Dave Bias
Circle: How did you get started with Squarespace?
Dave: I was working with a lot of independent musicians, photographers, artists, and people who didn't necessarily have super technical knowledge. So when Squarespace came around, I realized, here's an opportunity for me to literally give them control. So it allowed me to create the site, get everything that they need in the site, but then, push the maintenance of the site back into their camp.
C: How did Squarespace simplify the website building process for you?
D: As HTML got more complex, as style sheets got more complex, as breakpoints and all this stuff started coming into the picture, I was way less interested in keeping up with all that stuff, so Squarespace just answered all of that. It was like, okay, the design looks great out of the box. I can do a lot of stuff to it that personalizes it for the artist that I'm working with, and it hides the code from me.
C: Why do you think Squarespace is a good fit for creatives?
D: Having a tool that allows me to take that idea out of my brain and into the real world in some way– this is huge for me, and I think for anyone who's creative, we all struggle with that. We want to be creative in so many ways, but there's only so many hours in the day, so anything that can take that time and compress it for you, and really show you a result I think is a brilliant thing.
C: What about Squarespace made you decide to build your practice around this platform?
D: Squarespace solved so many problems for me. To pick one thing, it would be that the admin tools were so intuitive that I could pass the maintenance of the site to my clients with no fear of late-night calls. When a client approaches me to build a website, the only option I offer is Squarespace. If they want to use another platform, I try to talk them out of it.
“As HTML got more complex...I was way less interested in keeping up with all that stuff, so Squarespace just answered all of that.”
C: What’s your favorite part about running your practice on Squarespace?
D: Quite simply, I can make a fully-functional draft site for almost any client in a couple of hours.
C: What advice would you give to someone considering Squarespace Circle as a professional endeavor?
D: Join and participate! There simply is no downside.
C: What Circle perks or resources do you use most and how do leverage them?
D: Most critical for me are the heads-up messages about new and/or enhanced features. For my own company, learning that new e-commerce features were coming prevented us from jumping to another platform, which ended up saving many days of my time and a lot of wasted money.
C: What’s your take on the six-month trial?
D: I absolutely love the extended trial. Not only does this let me experiment, but the few clients I take are often very busy and hard to nail down to get the content I need. I've often needed the entire six-month trial just to get the site out the door.
C: How has your personal life changed since you’ve become a Squarespace professional?
D: Primarily, I have a lot more time for a personal life!
C: What does it mean to you to be recognized by Squarespace as a Circle member?
D: I consider it an honor to be included among so many great Squarespace users in Circle, and I applaud Squarespace for creating the opportunity for all of us.
Special thanks to Dave for sharing his story.
Find out more about Dave’s work on his website.
