get behind that.

These folks are so highly intelligent, some of the wittiest, most fun people I’ve met, and genuinely, genuinely care. As I said previously, it was a whirlwind of a week with a lot thrown at me to tackle, and while it initially was overwhelming (not going to lie), the culture of the company and the genuine hearts of my co-workers meant that every step of the way I felt embraced, listened-to, and cared for. And I know it’s not for show and will continue on into my employment. I still cannot believe I get to work with this company.

In addition to the people at Webflow and the company itself, it offers benefits that I’d never be able to get by running my own business. There are a lot of photographers out there who have part of the burden of running a business alleviated by a spouse or a partner. I have neither (perhaps one day I’ll find the right guy! here’s hoping!), so right now it’s just little ol’ me running the entire ship. Hence, the benefits that come along with this new job are a HugeBigGiantDeal to me too.

I’ll have a regular paycheck. I will actually be able to go to the doctor when I need to, because I’ll have health insurance that actually covers things and I won’t have to sell organs to afford it (kidding kidding – I still retain all my organs). I can take vacations! I will be able to travel more! I’ll be able to take on more photojournalism work and not feel guilty about accepting the low pay they typically offer. And I’ll get to do all this while still maintaining my home-base in Missoula because I’ll be working remotely for Webflow (pretty rad, right?! – strike that – unbelievably, amazingly rad!).

While I love my photography business and all of my clients, the nitty-gritty details of running a business can sometimes be a challenge to deal with on a day-to-day basis.

So, all this to say: yes, I’ll be working at Webflow now. But I will still be working as a photographer, too.

Which leads me to another reason I love this company. Webflow realizes I have a true passion for photography and the people with whom I get to work. They don’t want me to give that up and they’ve made it so I can still make that happen too. (This was something I thought about long and hard as I considered taking this job.)

Which means, yes the structure of my business will change slightly, but not to its detriment or yours. Here’s what might change:

• I’ll need to be more selective in the number of shoots I can do, since I cannot humanly work a bazillion hours a week, which simply means: I can absolutely do your shoot, but we’ll need to plan ahead for it so we can both get it on the calendar, that’s all!
• It may take me just a touch longer to respond to your messages, which means: I’ll still answer all your questions and notes, of course, but I’ll just have a more limited timetable in which to do it.
• That’s it. Really nothing more than that.

Here’s what won’t change:

• How much, much, much I care about my clients and making sure you have the best experience possible. That won’t change at ALL. It’s core to who I am and how I run my business.
• How much I love photography. It’s got my heart forever.
• How much I love documenting your lives. Doing this gives me life and always will.
• My home-base in Montana. Yep, I’m not moving to San Francisco. I’ll still be right here in Montana.

So, to sum it all up, and that was a lot, I’ve got a new job, which will coexist with my photography job. I love them both equally and I adore all of you.

I’m super stoked for this new step in my life, and I’m excited for you to join me on it! Thanks for hanging in there with this long post, and here’s to embracing positive change and new life adventures!! :)

And, because it would be weird not to share a few photos, here are some from my week in San Francisco (yes, I take selfies, too – haha!)

Cheers!
-Kristine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Et voila! That’s the end of the story for this past week, but just the start to this new adventure!

And, in the meantime, I’ve still got shoots going that will be hitting the blog soon, so stay posted for those! :)

Cheers!
-Kristine

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