Episode 288: A Week in the Life of a Graphic Designer with Mélissa LeMay

Full Episode Transcription:

Arianna Vernier: Hey y’all, welcome back to the Virtual Assistant Mama podcast. We’re continuing our week in the life series here on the show. And today I am interviewing Melissa Lemay, who is a graphic designer. And she’s been a graphic designer for six years. So I’m really excited because we haven’t had a graphic designer in the series yet. So I think you guys are going to learn a ton and just be inspired. So welcome, Melissa. 

Melissa Lemay: Thank you so much for having me. 

Arianna Vernier: Yeah. I’m so excited that you’re here. I would love if you would just kind of share with my listeners a little bit about you, what brought you into the world of graphic design and just all the things. 

Melissa Lemay: Yeah, of course. So I started my online journey, not as a graphic designer, about, uh, what’d I say, maybe seven years ago. It’s, it’s Almost seven years ago. So I am a graphic designer. I’m also a Canva verified expert, as well as an official Canva creator, which means that I create templates for Canva, but I also create designs for mostly female online entrepreneurs. So I, like I said, I started my, my journey because I was just a little fed up of my nine to five job and I was like, okay, I need to be doing something because I cannot do this any longer. And I decided to research one night what, like how I could be making money online. I stumbled upon virtual assistants, which is how I actually got started. So I started offering general tasks, like really. Generic things like answering emails and stuff. And I quickly figured out that. I hated it. So I had to find something else, but I wasn’t sure, I wasn’t sure what. And then as I was creating my marketing material for my virtual assistance business, I started getting people to come to me and, you know, asking if I could help them out designing and asking for like Canva questions and stuff like that. And it was like. Okay, so I’m helping these people for free. They come to me and I don’t even have to actually go after them to, you know, get their attention or anything like that. So I was like, there’s a way for me to make money with this. So I decided to open a brand new Instagram account, which I called Graphic Maven. And I decided that I was going to do a little bit of graphic design just for fun on the side. And then I want to say that within a few months of. Became like a full time gig and I let go of the virtual assistants and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since. 

Arianna Vernier: That’s awesome. I think a lot of people that enter into this world, the virtual assistant world, they start out with offering those more general services, but I think a lot of people very quickly realize, like, that’s not something they want to do long term. And it’s cool to hear how you went about that journey of like, not really having the experience in the graphic design world, but just realizing that it really lit you up and you loved it. And you took that leap and stepped into that role instead. And I have a very similar journey. I started with the general admin and then went into website design. I’d never done that before, but I was like, this is so fun when I built my own website. So I just love to hear everybody’s stories about like how they actually got into this, because so many of us. We don’t actually have like a college degree in this or a ton of experience. It’s really teaching ourselves. And sometimes that’s, I feel better than getting a college degree, because when you teach yourself, you’re gonna, you’re gonna figure out all the weird little things that you’re not going to learn in like a college course.
Melissa Lemay: Yeah, I totally agree. And like, like you said, there’s like so many of us that started with an idea of, you know, just letting go of that nine to five and wanting to provide for ourselves and our families and we make our, we make our way there and kind of figure it out as we, as we go. 

Arianna Vernier: Yep, definitely. So, I would love if you could share with the listeners what kinds of tasks that you do throughout a week for your business and for your client.

Melissa Lemay: Yeah, of course. So, when I’m designing for clients, obviously, there’s a designing aspect of it. So, I do work by project, so this means that people will hire me for a specific project. But I also have retainer clients, so these clients pay me. A flat fee per month, and they get usually unlimited amount of graphics per month. So they get to send in their requests and I have a pretty quick turnaround time. So Really the first thing I do when I’m working on client stuff is checking if there’s any requests for the retainer clients that came in so I check my Trello account. This is what I use for communications with all of my clients. And then, you know, designing, getting feedback from clients. Like there’s a lot of back, there’s not necessarily a lot of back and forth, but there’s a lot of communication that is done in order for me to nail down the, you know, the graphics. And it’s usually in one or two reviews, because you try to limit the number of times that you have to go and tweak. And I’m sure that’s the same thing when it comes to web design, right? You want to nail it down in as little reviews as possible. So this is basically what I, what I do, like lots of communication. Designing and getting feedback. So that’s client wise. And then as far as building my own business, of course, there’s the content creation part. I do a lot in my stories. So I show up a lot in my stories, share about, you know, the behind the scenes and a little bit about my life, what I do every day, and then of course. I show up in my different containers. So sometimes I run coaching containers. So I show up in those and I also have my membership, which I show up in there, you know, supporting the clients and email, email marketing. That’s a big part of it too. I try to send one or two emails a week and then Fridays are usually completely booked out for any. Like appointments that I want to do, like, I don’t know, Cairo massage, dentist, whatever, and then I always do my money dates on Fridays as well, which is looking at my money and what comes in, what goes out, just making sure that I’m on track with that. Where I want to go and where I’m at. 

Arianna Vernier: Yeah, it’s a good idea to have that touch point at least, you know, twice a month, but doing it every week is great too of like seeing what you’re actually bringing in, what’s going out, seeing what you’re actually making. Some people hide from those numbers and I think it’s really important to be looking at and to know, you know, what areas could I cut back in to save in expenses? What am I really making a lot of money in that I could You know, who’s to make more. So it’s really important to keep an eye on those things. I love that you mentioned that. 

Melissa Lemay: Yeah. So I’m, I was one of those that was afraid to look at numbers before. So I have no problem, you know, celebrating the amount of money that comes in and the new clients. So that was like. The fun part of money, but then looking at the expenses, you know, paying, not necessarily paying other people, but just like putting all the receipts in a folder and, you know, having my books like all in order. Like I would wait until the end of the year and I would do it. And I hated it because it took so much time and it was just time consuming and stressed me out. So now I do it every Friday. It takes me about 15, 20 minutes. And it’s just the best. 

Arianna Vernier: Yeah, I do it every other week. And since I only do it like twice a month, it takes me probably 30 to 45 minutes to do it all, but it’s so much better than doing it at the end and like scrambling to get everything together for taxes and all that.
Melissa Lemay: Yeah, exactly. And this is something I just started. I did somewhat of it in 2023, but I’m really sticking to it so far in 2024. So I plan on keeping it that way for the rest of the year because it’s just less stressful for sure. 

Arianna Vernier: Definitely. So roughly how many hours do you work in a week and how much of that would you say is like spent on your client work and then how much of that would be spent on like growing your business?

Melissa Lemay: Okay. So I would say about 25, 25 hours a week. And to be honest, I don’t necessarily keep track of exactly how much time I spend. 

Arianna Vernier: Yeah. I think a lot of us don’t. 

Melissa Lemay: But I would say about 15 hours on client work. I’m sure there’s a weeks where it’s busier, like one of my retained clients right now, she’s doing a big launch. So I’ve been working a lot of extra hours this week. But usually I would say 15 hours, five hours on my own business. Maybe I should say between more 5 and 10 in my own business because it really depends on if there’s something launching soon or whatever. And then I really try to spend at least five hours of learning time every week. So I am part of different, like different coaching programs. So I make sure that I show up in those and learn as much as I can. And of course, apply it. 

Arianna Vernier: Yeah, I think it’s really helpful too to have somewhere where you’re still learning, developing your skills, whether that’s like the skill you’re offering to your clients or whether it’s like skills to grow your own business. I think a lot of people skip over that and it’s important that you don’t skip over it because that’s what’s going to help you continue to reach your goals. So I like that you mentioned that. 

Melissa Lemay: Yeah, I agree. And the thing too about learning. What I see also with like my clients that do coaching with me is that they learn, learn, learn, learn, but then they don’t implement. So you can learn as much as you want. You could be, you know, spending 50 hours a week on learning, but if you don’t implement anything, you’re not going to see any changes. So the learning aspect is great, but also like leaving room and time in your schedule to actually implement some of it. You don’t have to implement everything that you learn, but implementing some of it is important too.

Arianna Vernier: Right. I totally agree. So, what does your life look, look like outside of your business? What are some of your hobbies? What’s your family life look like? Tell me all about that. 

Melissa Lemay: Sure. So, I spend a lot of time outside, so I love like walking outdoors, you know, I live in Canada, so, and I live in Ontario, so we have like pretty brutal winters. So in the winter we ski and we spend a lot of time like walking. Otherwise in the summer it’s like swimming and gardening and that type of stuff. I have three teenagers, so one will be actually turning 18 in just like two weeks. And so 18, 16, and uh 15. So and they live in Norway, so I travel a lot in between Norway and My house here in Canada, so I would say that I’m like pretty much half and half in between the two houses, so traveling a lot that’s actually takes a lot of my time. Also, because when I’m in Norway with the kids, I try to not work as much because obviously I want to spend as much time as possible with them and I love food. Like a lot. I love food. I love cooking and I love eating it too. So I spend a lot of time cooking. I would say that I probably make five to six new recipes a week. So supper is always different and I love that. And my partner also has a business, which is a construction business. So. I, he knows nothing about tech and online and anything like that, or anything like financial and stuff like that. So I do a little bit of his admin work, which is about, I want to say, five to 10 hours a week, depending. So that also keeps me busy. 

Arianna Vernier: So I, I like to ask this question because it’s just, It shows the listeners that you can have your business, it doesn’t have to take up all of your time, and you would have the time to do your hobbies, and just the things that light you up that you might not have time to do when you have a 9 to 5, and like you’re stuck working specific hours for a specific company, and just all these things. So I love just getting to hear a little glimpse into what you like to do outside. side of your business and the fact that you’re a mom of three teenagers. I dread the days of teenagehood, so hopefully it goes littles myself, but yeah, I just appreciate you sharing that. So what would you say are some resources that have helped you throughout your journey in your business?
Melissa Lemay: Well, I want to say at the very beginning, I did a lot of online searches. So YouTube, lots of resources in Facebook groups. Also connecting with people in my industry. So being able to connect with other graphic designers or people in the virtual assistant world, really. So I was able to connect with them and bouncing off ideas with them as well. Which is great because especially when you’re starting and you’re like. Okay, how am I supposed to charge for this? Or like, how do you go about this? Or, you know, how do you deal with a client that’s requesting this? Like, I’ve never actually thought of this. Like, there’s just so many things that I had to figure out as I was doing it, because I’ve never been to school for this. So I had, you know, a few things to figure out as I was building the business. So the connections with people was really, important and, Facebook groups. Like I said, on YouTube, pretty much.

Arianna Vernier: So you taught yourself your graphic design skills. Can you talk a little bit more about like, I know that you said you just kind of explored, figured out what to do, but can you talk a little bit more about that for other people who are interested in diving into the graphic design world? What, what they might start like investigating or exploring? 

Melissa Lemay: Yeah, for sure. So when I started with Canva, basically it was a brand new business. So I don’t know how long you’ve been using Canva, but years ago, when it was just like the Canva 1. 0 version, it was pretty straightforward. It was not a lot of options, not a lot of features. So basically I just started designing, looking at what other people were doing and trying to like. Recreate what other people were doing, not to resell, because that would be just wrong, but just for me to – yeah, exactly. To practice. So I would find, I would go on creative markets, which is a platform where you can buy like different templates and elements. And I’m sure, you know, that that platform. So I would spend a lot of time on creative markets, seeing what people were doing. And also Pinterest was actually very such a visual visual platform, right? So I would spend a lot of time on there and just trying to. Get better at the design skills, but also again, YouTube. So there was a few people that were like the pioneers of Canva when it first started. So I would follow them and I actually did work with one of them as my coach. And she would not necessarily teach me how to design, but teach me how to use a platform to make money. So that really like opened up different doors for me and different opportunities. And then really what, what really started my business, what helped me with my business to grow it and make it take off, I can say it like that, was to show up in Facebook groups. So I would go in the different Canva Facebook groups. And they were much smaller at the time, but people were asking questions, right? So I would answer questions. And even if I didn’t know the answer, I would try to figure it out. And once it was figured out, I would record like a quick video and send it over to the people. And it really got visible. So showing up in Facebook groups were really the thing that helped me. Back then people would call me the Canva Ninja because I was so quick at replying and getting things done. So people really associated my name with the Canva Ninja and then eventually, you know, Graphic Maven. And then that’s how people would hire me. They just wanted to work with me, right. Cause I was quick at responding. So like resourceful. Yeah. I hope that answers your question. 

Arianna Vernier: Yeah, that definitely did. I think sometimes people aren’t sure where to start when they want to teach themselves a new skill. So I’m so glad that you brought up YouTube. That’s where I taught myself how to build a website. I just watched a YouTube tutorial. And then, yeah, just practicing, like you said, looking at what, what other people have done, seeing if you can recreate it, like you said, not to sell, but just to test your skills to see if you could do what they’ve done and just build and practice those skills. I love that you mentioned. Networking and Facebook groups. That is a huge topic that I talk about here on the podcast is networking, answering questions where you can. And when you’re a beginner, you might not know all the answers, but like you said, some of them, you could just go try to figure it out and then record a quick video. And that just set you apart as someone who’s really helpful, willing to answer a quick question for free. And then they, that, yeah. Person and anybody who saw that post knew to come to you for help when they needed it. So I think that really sets people apart when they take that time to network and pour into the groups. And that, like you said, will just start to exponentially grow your business. So thank you for mentioning that. 

Melissa Lemay: Yeah, no problem. 

Arianna Vernier: So I would love to ask you a question that I ask every guest that comes on the show and it’s if someone wanted to start their journey out of their nine to five, but it just felt too overwhelming to them. What would you tell them?
Melissa Lemay: I think I would tell them to not look at the outcome that they’re trying to achieve. Because, you know, the ultimate goal might be to quit the nine to five or to make X amount of money. But then when you’re starting or you haven’t even started yet, when you look at that, you’re like, Oh my God, I want to make an extra five K a month, or I want to leave my nine to five. Then when you look at the like end results that you’re looking for, it seems like so far, seems so far away. And then, you know, bridging the gap between where you are now and where you want to be sometimes it’s just so scary because it’s just such a big leap to take. So I think I would say. Look at your end goal and then break it down into like tiny little steps. So that way, you know, you can have, you can have actual. actionable steps to take towards your end goal, but then, you know, if you’re, your first step would be to actually decide what you want to do, you know, as a business, because you haven’t started yet, then just making that decision between where you are now and, you know, making that decision of, okay, this is what I want to do for a business, that gap is so much smaller, so it doesn’t seem so overwhelming, once you decide where you are, and then what you want to do as a business. so much for joining us. Then you move on to the next step. So that’s, it’s just like the little gaps that you need to fill at a time versus looking at the end goal and just seeing like, it’s just way too far and just too hard to achieve. 

Arianna Vernier: Yeah. I think sometimes we think of. Starting a business and we want to see the entire roadmap all at once. And that’s not really how it works. Like you have to take this little step here. And then once you take that step, the next step is going to become clear. And then the next step will become clear. It’s not, you know, a laid out path all at once. It, it takes steps at a time. So I’m glad that you mentioned that.

Melissa Lemay: Yeah, and also it’s just like, even if you try, even if you’re like, you know what, no, I’m just going to figure it out. I’m going to have it all mapped out. You can map it all out, but then there’s a big chance it’s not going to happen exactly how you wrote it down. So if you have a good idea of where a roadmap or framework or blueprint, whatever you want to call it, you can make that blueprint. That’s totally fine. But you have to be okay with things not going exactly as you planned out because. There’s always something that comes up or there’s like new ideas or whatever, right? 

Arianna Vernier: Yeah, I agree. So this has been so great having you on the podcast today, Melissa. Where can people come and connect with you and just become your best friend?

Melissa Lemay: So if they want to become my best friend, then I think they should come over to Instagram. So they can find me @graphic.maven. So I should, like I said earlier, I show up on my stories a lot. So if you want to get to know me and my life, then definitely watch my stories. And otherwise, if you’re just curious to know what I do, you can check out my website, which is graphicmaven.ca.

Arianna Vernier: Yeah. And I will have those links in the show notes. So everybody listening can go get connected with Melissa. Well, thank you so much again for coming on today. I really appreciate you sharing a glimpse into what your life looks like just to inspire others of what their life could look like if they took the leap into this world. So thank you so much again. 

Melissa Lemay: Thanks for having me. 

Arianna Vernier: All right, y’all, make sure you go and get connected with Melissa. Follow her on Instagram. Check her out. I know that you’re going to love learning all about her even more and if you are loving this series on the podcast I would so appreciate it If you would just leave a review on the show because it helps us get more visibility and get more Amazing guests on the show just like Melissa. So take a moment to do that and I would be so so so grateful Thank y’all so much for listening, and we will see you next time.