“Generalists are always perfect candidates for starting a studio”

Creative Career Conundrums is a weekly advice column from If You Could Jobs. Each week their selected panel of professionals from the creative industry answers your burning career questions to help you navigate the creative journey.

This week’s question:

“I am a 25-year-old junior creative working in my first agency job but feel as though I have hit a wall in terms of creative growth. The agency I work at is still in its infancy and often faces the challenges a typical startup would – not enough clients, disorganisation, etc.

I have dreams of having professional freedom and being able to take creative ownership over my own projects, taking on work that I believe matters. I have worked in fantastic working environments and want to be able to provide that for others, offering other creatives the work-life balance I dream of having. With that, my goal is to build my own creative studio.

When it comes to branding and advertisement, I am a jack of all trades but master of none. I have doubts due to my lack of creative professional experience as well as a fear that modern day ‘start-up’ culture, as depicted on social media, may be a rose-tinted version of reality. However, working in a small startup studio means I often get to see behind the scenes of agency life and have learnt a lot about the business management side of things.

How do I know whether it’s best to try and gain more relevant industry experience or to take the plunge, commit to building a (one-person for now) studio, growing through doing and getting a head start on the business management side of things?”

Katie Cadwell, co-founder of branding studio Lucky Dip and The NDA Podcast:

There is no time frame for your next step. If you feel ready and are itching for a new challenge, I’d say that’s a brilliant time to start. You’re going to need that drive and additional energy to get a new studio off the ground (arguably, if you wait and allow resentment to build, you might not feel as fired up when you hit go).

Tons of creatives started their own studios young. The likes of the Yarza Twins, Jessica Walsh, Dines… From reading their stories, it seems they couldn’t find a path they loved in the industry, so drew their own. And it goes without saying, they’ve all gone on to great success.

The generalists are always perfect candidates for starting a studio because it’s so much more than doing good work. It’s about getting the best from your teams and your client relationships. Managing the day-to-day timelines and budgets. Learning how to promote yourself and find the projects you want. Coming from a small team will mean you’ve had lots of exposure to all the ‘other’ parts of running a business, which is a great foundation to build from.

It might be worth doing some reading on people’s experiences setting up on their own. There are some great articles on the design blogs, from personal stories to handy ‘how-to’ guides. There are paid, in-depth courses you can sign up for, like Slam Media Labs ‘How to start an agency’ which walks through everything from pricing, proposals to legals. Soak up as much information as possible, so you start off on the right foot. And ideally, line up a project ready for your kickoff.

At the end of the day, you are the best judge of your skills and capabilities. But it sounds to me like you’re ready. Life’s short – why wait until tomorrow for something you want to do today.

In answering your creative career conundrums we realise that some issues need expert support, so we’ve collated a list of additional resources that can support you across things that might arise at work.

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