Claire Gallagher - Website Designer
This Freelance Insights interview features Claire Gallagher, a website designer who helps service-based businesses to build websites so that they get leads and clients.
I came across Claire’s account on Instagram a few months ago because someone I follow shared one of her brilliant swipe posts to their stories. She shares really helpful tips about a whole range of topics relating to website design and business in general, so as a freelancer she’s definitely worth a follow!
Claire does website design a little differently from other people, working face-to-face with her clients in a collaborative way over 3-month cycles. Some of us might tremble at the thought of working in such close proximity to our clients (tell me I’m not alone here!), so I’m in awe of how Claire invites her clients’ input throughout the process.
If your website homepage has you cringing or you just feel like it could do a better job of welcoming people to your site, you’ll want to check out Claire’s High-Converting Homepage Formula. You’ll receive a template and video with Claire’s wisdom on what works to get your website homepage generating interest from visitors. Click the button further down this page to get it!
How do you describe what you do for work?
I help client-facing, mostly service-based businesses to build websites so that they get leads and clients. It's creating a website and lead-generation system that is designed to attract, engage, and convert clients. I work with a lot of people who work alone and the way I work is slightly different from most website designers - we sit down face to face, week after week for 3 months, and it's almost like a coaching model (but I'm not a coach). We co-create, working on messaging, positioning, and all of those small details to make decisions together. There aren't a million emails going over and back - it's a collaborative approach. If they then want help with a content marketing strategy, that's another 3-month cycle. I believe very strongly in a deadline to make things happen!
What's your favourite thing about working freelance?
What I always hated about working for bigger companies or agencies was that my time was not my own. If you want to go to the dentist, you have to write an email to HR and get it approved. I just like the freedom of being independent and freelance. I've got 2 kids now and I can be there for them, structuring my day around them. But the thing I really like about being my own boss is the personal development that happens with it. I think if I was still in a salaried job, I wouldn't be pushing myself to the same extent as I am or learning new skills all the time. I love that challenge!
Where do you usually work from?
Because I work on people's websites, I have firewalls and all kinds of security stuff set up. I've got a big iMac screen in my home office and I don't really do the laptop thing, so that means I always work from this exact spot! My office connects to my kids' bedroom, so that makes me not work at night. I really need that, because I would work 24/7 if I didn't have other responsibilities. I know when I'm not working, I'll just step away from here and I won't work.
What does a normal working day look like for you?
At the start of the year, I always look at where all my time is going and how I can really optimise the hours when I'm at my desk. When you're tied to school hours for work, and then when it's not school hours you're on the front line being a parent, your time for self-care, exercise and socialising gets squeezed out very quickly. I'm the worst person for taking a lunch break! That's something I'm trying to work on this year and part of it is setting alarms on my phone. On a normal day, I'll drop the kids off at school and then go for a run. I try to do a meditation every day, but that doesn't always work out. After about 10:30, I'll do email and social media (not first thing in the morning because otherwise I'm straight into work mode and I forget about myself!). Then I'll have a meeting, lunch, 2 more meetings, then emails and social media. At 16:00, I clear my desk and make sure everything is lined up for the next day before picking up the kids.
What one tip would you give other freelancers about running a freelance business?
One of the things that's really important to me, and which I didn't do in the early years, is to zoom out occasionally. Don't always be analysing how you're doing things, but maybe have an accountability partner or a mastermind group so that you can step back from your business and get perspective. In those early years I was still kind of working on holidays, at weekends, in the evenings - I was always in it and doing the work. I never took a step back to question whether I still wanted to be doing things in the same way. It was actually when I took maternity leave the second time that I made the switch from being a graphic designer who makes websites to only working with clients who can spare the time every week to work on their website with me. That maternity leave was a live saver because I was nearly burnt out from all the work I'd been doing beforehand.
Free resource
A high-converting homepage is one that resonates with the reader and inspires them to take action. Get Claire's High-Converting Homepage Formula (template + video guide) to transform your homepage and get droves of new leads and clients!
Connect with Claire
Email: claire@clairecreative.com
Website: www.clairecreative.com
Instagram: @clairecreative_com
