Holy cow. I can’t believe August 1 marks my THIRD YEAR IN BUSINESS!! {Time flies when you’re having fun, right?} But seriously, pinch me! It feels like just yesterday I was shakin’ in my boots, going door-to-door to every business around, handing out business cards. MY OH MY, I have grown as both a business owner and a designer!
Looking back, I’ve hit many highs and lows in these three years. I’ve felt on top of the world when I was hired for some seriously incredible projects and I’ve gained a few gray hairs worrying where my next paycheck will come from. But through thick and thin, I can tell you, without a doubt, that becoming my own boss was the best decision I’ve ever made.
So today I’m taking a stroll down memory lane and sharing how I kicked off this crazy adventure of starting my own graphic design business.
from fashion to graphic design
I’m not going to sugar coat this: my journey to working for myself wasn’t all roses. I wasn’t that little girl who dreamed of being a designer all her life. And I wasn’t that idyllic design student who passed Color Theory 101 with flying colors (no pun intended…)
In fact, I’m pretty sure I did it all wrong. See, I went to the University of South Carolina to study fashion, of all things, which ended up being a total flop of a degree for me. The one good thing that came out of it, is that it took me to NYC to work as a social media intern at L’Oreal. And that internship not only gifted me a ton of free haircare products, but also opened my eyes to how much fun their graphic design team down the hall was having.
I spied on those designers day in and day out and tried to emulate their work in Microsoft Powerpoint when no one was looking (not kidding). One day I even found the cojones to ask the Art Director to lunch to pick her brain about all things design. She recommended that if I wanted to be taken seriously, I should take some formal classes (and put down the Powerpoint). So that’s exactly what I did.
From the vault: my earliest PowerPoint creations (before I knew what Adobe was…)
I dropped everything and flew back home to study design full-time at Parsons online. I spent over two months juggling online classes with any random freelance gig I could find for some pocket change. In fact, I made something of a part-time job out of those oddball jobs I landed from a site called Elance.com (now known as Upwork.com). I designed everything from law firm logos to indie book covers: no job was too small or out there for me. In fact, taking on those couple hundred jobs taught me to: 1) manage a diverse clientele, 2) work with a variety of personalities, 3) polish my customer service skills. And most importantly, that crazy part-time stint also landed me my first official design internship at Charleston Magazine in Charleston, SC!
While in Charleston, I learned the ropes of what it’s like to work on the editorial side of things. I learned the pre-press lingo, adapted the grid system, and got my feet wet working under an Art Director. And I must have done pretty well at it, because when my two-month internship wrapped up, I was actually offered a permanent role as an associate designer!
I designed magazine spreads, mailers, ads, and the official 40th anniversary logo!
Unfortunately I had my sights set on Charlotte, NC (more specifically, a cute boy who lived there... who is now my husband.) So I packed my bags, headed north, and applied for every job listing I could find. But times were tough and I hit a dry spell for a couple of months, which led me to question if I made the right decision.
Just as I was about to throw in the towel on the search (and frankly my design career), I’ll never forget: I got two calls back in the same hour! One from the local Whole Foods who offered me a position as the in-store signage designer and one from Trinity Partners, a Charlotte-based commercial real estate firm, as their lead graphic designer! I accepted the latter and officially kicked off my career in graphic design the following Monday.
the road to going rogue as a freelancer
I spent almost two years at Trinity Partners, where I learned, experimented, and grew into a more confident designer. I cherished the freedom that my Marketing Director gave me and I developed a strong grasp of real estate design, but I also felt that a huge part of my creativity was untapped. I was such a young designer and I worried that I was pigeon-hole-ing my portfolio with real estate design. So after several months of daydreaming, I made the biggest decision of my career thus far: I quit my corporate job and launched my own freelance business!
at t.p., i designed for 16,002,208 SF of real estate in Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greenville, SC
Now, you can google thousands of how-to articles to prep for the move from full-time to freelance. And that’s exactly what I did. I googled every single of one of them… and then did exactly the opposite of what they said. 😂 I didn’t save six month’s worth of income; I didn’t prep a full book of clients before making the switch; and I didn’t plan a detailed strategy for getting my biz off the ground.
Instead, I acted pretty impulsively and decided I would figure it out as I went. (I’m the kind of person that once I make up my mind about something, I do it immediately.) And oddly enough, it kind of worked out for me. I scoured hundreds of freelance job sites, covered every Starbucks in town with my contact info, and practiced my elevator speech like it was nobody’s business. And slowly but surely, I perked some ears up with my services.
it wasn’t easy
I’m going to be honest though: in those first six months, it was tough. Like really tough. Crickets were constantly chirping in my inbox and I doubted my decision day-in and day-out. I worried about money and my future. Truthfully, the worry would’ve been the death of career, but fortunately I had the best support system in the world cheering me on: my loving boyfriend (now husband) and encouraging family. They are singled-handedly what kept me going.
Well, them and networking 24/7. Like most designers out there, I absolutely hated networking (and still do). See, I can be super shy, so I resented having to make cold calls and put myself out there. But if you force yourself to do it enough times, whether it’s behind a computer screen or in-person, a fish is bound to bite. And with every new client you please, you may get a referral or two. And then your workload will grow exponentially! That’s exactly how it played out for me.
this was me hustlin’ in the corner of my tiny apartment in 2016 :)
Fast-forward to today: my clientele has tripled since Day 1 and I still retain many of those loyal businesses who got me on my feet. In three years, I’ve grown my skill set, my portfolio, my workload, and my confidence, and I haven’t looked back since. If you’re on the fence about whether or not to take the leap, I can’t cheer you on enough. I promise you that, with hard work, discipline, and a bit of courage, you too can create the career of your dreams and call yourself a proud business owner. Go get ‘em tiger!