We were lucky to catch up with Matt Zabierek recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, thanks for joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

That’s a good question. There are a lot of things that go into success, but if I had to pick one thing, I’d say courage.

Success requires embracing and making a lot of change, and change requires courage.

After starting my career in journalism for five years, I left my job as a newspaper reporter with nothing else lined up and no solid plan for what I wanted to do next. It was scary and humbling at times as I was making that leap, but it ultimately helped steer me toward the career I have now in web design and development, which I’m very happy with.

Sometimes people are prone to stay put and stick with what they have, even if they’re unhappy because it’s what they know. Anybody is capable of making changes and moving toward their goals, but it requires courage and a strong belief in yourself.

Even if you’re not doing what I did, there will always be courage required for the challenges and discomfort on the road to success.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a web designer and web developer who specializes in creating websites with a platform called Webflow.

I’ve been a freelance Webflow designer and have run my own freelance business, Matt Zabierek Design, for a little more than 3 years. Most of my work involves designing, building, and managing custom websites for entrepreneurs and small to midsize businesses.

I freelanced full-time for about three years before getting offered a full-time job to manage and optimize a Webflow website for a startup company, yournavi.com, in the spring of this year. Since starting my new job, I’ve continued to run my freelance business and take on work as my schedule allows, which has been nice because I do miss some parts of freelancing occasionally.

I had a pretty unusual path to web design. I studied journalism and psychology in college and worked as a newspaper reporter for the first four years of my career. I enjoyed my time in journalism but knew it wasn’t something I could sustain long-term, so I left my job in 2020.

I took some time to figure out what I wanted to do next and landed on web design and development as a great path for me because it allows me to use my creativity, problem-solving, and attention to detail.

I discovered Webflow while taking an introductory online web design course and got hooked pretty quickly. I knew I wanted to do both web design and development, and Webflow is a “visual development” platform that uniquely incorporates both.

Specializing in Webflow has helped me as a freelancer in a few ways. First, it gives me an in-demand niche — when someone needs Webflow help, they come to me. Secondly, my clients really like Webflow because it saves them time and money by combining and streamlining the design and development processes.

I think what sets me apart as a freelancer is my versatility and diverse skill set. When a client goes to an agency, their website project will be worked on between at least three departments — copywriters, designers, and developers. When I create a website for a client, they work with me 1-on-1 and can rely on me to guide the project along without any delays or handoffs. That’s valuable for an entrepreneur or small business owner who is busy with many other things.

When I started my freelance business in 2021, I planned to grow it over time as I performed other contract work in journalism, marketing, and graphic design to make ends meet. It was a lot of work juggling growing my business with other responsibilities, but I’m really proud to say that I reached my goal of making my freelance web design my full-time job in early 2024, shortly before being offered the full-time position I have now.

I am very happy with the direction my career progression has taken this year, as my freelance and full-time work offer me different opportunities to learn and grow as a Webflow designer.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When you’re working your way up in a new industry as a freelancer, you have to develop a thick skin for hearing “no.”

I realized early on that I had to maintain a long-term belief in myself, even when that wasn’t always getting affirmed by the things happening around me.

It can be difficult for any freelancer to get hired at first, especially in today’s competitive market with many online hiring platforms that allow anyone in the world to bid on projects.

But the good news is that these platforms also make it easier than ever to build and showcase a good reputation if you consistently do good work and receive positive feedback.

So even though it was frustrating at times getting off the ground, it just made me more focused on giving clients the best work I could and providing excellent customer service.

Once I started building a good reputation on sites like Upwork, work started coming at me pretty fast. Before I knew it, I needed to turn away people who reached out asking to collaborate because my plate was overflowing.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

An important lesson I’ve learned professionally is that rejection is often protection.

Before getting the job I currently have, which I really like and is a great fit for me, there were other job opportunities that I got my hopes up about.

When you’re in the position I was in — constantly trying to climb to the next step — it can be easy to get your hopes up about an opportunity that you see as the next step or milestone.

But what I realized is that more often than not, rejection is protection. When I look back at opportunities that didn’t work out, I realize things would not have gone well for one reason or another.

For example, I think one of my strongest traits is being a self-starter, and I realize that would have gone to waste if I had been hired for some of the opportunities I look back on. Getting turned away can be disappointing, but sometimes it helps to trust another person when they say it wouldn’t be the best fit.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mattzabierekdesign.com
• Instagram: mattzabierekdesign