What they don’t teach in classrooms or studios
I have spent the past twenty years building my career, climbing the design ladder, one rung at a time, sometimes being made to feel that I am creatively inferior in my approach to design, being told that my skills were limited – because it fit the narrative of my employers. And yes, this may come across as bitter or resentful but it was actually a contributing factor to the motivation to push myself further, to make more of my career as a designer in a brutal industry where job stability is not guaranteed unless you are a top brand name. That and my insane obsession with success – but not the award-winning kind with flashy trophies and accolades, I am talking about the success of personal achievement, the nagging desire to be the master of my own life and time while creating work that has a positive impact and adds value along the way was the primary motivator for starting my own studio.
When lockdown was implemented, I, like many thousands of others, lost my primary source of income, my permanent job, it was the fifth retrenchment in a career spanning more than 15 years. A career I had worked tirelessly to build, to mold with passion and fire as the fuel. Times were tough and only going to get tougher, but I had a responsibility to not just myself but my parents to find a way forward and keep the roof over our heads and so I cautiously went full time into self-employment and what was once a part time hustle, became my full-time focus.
Fast forward four years (and keep in mind, the business gurus all say it takes about five years to build a business), my eyes have been opened. Self-employment is not what all those nomad entrepreneurs post about, it’s not working remotely from some scenic location that changes on the daily – even though some may have achieved such a luxury.
The scales of self-employment weigh heavily on the negative. The journey is filled with challenges, false hopes, disappointments, ghosting (which I have found is very common in the design world) sprinkled with the odd dash of good fortune. It is worrying day and night about how and where the next project is going to come from, it is working tirelessly to keep your clients happy while stressing about whether you are going to lose your clients despite every effort you have made to deliver on time and to the highest standards, it is rejection over and over and over and over to the point where you wake up from a deep sleep at 3am in a cold sweat or you can’t fall asleep at night because the fear of failure is knocking against your senses, sending you into a paralysing state of paranoia. It’s about learning to budget, budget, budget, refuse yourself the luxuries of life in order to keep meeting the financial commitments and plan for slow months where you will be billing next to zero.
Running a business in the creative industry for me has been the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest. The perilous journey , climbing the upward trajectory of each slope is brutal physically, emotionally, mentally, psychologically and most of all, financially. It tests you in ways that you never imagined. With each rejection you need to grow a thicker skin all while your mind becomes a little more fragile and you come perilously close to a nervous breakdown. Despite this, you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back on course because for every job offer or project out there, there about 100 or more other designers applying and competing, some posing as qualified designers with no formal design training, under cutting professionals like you.
This is the reality of being an independent designer, you have to keep taking the beatings one after another in the hopes that you will catch a break and land a project, preferably a high revenue one. You have to make personal sacrifices and choose time spent building your business over time with friends and loved ones. It’s late nights and early mornings, weekends and public holidays at the grind. It is a very lonely journey, not without risk and without the guarantee of success.
So what is the point to this insightful piece of writing you may ask? It is simple, self-employment as an independent designer is definitely not for the feint hearted. If you are going to step out onto that mountain, you better be prepared for steep climbs and many slippery slopes because it will pull everything out of you, including your sanity. No classroom or design studio will ever teach this valuable industry lesson. Now, if my acknowledgement of my experiences has not scared you off, and you are still willing to take the proverbial leap of faith, then I say, start the climb, because the view from the top is worth it.