When did you realise you wanted to be a designer?

I realised I wanted to be a designer when I took my very first graphic design class at school in year 9 (13 years old). I’m not exaggerating when I say that I realised I wanted to be a designer after only taking about 3 classes and knew from then on it was something I was good at and something that I was passionate about.

I’ve always been a creative person; some of my earliest memories include scrapbooking, drawing, illustrating and making home-made sitcoms and movies (the acting was somewhat to be desired) with my friends. So when I realised I liked design, it just made sense and it was easy for me to pick up a pencil and start thinking outside the box.

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

Following school, I pursued my passion for creativity and applied to multiple universities to get started on a degree in graphic design. Only to be accepted by one out of three, I embarked on a 3-year graphic design and animation course at Unitec (Auckland, New Zealand). After graduating from university in 2013, I began my career as a graphic designer working in-house for three different companies.

But when it came to 2019 I felt creatively drained and totally uninspired as I had been working for a one-brand business, designing in the same 3 colours and two fonts for two years in a row – it had finally taken its toll. So I set out to learn new skills and reignite my creative spark by undertaking a 100-day design challenge and to keep myself accountable, I opened an Instagram page and called it Pink Pony Creative.

Eventually, I had my first enquiry, and unexpectable I became a freelancer, and I had my lightbulb moment. I could start a business – so I registered the company name, and Pink Pony Creative was officially born. Since then, I have been leveraging social media to grow my business and expand my network, and I have never looked back.

When it comes to my biggest hurdle that I’ve had to overcome in my career – there is so many in so many different ways. One that really comes to mind was getting that first job out of university. I applied for six months following university until I finally got offered a job. Even then, I managed to secure myself an internship where I worked for free for 3 months and then finally they decided that loved what I did and ended up offering me a full-time position.

But that first job was tough as it felt like everything was against me. Like I wasn’t meant to be there and like I wasn’t good enough. But I persisted and kept going. And it all paid off in the end!

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

Social media has been the largest source of leads when it comes to my business. Since my 100 day design challenge I have made social media a massive priority in my business. I feel as though I saw the opportunity early and knew that if I worked hard at it I could network and hopefully get the attention of clients – and I was right!

It can be challenging as it takes a lot of consistency, creativity and time but it is worth every single moment as not only has it bought in clients for me, but its allowed me to get in contact with the likes of Adobe and provided me with opportunities such as speaking at Adobe MAX for two years in a row.

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

This comes down to the quality of work. If you provide them with a quality, polished and excellent service they are going to come back wanting more. But this doesn’t just mean great work, it means great project management, great communication and great relationships.

Have face-to-face meetings or zoom calls with clients, get to know them, and provide them with a great service and you will hopefully be rewarded with further work. You can also showcase to them the value they will have in continuing to work with a designer on-going. Provide them with case studies and great testimonials.

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

For sure, this can be challenging and I think it’s important to understand that everyone goes through this. There are some tips I can provide to help prevent this. One would be a 50% upfront payment before you start and a 50% payment following approval. And only once has the client made the full payment – you can send through all of the final files.

Another would be to make sure you have payment terms within your contract; deposit due dates, remaining dates and even late fee penalties. My last tip is to make an agreed expectation. Ask them; ‘I can see you have made a late payment, when will you be able to make this payment?’ They should respond with a date (e.g next Friday) and you can respond and follow up by saying – ‘you agreed on this expectation and you haven’t paid, I will have to take this further if this payment is not made.’

What does your typical work day look like?

Typically I wake up at 4.30am (yes it’s early!) but my husband and I wake up this early to head to the gym at 5am for an hour. Waking up early is the best for my productivity. I head into work at 7am and get into my hardest work for the day – whatever requires me to be the most inzone and onto it as this is my most productive time of day.

My team arrives at 8.30 and we begin work. On Mondays, we have a WIP where we discuss projects and what’s on for the week. Otherwise we all get into work. I typically have 1-3 meetings a day – could be client meetings, podcast interviews, collaboration interviews etc. I do like to take an hour lunch as I get into work so early and then we finish up around 4.30 and head home.

I then make dinner and walk my dog and then might do 1-2 hours at night as well. Yes, that is a lot of hours in the day that I am working but I have big goals and dreams and sometimes you have to make sacrifices to achieve future goals.

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

Oooohh. So many. But I’ll just list a couple for you guys;

• My favourite quote to live by is ‘You are far too smart to be the only thing standing in your own way’. Which is 100% spot on. Most of the time the only barrier we face is ourselves!
• Start your social journey! Whatever it looks like – it could be Linked In, Pinterest, TikTok, Instagram etc. But get going. JUST START putting your work, process and experiences out. You never know who might come across them.
• Networking is key. And I don’t mean – handing out your business cards at those events. I mean, understanding that every single interaction you have with people can impact your future. Put your best foot forward in every single way.
• Don’t stop creating!! Keep creating projects you love, you enjoy and even ones you don’t enjoy. Keep creating and never give up!