In 2021 my contract in the laboratory of a startup developing battery technology for use in hybrid cars came to an end. I took two months off from working full-time to finish the renovations I had been doing during my weekends on my 100-year-old cottage. During this time, between building loft beds and painting cupboards, I had an insatiable urge to write. I quelled any thoughts I had of creative industries not being financially viable career paths and I wrote the children’s book I had been wanting to write for 10 years. Once I finished that, I needed more. I started writing a novel. It didn’t matter to me if either ever got published, I wrote because it made me incredibly happy.
At the end of my two months off, I was offered two jobs. One role was back in a laboratory for a well-established company making personal care products. I would be formulating cosmetics (this is originally what I studied for) and rewriting their standard operating procedures. The other role was for a brand new startup in an industry I had never worked in. It was a role that didn’t have a lot of certainty. Would the company take off? What would the work entail? I didn’t know. Naturally, I turned down the well-paid, secure role for the personal care company and decided to brave the unknown, drawn in by the potential to learn and to help another startup grow.
While I worked for this startup my role evolved and soon I had taken on policy writing, document creation, copywriting, and even digital design work for the company. I loved it! It finally felt like all of the time I had devoted to writing and art outside of my career had paid off and yes, these things that I dreamed of doing could actually be a job, I finally understood how people could love their work!
In this role I learned so much about getting a business off the ground, the back end of running a business, and delivering creative projects to a client that not only met but exceed expectations.
Since the first lockdown in 2020 my partner and I had been dreaming of moving out of the city, to be closer to nature, somewhere more peaceful where we could adopt more fur babies. At the end of 2021 the perfect opportunity came up and we took the chance to move to the brink of the city, right on the beach. Now I am lucky enough to live in a beautiful 50’s house with a substantial studio that I have converted into e.g. Creative Solutions HQ and gallery. Now, every morning I get to wake up to the sound of waves crashing on the shore and work on incredible projects for my amazing clients with the help of my fellow resident artist, Cessna the rescue cat.
If I had taken the job formulating cosmetics I would have never believed that I could work as a creative. I would have never even thought of starting my own business and I would still be dreading Monday mornings. But, here we are! And hopefully you and I will get to work together on some creative projects soon.
