A Day in the Life with Marya Nguyen
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Started using Squarespace: 2020
Title: Web Designer and Founder, Yangu Web Studio
Marya Nguyen built a thriving design agency from a bedroom barely big enough to roll out a yoga mat. Today, the daughter of immigrants is the founder of Yangu Web Studio and a highly sought-after Squarespace Expert.
Known for designing custom sites that balance bold personality with serious strategy, Marya helps small businesses show up online with both aesthetic appeal and measurable results. But while her relentless work ethic helped her launch her business during a global pandemic and secure over 60 five-star reviews, she knows that sustainable creativity requires strict boundaries. Rather than burning out, she protects her energy with a highly intentional routine that honors her design flow just as much as it prioritizes her loyal pup, Jett.
Check out a day in Marya’s life and see her advice for web designers.
Marya’s schedule
6:30 AM: Wake up, brush my teeth, and get dressed.
6:40 AM: Take Jett, our 7-year-old black Lab mix, for his morning potty and feed him.
7:00 AM: Gym. I’ve found this is the best way to start my days. Before we adopted Jett, the gym was the only thing that got me out of bed in the morning. Now I get the joy of taking care of both of us before the day begins!
8:00 AM: Shower and breakfast. I try to have breakfast prepped—or at least have elements ready to pull together and heat up. Meal planning is an ongoing practice, but I’ve found that if I can put together a carb, a protein, and some fiber, I’m set.
9:00 AM: Coffee. I love starting my work day with a cup of coffee or matcha. I think about James Clear’s concept of habit stacking, the act of walking to my coffee shop, putting on my headphones, and sipping my coffee is the most surefire way to transition me into work mode.
9:10 AM: Pitching. I pitch for new work, answer emails, and respond to project inquiries before diving into deep work. I batch my week’s agenda by day and task type to stay in the flow and make the most of my creative energy.
10:00 AM: Today’s deep work is focused on a resource and community-style website for a dog breed community. Their content is going to be dense. They’re positioning themselves as a leading authority, so the design challenge is figuring out how to make their internal pages easy to navigate. Specifically, I’m working on their internal page layouts in Fluid Engine and building out a custom sticky menu to keep navigation seamless no matter how deep into the content a visitor goes.
12:00 PM: Jett’s afternoon potty. I’ve usually hit a good stopping point at the café by now, so I walk home to take him out.
12:30 PM: Lunch. Same approach as breakfast—pulling together whatever I have on hand!
1:30 PM: Check emails and pitch.
2:00 PM: I reserve 2:00 PM and onwards for client inquiry and review calls. This way, I spend my most creative energy in the morning making progress, then shift into communications mode in the afternoon.
When I don’t have calls, I jump back into smaller client tasks or admin work. Today, I have an inquiry call with a potential wedding photographer client, followed by a site review call with a current entertainment industry client.
3:00 PM: Snack break and Jett break.
5:00 – 6:30 PM: Depending on the day, I work until I’m hungry. Dinner isn’t always planned in advance, so honestly I work until my body says stop (not very easeful of me, I know). Jett’s dinner and potty are always on the schedule, though. Tonight, we’re heating up leftovers.
7:30 – 8:00 PM: Winding down before getting cleaned up for the evening. I’ll review the tasks I completed today, and sometimes there are tasks I didn’t get to. The beautiful thing about having a system is that it helps me decide where to prioritize, and also gives me permission to not feel bad about not checking every box. I jot down any thoughts about the day, then look ahead to tomorrow’s agenda and work out.
9:00 – 10:00 PM: I’ve been making a more concerted effort to decompress, and lately that’s been looking like cozy games on my Nintendo Switch.
10:30 PM: Jett’s nighttime potty. Day done.
Marya's top advice for web designers
Embrace the unglamorous parts of the job. When you're first building your business and portfolio, 90% of your days are not going to feel sexy or glamorous. They’re going to look like routine and structure, the same things every day. But this is where you grow exponentially because every day you show up and build on what came before.
Standardize your client process. Get clear on your client process and build systems around it so you can work smarter, not harder.
Keep a record of everything you do. Document everything; the conversations you’re having, the problems yourre solving. The work you're already doing holds so much value that most people leave on the table, and it can be the key to reaching more clients!
Check out Marya’s session at Circle Day 2025.
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