A designer's biggest challenge: Learning to develop thick skin!!

A couple of days ago my husband sent me an article he thought I should read. As I was busy at the time I kept it in my inbox waiting until I had free time. Then last week happened. I don't normally like to complain about my job, for me it's a dream to be doing what I love for a living, however a customer really got under my skin. After serving 250+ happily satisfied customers, odds are there is bound to be a rotten apple. Needless to say, this person brought out the version of me I rarely let people see, the not-so-nice version of me. I always try to approach a situation with a smile and a positive attitude, but I was all out of smiles and polite pleasantries for this customer.  Anyways the situation happened, and with some rationalization and support from my husband I was able to get passed it. Then today after work, I decided to read the article that my husband had sent me a while back. Boy am I glad I did. It was refreshing and inspiring and hit extremely close to home. I recommend every designer read this (it's actually pretty good even if you're not a designer). Reading it brought a smile back to my face and put a little spring back in my step. So I thought I'd share:
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2012/06/get-a-thick-skin-living-with-criticism/ Enjoy!!!

My New Artfire Store!!

Decided to expand my business tonight and spontaneously opened up a shop on Artfire.com. I've been on Etsy.com for about a month and wanted to see what other sites had to offer. I must say I was thoroughly impressed with the functionality of Artfire. It has a lot of features that I wish Etsy had and it's pretty intuitive when it comes to setting up shop. The "Studio" feature is probably one of my favorites. Not to mention I was able to import my whole Etsy shop with a few easy clicks. I think I might like it here.

My Store Front!!

Check my store out at: Dragonfly Designs by Gwin on Artfire (I'm very proud of it!!)

Hi, I'm Gwin, Graphic Designer

Found this on the interweb...It's sooo true!

Today officially marks the end of the first month since my store has been in business, and I am happy to report that it was a surprisingly successful month. As an artist and designer, there is always a bit of trepidation when you put out a product. There is that feeling of insecurity, the belief that every one else is better than you, and that constant fear of rejection. When I received my first order, I was beyond elated, it was a moment of validation. I knew that at least one person in the world liked my work, and for me that was enough. To my surprise 30+ orders later, and that feeling never gets old. My customers have also been amazing, they always email me kind words of encouragement and it inspires me to make the next product better than the last. Quite honestly, I feel lucky to have found that thing that many people spend a lifetime looking for, something I'm good at. I spent much of my adolescent and twenty something years in denial, running from my passion for art. Whenever I would tell people I wanted to be a designer, they looked at me as if I had told them I wanted to become a serial killer. If I managed to get past their look, I would then hear "Artist only make money when they're dead." As if we were in some kind of 14th Century Renaissance. It was after much soul searching that I decided to stop caring about what people thought, and admit to myself that this was the career that was going to make me happy. So with great pleasure and assertiveness, allow me to introduce myself...Hi, I'm Gwin, Graphic Designer.

And so it begins...

So it's 6:00 a.m. and I've managed to get no sleep...however the upside, a blog I'm finally proud of :) Can't believe how much detail goes into these things, my OCD is running a mock...my perfectionist nature would not allow me to sleep until every letter matched and all the colors were right. Anyhow, I'm very excited to start blogging about my design ventures as well as some of the other random projects I like to do from time to time. Follow me, I promise, it'll be an interesting ride. Well the bed calls...but not before I make sure this post looks perfect :)

P.S. I hate you Amy...this is all your fault!!!