Today is month 3 of quitting my job to build my dream. This isn’t really a how-to blog post, more of a reflection, if there is anyone else out there that is looking to do this I hope this will give you courage and maybe a little hope for the future.
The Backstory
I’m going to start way back to a few years ago. I was a stay at home mom with two elementary aged kids and a part-time business. I always had some time of business going since the kids were babies, anything from painting wall murals, to an antique booth all the way to designing kitchens and baths through our family kitchen business. And always graphic design freelance jobs since that was my major in college and I loved it. All of these were part-time with the desire of one day making it full-time. Having two kids that I had to shuttle back and forth and also entertain after school kept my hours limited.
About 6 1/2 years ago, it dawned on me one day that I should probably find a full-time job. There is a long story behind that, but I believe it was God leading me because a couple months after finding a job, I was facing divorce and being left a single mom that had to support myself and the two kids. I found a job within a month and it was the source of so many things beyond a paycheck. Friends, support, self-worth, filled days are just a few things that got me through a really hard time in my life.
Fast forward 4 years into that new job and my new life. I had definitely grown in my job and had done a lot of graphic design work through them that I loved. Working in a marketing department as part of a company gave me the organizational skills that I lacked as an artist and really honed in my skills on project management, communication as well as design. After 4 years though, that dream job started becoming less than a dream. New management came in with ideas of their own and my job started to feel threatened.
Looking back, I know that this is another time in my life that God was starting to lead me in another direction, but to do that, I had to endure some really painful days working at the company. It was still a great place to work with really great people, but creatively I was unfulfilled and struggling to design the way I wanted to. The last 6 months really took a toll on me and I came home at least once a week crying. I was so unhappy, felt really unappreciated and all other efforts to find a jobs just were not working out. I just couldn’t figure it out, I had been in the graphic design world since graduating college and had tons of experience behind me. Jobs that seemed “perfect” just weren’t panning out.
In the meantime, at home, my life had come out of the dark gloom of divorce, I had found a new love and gotten re-married. Life at home was good. Really good. And, opportunities for freelance started flourishing, I started teaching online classes, and I started working 20-30 hours a week on these endeavors on top of my full time job. As much as life was full and busy, I was also really happy the moment I came home. Leaving for work in the mornings though was a whole other matter. I dreaded my days and prayer started filling me at every moment. Sean (new hubby) and I started to pray every morning together for guidance and direction.
Several things started happening all within the same week almost immediately after we started praying together:
1st thing – One day, I’m sitting at a tradeshow and within a couple hours I had two people that called me to let me know about potentially big part-time opportunities.
2nd thing – I read this article by Jennifer Allwood. For the most part, I fit 6 out of the 6 points. That was a HUGE eyeopener.
3rd thing – I get a really strong sense that I’m supposed to start a business of my own because of Thing #1. Problem is, Sean isn’t on board yet. After talking extensively about it, and talking to our mentor couple, all of a sudden he is on board and we both feel like it’s the direction God wants us to move.
Bam, that was tuesday, and by Friday I had put in my two week notice. Yikes! Life was about to drastically change!
The New Company
The last 30 days at my company I worked so many freelance jobs and finished teaching my online class that I was able to start with a nice little savings before starting my business. I also had enough to outfit me with a new computer since I the one I had been working on at home was a dinosaur.
I also started my new business with a full plate and so my days have been full. There has been some downtime, but that just has given me time to dream a little on where my company should go. The biggest thing I want to make sure of is staying ahead of the business and not letting it get ahead of me.
Trying to define my business has been a struggle. I’m part graphic designer, part interior designer, I have this blog and I want to sell products. Trying to narrow it down is difficult at this point since I don’t want to turn business away. But, having the ability to work when I want to work, how I want to work and grow my business the way I want to is exhilarating.
So, I want to present to you Dawson Design Co. A branding a design service that not only specialzes in branding and marketing your business, but also residential and commercial design. I can’t wait to share the growth of this new company with you all.
