Post Status Happiness Hour Session Twenty Three

Transcript ↓

In this episode of the Post Status Happiness Hour, host Michelle Frechette interviews Cami MacNamara a seasoned web designer and solopreneur. Cami shares insights into her business, Web Cam LLC, and her new initiative, “Web Designer Habits,” which aims to help web designers develop productive habits. They discuss the importance of accountability, time management techniques like time blocking and the Pomodoro technique, and the benefits of joining online and local networking groups. The episode also teases a collaborative project between Michelle and Cammy involving a planner designed to support web designers in maintaining their habits.

Top Takeaways:

Small Changes Lead to Big Improvements – Cami emphasized the power of incremental progress, whether in business, design, or personal productivity. Tackling tasks in small steps can make overwhelming projects more manageable and sustainable.
Be Prepared for the Unexpected – Michelle shared practical travel and everyday preparedness tips, from keeping essential items in the car to ensuring that your luggage complies with airline regulations. Thinking ahead can save time, stress, and even money.
Documenting Processes is Key – The discussion touched on the importance of writing down systems and workflows, especially for solopreneurs. Whether through standard operating procedures (SOPs) or simple notes, having a record helps maintain efficiency and organization.
Community and Support Matter – Both Michelle and Cami highlighted the value of connection in professional spaces, particularly within the WordPress and web design communities. Engaging with peers through newsletters, Facebook groups, and live discussions fosters learning, growth, and mutual encouragement.

Mentioned In The Show:

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Cami MacNamara (Owner & Designer, WebCami LLC)
Michelle Frechette (Director of Community Relations, Post Status)
Olivia Bisset (Intern, Post Status)

The Post Status podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

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Transcript

Michelle Frechette 00:00:01 And we’re alive with this week’s Post Status Happiness Hour with my good friend Cami McNamara and Cami does a lot. Hi Cami, I know you do a lot of different things. You have your agency and all these, you know, other things, podcasting and all the things you’re doing now. But today we’re really going to talk about your web designer habits, how you came up with that, what some of them might look like, how people can get in on that, and maybe some things that we’re going to tease about what you and I are working on together too. So.

Cami MacNamara 00:00:30 Well, that sounds great. Thank you.

Michelle Frechette 00:00:33 Yeah. Welcome to the Happiness Hour. It’s good to have you here.

Cami MacNamara 00:00:36 Yeah, it’s great to be here. I’m so. I’m always happy to talk to you, Michelle. Like, anytime we get to spend time together, it makes my day.

Michelle Frechette 00:00:44 Absolutely. I feel exactly the same way for. For people who haven’t met you, who don’t, you know, as equated with who you are. Can you just give us a little bit about where you’re located, what you do with WordPress, maybe you know anything that you want to mention about your life? I know you got a really cool dog like all those. Just fill us in on the details for a minute.

Cami MacNamara 00:01:03 Sure. Well, I am located. My name is Cami McNamara and otherwise known as Web Cami. So my business is Web Cam, LLC and I have been building websites since 2000 and started my business in 2002. So I just had my 23rd anniversary in business. Oh I’m a solopreneur. I build websites for small businesses and nonprofits all over the United States, but I’d say the majority of my clients are here in the Seattle area. So I live in Seattle, in a neighborhood called Alki Beach, and I often on social media and posting pictures of my neighborhood because, well, I just love it.

Michelle Frechette 00:01:48 Because it’s beautiful.

Cami MacNamara 00:01:49 Thank you. I mean, it’s like I live at a California beach in a big city. So it’s kind of nice. Much smaller scale. Not not, you know, nobody’s hanging tenning out in the water.

Michelle Frechette 00:02:03 It’s a little chilly up there for that. Probably.

Cami MacNamara 00:02:05 Little chilly. There’s a lot of cold plungers that, You know, I do. I did it this year on New Year’s Eve, but. Or New Year’s Day. But I’m not planning to do that again. So that’s it. I have a husband. I’ve been married for 35 years, and I have a dog who’s a ten year old Labrador named Tank. I also share a lot of pictures of him, and I have a 28 year old son.

Michelle Frechette 00:02:32 Awesome. And everybody comments on the, the parking meter behind you, so.

Cami MacNamara: Oh yeah.

Michelle Frechette: Because I know everybody’s like, what’s the parking meter about?

Cami MacNamara 00:02:45 Okay so yes. Yeah. So my parking meter back here, my aunt, worked for Rockwell Industries back in the 70s. And when I was a little kid, she gave me that parking meter. Now, my grandmother had this parking meter, the same kind, but she made it into a lamp. And you’d have to put your you’d have to put coins in it to turn the lamp on. And as a as a kid, I was obsessed with that. So my aunt gave me that. You can see the faded number eight. I put like a sticker on there for my eighth birthday, and it’s there to remind me to keep my time top of mind all day long.

Michelle Frechette 00:03:27 Which is one of the web habits designer habits. But you have. So one of the things that I was just, like, enamored with when you came out with that last year, I think you called it WP Habits to begin with.

Cami MacNamara 00:03:40 Yeah, I called it Habits WP. I had, I had WP Habits, I still have all those domains.

Michelle Frechette 00:03:47 So yes, they can all point to the new one. Right. And now it’s web designer habits.com Correct?

Cami MacNamara 00:03:54 Yes. Yes because I’m really sharing habits that aren’t just for a WordPress designer. They’re really for anybody who’s doing web design and and how it came to be was, you know, I’ve been blogging about running my business for quite a while, and I wrote, I did a blog post about habits, but my friend Anne Marie and I went on a women’s business retreat with Kim Doyle in Costa Rica a couple of years ago, and I told her I want to figure out some way to share what I know and what I do, but I am not going to have time to develop big, long courses. I have a hard time taking big, long courses. What can I put? How can I put this in little tidbits for people and also for myself to work on each week? And that’s kind of how it was born.

Michelle Frechette 00:04:45 That makes sense. I loved when you first came out with that. I signed up right away. I get the emails every week. And then I don’t you keep giving me credit for it. I don’t know if that’s really true or not, but I was like, wow, you really have to have a whole website for this where there’s an art and archive. So like if somebody’s starting now, they can still go back and see the ones they missed. And, I kind of have a little bit more to.

Cami MacNamara 00:05:10 Well, it was, it was kind of always on my to do list. But you’re the person who lit the fire underneath me to go ahead and do that. And now, in addition to my website, I am building a circle community for this. So I’m hoping to have that launch in the next few weeks.

Michelle Frechette 00:05:29 Very cool. So there’ll be a whole community about it.

Cami MacNamara 00:05:32 Yes. Because you know what? You know, what helps you get your habits in order is having accountability with others.

Michelle Frechette 00:05:39 Yeah, that’s very true. That is very true. Do you want to bring the site up on and to share your screen? And we’ll take a look at it.

Cami MacNamara 00:05:45 Yeah, sure. How I’m not sure how to do that, but that’s okay. Do you what do you want to do it on your end? It’s if if that’s easier for you, is it? I just haven’t been in StreamYard and.

Michelle Frechette 00:05:59 Yeah. That’s okay.

Cami MacNamara 00:05:59 In a long time.

Michelle Frechette 00:06:01 Okay, so I’ve got it up. I can no longer see you, so I’m going to scroll and let you explain what we’re looking at then okay.

Cami MacNamara 00:06:06 Well basically this is just where you sign up. and I, I like big fonts and I cannot lie. Okay. I’ll just say that right off the bat. So when I designed this, I really wanted it to be bold and impactful. But basically this is where you sign up. There’s just a little bit of a story about me and where, how I came to be here. I have a podcast which I have been doing, off and on for a couple of years. I share the habit each week, and then I also report on how I did adopting the habit, and that’s under the blog section. So that’s kind of new. And I’m building out resources. And as I said before, I’m going to start a circle community for this, because I just kind of feel like there’s a need for it.

Michelle Frechette 00:06:58 And you have, you have your, WebCamiCafe over on Facebook.

Cami MacNamara 00:07:02 Yes I do I started a Facebook group basically for friends that I was making as I became a GoDaddy Pro ambassador. This is back in 2018. And you know, I kept going to WOrdCamps and kept meeting people and friends of friends or adding folks, and it’s just really a nice small networking group and a good place just to meet other web designers.

Michelle Frechette 00:07:32 Yeah, for sure. And I mean, people are posting really cool things in there all the time and asking for feedback and having great conversations about some of those things.

Cami MacNamara 00:07:40 Yeah, it’s it because the numbers are small, it’s kind of more intimate and I really like that part of it.

Michelle Frechette 00:07:48 I did too, and I will say, like, I’m not really doing a lot of web design anymore. If I do, it’s mostly my own things that I’m, that I’m doing, you know, that kind of thing. But, I think we take this off. There we go. but I still, even though I’m not, like, web designer habit girl, finding so many of the things that you share to still be relevant, even if you aren’t a designer or a small business owner. So there are constantly reminders in there of things that I need to be doing, even if I don’t have clientele. I’m not designing for others.

Cami MacNamara 00:08:22 Well, and and you have contributed to those things. So when I listen to you speak at WordCamp US and you instructed me to stop saying I’m sorry all the time, I felt like you were just talking to me, and I, I came back and made that a habit that everyone should adopt, because so many times we’re replying to our clients and emails and saying, oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. And really, we’re not necessarily the ones that are sorry. It’s just comes out of your mouth.

Michelle Frechette 00:08:55 Yeah.

Cami MacNamara 00:08:56 As a habit..

Michelle Frechette 00:08:57 Right. There’s there’s much better language, more empowering language, stronger language you can do to help move things forward rather than just saying, I’m sorry, especially if we weren’t the ones to make the mistake or have an error kind of thing. Yeah. For sure. I also say don’t say thank you as often and and I don’t mean that as like don’t be grateful. Because certainly gratitude is something that I use all the time. But when you normally would say thank you just because that’s not a good use of thank you.

Michelle Frechette 00:09:26 Right. There’s other, more empowering language you can use, especially like when somebody buys your software and their automated emails says, thank you for purchasing XYZ. Yeah. But of course we’re grateful that they purchased it. But do they care that we’re grateful for the purchase? No. They want to know what can I do with this and how can I make my life better because of it? And so, you know, I just talk about some of those different things. So those are the things I talked about that I think you really liked at WordCamp US. .

Cami MacNamara 00:09:50 Yeah. No, it was fantastic. It really made a strong impression on me. And yeah, I’m always listening for things that I’m learning from other people that I know are habits I need to adopt. And selfishly, you know, creating this group is a way to keep me accountable to myself. And yeah.

Michelle Frechette 00:10:11 Yeah, for sure, I have, I actually hired an accountability coach this year. Not because I’m, you know, don’t want things to move forward, but because of ADHD brain and out of sight, out of mindedness and things like that. I’m writing a novel, and I want to make sure that I keep moving forward on the things that I want to keep moving forward on. And so she and I meet every other week on Zoom, and she helps me keep moving forward because I’ve only accountable to other people for their things. I’m never accountable to myself for my own things because in my brain, everybody else comes first, right? So when I have to now be accountable to her. It means I’m not. I’m being accountable to me through her as a proxy, and I keep moving things forward, if that makes any sense.

Cami MacNamara 00:10:56 Right. Yeah, it’s so true. Because, you know, we all start off our day with the best intentions, right? And we start off strong every day. And, you know, a lot of these habits that I’ve been nurturing myself. You know, the dream is to be on autopilot. Right? With some of them. And so whatever can help you, whether it’s you hiring a coach to help you, it just it just strength strengthens your resolve with you for sure thing.

Michelle Frechette 00:11:29 It really does. And I think that it’s just a way of helping you move forward on your own projects as well, because I think, I mean, everybody does, but I, I can only speak from the women I know who talk about these kinds of things. I think as women, we always put ourselves last and we never prioritize those things. And so to have somebody help me stay accountable to listening to myself and moving myself forward, I think, became an important thing for me.

Cami MacNamara 00:11:54 Yeah, I agree. I mean, my, my friend Anne Marie and I, we sing to each other in Marco Polo, during the week when we go on walks, just to be accountable, accountable and say, hey, it’s really cold out here, but I’m walking anyway, so I yeah, I have accountability buddies, including you all the time.

Michelle Frechette 00:12:15 Yep. And and now we’ve got a third person helping us actually stay accountable to our project.

Cami MacNamara 00:12:21 That’s right. Because you can only imagine that it’s a little difficult for us to stay on topic when we’re meeting.

Michelle Frechette 00:12:29 Yeah.

Cami MacNamara 00:12:30 Sometimes. Yeah.

Michelle Frechette 00:12:32 For sure. So, so about that project, do you want to tease that out a little bit?

Cami MacNamara 00:12:37 Right. So, Michelle reached out to me and said, hey, have you thought about doing a some sort of planner for the habits that you’re working on and and of course I it had entered my mind. But you know, I’m a solopreneur. I manage like 200 websites in my care plan. There’s just so much on my plate. And Michelle said, I have this wonderful photography and I could work in tips, and I was all in the minute she said that. So we’ve been meeting every Friday for quite a while, talking about plans, and then we brought in a friend to help us get things rolling, and we actually have a date to come up with.

Michelle Frechette 00:13:17 We set our first deadline.

Cami MacNamara 00:13:19 Right after. But we we have a date to come up with ideas for our layout. And both Michelle and I love planners. We already had a plethora of planners, but we both ordered a bunch to play around with and see what we liked.

Michelle Frechette 00:13:36 Yeah, exactly. And I made the mistake of just buying a bunch, whereas you were really strategic and went to the went to the store and took pictures of a bunch, which was yeah.

Cami MacNamara 00:13:45 I did that too, but I also I did order to you. I ordered a few like habit trackers and you know everybody. There’s also online options and notion and you know just using a Google Sheets or something like that. But I, I do think it’s it would be a fun to come up with something to accompany this material.

Michelle Frechette 00:14:09 Yeah, absolutely. Now, I think it was last week I received a, the Anti Planner in the mail and I posted it online saying, I don’t know where this came from if you sent this to me. Thank you so much. Did I tell you my confession about it? No.

Cami MacNamara 00:14:25 No. Did you order it and forget?

Michelle Frechette 00:14:28 Yes.

Michelle Frechette 00:14:31 It was part of my Shein order. But it came separately. It didn’t say Shein. And I was like, where did this come from? And I just went over my purchase history, that I was like, well, I’ll be darned. I bought that for myself.

Cami MacNamara 00:14:43 Oh my gosh, that’s so funny. I would do that. I would do that 100%.

Michelle Frechette 00:14:49 Anne Marie says I love the Web Designer Habits website Cami, me too.

Cami MacNamara 00:14:54 Aw thank you Ann Marie.

Michelle Frechette 00:14:55 For sure. And Daveden said he watched my WordCamp US talk and needs to improve the way he overused to thank you. So yeah, I think we all kind of do.

Cami MacNamara 00:15:04 Yes, 100%. I’ve probably been doing that my entire life, right?

Michelle Frechette 00:15:10 Yeah. Now I know, like I see tips all the time. I’ve written tips. I used to, you know, blog for the local newspaper, business tips, things like that. What are some of your favorite habits that either you’ve incorporated into your life or that you just think are so cool that other people should do them too? Like, do you have like 2 or 3 that you would go? I think that’s one of my favorites.

Cami MacNamara 00:15:32 Yeah. Time blocking there. I’ve heard a lot of people be very resistant to time blocking. And every habit doesn’t work for everyone. Right. But for me, I needed time blocking. Time blocking has been something that really shapes my day every single day. It helps me when clients send me incoming requests to say, I’m going to work on this on Wednesday at 4:00, because that’s when I have maintenance on my schedule. So I absolutely love time blocking, and that has been a huge part of me being productive as a single solopreneur. The next one is the Pomodoro technique. So I am not sitting for hours at a time because, you know, we can all get in the flow and not want to leave a project. And, I remember in the early days having all kinds of neck pain, and eye strain and everything else. It just is so important to take care of your back and everything else. And you can use the Pomodoro Technique in concert with your time blocking, and make sure that you’re stepping away and getting up every 25 minutes. So working 25 minutes with a five minute break. Yeah, works well for me.

Michelle Frechette 00:16:58 Yeah. Now I do calendar blocking, but I, I use it to, to like, block my calendar from other people being able to schedule on my calendar just to get and not assign particular tasks, but just so I can work through my list of things that I need to do, or honestly like to sleep in a little bit on that morning if I need to. Before I was doing that, I would just say I give people my calendar links and I would wake up in the morning and I felt 15.

Cami MacNamara 00:17:26 Yeah, you have no time. You have no time to work because.

Michelle Frechette 00:17:28 Yeah, I was like, what? Am I going to run to the bathroom or have lunch at that point, you know. So yeah, for sure. Oh look. Yeah, we have it’s very karmic that, Crystals got in at, the first thing he heard was the Pomodoro technique. Not the best was dealing with his ADHD most times. Trust me, we know. We know we are. We are right there with you. You are not alone.

Cami MacNamara 00:17:51 Right? I if somebody wants to see how I time block, if you go to a WordPress TV, the WordCamp TV, site, I’m getting that wrong. But, I spoke at Vancouver 2023, Vancouver WordCamp, and I shared in my slides. My time blocking techniques.

Michelle Frechette 00:18:14 Oh, cool. I’ve got that right here. Hold on. I will put that in the chat. Okay. Like I’m. On it.

Cami MacNamara 00:18:20 Thank you for doing all the things I need to practice with StreamYard. I’m a huge fan. Now that I heard their music for testing your speakers, and anybody else who’s done that will know what I’m talking about.

Michelle Frechette 00:18:33 I have never done that until today when you told me to do that and I was like, oh, that’s pretty cool, actually. Yeah.

Cami MacNamara 00:18:39 They have a whole song just about testing there.

Michelle Frechette 00:18:42 You’re testing your speakers. You’re testing your speakers.

Cami MacNamara 00:18:45 Yeah, that’s pretty hilarious with, like, a band and everything.

Michelle Frechette 00:18:49 So yeah, I know they they I’m gonna guess it’s AI generated, but even so.

Cami MacNamara 00:18:53 Yes. Pretty cool. It’s great. It was hilarious.

Michelle Frechette 00:18:57 Some of my favorite things I’ve learned is over the years, especially when I was freelancing and I could write off so many of my expenses was to keep an envelope in my car with the month listed on it. So if it was, you know, March, I had that envelope either in my purse or in my car. So that like whenever I was shopping, picking up things, I would put the receipts in there. For that month so that I could then at the end of the month, tally things up, keep track of it. And when it came to tax time, I wasn’t going where all the receipts and what did I do and how much money. And I was a step ahead or two steps ahead of the game at that point in time. So that was one that I really liked. The other thing that I have taught myself recently, so we’ll see if it hangs on as I habit.

Michelle Frechette 00:19:40 I have a tendency like throughout the day I as I’m on calls, I make little notes. And now at the end of the day, instead of just having this giant pile of notes, I’m transcribing them into action items and keeping track of them in my little like method of how I’m trying to keep on top of tasks. So I don’t know what was that I had to do? And where is that piece of paper? And I can’t read my handwriting and all those things so that while it’s still fresh in my mind, I’m translating things into tasks because otherwise things fall through the cracks. And I’m not a fan of letting things fall through the cracks.

Cami MacNamara 00:20:12 Yeah, that’s a great plan. You know, it’s kind of like at the end of every day, I’m always thinking, what promises did I make today? Right? And yeah, it’s a it’s a very helpful to get all your tasks actually on your calendar too. So you got the tasks and you have them scheduled.

Michelle Frechette 00:20:33 Yes. Yes, exactly. And I discovered today that my, Google calendar was not able to send me those two minute warnings before an event happened, and I was running late to everything because I was relying on those before. And so I was able to troubleshoot that today. And now I’m getting notifications on my calendar. So sometimes you just have to dig in and figure out what’s wrong and how to fix it, that’s for sure.

Cami MacNamara 00:20:58 Right. And you know, we get so involved in our day to day that if you don’t get that ping right before something happens, you can completely forget.

Michelle Frechette 00:21:07 Yes, exactly. Now, one of the things that you do as an agency is you actually have care plans. And how many websites are you caring for?

Cami MacNamara 00:21:17 Over 200 a month. And, you know, I, I incrementally built that over time. It’s been ten years, so I didn’t go from 0 to 200. I have it down. I use I, I use Managed WP. It’s a tool that I’ve been using since the beginning of time, I feel like, and it is such a great tool for me because I can start my day and is the only person in my business. The first thing I log into every day is Manage WP, and it’s the last thing I leave at the end of every day because it’s my control panel for getting to those client sites in a hurry. It also is like, you know, it’s not just for the client. The client. I love that they trust me to take care of their websites. They are doing me a favor because if they have an emergency, it doesn’t disrupt my life entirely to help them. Because I have what I need to help them versus leaving it up to them to have a backup. And oops, I figured out I wasn’t really making backups the whole time. I can’t tell you how many times that’s happened.

Michelle Frechette 00:22:27 Oh, I can imagine. And you’re also still designing at the same time. So taking on new clients and doing all the work to keep the business going, which is why those habits are so important.

Cami MacNamara 00:22:37 Yeah, I’m in a networking group, and I took a couple of years off because my parents passed away and I just got back into it in September. So every Thursday morning I’m going to an in-person meeting. I have kind of some duties as a person in the group. I meet with other people. It’s but it brings in a steady flow of business. So yes, it’s I’m spinning plates all the time.

Michelle Frechette 00:23:04 What is a habit that you would think would be helpful for people who work alone remotely? Like like me. Right. I’m in my house 24/7, basically, unless I’m going out meeting somebody for dinner to go shopping. So I work here. I try to meet people online, have that kind of personal touch here and there. What would your suggestion be for like online networking and things?

Cami MacNamara 00:23:26 Well, I would, join some online groups, you know, I’ll mention Admin Bar. That’s a really good one to get, kind of like a really big, vast. It’s it’s huge. Right. But you get a lot of different types of web designers in there to connect with a group like mine. Web Cami Cafe, smaller. Anybody who’s just starting out is welcome to join.

Cami MacNamara 00:23:51 But you can also join groups that, are just interests that you have that aren’t directly web designers, but it might be another tool that you use, like I’m in the Beaver Builder group, because that’s the tool that I use, and I, I’m just interacting with people as important. It’s actually a line item. It’s a time block for me to go online and log into all the places I’m a member of and actually participate and answer a question, or give somebody a like or a heart, and that gets you some exposure. But really, I do think that, networking in your local area because nothing really takes the place of human to human contact. So tonight I was going to a Women in Marketing networking event. It’s been canceled because we’re supposed to have severe weather tonight by a little crazy, but getting out of your office and and interacting with people. And even if you’re an introvert in a small way, it can really just boost your spirits. Like you might dread it before you go. But after it’s over, I guarantee you you’ll feel good about it.

Michelle Frechette 00:25:07 And Zach mentions don’t forget Post Status for the events.

Cami MacNamara 00:25:09 Yes of course Post Status.

Michelle Frechette 00:25:12 We have lots of good conversations in there too. Of course. Yeah, I think that’s great. I love, I personally I love getting together with people, even if it’s online. And one of the things, like one of the ways you and I grew our friendship was I was like, does anybody want a coworker during Covid? And you’re like, I’ll do it. And like, that was our first really, like face to face, if you will, even though it was virtual.

Cami MacNamara 00:25:32 And let’s just admit we didn’t work at all.

Michelle Frechette 00:25:36 No, not at all.

Cami MacNamara 00:25:38 We didn’t work at all. And we met, in a WordCamp that was online, fully online. I don’t remember if it was WordCamp Europe or, but it was fully online. And GoDaddy had me working in their virtual booth, and that’s how it might have been.

Michelle Frechette 00:25:55 Might have been Denver, I don’t know.

Cami MacNamara 00:25:57 Or, San Antonio.

Michelle Frechette 00:26:00 Oh yeah.

Cami MacNamara 00:26:01 Yeah, that one was one of the first ones to go online.

Michelle Frechette 00:26:04 Yeah, that could have been. Yeah, for sure. It’s so hard to remember five years ago. Yeah. And yet and yet it’s hard to forget five years ago too.

Cami MacNamara 00:26:11 Yes.I know.

Michelle Frechette 00:26:12 And it’s funny because I’ve recently seen these memes like, you know, like five years ago today, which was, you know, on March 13th. And I was like, what happened five years ago today? And then I was like, oh, wait, that was like lockdown. I remember.

Cami MacNamara 00:26:23 I, I was flying home, I was visiting my folks in Northern California and I was flying home. And it was surreal because they had just closed down Seattle, like I was coming home and like everything was going to be closed. And, I like they they were spacing people on the airplane. So you weren’t seated next to people. And that was just bizarre.

Michelle Frechette 00:26:47 It was so surreal. It felt like ghost towns and like you could walk down the middle of Main Street and like, like an old Western, like draw, you know? Yeah, you.

Cami MacNamara 00:26:56 Did all of it because I, I flew home like 20 times during Covid, and there were times when you would get off the plane at the airport. There was nobody there. Everything was closed. It was just like, walk right through it is. Yeah.

Michelle Frechette 00:27:10 Really insane for sure. Anybody in the in the who’s watching right now, do you have a web habit that you’ve developed as a web designer or agency owner, or just in business in general that you think you’d like to share? Maybe Cami will put it in one of her newsletters. I mean, with your permission, of course.

Cami MacNamara: Yes, of course.

Michelle Frechette: Because I I’d love to hear what some people have. So get typing in those comments, we want to hear what some of your habits are. I right now am laid off from a full time job, and one of the things that I have been maintaining as a habit is getting up every day and coming to my desk and doing something at my desk that I don’t break that you know, continuity of sitting at my desk and doing work. And so I, with the exception of one day that I took off to do something else, but family oriented. But I sit here every day. Some days I’m done at two. Some days I’m done at seven. It depends on what I’m working on and what meetings I have and those kinds of things. But it is actually pretty exciting to think about continuity that way. And so even if you aren’t working full time or you have a day that you, you know, you don’t have other, obligations getting up and sitting at your desk and, you know, making that commute down the hall, as I always say, I think is another habit to really be in. So, oh, here we go. Anne Mary says she learned from you to check email three times a day. Because checking emails constantly is a really bad habit of hers. Which, yeah, for sure, I’m. I have my phone in my pocket all the time, so I try to set it aside with notifications off when I’m at my desk, because otherwise I will react to every notification. So 100%, that is.

Cami MacNamara 00:28:56 Yeah. That’s one of the habits that is never going to be an autopilot for me. I, I have to fight my urge to check my email all day to get that done. And I’ve even put a tab on my Gmail that is called focus. It’s like an empty inbox that I.

Michelle Frechette 00:29:15 Yeah?

Cami MacNamara 00:29:15 I put that up so I’m not looking when I shouldn’t.

Michelle Frechette 00:29:19 Yeah. Nope. I get that, Zach has one too. I set aside time to learn, time to create, time to focus on getting work done and time to handle operations every day. It sounds like that time blocking you were talking about whether it’s the same time every day, just making sure that you’re hitting all those marks and continuing moving everything forward in a regular fashion. I think that’s a great idea, Zach, for sure.

Cami MacNamara 00:29:41 Yeah, I, I totally agree with Zach. I even have like, my wake up block at the beginning of my day. And and it’s, it’s like it’s for me to wake up, shower, exercise, and I put whatever. So if one day I don’t want to wake up and I just want to sleep until, you know, 7:30 or whatever, I can. It never happens. But I could like, you know, my time block. I would allow it. It’s flexible. Yeah.

Michelle Frechette 00:30:10 Yeah, yeah, for sure. I, I, I made a decision earlier this week that made me so happy and that, like, my calendly links have been set from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and I hate 9:00 meetings. So I was like, why do I have that on my calendar then? So I went in and changed my calendly to start at ten in the morning instead, because I it’s my calendar, I can do what I want with it. So if I don’t want 9:00 meetings, I don’t have to have a 9:00 meeting. And it’s like, why did I not think of that before? Like, how silly, right.

Cami MacNamara 00:30:43 Yeah, I, I use the time blocking in two ways. I’m, I’m blocking the time that, that I need to work and I’m available for appointments. And over the years I have really shrunk those hours that I’m available for appointments down to. I think it’s about 6.5 hours a week now. That’s it. And, but if I don’t do that, then I am working constantly on weekends and after hours because I don’t have enough time in my day.

Michelle Frechette 00:31:13 So Zach doesn’t start appointments till 11 because this morning are for creativity, which I think is perfect. Yeah. So I know go ahead.

Cami MacNamara 00:31:22 Another another way to do that is to make one day all appointments, and I do that as well. And it’s exhausting, but it kind of frees up the other days for me to not have me. Yeah, all of them. You know.

Michelle Frechette 00:31:35 Sometimes it’s hard. So like, this month I’ve been doing all of these, like over 50, 5 minute interviews with women all over the world. And so I’ve had my calendar running from anywhere from nine in the morning until 7 or 8:00 at night, because I’ve been interviewing with women from Uganda and with women from Asia and women from Australia, and like complete opposite timezones of me. So I’ve tried to be a little more, gracious with the time available to make sure that I can represent women all over the world, and not just in my convenient to my convenience. Right? So, so sometimes, sometimes it’s a little more challenging for sure, but that’s finite, right? So that’s not going to go on forever. And no. And and so.

Cami MacNamara 00:32:16 You have to have flexibility because we all have those things. We have those clients that can’t meet during the times we’re available. So we’re not going to say, I can’t meet with you ever. You’re going to adjust, and then you steal that time from wherever you took it from. So if a client enters something that is supposed to be work time for me, I’m going to reach out in the future and and close off meeting time to make up for it. So yeah.

Michelle Frechette 00:32:44 And I have so I have my regular Calendly slots available. And I have a secret calendar that somebody is on the other side of the world are like, oh, I can’t make any of those times.

Michelle Frechette 00:32:53 I’ll be like, well, this calendar work for you? And it’s got more expensive, but it isn’t available to everybody all the time. So I try to yeah, little little tricks that kind of work for me here and there.

Cami MacNamara 00:33:02 Yeah. The Calendly secret meeting is fantastic.

Michelle Frechette 00:33:06 Yeah it is. And Ann Marie says she blocks off Fridays. No meetings that day. It is freeing. Absolutely. For sure. Zach, are you the Zach that joined the. Oh, I guess we don’t need to put that up there. You can just respond to that one. Claudia says she has a secret scheduler too. Very helpful. Absolutely. And it feels almost clandestine. Right. Like you’ve got this. Like, nobody knows about this unless I bring them into the fold.

Cami MacNamara 00:33:34 I feel a new habit coming along right here. I think that that would be a great I mean, you know, think about yourself as a web designer. And you’re just starting out, and a lot of these things, like setting up secret meetings and stuff, these are things we learn over time, right? Like, I didn’t always have the secret meeting thing. And then once I started using Calendly more, you know, on the regular backup, it’s been 5 or 6 years or something way before Covid. But it just really was like, wow, this is cool. You know, I like, I like, had a calendar for happy hours. Oh, yeah. You know, before Covid.

Michelle Frechette 00:34:17 Sure. Yeah. And I’ve learned, like, I for my WPCoffeeTalk. I have only one evening and and Saturday is available. And if I know I want to sleep in on a certain Saturday, I just block that day on my calendar. I just want block and then people can’t schedule for that week, but for that week. And it doesn’t have to be right away. People can schedule for next month or, you know, a few weeks out or that kind of thing. So I’m not. Nothing is urgent when you’re recording a podcast.

Cami MacNamara 00:34:43 Yeah. And and that’s the other thing about scheduling, like online scheduling, is I usually make sure there’s like a 12 hour buffer between when somebody can book with me so I don’t get a, you know, I might start my when I start my day, I know what my schedule is.

Cami MacNamara 00:34:59 I don’t want people to just be hopping in there in turn, like a one meeting day into a five meeting day all of the sudden.

Michelle Frechette 00:35:07 Yeah. Zach says he also has a schedule that isn’t as lockdown for VIPs. I’m assuming. Zach, that’s the link you give me? Just asking. can I give you another habit I developed this year?

Cami MacNamara 00:35:19 Yeah.

Michelle Frechette 00:35:20 Which is I mostly travel for business to this point and occasionally for fun. I actually have a whole kit of things that I keep in my suitcase. Duplicates of things like I have, you know, my toiletries bag. And I have duplicate minis of all the toiletries so I don’t have to take things from my bathroom and push back and forth. So I keep that in there. I keep a little, extension cord in there, and I keep my international plugs in there so that an extra watch charger, like all of the things, extra phone charger, so that I don’t have to make that list every time I travel. I have all those regulars already in the suitcase. All I really have to do is anything specific to that trip and my clothes.

Cami MacNamara 00:36:03 Oh, that’s a great idea.

Michelle Frechette 00:36:06 It’s a huge time saver, huge time saver. And it saves me from forgetting things like Tylenol or, you know, those kinds of things because it I I’ve arrived places before with a horrible headache and don’t have any Tylenol with me. And then I have to go in search of in a foreign city that I don’t know, and find some Tylenol or pay at the airport ten times what Tylenol costs, you know, those kinds of things. So yeah.

Cami MacNamara 00:36:32 Yeah, travel hacks, that’s a whole nother that other a lot of great, great tips for that. When I was going to California a lot, to see my folks, I had like a hanging toiletry bag. And in the morning when I was getting ready, that’s when I was packing it.

Michelle Frechette 00:36:49 So, yeah, that’s a good idea too.

Cami MacNamara 00:36:50 That was kind of a nice, streamlined, streamlined way to take care of that.

Michelle Frechette 00:36:56 Absolutely. But I have just purchased extra plug, you know, power strips and things that I can plug all my things into for charging overnight in a hotel room. I have enough of those that I keep one in the suitcase, so it just makes me happy.

Cami MacNamara 00:37:09 Well, I know when I see you in Arizona in about 3 or 4 weeks that, that’s going to be how you’re rolling in. All right.

Michelle Frechette 00:37:17 Exactly. All ready ready. That’s right. So. Oh, and Zach says, you know that his camera bag is go ready at all times, as is mine. Zach, I made the mistake once of not charging batteries, and I got an hour and a half away, and I had no batteries charged, and I was like, well, it’s a pretty drive, but the birds aren’t going to be photographed today because I forgot to charge things. So. Yeah. Claudia has a bag of stuff in the car all the time. Yeah, I have a little purse.

Cami MacNamara 00:37:43 Good idea.

Michelle Frechette 00:37:44 A little mini pair of sewing scissors in my car. Because, like, when I get a Starbucks or something, the hole is never big enough to actually, like, drink through. You know how, like, you have to have that second hole. Yeah. So I’m like, poke it through with an extra pair of scissors, because I made the mistake of using a pen once and ended up with ink in my coffee, which I don’t recommend to anybody. But yeah, if lip balm in my car I have that. I have a nail file and clippers and things that you wish you had when you suddenly go broke a nail. What am I going to do now? You know, kinds of things. So great advice. All great advice though. Oh, I love it. All the tips and tricks from people in the in the comments too, any last minute before we start to wrap things up here, folks, if you’ve got any other ideas, throw them in there.

Michelle Frechette 00:38:25 Also, if you have any questions, you know, we want to, we want to hear them. Please put those in the comments as well. If you have a question for Cami or me, panic-mode is the go to before travels. Yeah, I’m a last minute packer, which is also why I have those things packed in advance. Because otherwise I’d be like, oh, I forgot my toothpaste and oh, where’s my toothbrush and all those things. So I just have. I mean, you can own more than one toothbrush. Did you know that?

Cami MacNamara 00:38:56 Yeah. I will get my I will get my suitcase out a few days early and just start throwing things at it. It’s not packed, but it’s a pile. And I just. Then, then the night before. That way, if I’m doing laundry, I can just. Put tuff in there. Yeah. Fold it.

Michelle Frechette 00:39:14 Yeah. Anker makes a USB-C charger hub that can charge up to four devices, including a laptop. Oh, that’s a great idea. I had something like that, and it got confiscated in Seoul, so I lost that. It was in my suitcase. They told me I could go all the way down to baggage claim and back up through security. Or I could toss that $30 charger. And I said, go ahead and throw it away. So, yeah, don’t. That’s another thing. Don’t pack things in your suitcase that can’t travel. Good advice. yeah. Any last minute thoughts Cami anything that you wished I’d asked you or that you want to share.

Cami MacNamara 00:39:50 You know, I just believe that if you can make a tiny change every day and it helps you run your business better, that, you know, that is sometimes we just get so bogged down with what we should be doing or, you know, maybe we want to make a change and it seems too daunting and just breaking things down into tiny little, increments that you can deal with. And that goes for like a task, like a redesign. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, just do one little thing. If you only work on it for 30 minutes today, consider it a win. So celebrate all the little things that you do

Michelle Frechette 00:40:30 Yes.

Cami MacNamara 00:40:30 That makes a difference and help you make it through your day. So often we just don’t give ourselves enough credit and can be too critical of ourselves and how our day goes. Nobody has a perfect day, you know? Maybe. I mean, and if you have one, you’re not going to have one the next day. Right?

Michelle Frechette 00:40:50 That’s true. You seldom get two in a row.

Cami MacNamara 00:40:52 That’s. Yeah. You seldom get two in a row and just, you know, whatever you do, some days if you have a bad day, you know, maybe you needed the day off. And just in that instance, you’re taking care of yourself. And that’s a good day.

Michelle Frechette 00:41:07 Absolutely. Do you have your, your celebration jar there on your desk still?

Cami MacNamara 00:41:11 So I do, but I emptied it today because it got so. It got so full then.

Michelle Frechette: Oh that’s awesome.

Cami MacNamara: I had yeah like it got really full. But yes, I put little post-it notes in here with what I accomplished. Just one little task at a time and I keep it. Normally I empty it on Friday, but I’ve been, I’ve been go I, I kind of worked a little on Sunday, so. Got full early.

Michelle Frechette 00:41:36 Yeah. Zach says the best process for writing down your systems is to have the people doing the work write the SOP. Yeah, that’s true too. Absolutely.

Cami MacNamara 00:41:46 Well, that would be me I the person.

Michelle Frechette 00:41:49 Yeah, a lot of us, it’s just ourselves for sure. Yeah.

Cami MacNamara 00:41:52 But yes, I do agree that, like, having those things written down that you do is just a fantastic way to kind of map out what, what you going on.

Michelle Frechette 00:42:03 And they’re all written down at WebDesignerHabits.com. How is that for a Segway? That was pretty cool.

Cami MacNamara 00:42:08 That was pretty awesome. Thank you Michelle.

Michelle Frechette 00:42:11 You’re welcome. It is free to sign up for this newsletter. It is free to join Cami’’s Facebook group. If you are interested in learning more WebDesignerHabits.com, we’ll get you all the stuff to sign up for that newsletter. It is a treat. I read it’s the one one of the only three newsletters that I read top to bottom every week.

Cami MacNamara 00:42:31 So thank you, thank you. You know, it isn’t complex. It’s just like one thing. I don’t look it up a whole bunch of other things.

Michelle Frechette 00:42:38 I mean, that makes it easy to read, right? So it’s easy to consume for sure, which has one of the reasons I love it. And if it doesn’t apply to me, that’s okay. I still learn something. and if it does, great. Yeah. So like, I don’t have a lot of clients, so I’m not writing newsletters to clients, but, but I do a newsletter for Post Status and, you know, staying on track for that and all the things.

Michelle Frechette 00:42:58 So anyway, so thank you, Web Cami for joining me today.

Cami MacNamara 00:43:03 Thank you. Thank you for having me, Michelle, I really appreciate I appreciate it and I so appreciate you in our community, you know, you are the glue that keeps the WordPress community together.

Michelle Frechette 00:43:15 I try, I do what I can to try to help others along the way and to create a happy place. So thank you. Everybody else, I’m working on my, my, guest for next week. It most likely will be Roger from Kinston, so I’m not going to put that in writing, but we’re working on some details. If not, then I’ll have somebody else and that will be upcoming. But if you have something you want to talk about, a project that you want to share, get in touch with me. Maybe you can be on the next Post Status Happiness Hour. So thank you everybody who’s been here all day chatting with us or for the hour chatting with us and really appreciate all of you. And, again, Cami thank you. I appreciate your time today, too.

Cami MacNamara 00:43:58 Yeah. Thanks for having me. And I really enjoyed meeting everyone and reading all your comments.

Michelle Frechette 00:44:05 The comments were great. Yeah, yeah. For sure. Awesome. All right. We’ll see everybody next week.

Cami MacNamara 00:44:11 Bye.