Exciting news: Hadley Binion Designs won two ADDY® Awards last week at the AAF Mobile Bay Advertising ADDY® Awards. One award was for a print brochure and one was for a TV commercial. See this post about the commercial I produced for Roberts Brothers—what a special project this was to be a part of. The pretty gal to the right is Karen Sullivan with RSQ. Don't let her single award here fool you—Karen and the RSQ team took home dozens of these bad boys the other night. Check out their site. They are the real deal, no doubt about that.
Sorry if I get a little nostalgic here, but Hadley Binion Designs has been my baby for as long as I can remember. I have learned—as cliché as it may sound—that if you dream big and work your tail off, your dreams can come true. I feel an unbelievable amount of gratitude to be here today DOING WHAT I LOVE. I am by no means the picture of "success" (whatever that is). Lord knows I have A LOT to learn, and have NOT mastered the life of a balanced working mom. At the end of the day, my family comes first, and if I miss a deadline or a meeting gets pushed back, life goes on. I may have to work crazy hours to get my to-do list done, but I also appreciate the flexibility of my job. If I want to take a day off just to play with Calder, I can and I do. That was one of the main motives (among many others) behind pursuing this dream.
That being said, the road to get here has not been easy. At. All.
Flashback: A little over three years ago I was working a full-time/8-5 job as a graphic designer/marketing director for a real estate company. After a long day + a 30 minute commute, I would come home and and continue to work until the wee hours of the night on my freelance design work. I did this for YEARS. My desk was the dining room table. I ate. slept and breathed this dream for many years.
I have definitely learned along the way, and could write a novel about "what I wish I had known." I do hope to post some freelance design/business tips here someday soon. Of course, I don't have all of the answers (not even close), but if I can help one freelance designer out there, that is far more meaningful to me than any award out there.
In the end, awards don't matter at all. What matters is creating work that you're proud of and that you BELIEVE in. It's all about helping people and businesses grow, and being passionate about your work and loving what you do. So to everyone out there with a big dream, I encourage you to follow and pursue it wholeheartedly—even if it requires some sacrificing along the way. It's won't be the easiest road as it requires giant leaps of faith, but looking back now, I wouldn't change it for the world.