Customer Spotlight: Yael Reinhardt Building Happy Websites at Pixel Happy Studio

Today, in our Customer Spotlight Series, we have Yael Reinhardt from Pixel Happy Studio. Yael is a creative web designer and developer, a certified Yoga Trainer and runs a donation based Yoga Studio. She specializes in building WordPress websites using Genesis and Beaver Builder. Here’s her inspiring story in her words.

Q1: Hi Yael! Tell us something about you and your business.

Okay, but first I want to thank you for this opportunity. I really appreciate being able to share a little about Pixel Happy Studio and the work that I do. I build websites primarily for alternative health practitioners and small businesses and love working with people who are committed to making the world a little better. Or, as the tagline on Pixel Happy’s home page says, “for people who dream big & do the work.”

I love working with people who are doing both — dreaming big and doing the work.

Q2: How did you start your business? Is there an interesting story?

Well, I am the quintessential accidental entrepreneur. How I came to this work is a story in itself, more an “accident” than an intentional goal. I’ve always been passionate about what I do and deeply committed to living an authentic, inspired life. Whether in the mountains of Central America working as a humanitarian worker, or shut up in isolation doing research on some historical or present injustice, I was always driven by some deep inner need to make sense of things, to make order. But to be in business? No, not me…

Or so I thought! But life has a way of helping us find the things we need to grow, to stretch, to rise above our self-imposed limitations, and life certainly helped move me from the non-profit/activist role into the self-employed web designer role.

I moved to Israel in 1999. As a new immigrant with limited Hebrew skills, my educational background didn’t provide much in terms of viable work options. I’m a self learner, was living in the Old City of Jerusalem at the time, and friends who had tourist shops wanted a website. So I started with a pirated copy of Dreamweaver and a Dummies for Dreamweaver book. Started learning and built my first website for a shop in Jerusalem’s Old City back in 2004!

Q3: What does a typical day in your life look like? How do you keep yourself productive?

Yoga is a big part of my life and my daily practice helps keep me grounded and focused. I generally start the day with yoga and then transition into work. I tend to work for long stretches at a time though so have recently started using a great little app called Tomato Timer — that reminds me to take a break every hour.

I’m also a big fan of “single tasking” ( as opposed to multitasking ) and do my best to eliminate distractions when I work. Close gmail and Facebook for example. Just too easy to get sidetracked with an email or to fall down that rabbit hole of social media!

My evenings vary depending on existing projects. Since I’m currently in Israel and most of my clients are in America, I sometimes need to work in the evenings. Otherwise, late afternoon / early evenings are spent in the vegetable garden.

There’s something magical about putting a seed in the ground and then having that seed grow into something you eat months later! Sort of like starting on a new web design. Starts with ideas (seeds) and later sprouts and comes to life on canvas (i.e. the computer screen).

Q4: What made you chose Beaver Builder? How has it transformed your business?

I started hearing about Beaver Builder a few years ago but didn’t jump in right away. Once I started using, though, I quickly realized how much value Beaver Builder provided — both for me and for my clients.

And, yea, it has completely transformed my business and my design process. I now use style tiles and live prototypes using Beaver Builder rather than full site mock-ups. In other words, once we’ve defined fonts, colors, content blocks, and overarching style of the website, I start designing in Beaver Builder. Clients love it! So much more effective than a full site static mockup that then needs to be rendered into a website.

Q5: How do you like the combination of Genesis and Beaver Builder? Would you like to share any tips?

That’s a great question and one I’ve actually been thinking about lately. I’ve been using Genesis for many years and love the Genesis + Beaver Builder combo, however, for those not already using a specific framework like Genesis, why not just go with the Beaver Theme + Beaver Builder? That too seems like a great combo, especially for those not wanting to learn how to develop within the Genesis framework.

But for those already using Genesis and Beaver Builder, Genesis Dambuster is a super useful plugin that allows you to easily create full width pages and to remove default Genesis page elements on a page per page basis. Gives you full control over what page elements show via a simple GUI that display belows the text editor.

A must have plugin when building sites using Genesis and Beaver Builder.

Q6: What do you like most about Beaver Builder and what you wish to see next?

The ease of use for the client when I hand off the site to them; that’s what I love most about Beaver Builder. Click and edit. Pretty simple. The ease of use for me when building a site comes in a close second 🙂

And, of course, that Beaver Builder provides tons of features but keeps the code lean.

What do I wish to see next? Can’t wait for Beaver Themer, currently in alpha, to be released “into the wild.” That’s going to be a huge game changer in terms of how we design and build websites. Beaver Builder is about design but Themer is going to open up and integrate complex web development into Builder by allowing content blocks to be dynamically populated from custom fields.

That’s like having your cake and eating it too! Best of both worlds.

Q7: Let’s talk a bit about PowerPack. What are your favorite features and how it helps you with your client sites?

Honestly, I love everything about PowerPack — the modules, the ever growing library of templates, and the amazing support you provide. But if I had to choose a favorite feature or module it would probably be the Content Grid. I’ve used that module on every site I’ve built.

And PowerPack’s templates are a great source for inspiration. I often go through those and either find one I want to use as a base or find inspiration for what I want to create using individual modules.

Beaver Builder is great but PowerPack is what makes it awesome. It allows me to easily create any type of page layout and design my heart fancies.

Q8: What has been your favorite business experience? How do you keep your clients happy, any tips?

My favorite business experience is the cumulative experience of working with so many amazing people over the years. The majority of my clients are alternative health providers and / or are healing educators, so it’s a win win for me to get to work with people who share the same passion as I do for helping people be well.

I work hard and almost always go above and beyond requirements and expectations. I provide detailed proposals that clearly define the scope of work involved but almost always provide something extra that comes up during the work together. As it’s called in the south, Lagniappe, which is an old Creole term born in the Mississippi Delta that loosely translated means a little something extra.

Communication is critical for keeping clients happy. My clients and I communicate A LOT during our work together and I don’t mean just via email or other project management apps. I mean face to face weekly meetings via Skype. These weekly meetings ensure that we are always “on the same page” and eliminates misunderstandings via the written word. It also allows us to get up close and personal, which makes for long time clients and friends.

Q9: What are your plans for 2017?

I was blessed with some amazing strategic partnerships in 2016 and want to expand and nurture those partnerships in 2017. I would also like to offer some additional services in 2017, specifically SEO and social media branding. Sifting through that now and how best to provide these services to my clients.

Q10: Lastly, If you had one piece of advice for someone just starting out, what would it be?

Don’t offer discounted prices and be selective as to who you work with. Put differently, honor the value you bring to the client and don’t just take on any project simply to have the work. I know, sometimes easier said than done but aim for this.

Continue learning even as you are doing client work. Always aim to expand your knowledge base and skill set. As you do, make sure your pricing reflects your ever growing skillset and the value you bring to the client.

Connect with Yael

How about making new connections? Get in touch with Yael on her social profiles:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google+

Check out beautiful websites built by Yael on her website.

If you love Beaver Builder, WordPress, PowerPack and would like to be a part of our Customer Spotlight series then drop us an email.