The best education
I’ve been happily employed as a graphic designer at Retouch for the past year. In the wooden loft of this Copenhagen based Web Agency i’ve been working on a myriad of projects with a broad sweep of clients. I’ve seen the company grow, the lifecycle of projects evolve and the people behind them in their finest hours. I’ve been brought up in various project management theories and tools, co-worked with professionals around the world and had plenty of one-to-one client time. In short; i’ve earned my wings as a designer and learned alot about the industry. It’s been a tremendous learning experience and probably the best kind of education one could get. While sustaining this wonderful position, i’ve moonlighted and kept the fire lit under a humble freelance career. These two workplaces have been my main source of inspiration for the past year, and have helped me grow as an artist and a professional. The few posts i’ve managed to author here at Pixelresort has been in the coffee-breathed limbo of these two responsibilities.
Working with Retouch has been a great education.
Being your own maker
Two weeks ago i quit my day job to shift my time and energy towards my personal projects and my freelance career. The decision had been brewing in my subconciousness for some time, and i passed a mental ’point of no return’ three weeks ago - growing ever more sure that i would be able to sustain and manage my own career.
Quite alot of contemplation goes into an elaborate transformation like this. And while i won’t bore you with the lifestyle intricacies, for me the decision rested on a need for bigger personal and creative freedom. Once it became apparent to me that we are completely free to invent our own careers and that I had the very real and pleasant opportunity to be my own maker, it didn’t take long to connect the dots.
Why i’m getting out
I have my quips with the service industry as a whole. To tell you the truth, I think it consists of a very large group of people who have no idea what they want, how they want it or how much it costs anyway. It’s these people that then set out to hire a much smaller group of people, the professionals. These people may have the answers to all of the above, but it usually all drowns in budgets, paperwork, meetings and good old stubbornness. While there certainly are great high-fiving days at a service agency, it can also sometimes feel that you arrived another day at the kindergarden constantly having to educate clients and argue semantics. In these time consuming projects that seem to drag on, you have to be a very neat person to enjoy the sheer bureaucratic grind of it all.
Some biased but honest illustrated factors that weighed in my decision.
Above I’ve tried to illustrate the factors that meant something in my decision. This is ofcourse horribly biased, but it gives you an idea of what was going on in my mind when choosing my path. In the end, I think the most important question I got from a friend was “do you see yourself doing your current job a year from now?”
What are you going to do?
I still enjoy doing freelance work for clients, and with this move my services are going to be more available than ever. Despite my ranting of the overall service industry above, I find great pleasure in doing complete custom work in unique projects, where I actually feel that I can make a difference and cover ground faster. I find pleasure in expanding my skills in interface and icon design and discussing them with likeminded clients that appreciate the input.
Hopefully my distribution of time in the future will look something like this.
A huge part of me quitting the nine-to-five, is so that I can better arrange time for my own projects. A few of them I’ve yet to reveal, but I’m very proud to announce my upcoming iPhone Dev. Company (much more on this later) Robocat and our first ambitious App called Outside.
Our upcoming iPhone App. Clicking the picture will take you to the teaser site.
Outside is visual weather forecast combined with custom push notifications, all set in a completely unique interface. Read more about it at outsideapp.com
The Future
Hopefully this move will give me more time to grow my personal projects and see some of my dreams spring to life. Ideally this should also bring you more content here at Pixelresort, where I’ll try to put in more time authoring articlesand giving you free icons. I will also have to eat at some point, so I’m still looking forward to harnessing my skills on your interface projects; icons, websites or iphone apps – just send me an email with your project and I’ll give you a quote.
I feel that I’ve started another chapter in my career, and I hope you’ll stick around to see how it plays out. What about you? Have you ever stood before a similar choice? How did it go? Give me a piece of your mind in the comments.
Copyright 2009 Michael Flarup All Rights Reserved
Congratulations. I hope you’ll be happy with your new career choice.
Wow - awesome for you!
I’m only 15 years of age (Send you a mail, when you were still at retouch), and this really sounds like something i would love doing. If you haven’t already, check freelanceswitch.com
If you at any point have the time, and energy, to share some of the process of such a project, please let me know.
Congratulations and good luck
I can honestly say I have yet to regret my decision to become a freelancer. Admittedly, I have only been doing it full time for less than a year, but the feeling of having the responsibility for my life and career is totally exhilarating.
Congrats, Michael! It seems you really weighed your options before jumping ship, and that is definitely the right way to do it. Your work is outstanding and I’m sure you’ve made a good move that will prove to be a great opportunity to really shine in the global design community. I look forward to seeing what projects come next for you, and hopefully one day be able to collaborate on some jobs together.
Welcome to the wonderful life of Freelancer
I hope you found success in your new path.
Congrats Michael! Really happy for you. Freelancing is a great lifestyle if you can stay focused and dedicated. Best of luck man! Can’t wait to see what new things you’re going to be brewing up.
Great news! Means you can just enjoy the freedom of being yourself rather than the puppet of another company. Doesn’t mean to say I have anything against working for somone, but the limitations it has can become worse than the benefits after time.
Still, can’t wait to see more great stuff from you!
hi michael!
well done! i’m sure you’re going to success on your career!
happy new beginning!
Awesome, good luck to you!
Good luck dude!
Love your works and I’m sure you will have great success as a freelancer.
Congratulations! Very inspiring to say the least, keep us updated on the progress.
Sorry, this is a beside the talk but,
I’m a first time visitor to your website and you did a very good job with this site!!
did you use Word Press for this blog? Very impressive!
Have you thought about sharing your site template?
Congratulations and good luck
Great, but can I get still Logo’s from you?
Man, it is so cool…
I’m kind of stuck on my work too. It is a very good working place (in our country) but… I’m not doing what I want. I’d quit, if not doubt my skills.
So i’m on a crossroads now… We’ll see. Maybe your post will somehow help we with a decision.
Thank you anyway. Great site and articles. I’m lead artist in mobile game dev. company and always share links to your articles with my artists. Aaand sorry for my poor English
Good luck!
Congrats on the career move. I hope to be able to do the same…..someday…
It’s good choise. I think
Congrats! I wish you nothing but the best, and I can’t wait to see the Outside app!!
I must say, Flarup.
Knowing you from “the early days” I’ve never been surprised to see you go “on your own”. It’s your nature. It’s who you are -and I envy you
I hope to see more of your work -which is a inspiration to us all.
.PagePusher
It’s good choise.
Support you!
A great pixel step. Congratulations.
Maybe i’ll follow your steps in half a month…
Hi Michael
I think that after one year you really got it, what makes the industry of service so sick. These people who tell you to use tools and set up milestones and do this and that often got “double standard” if you know what i mean. Its like in the music industry - it doesn’t really work well if you are not ready to cut of the old ties.
As I know you as the best freelancer I ever worked with, i don’t see any problems. Never found someone that can catch up with you when it comes to creativity, technical skills and personal resposiblity for a project.
hoping to see the next iphone apps from you!!!
congrats
Seeing your works I have no doubt that you’ll make a great career by yourself. You have the talent and the tools, so chase your dream, you’re close to it. And then keep chasing other dreams. That’s the way people advance. Chasing dreams and dreaming new ones to chase.
Senuf
Buenos Aires
PS: Mange tak for the goodies! I downloaded ‘em all (minus one).
Bravoo!! glad to hear, in the next few month sure fire i do the same decision like you
I Appreciate your generosity in sharing your personal story and web resources. If you persist in this I feel you will be quite successful.
I wish i could find the way to make a productive life!
Hehe congratulations
!
congratulations!
i wishing the good for u
That’s awesome and a bold move. You work is exceptional and so I don’t see you having a hard time finding clients. I’m just venturing out on my own as well and I’m hoping to find a footing a niche or two to propel myself out of the 9-5 day job. I haven’t quite made the transition like you but I’m looking to get there eventually.
Congrats!
I’m a new reader of your blog and wow! Your site is visual awesomeness! I love your work.
Congrats, you do have the skills to pull it off.
i would like to quit my job
Hi Michael! My name is Vanya
It’s cool site!
well, sound is good! it’s a better choice!
your life story has similar with my career. good luck!
Excellent choice Michael! It’s gonna be a long and winding road, but you will never regret it.
Hey Michael,
/N
just wanted to drop a note and say thanks for the year that passed and looking forward to more projects to come. See you around the office
I so understand you! You inspired me right now! I am graphic designer at one company… and my back and neck and eyes are killing me and I can’t see any day light so that’s killing me too :-D!
So just go for! Wish you luck!!!!
from what I see here, if people are smart, the last thing you’ll have on your hands will be free time.
congratulations!
It’s a great step!
hi, I’m happy with your choice.
now it’s all about time efficiency …
if you ever want to go back to a job, before doing that, I suggest you to read “Rich Dad Poor Dad” is a book by Robert Kiyosaki.
good luck in your career.
I have considered this myself a few times. But haven’t had the guts to do it yet
But I’m happy for you with your decision!
just saw this. great move. your so talented so it will not be a problem for you!
Well done on your iphone app and all the best for 2010. i hope to do more work with you soon!
Freelancing is really hard but very rewarding if you know well the industry. Keep up!
Good for you! Your talent will take you far anyway, employed or self-employed. Enjoy the journey!