Am I successful?
Straight from Graphic Design college I had the privilege to work in some great marketing agencies in London, with clients such as The Guardian newspaper, Maltesers, Galaxy chocolate, and as busy and exhausting as it was, I had an exciting career underway and I absolutely loved it.
Then in January 2009, when my first child was about 15 months old, I got made redundant. It was one of the most shocking and unsettling experiences I have ever had. I can’t really explain it but even though I loved that environment, every fibre of my being resisted going for other, similar jobs. Instead I was drawn to go down the freelance/self-employed route, with the aim of building my own small business client base. At the time I was helping a friend with some design work and decided this was the way I wanted to go. And so, mainly because of my son, I took the opportunity to get out of London and the exhausting rat race and opted to go freelance.
There have been many ups and downs, I’ve had times where I’m so busy I'm working evenings and weekends and times when you wonder if there is no more work ever coming your way. But I’m lucky to have had such a mix of clients and various types of work over the last 15 years, and it feels great to be able to offer the small businesses good design without them paying a fortune to an agency. They are often extremely grateful for how you help them which is hugely gratifying. But then I can mix that up with the big office buzz when freelancing in bigger agencies working on bigger brands. I have also had the freedom to accept very different types of work as well. For example, a printing company I freelanced at also did event management. I began helping them run an annual 500 delegate Chinese New Year event at a top London venue to promote trade between China and the UK. I got to meet MP's, high ranking Chinese officials and many other business leaders.
Being a self-employed designer can be lonely and isolating, as when working from home you miss out on office banter, and lunches with colleagues. Not to mention getting any kind of appraisal, encouragement or constructive feedback that you’d get from an employer. The only feedback you get is either being asked to do more work or not. But you do avoid the office politics! And the benefits for myself and my family life is so profoundly worth it. I have been able to choose my own hours and make myself available as much as possible for those sports days and assemblies. I have often worked evenings and weekends just so I can make those assemblies and simultaneously keep the work coming in, because saying no to work is super hard!
Randomly one day I discovered Mandala’s and Zentangle patterns on Instagram. I began to draw them myself as I craved a raw creative outlet aside from my digital design work. Because I am freelance, I found I had the time to start my own Etsy and Sumup shops which I don’t think I would have done if I was working full time. I see this as a slow burner but my aim here is to create a passive income from what is essentially a hobby.
At the time of writing in early 2025 I have just had the 15th anniversary of starting out on my own, now with 11 year old twins and a 19 year old who is much more self sufficient, I feel my work-life balance is still working super well. As the youngest two get even older, I’m looking forward to growing more in my design work, being braver, reaching out for bigger projects.
I may not have chosen the path of staying in London, becoming a Creative Director in an agency, earning more money doing amazing creative work, and becoming successful in that sense. I’m aware that I am a statistic as a working mum who chose not to stay full time but, on the other hand I am also an advocate and an example for how flexible working can work. One of the agencies I worked in had already began to create this culture and when the pandemic hit, the ‘WFH’ culture got well underway, we fell naturally into that. I believe it makes life a whole lot easier for working families. Five years down the line companies are starting to pull employees back to the office but that’s another subject entirely!
But back to the success thing, I wholeheartedly believe I am super successful at managing a great work-life balance, being around for our three amazing children, the mum-guilt is lessening, and the benefits have been amazing!
I am so lucky and grateful that I found a career I enjoy and have carved my own unique path. I just hope that our kids (and yours too!) can find a career they enjoy too and carve their own perfect work/life balance.
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