Episode 17: How to Prepare to Strike Out On Your Own and Pursue Your Creative Calling

Have you contemplated leaving the comforts of a company to strike out on your own to pursue a creative calling?

Perhaps you have an idea for a product or service.

While there’s a strong pull to pursue it, hesitation maybe holding you back.

You’re worried about being good enough, attracting customers and clients, and how to make it all come together to find fulfillment, but also tend to the practical side of things like paying the bills!

You’ve probably heard plenty of stories around striking out to build a startup, raise capital, and pursue a BIG idea. While that sounds exciting, you’re looking for an alternative approach...

Well in today’s episode of FemgineerTV, we’re going to be tackling all these topics. To help us out, I’ve invited Jessica Hische, who is a letter, illustrator, and type designer.

Jessica began her career working for a design studio HeadCase. Then went on to work for a prominent designer, Louise Fili, and eventually struck out on her own. Jessica has had notable clients like Wes Anderson, David Eggers, Tiffany Co, and Nike just to name a few.

As you watch this episode you’ll learn:

• Steps you can take early in your career, such as how to reach out to people or companies you want to work for and learn from
• Why a day job can be immensely valuable and how to find one that is nurturing
• Why you don’t have to run a 10+ person design studio or a 100+ startup, and can be a solopreneur
• How to reconcile your client’s vision with your own creative desires
• How to get compensated fairly by conveying the price and value of your work
• Why learning tangential skills as a creative can be helpful when it comes to hiring
• Balancing side projects and attracting work with the day-to-day work that pays the bills

Whether you’ve been in your career for 6 months or 6+ years, and have toyed with the idea of doing your own thing but weren’t sure how to set your own terms, this episode is for you!

For those of you who are interested in design and typography, check out Jessica latest book In Progress. We also talked about her popular post The Dark Art of Pricing, which you can read here.