When did you realise you wanted to be a designer?

I’ve been in love with design and illustration for as far back as my tiny mind can remember. I went through most of my teenage years convinced that I would go into graphic design as a career. But as I went onto further education, I started to fall out of love with it. Mainly due to the way I was taught. No freedom of expression was allowed, everything was very strict and prescriptive.

I then went on to do a weeks work experience in a local design agency. They didn’t really have time for me so threw me in a corner and gave me a series of ever increasingly menial tasks throughout the week. Both of these experiences made me stop and think. “If I take this on as a career, I’ll fall out of love with it forever.”

After that, I decided not to pursue it as a career but to continue it as a hobby. 

It wasn’t until my mid-thirties that the love for it had bubbled up again. This time though, it was ferocious. 17 odd years of trying to find my feet somewhere else and bouncing around several meaningless professions… nothing was sitting right.

I knew I had no desire to work as a designer for anyone else, I had to take the plunge and go for it alone. This was the single best decision I’ve ever made… it just took me 36 years to figure it out.

How did you get started and what was the biggest hurdle you overcame?

I was in quite a senior position with my last employer so I had a pretty hefty notice period of 6 months. After doing a fair amount of procrastination (which I then framed as “learning”) listening to podcasts, watching YouTube videos, reading every book and blog I could get my hands on, I had a wonderful epiphany one day.

On the day in question I read the single most worthless blog I’d ever seen. It was nonsense. It taught me nothing new, it had zero substance and possessed the grammatical aptitude of an inebriated Mongoose. I closed my laptop in anger at how I’d wasted 10 minutes on such tripe. Then it hit me! The blog wasn’t actually that bad, I’d just consumed so much content around the subject of “starting your own business” that themes were repeating themselves. Ideas were being regurgitated. This was the moment I realised that I’d read enough, I needed to stop consuming and start doing.

I’m fully aware that I haven’t actually answered your question yet… sorry. My biggest hurdle was confidence.

I’ve never grown up around anyone who worked for themselves so for me, it seemed unattainable. This lead to a lack of confidence and a feeling that I needed to read everything before I would be equipped to start. There is of course a time for reading and learning but when you’re starting anything new, I’d recommend one simple thing. If you’re planning on reading up on a subject before you begin a project, set yourself a deadline for when the learning stops and the action starts i.e. I give myself one month to learn as much as I can, then I have to start moving. There is no better learning tool on Earth than jumping in and getting started.

What’s been your most successful way of getting clients?

It has to be creating content. I’ve tried all manner of different content formats – tutorials, process videos, time lapses. The one thing that has worked better for me than anything else has been tongue and cheek humour. I’ve never taken myself particularly seriously and as soon as I started to embrace that in my content, I was being myself, and started to attract the right people to my business.

How do you get clients to stay with you and use you for more work?

Two simple words – Honest communication. It sounds quite dull but there are so many designers in our industry who lack this basic skill. 

• Always keep people updated
• Always be fair
• Always over-deliver
• And never let them feel like they have to chase you. NEVER!

Oh and also, do kick-ass work. If you’re not proud of it, why the hell are you sending it to someone else.

Do you ever have issues with clients paying late? How do you manage that?

I’ve been pretty fortunate on this front, it’s only ever happened a handful of times. I find this behaviour among one of the most unprofessional things you can do. And because I feel so strongly about it, the second someone is overdue, I’m on them. This doesn’t have to be aggressive or disrespectful just firm and to the point. Just make people aware that you are efficient and organised. You’re diarising any dates they’ve mentioned regarding payment and if those dates go by and nothing happens, you’re there (like a Jackal) instantly asking what’s going on.

What does your typical work day look like?

I use Sundays to plan exactly how my week will pan out (allowing for a little bit of extra time for the ‘unexpected’).

Each day generally starts with a little bit of social media engagement. Then I catch up on messages/emails (I only do this 3 times a day, the rest of the time every device is on “Do No Disturb”)

After that I’m onto the first job of the day. Depending on how big the project is I generally work on two projects a day, one in the morning and the second in the afternoon with any ‘quick wins’ squeezed in between.

At some point the day is broken up by a brisk walk with my Husky.

And some other days I allocate entirely around content creation… because marketing is everything.

Any piece of advice/wisdom that you’d like to give the readers at This Design Life?

Make sure you allocate time every week to do something just for you. Something with no client, no brief and no boundaries.

It’ll keep your creativity fresh, you’ll learn new things and you’ll probably be able to use it as content to showcase yourself further and get more work. It’s a win win and absolutely essential to keep yourself sane.

If you’re thinking – “I don’t have time for that” then I refer you to Parkinson’s law:

“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

If you give yourself 5 days to get your work done, it will take 5 days. Try giving yourself 4. You just might impress yourself and free up more time.