The story behind reThink the Web

TL;DR

Click here to read a summary of the article

With my sustainable web design studio reThink the Web, I help established solopreneurs close the authority gap between their expertise and their online presence.

In this post, I’ll share the story behind my work and why my website redesign offer The reLaunch works differently. You’ll read about:

• how I needed to reThink what design really is (and why you might do so as well),
• how a work trip to Costa Rica led to my mission to reThink the web and my sustainable design approach,
• why sustainability is a business advantage (not just an ethical choice),
• how The reLaunch helps established, impact-driven solopreneurs.

This isn’t just a personal story. It’s an explanation of why your website should be doing more of the heavy lifting. And how that became the core of my work.

Who this story is for

If you’re a solopreneur a few years into your business, you’ll probably recognize this:

• Your business has grown.
• You’ve figured out what you’re actually selling.
• You have at least one marketing channel that works.

People come to you because you know your stuff.

But your website? It still looks like you threw it together between client calls in 2019.

Maybe you built it yourself when you were just getting started. It does the job. But you hesitate every time you share the link. You notice that it doesn’t quite communicate your expertise or the maturity of your business. So you end up compensating everywhere else.

You explain more on sales calls than you should. You keep reframing your work on LinkedIn.

Not because you’re unclear.

But because your website is leaking authority.

If that sounds familiar, here’s what you should know about how I work.

I never went to design school (turns out, it’s a good thing)

I always loved being creative. Designing things.

As a kid, I drew and painted. Among other things, a life-sized Shakira drawn in pencil onto my bookshelf. Today, I spend winter months painting miniature figures for board games.

Interior design has always been another quiet obsession. Friends joke that my apartment looks like it belongs in a magazine.

And yet, I never went to art or design school.

That wasn’t an accident. It was the result of two early messages that stuck.

“You’re not good enough”

I was maybe four. Drawing stick figures.

My grandpa watched for a minute, then gently took the pencil. “People don’t really look like that,” he said. Drew me a proper human shape.

He was trying to help. But what I heard: you’re doing it wrong.

Layered onto other small criticisms over the years, it settled into a simple belief: I wasn’t good enough at art to take it seriously.

“Art doesn’t pay rent”

Years later, on a school trip to a job counseling office, we were asked what career we wanted to pursue.

I said interior designer.

She barely looked up. “Interior designer? You’ll be unemployed.”

Just like that. Not “it’s competitive” or “have a backup plan.” Just… unemployed.

I internalized the idea that creative work was risky. Something you do on the side. Not something you build a future on.

Choosing the “serious” path

So I took the route that felt safe.

Business. Strategy. Tech.

I studied business administration and IT management. I worked on complex digital products: websites, apps, large online shops. First as a consultant. Then as a product manager. Always close to experienced developers, designers, and analysts.

I learned how people actually move through systems. Where they get stuck. Where they quit. I sat through enough tech decisions to understand what makes sites fast versus what makes them a maintenance nightmare. And I watched how small design choices shaped whether people trusted the site or not.

No matter my role, I kept gravitating toward design. Sketching interfaces. Questioning layouts. Translating complex requirements into something people could actually use.

But the focus was never on decoration. It was always on clarity, usability, and outcomes.

I didn’t start calling myself a designer until 2023 (when I launched my own business). Sometimes I wonder where I’d be if I’d ignored that counselor. But honestly, I’d probably design worse websites.

That detour gave me something many designers never build: a deep respect for strategy, working systems, and the user on the other side of the screen.

reThinking Design: It’s problem-solving, not self-expression

There’s a difference between art and design: Art is self-expression. Design is problem-solving. They’re not the same thing, and your business needs the second one.

When I look at websites today, I can often tell where the designer came from.

Design-school-driven websites: visually impressive, full of motion and effects, optimized to impress. They look great in portfolios and need a developer every time you want to change a word.

UX- or tech-driven websites: calmer, clearer, easier to navigate. They actually work for the people using them.

You don’t need a digital poster or an award-winner.

You need a website that builds trust and gets out of your way.

My work doesn’t start with visual trends. It starts with structure, strategy, and the small signals that tell visitors: this solopreneur knows what they’re doing.

reThinking Sustainability: Not just care for the planet but a business advantage

In 2015, I was working as an IT consultant when a project took me to Costa Rica for a few months. Being surrounded by rainforests, mountains, and ocean on a daily basis does something to you. It did to me.

For the first time, “the environment“ wasn’t just an abstract concept. It was tangible. Fragile. Worth protecting.

When I returned home, I became more mindful about sustainable food, clothing, and consumption. I paid more attention to the impact of my everyday decisions. I reduced waste and travel where I could.

Eventually, that lens extended to my work. I started choosing jobs that had at least some positive impact.

For a while, that felt sufficient.

Until it didn’t.

When sustainability and design clicked together

In 2022, I came across the Sustainable UX Network. Two realizations clicked into place at the same time:

• Digital products consume energy and resources at scale.
• And good design decisions can significantly reduce that impact.

I started learning everything I could about sustainable design. That expanded into accessibility, inclusion, and ethical design. For me, sustainability became an umbrella term: building digital experiences that are efficient, inclusive, and fair.

Around the same time, I had the opportunity to apply this thinking.

As a product manager for an online shop, we ran an experiment to optimize product images on search result pages. With two small changes, we reduced data transfer enough to save around 20 tons of CO₂ per year, just in that one part of the shop.

What mattered most wasn’t the number.

It was why the change happened.

We didn’t do it out of concern for the planet. We did it to make the shop faster and meet our performance targets.

Why sustainability is a business advantage (not just an ethical choice)

That experience reframed everything.

Sustainability isn’t a “nice extra.“ And it’s not at odds with business goals.

Sustainable websites tend to

• remove unnecessary complexity and friction,
• load faster and feel easier to use,
• rank higher in search engines.

In other words, sustainability often overlaps with good UX, good performance, and good SEO.

The opposite is true as well. Bloated, careless websites frustrate users, slow down conversions, and undermine credibility.

Here’s where sustainability gets critical for impact-driven businesses

If you’re trying to attract clients from the sustainability or impact space, this matters even more.

Your audience notices the details. They’re paying attention to the small, invisible signals your website sends:

• A slow-loading site raises doubts about your sustainability specialization.
• A messy user experience contradicts talk of systems thinking.
• Poor contrast clashes with claims of inclusion.

These aren’t cosmetic issues. They’re credibility issues.

Your website either reinforces the values you talk about, or it quietly undermines them.

For solopreneurs in the impact space, that gap between what you say and what your site demonstrates can be the difference between a discovery call and a bounce.

reThinking Work: My path to solopreneurship and why this matters for your website

Why corporate life never quite fit

Early in my corporate career, I noticed the drain: Office politics. Hidden agendas. Meetings where nobody said what they actually meant.

While working in Costa Rica, I made my first serious attempt at imagining a different future. I thought I could become a digital nomad, blogger, and life coach. For me, it was more about freedom, autonomy, and meaningful work than beaches or laptops by the pool.

Looking back, that phase was naïve in many ways. But it revealed three things that still shape my work:

• I built my first WordPress website in 2015 and watched the technology evolve.
• I completed a one-year coaching program that trained me to ask better questions—something I now use to help clients clarify their strategy and brand.
• And I realized I thrive in one-to-one work, guiding people and helping them see what they can’t yet see themselves.

Despite that clarity, I stayed in corporate tech for almost another decade, mostly out of a need for security.

Becoming a solopreneur and building a website I could actually rely on

In 2022 and 2023, I went through three jobs in less than a year.

I quit the first. I was fired from the other two, abruptly and without much grace.

So much about “security”.

A friend called the last firing “a kick in the butt from the universe.” I told her it apparently takes me three kicks to get the message.

Only then did I fully accept what had been true for a long time: I wasn’t meant to work within these systems. I was meant to build my own.

When I started my business, I began by offering sustainable UX design services. Naturally, I needed a website. But I didn’t want just any website. I wanted one that:

• reflected my values,
• was sustainable and performant,
• built on a CMS I could easily manage,
• and didn’t create a security or maintenance nightmare.

So I built what I needed for myself: a secure, eco-friendly WordPress setup that was easy to grow and didn’t require constant tweaking.

At first, it was simply practical.

Then other people started paying attention.

When it became clear this wasn’t just a “me” problem

After building the website for my co-working space, I gave a talk on web sustainability there.

Mid-talk, a fellow solopreneur told the room (uninvited), “Really look up that website. It’s blazing fast. Stefanie, how did you do that? I thought this wasn’t possible with WordPress?”

That moment stuck with me.

Because around the same time, I kept meeting solopreneurs who were in the same place. Their offer was clear. Their business was working. They were ready for higher-quality, better-fit clients.

And yet, their websites were quietly working against them.

They were experts in their field. They just weren’t web designers.

And almost always, they were given the same two options:

1. Stick with a website builder an template and risk looking amateur again
2. Or hire a professional and risk ending up dependent on them for every future change.

The missing third option

There was a missing third option. And I had the solution: the setup I’d built for myself as a solopreneur.

A website system that’s strategic and sustainable, but still easy to manage. One that reflects expertise and values without making the business owner dependent on a designer or developer.

I started seeing it play out in client projects:

• Lilli wanted to present her updated offers in the best light to attract new community members. We teamed up to elevate her branding, streamline the user journey on her website, and move everything to a sustainable platform. The small signals started working in her favor: better-aligned applicants, fewer unproductive discovery calls, and a site that actually reflected the value of her community.
• Dror, a leadership coach, watched a potential client get lost on his digital doorstep. He knew his time was better invested in coaching clients than playing web designer. Thanks to his redesigned website and updated branding, potential clients now get a sense of his personality and the value of his work before they arrive on an intro call. Those invisible details, the ones that often trip people up, now guide them forward instead.

Instead of leaking authority, their sites began reinforcing it.

Those were the projects I looked forward to. Working one-to-one with people on a similar journey. No endless meetings. No hidden agendas. You as my client and I as your designer have the same goal: build a website that positions you as the obvious choice for your clients.

That combination of strategy-led design, sustainable technology, and long-term independence for solopreneurs became my focus.

That’s the gap the reLaunch was created to fill.

What The reLaunch is really about

The reLaunch is my done-for-you service that helps expert solopreneurs transform their DIY website into a professional online presence so clients see them as the go-to expert in their field.

At its core, The reLaunch is about closing the authority gaps your website creates through those small, invisible signals. It combines:

• website strategy rooted in your actual business and positioning
• a visual identity refresh that feels professional and credible on the web
• and a conversion-focused WordPress build you can manage, adapt, and grow over time.

Sustainability, accessibility, and ethics aren’t add-ons. They’re part of the website foundations, because the small, invisible details are exactly where trust is built or lost.

The result isn’t just a nicer website.

It’s a website you’re proud to share. A website that reinforces your expertise instead of undermining it. And a website you actually own, not rented land you’re afraid to touch.

Is The reLaunch right for you?

This is for you if:

• You’re an established solopreneur (at least 2-3 years in) with a clear offer and proven results.
• You have clients who value your work, but your website doesn’t reflect the level you’re operating at anymore.
• You care about sustainability, accessibility, or impact, and you want your website to demonstrate those values, not just talk about them.
• And you’re ready to invest in a strategic asset that works for your business instead of against it.

This probably isn’t for you if:

• You’re just starting out and still figuring out your offer.
• You need full brand strategy from scratch (not just a refresh).
• You want something flashy that wins design awards.
• Or you’re looking for a cheap quick fix.

If you see yourself in that first category, let’s talk.

Book a Clarity Call and we’ll look at what your site is currently communicating through those small signals, and whether The reLaunch is the right next step for you.

You can find information on how your data is processed in my privacy policy.