Most business owners know a slow website is bad. Fewer know where the slowness comes from. I rebuilt a site and then measured it, and the short version is that speed works like a budget. You spend some of it every time you add something to the page.
Before I redesign a website, I want evidence of what works to go along with my opinion. For a therapy practice I worked with, I studied 13 well-built, high-performing therapy practice websites, from solo clinicians to group practices with more than a dozen therapists. I went through every homepage, service page, and contact page and wrote down what they had in common.
Every week, a business owner asks me about AI. They have seen the headlines, sat through a pitch or two, and someone told them they need an “AI transformation.” My answer is that you might not need AI at all, and that is fine.
If you have never hired someone to build an automation, an AI system, or a website, the process can feel like a black box. What does it cost? How long does it take? What do you own at the end?
When I opened Mesh Cowork in downtown Bakersfield in 2015, I thought I would buy some software, plug it in, and run the space. Six years in, Mesh had 88 active members, about $209,000 in annual revenue, and an operations system I had built myself because nothing off the shelf did the whole job.