{"id":289,"date":"2014-09-10T15:54:27","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T15:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/illogical-hobbies.flywheelsites.com\/?p=289"},"modified":"2014-09-10T15:54:27","modified_gmt":"2014-09-10T15:54:27","slug":"can-a-designer-become-a-business-owner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rewardingtoil.com\/can-a-designer-become-a-business-owner\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a Designer Become a Business Owner?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Most advertising agencies and design firms began with a designer\u2019s impulse to strike out on their own. This ambition was usually fueled by a combination of desires: a desire for greater creative freedom, higher compensation, or more personal freedom. Sometimes a small group of designers get together and think it would just be a blast to start a boutique firm. Whatever the initial impulses, the actual experience of design firm start-ups is never what was expected. The shine soon wears off–and the original excitement turns to extreme stress. And that big salary increase starts to look more like a big pile of accumulating debt.<\/p>\n
That was my experience. I graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 1991 as an illustration major. I worked for a few advertising agencies, then in 1995 I launched a web development company. From 1995-2000 getting web design business was a breeze (being profitable–not so easy). But after 2000, things changed. The dot-com bubble burst caused most web design businesses to dry up overnight. I knew if my company was going to survive it was going to need to be run better. But I had no idea what that meant. <\/p>\n