Today we’d like to introduce you to Allison Barrick.
Allison, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
When I look back on my career, I think it’s practically a miracle – not only because I am fully self-employed, but I never expected to end up in graphic design and marketing!
When I chose to major in communications (with a concentration in radio and television) in college, I thought I would end up as a news anchor for a television station. My summer internship at a local news station put that to rest for me – I certainly wasn’t cut out for the fast-paced, sometimes cutthroat environment! When I graduated, I didn’t exactly know what I would want to do, so I took a job at a non-profit organization helping churches across the country with starting programs. At one point, my boss complained about the design of one of the program covers, wishing he could change one tiny detail. With one, single class of graphic design under my belt, I offered to give it a try. To my boss’ delight (and my own surprise), I managed to improve the design in minutes. Little did I know that this minuscule task would be the spark that would fuel the rest of my career.
I was trusted with increasingly more complex design tasks, and I went on to land a number of communications and marketing jobs, each challenging and stretching me as I learned new programs and skills. I pushed myself to not let technology conquer me, even going so far as learning Adobe InDesign in just one night (true story).
My last 9-5 job was as an email marketing coordinator for a publishing company. As I continued to learn from my bosses and mentors, I also succeeded in growing email open rates from 20% to 40%. I think it was this achievement that made me realize how much I had grown, and how I was ready for more responsibility, However, there weren’t many opportunities for me to advance in the publishing company, so I began to explore other opportunities.
Around this time, I was working through Julie Cameron’s book “The Artist’s Way”. In one of the exercises, a question was posed: If you weren’t afraid of the risk, what would you love to do? I realized then that my dream to work for myself – to have flexibility and freedom. I began to increase the number of freelance projects I did in my spare time, and in under a year, I took the leap and became a full-time independent contractor.
I am entering my second year running my own business. While it is a lot of work and can be stressful at times, it’s been an incredibly rewarding experience. There’s so much that I never knew I could do, and I’m proud of what I’ve achieved so far!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road to self-employment is smooth and easy…said no one! One of my biggest challenges was just getting started. Gaining partnerships and growing a clientele required a lot of hours of networking, cold emails, and messages on LinkedIn. It also meant facing a lot of “no, thank yous” and soft rejections. However, what I was amazed by was the camaraderie I discovered with other small businesses; even if it was a “no” from them, I often got personalized messages of encouragement and affirmation. This was a breath of fresh air compared to the templated rejection emails from other corporate jobs.
Another challenge I faced (and still face today!) is balancing work and availability. In the words of another entrepreneur I met, client work is often feast or famine! Periods of no work are agonizing and scary, but almost as stressful is having more work than you have hours in a day. This imbalance comes with the territory at the beginning, but it also is providing me a great opportunity to sharpen my business acumen and continue building something sustainable.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I think the work I specialize in are also the traits that set me apart! Over the years, I’ve had many opportunities to learn and perfect a variety of skills – graphic design being the most obvious, but also scriptwriting, project management, article writing, video editing, social media management, and more! One of my clients even referred me to a Swiss Army knife!
Of these skills, I am most proud of my continued growth as a graphic designer. Through my peers and colleagues, I’ve pushed myself to refine my own skills, learn new tools, and create something even more polished and impactful than I could have created 2 years ago.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
While many different characteristics come into play, I think perseverance stands out from the rest. There were many times when I wanted to give up and return to the predictability of a regular 9-to-5 job. As silly as it sounds, I also didn’t expect to have to learn so many business skills (looking at you, bookkeeping). Not giving up is its own achievement! By continuing to adapt and become a student of areas like bookkeeping, sales, contracts, and more, I’ve learned that I’m capable of so much more than I originally thought!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alliebeecreates/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-barrick/
