graphic design

Selling THIS Helped Me Quit My 9-5 & Travel the World

 

Tired of the daily grind of a 9-5 job? Dreaming of a life filled with adventure and flexibility? Or maybe just a slower life filled with freedom and time?

Many of us have been there, longing for a change but unsure of how to make it happen. In today's blog post + podcast, I want to share my personal journey from 9-5 life to the freedom of entrepreneurship (and traveling the world.)

In today’s podcast + article, you’ll learn:

  • How I started my first business (in web & graphic design)

  • How I got my first web design clients & quit my 9-5 jobs in waitressing and retail.

  • Why you DON’T need a degree to start a creative business.

  • Why web design comes with job security, regardless of the increase in website templates and AI.

  • How to know if web design is a good fit for you!

  • Why social media is not the only place to get clients (and alternatives to try!)

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google or Spotify.

ARTICLE

Take a little trip back in time with me to 2012.

I was working as a Pizza Hut waitress and retail worker, paid about £6.59 per hour at the time, and I had a toxic boss who was super nice to my face but talked about me when I wasn’t around.

I’m neurodivergent so I already felt a bit different, despite not being diagnosed yet. I was also a pretty shy teen and I didn’t fit in well with some of the more extroverted staff members. It was at these jobs that I first remember FEELING different and being TREATED differently.

I wanted OUT.

I wanted to be my own boss.

I wanted the freedom to live and work from ANYWHERE in the world.

I wanted to do creative work I loved, NOT mop the floors of the restaurant or straighten coat hangers to pass the time.

I had a blog at the time - it was my side hustle. And one day, someone offered to pay me £150 to design a blog for them. (Very underpriced but at the time it felt like a lot!)

I told my coworker (who was studying graphic design at university) and here’s what she said:

“You can’t charge someone money for that, you’re not qualified.”

And she was right… I didn’t have any kind of degree. I was just a waitress and retail worker. I started thinking… “I’m not experienced enough for this. I don’t have enough money to start a business anyway. How will I even fund this?”

So what did I do?

I accepted the client anyway. I taught myself web and graphic design. I used my savings to buy a better laptop + Adobe programs. I used my credit card for a couple of business tools. I raised my prices over time as I gained more experience.

And guess what?

In time, I was earning enough from web design to quit my 9-5 and get on a flight to Thailand.

(If you want to do the same, sign up for The Profitable & Productive Web Designer Bootcamp before April 15th!)

Web design changed the trajectory of my life.

WHY WEB DESIGN?

I was always a creative - I loved art, drawing, photography, and writing.

I would redesign my blog for fun, just because.

If you’re a creative person and you have a good eye for design, even if it’s not necessarily WEB design, you just really enjoy interior design and choosing color palettes etc… If you haven’t started a business yet, I’d really recommend considering web design.

Even though people can buy website templates nowadays, there are lots of businesses worldwide that:

  • don’t have the technical skills to do that

  • don’t have the desire or time to

  • want a custom designed website that isn’t gonna look the same as 50 others

Because the world is all online now, businesses often lose tens of thousands if they don’t have a website. So web designers are needed and always will be. Did someone say… job security? ;)

HOW I LANDED MY FIRST CLIENTS

  • Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals - my first client came from a fellow designer.

  • I used social media - I ran a limited-time offer on logo designs.

  • My friend Paige didn’t use social media, she used SEO to rank no.1 on google for Squarespace web designer.

There are so many ways to land clients. Choose one, two at most, and give it your all.

COULD WEB DESIGN BE THE THING THAT GIVES YOU THE FREEDOM IT GIVES ME?

You might want to start a web design business so you can be your own boss, work from home (or anywhere in the world), and have full control of your time.

Or maybe you already sell brand design, virtual assistant services, copywriting, etc, and want to add web design to your services. One web project could be about $2500. Imagine if you just take 2 each month? That’s $5K/month. Or one each month is an extra $2.5k. $30k a year in total.

If you’re curious about web design, sign up to my good friend Paige’s FREE Profitable & Productive Web Designer Bootcamp!

 
Schedule of Paige Brunton's Profitable + Productive Web Designer Bootcamp
 
 
Meet Paige Brunton image
 

About Nesha

Hey there! I’m Nesha, 11-year traveling entrepreneur and host of The Simple Business Show. I teach women how to build a $5-10K/month online service business working just 3 days a week, so they can have the financial and time freedom to live the life they dream of.

Looking for more ways I can help you? Here they are:

1:1 Coaching: Work with me on an intimate level to take your business from where it is to where you want it to go.

Group Coaching Program: The Simple Business Builder: Learn to build a $5-10K/month online business working 3 days a week.

Organize & Automate - Join 1200+ students and learn how to organize your entire online service-based business in just two weeks (on the side of your regular routine!) so you can stop stressing and fall back in love with your business.

Simple Sales School - Learn how to get a consistent flow of clients so you can build the income & financial freedom you desire.

Subscribe & Leave A Review! 

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Here’s how to subscribe and review the show:

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More Episodes

 

Map Out Your Step-By-Step Design Process

Map Out Your Step-By-Step Design Process

Designers- are you stumbling through your design process? Have you mapped out your process on paper (or onscreen), or have you never bothered to because you don't have time?

Here's the danger with having a process in your mind and not writing it down:

You forget things.

That email signature that's part of your design package? You totally forget it until the client points out that you haven't done it yet.

That logo that only includes two revision rounds? You complete four revision rounds without realizing because you don't tick them off as you go through them.

That training session you're meant to offer clients at the end of your project? You're left feeling stupidly unprofessional because your client had to remind you of it.

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Building a portfolio that wins you the work you want

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Building a portfolio that wins you the work you want

Does your portfolio attract the right kind of clients? Is your portfolio reflective of your current skill set, or is it outdated? These are questions I want you to consider as you read today's guest post by Hannah.

Hannah is part of Ditto, a creative design and branding agency based here in the UK, and her and the Ditto team have pah-lenty of experience in building a portfolio that attracts the right clients with the right budget. Read on to learn how they created such a successful, money-making, client-getting portfolio!

Nesha xo

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If there’s one thing that’s made winning business immeasurably easier for our branding agency, it’s been developing a portfolio that plays to our strengths and showcases our signature style.

People come to us at Ditto knowing exactly what to expect, and are much, much easier to convert into paying clients since they’ve seen a portfolio full of work that they already love. It gets them excited to work with us and fills them with confidence, overcoming much of the decision-halting anxiety that often plays a part when shopping for a designer (will they understand me? What if they show me something that I don’t like?).

It wasn’t always this way.

Around three years ago, we were a fairly generic design agency that undertook pretty much any work from anybody. We did branding projects, sure – but we’d also do plenty of one-off projects with tiny profit margins. Most of our clients were super-local; we’d design business cards, flyers – even bus timetables. We made money, but business was frustrating and getting clients on board felt like wading through treacle. Uphill. In a snowstorm.

5 ugly truths about becoming a freelance designer

5 ugly truths about becoming a freelance designer

When I first decided to become a freelance designer, I had big dreams about what it would be like. At the time, I worked a boring 9-5 job that didn't fulfill me creatively in the slightest, so the thought of being paid to design and do what I love filled me with SO much joy. 

I followed lots of design bloggers and I was always in awe of the pretty moodboards they had created, the beautiful Instagram profiles they had curated, and the wonderful testimonials from wonderful clients about how wonderful the design experience was. The life of a freelance designer looked beautiful. But that's probably because I was looking at it through rose-tinted glasses.

I know there are lot of people in my community who want to quit their jobs and become freelance designers (or start other kinds of businesses), so I wanted to take the opportunity today to share a few truths with you.

My Step By Step Web & Graphic Design Process

My Step By Step Web & Graphic Design Process

Sometimes, designers, artists and makers like to create freely and not follow a system. 

If you're painting something for your bedroom wall then sure, go ahead. Don't stick to a process, just go with the flow!

But if you're running a business and working with clients, you need a process. 

WITHOUT a clever design process in place:

  • Clients become confused because they don't know what's coming up next or what their designer needs from them.
  • The projects goes on much longer than the designer anticipated.
  • The client gets frustrated with the designer.
  • The designer becomes frustrated with his/her work and kiiiiinda wishes they were back at their day job.
  • The client never works with the designer again because the whole process was exhausting and unorganized.

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