The first thing you should know about me is that I’m a murderer.
I have killed every plant I ever owned, except for 3 recently given to me by my well-intentioned sister, which are currently on life support.
The second thing worth knowing about me is that I’m a Jamaican-born freelance web designer with a background in digital marketing; and I’m mostly passionate about three things:
- helping small businesses thrive online
- simplifying life and work through minimalism and lifestyle design
- solo slow travel to walkable cities and towns around the world
Inspired by Derek Sivers’ /now page movement and can be accessed at any time via hayles.io/now
Last updated: December 2024 in Montego Bay, Jamaica
Here’s what I’m up to right now:
- Crashed and burned out! Ugh, entered November feeling a truck hit me. I was so exhausted from work and traveling. All the projects still on my plate overwhelmed me to the point of a total mental and physical health shut down. So after a lowkey birthday at home, I canceled everything I could and just took some time to rest and recuperate. Well timed too because I ended up going to the doctor and realizing things were worse than I thought. Now I’m getting back to health slowly and trying to take it one day at a time.
- Easing on down the December road Apart from some good music and Jamaican fruitcake (not to be confused with American fruitcake đŸ¤®), I will be spending December Christmas-free. I’m not typically up for the festivities and commercialism of it all, but I’m feeling particularly Grinchy this year. Leave me out of it.
- Watching Homeland I’m sure I watched a season or two before but not the entire show. Maaan, I forgot how insane Carrie is. Claire Danes deserves every award she ever won for this show.But uh…can I say something about Mandy Patinkin real quick…
Here’s a quick list of the main tools I use to run my business and build websites for my clients:
Hardware
- M2 Macbook Air base model (only upgraded from M1 because my screen cracked đŸ¥²)
- iPhone 15 Pro base model (only upgraded from 13 Pro Max because my screen went blank – sensing a theme here?). I also use a PopSocket on it when I’m home and this magnetic wallet case when I go out.
- AirPods Pro 1st gen (will replace with latest model when I start traveling long term again, because I hate that it’s my only device with a lightning port)
- This wireless mouse
- This portable laptop stand
Business Management & Productivity
- Spark for email (paid version)
- Apple Calendar (native app on desktop and phone)
- Dropbox for file storage
- Cal.com for meeting scheduling (much better than Acuity!)
- Bear for notetaking and journaling
- Things 3 for task management (also use LlamaLife for daily task lists and pomodoros)
- Whereby for online meetings (online based, no downloads required – far superior to Zoom)
- BitWarden for password management
- Wave for accounting and invoicing
- Brave browser (similar to Chrome, but without annoying ads – even on YouTube!)
- Payoneer for transferring online payments to my local bank accounts (referral link)
Web Design
- Elementor page builder (single most important tool in my web design business – referral link)
- Namecheap for domains and hosting
- Canva for graphics and image editing (paid version)
- Fathom for website analytics (paid but worth it, eons better than Google Analytics – referral link)
- Pixabay, Pexels and Unsplash for free stock photos
- ManageWP to manage multiple sites
- InstaWP to spin up demo sites (referral link)
- Nimbus Capture for full-page screenshots
- ColorZilla for getting hex codes for any color on a page
- WhatFont for finding out the font on any page
Have a question about any of these tools? Feel free to reach out via email or Twitter DM to chat.
books
Born a Crime
The Art of Non-Conformity
I Will Teach You To Be Rich
Who Moved My Cheese
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Essentialism
The Pumpkin Plan
Company of One
Finding Me
A Perfect Vintage
tv shows
Revenge (ABC)
The Newsroom
How To Get Away With Murder
Game of Thrones
Succession
Downton Abbey
Grace & Frankie
Blindspot
Covert Affairs
@fter Midnight
movies
The Greatest Showman
Hamilton
(it counts!)
Practical Magic
Coyote Ugly
Thor:Ragnarok
Chicago
Sweeney Todd
The Family That Preys
Knives Out
Catch Me If You Can