Search

The Other Side of Fear

Steph Robinson
Jun 5, 2015
2 min read

OK, so seeing this is my first blog post ever- I'm going to be selfish and make this personal- something for me to reflect upon years from now.

I officially opened for business this year in January and my goodness it's been one hell of a ride so far! For three years I wanted to start my own graphic design business- to freelance is a very scary thing- I watched my friends from University in Australia pick up all their skills and make something worthwhile out of them and I admired them so much for putting themselves out there into the world, so fearlessly, and then one day I found myself sitting at home in a crusty yoghurt -covered shirt with one toddler hanging on each of my legs and I realised that if I didn't find something to get myself out the house I would probably go insane. I love my kids more than anything in the world but there is only so much nappy changing I can take.

I had two fears- one was putting my skills into the world and failing miserably (let's be honest, I don't have too many skills so if I failed at graphic design I would probably be a bit clueless as to where to go next.) And the other fear was waking up one day and realising that I had accomplished nothing- what kind of a role-model would I be for my kids? I had no idea where to start- so I approached on of my friends at a nearby hotel and offered my services on retainer, this way I could bring in a little money for my family and also work from home so I could stay close to my kids- ideal.

Suddenly once my work was out into the world I started getting messages and phonecalls, people wanting me to help them out with odd design jobs here and there- Most of it was charity jobs from friends and family, trying to help me out, but from that work I started getting big jobs. Suddenly my work was out on the streets, people started seeing the stuff I was putting out and started calling. To this day I haven't done any personal advertising- I will probably need to start doing it eventually but at the moment I've got enough work coming in at a steady stream to earn some cash and not too much that I don't put all my time and energy into each single project. I feel very lucky to be able to do something I love passionately, to create something I'm proud of and still have time for myself and the people I love- this is my view of success. So to all the entrepeneurs in Zambia, I would like to say, Zambia is culture of entrepeneurship- there is so much possibility to pursue your dreams, replace fear of the unknown with curiosity.