If I stayed in this field, I would end up very rich and with a lot of nice things, but I would still be miserable.
I knew what made my heart come alive, what I had been built for:
I wanted to do creative work.
The only problem was that I was only in my fancy school thanks to three different scholarships. I couldn’t afford to change my major so I was definitely going to have to finish my degree. But I still wanted to start doing creative work, even fresh out of college. What creative jobs could I do? What would I need to get hired? I asked around and it seemed like the advertising industry was the way to go.
I knew what made my heart come alive, what I had been built for:
I wanted to do creative work.
The only problem was that I was only in my fancy school thanks to three different scholarships. I couldn’t afford to change my major so I was definitely going to have to finish my degree. But I still wanted to start doing creative work, even fresh out of college. What creative jobs could I do? What would I need to get hired? I asked around and it seemed like the advertising industry was the way to go.
I had one semester in publishing software, so I practiced by doing layouts for the school yearbook and a student directory for the Career Guidance Office. I borrowed library books (there were no YouTube tutorials back then) and did a crash course in Photoshop and Flash. I made snazzy presentations (or so I thought at the time) for my classes, partly to impress the teachers, partly to impress the cute nerd in the back. He was not impressed. *Sob!*
The plan was to put together a decent portfolio so that I could get hired at an advertising agency, even if my degree was in a totally unrelated field.
I thought I was hot stuff back then! When I look back at my earlier work, I cringe. To be fair, I did better work than my classmates. But then again, they were Management and Engineering guys. If I was gonna be up against actual artists, my stuff would have looked like child's play! That’s the hazard of not having formal training. I didn’t have the benefit of mentors, nobody told me that I used too many fonts or my page was too cluttered because I was trying to cram all the tricks I learned in the past week onto one spread. But I didn’t know any better. I did the best that I could with what I had, and just ran with it.
My belief was every time I finished a project (usually without pay), it would open the door to a similar one (hopefully with pay!) Handing my business card to someone physically demonstrated that I was capable of designing and printing a business card for their hair salon or cafe.
If I built a website for a friend, I could show it to potential clients as proof that I could build one for them too. They didn’t have to know that my code was a mess, or it may or may not have some security issues. If any problems arose, I would worry about that later.
I had some pieces of finished work. Now time to get some clients.
2005. The year I started working.
In 2005, I met someone at church who was setting up a dance studio. They needed a logo, calling cards, a brochure, and a website. Fortunately, I had samples to show them of all those things. I was also cheap and available. We were in business.
Graphic Design (10/15) - I had a lot of fun doing the work. Clients were generally happy with my work. I thought I was hot stuff. (Reality Check! Today, I still see old clients using those early logos and I want to offer them a free update. My work did not age well.) But my clients were happy (and still are, since some of them still using my old work) and I got paid. True, the pay was peanuts, but I was more interested in building my experience and portfolio. I really wanted to do graphic design in the long term, so I was willing to take whatever work clients would give me for the practice.
Web Design (5/15) - At this time, people were starting to get serious about this newfangled thing called the internet. Facebook, Wordpress, and Youtube were in their infancies and Twitter didn’t even exist. Because of my computer-related major, web design was easy to pick up. Even if I wasn’t ecstatic about the work, there was enough design thinking involved that I wasn’t miserable. If the web was going to be the next big thing, this might be the way to better-paying projects! Work doesn’t have to make you happy ALL THE TIME. Sometimes work is just work and by making myself web-ready, I was investing in my future income.
Flash Animation/Video Editing (3/15) - When I played around with Flash/Video, I thought it would bring me one step closer to my dream of making animated movies. What I actually learned was I would be better off directing or producing such projects, and I could just hire animators who were actual experts in that area.
At 3/15, it scores so low that it was you can see why I was hoping that my web and graphic design would earn me enough that I could eventually remove this from my list of services offered.
Every time you try something out and find out it’s not right for you, don’t see it as failure. Instead, choose to appreciate that you are now wiser and more available for other things that would be a better fit.
In 2005, between the three kinds of work I was doing, I was having a lot of fun learning by doing, and I was getting a little better with every project. I wasn’t making a lot of money, it was probably just enough to buy a fancy meal (ie. Burger King is nice for a college student) on the weeks when I had projects. I saw freelancing less as a business and more as my internship, my training ground.
My allowance would stop when I graduated, so I still had a year to work on a portfolio so I could get hired. The pressure was on! I had to gear up for real life, real fast.
Thanks to my portfolio, I was soon hired as a graphic artist at a small marketing firm. Hooray! The plan worked! It was a minimum wage job, but at least a steady salary would come in every month. Best of all, my schedule was flexible so I was still able to accept freelance projects on the side.
A year and a half later, I got a really attractive job offer from a web development company. I still didn’t love web design, but this job paid well enough that I didn’t have to worry about the bills, leaving me free to grow skills that would enable me to be my own boss someday.
2006-2009: Juggling Day Job and Freelance Projects
Illustration - When I took off animation/video from my plate, I left room to develop other interests, even if there was no money (yet.) I got some opportunities to do illustration work for magazines. It made me proud to see my work on the glossy pages that people all over the world would see. Except it was all glory and no money. I always loved drawing and I wanted to do more. But If I wanted to get paid for my illustrations, I would need to repackage my services or find a better-paying market for them.
Graphic Design - I still loved graphic design, and I was starting to get bigger projects. But because I didn’t have a registered business (meaning I couldn’t issue official receipts) I couldn’t get hired for the really well-paying projects for the corporations. I had hit the ceiling. If I wanted to do more graphic design work (which I loved), I would have to change my setup.
I was confident that between my graphic design and web projects alone, I could sustain myself. I could take illustration jobs as they arose. I also wanted to be able to travel, and the nature of my work is that all I need is a laptop and a decent internet connection, and I can work from anywhere in the world.
I was twenty-five years old and in the prime of my life. The world was my oyster and I wanted to see more of it! So at the end of 2009, I took the plunge and handed in my resignation. I went 100% freelance.
2010-2015: Digital Nomad in Asia
Graphic Design - Business was doing well enough that I would spend half of the year in Manila earning money, and I could volunteering at nonprofit organizations around Asia for months at a time.
For my volunteer work, I was doing mostly web development and designing presentations (as in Powerpoint or Keynote decks).
Web Development - Aside from my unpaid volunteer web work, I was still taking a few freelance jobs. The technical requirements were getting more complex, the clients more demanding, and the projects less and less lucrative. And I was not having fun at all. I soon dropped this from the list of services I offered.
Deck Design - I spent most of my time abroad designing visual presentations for ESL students at Medialight Asia in Northern Thailand. I received zero money for my deck design, but it allowed me to hone the visual communication skills I would need, to feed into the next iteration of my visual communication skillset.
All those skills helped me during the years I was active in a children's media NGO turned social enterprise startup. It would eventually crash and burn, and even if I left before it did, I didn't emerge unscathed. I walked away scarred and weary, but with a lot more business sense and hopefully more wisdom too.
I started Googoohit, a creative community and I mentored young artists. We published a coloring book.We made comics. We made animated resources for developing countries. We made lots of friends, but little money.
I met the love of my life, we got married and I stopped traveling so much. A few years later, we had a baby and I stopped traveling at all. We grew our business, Lakewalk Media. I tried to write a novel (I didn’t finish). We had another baby. I tried to write non-fiction. (If you’re reading this, that means I succeeded! Yay!)
2020. Happily ever after (sort of)
Now that I’m a mom of two little kids, TIME is my most precious commodity. I accept projects that promise great returns for the hours I invest, worth it in terms of currency or impact. Graphic design. I get to do work that I love and I rarely put in over 20 hours a week. Most of my clients are big corporations and so these days I get paid pretty well for when I do take on a project.
Illustration. I now specialize in infographic illustrations for non-profit organizations such as Unicef, or NGO-funded government projects. Sometimes I work with another illustrator and my main job is to translate really boring data into simple words and pictures that the regular person could understand. This does not pay as well as graphic design, but I love being able to use my skills to help improve life in developing nations.
Original Content Creation. All of the services I've offered before are for the benefit of a paying client or for an organization I believe in a lot, enough to invest my time, skills and other resources in. This is the first time I'm intentionally creating content where I'm calling all the shots. In the last few years as I've focused on raising our children, mentoring young creatives has taken the backseat but it’s still very important to me. My passion to invest in the future, in the next generation of creatives from emerging nations, is why I’m doodling, writing and creating free resources -- in the hope that my words can travel to places I can not, and help even just one person thrive in their respective field.
After twenty years of creative work...
On the whole, I’m pleased with where I’m at right now. I love what I do, I’m able to share what I know, and I’m happy with the relationships I’m investing in. Sure, there could always be more money, but we live simply and we have everything that matters. I am content.
I found my sweet spot after 2 day jobs and over a decade of freelance work. Sometimes creative types shun taking on a regular job, thinking that by doing “regular” jobs they are giving up on their dreams. Or worse, they are “selling out.”
My friend, there is no shame in being a responsible adult.
No matter what you have to do to put food on the table, as long as you’re not breaking the law or hurting other people, there is inherent dignity in a good day’s work. Day jobs are not the devil and I will forever be grateful for both of mine.
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