The Situation
I have spent 25 years working as a graphic designer, with 16 years as a creative director. Technological advancements bring new skills that must be learned and adapted seemingly every hour. These skills are often misused or abused to increase profits, resulting in diminished quality of creative output. With a family to support, I did my best to adapt and stay ahead of the curve, even though my role and responsibilities did not reflect my original goals and passion, which led me to design in the first place.
In March 2024, I was unexpectedly laid off from the agency where I worked for seven years. The reason was to improve the "financial health of the agency," meaning I was paying the price for the poor business decisions made by higher-ups.
The financial volatility caused by the current political and social landscapes, the unregulated rise of AI, and ageism have left me little hope of finding work. After months of applying for jobs daily and not getting any interviews, it is clear that my career is effectively over.
The Fallout And The Plan
In the months leading up to being laid off, I had begun to put into motion a plan that would allow me to leave the agency world and pursue my lifelong dream of running my own art studio/gallery. However, the sudden loss of a steady income seriously jeopardizes this plan. Then, a few months into my unemployment, an opportunity that seemingly solved my problems would allow me to take a swing at my dream. But as luck would have it, situations arose beyond my control, and that opportunity now looks to be a long shot.
Plan B
With my unemployment compensation rapidly running out, no luck in securing a design job, and the miracle solution put on hold, I decided to spend a large amount of time researching and trying to formulate a plan that would allow me to pursue my dream. It was clear early on that I would not be able to use traditional methods such as small business loans, but instead, I would have to look for alternative solutions. The obvious choice would be to look into various crowdsourcing platforms.
After spending a few days researching and comparing, I narrowed my choices to Kickstarter or Patreon. Ultimately, I decided on Patreon since I had already planned on making it part of my business strategy. So, I started formulating and creating the assets needed to fundraise my seed money.
Over Before It Began
To raise the seed money needed to get this project off the ground, I would have to utilize my only asset, my social media following. I knew this was going to be an issue from the start since, after spending a few years actively trying to grow a following, the total amount of followers for Facebook and Instagram combined is a very weak 708. For my fundraising plan to succeed, I would need 130 followers to subscribe to my Patreon. Even though I put together a rewards package that I believe is fair compensation for their investment, I knew getting 130 subscribers would be challenging.
The Number Don’t Lie
Before setting up and launching a Patreon page, I wanted to look at the engagement data for my social media accounts to see how big of a hill I had to climb. Unfortunately, it was way worse than I thought. For example, a typical post on Instagram would only be seen by 68 of my followers, which is only 17%, and out of those 68 followers, only an average of 12 would engage with the content.
The Reality
It was going to be a long shot to get 130 of my followers to invest in this plan, to begin with, but when the possibility of having my message even reach 130 followers is slim, the plan breaks down immediately, and the reality of the situation can no longer be ignored. The American Dream is a beautiful concept. However, its foundation is built on the myth that anyone can become whoever they want to be if they work hard and believe.
While that might be true for some, it does not hold true for most people; ask the tens of thousands of Little Leaguers who never made it to the Big League. Success relies heavily on fate, luck, and the support of others, in addition to hard work, dedication, and talent.
In the next few weeks, I will be looking into finding a job outside my chosen career, and I will also be halting all creative projects I have been working on and planning. I will no longer pursue my dream, which is obviously out of reach. That reality is a hard, bitter pill to swallow, and even now, there is a small part of me that does not want to face the facts, but I think it is time to call it a day and walk away from it all.
A Brief Word of Thanks
Some of you have supported my creative endeavors, going back to The Design Bureau of Amerika through Amerikan Made Prints and WRKLFE. Because of that support, I could pursue this dream as long as I could, and I cannot express my gratitude for that.