How I Became a Freelance Graphic Designer—Pt. Two
Part Two: How sorority life sharpened my skills, how getting my first paying client was a fail, and why I turned down my “dream job” in NYC.
This post is intended to give you some background on the choices, extreme motivation, and sheer luck that landed me where I am today: a Los Angeles based freelance graphic designer. It is not an easy journey, and by no means am I suggesting everyone become a freelancer; but I hope this sheds some light on my personal journey. Make sure to read Part One here first.
Full speed ahead into the design world.
My BFA interview show | Presentation of my college artwork up until that point.
After my reputation as a *designer * (lol LOOSE use of the word at this point) was established by my Gulfport Music Festival [awful] t-shirt design win, I began designing lots of random things for whoever asked: t-shirts for high school, graphics for family business, power points for anatomy class—youtube was my teacher and such a good teacher she was. This base figure-it-out-myself knowledge was actually quite helpful because it made me base-line-familiar with the hella complicated software that is the Adobe Creative Suite. By no means was I more than a beginner, but that actually was an advantage when I began design classes.
When college rolled around, I decided I would get a “regular person degree,” but also get a minor in Art—specifically so I could take some graphic design classes. After one year of college, and just one design class, I knew I had to learn as much as I could about design, because not only did I love it, it was clear I was good at it and I knew it would be a shame to cop out with just a minor. So I added Art as a major. And just a year after that, I decided a B.A. just wasn’t enough, I wanted a B.F.A. aka the even more advanced art degree that took longer and required more work, but I thought why not. If I’m gonna do it—FULL SEND.
Currently sitting here literally laughing in the face of my high school teachers who told me my art degree would amount to nothing & now I make more than them. Okay that’s mean but hey, they literally almost hindered the trajectory of my life. I think I am allowed one dig.
I have the sorority life to thank for my speedy skill in adobe
College was undoubtedly the time my design skills grew most. Not only was I taking classes that taught me the principles of design but I was actually designing things for so many people, organizations, and events. My sorority… let’s find the right word here… *ahem* used me for my design skills. At the time I was really not okay with it, but realistically I think that time of being an unpaid, work-horse to their every whim and design need actually refined my design skills quite a lot.
Every week I designed an elaborate newsletter to be sent out to 450+ members and alumni (which took hours), I created identity designs, logos, and branding for every major philanthropy event we had, and ultimately creatively directed the chapter as a whole when I served as vice president. I resented a lot of the work because I wasn’t getting paid technically—but I was gaining insane amounts of experience. Evenstill, it did drain me and I nearly burned out. Then something crazy happened—people began offering to pay me for design work.
Why yes, I can make your logo! That will be two dollars and fifty cents.
I remember my first paying gig, a family friend who was starting a nutrition consulting company needed a logo. Gosh the logos were SO BAD looking back on them now (Tsh, I owe you an update, won’t be as cheap though haha). I remember the idea of getting paid for something I had been doing so freely for nearly four years; it was a foreign concept. I’m not going to lie, the first few times I charged for work, I felt weird about it and guilty in some ways—aka imposter syndrome. And yes, in that first project I showed my professional inexperience many times, but somehow I completed the job. And little by little small jobs began arising here and there.
My first paying gig logo… eh.
That first project happened in the Winter of 2016, I charged a whopping $115 for that logo and I remember thinking, “Omg I just made a hundred dollars doing something I loved… WHAT!?” For the following 2 years, while I completed my degrees, I did various paid design projects usually charging based off of some arbitrary rate I would pull out of my butt. I think it started around $15/hour and by the time I graduated it was around $35/hour. I was very fortunate to have parents and scholarships that supported me financially in college, never requiring me to get a job. And unfortunately, I didn’t realize the value of money or the value of the work I was doing. I aimlessly saved or spent the money not thinking much more of it than random petty cash.
My final year of college was when I started Lala Letter; I didn’t take freelance clients then because I was focused entirely on Lala. This blog tells the whole story, but essentially a series of disappointments changed my post-grad plans and I found myself back home, with two degrees, no job, and a lot of frustration. After graduation, I began taking any freelance work that came my way, and decided I should probably apply for a full-time job since I thought maybe lala wasn’t the move anymore. Freelancing full time didn’t even occur to me as an option, because I thought I would never be able to get enough clients or make enough money.
I’m going to be a grown up w/ a big girl job in NYC and eat ramen, b/c I am poor. HOORAY!
On that job application flow.
I frantically began applying for jobs, I was desperate to move out of my home town and thought I needed the security of a job. Within a month I began interviews with companies in Charleston, SC (my then “dream city”) and New York City (my all time dream city). I landed an interview for a junior level packaging designer with the parent company of Lucky Brand and Nautica in NYC. I went through three rounds of interviews and was days away from accepting the job and moving myself to New York—I was so excited tbh, this was the type of opportunity I thought I needed. I decided to start reaching out to the contacts I had in NYC, one being a very interesting freelance photographer whom I’d met randomly at a wedding nearly a year before.
I have so much to thank Chris for, but this conversation tops all else because it literally changed the course of my life and has led me to this moment today. Upon telling him my plans to accept the job in New York and move there, along with the measly starting salary ($40k-ish), he immediately told me, “don’t do it.” I was flabbergasted. Everyone else in my life was like, “Wow, that’s awesome! You’re going to move to New York and live the big city corporate life.”
Chris is the epitome of a successful freelancer: think hot young photographer, traveling the world, taking photos of cars, athletes and models, with skill and innate creative talent out of this world—all at the ripe age of 23. Intimidating much? Nah, not at all… ha. So, when he told me don’t do it, I was so confused yet highly intrigued. He followed by asking me why I didn’t just move to NYC and freelance as a designer, and I verbally laughed and said that I had no idea how I would be able to freelance and pay my bills in my hometown, much less NYC. He said, “it’s simple, charge more.”
F*ck it.
The next day, the Lucky Brand job requested my response to their offer. I reluctantly declined, opened up a new browser window, typed “how to be a freelance graphic designer” clicked enter, and never looked back.
xoxo,
bella gonzalez
End of Part 2.
To be continued next week.
