Tomorrow is the day, guys. Tomorrow, February 15th is my last day at my full-time day job with the advertising agency and the start of a new and exciting adventure. To say I’m excited, terrified, and extremely relieved would all be understatements. I have a new sense of freedom to explore and bring my brand fully to life…finally!
It all started 3.5 years ago when I graduate with a graphic design degree from a large university. The summer following graduation, I traveled through Europe for 2 weeks with my boyfriend and his mother 🙂 Upon returning, I immediately started working as a digital art director at the advertising agency, slowing moving my way up through the ranks and learning a lot along the way. I learned a lot about designing within restrictions (ultimately making me a better designer), how working with a strong team can be your biggest asset, and how politics of business can quickly overshadow the excitement of the industry. I learned a lot about myself as a designer, about what I liked about the corporate world, but more importantly…what I didn’t like. By learning what I didn’t like, I was able to gain some insight into how I would ideally shape my future.
During my 3.5 years as a digital art director, I worked A LOT on my “time off” (nights/weekends). I took on exciting freelance projects that I sought out to expand my personal portfolio. I briefly opened a vintage home goods shop on Etsy to give me something to tinker with. I did a deep dive into photography and taught myself the ins and outs of shooting manual with my DSLR, and most importantly…I started The Veda House blog.
Over time, I feel in love with my blog and sharing design inspiration to the online world. I posted ALL the time and really looked forward to spending my down time in front of the computer. My little blog (that is still pretty little), grew very very slowly over the next couple years. I met a ton of creative people (a lot who are freelancers and designers) and ultimately feel in love with the idea of blogging/freelance design as a profession. I started working towards making that happen by blogging my heart out to grow readership and by building a network that could support a personal business when the time would come.
About a year ago, I was committed to making this leap into the freelance world but “LIFE” kept getting in the way. Work was insanely busy, I got engaged to my boyfriend of 10 years, plans of moving across country were brewing, and honestly…I was terrified of losing the stability of my 9-5. Fast forward to last November/December and you’d find me bawling my eyes out, stressed to the max and my fiancé pleading me daily to quit my day job and pursue what I’ve always wanted to do. Thank goodness I’ve always had his support.
I spent this last holiday vacation really lost, completely sick of everything design and in the middle of a full blown out breakdown burnout session. It’s taken me until now to pull myself out of it, but I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. With a crazy amount of support, encouragement, and excitement from others, I’m finally making the leap. I’m going to start building my dream baby and I couldn’t be more giddy than I am write now…counting down the hours until Friday at 5:00PM!
My plan is to not really have a plan for the first month and spend that time getting inspired again. I’ll be attacking my mile-long list of DIYs that have been piling up and I’ll be focusing on rebranding The Veda House. Come March, I’ll be 100% open to take on all new clients. I’ll be focusing my brand on designing and photography styling for small businesses and other home made brands. EEEE! So excited.
Stay tuned and I’ll be sure to keep you up to date with a new feature on the blog where i share glimpses into my day to day life in my home studio.
• Doesn’t this post by Savannah of MaieDae sound really really familiar?
• And because this had me crying with laughter…screaming goats (you’re welcome!)
• Inspring little interview with Bri Emery of Design Love Fest about making the freelance leap.