"If It's Passion, It's Worth It"

I was wracking my brain for a creative entry to this entry, something that would encompass what I wanted to say and still be considered witty. I thank an off-hand comment from my friend Pete, whom I am quoting, who said the the above in response to my thoughts about starting my own business. He said it was going to be a lot of work, and I agree, but, well, like the man said.

So I ended up at the Job Gym last week and met with the Ontario Small Business Benefits people (who work with the Ontario government) about the steps I will need to take to make my skills as a designer something that becomes profitable. And what they can do to assist me :) I took a brief meeting with one of the employees to evaluate my ideas, and they didn't see any issues, so if everything goes according to plan I'll start classes in June. Big pro to this: they restart my EI benefits at a decent amount. Hopefully the shine of this info will be toned down by my already having a part time job and supplementing some income.

Anyway, in the meantime I'm still applying for various jobs all over the place, and working on my various side projects. I have a few people actually looking at me to help them with some projects, which is also exciting. Ups and downs, twists and turns!

As usual, thanks for reading :)

How To Win Friends and Influence Business

In my goings around, looking for work and inspiration, I've been playing around with the idea of opening my own business in my head more and more, and I think it's become the most viable option.

I admit that I have difficulty focusing the design beam, being sure exactly what I want to do with my graphic design. Relating to my previous post about hats, I know that there are a lot of different types of designing disciplines, and to be honest I'd like to at least be familiar with all of them. Not saying I want to be amazing at it all, but at least know them.

I know what I like the most though, and its papercrafting. I LOVE creating individualized cards and making items for people that you just can't find in normal stores, and I'd love to turn that into a career. I've been wrestling around with copyright issues and trade marks, etc., and I have some information sessions booked with government funded small business councillors, so let's hope that all the background stuff filters out.

Anyway, I'm thinking of doing packages: building up generic print-related items that vary from event to event (birthdays, weddings, the like) and offering them as customizable themes. In official "design" terms, this is like my other passion, corporate identity, but allows me to be playful and enjoy it.

Thoughts?