As a website designer in Geelong I am so lucky to live near the beach and the city of Geelong. It’s important that I utilize my time wisely as  a website designer, so I get to enjoy the amenities of Geelong and nearby areas. From amazing coffee shops & restaurants, to walks and to beautiful beaches, Geelong has it all. If not, whatever is missing is pretty close by in Melbourne or further down the Surfcoast.

I am an Irish gal who  moved back to Geelong from Ireland in July 2023 as a full time website designer. I spend my time between Ireland and Geelong so that’s why my prices are in Euros and Australian dollars!

My Website design journey as a website designer in Geelong

My website design journey began with a course from the creator and developer Steph My Life. This course was known as the freelancer bootcamp and was all about web design and ‘Escaping the 9-5.’

 During this accelerated and intense course, I learnt to develop websites on the website design platform WordPress. I learnt how to develop websites on WordPress using CSS and PHP. Learning CSS and PHP enabled us to create super unique website designs for our web design clients. It was a steep learning curve and a challenge for sure, but learning these skills has paid off and has enabled me to change my career and pivot into becoming a website designer in Geelong. 

A little about the course

During the course we had 1:1 lessons with Steph and Kristina who mentored us throughout our first website design. These were intense, but they were much needed sessions. 

One of my favourite things about the Steph My Life Freelancer Bootcamp course, was the community that came with it. I met so many other amazing women who wanted to ‘Escape the 9-5’ and start their own business. Some of them I am still in touch with today through social media or with online coffee chats.

Post Website Design Course

Once we had finished the course, we were sent off into the big bad world of business and website design. For 8 months, I continued to teach (my original job)  and pursue website design on the side. Once I made the move to Geelong from Dublin, I was lucky enough to make website design my full time career! 

From finishing Stephs course, I continued my career development and have delved into other website platforms from Showit to Shopify.

Having experience in all these platforms enables me to make the right decision for which website platform to use for your business.

Here’s how I break it down:

E-commerce: Shopify

Service Provider: Showit

Service Provider + E-Commerce: WordPress

Which of these applies to you?

SEO Development

Not only have I developed on these website platforms, but I have dived into the world of SEO with Ciara Morgan Marketing. Here I learnt what I needed to know to ensure my websites have tip top SEO. Always ensure to hire a designer with SEO experience. The two don’t always come hand in hand, but really should!

A Day in the Life as a Website Designer in Geelong (2023 Edition) 

I’m not going to lie, but my schedule does change depending on what I have on each day and how busy I am! Some days I work longer than others, and other days I only put in a few hours. This is the joy of freelancing, you get to choose what suits you and your clients.

05:30am – Meditation

I start my day pretty early. I wakey wakey at 5:30am and jump straight into meditation for 20 minutes. I find that if I don’t do this straight away, I’ll never end up doing it! 

After reading Joe Dispenza’s book, ‘Evolve You Brain,’ I’m making meditation a priority for 2023. I always fall on and off the meditation bandwagon, however as meditation is one of my 2023 goals, I want to create a SOLID practice. Maybe I’ll do a blog post in the future of how it’s helped me!?

06:00am – Coffee & Journal

Coffee and journaling are my favourite part of my day. I write out my intentions and what I want to achieve that day.

I am in the habit of writing way too much on my to do list, so 2023 is the year of being realistic! 

06:30am – Walk

Walk time for me or some form of light exercise! I don’t want to waste too much of my energy in the morning, so I’ll keep it pretty light so I have alot of energy for my work! 

07:45am – Home, smoothie and start work

When I get home, I’ll have my smoothie, and get into work ASAP. Usually around the 7:45  – 8:00 range. 

08:00 – 12:00 Work Block

Tworking time begins for ALEC Creative! 

I will ALWAYS start my day with my most challenging and most important tasks. All my brain power needs to be used on this task. Today, my blog writing is taking preference. Tomorrow, it will be web design! 

I try to divide my time up into work blocks. 60 – 90 minutes seems to be optimal for me. Then, I’ll have a five minute break to give myself a chance to breathe in between these work blocks. 

12:00 – 2:00 – Lunch and Gym

Depending on the day and what I have planned, this is subject to change. 

I always find fitting in a gym session here is great. It boosts my energy and breaks up my day nicely! 

Once I get back, I’ll fix myself some lunch. Rice and veggies seems to be the favourite at the minute! I’m trying out different recipes to see what doesn’t zap my energy. Bread usually kills me. If you have any suggestions, I’d love to know your secret recipes! 

2:00 – 5:00- Work Block 

Usually admin tasks or tasks that don’t use too much brain power. Sometimes I like to mix it up and head to a coffee shop for my afternoon session. Working from home in the afternoon I find really difficult! 

Getting into a new environment is key for my inspiration to work! 

5:00- 7:00  Walk to decompress

Around this time, I’ll go for a walk to decompress and grab food from Coles, Geelong on the way back for our dinner! 

If it’s hot, we will head to the beach for a dip. It’s one of my favourite ways to end the day! 

7:00 +

Dinner, Reading or TV and then bed! I go to bed around 8:30/9. This allows me to get up early doors in the morning! 

Day in the life as a website designer Geelong – Reminder

If my day goes like this, this is a GOOD DAY. A GREAT DAY actually. However, sometimes things don’t always go to plan. Sometimes you need to spend a little bit more time on a project than expected. Some days things go wrong. 

I do try my best to give myself a balanced life. One of the main reasons I wanted to design websites was to not only help businesses, but was to give myself freedom in my days and freedom to travel

Some great days happen and some days they don’t!

I am not going to pretend like every day is perfect, because it definitely isn’t. Some days are really hard. Hustling for clients is hard, working on your marketing is hard, having discipline to work for yourself is hard! 

If you’re thinking about becoming a website designer, please know that the freedom is incredible, however it is a hustle and you have to be prepared! It’s really not doing your work from a deckchair every day, getting a fecking tan. 

If you’re a local business in Geelong and you are looking for a website designed based in Geelong, check out my packages and get in touch so we can work together to get you a website built with strategy and purpose!