Designer Boss
Designer Boss
How to get motivated when you are feeling "stuck" in your design biz
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0:04
Welcome to the designer boss podcast, listen, learn, love and level up with the ultimate success guide for web and graphic designers.
0:17
My name is Anna Dower. I'm a cake lover and success slaying graphic design mentor.
0:23
And I'm Emma Kate, your personal sensei for mastering the wonderful world of the Web.
0:30
Together, we'll show you how to harness our tried and tested experiences and hard-earned lessons while you soak up everything we know about building a successful design business.
0:54
Hello! It’s Anna here. Welcome to the Designer Boss Podcast. Say hi Em!
0:55
Hi! It’s Emma. I'm glad to be back. It's been a while.
0:58
Yes. Thank you for being patient with us. 2021 has been not what we expected, I think. And today we're going to talk about dealing with feeling unmotivated and uninspired in your business, and all the hard stuff. So often people are just posting their highlight reel, on social media, on their blogs, on Instagram, everything. And sometimes when you're in a funk, it can make you feel like a bit of a freak for not loving every single moment of your business.
1:39
Absolutely, yes. And this is something that we've both gone through this year, in the last sort of, you know, six months or so, separately, but it was it was interesting that it kind of it happened at the same time. And yeah, it definitely made me feel like I guess all the feelings like unsuccessful, unmotivated, just not not feeling like myself. You know, if you're getting that all that impostor syndrome, all this sort of stuff happening. And yeah, it was, it was hard to go through. But I really appreciate it. When I hear other people share about this, I think it's really important that we share about it, too. And so if anyone else is going through this or goes through this in the future because I think it's gonna, it happens to all of us at some point, it's good too, it's good to have other people's stories to relate to.
2:37
Yeah, definitely. And it makes you feel like it's normal. And it is, I think, 100% normal in business to go through the cycles. Like there's always going to be the time when you're super motivated, and everything is just like, bam, bam, bam, yes, I'm on fire. And then there's gonna be other times where it's like, I don't wanna I don't want to do work. I don't want to deal with people. I have no good ideas. I'm just flat. And it's it is cycles. And I think it's really important to understand the cycle, and know that you'll get your mojo back eventually. And I do think it's important to cut yourself some slack. Like, I really can't even 100% pinpoint why I've been like in a bit of a funk in 2021. Like, there's been a few things happening in, like my personal circle. Not necessarily to me, but that has affected me, but it kind of makes you feel worse when there's not really a reason for it, like a specific reason. But sometimes you're just tired, I think.
4:00
Absolutely. I think there's there's a lot of a lot of reasons that can be but I found Yeah, like when you when you can't pinpoint a reason. Like it's so much easier when you can be like, that's what it is. That's what's stopping me. For me it was I couldn't recognize like the burnout coming. The end of last year, I'd booked in a like a getaway with some friends at the end of November. And I knew that like you know, it was coming like the burnout was coming. I'd have like 2020 was my biggest year ever. I like we watched us summer we did a bunch of launches. Like it was just like it was a massive year. And I loved it, but it just got to a point where it's just like, Man, I need a break. Like I just had not taken a break. Obviously, 2020 didn't work out as planned for a lot of people, like everyone, and it was just like, yeah, it was full on so I could recognize the burnout coming. And I was keen to like book this getaway and we went on the getaway and I was gonna tell like, you know, a good sort of chunk of time off over Christmas, to just really unwind and sort of re-gather myself and refresh. So I could come back to 2021. And for you know, anyone that follows me, you probably know that late last year, my dad passed away unexpectedly, even though he'd had cancer for over a decade, it wasn't, it was very sudden, in the end, we weren't expecting it. And that obviously threw a spanner in the works wasn't something that I expected. And it meant that you know, instead of taking time off, it turned into funeral plans, and all this, all that stuff happening, and then having to work over Christmas, to sort of catch up on things. And then I moved house twice, in the beginning of this year. And so all these things just kind of contributed a push back my time off for less than three months. In the meantime, we'd run the second summit in February. So it was just like one thing after the other, and I just had to sort of push through and do it. Luckily, I do love my job. And putting the summit together is like lots of fun, and I do enjoy doing that. But it's still just exhausting. So when I took time off in February, I was like, Okay, now I'm gonna take my month off, that I should have taken months earlier. And that's when it just all came sort of crashing down for me, and to try to get myself back out of that funk after a month off and motivate myself to actually work again and do some launches and, you know, get some money in and all that, like it just it was so hard. I haven't actually gone through that point in my career, where it's like, where's my motivation? And I think it's probably a lot to do with in the past I've had client work to do. So it's a lot easier when you have deadlines, and you have to, it's like, no, I have to launch that website this month. Like that's the clients paying me to do that. And I didn't have that this time because I have got rid of so much of my client work where it's really it was just me having to motivate myself to, you know, market my business or do a launch or do something like that. And I just kept putting it off putting it off. And I'd actually asked in my Facebook group, like I'm in a funk, like, I need some motivation. What do you guys do? Select motivate yourself. And I got some great tips, which I'll share. But the biggest one that really helped was when I shared this with Anna. And she said, I think you do well under pressure. I think you need like deadlines on yourself, you know, would that help? And I'm like, Yeah, you're right. Like, because when say the summer was coming up, and we had deadlines, and we need the sales page up by Sunday or something, I will stay up late every night and get that done. And I really love it. Like I'm quite happy to do that. So it was very true. So that's what I had to do. I just had to tell all my group and everyone that I can, I'm going to launch here, I'm going to do a challenge, then I'm going to launch a scholarship, I'm going to do all these things. Gotta do a Facebook Live every Friday, like I had to put it out there. And then that's like putting a deadline on myself to actually get it done. And so that's really worked for me. Yeah, but I do have some other tips that people share that I can share as well.
8:26
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I'd love to hear that.
8:29
I wish I could give shoutouts to people but I don't have them exactly in front of me of like, who said what, but I'm pretty sure Tracy said Tracy O'Brien said to go get a massage book a massage. Booka massage. I love a massage. And so when she written that I was like already done. Have to book that in. Some people said to go to a cafe, go just go work at a cafe for a day or something to kind of, you know, change up your environment a little bit and sparks some motivation. Other people set deadlines as well. And yeah, that's the one that's definitely worked for me.
9:05
And I think, like you said, just actually saying it out loud and telling other people like there is therapy and that when people start responding and go, Oh my god, me too. You know, it kind of like cuts through the, the spiral that you can get into when you're in a funk. And you feel like you're really alone and then you're standing still and you're failing. Like when you don't share that with the world. It makes it so much harder on yourself and that's why we're sharing it. You know, to let you know, it's okay, we've been there too. Let's talk about COVID. I mean, I think it's okay to feel stuck in these times because we've all taken on a bigger mental load even if we don't realize it It. Just like because it's a, it's a stolen cloud that's kind of following us at the moment. And it does make it hard to be really hyper focused, I think. And we just need to have some self compassion on the thing and think it's not going to be like this all the time. And I should mention that Emma and I actually sitting next to each other, and that never happens. And that's because we booked a retreat. And that was part of trying to get out of this funk. We actually booked into Airbnb. It's like a really big, fancy house. And we actually, you know, met for the first time, which is crazy, because we zoom all the time. But just having that real face-to-face human interaction, and getting away from our homes, and our everyday life and routine has been amazing. Like, it's just four days, but I feel like it's going to really fill our creative cups moving forward, and it's going to make a huge difference. So yeah, have something to look forward to, and actually meet people in person, because it's pretty awesome. And we've had some totally random conversations, design conversations that you can have with anyone else.
11:29
Oh, we did discover the other day that on my mac laptop, that it does light up the keyboard. The keyboard didn't light up. And I was like, I just paid $5,000 on this computer. And my old one lit up. And yeah, we worked it out. And it was just me.
11:48
So yeah, and it's a little things that, you know, really brighten up everything. I'm hoping I'm turning the corner with my funk. Just like Emma said, all those ideas are awesome. They all work. And it's yeah, just keep going. Don't give up. Yeah,
12:10
I think another thing that's really helped me is just being more active in my group and doing more Facebook Lives and stuff. And then I feel like I'm connecting with people more, I think that's something that's really lacking probably a lot of our lives in 2020 because you couldn't go out and you couldn't sort of feel that, you know, your social capital, you know, really interact with people more. So just doing that it's really helped me because I've just missed having that connection. And so it's been great just doing sort of regular Facebook Lives and being more active and talking to people and you know, see what other people are going through. And you probably get some good tips.
12:53
Yeah. Oh, whoa, just even like a sounding board people who totally get it. And we do tend to go inward when we're not feeling confident when we're not feeling great in our business. And that just makes it worse. I definitely reach out definitely put something out there into the world say hey, I'm feeling a bit shit in my business right now. And I promise you, you'll find people to you know, try to help you stand up, help you move forward. There is a great community out there use it, you're totally not alone.
13:33
I think going for a walk is a big one for me just getting out in nature and sort of stepping away for from it rather than just sitting at my computer and being like, I don't know what to do. Like I've no motivation to do this or that. I think Danny Daniel green might have said watch Netflix she puts up a Netflix show. I don't know if that works for me. I think I'd be way too distracted. But you know, I can I can see and see how they work some people.
14:05
Yeah, I know heaps of designers do that they have like, iPad or separate laptops next to them with the show going. But whatever works. Lately, I'm all about like treats. Like if I get through this if I get through this next launch, then I'm gonna book like a weekend away or I'm gonna, you know, buy that hair dryer that I really wanted. You know? Yeah. You just kind of figure out what works for you.
14:37
Absolutely. I think also like just working. If you can be flexible with your hours working hours that see you and life if someone invites you to go have lunch with them or something being asked to go do that and then work later that night or something to just sort of work around and makes you feel like you're really enjoying your life and that you you know if freelance business is really paying for itself, because it's fitting in with your lifestyle, you know, and I find that that really, that benefits me if I can feel like I'm doing all these things that I wouldn't otherwise be able to do if I was working a nine to five,
15:12
Yeah, actually enjoying the flexibility. Yeah, totally, I agree. But yeah, they're our tips. And we just wanted to let you guys know that business is hard. It's hard to stay motivated all the time. And it's okay. Just keep going. But figure out what you need to do in order to keep going, basically,
15:37
absolutely. I just thought of another one, too. I remember from your 2020 visionary course. We, we all made these plans for 2020. And obviously, everything changed. Yes. But part of that was like booking blocking out your holidays, like at the beginning of the year before actually going this is when I'm going to take time off throughout the year. And that was a really good sort of motivator, flak. Yes, I can work here and I'll do a launch. And then I'm going to like take two weeks off, and then I can plan my holidays and stuff. Obviously, that didn't really work. But I do like that idea of like, yeah, just blocking out where your holidays will be. And so you have something to look forward to. And then you can like work really hard. And then you know, you're gonna have more money for your holiday. And
16:23
so they you actually do have time off. Because otherwise, it's really hard to make space when you haven't scheduled it previously. But that being said, where we're actually busy planning the next Designer Boss Summit, which is coming in October. So we're motivated for that.
16:44
And we're telling you, so now we have a deadline, and we have to do it.
16:49
That's right. So yeah, that's something really exciting that we're looking forward to putting on for you guys. Because the response that we've had from the first two summits was crazy, like, totally overwhelming. And yeah, we can't wait to help you guys. Work smarter.
17:11
Yeah, I'm really excited. We've already got a yes from a bunch of speakers. And I was busy emailing them all yesterday, we've got a bunch of yesses back by this morning when we woke up. So that's really exciting. And so there'll be a bunch of the old favorites, but also some new faces as well. We like to pick all the best thing, the things that work the best from each Summit. And we're sort of like we change things up a little bit. But we try to keep all life the best things that people really liked from the previous summit. So this one's going to be bigger and better than ever.
17:42
So we're also committed to showing up more on our podcast. So keep us, accountable guys. We are going to hopefully be doing lots of episodes for you. So definitely keep an eye out for the designer boss podcast because we're here to serve you guys. And it's exciting.
18:04
And I do love doing it. We just we've had it booked in so many times to like record a bunch of episodes and then life got in the way and sickness I think we you know, colds and flu’s which don't really make for the best audio. Sorry, yeah, we're definitely looking forward to doing more of these.
18:24
Thanks for listening guys. You'll hear from us soon. Bye!
18:35
You've been listening to the designer boss podcast with Anna Dower and Emma Kate. If you'd like to learn more about us and our upcoming digital summit for graphic and web designers, head to our website designerboss.co