Are you feeling stuck in your career? Are you unhappy with your work environment? When that was me, I started my own company. Here’s why you should consider it.
Read More20 Lessons I Learned About Business (and Life) in 2020
Entrepreneurship is a wise teacher.
Read MoreI Moved A Heavy Bag Stand. Here's What I Learned About Entrepreneurship.
I don’t like asking for help. Even when it’s clear that I really need it, I will resist asking for help. Last week, I put a heavy bag and stand up for sale. It didn’t take long before someone agreed to buy it. To get it ready, I had to move the stand out into the hall of my building. Mind you, when I bought it, it came up to my apartment in a box. It was leaving fully assembled. I figured it would be difficult, but I could get it out with a little creativity.
Read MoreHow To Write A Blog
At first glance, a blog may appear to simply be an online journal or newsletter. It looks simple and straightforward. If you are blogging for business, though, it’s a little more complicated. It requires a lot of editing, creating and planning. Everything you see on my blog here at Emma Lee Creative is created by me. I write everything, decide on topics to write about, create all the visuals such as photos and illustrations, including the images you see accompanying the links on social media. It’s much more complicated than meets the eye.
Read MoreThe Myth of the Solopreneur
A solopreneur is typically described as an entrepreneur who runs their show on their own. Google defines solopreneur as, “a person who sets up and runs a business on their own.” I understand we’re getting into semantics here, but I think this definition is lacking. I am a solopreneur and I do most of my work in solitude. It becomes very easy to forget that I am not alone in this, and that I didn’t get where I am solely on my own efforts. I am the sole worker at Emma Lee Creative, but don’t call me a self-made woman. I am mostly others-made, and I owe my success to my support network.
Read MoreCairn vol. 18 // Feeling Like a Fake
I’ve been a business owner for 3 years. I’ve been a designer on a professional level for 5. I’ve been a photographer for 11 years and doing it professionally for 7. I started my life as a creative in 2006, thirteen years ago. And you know what? I still sometimes feel like I’m not enough. I still feel like a fake and a fraud. This month, all of these feelings came to a head and I was forced to confront them. One of these moments came in the form of a creative breakdown where I realized that I hated what I was shooting, erased the card and went and cried my eyes out in the bathroom till I felt sick.
Read MoreThe Power of a Good Creative Brief
Hiring a designer should be very little work on your part, right? Right. Clients tend to have little interest in being heavily involved in the design process. They are busy people and have work to do and companies to run. They’ve hired a designer so they can avoid doing extra work. So why the hassle of a creative brief, and is it really necessary?
Read More3 Lies I Believed When I Started My Business
You have your degree, you have some work experience, and you’ve decided to make the leap into self-employment. You went to conferences and networking events and you’ve been cleansed of the 9-to-5 by inspiring speakers, waxing poetic about “the grind,” “the hustle,” and how your product will sell itself if it’s worthy of the market. You’re beaming with starry-eyed confidence, you’ve been inspired by people who have made it, and you’re ready to dive in. There’s only one thing: the inspiring people who’ve been there may have misled you.
Read MoreIn My Bag // Graphic Design Edition
About a year ago, I promised a look inside my bag and what I carry as a graphic designer. Amazingly, I got to how I travel as a freelancer before I got to posting that. What I need as a designer varies from day to day, depending on the project and what I am working on, so this post could really be a short chapter book. To narrow it down, I’m going to cover what I take to a meeting where I will be working at the meeting location afterwards.
Read MoreThe Traveling Freelancer: My Failsafe System for Working On The Go
I’m not one of those freelancers who is always on holiday, but in the past few years, I have gotten to visit some pretty interesting destinations, and see some new places. As a freelancer, I’m always taking my work with me, and this makes traveling with work a little different than traveling with a regular job. I’m going to walk you through how I successfully travel and work from anywhere.
Read More