10 years of building a design business, in one email

Have you heard of the “Foggy River” analogy?

I ask because back in 2016, it felt like I was standing in front of a foggy river.

I’d just finished college.

I was at the edge of the shore, staring out at what was supposed to be my career.

And there was too much fog to see all the way through into exactly what I wanted my life to look like, or where I was trying to get to.

The only thing I could see ahead were rocks in the river

I recall seeing 3 rocks, aka 3 options in front of me:

• go to university to study graphic design and get a bachelors degree,

• get a design apprenticeship, or

• try to find a full-time job in the design industry.

I knew the full-time design agency job route would be difficult because I had very little design experience.

I also knew from my first year of college, that university wasn’t something I felt excited about.

I think a lot of that came from starting work at 14 as a waitress in a café.

It taught me that I learned best by doing. I wanted to gain real-world experience as quickly as possible rather than spend another three years studying and still not know if I’d get a job at the end of it.

Maybe you’ve seen this Instagram post:

But if not, I spoke about how I created a video resume to land an apprenticeship for a big marketing agency.

This was the first rock I stepped on.

It was actually the same qualification level as my college graphic design A-level, but I didn’t care.

I saw it as my way into the industry, and for me the experience was far more valuable than the certificate!

Funnily enough I got 3 months in and I asked my employer if I could scrap the apprenticeship and be hired full time instead (and they said yes)!

Just like that, another rock appeared.

Working in-house as a graphic designer exposed me to a lot of things early on.

Working with teams, delivering projects quickly, handling feedback, understanding print, learning different areas of design, seeing how businesses operate, working to deadlines.

These different experiences compounded over time and shaped how I think as a designer now.

Then in 2020, when COVID hit, I got furloughed.

So I looked for a new (temporary) rock.

That was when I started posting more consistently online, and began to take on some freelance illustrations projects.

Very quickly I realised that there was a natural ceiling to how much someone would pay for an illustration that’d at best, become their Instagram profile picture.

At that time, a family member needed a logo for a charity event, so I thought, “Yeah, I could help!”

I enjoyed the process of designing a logo far more than I expected. So I took on more projects and it started filling my calendar.

That said, it was supposed to be temporary rock and I fully expected I’d probably go back to my job once furlough ended. The goal at the time was honestly just to see if I could build enough of a client base that freelancing became a real option (a new rock).

I also remember having the thought of: “if I could eventually make the same amount freelancing in one month as I did at my full-time job, then this could turn to a full time thing.”

From there, things naturally started evolving into logo design.

After every project, I slowly added another layer.

It started with logos, then logo suites, then colour palettes, then simple visual identity packages.

I noticed that the more time and thought I put into projects, the better the work became.

Clients got more value from it because the branding was actually helping them across different parts of their business.

Naturally, that also meant I could charge more.

Within a couple of months, I’d booked myself out a few months in advance and was making the same, if not slightly more, than my 9-5 monthly income.

That gave me the confidence to leave my job once the furlough ended.

And that’s how, by stepping on one rock at a time and moving through the river, I found this new shore: a lifestyle design business that would help use my design mind to solve real business problems for my clients.

All while showcasing how I think, plan, and execute these projects so that other designers could do the same.

That said…

The fog didn’t clear all at once

When I open Instagram today, every other post is about someone quitting their jobs, taking the leap, and becoming a 6-figure business owner within 6 months!

That’s not how it happened to me. And that’s not how it happens with most “successful” people!

I started my overall design journey in 2016.

I didn’t feel like a genuinely experienced, confident brand designer until around 2023.

7 years of stepping through fog, adding layers, taking on bigger projects, and slowly understanding what kind of work I actually wanted to do and why.

Standing here in 2026, a full decade on from that shore, the path looks clear(er).

Of course the apprenticeship led to the in-house role.Of course the in-house role taught me things that shaped how I run my business today.Of course the illustrations hit a ceiling and pointed me toward something more valuable.

As Steve Jobs said in his Stanford commencement speech:

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

I think about this a lot when I speak to designers who are 1 or 2 years into their journey and wondering whether they’re on the right track.

What they don’t realise is that most people who’ve “made it”, think of time very differently than those who’re just starting out.

It’s common to hear successful entrepreneurs casually say “oh, we’ve only been doing this for two or three years”, like that’s nothing.

For people who’ve been building things for a long time, it IS nothing.

And I don’t think you ever fully leave the foggy river.

Reaching the other shore doesn’t mean the fog is gone forever.

It means you’ve crossed one stretch of river. If you decide to keep growing, to move into new territory, build something new, take your work somewhere it hasn’t been before, you’ll find yourself at the edge of another shore, staring out at another stretch of fog.

The difference is that you’d have crossed a river before.

So you will know the rocks show up when you move toward them. And the fog will lift with each step.

Are you standing at the edge of a foggy river? If so, reply and let me know what it looks like for you.

Sometimes just trying to explain your situation to a complete stranger can help a lot more than you’d imagine.

And always remember, you don’t need to see the whole river.

You just need the next rock.

If you find one that excites you, hop on? If nothing else, it will give you a better view.

Talk soon.

Abi 😊

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PS. If one of your next rocks is building a design business by creating strategic brand identity for clients, I put together Strategic Brand Identity Lab for exactly that. Think of it as a few years of fog, compressed.