Hello everyone! With the new business, new branding, and new…everything happening right now, I thought it might be nice to share my journey over the past year that lead me to *finally* going all-in on PFD.

Last March, my world was shaken, along with everyone else. COVID-19 came to America and everything stopped.

I did less than a week WFH with my corporate job before I got the email saying I’d be furloughed until the foreseeable future. So I did what most people did during quarantine: binged Tiger King, went on long walks, baked bread, and played board games (I’m not a puzzle gal). I also spent all day drawing on my iPad. I never got to put a lot of time into doing the things that I liked to do, so I took advantage of the ‘free time’.

Month by month, week by week, I would get the same email from work saying, ‘heyyyyyy we’re pushing your date back again.’ And my stomach would sink every single time. Then, in July, I got the final email from HR asking if I could meet to discuss my department’s structure, which we all know is code for ‘update your resume’.

Yep. I was laid off. Lucky for me, this was the same day Taylor dropped Folklore. So at least I had some new songs to cry to.

It didn’t take me long to get past the crying phase and get into the APPLY FOR EVERY JOB EVER phase. Looking back, I honestly have no clue how many jobs I applied to. 100? It was a lot. And I didn’t hear back from 95% of them. The 5% I did hear back from, were those that began with ‘thank you for applying, we had so many interested parties, no thanks, blah blah blah.’ I like to tell myself that loads of people were also job hunting and very few people were actually hiring so I wouldn’t question my experience and skills too much. Which is very hard to do in that situation.

During this time, I was doing what I do best: freelancing. I’ve actually been freelancing in graphic design services since 2011 and started my Etsy in 2014. So I at least had some money coming in. And after all of the crickets and ‘no’s I said screw it, let’s just do this already. Eloquent, huh?

As 2021 arrived and so did an LLC application, getting a bank account and EIN, and purchasing accounting software. Going from freelancing every now and then as a side hustle to full-time business owner is QUITE different, but so far I love it. I have the flexibility to work from anywhere, make my own schedule, and work for myself! I have a pretty cool boss.

I know I’ve got so much to learn about the business side as well as the design side. And I hope to actually use this blog to keep everyone informed of the happies and crappies, my biggest lessons are, tips, and what projects I’m proud of.

I appreciate all of you for reading this far and showing an interest in my story! I’d love to hear if any of you have had a similar journey this past year and how you are working through it.

Until next time!