Career Cliff-Diving

Image by: Adriano Brodbeck, Pexels.com

If you had told me two years ago that I was going to be a full-time freelance graphic designer, I would have gaped at you like a fish.

My name is Brittany Becker, and I am, indeed, a full-time freelance graphic designer. I’m brand new to it, too; I’ve been completely freelance since mid-February of this year (2024), and made myself legitimate in early April by creating and claiming my own small business: BrittLouise Creative LLC. If you think I knew what I was getting myself into, I most certainly did NOT!

I’ve been a graphic designer for about thirteen years now, but never wanted to be freelancing full-time. As a side gig, sure! Everyone likes to earn a little extra money as they work their nine-to-five. But a secure nine-to-five was the kind of job I wanted, and the kind of jobs I’ve had (more or less) since I graduated college. In 2016, I got a new position in my dream city of Kanas City, Missouri and moved there from St. Louis, Missouri. I had my treasured nine-to-five job as a designer for a collegiate garment company and spent a happy four years settling into my new home. But then 2020 hit, and things…changed.

I was very fortunate to have paid furlough for six months, and then, after I was officially let go from the garment company, doubly fortunate to find another full-time job at a retail store. But then things got worse, as they often do. My father passed away from leukemia in fall 2021, and I developed situational depression and anxiety. That made my job even harder to do, especially dealing with customers face-to-face, or not being able to take a break when I was having a really difficult day. Little did I realize at the time, but the desire for a more flexible schedule was planting freelancing seeds deep in my mind…

Finally, in early January 2023, I left my job at that store and for the first time dipped my toes in full-time freelance design work. I had several clients that kept me afloat for about four months, and then I got myself another full-time job at a commercial print shop. But this, too, would not last; almost exactly six months later, my team was downsized and, as the newest member, I was let go first. This brings us to October 2023, almost one year ago.

After the Great Resignation, the job market took a 180-degree flip; there were now 2 to 3 times more people applying to available jobs. That made landing those jobs much harder, and even the application process took much more effort to even get your name noticed. This was the place I was at last October. I applied, applied, applied. Got several interviews in the weeks before and after Christmas, both phone and in-person. I thought things went well at all of them…and nothing came of any of them.

I hit my wall in early February. There was a graphic designer position at a company I thought was really cool; they liked me, liked my portfolio, and brought me in for an in-person interview and to show me around the office. I thought I had it in the bag.

They hired someone else.

I’m a Christian, and my relationship with God has been one of my strongest rocks over the last few tumultuous years. But at this point I started crying and yelling at Him. A lot. I was incredibly frustrated, scared, and confused. I felt like a failure of a designer. I didn’t know how to get hired. I didn’t know what to try next.

But God was working. Ever since I lost my last job, my freelancing gigs had been slowly growing. Through Upwork.com I got a handful of new clients that were giving me more projects, and my current clients continued to work with me. Those full-time freelancing seeds were starting to grow some serious roots.

It was at this breaking point that I had to make a choice. Full-time freelancing AND job hunting for a regular job both take a lot of time and effort to do right. I couldn’t do both at the same time. But I didn’t know which one was the “right” choice.

I also knew that, if I did go full-time freelancing, I would be willingly diving off a cliff into a massive career change. You can read self-help books and blogs about freelancing, ask all the experts on the best tips, even read about fictional freelancers for inspiration (I still do that every once in a while). But I knew even then that there’s a BIG difference between knowledge and experience, especially the experience of being my own boss and my own employee, making all my own risks, and earning all my own rewards.

I didn’t think I was ready for all that work and responsibility. But are we ever truly ready for something like that?

So, I did something I’d never done before: I asked God for a sign. I was inspired by Gideon from the Bible, a timid man who was so scared about what God was telling him to do that he asked for a sign, twice, regarding a wet fleece (Judges 6:36-40, if you want to read it yourself). And God, with His infinite patience, and understanding that Gideon was way out of his comfort zone, answered his plea twice. Perhaps God would help me out in the same way?

In the middle of my sobs on a Monday afternoon, I prayed out loud: “God, if you want me to be a full-time freelancer, I need You to tell me. I don’t know which direction You want me to go. So I am begging you for a sign: if You want me to freelance, please send me one new freelance job by Wednesday. If not, I will put all my effort into job-hunting for a regular job.”

By Wednesday, I had not one, but TWO new freelance gigs.

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The last six-ish months of freelancing have been an immense learning curve. I have had to learn how to market and promote myself, find a project management software, set up my own business bank account, track my taxes (an ongoing feat), and I have recently started pushing social media to showcase my work and hopefully catch the eye of potential clients. It’s a lot to deal with!

I have a long way to go before I can truly call myself “settled” into this new way of life. But God has made it clear that He wants me on this path, though I don’t know why yet. I will say this: pushing through all these challenges have given me a confidence in my own abilities that I’ve never had before. I never thought I would own my own business, and now I have one. If I can do THAT, what other amazing and/or risky things can I do?

As this blog progresses, I will be discussing and sharing many topics that you would expect in a graphic designer’s blog: graphic design (of course), good design in general, art, marking art, books and book design, colors, creative processes, etc. I’ll even showcase and discuss some of my favorite projects.

But then you will also find me talking about topics like this…

-       Why everyone should make art, ESPECIALLY if they’re really bad at it

-       Color psychology  

-       Women-owned businesses of the Bible

-       Animals that are great examples of graphic design…and animals are that not

-       Funny terms in publishing (“bleeding in a gutter” does not mean what you think it means)

-       Hot Take: why I don’t think the font Papyrus is all that bad

I hope you will all come along with me on this crazy, busy, stressful, amazing, empowering ride!

All the best,

Brittany Becker