PICA Member Spotlights

Q&A with independent consultants who successfully “made the leap” and created the consulting career of their dreams

Q: Please introduce yourself!

A: I’m Julia Babiarz, the founder of Julia Babiarz Design and Creative. I provide strategic, results-oriented graphic design, UX design and creative services. My sweet spot is website design, but I tackle a whole host of other design work ranging from email and social media posts to white papers, branding, instructional materials, and more. Even a little bit of copywriting and copyediting.

Q: How long have you been in business?

A: I've been independent for about a year. Before that, I worked in digital design for Bay Area ecommerce and tech companies for nearly 20 years.

Q: Why did you decide to leave the comfort of a nice salary to go independent?

A: Well, it’s a funny story. In the fall of 2019, my family had wanted to move up to the Lake Tahoe area for a number of lifestyle reasons. I began negotiating with my employer, where I’d been working full-time for 7 years, to see if we could arrange a flexible/remote work situation. But in the midst of that process, in February 2020, I instead was laid off. I believe that by trying to arrange a remote-work situation, I positioned myself at the top of the list for that layoff. But that was OK—it was time for a change so I took my severance and went ahead and moved up to Truckee, CA to enjoy the mountain life and begin my independent consultancy. The ironic part of the whole story is that six weeks later, COVID hit and then the entire world began working remotely!

Q: That's a big jump. You moved your home to a new place and then also launched your own business. Was that overly stressful or was it a good idea?

A: I’d call it a mixed bag but in the end it was a GREAT idea. Remember, this past year was stressful universally because of COVID, but living in the mountains, with so many great outdoor activities available, really helped ease the stress of the pandemic. I also had a fairly decent severance to ease the financial burden. Still, there were a lot of challenges and uncertainties. In the beginning I wasn't getting a lot of contracts, so there were worrisome moments for sure, but then about a year ago, I started getting contacted by people I had worked with in the past. Since then, it's pretty much been a rolling cycle of work and I’ve been really busy and building more stability. The transition was a little scary and challenging for sure, but now a year in, things are going great. Plus, I can’t understate the benefit of going skiing or boating on a weekday, because I control my own schedule!

Q: You said that former clients and colleagues started to contact you. How did they know to reach out to you?

A: After a little bit of time off, I posted on LinkedIn that I was freelancing and I was available for creative and design/UX work. Initially I didn't hear much, but eventually the right people who had a need saw it and reached out.

Q: You're not a traditional management consultant, like many of the PICA members. How did you find your way to PICA and how has that helped your business?

A: After being laid off, I was receiving some career transition counseling and PICA was recommended to me by the career counselor. I looked into it and I saw the Getting Started Bootcamp, which I thought was perfect because as a creative person or designer, we don't typically have the business experience and skillset. I had a lot of questions about if I was doing things the right way and the business pieces that I needed in to put into place. So I just made a point of signing up for that next bootcamp and jumped right in.

Q: What was one of the most important things you learned in the bootcamp that may have been awkward or difficult to learn otherwise?

A: One of the most important things was establishing and being confident about my pricing. I was at the point where I was just starting to get more inquiries, and I was uncertain if my rate was right. It can be hard to ascertain market rates for design work as an independent contractor.

You really helped me break down the math of how to find that pricing range, and also how to communicate that rate with confidence with prospective clients. I also learned the value of not jumping into giving price quotes too soon. It’s so valuable to say “Let me take a closer look at the project scope, and I’ll get back to you with an estimate.”

Q: What do you know now that you wish you had known when you were just starting out and setting up your own business? What advice would you give your year-and-a-half-ago younger self?

A: Besides putting the time and math into establishing the right billing rate, putting in place business nuts and bolts like having a separate address, having a business credit card, putting money into retirement, things like that. You recommended a number of different accounting systems, I ended up using FreshBooks. That's been totally great for tracking time and sending invoices.

Q: So what's next for Julia Babiarz Design?

A: Right now I'm moving along at a pretty good pace. I have a nice life-work balance, which is really important to me. I have enough work to keep me busy and to have a steady income stream, and I have time to enjoy with my family and with the great outdoors. And that’s without doing much outreach at all. So far I’m getting a fairly steady stream of work just through word of mouth. I intend to just keep on delivering smart, strategic design work to my clients, keeping my ears open for new and interesting jobs, and enjoying the independent consultant lifestyle!

Q: How can people find out more about you and/or your design company?

A: They can visit my website at JuliaBabiarz.com.

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