Diving into Web Design…and Life: I’d Recommend it

Picture this: I’m a 40 year old mom of 2 kids, who's been out of the business game for 7 years, give or take. I’ve had some really cool jobs, and some not so great ones too, but all of which have taught me some valuable lessons.

Learning Valuable Business Skills From On-the-Job Training

Each job I’ve had has helped me build a particular skill upon the previous one. From learning how to write my first business email back in 2004 when I worked for a huge corporation, to creating marketing materials for mid-sized businesses, to starting my own business before my kids were born - all of which have helped me develop my skill set. I’ve learned about being an adult in the business world, while navigating with poise and confidence (well, most of the time.)

These Job Tasks are All Real…

With each job I've had, I feel this intrinsic value that was gained from each experience at that particular stage in my life, piece by piece, adding to my symbolic work briefcase… organization, notetaking, creating processes, marketing fundamentals, stylizing spreadsheets, planning special events, confirming the event confirmation, networking and communication.

Some crazy job tasks I’ve had (I can laugh now):

• Organized advertising and billboard accounts for 50+ accounts. Done it.
• Planned special events for 15,000+ attendees. Yep.
• Cold-called (from the 19th floor of a sky scraper) private club members to personally invite them to a social event. Yes!
• Sorted coins from a fountain to send to the US Mint. This one hurts but yea.
• Hung miles of Visqueen to build a 2-story Haunted Mansion. I know, weird, but yes to this one too.

You get the idea.

Cue All Things Websites

In comes web design, where all of these learned skills are put to the test - Layout, design, graphics, clear communication, and a new, key player in the game for me: SEO. Web Design is a really powerful job where I get to use my creativity, a good eye for what’s visually pleasing, and birth websites from scratch that are optimized for a great user experience, deliver the client’s main objectives… AND most importantly, connect with their customers. Just like web design, isn't connecting with people one of the central joys in life?

My Dream Job

My point is telling you all of this is, just when I thought I was out of the game for good, with little to offer back to the business world after being on the bench for some time, one giant leap of faith has brought me to my dream job. Shocking I know. One text changed the course of my life for the better. (More on that in another blog.)

I used to watch movies (Think: “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”) where they would show a fast-paced, fun agency, I’d think to myself, “I want to work in that type of environment when I grow up.” And here I am with the dreamiest team of really smart, creative, funny people that I get to work with every day. This is a workplace where we are free to create and take chances professionally in design and ideas are celebrated instead of shunned. It’s inspiring! A job that fits into my lifestyle and still allows me to be a wife, mom, and business owner myself - that really IS pretty amazing and just right. Thankful is an understatement.

Now I’ve Arrived at My Career

Maybe it just comes with age and having exposure to different life experiences, but I like to believe that all of my time doing grunt work AND the glamorous work have led me to this: Becoming a Web Designer. It's where my talents shine and I feel like an MVP.  It feels right. Value that wasn’t appreciated at other jobs is present and communicated here. And as a bonus, I’m using both of my college degrees (Marketing and Management Information Systems)… Never thought I’d be able to say that.

Also, the connections I have made with my coworkers and myself are invaluable. I longed to be in the room with people like my coworkers, and now I get to be one of them.

Once a Student, Always a Student

I’ve learned so much over the last few years specifically about WordPress, writing for the web, and SEO basics. I’ve done countless hours of training, and even dipped my toe back into the coding world and started to relearn HTML and CSS. I didn’t think it was possible to start with a blank slate of a website, and after only a short time, create a 50 page masterpiece.  “I created that! This website didn’t even exist before.” - Huh? Wow. Sometimes I can’t believe it myself.

Get Your Life to Rank

When websites rank what I thought was by happenstance, I now know is by carefully crafting and optimizing a website so that it ranks at the top of a search. I’d like to think the same is true for my life and my career. It’s been carefully crafted over time to RANK in life. When I search for my own life keywords (joy, fulfilled, purposeful, happiness), I’m at that coveted #1 spot of my own search results.

Take the Risk

So take that chance and don’t count yourself out, even if you think your time is up. Life has a funny way of presenting itself at just the right moment.

It’s not too late to learn something new and start your career, again, and for me that was after age 40. Maybe that was by design after all.

What things in life are you going to dive into? Where can you take a risk in your own life and grab an amazing opportunity?