28/12/2022
This year I ticked off some specific career goals including writing an op-ed for a national newspaper, creating a football shirt and getting photos and text published in books! I’m very grateful to all the talented people I’ve collaborated with to make this happen 💪🏿.
Lots of young budding creatives ask me for advice, so going into 2023 I think it’s important to be transparent.
Most of my time as a freelancer is spent chasing up late or incorrect payments, which completely illegitimises any sense of accomplishment for the jobs themselves. At the start of 2022 I literally did a talk at a university about the pitfalls of freelancing, for them to not pay for that talk in the timeframe agreed. I remember most of my “biggest” projects through the prism of the respective fiasco around getting paid. I don’t remember many of them with any fondness for this reason. Towards the end of this year I got a full time 9-5 job for the first time in my adult life. Being free of the constant disrespect that creatives of all disciplines are frequently subject to, means more to me than anything else and I feel much happier!
None of this is to discourage anyone from pursuing a career in the arts. But I think those of us who get asked for guidance by younger people owe it to them to be honest so I’d like to enter the new year doing that.
All the best for 2023 💥
