For the first time as a professional, with this new business, I'll be entirely self-employed. I am going to do freelance and contracted work for small businesses and nonprofit organizations. This means, I will work from home most days and travel around the country as clients request.
So, why am I starting my own business?
For years, I've seen the benefits of self-employment around me as my dad and other family and friends have run successful businesses working for themselves. I see the freedom they have to set their own schedules, establish their rates, and find and reject jobs as they see fit. I've always seen some appeal to that.
In the last few years, I've begun to turn my eyes toward establishing my own business. After successfully working from home for the past two years, it's become even more of a realistic possibility.
The more I considered it, the more excited I became about the dream of establishing my own business.
Over nearly a decade working in the professional video production, graphic design, and marketing fields, I have seen many small businesses struggle to create and maintain professional visual identities. There are understandable reasons for this!
It's expensive. It takes resources to hire skilled videographers, buy gear, and maintain a regular multimedia production schedule. It's difficult to hire and keep talented graphic designers and web designers. And through employee turnover, internal shifts in priority, and budget cuts, brands often let video fall to the wayside.
I see small organizations pinched in between consumer demand for multimedia content and the high prices charged by marketing agencies.
This forces small brands to stretch overworked staff members by tacking video production and photography onto their job responsibilities without much professional training or time to devote to it.
I think I can deliver a better quality product, relief to these do-it-all marketers on staff, and tangible results from the impact of the content I create.
Like many, I've spent most of the past two years working from home. And it's a great fit for my work style! However, I've been employed full-time, so I'm expected to remain online and available during the traditional work day.
I'm thrilled to take my schedule into my own hands and add the flexibility that comes with self-employment.
Creative work requires the right frame of mind...and I know that I do my best creative work first thing in the morning, after exercising, and after spending time in nature. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to schedule my creative time in a way that works best for me and delivers the best results for my clients.
I've been Multimedia Producer and Graphic Designer at JMX Brands for nearly six years now. I feel comfortable in that role. I know how to shoot and edit the content I create. I know the ins and outs of the DutchCrafters visual identity. But with a routine, stagnation can set in.
I'm very happy to continue contracted work for JMX in the coming months, but in some ways I'm more excited to see how I can develop new skills and competencies while working for other clients!
Last year I started an online course of study to advance my professional skillset: Google's User Experience Design course. As I adopt a more flexible schedule, I anticipate that I'll be able to fit the course into my daily routine and soon earn my Professional Certification in User Experience Design.
The requests from other clients will be different. The brand identities will be unique. And the creative direction will push me to new places. I expect these opportunities to make me better at what I do (and, in turn, even improve in my contracted work for JMX as well).
The last reason I'm starting my own business is because the time is right.
After five years of living in Sarasota, Florida, and working at JMX Brands, last June my wife Aimee and I moved to North Newton, Kansas. This is the area where we both grew up and where our families live. It feels like a bit of a homecoming and a chance to reconnect with our community. We also studied at Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana, for four years. And we still have great relationships in Sarasota!
Between these three communities, I feel like I have the right connections and support to make this jump to self-employment today. So, after nine months of remote work for JMX Brands, I'm setting out on my own and moving from full-time remote employment to part-time contract work for JMX.
It's also a hard time for employers to find and keep quality candidates in their creative positions. In these trying times for employers, if I can help bridge an employment gap, fill a hole in a creative team's skillset, or push a small brand to greater heights, I'll feel successful in my new endeavor. Now is the time.
I can't wait to see who I get to meet, what I get to work on, and where my career goes from here! Please subscribe to this blog to follow along with my journey. And, if you have an idea for a multimedia or design project, I'd love to discuss it with you. Please view my portfolio right here at jpsmucker.com and reach out to talk. Thanks for stopping by and reading about my big step.
