A creative director once told me I could never be a designer.
Why? Because I didn't go to design school. In his eyes, that was the end of the talk. I had been designing for years. I was the main designer on the product he was looking at. It didn't matter to him.
Today I run my own design studio, and founders and companies come to me. If you had told me that on the day he said it, I would have laughed.
So I want to tell you how I got from there to here. All of it, the good parts and the parts I'm not proud of. It's a long one, so grab a coffee.
If you've ever been told you're not a real designer, if you've ever done great work for very little money, or if you've ever wondered how other designers get paid well, read this one slowly. I wrote it for you. And at the end, I'll share the five lessons that changed everything for me.
I knew I could design, I just didn't know how
I always had a feeling I could be a designer. I couldn't explain it. I just knew. What I didn't know was how. Nobody could show me the way from "I think I'm good at this" to getting paid for it.
Money at home was never steady. So I did a lot of small jobs to help my family and to take care of myself. Whenever I got the chance, I took small computer classes. Most of my free time went into a computer, and most of that time went into Photoshop.
At 16, I joined a graphic and web design course. And then something magical happened.
I had spent so many years on that computer that I already knew Photoshop really well, better than I thought. That was enough to get me my first job, in my own city.
My first job was turning business cards into websites
I will never forget that first job.
It was the smallest company you can picture, two or three people in one room. Every time a new client came in, they gave me a business card and said, "Make a website from this." I had two or three days.
So I figured it out. I found a template and built the website on it. I looked online for pictures. I copied and pasted whatever words I could find, and I handed it over. That was the whole job.
I know how that sounds. There was no big idea behind any of it. But here's the thing. That job taught me more than the course did. I learned to finish. I learned to deliver on time, even when I had no idea what I was doing. It was a roller coaster, and I learned a lot.
If you're there right now, doing small work that doesn't feel like "real" design, don't be ashamed of it. Everyone starts somewhere. I started with a business card.
Five years, many companies, one thing I missed
Then I moved to a new city, New Delhi. My first office job there was as a UI designer.
After that, I kept moving. I worked at that company, then another one, then NDTV, then more. Over five or six years, I worked at many companies, some of them from other countries. Every time I moved, I got a little better and a little more sure of myself.
And honestly? I thought that was the plan. Get better, move, get paid a bit more, do it again. I believed that if I just got good enough at design, everything else would fall into place.
I was wrong. I just didn't know it yet.
The day I felt trapped
My last job in India was from 2017 to 2018. I was building a product as the principal designer. Two things happened there that changed how I saw everything.
The first one, you already know. The creative director told me I couldn't be a designer, because I didn't go to design school. All those years, all those jobs, all that work, and one sentence made me doubt all of it.
The second one hurt more, because it was about money. On the whole product, there were only two designers. The two of us did all the work, and it was way too much. Then I heard it was a five-million-dollar project.
They were paying me $500 a month.
I felt trapped. My work was making other people a lot of money. But someone else decided what my work was worth. Someone else even decided if I was a designer at all.
Here's what I learned, and it took me a long time. Being good at design gets you hired. It doesn't get you paid well. Those are two different skills, and nobody teaches you the second one.
The missing piece was the business side.
I stopped waiting and made my own opportunity
Go to design school. Get the degree. Wait for someone to pick you. That's what I was told.
I couldn't stop thinking about what the creative director said. Then one day, it clicked. I had been waiting my whole life for someone to say I was allowed. A boss, a degree, a creative director. Nobody was ever going to say it. So I decided I didn't need them to.
I started freelancing on the side, and it was hard. I sent offer after offer on Freelancer.com, and nothing worked. Not one. In the end, the site shut down my account. (Yes, I got banned from a freelance site before I was even a freelancer.)
So I tried something else. I started sharing my designs on Instagram and Dribbble every week and told myself I'd figure it out. Slowly, people started to reach out. In 2018, I made $28,000 from freelancing. That was more than any job had ever paid me. So I quit and went all in.
Getting fired was the push I needed
Long story short, I freelanced for a few years after that. It grew fast, and so did the stress. I said yes to everything. More clients, more projects, more late nights. Bit by bit, anxiety and depression caught up with me, and in 2021 the panic attacks got so bad that I had to stop.
That's when I saw the hard truth. I hadn't built a business. I had built a job with more bosses.
So I joined a startup as their Creative Director. Together with an amazing team, we designed the product and its marketing, and shaped the product they showed investors when they raised their next big round. It's still some of the work I'm most proud to have been part of.
Then, in 2023, they let me go. No warning. It hurt, and for a while I was scared.
But looking back, it was the best thing that could have happened to me. For the first time, I didn't go looking for the next job. I decided to build something of my own, something nobody could ever take away from me.
Building something nobody can take away
In 2024, I moved to Prague and started my own studio. I already knew how to design. What I didn't know was the business side. So I spent 12 months learning the part nobody teaches designers. How to explain what I do, how to plan a project, how to write a proposal, how to set my price, and how to say no.
Soon, founders and companies started coming to me, from small new startups to teams that have raised over $25M. I work on my own, by choice. When a project needs more hands, I bring in people I trust. I still do the work myself. And in these letters, I share what it taught me.
Here are the five lessons I wish someone had told me at 16.
Mix creativity and business
I used to think that as a designer, I could only care about the creative side. I wasn't sure where business fit in. But designers can do so much more than design. When you mix creativity with business, that's where the real magic happens. It's what makes you worth more.
Find your own way of working
One of the best things I did early on was figure out my own way of working. I didn't just copy what I found online or follow someone else's process. I tried things, learned from my mistakes, and over time I built a process that fits each project. Trust me, finding your own flow early will save you time and help you earn more.
One client or ten clients
I used to think I had to hustle and take as many clients as I could. Then I noticed something. A $100 project and a $10,000 project take about the same effort. So I stopped taking lots of small, low-paying projects and focused on clients who pay well. Now I work on fewer projects, they pay much more, and the clients see the value in what I do.
Stay on your own path
There's so much content out there, and trying to keep up with all of it wears you out. It's easy to get pulled into what everyone else is doing. The best thing I did was pick a clear path and stick to it. If I were starting over, I'd write down my goals and work on them one step at a time, no matter what was going on around me.
Don't get stuck overthinking
Overthinking has been my biggest problem, and I still fight it sometimes. I get stuck in my head, scared of making mistakes, and I don't move. But I've learned that doing nothing is way worse than making a mistake. If you want to grow, you have to act, even if you mess up on the way. It's the only way forward.
I started with a business card and two days to turn it into a website. No degree, no plan, and nobody telling me I was allowed. I just kept going, one job at a time, until my work spoke for me.
Here's what all of it taught me. You can be great at design, but if you don't know how to sell it, you're just a designer waiting to be picked. And you can be great at selling, but if you can't deliver what you promise, you're missing a skill too. You need both, and the right mindset to keep going when it gets hard.
That's what these letters are about. Design, business and mindset, from someone who still does the work.
What's one thing someone said that made you doubt you're a real designer? Hit reply and tell me. I read every one.
See you in another one!
Let's grow together 🙌
P.S. If you read all the way here, thank you. That means a lot to me. If you're just starting out, I put the path I wish I'd had into a free guide, The Freelance Design Playbook.
