[Breakdown] How Easy Is It To Become A Skilled Web Designer in 2018?

The internet is becoming bigger than ever and people who have skills in Web, Tech and IT will always be valuable. Thousands of people start up businesses everyday and already established businesses are always looking for ways to stand out and make more sales than their competitors. The cheapest way to achieve more sales and leads for businesses is through digital marketing and the whole game of digital marketing is to bring leads or customers to a website and then make them take actions needed- either to fill in their emails or to buy a product or service.  That being said, being able to design websites for businesses becomes a very valuable skill to have and this will always make you an asset. Just to be clear, am not talking about dead looking websites that looks like it was designed during the cold war with gun to the head of the designer or using services like Wix or Squarespace, am talking about clean, modern, responsive and intuitive website that both the business and designer are proud to show off as a work of art.

The big question now is – How hard is it to become a website designer in 2018? Well, am glad you asked.

The answer is – its not hard at all, its actually very easy.

Okay, don’t get all excited yet. Just like anything in life that is worth having, there must be a willingness to learn and practice things learnt in order to become good at whatever the thing is. So, if you’ve always wanted to learn website design or like the idea of knowing how to design websites for yourself, your business or for clients and make money doing it – then I guess this is good news for you. It’s easy! Most seasoned website designers might not be happy with me claiming website design is easy but if you’ve been following my content, you will notice 2 things about me.

(1) I don’t give a fuck what people think. (2) I create and write my content from personal experience(s), so its always straight from the heart and genuine.

Becoming a website design is now easier more than ever and having this skill can create a source of income for anyone who’s looking to make some extra money or even looking for a full time thing to do.

Let me take you back to how I got into the Website design game. Back in Uni when I was a teenager, I had a friend called Alex. He’s an amazing guy, we actually facetimed last week to catch up on things. I used to admire Alex because he designed graphics and websites for people and businesses right from our dorm room and he was making money doing so. I was fascinated about the websites he built, how he made money right from his bed, and how fancy the codes he wrote looked.

Even though he was my close friend and I was fascinated about the things he did, I never really asked him to teach me web design or development because I was “scared of code” and told myself that “I cannot be a website designer, this shit looks hard”.  Fast forward to 2013 when we were about to graduate and get a BSc in Computer Science, it dawned on me that I had spent 4 years in Uni learning “computer science” and I learnt nothing practical as a computer skill I could claim I possessed.

This isn’t because I wasn’t smart or I didn’t attend classes because I believe am a smart person and I attended 96% of all lectures throughout my Uni years – the problem is the way the educational system is set-up. They teach students bunch of theories and close to zero practical, so when you graduate – you have nothing but a degree in your hands and nothing practical in your head! So, I remember talking with my friend Alex 3 days before our graduation. I said “Bro, please you gotta teach me website design so I can have something to hold on to as a skill and I can use that to better my CV or do something for myself”  (I think I forgot to point out that Alex learnt web and graphics design outside school and from his elder brothers, so you are confused as to why he had the skills and I didn’t when we were both in the same class).

Alex, being a good friend gave me a flash drive that contained HTML, PHP, JAVASCRIPT and CSS tutorials and told me to watch the videos, practice and that in no time, I would be able to design websites. Even though that was generous of him, it didn’t take me more than 1 week of watching the tutorials to realize that I didn’t like code and there must be a better and easier way to design websites than having to write codes all day. So I went to google to begin my search on ways to design websites without writing code and I found out I could make use of WordPress. WordPress sounded interesting to me, So I started learning more about it and I was blown away by the websites I saw that were designed by WordPress and the possibilities of it.

One of the things I like to teach is “knowing yourself”, instead of wasting your time trying to be what you are not, its far better to know yourself, your strengths and follow what makes you happy. I am a kind of person that hates spending my time doing something the long way, if it can be achieved in a much easier and faster way. I follow the Picasso thought pattern of leavering already created works. Working SMART rather than unnecessarily HARD.

What You Stand To Gain With Web Design Skills;

Besides web design, any skill you gain and posses will always be valuable because not everyone will have it and you can always make money by turning the skill into a service. Since we are talking about website design, here are the benefits of having web design skills.

(1) You Can Be Self-Employed. I have never had a full time job since I graduated Uni back in 2013. My skill in Website and Graphics design has been my full time gig and it has opened a lot of doors for me, have made and still keep making good money from it, it has allowed me to move to London to get a Masters and also live here, and it has also allowed me to achieve some of my goals of helping people by equipping them with practical skills and most importantly – it allows me to spend time with myself in knowing myself more and doing other things that makes me happy.

(2) You Can Make Some Extra Money On The Side. Not everyone can be self-employed, most people have jobs where they get paid on a monthly basis, having web design skills can be a side hustle where you make extra money by providing the service to people and businesses who needs it. This way, you now have more than one source of income and if the side hustle starts making you more money than your normal job, it only makes sense to quit your normal job and pay more attention to the side hustle.

(3) You Can Build Your Own Businesses / Brands. I have been able to start multiple brands and businesses just because I can design websites. This blog you are reading rightnow might never have been in existence if I didn’t know how to design websites because I would surely have procrastinated on getting a blog created because it’s going to cost me money to hire someone to design it for me and the person might not know my taste in design or layout.

I have also created other digital businesses that brings me revenue each month just because I can design the website instantly when I get the idea, no need to wait or look for a designer. Have also acted as the Co-founder to 2 Startups in the UK and 1 on Morroco just because of my web design skill. Its a powerful skill to posses. Oh less i forget, I have also been endorsed by the UK Government as a “World Leading Exceptional Talent” in the Tech industry all because I decided to learn web design on my grand-mother’s dining table back in 2013.

(4) You Can Get A GOOD Job With The Skill. I moved to London in 2015 to get my Masters and because I haven’t had a job ever in my life, I was excited to try the “job life” for a month to see how it looks like. So, I saw a vacancy in a company based in the Money district of London, they needed a creative designer to revamp their website and work with them (a lot of businesses always need a full time designer for their company),  So, I applied – showing them most of the works have done made me get the job instantly.

They didn’t employ me because my CV looked sexy or I was studying to get a Masters or that I had a BSc in Computer Science, they hired me because I have a skill they need – Web Design and I had things I could show as work have done in the past. The job was for £100 per day ( you can do the maths of the monthly salary).

I only worked 3days per week though since I had Uni and I decided to quit the job within 2 months since I didn’t feel comfortable going to an office early in the morning, having a desk, a boss and getting home tired every night. Or maybe, my entrepreneurial spirit didn’t feel comfortable being an employee BUT you see the potential, you can get a job with the skill and become part of a company as their in-house creative designer if that rocks your boat.

Designing Websites With WordPress Entails Just 4 Things;

(1) Understanding How WordPress Works. This is the simplest part but the most important, wordpress can be fairly simple and easy to use but if you don’t know the ins and outs of it, how it works and how to make it work for you, you won’t get the best out of it. I see websites that were designed with wordpress and am like “WTF, this looks dope” and I see thousands of other websites designed with wordpress and am like “WTF is this? This looks stupid” .

The difference between my “WTF, this looks dope” and “WTF is this? This looks stupid” expressions is because one of the persons who designed the website knows how to use WordPress the right way and the other sucks at it!

(2) Knowing how to pick Themes & Plugins. Picking themes to work with is an art! Through my 5years of designing websites with WordPress, I have been able to gain the “divine power”  (divine power? lol) of theme and plugin selection.

I can take on a project that is worth £3000 today and in less than 30minutes, I already know the theme and layout I will make use of for the project and get the whole job done in a matter of days! In my course where I teach hundreds of youths and individuals around the world how to become skilled and well paid designers, I call WordPress Theme the cloth of the website because it is what covers the whole site and I call the Plugin – the shoes of the website because the plugin allows you to do some crazy things and walk the distance wordpress might not have been able to walk to.

(3) Understanding How To Make Use of The Visual Composer Plugin. I will admit to the fact that when I started designing websites with WordPress back in 2013, I didn’t know about The Visual Composer Plugin and my first WordPress websites didn’t look as good as they could have been. Since I started creating websites with the Visual composer plugin, my designs has gone over the roof, its so much easier and its literally drag n drop! So, if you wanna get into web design using wordpress, be sure to familiarize yourself with the Visual Composer plugin and always make use of themes built with Visual Composer.

(4) Having A Good Eye For What A Good Design Looks Like. If you wanna go into the webdesign space, it makes a lot of sense to be someone who spends time looking at websites and observing thins you like or things that can be improved on the website. Having an eye for good design will make you standout from other designers. So, spend time looking at websites around to see what you like and things that can be improved.

My Advice On Getting Web Design Skills;

People pay millions of Naira, thousands of Dollars and Pounds to get a degree from Universities but at the end of their studies – they get only a degree/certificate, a list of new friends on Facebook and Instagram, the “bragging-right” of being a “graduate” and then its time to face the real world where your degree doesn’t really matter but what you can do with your hand or head and the value you can bring is what will make the difference and get you what you want in life.

When the realization of this hits, most people always go for the normal route of finding a 9-5 safe job where they can get a salary even if they hate what they do and are always sad its Monday but happy its Friday! On the other hand, learning a practical skill online is much cheaper, easier to understand and provides real valuable skill and knowledge that can be applied in the real world. My advice for anyone who wants to learn web design would be to learn online just the way I did.

Learn from tutorials and courses, its wayyyyyy much cheaper than Uni fees. Quick example, my mom spent more than ₦2 Million ( Two million naira, about $5500) on me to get a degree in computer science, upon graduating – I learnt ZERO practical skills and knowledge – but for less $70 , I was able to learn web design online and I have since used that skill to earn thousands and thousands of dollars and to live the life I truly enjoy.

Which makes more sense? Don’t get me wrong though, am proud of my Uni degree but my investment of less than $70 has brought me more upsides than money spent to get a Uni degree. Fortunately for you if you are interested in learning web and graphics design, I released an online course with over 79 HD practical videos last year to celebrate my grandmother’s birthday (I chose her birthday because I started my hustle on her dining table back in Nigeria) and to empower others, the course teaches anyone with ZERO knowledge on web design or graphics design on how to start designing high quality websites the exact same way I do without touching a line of code and how to start designing graphics for businesses and individuals without prior knowledge in designing or being a design guru.

The course has helped 100s of people around the world especially in Nigeria and Ghana and it still keeps helping more people on a daily basis. I strongly suggest you check the course out, go through what it contains and check the curriculum to see the amount of content it has. You will be blown away.

This is the link to the course www.ThePuzzzleHustle.com

I hope you gained value from this post. I would love to know what you think about it and your thoughts generally.