Say yes first, and learn later 🚀
When I was 13 years old, in the 9th grade, one of my friends reached out to me asking if I wanted to speak to his mom.
She told me she had seen the album art I created for my music, and was wondering if I’d be willing to design a logo for her new business, as well as come up with a name for it. She would pay me.
I used to design my album art by editing photos using a web tool and overlaying some text on them – I had absolutely no idea how to design a logo, let alone a good one, that would be used officially by a business.
I didn’t even know how to use Photoshop. 😅
I don’t know why, but I said yes —
I distinctly remember walking over to my friend’s house to talk more, and using the 3G on my phone to Google “how to design a logo” on my way there.
It was my first ever client meeting, at age 13. I got the job. I had to come up with names and then create a logo for the selected name. It paid Rs. 5000 (~€56 or ~$70 in today’s money).
Not bad for a 13-year-old’s first freelance creative gig, right?
How it went —
I was initially thinking of splitting the work with a friend of mine, who I had seen use Photoshop – but then I decided against it because I didn’t want to split the money.
The first task was to come up with a name. I first came up with 7 options and presented them to her. She didn’t any of them.
I came up with 5 more. She didn’t like any of them. She eventually told me that she and her business partner had chosen another name and hence, she’d be paying me Rs. 2000 (~€22 or $27) lesser.
There was still Rs. 3000 (~€34 or ~$40) on the table, for the logo.
The final stretch —
After weeks of learning, trial, error, back and forth, I finally created something that she was happy with. Just in time for the Photoshop trial to run out.
I was kind of even surprised that I was able to do it. She ended up using the logo everywhere — on her storefront, in the store, in advertisements, flyers – everywhere.
I got the money, and I spent it on something I needed for my music production hobby, which had got me this job in the first place.
Life came full circle.
The final product. My logo baby!
Lessons I learnt —
Sometimes you can say yes first and then learn on the job.
This is because —
People don’t always just hire you for your skills, they also hire you for your potential.
You can do a lot more than you think you can. Many skills from certain areas are transferrable to other areas.
The pressure of completing the job is gonna make you learn faster and better.
In the worst case, the job doesn’t work out, but you learn something. The other person hopefully took this risk into account when hiring an amateur.
Being scared of it not working out and your lack of ability being called out is more of an ego thing than anything else, and it’s important to identify that.
Even at work, if your manager/client suggests an opportunity that you’re not fully confident in your ability to do, think a LOT before saying no. You can probably do it.
Trust your abilities, and your manager’s judgement too. 😊
Thanks —
Thanks a lot for subscribing and reading this far. Let me know what you think — did you have any moments when you decided to jump straight into the deep end and learn how to swim?
Hit ‘reply’ and let me know.
Cheers,
– M