Today we’d like to introduce you to Joann Schermerhorn.
Hi Joann, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I came to web design through wellness, not tech.
For about twenty years I worked in spas and gardens. I managed spas in Atlanta and Kansas City, did a permaculture internship in California, and picked up a lot of training along the way: herbalism, esthetics, yoga, lymphatic drainage, Ayurveda, and most recently sound healing. I still run Carried Sound, my sound bath practice here in KC.
Running spas taught me the business side too. At an Ayurveda-inspired spa in Oregon, I rebuilt the staffing, policies, and pricing, and we doubled our yearly revenue in a year.
I’ve been building websites since 2017, mostly for myself and other practitioners. I kept seeing the same thing. People were doing great work, but their sites were hard to find and hard to use. That bugged me enough that I went back to school for it. I got my Google UX Design certificate, took SEO courses, and kept studying design from there.
That’s how The Grand Schema started. I do SEO and website design for wellness businesses, so people can actually find them and book with them. Because I’ve worked on the practitioner side, I know what these businesses need and how their clients think.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it hasn’t been smooth.
Moving around as much as I have meant starting over more than once. New city, new clients, building a reputation from scratch. That gets tiring, even when every move taught me something.
The pandemic was rough. Wellness was one of the hardest-hit industries, and hands-on work like mine just stopped. Watching so many practitioners and spas struggle to stay afloat made it clear how much these businesses depend on being found online. That stuck with me.
Changing careers has been the hardest part. Hands-on wellness work is physically demanding, and I knew I couldn’t do it forever. Shifting into design and SEO meant becoming a beginner again after twenty years of being the expert in the room. I taught myself a lot of it, and I took courses on top of working, so it took longer than I wanted.
I’ve also had to learn to stop doing everything. I juggle a few roles, and it’s easy to say yes to too much. I’m getting better at focusing on the work that fits and letting the rest go.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Grand Schema?
The Grand Schema is my SEO and website design studio for wellness businesses: spas, yoga studios, sound healers, massage therapists, holistic practitioners, and anyone doing healing work.
I help them get found online and make it easy for people to book. That means technical SEO audits, website builds on Squarespace and WordPress, and UX design that makes sites clear and simple to use.
What sets me apart is that I’ve been on the other side. I spent twenty years working in wellness as an esthetician, Ayurvedic practitioner, yoga teacher, and spa manager. I’m still a provider myself through Carried Sound, my sound healing practice here in Kansas City. I know how these businesses run, what their clients are looking for, and how to talk about this work without it sounding cold or salesy.
That matters more than people realize. Because wellness touches people’s health, Google holds these sites to a higher standard. It looks for real experience, real expertise, and signs that a business can be trusted. A lot of practitioners have all of that, but their websites don’t show it. I help bring their training, credentials, and personality to the surface so both Google and future clients can see it.
I’m proudest that my work feels like the people I build for. A lot of wellness websites end up looking generic. I want each one to feel like walking into that person’s space, and still show up on Google.
At the end of the day, I want to see people in the wellness industry thrive. If you run a wellness business and aren’t sure why your site isn’t bringing in clients, an SEO audit is a good place to start. You can find me at thegrandschema.com.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I’m happiest either outside in a garden or building houses in The Sims, and I used to think those two sides didn’t fit together.
I started out working in national parks, did a permaculture internship in California, and traveled through Europe and the U.S. learning how to grow food. I’ve always learned best outdoors, by noticing patterns in nature. But I also love being online. I’ll spend hours on a Sims floor plan figuring out where the kitchen should go, and I browse architecture sites for fun.
It turns out it’s all the same thing to me. Permaculture is about designing a space so everything flows and supports everything else. A good house works that way, and so does a good website. Whether it’s a garden or a homepage, I’m thinking about how people move through it and what makes them feel at home.
Pricing:
- Free Ghosted Scorecard: see how visible your practice is on Google, Maps, and AI answers
- XML Marks the Spot (DIY kit): $47, a wellness schema pack so search engines and AI tools understand what you offer
- SEO Site Audit: $350
- Audit + Fixes: starting at $1,000 (split payments available)
- Ongoing SEO: starting at $1,500/month
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thegrandschema.com
