We have Juliet Meeks on the show today! She is an awesome brand and surface pattern designer in New Orleans. Juliet tells us about her creative journey of originally majoring in English, finding graphic design, working full-time, and then launching her business! While she still does branding work for her clients, Juliet continued to cultivate her passion of surface design and watercolor. She pivoted her focus now offers and pattern making to clients, and created a fabric pattern available this fall at Cloud9 Fabrics! She and I can relate to the first difficult months of having your own design business and what we still struggle with as creatives. We also chat about finally finding our groove as a creative business owner, how our business are evolving, and striking a balance of work and personal life. Topics we cover:— Juliet’s evolution from being an evolution to a graphic designer — How Juliet went from working in print media to working for herself as a surface designer— How Juliet went from brand design to her passion of surface design— Working through the difficult first months of entrepreneurship — Finally hitting your groove— Figuring out the ideal schedule or not having a schedule— Transitioning from branding work full-time to surface work— How the 100 Day Project inspired Julia with pattern design with painting every day — Juliet’s tips and tricks for drawing florals— Kelsey and Juliet’s processes for patterns and hand lettering — How to get inspiration from daily life— Juliet’s online courses on Skillshare— Living out your values with your business— Finding time to unplug from work, especially on vacation!— Separating self-worth from client feedback on work— Understanding that your work is an object and not an extension of yourself, and how hard it is to think of it that way— Naming a business as your own name or a different name— Getting to a point of picking and choosing clients and referring other designers— Pitching yourself and putting yourself out there— Juliet’s favorite things, and our mutual appreciation of train rides
