My Realistic Founder Story

Everyone loves a bite sized story. This is the short and sweet version that makes me sound like an “overnight” success.

“I decided to learn more about design, learned everything I could and became a web designer!”

So what’s missing from that story? All the meandering and detours in between and how long each step actually took.

Most founder story’s like this you might assume happened in 6 months or a year sprint. For me that’s not true at all.

Learn more about my realistic founder story and how many years it actually took to start my own business.

Thinking About Design

2010 to 2016

I’d admired design in its many forms since I was a wide eyed child in art museums staring up at giant paintings in gilded frames soaking it all in.

Most kids like field trips because it’s an escape from the classroom. I liked them because I always walked away filled to the brim with inspiration and ideas.

Design never felt attainable. Something other people could do really well but I had no chance of being good at. Never mind that I was comparing myself to people with years or decades of experience.

Like a crush I admired from afar I never thought design would be something I could do or succeed in. I decided to dive in one day because everyone has to start somewhere.

Learning About Design

2016 to 2018

This was after the honeymoon phase of my first full time job was over and I was feeling aimless and uninspired. Instead of quitting, which I really wanted to do, I decided to learn more about those hobbies and skills I’d never tried including design.

I discovered a design Meetup group and learned everything I could making projects weekly. While doing projects and experimenting on my own I realized a lot of things in graphic design that look super complicated really aren’t.

I found my graphic design style which was layering lots of photos and images together, reminiscent of my collage days in high school, and I even created a super stylized website using these images for a Squarespace web design course.

My two favorite types of design are web design and graphic design and I love using both of them together to make an impact online.

Ignoring My Intuition

2018 to 2019

I had inklings about trying out freelancing or entrepreneurship to transform my creativity into a business but other thoughts held me back. There are so many reasons why we don’t try something.

It usually boils down to fear. That’s what it was for me. Fear of trying something new and failing. Fear of really being excited by this new career and other possibilities. What if it didn’t pan out?

A way for me to combat these moments of paralysis is to take the smallest possible step towards reaching a goal. Almost so small that it is too easy. This gets the momentum going and keeps me motivated.

Becoming An “Official” Web Designer

2020 to Today!

The pandemic, working remote and really focusing on what I wanted to do with my life led me to take a chance and try out that wild idea to start a business doing something that I loved.

One of the books that kick started my entrepreneurship journey is Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo. This helped me take action when all the ideas in my head felt a little too big and lofty.

If you want to start your own reading list these 3 books helped change everything for me.

As an introvert I naturally steer away from networking but learned that this is definitely necessary as an entrepreneur. To make it easier on myself I joined a community where networking and relationship building was built in.

A Realistic Founder Story

The good thing about taking your time is you have plenty of moments to check in along the way. I never wanted to dedicate tons of time and energy to something and then realize I actually hated it.

So don’t worry if your story is filled with twists, turns and detours. For most people this makes the whole thing much more interesting and realistic. Take your time and experiment with what brings you joy.