How to Start A Career In Design: Tips for Beginners 

Thanks to the awesome interviewer, Gabe!

@@thefutur thank you 🙌

Happy to hear that Lisa!

That’s okay. Just don’t get stuck there

comic books might not be viable, but in every business, regardless of sector, specialist tend to outperform generalist by a wide margin.

@@thefutur Thanks a ton for the answer (and of course, great content)!

Thank you

awww. Thank you Nikita.

What are your experiences with this?

If you’re passionate about something, you’ll find yourself think about, researching and actively working on it regularly. I did this obsessively in my 20’s. However, I did NOT do most of it for free. [THIRD PARTY PLATFORM] I used Fiverr for years and made sure to charge at least $10-$20 per project. Eventually created some add-ons to those packages to earn even more on what I was already getting paid and would start making $100+ per week. [WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING] If I ever encountered anyone in my day-to-day life that would start talking about what they were passionate about, I’d bring up what I was passionate about/ already working on for Fiverr clients and what my future aspirations were. Then, if that person wanted me to do work for them (or someone they knew - regardless if they asked me directly or accepted an offer I gave them personally) I’d negotiate terms they could agree to. If you’re not making any money at the moment, you should certainly get a temporary side job to ensure you’re not starving, you’re paying your bills and, to some degree, partially funding your future dream. You might be surprised to see how many connections your side job leads to and how those may lead to future business opportunities you wouldn’t have secured otherwise. Just got hired last year by an old co-worker I haven’t worked with in years. You’ll never know until you try. [WORKPLACE MARKETING] A friend of mine recently left his side job to pursue graphic design and, upon notifying his employer, was asked if he could create updated graphics for the coffee shop’s coffee cups. Me myself, I had the opportunity to work with Notre Dame University years back because (as stated above) I was willing to negotiate terms they were comfortable with, plan a quality experience and then knock it out of the park. This led them to give me a video testimonial and now I can put their university on my resume just as my friend can put the coffee shop on his freelance resume. There’s lots of opportunities and potential in your surrounding environment, the question is, are you being creatively resourceful with your available resources? What’s more, I’m not even a designer (my friend is), I’m actually an entertainer but everything I said above about getting started in my field can easily apply to your field. Hope this helped you to some degree.

Look at yourself from a consumer standpoint. You buy things. You are in a niche for some business. Maybe start there and market to people like yourself. And be very specific as to what target market demographic you fall in to. Be as specific as possible when attempting to carve our a niche for yourself. You can always zoom out, you want to make sure you start off as incredibly dialed in.

Haha.

Yes of course!

@@thefutur 🙏❤️

My pleasure!

You're very welcome