Many business owners struggle to maintain a healthy online presence for their company. They often lack the time and experience to make it work. I am the guy they call for help.
My introduction to online marketing happened while attending university. I took temporary employment making videos, websites and logos. After that, I started with an investment bank. That is where I saw the need for design-related services in the business community. With this in mind, I enrolled in the Digital Media program at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design.
I worked as a freelance designer and web developer from 2012 to 2016. During that time, I held web development positions at The Brunswickan and CleanTech Capital. I then spent a year working within a restaurant startup, shaping the new brand. I was with Zeal Media for six years and am back to freelancing.
I began this journey when a young woman visited my church. She had known about it for a while but had never entered our doors because she could not find out anything about us online.
I knew something had to be done so that her story would not be the experience of others.
I approached the church leadership about a website and they asked me to do it. I was not expecting that answer. I had to ask myself, “Do I believe in this enough to learn how to make a website?”
I had learned a bit of HTML in high school but it had long been forgotten. I figured I could brush up on it and be well on my way. I was very wrong.
I was interested in graphic design and had been for years. I designed decks and shirts for a skateboard company I had started. I was comfortable with design but translating it into code was a different story.
I spent many months teaching myself web development. Finally, fghweb.ca was created.
I was hooked. My research had shown me the need for good web design so I started looking for ways to apply my new skill set. The opportunity was given to me by the owner of Buen Día Canada. He had secured a grant from Canadian Heritage to make a series of short documentary videos about Hispanic Canadians. I had zero qualifications - but figured I could learn quickly enough. I enrolled in Film Production at UNB and hit the ground running. It turned out that the videos were part of a web design and development project for the New Brunswick Latino Association. He kept me on after the videos were completed and let me work on the website.
I continued to work for Buen Día Canada for a year in customer relations. I spent a significant portion of my time working under the direction of their senior designer on web projects. I moved from there to an investment bank. My employer soon had me designing presentations and promotional documents for our clients.
I am thankful that that first web project was put in my lap. It was a starting point in developing my passion for web design and online promotion.