Focus on the Freelancer: Chandra Guglik, Designer

I had the honor of sitting down with Chandra Guglik to talk about design and helping others build their own dreams.

A: Tell me a little bit about your background and your freelancing experience. How did you get started?

C: I was working at a non-profit in an admin position after not landing a job in my field and “fell into” being a graphic designer. So I’m a self-taught designer and I think that foundation of teaching myself has become the hallmark of my entire career. I am always learning more from every project, experience, and person and am always willing to try new areas that are outside my expertise. That has really enriched my skill set over the years.

After about seven years as an in-house designer there, I decided to leave design and start my own vintage clothing store. That venture was not “successful” in terms of making enough money to live off of, but through that, I learned so much about running a business, marketing, web design, development, and branding.

During that venture, I started designing again full-time to pay the bills, but I decided to remain a contractor even though my contracts lasted several years. I did freelance on the side and over time, was able to cut back my contract hours and increase my freelance hours until I was ready to make the leap to freelancing [aka running my own business… my preferred terminology] full-time! It has now been more than three years of being independent and even though it can be extremely challenging, I love it.

A: What would say to those who are just starting out as freelancers? What is the hardest part about freelancing?

C: I would say if at all possible, start freelancing while you have another source of income. This takes the pressure off and allows you to see if you even like it. It’s not for everyone. Even if you’re doing what you love, you should realize that a large part of your time is spent running a business rather than just doing that thing you love. Also, explore different setups to figure out what would be best for you — maybe a co-working space would feed your need for human interaction or you could freelance with a virtual assistant or partner to take care of some of the things you don’t enjoy. There are a lot of options to make it work.

The hardest part about freelancing for me is the uneven income. You have to know yourself and gauge your need for security and whether that will work for you. I actually run two different businesses so I have multiple income streams and that helps.

A: Aside from the obvious ones (Google Calendar, Slack, Adobe Suite, etc), what tools do you use that you couldn’t live without?

C: Even with all the great tools out there, I still rely heavily on my Excel spreadsheets to keep myself organized! I’m a spreadsheet addict!

I’ve also been using Freshbooks for my accounting, time tracking, and invoicing and that is turning into a big timesaver.

A tool that may be overlooked is taking advantage of online communities. I’m a part of a couple of design entrepreneur Facebook groups and have learned so much from them and feel supported in this entrepreneur life.

Of course, as a designer, paper and pencil is always your best friend.

A: What kind of work do you wish you could do more of? Who (or what skillsets) do you wish you could collaborate or work with more?

C: I would love to do more long-term marketing projects. One of my clients is a Mexican restaurant and I’ve really enjoyed creating print, online, and social media marketing for them over several years now. I’m also really interested in data visualization and would like to get a chance to work on that more.

In terms of collaboration, I love learning across disciplines. Writers, photographers, videographers, animators, UX people, developers, social media strategists, and other designers and artists are all on my wish list to work with more.

A: Why do you do what you do? Why is it meaningful to you?

C: The first driver is beauty. I think we are all made to pursue it and if I can bring more of it into the world in some small way, that’s worth it. That could be classic visual beauty or beauty in simplicity or clarity or the experience.

The second driver is helping people fulfill their dreams. I work mostly with small business owners and non-profits and I love being a part of helping them reach their goals.

A: Could you briefly share a project that you are really proud of and explain why?

C: Everyone loves a good makeover! One project I did recently was a website redesign for a 60-year old company. The company makes realistic lifelike figures for museums, so there were a lot of great visuals there. Their site was functional but outdated and we were able to redesign the whole thing to make it more visually appealing and also a lot easier to use not only for their customers, but for the employees themselves. You can read more about the details in my case study at guglikdesign.com.

That was also my first project partnering with a Web developer rather than doing the development myself. It turned out to be a great experience.

Thanks for chatting with us Chandra! Anyone looking to connect, be sure to check out Chandra’s Covailnt profile and get in touch!

Want to have your work highlighted in a future Focus on the Freelancer blog post? Send us a note at connect@covailnt.com. Be sure to join the Covailnt beta and keep up with Covailnt’s Community Feed.

Happy Collaborating!