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(They’re sized for a 27″ iMac, a retina iPad, and an iPhone 5, respectively, but they should all work for smaller devices, too.)

For me, May is all about happiness, spring, and of course, cherry blossom season. The illustration of the birds and blossoms is, like the other wallpapers, from the public domain.

Enjoy!

(I can’t really say no to a ridiculous alliteration.)

Holy crap, guys. This week marks the seventh (!) week that I’ve been running my own little business full time. Sometimes, it feels like I’ve been doing this forever, and at other times, I feel like a super-n00b who knows absolutely nothing. But isn’t that always the way?

One of the big benefits of working for yourself is that you learn a lot, and you learn it really, really quickly. Self-employment is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride, because suddenly you have to figure out all sorts of things that never crossed your mind before, and there’s no boss to give you advice or tell you what you should be doing. Instead, there’s a whole Internet of advice out there… much of it contradictory and confusing.

That being said, reading about other people’s experiences can be really helpful as well, especially for people who are thinking about pursuing full-time self-employment and haven’t yet taken the leap. I know that when I was thinking about it, reading about other people’s experiences was both interesting and comforting.

On that note, without further ado…

1. (Almost) everyone is a little flaky. It’s probably not personal.

I have learned that a lot of people don’t do exactly what they say they’ll do, when they say they’ll do it. In the past few weeks, I’ve had to chase a lot of people around for a lot of things. Gently prodding and reminding has become a part of my regular routine.

In the beginning of my freelancing career, especially when I was working full time and freelancing on the side, this would drive me crazy. What was wrong with these people? Why didn‘t they care about the work I was doing for them? Why did they hate me?!

However, as a full time freelancer, I’ve started to realize that in most cases, it’s really not personal. Amazingly, other people have lives too, and are busy doing their jobs, running their businesses, and attending to all sorts of things at their end. A project of theirs that takes up a bunch of my time might not be their top priority. Things slip through the cracks, and it mostly has nothing to do with me (a crazy concept, right?). I know this for a fact because I’ve had the occasional email or two slip through the cracks of my own inbox, and I’ve inadvertently been the flaky one with other people. Whoops.

Lesson: Most people are a little flaky occasionally, and it’s best to be at peace with that. However, truly flaky people totally suck and are a waste of time.

2. There will always be people who think I’m too expensive.

Ahhh, yes, pricing. Everyone’s favourite topic!

Over the years, my rates have changed quite a bit, and at every single stage, there have been people who tell me that I’m charging too much, or that they can’t afford me. The interesting part is that this can happen no matter how high or low your prices are, because different people have wildly different expectations. I’m totally okay with this, because I know that there are people who are both cheaper and more expensive than I am, and that there always will be, no matter how much or how little I charge, so I don’t let this get me down.

Lesson: I’m perfectly happy to not being the cheapest option, because I know that I’m providing a ton of value to my clients. Repeat after me, fellow creatives: I’m not not a commodity.

3. And then there will always be people who think I’m a bargain

Yes, this definitely goes the other way as well. I’ve had several moments where I realized I was undervaluing myself. Whoops!

In creating a quote for any individualized service (like, say, a custom website), it’s important to keep in mind not only the level of client (e.g. Is this for a small business or a large corporation?), but the actual value of the product that you’ll be delivering. Will your product or service help your client earn hundreds of dollars? Thousands of dollars? More? How about saving them time and energy? How about bringing them comfort and happiness, which can’t be measured but are still valuable?

Lesson: This stuff’s complicated, but not completely impossible to figure out.

4.Things that seem easy to me won’t necessarily seem easy to clients

This is a huge lesson, and it’s one that I keep having to tell myself over and over again.

It’s my natural tendency to talk about work like it’s no big deal, partially because I’m a bit modest by nature, and partially because I’ve been building up my skills for years, and a number of things come easy (or easier) to me at this point. However, I’ve come to realize that this does me no favours. Even though lots of aspects of my job seem easy or obvious to us, they clearly aren’t to most of the world — that’s why people hire us. It’s important to remember that.

After all, for clients to value the work that we do, we have to value it too! I’ve learned that it’s really important to walk my clients through my process so they know exactly why every decision has been made. This has the benefit of having clients become a part of the process, and it also helps to demonstrate that I’m a problem solver and a strategic thinker, and not just a decorator or a mindless worker drone.

Lesson: Perception is really, really important, guys. And we’re (mostly) in control of how others perceive us. So it’s time to stop diminishing our knowledge and skills just because certain things seem easy or obvious to us.

5. Hoarding knowledge is no substitute for actually taking action

You can read all the articles in the world about freelancing, running your own business, finding clients, and so on. When you passively absorb knowledge over a long period of time, it’s really easy to feel like that’s enough. You’ve got this! But let me tell you… actually putting this great advice into practice feels completely different.

Oh, trust me, I thought I was pretty ready because I’d read and read and read everything I thought I’d need to know. And this did really help me a bunch, so it definitely wasn’t in vain. But did it remove the fear of quitting my job, landing my first clients, and feeling like I’m making my whole business up as I go along? No, no it did not. So, if you’re an overthinker who lives inside your head (like I tend to be), know that knowledge, while helpful, can only go so far.

Lesson: Start taking action. Preferably now. Experience is a much better teacher than anyone or anything else!

P.S. Special thanks to Michelle Ward, my amazeballs career coach, who suggested that all of these lessons I’ve been learning might make a good blog post!

I thought I’d lighten my own mood, and maybe others’, by posting this video I took recently out on my balcony. Balcony Squirrel is hilariously vocal and delights me to no end.

Have a lovely weekend!

We’re all living in bubbles.

A lesson I’ve learned over and over again, both in business and in life, is that most people really don’t care about the things that I do.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget this. When you hang out mostly with your peers (‘hang out’, in this case, meaning anything from the media you consume to the people you spend time with to the hobbies you pursue and the causes you get involved with), it’s so easy, not to mention satisfying, to get lost in talking shop.

For example…

• As designers, we take it for granted that bad kerning and Comic Sans are sinful and that colour and type convey meaning.
• As developers, we take it for granted that IE<9 is The Worst, web standards are important, and that code should be semantic and reusable as possible.
• As privileged people, we take it for granted that self-improvement and following our dreams are among the most pressing needs in our lives.

When you’re active in any community, it’s really important to keep in mind that you’re in a bubble and that most of the world doesn’t think like you and doesn’t care about the details that you find really fascinating.

Now, don’t get me wrong; it’s really fun being in a bubble of peers! It’s nice and comfy in that place where most people will agree with your opinions and share your grievances. There’s a lot to be learned from people similar to you, and surrounding yourself with peers can really deepen your knowledge on a given subject.

But for a lot of us, a large part of our audience exists far outside our bubbles. Or maybe they share a bubble or two with us, but certainly not all of them. For business owners especially, people come to us because we have an expertise that they don’t. If people cared about the details that we did, they most likely wouldn’t need our services.

Reminding myself that I’m living inside a few bubbles of my own helps me better communicate the value of what I do to other people. Trust me, I’ve been in conversations where I see people’s eyes glazing over as I talk about my work. Tragic! But, really, if that’s happening, it’s partially my fault. The world belongs to those who know how to frame the importance of their offerings to people both inside and outside of their niche, and not necessarily to those who are the best at their craft. No, the world’s sadly not purely a meritocracy, but when you get communication and skill together… then the magic really happens.

Well, never fear, you’re not stuck with that mess. Not that I let you download it anyway, since the “download” links led to everyone’s favourite Youtube video.

Here’s the real thing!

Download

Desktop (2560 x 1440) • Tablet (2048 x 2048) • Mobile (640 x 1136)

(They’re sized for a 27″ iMac, a retina iPad, and an iPhone 5, respectively, but they should all work for smaller devices, too.)

This wallpaper is more on the optimistic side of things, since I just looked out the window and it’s snowing. Snowing. C’mon, weather, get your shit together. April also features one of my very favourite fonts, Memoriam Pro. It’s one of the first fonts I ever bought, though I wasn’t sure at the time what I’d actually use it for. I ended up using it in my own branding so I did find a few good uses for it after all. The illustration is, as usual, from the public domain.

Enjoy!

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Desktop (2560 x 1440) • Tablet (2048 x 2048) • Mobile (640 x 1136)

Today is officially ‘new everything day’. New business, new website, new (old) blog, new logo… phew! Let me just repeat that for emphasis: my business is now OPEN! I’m now a tiny business owner (take that in whatever way you want — my business is tiny and I’m pretty small in stature as well), a full-time freelancer, a solo-preneur, and/or whatever the cool kids are calling it these days.

Everyone is pretty excited around here:

Well… almost everyone.

Confession time: I actually started last Monday, not today, but I wanted to take it all in for a bit before going public. And so I did. Now that I’m my own boss, I does what I wants.

Anyway! Let me walk you through all the shiny new things around here:

New (old) blog!

If any of you are here because you’re subscribed to my blog Reverie Time, you might notice that you’re in a different place. As promised, I amalgamated my blog with my portfolio site, and if I did everything right, you should have been seamlessly redirected. If you’re seeing this in an RSS reader, check out the new place!

One of the features of my new blog is that each post has a customizable header, where I can choose to change up the colours or background on a per-post basis. I think it gives my blog a slightly more editorial feel. Fun!

If you’re wondering why I said that this is a new (old) blog and not just a new blog, I actually used to blog in this very spot years before I started Reverie Time, and now I’m back here because having two sites was more of a pain than I thought it would be. The nice thing about the Internet is that these decisions are fairly easily reversible! I left all of my old posts up, so if you’re bored, you can see some gems from 5 years ago like a review of Godard’s Vivre Sa Vie or a very deep post about my very favourite ghost.

New website!

For the past four months (!) or so, I’ve spent most of my spare time working on this website (that is, the time that wasn’t already taken up by working a full-time job and doing client work). The site that was up prior to this one had been around for over two years, and it was both outdated and a little ineffective. It had worked great as a portfolio for traditional job hunting, but it wasn’t very useful for or aimed at new visitors or potential clients. Also, the design aesthetic was a bit outdated and didn’t feel like me anymore.

Here’s the old site, in case you’ve already forgotten. Or never saw it in the first place. Either way.

So, it was definitely time for an upgrade. I’m going to write a couple of follow-up posts about the design and development process that I went through to get to this final(ish) state, because I always like reading about other people’s processes, and by that logic, there are likely some people out there who are curious about mine.

New availability! (Or, a little shameless plug)

The crappy thing about the best freelancers is that they’re always booked up months and months in advance because they’re so awesome — and rightly so. Because I’m just starting out, I’m in the unique position of being pretty great and not being booked ’til the end of time. Huzzah! I’m pretty busy this month and am already starting to put some projects in my calendar for April, but I have availability coming up soon. So, if you wanna work with a web designer and you want to do so sooner than later, now’s the perfect time to grab me! My new services page is a good place to start if you’re wondering what exactly it is that I do.

Thanks for reading, and have a super lovely week!

Second, I was interviewed today by Ashley of Your Super Awesome Life. Check it out! Thanks, Ashley!

Now, back to business. It’s the start of another month, which of course means that I owe you another wallpaper! I wondered about how to treat March, which really should be the start of spring, but usually doesn’t really feel like it in Canada. I’ve been looking around and seeing a lot of bare trees and a generally winter-ish vibe lately, but I’ve also been noticing that the sun is setting later and later each day. And if that wasn’t enough, my BFF Daylight Savings Time is starting up again this month (aw yeaaahhhh!). So, I see March as a month of cold and bleakness but with the promise of sun and warmth ahead. With that, I present…

Download

Desktop (2560 x 1440) • Tablet (2048 x 2048) • Mobile (640 x 1136)

(They’re sized for a 27″ iMac, a retina iPad, and an iPhone 5, respectively, but they should all work for smaller devices, too.)

All of the illustrations in my wallpapers are from the public domain, and this one features the excellent Ostrich Sans font.

Enjoy!

Nah, this post isn’t about Mr. Bowie, despite the title. And this isn’t even the right album anyway. Just checking to see if you’re paying attention. ;D

You may have noticed that things are a bit quiet around here. Big changes are happening around these parts, and I’ve inadvertently left you in the dark for much too long.

Here’s a brief overview of what’s been eating my time and thoughts for the last few weeks and making me run around like a headless chicken:

Thing 1: I quit my dream job to work for myself

Whoa! This is the big one, and it’s only just finally sunk into my brain as something that’s really happening.

About a month ago, I made one of the hardest choices, if not the hardest choice, of my entire career when I decided to leave my awesome job as a front end developer at Jet Cooper to start my own tiny business and work for myself full time. When I say I left my dream job, I mean it. I’m a huge fan of the company and every single one of my coworkers, and I learned a shitload (pretty sure that’s the scientific term) about being a great front-end developer over the past year and a bit.

So then, you might be wondering, why did I decide to leave?

The first answer is because running my own solo business is something I’ve always dreamed of doing, and this feels like exactly the right time to give it 100% of my attention and effort. I’m really excited to jump into figuring out exactly the kind of work makes me tick, the type of clients I like working with, and the values and principles that will inform my decisions. I’m also super excited to be taking on more design and strategy work in addition to front-end development, because despite really loving The Codes, I’m not the kind of person who ultimately enjoys being a hyper-specialist. I know, I know, there’s that common wisdom that people who spread themselves too thin end up not truly being good at any of the things they do, but I think that the “too thin” threshold varies wildly from person to person, and I’m pretty confident that I’m nowhere near that line.

The second answer is simply that I need to take better care of myself than I am right now. It’s not glamorous, but it’s true. Being chronically exhausted and unwell is, unsurprisingly, not super fun (o rly?), and I’m of the firm belief that people do their best work when they’re happy and healthy. So, time to make that shiz a top priority.

Thing 2: Oops, I took on too much work already

So, I decided to work for myself because I want some freedom, control, and flexibility in terms of how much I work and what kind of work I do, so I can prioritize my wellbeing… right? Well, somehow, I kind of forgot about that and have booked myself solid for the past few weeks (while still working full time, I might add), AND going forward into March when I’ll be starting on my own full-time. Oops? Admittedly, it’s a pretty good problem to have (hey, people like me! they really like me!), but it means that blogging has totally taken a back seat. And that’s too bad, because I like writing here. So, I’ll be sorting out my schedule soon and making sure I set aside time for writing. Speaking of which…

Thing 3: Adios, Reverie Time!

Don’t worry, I’m not shutting my blog down. I am, however, going to be amalgamating it with my main portfolio site, because it’s way easier to maintain and promote one site, one name, and one brand instead of two. The good news is that if you’re subscribed to this site, you won’t have to do anything when I change over to the new location, ’cause I’ll use my mad skillz and redirect you without you even knowing it. Magic!

In conclusion…

Stay tuned, because I’ll be back in action soon with lots of new, shiny blog posts (and, of course, March’s wallpaper). Thanks for your patience with my silence, and for following along!

Download

Computer (2560 x 1440) • Tablet (2048 x 2048) • Mobile (640 x 1136)

(They’re sized for a 27″ iMac, a retina iPad, and an iPhone 5, respectively, but they should all work for smaller devices, too.)

This project has been really interesting so far, though I’m only 1/6th of the way through it. Being an archetype junkie, there’s tons to choose from in any given month. You can go with holidays happening in the month, the weather, the etymology of the month’s name, or any number of things. This one is a combination of a wintery feel + a colour cue from February’s birthstone, amethyst (which just happens to be one of my favourites).

Enjoy!