I’m finishing my degree in a matter of days (I hope to do a Masters in a few years or so) but for the time being after 7 years part-time study I need a break (and more importantly so does my wife and kids).
I’m in the position that I have a well paid job, unrelated to design. I’ll be going back to a graduate wage if I get a design job. Unfortunately where I live there aren’t a huge number of design jobs so I’m looking at the possibility of relocating, moving my kids out of their schools, moving my wife to a new city, no family support network etc. I moved a lot as a kid and I’ve lived and worked overseas so I know what to expect, but with kids it’s a different story.
I want to be a professional designer earning a living so I’ll take the pay cut, but it has to be the right job. So the reality is I’ll probably be staying in my current position until the right job comes along.
My wife and I have been discussing the idea of starting my own business, while still working in my current job. The hours I spend at night studying would be spent on the business, so it’s more than do-able (though hard work). The goal would be to slowly transition from a wage to my own business.
If I do this, how does the first day/ week/ month owning your own business start? How do you go out to get clients and work? Do you advertise? How do people contact you? Is it best to try and bring a small product to market and leverage off that? Where does the cash flow come from?