For the original posted (DXC); the latest three posts parallel my thoughts on the matter.
Dreaming is a great way to start your career, but I would urge you to make a checklist of things to experience (at great length) before starting something of your own.
- Be the most business savvy person in your design school courses - I earned a business degree before design school, it helped me observe both sides of the coin.
- Find internships with both consultancies and corporate design departments - you will quickly see the difference in pace, breadth of scope and depth of knowledge to be gained.
- Enter every single design contest you can find while still a student - it is a great way to put yourself under pressure for creativity, timing and discipline.
- Graduate at the top of whatever class surrounds you.
- Obtain employment at both a consultancy and a corporate design department - in whichever order you can achieve - and for at least 5-10 years…
THEN, if you’ve found yourself striving for a bigger piece of the pie and want to control your own destiny, start double dipping on the side…once you’re making more on the side than your day-job salary, it’s time to jump ship. There is a common and fanciful idea of how to convert concepts into products and then plop them into the laps of your target customer. The reality of that is about a billion times more intense, requires a billion more hours and a LOT of money - but for some, it’s worth it.
My company is a boutique consultancy with clients ranging from entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 corporations and the work we do for every client is equally satisfying - but the most rewarding time we spend is on our own internal projects (we have IP being licensed and are branding and manufacturing products here in the States for consumption in the Middle and Far East)
You CAN do it all, but the experiences leading up to doing your own thing are more important than I could describe.