If you provide any kind of service I’m sure you’ve come up against this sort of thing many times. I think people in creative fields are particularly prone to dealing with this kind of client because there is assumption that we love our work so much we can do it for free. No need to worry about paying a mortgage or feeding yourself as long as you enjoy the work.
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So I’ve decided to close down and dissolve Laughing Lion Design. It’s officially been a company since 2006. I’m doing this for a few reasons and it has nothing to do with a downturn or lack of business, there seems to be plenty of work out there if you’re willing to find it.
What ultimately prompted me to make the decision, is that my husband, who I’m completely bananas about has been sick and there is nothing that helps you prioritize faster than having a loved one not doing so well. Let me say he will be fine in time but it’s made me think that I’ve been spending far too long in front of a computer or with a laptop stuck on my knees. I can’t ever see myself looking back and thinking “I wish I’d spent more time on the internet.”
My second reason for shutting up shop is one that I’ve known for a long time and that is: I’m a really crap business woman. I’m good at design and making things look nice (and a few other things) but I quite literally agonize over talking about money, invoicing, forms and all that stuff. I have a great and patient accountant who speaks to me in baby language and I still don’t understand it. The “business end” of the business of design has always flummoxed me and I’ve never really come to terms with it, so I’m bowing out now while I still have my sanity.
I’m in a very lucky position in that I’ve had a steady job teaching design for nearly eight years now – Photoshop, illustrator, Indesign and web design – even while I was running (or attempting to run) the company so I’m not out of work and I also have my writing job for Sitepoint’s Design blog (so no need to send those food parcels and cheques just yet, although I do love food parcels).
So thanks to everyone who has hired (and paid) me to design websites, brochures, posters, business cards, logos and all the assorted bits and bobs over the past few years. It’s probably going to take a few weeks/months to wind the company up, apparently there are many forms to fill out and hoops to jump through, but I am no longer doing any more design work for the company.
I feel quite relieved now that I’ve finally made this decision and have no regrets about either starting or finishing it. I tried it and it wasn’t for me so now I can move on.
I would like to mention that I’m still interested in design and illustration collaboration projects for fun and doing things I really enjoy like photography as a hobby.
Finally this blog will continue with design news and tutorials. I started this before I started the company and it doesn’t really cause me any stress and I think people find the tutorials useful so that makes me happy too.
We bought this little book for 50p in a second-hand book shop in England a few months ago. It’s basically lots of little passages of upbeat thoughts. What I really liked about this book and is worth much more than the text inside was this handwritten message inside. It says
To Miss Avis Chattey
May these “jewels of the mind” add something to the lustre and beauty of that “jewel of the soul” which you already possess.
After a couple of weeks of frustration, I’m happy to say that Laughing Lion Design is now on a new server and is virus free. My site was hacked/injected with a virus a few weeks ago and it’s taken me a while to get everthing back to normal. Things aren’t really back to normal though. I had to get a new domain name and host because I just could not get rid of the virus on the old site. I also had difficulty getting everything off the old site without taking the virus, and getting it back up onto the new server. Anyway the crisis is over (I hope). In the future I’ll write a post about how I moved everything from one site to the other, but for now I want to forget about it.
I decided to change the look of the site too. Laughing Lion has a dark background for a few years and had an unnecessarily complicated home page. I’ve gone minimalist now and just have the blog and a random illustration (by me!) on the home page. Comments and constructive criticism are welcome!
This week’s Tuesday Push is for the Irish website Dine to Read.
Dine to Read is an online book club and forum for book lovers. You can discuss a wide range of book related topics with an active community and it’s open to everyone.
As well as the online activity, monthly offline events are organised including a Supper club where members can meet up for dins and chats about books (and whatever else takes their fancy). You can register here.
Laughing Lion Design is all about Graphic Design, Illustration and Photoshop.
The blog is written by me, Jennifer Farley, a design instructor and illustrator based in Ireland. I also write for the Sitepoint Design blog, where you'll find articles about all things design-related
If you're interested in informal portraits, Irish landscapes and travel photography, then please check out my photography site at Jennifer Farley Photography
