EDITOR’S NOTE:

It was my second day at G2.

“Heyyy,” I said. 

Maia swiveled around in her seat, “Heyyy.”

“Hey, just wanted to make sure the wireframe I sent over looked OK?” I said. “For the landing page?”

“Oh,” she said. “Oh yeah, looks great.” She made an OK gesture with her hand. “We are definitely on the same page.” 

“Nice,” I smiled. 

She smiled, too. 

It’s been 2 years — and we’re still on the same page. Haven’t missed a beat.

Maia Singletary is my friend, colleague, and the best web developer I know. Working with her is a gift. And now I’m very happy to have her on for a VeryGoodCopy Micro-Interview. 

In only 373 words, Maia shares: 

• Confidence-boosting advice for anyone struggling with creative work…

• A beautiful way to shorten your craft’s learning curve...

• How to know when it’s time to move on from a job…

And more…

Thank you, Maia.

Let’s get started:

1) “What’s your work routine?”

I do my best work in the afternoons and early evenings. I use my mornings to create space so I have time for deep work later on. 

A typical day: I MUST start with coffee. Then depending on my mood I may meditate, run, read, or some other type of workout before catching up on emails and communications for the day. I’m also a mom, my son is 10 and he’s really good at his own morning routine; he doesn’t need much from me in the early hours. I’m quite lucky, my mornings are really for me and I treasure them. 

After I’ve had time to fill my proverbial cup, (and get my second cup of coffee) the real work can begin. For those who say tackle the hard stuff first… well, at times, taking care of myself first is the hard stuff.

2) “What do you know about your work now that you wish you’d known when you first started?”

The confidence will come. 



In the front-end web development world there are always new tools and frameworks to learn and that can result in a lot of self doubt when you realize you don’t know something you think you should know. In the beginning, I worried I’d never keep up. It caused me a lot of uncertainty about the potential of my skills early on. But the confidence did come. 

The learning curve for picking up new tech is greatly shortened with experience.

3) “What did your biggest professional failure teach you?”

If people don’t see you or value you, it’s time to move on.

4) “What’s the #1 thing that has helped you shorten your craft’s learning curve?”

Teaching others.

5) “What book has helped you the most over your career?”

My pick is a two-for-one fiction duo: Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler. 

It taught me the only certain thing is change. Be prepared for it. Anticipate it. Fearing change holds you back and has consequences. 

This is true in business and in life.

6) “And your parting piece of advice?”

Be open and listen to new voices to widen your perspective. 

Falling down rabbit holes can be dangerous, but it sure is fun.