About

Hi!

I’m Carla Maree. Blogger, online marketing consultant, information architect and online entrepreneur, living in Malta. This blog represents who I am. Each category of this site tells you a little about me. I love my work, I love travelling, I love cooking and art.  I’ve had this blog since 2006. To learn more about me, you can read my Bio below.

At 28 my life story is already quite a long one,  hopefully you will find it interesting.

I was born in NSW, Australia in 1983. My Dad is Maltese and my mum is Dutch. I grew up on the Central Coast in a place called Budgewoi. I really liked it there.

At the age of 9 we moved to Gozo, the sister island of Malta. Malta is a tiny island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Gozo is an even smaller one. The culture shock was incredible. I learned the Maltese language by the age of ten. The only thing that kept me sane was my sport, basketball. Most people in Gozo know me as the girl who always played basketball.

In 2007 I played for the Maltese Under 19′s national team in a competition in Cyprus. It was the best experience ever. I really liked the idea of waking up and training, having lunch, a rest and playing again. At the age of 17 I had the opportunity to attend a basketball summer camp in the US. My mum didn’t let me go.

By the age of 17 I moved out of home and started living in Malta so I could attend University. For 3 years attended lectures for B.Communication and BA. English. I was never really impressed by the course and was most disappointed with the B.Communication syllabus, where I learned absolutely nothing that contributes to my life today. The syllabus promised multimedia and graphic design units, but I’m not shy to say that I knew more than my lecturers did on the topic. I didn’t bother continuing to do honours and I couldn’t because one of my lecturers found out I was Gozitan and from A’s started giving me C’s, meaning I didn’t meet the required points by 0.6. By the way this lecturer was a priest.

After university, I fell into the usual rut of most B.Communication students, unemployment. Luckily I had my English Degree and had 3 summers of work experience as an EFL teacher. This got me a job as an English teacher at MCAST, a higher secondary level college focused on trades. I spent 3 years teaching in 3 different schools of the college across the Maltese Islands. Like a travelling salesman, I was a travelling English teacher. I taught English for Mechanical Engineering, English for Electrical Engineering, English for Agribusiness, English for Art and Design, English for Health Care, English for ICT. I also taught a National Diploma class in communication skills. Teaching over 250 students between the ages of 16-21 was definitely challenging.

Thankfully, (and this may sound weird) in my second year of teaching I tore ligaments in my left ankle, which put me off my feet for 3 months and away from school for 6 weeks. During this time all I could do was sit with a computer for entertainment. During this time I started looking into courses online. I had always had a huge passion for graphic design and I wanted to pursue this… however that was when I stumbled across an MA in Internet communication offered by the University of Canberra. A fully online course, offered in study units, with assignments and online exams, something clicked. A couple of emails and an application later saw me starting my Master’s Degree. On year after, when I was in my third year of teaching, I applied for a job in online marketing at a software company on the main island of Malta. I got the job. They waited 6 months for me to start.

In two years I rose from web nobody to web watch out. I started off as an affiliate account manager. In my second year at this job our team was reduced from 5 people to just two, I became the affiliate program manager  and my colleague and I increased affiliate revenues from 7% company revenue to 35% company revenue in 3 months, during a recession. I designed a new affiliate center, and worked heavily on optimising key affiliate accounts. Optimisation and web usability were all part of my course and I put everything I learned to good practice in my job. I was the mind behind the warning icon followed by the: ‘Click here to run a FREE…. ‘ affiliate text link placed at the top of pages on hundreds of software sites. I made many web site owners very wealthy people. During this time I also finished my Masters Degree.

After two years, I started looking for more money and more challenges I moved onto the iGaming industry where I took on the role of online marketing manager. Little did I know that I had signed my name over to the devil, who would constantly call me late at night, at weekends and during my leave. When my director made me lie to the owner of the company about the technology working when it was not, I resigned.

That is over two years ago now. I founded systemato, an online marketing and website consultancy company. My goal is to help as many people and companies have optimised sites. I love information architecture and have taken on several projects designing high level web site architectures. To me a website is like a big puzzle; if you don’t put the piece in the correct and ‘expected’ places, nobody will understand the picture. I take on everything from being an OPM, running social media campaigns, to any kind of marketing consultancy or web architecture projects. I do not develop websites myself for clients, however I have been project manager on several website builds.

Since starting my own business I have also become a part time payment hunter, chasing very disrespectful clients who think it is ok to leave a freelancer unpaid 6 months after ending a project. Unfortunately Maltese companies do not have a good record when it comes to paying people. Please note: I wouldn’t generalize unless it happened so often and to several other freelancers I know.

My other part time job is much more pleasant I work on my dream, my own affiliate sites: Buy4boobs and drdietright. My biggest baby is my chrome extension: Couponshelper. I often compare couponshelper to having a child. It requires a lot of work, dedication, passion and sleepless nights, but at the bottom of my heart I know that couponshelper offers a great user friendly service to online shoppers, which makes me feel really happy and satisfied.

I do not make enough money from my affiliate sites alone and for this reason I continue to work an 80 hour week juggling consultancy projects and my own stuff. However, even if I did not have to work I would still do consultancy work and help people with their online endeavours.

Points about me:

• The first book I read the day I started my own business was ‘the 4 hour work week’. I gained a lot from this book but I have not succeeded in a 4 hour work week so far.
•  I love to travel. I’m surprised I don’t have a travel blog yet. (YET)
• I still play basketball. My team has not won a game in two years.
• I would like to be a barefoot ultra runner. I was very inspired by the book ‘Born to Run’.
• I’m a workaholic because I love what I do.
• I don’t like meetings I think they are an excuse for people to sit around and waste time.
• I love baking sweets and cakes more than eating them.
• Personally, people think I am a pessimist… I’m not. I’m a realist. I keep it real and I don’t get over enthusiastic for no reason. Good is good, Ok is ok and bad is bad.
• I’m honest. I have no need to be scheming or deceptive. I have nothing to hide.
• I’m sensitive and really get hurt when people are cruel, mean or vindictive.
• I forgive people but I will not forget if you hurt me.
• I love to sing – I’m really into karaoke.
• I’m sarcastic and most people don’t get it.
• I believe in simple, user friendly design.
• I have a weird obsession with UGGS. They are the best thing about winter.
• I would really like a dog and a beach house one day, after I’m done travelling the world.

If you would like to contact me, you can do so via my contact page