Official ProCon 2026 Recap (with lessons, stories and your special offer)

👉 head to the full ProCon 2026 recap post

Links mentioned:

• Join the WDP Community Tier (50% off your first month)
• Join the WDP Coaching Tier (50% off your first month)
• Watch Bailey Collin's free Website in a Day training
• Why I've trusted SiteGround for 10 years video

Thanks to our PRO CON 2026 sponsors:

• 17hats
• SiteGround
• Termageddon
• LocalSEOAcademy
• Design Day Blueprint
• WP Umbrella (use code JOSHHALLWPU for a full free month)

Be sure to check out hashtag #PROCON2026 on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook to see all the posts around the event!

Transcript

Welcome And Summer Format

Josh Hall 0:00

Hey friends, it is so good to be here with you. This week is just me here with you. In fact, through the summer, just as kind of a heads up, we're going to be doing a bit of a stagger, a staggering between solo episodes and interviews. Going to go a little bit lighter on interviews just through the summer here. I want to spend as much time as I can with the little kiddos and my wife here while we have the time this summer. So going to be going solo interview through most of the summer as a heads up. This episode, I wanted to share a little bit about the Pro Con 2026 recap, which is officially live, the full post, which includes the highlight reel video, all of the member testimonials that we captured there live, the uh overview of the workshop that we had, complete photo galleries of the conference and workshop and of our meetups and socials, words from our sponsors, and a special deal for you is up. So in this episode here, I want to just kind of give you the overview of this recap post. And of course, it is linked below. So go check out the full post. But this is there's gonna be plenty of value in this for you, even if you weren't there live or if you are not yet a community member of my community Web Designer Pro. Uh, so I'm gonna share some stuff to help you in your web design business journey, no matter where you are as well, in this one. But do not miss this one if you are on the fence in joining Web Designer Pro, because there is also a special offer for you that I have on this recap, which is 50%

ProCon 2026 Recap And Offer

Josh Hall 1:30

off your first month in the community or coaching tiers of Web Designer Pro. So go below, check that out, grab your special offer. It is limited time and it's based off of this recap for ProCon 2026. You'll also be able to watch all of the live workshops that were held at ProCon 2026, which are now available inside of Web Designer Pro. Uh, we'll get to those here because I'm gonna overview those in this episode. So again, link below to check out the full recap post. But a couple months ago, back in April, we held ProCon 2026. Now, I did do a uh behind the scenes episode right after we held the conference. So I'm not gonna rehash everything in there, but I did want to give you kind of an overview of the event if you're curious, and then we'll dive right in. And this is a little bit more about some of the stories from ProCon 2026 that I wanted to kind of expand on, and I want to let you hear from some members who were there. So that's what we're gonna dive into in this one. First off, a big thanks to all of our sponsors for 2026 ProCon, which made this happen for our members. Our sponsors this year included SightGround, 17 Hats, Termageddon, Local SEO Academy, the Design Day Blueprint course, and WP Umbrella. I'll share all of their special deals that they've made available for you as a listener to this show that all of the members who were there live got as well. So I will be sharing a little bit more of that as well. But I had to thank them off the top because this was a first rate experience for all of our members from the big social that we had at a baseball game. We had like the nicest suite you could rent there, and our incredible conference space that was catered, the food's incredible there. It was really a first rate experience, and that is because of our sponsors. So we want to thank them. But it is all about what members walk away with here at Pro Con. Um, and I found I've talked about this a lot more recently, but IRL in real life is just hitting so much deeper nowadays. I think particularly with the the age of AI where you're just do you feel like me, you're just not at all. Every everything feels more and more fake every day, just from all the posts that we see and interactions that we come across. I mean, I don't know what your DMs look like, but my DMs just look so cold and so surfacey and so fake. I feel like there's so much more uh room for deeper connection. And this of course impacts you as a web designer because I am encouraging all of my web designer pro members to get in person as much as you can. And by that I mean typically networking and IRL, any sort of meetups or in real life experiences that you can get around for referral groups, networking groups, chamber of commerce events, um, anything you can do, meeting with your clients, like

Why In-Person Connection Hits Deeper

Josh Hall 4:30

randomly asking your clients to go out to coffee and just reconnecting with them. It is the best way to sell in 2026 and beyond. Uh, even if it's like meetups with colleagues who are in your area or referral partners, whatever that looks like. I just can't recommend enough. Even if it's just seasonal, this is one thing we're talking a lot about right now in Web Designer Pro. Even if it's just, you know, not something you commit to once a week forever, but just like take a couple months and just invite like six of your best clients out and just do it one time and just see how it feels. And also watch how much money you make by getting top of mind again and reconnecting. Uh, something that we've been talking about a lot, particularly in our Web Designer Pro Mastermind, which is the newest high level of coaching that I offered up in pro recently. Um, we've been talking a lot about crafting experiences. We have one member who has a brand experience in her business. And upon digging deeper into her business, we realized that like in-person brand experience was it was just like a menu item that she had. But I realized this is like the most, this is like the most important thing in your business. And this could be like a very high-ticket offer that could then lead to web design, social, digital marketing, ongoing media, graphics, everything. Uh, all from that one like initial brand experience that is in person and she really goes above and beyond for making her clients feel special doing this. So I also want to encourage you, just to give you some value up at the top here, to do what you can to make your services an experience. And you could do this digitally, by the way, too. Sorry, I'm gonna go on right off the rails here, but I think this is beneficial for all web designers. Even if you don't do it in person, you could also do it digit. Bailey Collins with the Design Day Blueprint course, which is a sponsor for ProCon 2026, she does a really good job at this virtually because when she works with her design day clients, she makes it an experience. And you can go back to our episode. What number was that? I should know this off the top of my head here. Bailey Collins, Josh Hall 400, which was episode 387 about how she landed 400 plus website in a day clients. Um, actually, it's over 500 now because that was last year we did that episode. But that's very worthwhile going back to to uh listen to how she crafts her entire experience. Uh, actually, even better than that, I should mention this. I'll link this below, but um the live training that she did inside of Web Designer Pro, we made available on my YouTube channel. So I will link that below, but it's how to create your website in a day offer. It is a complete free training that was held inside of Pro that you can watch for free. I will link that below. You can also just search Create Your Website in a Day Offer or Bailey Collins, Josh Hall, and you will see that. Uh, but the idea of that is like she is making a digital experience. She gets her design day going early. She sends her clients a Starbucks gift card, keeps them updated. They use Voxer to be able to talk throughout the design day. There is a preview section of the day, it's very interactive, and that's how she gets things done, she makes it an experience. That's how she does her design days effectively. So check that out. Um, the idea is to get in real life as much as you can and make things an experience. Speaking of an experience, that is exactly what ProCon 2026 was for so many people. But it's not just about showing up and having fun and meeting your friends and just having a one-time experience that you feel like is over. It lingers and it lingers in the best way. And I want you to hear from a few members here about this. And we'll start off with Eleanor, who's been a Web Designer Pro member for over three years. She's actually working directly with Sam Sarden and his company, Then Can Design. Sam was also a sponsor of Procon 2026 for his local SEO Academy. His agency is booming. Had him on the podcast recently as well. And Eleanor actually works with him. And guess how they found each other through Web Designer Pro digit, but they really started working together. And Eleanor is actually made in some incredible connections with the community, particularly by being in person. Here's what Eleanor has to say.

SPEAKER_07 8:52

I've been a member of Web Designer Pro for about three years now, and I've made a lot of friendships and connections through the group. But there's something that definitely hits different about meeting people in person. And we've developed these online relationships and friendships, but there's just like a deeper level of connection and learning that you can get from each other when you're in person and can't really capture that in any other way. Our group really has a diverse wealth of information and knowledge. There's

Member Stories That Shift Momentum

SPEAKER_07 9:20

so many people with various skills that I don't have that I'm really enjoying learning from them. And um, everybody is really open and friendly and willing to share what they know. And that's a really valuable thing to have in a community.

Josh Hall 9:36

So again, just reiterating my point in person hits so much better, especially nowadays. I mean, this has always been true, but I think it's even more true in 2026. Now, another person I want you to hear from is Michelle Bourbonier, who I've talked a lot about on the podcast here recently. I just sent a newsletter about how I'm actually doing a human cadence for my newsletter for a while. This was based off of something I learned from Michelle. And while I learned so much from Michelle, she told me, and you'll hear here, here, here, uh, made a really good point about learning from people, particularly when it's like a collective wisdom of the crowd. That's uh she's so good with words. Her brand is words on the rise, so that makes total sense. But the idea of getting around people and just like there is a collective wisdom. I was looking around the room at ProCon this year, and maybe this is something we'll do. We could always do it anonymously, but I'm I was wondering like I wonder how much money is in this room. I forget who I talked to about this, but we were we were out of a conversation and of the you know 1,500 conversations I had, I was thinking uh one person we were talking to, we're like, Do you think wonder how like how much money is in this room, lifetime that everyone in this room has sold? Millions, millions of dollars, tens of millions maybe, are in that room, especially with folks who have been in business for 10, 15, 20 years. Literally millions of dollars is in that room together. Uh, and even folks who are just starting, they may add, you know, 25k to that number. Everybody has such collective wisdom, and you can learn so much from that. Enter, Michelle.

SPEAKER_05 11:20

I came from Canada. Um, I traveled across an international border to get here. And these are like some of my best friends on the internet, and it has just been like a joy to be here. The importance of community, like the importance of not doing it by yourself, and like the the just the collective wisdom of the crowd here has just been so empowering and so just inspiring. I've just taken away that like you just can't do it alone and you shouldn't have to do it alone. And like, I'm just so glad to have this group of people behind me. I started my business about five years ago when Josh launched this community. And like, I just cannot explain how much my my whole business is built on the relationships and everything that I've learned. Like, so many things in my business can be traced back to like Josh giving me like a little piece of advice that like made all the difference. Um, and things like connections that I've made in the community. Web Designer Pro is everything. Like, I I don't use social media, like I actually haven't for a very long time. So, like pro is my social media, and it's just like such an empowering, wonderful place. And it's just like such a joy to see everybody in person.

Josh Hall 12:19

So, yeah, again, and it's just freaking awesome for somebody to to travel. I don't know how long the flight is from Edmonton to Columbus, but for for somebody to come across the border and travel that far. Uh uh, Michelle was a speaker, we'll get to that next. But yeah, I just obviously could not agree more with Michelle. It is so empowering, it is so inspiring, so good. Speaking of that, it can really and this not just ProCon. I hope to see you there in 2027 when you join Web Designer Pro with the offer I have for you below. But anytime you are around people, it challenges you to take your business to the next level. Johnny, Johnny McWilliams here, what a guy. I freaking love Johnny. Uh I've got to know him so much better at ProCon. And he just not only took a lot of like tactical things away, but I think the most the thing that I saw in Johnny post-procon is he has a vision. And it's not always easy to build a vision. And sometimes it does taking it, sometimes it does take being around people who are where you are and where you want to be to challenge you to get to that next step, but also make it practical, tactical, and give you the confidence to do so. And that's exactly what Johnny walked away with after coming to Procon 2026. Here's Johnny.

SPEAKER_03 13:38

I I think I'm really taking away today just a vision to build and to multiply. I I am not gonna come back next year with the at the same level. I'm gonna double, triple, 10x where I'm at now by the time this uh next year. Procon is uh just an integral part of my business because that between the education and being able to speak with other like-minded entrepreneurs, it does nothing but good for your business. Uh, there's nothing like being with people in learning together as you grow and scale and build a business that you can be proud of. I love that.

Josh Hall 14:14

Love, love, love the confidence that I felt. Actually, side note, Johnny had no interest. So, so um, caveat here, or side note. Johnny came early to ProCon. He came in on a Thursday morning, and myself and a few others who were there early met in person, including Johnny. We went to a coffee shop, and Johnny had actually said, like, I just don't have any interest in scaling at all. Like, I'm fine being a one-man show. I don't, you know, want to want to have a team and scale up my business in that way. After ProCon, he listened, he ripped through the entire audio course of my scaling course. It's called Scale Your Way. All pro members also get access to the audio versions of a lot of my courses that are more listenable. Scale Your Way is perhaps the most listenable course because you really don't need to see it as much. Um, and he let me know that he listened to the entire course on the way back on his drive home, and he was like so pumped to scale his way, including being much more confident to get delegate and to get some help with support and not having everything be on his shoulders. So just a couple examples there of how one event can completely change the trajectory of somebody's career. I'm so thrilled and happy that we did that for Johnny. What an honor. And I can't wait to see him in 2027. I think he's already got his ticket for 27. We've already got like, I think 18 tickets sold for next year. We we opened them up early uh for everyone who came to ProCon 2026. So gosh, 2027 is gonna be even better. Speaking of even better, it was so good to meet Ben Forward in person for the first time. This is one thing that's great about doing anything in real life, especially when you're in an online community, is when you meet somebody in person, it's so, so, so cool. You go from 2D to 3D. It's not just seeing how tall someone is, which is always really interesting because you never get a feel for you know what their presence is like in person, uh, you know, being on a Zoom call. But seeing Ben also, Ben won an award. We did Dundee style awards for ProCon this year. Ben won the Best Entrance Award because we were at my favorite little hockey bar called the R Bar in Columbus uh before we kicked off our official social. And I see this silhouette figure enter through the door, and there is like sun, like sunlight shining behind him, and he was in a Superman pose. And I look over, and it's none other than Ben Freaking Forward, one of our Rockstar Web Designer Pro members who went full-time a couple years ago, along with having a wife and four young children, left his corporate job in the rare disease community and launched his forward web design business and his side niche business, which is a subscription product eyes uh model called Zebrasite Studio. And yeah, got to meet him in person. And one thing that he let me know of is that Pro has not only been a supportive community, but it's also been like the the extended team of his. Um, so less from me and more from Ben. Here you go.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

For me, this has been an extension of everything that I've appreciated online about working with Josh as a coach and meeting all of the other people that are working with him as well. I've been in the in the community for a few years now, and I just I knew that being in person, meeting everyone in person was going to take things to like a next level. I see a lot of these folks as my coworkers. So it's like meeting the team I'm on for the first time in person. I think there's a lot of connections that happen online or happen in person better than online, and I've definitely felt that here. The biggest change for my business is coming away with more clarity on some questions that I had and some confidence to move in a direction that you know is always a little bit of a gamble. There is this entire group of people that's here to help you think through problems or troubleshoot things, come back from a mistake, uh, and all of that. So it's it's a support network just as much as a community.

Josh Hall 18:19

Spot on. Um, so cool to see and meet him in person. Side note, Ben just about had me in tears. He was telling my wife and I before, like the last day before we all left, that he just a couple years ago was in his garage doing some woodworking, listening to my podcasts, and just wanting to have a life of freedom and to be his own boss. He was stuck in the corporate world. And at one point when he started his business on the side, he got the entrepreneurial spirit and leadership spirit, and actually presented something to his job. And they basically told him to, and I remember this very well because this was on a coaching call. They basically told him to stay in his place, keep quiet, and to not try to be a leader. And not that long after, he quit and went head first in the deep end in his businesses, which are killing it. So I'm so proud of Ben, and this is just the start. He has built up two incredible businesses that are gonna provide freedom and financial security for him and his family for a long time, and it is just an absolute honor to be a part of that in his journey and full success story on that one coming soon. So, Ben, uh I'll be hitting you up about that because I want to find out some of the specifics on where things are at today. But uh, it's just such an honor coaching Ben. He's in the coaching tier, one of our most active pro members, and he's just a freaking rock star. Um, speaking of rock stars, my gosh, everybody here. Alexia. Alexia, who is gonna be on the podcast next week, sharing about how she is selling branding and web design services together. Side note, Alexia is also gonna be hosting a free workshop next week. Um, or yeah, next week, so keep an eye on that uh about how to sell branding and web design together. But last year in 2025, she 10x'd her revenue after the jolt that she got at ProCon. And she went full time in August last year, so she's coming up to her first full year anniversary of being in business full time. But it is the what I like that she says here is it's about the opportunities that connection brings in person that you just may not get online in the same way. Um so here's Alexia.

SPEAKER_06 20:37

From last year's pro con, I was able to 10x my revenue in the last six months of 2025. And so I can only imagine what this pro con will do for my business this year. I knew that anything Josh is doing, he has completely transformed my business from start to finish. And so I knew that having this event was going to be one of those places where you can meet connections, meet people, and learn a lot. And it's it's impacted my business so much. Networking, the opportunities are abundant here. And I'm excited to be able to grow my business in this next year using the connections I've made.

Josh Hall 21:10

So again, so thrilled for her. She's also somebody who has put herself out there, both digitally in Web Designer Pro in the community. And when she she's in person, like she is somebody who is making connections and really clear about who she serves, what she does. And she is just the prime example of a Web Designer Pro member who knows the value of not just the courses and the coaching and pro, but the value of the opportunities and the the networking um opportunities there and the potential of a growing network like that. Now, she has done the work, she has been consistent, she is an incredible designer. She is on retainer now with me as my brand designer and design guru specialist, but she is also. Somebody who put themselves out there and got out of her comfort zone and has grown so far, so fast in her business. It's incredible. Um, all to say, don't sleep on the value of a support network. In fact, Alexia is also doing work for Sam with his local SEO Academy and then Can Designs. And she's working with me now. She's working with a ton of other web designer pros in both a white label designer type position and using what she's learning to grow her own business and her own team right now. Alexia is actually in our mastermind because she's growing so fast, and I'm helping her build her team at this point. And the others who are at that high level are helping her delegate and go from me to we already, just not even a full year, full full year into their business. So freaking way to go, Alexia. What an honor I cannot see. I cannot wait to see where her business is going to be at the end of this year after a couple pro cons under her belt. Now, speaking of somebody who is freaking awesome, Mike Albuquerque, who drove up from Atlanta, eight hours in the car, makes note of how lonely entrepreneurship can be. But that's why I came to ProCon. And man, it was so good meeting Mike in person. Here's what he had to say.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

I've learned a lot from Josh on Web Design Pro over the years, both on courses and from the community. And I really wanted to be involved with everyone, get a chance to meet people, share experiences. Being a solopreneur can be something that's very lonely. And being here, I get to not only meet people who do what I do and love doing it as well, but I get the opportunity to learn from them. So being a part of a community that is not just online, but it's in person as well. I'm really excited to implement some of the things that I learned today just in terms of efficiency, productizing my offerings, and better serving my clients. I came here from Atlanta, Georgia. Uh, eight hours a car. Well worth it.

Josh Hall 23:51

Now, what's really interesting about Mike's perspective on this is that Mike is at a very established place in business. And he is, I won't say the numbers. He did let me know his numbers at a bar uh late at night because Mike and I actually closed the first night out together. We just couldn't go home. We were just talking shopping. It was so much fun. But I can tell you this Mike is killing it with his web design business using Divi, having a couple packages with a lot of support and maintenance plans. And he's also really big on community building in his area outside of Atlanta. But even somebody who's super established like Mike knows you can learn from anybody in a collective like Web Designer Pro. Even if somebody's more early on, they may go way further and way faster with a certain piece of tech. And if you're into your business, you don't have the time to tinker and to learn like that. But Mike is learning from people at all different levels, even despite him being at such an established place in business. He is such a good example of a scaler of Web Designer Pro. And Web Designer Pro, we have three profiles builders, growers, and scalers. Mike is absolutely a scalar with a team behind him, but he's still learning every day. And he does the cool thing about Pro too, I found we don't have the like, like you know how sometimes experts become unlearnable, unteachable. That's what I meant to say. And you just get like, oh well, I've done this and I've made, you know, if I've if I made a certain amount amount of money, I feel like I'm above everybody. I don't need to learn. That's not what we have in pro. It's because people get to a certain point and are feeding their mentoring and they're feeding their experience back to the folks who are coming up, just like Alexia cut first couple years in business, and he's still learning and is still very humble about yeah, where he's at in business. And I just I can't thank Mike enough for sharing that and for being such a incredible example of of what a Web Designer Pro could be. It's funny because I I started Web Designer Pro and I didn't have all these profiles in mind. I just knew, you know, I wanted to bring people together who are like-minded, different areas in business, but are like-minded about wanting to build a lifestyle web design business. And everybody has their own unique pro story here, but everyone is like an example. There's just so many like great examples, and I need to do a better job, and I will do a better job, better job of sharing these success stories and these examples to help give you, no matter where you are in your journey, somebody to model and to look up to and to hopefully actually meet when you join World Designer Pro. Why wouldn't you with the special offer I have for you? So go below to grab your special offer and jump into Pro. You can use that on the community tier to get access to everybody here. And you can also right now use it on the community or the coaching tier, which grants you access for personal coaching with me. Again, 50% off your first month, both on the monthly plans. And then finally, one more word uh from one of our members who were there live. And these videos are all going out right now on social media, by the way, and they're on my YouTube channel if you want to see these. But Alexis, Alexis Myers, who's one of our original founding members, she was in the first, I want to say she was member eight or nine, still in WebResenter Pro five and a half years later. And well, I could tell you why I think that is, but why don't you just hear from Alexis?

SPEAKER_04 27:23

For me, it's like a must-attend event, brainstorming what I need to do next, um, taking my next steps, also elevating my mindset to what is possible for me and expanding myself and my business. The fact that the unofficial meetups and the socials are so valuable, but then also the conference, they both have their own value in different ways. You get filled up, but then also you're buzzing. It's just like so much amazingness from so many different areas that it's just hard not to level up, but also feel the value of community and everything that this brings.

Josh Hall 28:17

Yeah. So, I mean, like she said, it's hard not to level up. You the only way you wouldn't level up if you go to Pro Con is if you're sleeping through it, but no one is sleeping through it. Even though we had a lot of fun the night before the conference, no one was sleeping through ProCon 2026. Uh, and she's right, like it's just it's contagious. It's contagious. In fact, we had so many other stories come through in pro afterwards about how confident members were feeling. I posted some of these, like I remember April mentioned that she sold, I think, a branding package and a website package and some retainer work just because she was just fired up and she just was like, Oh, I feel like I'm so ready to serve my clients and I feel so good about my services. And she just went for it and made a crap ton of money like the the week after Pro Con, just getting that buzz from the event. Mark, one of our one of our rock star members, took what he learned from Michelle's presentation about headlines and used that for one of his projects, sent it to a client. The client loved it so much, it led to more work and it led to creating a van wrap because he created this new headline based off of what he learned at ProCon. So there's like there's tactical things like that, but then there's also just the yeah, the the the overall feeling of this being such a life-giving event. And it is for me as well. I'm learning so much every time we do one of these, and it's just it just gets better and better. We've only had two pro cons. And I just I'm at the point where I'm like, can you imagine not having pro like we have so many members who are like, this is just I don't care what the date is, what the price is, whatever the specifics are, I'm there because this is the opportunity once a year where we as a community come together, and it's not a community, it's our community. Again, if you're wanting that and you've been on the fence, now is an incredible time to join. I hope to see you in pro, and you will hear from me personally when you join the community or coaching tiers. Now, to the workshop. Again, a lot of this is based off of just you know being around people and the conversations that are happening at breakfasts and brunches and lunches and meetups and bars and whatever. But the primary aspect of this is our conference workshop. We had a uh a little I'm a freaking web designer pro conference this year, and that was the theme of our swag and everything that Alexia designed, and she killed it. To kick off, again, all of these presentations are now available inside of Web Designer Pro. So if you're not in pro yet, or if you're on the courses tier, you can upgrade to the community or coaching tier right now with this offer because these are available to community and coaching members. The courses tier is just access to the courses that's just meant to get you going, and then you can jump into the community. Um, but here is an overview of what we did. Michelle Bourbonier, our SEO and copy guru, kicked us off with a presentation about headline boost and what makes a good headline. It is one of the most practical

Workshop Highlights You Can Rewatch

Josh Hall 31:20

presentations I've ever seen. It's so fun. She came with a little scorecard so you can rate headlines both for you and your clients, and you can make an immediate impact. Side note, I sent this out in my newsletter recently, but April, who I just mentioned, took that headline boost talk and made her own newsletter about it and sent it to clients and got a ton of feedback and re-engagement with her clients just by taking what she learned and making her own piece of content out of it. If you're not doing that, there you go. There's your next social post idea or newsletter idea or upsell idea. Take something you learn in Web Designer Pro, send it to your clients, and watch the money come in. You're welcome. It's fun, it's great. It's not piracy, it's not plagiarism. It is, and April actually made it her own. She talked about Michelle's presentation, said, like, I went to a conference, learn this. Here is how I want to help what I learned for you and your websites client. Such a great way to go. My friends, easy uh content idea right there. Take what you learn, share with your clients. Take what you learn, share with your clients. Oh, and third step, watch the money come in. Secondly, speaking of money, my financial my personal financial advisor and planner Julie Demopoulos, who we we both started our networking group in person together back in 2012. I said the slide, but yeah, we were both like 19 when we started that. Um she shared some of the most important wealth building and retirement strategies for web designers. And of course, this applies to anybody who is self-employed. Uh, but what because she works with a lot of self-employed business owners. And even the folks who are based in Canada, you know, there there are some differences between retirement accounts, uh, you know, country to country, and even state to state, depending on the tax situation. But there are just some generalized good wealth building and retirement principles that she covered that I would highly recommend that you watch. When you start a web design business, you are making money. And when you're making money, you get to a point, maybe you're there now, or maybe you'll get there where you're like, shoot, I didn't even think about this being a long-term thing. Or like, with this money coming in, what do I do with it? I'd rather, you know, apart from saving some, you probably want your money to build. And you're you're actually, when you're starting a business, you are entering in the wealth building space. So do not miss that presentation. It may be worth literally millions of dollars to so many people who take her advice seriously. Uh, again, that's available now inside a web designer pro with the special offer I have for you. So go to the link below to check that out. We also had a live session with all the sponsors who were there, Jeb from 17 Hats, Hans from Termageddon, and Sam from Local SEO Academy, who is also one of our Rockstar Pro members who has become a partner in pro with his SEO Academy. But we had such a fun and really enlightening and good sponsor session because I hit them like they did not know what questions I was gonna ask them, but we had some, and I kept it super lighthearted, it was super fun. We had a guess that baby contest. I'd highly recommend watching that segment as well, especially when Jeb comes around. Um, if you know, you know. But man, it was just so much fun. We had a really good session about honestly, like how to sell services that a lot of people don't understand. Like, can you imagine explaining Termageddon in privacy policies to the average person? Like, good luck. But Hans did, and it was such a good example of how to sell something that's odd and complex in many ways to the average Joe, uh, which most clients are an average Joe. So you need to be able to explain stuff to people like they are 10 or 5, or like April's husband, who doesn't know anything about web design, which all of those Jeb, Hans, and Sam did. So uh thank you, Justin, for being put on the spot and being super cool with it. So check that out. Definitely recommend watching that one as well. My close colleagues Shannon and Jas, Shannon Matter, and Jason Grassi came up for a live panel QA session that's kind of a part two based off of their 2025 talks. Jason about his $2 million sales call, uh, based off of a product type service that he does with Swift Sites, and then Shannon based off of pricing and anchoring high. Um, so such, such gold that was in there. And then we wrapped up, well, we did a breakout session to be able to kind of have a um an in-person uh, yeah, like a breakout session where we had some activities for each table, had a lot of fun there to kind of talk about implementing some of the stuff we went into and learned already. And then we wrapped up the day with a QA session with a very special guest, my wife. My wife was able to join the workshop this year. And even though she is somebody who does not enjoy being in front of the camera at all, it's like the last place she wants to be. She took one for the team and came up and we did a live QA session about how we are balancing family and what she's learned in being a partner in crime with Web Designer Pro, uh, somebody who is a partner behind the scenes. Her work at home, being a stay-at-home mom, running the show, being a homemaker frees me up. I'm recording this right now as she's downstairs managing the kiddos and getting lunch ready right now. Like, so it's awesome. And uh a lot of people had uh some great follow-up questions that I still think Em and I are gonna do like a follow-up one-on-one podcast interview that's just for the podcast. Um, you know, a little less like you know, like 50 people asking us questions. Uh, we'll probably gather some other questions and talk through that here in a little more intimate type of setting. But um, man, it was really fun, yeah, talking about what's going on behind the screen that, you know, I know people are curious about because we had a lot of folks there who are balancing being an entrepreneur, working from home, and having a spouse or whatever the situation looks like. And yeah, they just wanted to know like, how do you guys do this? A lot of the mindset stuff, too, about if you're the primary breadwinner, what that feels like. So a lot of stuff was covered, such good questions came in. All of those presentations are available now inside of the training library in Web Designer Pro. You can find all those replays again. Click the link below to the recap post to get your special deal. Jump in the community or coaching tier in Web Designer Pro and you can watch all those and I will personally follow up with you. And I can't wait to be a part of your journey moving forward here. So to wrap this one up, make sure you do go to the post regardless, because you can check out the pictures from ProCon. If you were there, you can relive it. If you weren't able to join us this year as a pro member, hopefully this gets you fired up for next year. DM me about getting your ticket early for 2027 if you want to secure your spot and get the special early discount. And we also have our socials and our meetup pictures, just a handful of them up there to check out. Um, again, the the other awesome aspect of ProCon is that there are there's so much business that's happening and personal and professional development that's happening just in these hangouts, in these, whether it's a little group or a bigger group. I've learned that like half of ProCon is what's happening behind the scenes at the baseball game, at our meetups, at our brunches, at our lunches, at our bar spots, at our just walks down from the hotel to the baseball game. It's all on walking distance. So awesome. Um, so go check that out. I just can't encourage you enough. And actually, special shout out to Harold, uh, our Web Designer Pro member who is in the deaf community. We had ASL again this year, American Sign Language, and Harold actually sent, like he uh he held up his phone. That's how we talked with Harold this year, and he held up his phone and texted out to me that he was very concerned about coming this year because no one signed. Last year, Jen, my VA at the time, was there, and she is somebody who signs. Um, actually was previously professionally a signer, so she was able to talk with him and communicate with him more. We didn't have anyone this year who knew sign language, but everyone was communicating with Harold through their phone. Harold would type something and then they would, you know, speak it into their phone and send it back to him. And he felt very at home. And he said he did he was so relieved and it felt great for him to be there, even though he, you know, could very easily feel alienated as the only per deaf person there, but he didn't feel that way. And that's a testament to the incredible community we have at Web Designer Pro. So everyone should be super proud

Feeling Seen Through Better Accessibility

Josh Hall 40:02

of yourselves for just being so welcoming. And it wasn't no one had felt, I feel like no one felt inconvenienced. Like it was just it's like Harold, here's how here's how I'm gonna talk to Harold. It's a little bit different, but he's he's he's pro, he's one of our awesome pros. So it was so cool. And for Harold to you know be teary-eyed and share that with me was just one of my favorite parts of many of Web Designer Pro. So cool. Again, our sponsors are the reason this was made possible. Quick shout out to every sponsor here, and you can grab their special deals that they made available for you. Starting with SiteGround, they were a sponsor again this year. Uh they were a first year too, and they are a second year sponsor. You can get 80% off your first year of hosting when you go to joshhall.co slash siteground. So check that out. Big thanks to them. Go give SiteGround some love. We actually had quite a few members since Procon move from their previous hosting to Siteground because they are just they're the best. They're freaking on it. I just recently kicked out a video on why I love SiteGround so much. I'll link that below as well. So go check that out along with all these links. These will all be on the recap post. 17 Hats was our sponsor again this year. Again, they sent Jeb. Uh, we've realized that ProCon, it's not a ProCon

Sponsor Deals For Web Designers

Josh Hall 41:33

without Jeb. He is just the man and so, so knowledgeable with lead capture and lead conversions. We're actually gonna have Jeb on the podcast here soon to talk about how you can automate your lead process. And there's some tricks up his sleeve that he shared at ProCon that I'll make sure we share on the podcast that are gonna help you so much with not losing information and forgetting things, but automating your lead process to make sure you make that money and they don't forget about you and you don't forget about them. Uh, but you can get a free seven-day trial. Plus, when you get even just that trial, you can get my proposal, invoice, and contract template automatically added to your 17 hats account. Go to joshhall.co slash 17 hats for that one. Termageddon, Hans and Nanada, the uh power couple of WordPress. That's my title I've put on them. They were there again this year. They were another second round sponsor. Uh my gosh, it's just it's also not a term, it's it's not a pro con without Termageddon. They are just the best. Hans was there uh and again was in the the live QA session. It was great to see Donata again. You can get two free agency license when you go to joshhall.co slash termageddon. And again, that is a tool that allows you to do automatic auto-updating privacy policies to keep both you and your clients checked, like checked and ready on the legal front, which is huge. If you don't know about all the crazy stuff that's going on in the privacy world online, you'll thank me later. Because there are real lawsuits that are happening to businesses of all sizes, and all you need is have some disclosures on there and have termageddon and have the auto updating privacy policy, so you don't need to worry about it. When California changes the law, you don't need to worry about it. Termageddon's got you covered. That's what it's all about. Again, Local SEO Academy, our rock star SEO guru and pro, Sam Sarzden. This is the little brother community to Web Designer Pro, and it's absolutely on fire. And he was one of our sponsors this year. You can go to joshhall.co slash LSA and you can get 50% off your first month in Local SEO Academy. If you are somebody who is taking SEO seriously and you want to build your recurring revenue, like Sam has done with his agency, that is where to go. I cover the fundamentals of SEO and you know some adjacent SEO stuff. Stuff that I go a little further on, but local SEO, that is he is the man to learn from. And he's on the front lines of it. He is on the front local digital SEO line. So learn from Sam if you want to make more recruiting revenue with SEO, particularly local SEO, joshhall.co slash L S A. Bailey Collins, Water Rock Star, the Design Day Blueprint. She'll be on the podcast again here this summer because she has now built over 500 websites with her design day model. And if you would love to make three, four, five thousand dollars a day and build one website a day, whether you do one or two or three of those a week, or maybe five days a week if you're feeling crazy, I would learn from Bailey. And that's what a lot of Web Disney Pro members have done. And they are killing it because this process, it really is a productized process, fits so perfectly in my course, which is why I'm so happy to be an affiliate partner for Bailey. It fits so well in my model of build, support, grow. You can build websites in a day, add them to your maintenance plan. And if you do have SEO services or strategy services or email marketing services, you can build more recurring revenue after doing a design day. Or you can put a design day into your model, or you could have a niche that has the website design day option if it's more productized. There's so many ways you can take Bailey's blueprint, the design day blueprint, and fit it into your business today. It doesn't need to be your whole business overnight. You can, it can be a part of your business or one of your services. It's just one of the many reasons I recommend it. Plus, you're just you're gonna love Bailey if you don't, if you haven't already. Check out that free training and go to joshhall.co slash DDB, short for design day blueprint. That will get you 10% off her course, and you are also gonna get the brand day module that's a $500 value for free added to your course just by going to joshhall.co slash ddb. Tell her I sent you and enjoy that uh design day money coming in. Lastly, WP Umbrella. Official announcement: I have moved from Manage WP to WP Umbrella, and it's because they're the best. The team's freaking awesome. They have a best in class UX and just super sleek dashboard and system, extra secure. Unfortunately, managed WP has been going downhill, which is why I've made the move. I will be releasing a video about this here soon. Um, I'm getting more familiar with Umbrella, and they just added, I don't even know if it's public yet. Did I get beta access? They just added the backup and cloning feature that I loved in Manage WP. It's what's honestly kept me over at WP or Manage WP. But Umbrella, at the time of releasing this, either has just released it or is going to release it publicly. And it is, it's just freaking awesome. And it feels so good to have things so secure. Manage WP is uh wiltering and it's not good. And now I'm gonna have to redo my maintenance plan course because I have a whole module in there about using managed WP, but now I'm gonna have to re-record that for Umbrella soon. So recommend it, joshhall.co slash umbrella. Uh, you can also use the code Josh Hall WPU at checkout for a full month free after your free trial to give you plenty of time to play around with it and see if it's a good fit for you, joshhall.co slash umbrella. All right, my friends, there is the official recap of ProCon 2026. Hope you enjoyed this one. Thanks for staying with me. Try to make sure there was plenty of value in this for you, even if you weren't a pro con or if you're not yet in Web Designer Pro. Again, go to the recap post below. There is a special offer for you there to jump in to Web Designer Pro. The community and coaching tiers, you can get your first month 50% off. The coupon code is PC2026Recap. Easier if you just copy and paste it or click the links below uh to grab your discounts. And actually, what I'll do for you is in the description, I'll just put the links below. You can join the community tier or the coaching tier 50% off. The links below will have the coupon added for you. So there we go. Make it easy for you. Can't wait to see you in Web Designer Pro. And I hope to see you in person at Web Designer Pro Con 2027. We'll be planning that before you know it. All right, friends. Next week, as I mentioned, Alexis, my amazing designer,

Final Offer And Next Week Teaser

Josh Hall 48:36

Sam's amazing designer, Web Designer Pro's amazing designer that she has become, will be sharing how she is killing it with selling branding and web design together next week on the podcast. And she will also be doing a live workshop that will be free to everybody. So make sure you're subscribed because we will be talking about that next week. And I will see you there.