A day in the life of a Design Company Owner/Director in Malta

1. A day in the life of a Design Company Owner/Director in Malta

2. My name: Mark Lightfoot

3. Company Name: Mangion & Lightfoot Ltd

4. Web Address: http://www.mangionlightfoot.com

5. City, country – Naxxar, Malta

6. How you Start the Day – ie. Get up what time, travel?
Depending on the scholastic calendar I’m either up at 6 to take my daughter to school, or up at 7 to take her for tennis training… either way I am up with the birds and making tea/breakfast for the family. I live in an ancient house in the middle of Zebbug – a village in the heartland of Malta. Bells, yells and smells was how Lord Byron described Malta… and he was not far off even for today. The sound of the village church bells often wake me and if it’s not the bells, the yells and smells of village life are not far behind. I drive to school to drop off said daughter and then on to the office – usually getting in at around 8am.

7. First jobs – coffee! I then check the mail for invoices, statements or payments and look through the correspondence to check if there is anything that needs attention. I run my own company along with my business partner of 12 years, Matthew (the Mangion). Then its a quick check on email – I have to be careful not to get bogged down in too many website visits as it can easily eat up the morning. I try to clip links that I want to follow for later on. I’ll then go through the job management system we have seeing what projects are on and what tasks need doing.

8. The morning is taken up with project work – that will be either artwork production, design concepts, client meetings, concept briefings with the account managers, production meetings etc., Every day is different. Sometimes if we are doing a signage project I will have to be on site at an installation, or it might be out to a photoshoot, a presentation or a pitch. Lunchtime is sacrosanct at Mangion & Lightfoot as each employee takes it in turn to cook for the other members of the team. What started out as a practical way to meet the eating needs of everyone has become a cornerstone of our company ethos. Lunch has become an extension of our philosophy and a way for the company to team build on a daily basis!
After lunch there’s more project work, or meetings… it all depends on what’s on the cards and which clients are on the go.

9. Evening – Work finishes at around 7pm most evenings at which time I head for home. I try and leave my laptop at the office apart from weekends so I don’t ‘take work home’ during the week. That’s generally scuppered though as I’ve got an iPhone and I can still do emails etc … and to cap it all I’ve got about 4 Macs at home (wife’s, daughter’s, etc!). I’ll get home in time to see the kids into bed, maybe read a story, Catch up with my wife and the kids’ day. I’ll have supper with a nice glass of wine – sometimes catching up on TV or reading. Bed around 11.

10. What you love about your job /course – I love the variety of my job and the work life balance that being a designer in Malta gives me. We’ve got great clients, a great office atmosphere and a great team.

11. What you hate about your job /student life – There’s nothing I hate about my job – I would say that its frustrating sometimes because working in a small country does not afford you the opportunities more mature markets offer…(or the big budget clients!!) but that is the very small downside to working and living in one of the most wonderful countries in the world!

To take part in – A day in the life, please read this post