Q: What is your business?A: Jobson Studios, branding & website design. Q: Where did you grow up?A: Growing up, my siblings and I were given a lot of time and freedom to explore our creativity. I remember spending countless hours building websites for fictitious businesses and designing graphics. It’s fun to think that a childhood hobby has turned into my career. Q: What was your inspiration to become an entrepenuer?A: I grew up in an entrepreneurial family, and it just seemed like a natural direction to go in. I’ve always loved the idea of working for myself and having the freedom to grow a business in a way that fit my life and priorities. Q: What do you most enjoy about what you do?A: I really enjoy the creative work of designing brands and websites, but my favorite part of my job would have to be getting to collaborate and strategize with so many other entrepreneurs and learning about their businesses. Q: What has been one of your biggest accomplishments?A: It feels impossible to choose one defining project, because each one is unique and exciting in its own way. Each of my clients run a business that is one-of-a-kind – because they put so much of themselves and their own purpose into it – and bringing that to life in a visual way feels significant each time. Q: What's an example of the work that you do?A: I help people create a visual identify for their business. Sometimes I’ll help them put their business online by building and designing a website that matches their brand and functions in a way that helps them achieve their goals. Other times I’ll help them build their brand from scratch – with strategy planning, logo design, print material design, brand guidelines (colors, fonts, etc.), and website. Q: What does a day-in-the-life of YOU consist of?A: It’s so different each day – and that’s one of the things I love most about running my own business! A typical day would consist of a large chunk of time spent working on client design projects in my office. I’d also have a client strategy call on Skype or in person, spend some time working on blog posts for my design & business blog, and tackle any administrative tasks on my to-do list. Most days, I’d add in a trip to a networking or mastermind meet up, a local class or talk, or a trip to a coffee shop to work on fun business development projects. Q: What entrepreneurial hacks have you developed to stay focused and productive in your day-to-day?A: A really simple thing I do to help me stay focused is make my daily to-do list the night before. I list my most important projects or tasks first, and then the other things I’d like to accomplish after that. The other thing that helps me stay motivated and focused is taking time to get out and be with other entrepreneurs. If I stay in my office too much, I start to get restless and unproductive. Meeting with other motivated people helps me get back on task. Q: How does being an entrepreneur affect your relationships with your friends and family?A: Working for myself gives me so much freedom to prioritize time with family and friends. While there are definitely busy seasons where I spend a lot of time working, I can always organize those hours in a way that leaves room for family life and social time. Q: How do you achieve work life-balance?A: I don’t know that it ever feels completely balanced. Sometimes I’m spending more hours on work than family or downtime, and sometimes it’s the opposite. It depends on what’s happening in our life at the time. Q: What’s the single most important reason for your success?A: Support from my family. There are a lot of things that contribute to success as a business owner – like a community of engaging peers, education, and persistence – but without the support and encouragement from my husband I doubt I’d be pursuing this career on top of raising a family. Having support is crucial. Q: What’s the biggest thing you struggle with as an entrepreneur?A: Dealing with the uncertainty. You have full control – and full responsibility – for your business. You never know what’s going to happen around the next bend, and in slow times or periods of change it’s easy to doubt your ability to make it through. That uncertainty is probably the hardest thing for me to deal with – but it’s also what allows for the freedom and opportunity to grow. Q: What did you learn from your biggest failure?A: That you can try again. As a business owner – especially in a creative industry – it feels like you are being constantly exposed and evaluated. When you don’t make the cut or you mess up on something, it can feel like you’ll never recover. I’ve had to learn to not take everything so personally and to just pick myself up and try again. Q: Looking back, what’s one thing you wish you understood about entrepreneurship before you ever got started?A: I wish I had understood from the beginning that businesses don’t grow in isolation. Being very introverted, I started my business “online” – working by myself at home and promoting my services and working with clients over the internet. I still work with clients from all over the world and the internet makes that possible – but getting out in the local community and building relationships with other business owners face-to-face is the best thing I ever did for my business. Being actively involved in groups and communities in person is so important to the sustainability of business, creativity, and entrepreneurship in general.
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