Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I could use some advice. I’m a graphic designer and have been working in the industry for quite some time. Since the time I was in college I knew one day I would start my own business. Well that day has finally come - my husband and I bought a printing company. The plan was for me to handle all the pre-press to keep the presses running but being a business owner would allow me the freedom to go out and cultivate my own design business. Once it gets to the point that there is too much design work, we’ll hire someone to handle the pre-press and I’ll be able to pick and choose design projects I want to work on and art direct the rest. Sounds like a reasonable plan, right? Unfortunately, somewhere along this process I’ve lost my MOJO. I’ve lost my passion for the business. I’m no longer the super star designer working in a cushy corporate environment. No motivation, inspiration, confidence and I dread waking up everyday to go to work. I guess you can say I’m gong through a writer’s block for designers. However, I refuse to give up and go back to feeling like a corporate drone making some entity a lot of money. I know that by being a business owner I can create my dream job. I’m just so overwhelmed and easily distracted right now I don’t know where to begin. I’ve heard of life coaches but I fear it’s just going to be a waste of time and money. Has anyone experienced anything like this? What can I do to find my love for the industry again? 

It appears to me that for you working on your own has become just a job and it now has added responsibilities.

IMO you need to know were along the line are you, you want to be a creative designer but find yourself doing menial work, major drag. Like in all things you first need to crawl before you can walk and walk before you can run, if you were to think of this time in your business life as learning to crawl and be aware that, that, is what you are doing, it might make it better as you`ll know were along the path to becoming a creative director you are at any given time.

Check out the E-Myth Revisited. I`ve just started reading it but your situation sounds like a classic case.

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"I’ve heard of life coaches but I fear it’s just going to be a waste of time and money"

My father-in-law (http://www.cntconsulting.com/) is a life coach and from the words of his clients his services help quite a bit in direction finding. They can help you get aligned and focused on your true life goals.

Also something that Chris says a lot is "what you focus on grows." It isn`t easy to just ignore the lack of motivation or mojo, but sometimes it is the best bet. Pick out a few tasks and work through them. When you are done praise yourself for a job well done and enjoy the moment of being through them. Then move on to the next. Eventually your original mojo should return. If it doesn`t maybe it is time to talk to a life coach or to go in an alternative (not right or wrong direction) but alternative direction in life.

I`ve done a lot of analysis of the term "passion," and how it differs from "love." Without the details, "passion" is an abstraction we hold as a high value. "Love" is the high value we hold for a tangible object or person.

We can love a person, thing, or group. But we`re passionate about ideas.

I wonder then, reading the above, what was the core *idea* you had all your life? It sounds to me as if you were "in love with" the idea of starting a business, not so much passionate about the creation you would form? You weren`t in love with "running" a business, as you`ve said, but rather only starting it. Now you`ve started it. You`re done.

If that`s true, then you now have a business. In which case, you`ve achieved your life`s goal, so it`s not a surprise that you don`t feel anything more to accomplish. Your goal was to "have a business." Now you have one.

What I`d suggest is some "away time," where you think about what you want to create in this world. Not how you`ll create it, you already have a business. Instead, what Idea interests you? You`re an artist, and you must have done art for much of your life. Go back and pull out some of those old things you`ve created, look them over, and see if you can find a common thread.

I don`t think you`ve lost your mojo ;-D It`s only that you`ve inadvertantly chosen as a goal the wrong words: "put a business together." Okay...you did it! That should prove to you that if you set your mind and imagination toward something, by golly, you can do it!! So now you need to revitalize your imagination, thinking about what you`d like to make that nobody`s ever made quite the same before.

Burnout in the graphic design industry is not an unusual thing at all.  Add purchasing/running a new business to the equation and it`s no wonder you are feeling the way you do.

About 11 years ago, after almost 20 years working as a designer, I was wondering what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I was totally burned out on design.  I`d worked professionally as a designer all through college and for nearly another 15 years I`d been taking on every project that came my way.  I thought that was what designers we expected to do.  I was stuck - until my sister said "Why aren`t you doing what you enjoy most?"  I asked her "What?" She responded with, "Logo design."

It was a real slap up the side of the head for me.  In redirecting my talents/skills to what I enjoyed most, I suddenly had a great deal of new enthusiasm for my work.  The last ten years have been exciting, challenging and fun.

In working independently as designer - especially after escaping from a corporate cubicle - there is also the challenge of being inspired and feeling like you are part of the actual design industry.  For me, working out of my home with little real world human contact, the online design community has been a lifesaver.  The interaction with other designers, the inspiration from articles/websites/forums and the sense of industry community has greatly improved my business outlook, creative energy and work output.  Some excellent online resources for you might be:

CreativeLatitude.com

HOW Design Forum

Designers Who Blog

Creative Business

Before & After

Some books that might be very helpful include:

Designers in Handcuffs

Art & Fear

Caffeine for the Creative Mind

A Whack on the Side of the Head

Idea Revolution

Creativity for Graphic Designers

Thinking Creatively

Creative Utopia

A little book called The Savvy Designer`s Guide to Success might be of some assistance as well.

I doubt if you`ve lost your mojo - it just needs to be recharged and redirected.  Good luck!

- J.







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Jeff Fisher | Jeff Fisher LogoMotives | Tweet! Tweet!

Jeff (LogoMotives) is saying the same thing, and puts in the most basic question (from his sister): "What do you most enjoy doing?"

I too went through four or five careers, got burnt out in several of them, and was in the middle of building an outline for a novel. I was tired, but also excited about the story. I didn`t have money coming in, but didn`t want another job. I was in a sort of drifting state, but still moving along. It just seemed the same ol`, same ol`, never-ending start something, get it done, finish, do the next....over and over.

Like the song said, I asked myself "Is that all there is?"

For no particular reason, one afternoon, waiting for my friend to put some laundry in the dryer while we discussed the plot outline, I got to wondering, "What the hell am I doing with my life?" :-D You know, one of those massive life questions we ask while waiting for a traffic light to change.

In a sort of flash, I went through what Jeff asks, wondering what exactly have I really and truly enjoyed all my life. I started with "talking." Although most people rarely suspect it, I talk all the time! :-D But "talking" didn`t really do it for me...in terms of what am I doing.

"Talking about what?" That was my next question, which ultimately came down to talking about definitions, words, and what they mean. On the surface, it didn`t seem as if that was a "doing" kind of thing. It didn`t seem as if it were a career path, job, work-related event, or money-making proposition.

But I looked back over music, computer technology, desktop publishing, formatting, process analysis, and realized, "isn`t that all defining things?" Isn`t playing cover music in a band defining the songs? And isn`t solving tech problems on a computer, defining the problem...before solving it?

What you`ve been doing all you life doesn`t necessarily have to be (and probably shouldn`t be) seen as a concrete, tangible thing. It doesn`t have to be "finding customers," or "laying bricks." It`s the deeper ideal that rests  below the way it`s coming out. "Finding customers" is about the concept of sales. "Laying bricks" is about the concept of building things.

What brings you the most joy in an ongoing way? What have you done all your life, particularly when you`re feeling down like you are at the moment? When you want to set aside the running of the business, what do you do "just for fun?"

Thank you to everyone for all the useful advice. I knew SuN would be the place to find quality answers. I really appreciate your suggestions and related past experiences. I met a woman over the weekend at one of my networking events studying to be a life coach and she also recommended the e-myth book as well as hiring an office manager. This now makes sense because so many of my distractions, and feelings of failure are administrative task related. I think I`m just trying to take on too much which has now become a bit overwhelming.

Craig and Jeff I particularly appreciated your input. You`ve given me something to think about in terms of narrowing my focus to the design projects I love to do. You only live this life once, right? But in the meantime as ElidS hints I need to buck-up and deal with the menial work until the numbers make sense for us to hire design help. I guess when I had the dream of owning a business I never realized after 15 years of paying my dues I would have to get back down on my knees and crawl, again.

You won`t have to start all over again if your real vision is similar to having a business. If your business "incorporates" a part of your vision, then you need only to expand your daily work, moving upward into the vision.

However, if your vision and your business are entirely different, then yes, you`re going to have to make a choice, and probably start all over again from scratch. It doesn`t sound to me as if this is the situation. I think you just accidentally limited your scope. To expand it again won`t at all mean starting over, learning to crawl. It means only that you have to go back and "re-affirm" your vision, and tune your focus. :-)

 

Happy Holidays:

Boy, can I relate! Every since I have been turned down by the S.B.A (three times) I can`t even look at my web site. I do not want to seem like a hypocrite. Motivating other people, and giving advise, like try try again. When here I fell into a slump! Since I have a bypolar personality it is extremely hard when I lose my motivation. I guess if I don`t want to feel like a hypocrite. Apply the same advise to yourself. Get up an try try all over again.

Yours Truly         & nbsp;         & nbsp;         & nbsp;         & nbsp;         & nbsp;         & nbsp;         Rose M. Palinkas        &nbs p;         &nbs p;         &nbs p;         &nbs p;         &nbs p;         &nbs p; http://secondhandroseboutique.com

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Yours Truly, Rose M. Palinkas, secondhandroseboutique.com