Three Sharp! Reflecting on Three Years of G Sharp Design
Each year I like to mark my company anniversary with a blog post. That anniversary was actually last Friday but a dang hurricane blew in so that took priority. So here it is, just a few days delayed.
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In September 2019, I stepped away from 10+ years at a publishing house to venture out into the world of freelance design. I gave myself three years. If this thing wasn’t humming by late 2022, it’d be time to look at other options.
Three years is a middling amount of time. Not long enough to master anything significant, but you can get a sense of your trajectory. Choosing that window wasn’t based on a meticulously forecasted business plan. Just gut, nothing more. The way I saw it, I’d spend a year getting my legs, and another one settling into a groove. Hopefully I’d be operating at full speed by the time my “grace period” expired. If I wasn’t? Time to look into other options.
It’s now three years later, and this little business has grown into something with real momentum. I’m proud to say there is no giving up on it anytime soon. A few vitals to give you a snapshot:
~50 book design projects kicked off in the past year
Clients in at least 26 states and 11 countries
27 5-star reviews on Google
21 5-star reviews on Reedsy.com
Objective achievements are meaningful, but there’s a greater satisfaction I point to: having started a business out of thin air that people from San Francisco to New Zealand have elected to patronize. It is not lost on me how fortunate I am to have been supported by such a great network of individuals. This includes G Sharp’s clients/partners as well as my family and friends who’ve followed and encouraged this adventure.
I’ll close by recounting a conversation I had some 15 years ago. I was working a part time gig as a production assistant for a freelance videographer. During some downtime on a shoot, I told her that I also aspired to be a freelancer. Her response, paraphrased: “Just know that I had to work for years before I felt like I could fully support myself as a freelancer.”
It wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear, but it was the one I needed to hear. Particularly the part about supporting yourself. Anyone can be a freelancer, but it’s a full time job (and then some) to build and maintain a practice that amounts to a livelihood.
I’m still not sure if G Sharp will be the thing that takes me to retirement or is only a chapter along the way, but three years into this journey I can confidently say it was a risk worth taking.
Thanks to everyone for the support these years, and in those ahead! Here’s to a big year 4.