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 surface design career! 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 and a freelance career
— 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

Pinegate Road Podcast Links:

— Juliet Meeks Design
— Elle Luna’s 100 Day Project
— Juliet’s Course on Skillshare- Watercolor Basics: Paint Your Own Patterned Note Cards 
— Creative Bug
— Cloud9 Fabrics
— Coast Starlight Amtrak Train
—  Audible Free Trial

Tweet it!

—Tweet: About a year in, I knew I was ready to start working for myself @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
— Tweet: Something snapped and I felt like I hit my groove @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
—Tweet: About a year in, I knew I was ready to start working for myself  @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
— Tweet: I really love making my own schedule @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
— Tweet: It was definitely harder the first six months @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
— Tweet: Once you get through that, it starts to feel so much better, even just a year in @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
— Tweet: Two years in, I’m definitely more confident than I was @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
— Tweet: I have embraced doing what I want when I want @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
—Tweet:  I needed to get more consistent with actually making patterns instead of just dreaming about them @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
— Tweet: When I’m walking my dog, I’ll take photos of things that I like based on colors…whatever gives you that spark @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
—Tweet:  I can’t let those things get in the way of me living a nice, joyful life @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
— Tweet: I try to work with clients that know that my style is what you’re getting @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
— Tweet: Maybe I’m being too too hard on myself @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
—ITweet: t’s not crazy; you’re creating from your soul @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
—Tweet: Thinking of the design as an object, not something that is an extension of you @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
— Tweet: They want to make changes to the design, not to me @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
— Tweet: It’s so nice to do the things that you love @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
—Tweet: The ones that were meant to happen, happen @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks
—Tweet:  It’s great when you’re not too attached to the outcome @pinegateroad @juliet_meeks

Connect with Juliet :

— Website
— Instagram
— Facebook
— Pinterest
— Twitter

Connect with Pinegate Road:

— Instagram: I’ve been LOVING sharing some daily happenings with the new stories feature — hope you’ll follow along there!
— Pinterest
— Facebook
— Twitter
— Are you interested in becoming a client? Get in touch about working with Pinegate Road to build your brand foundation!
— Calling First Year Business Owners? Click to learn more about First Steps to Freelance: Crafting your Plan to Wild Success