We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ashley Wong a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ashley, appreciate you joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
It has taken me a while to get to where I am today, but I am able to work independently as a graphic & motion designer and video editor. I started in ad agencies in NYC and then moved to Seattle. I mostly stayed in ad agencies working on large, enterprise clients. NYC was such a great experience and I am glad to have started my career out there. Admittedly, it was a grind — lots of long hours, weekends — but I learned so much. I think it taught me both what I want and don’t want in a day-to-day creative life.
I went fully independent in 2023 when tech companies were beginning to cut staff and scale back on contractors. My contract was cut early and it seemed like the best time to make a jump I had been scared to make for a long time. I got my reel together and reached out to everyone I had worked with over the years and projects starting coming in referral by referral. I took every little job that came in and was able to grow many of them into much larger and longer relationships.
Ashley, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am an independent designer based in Seattle focusing on graphic & motion design as well as video editing. I have a wide-ranging ad agency background but have been able to narrow my focus over the years into primarily web design and motion design. I also keep up a small print shop that I use to work on different typography ideas in the form of posters, cards and stickers. This has shifted to include more illustrations of my tripod mastiff that I adopted in 2021.
I sort of got into motion design by a very lucky accident. While working at a tech company doing web design, I offered to help out with some small editing projects and motion graphics packages based on skills I had been developing on the side. It was trial by fire and I took to it quickly. It had been something I had wanted to work on for years, but is hard to get the opportunity in agencies where they have more experienced staff.
Since then I have taken my Fridays to expand my motion work into frame by frame animation — something I have always wanted to do since childhood. As I learned, I posted fun projects on my social accounts. They weren’t necessarily portfolio worthy, but they showed what skills I have been developing. This has allowed me to advance my animation work but it has also showed partners I work with what I am capable of. I believe some of my more recent projects have stemmed from some of these small, fun pieces.
I’m most proud of the client/partner based I have built up in my first year of working independently. Almost all have been referrals and size has ranged from enterprise to single owners. I love working with small brands or individuals as it has been incredibly collaborative and I feel I have a big impact on their business or brand. It is amazing to have a direct effect on the success of small businesses in a very mutual capacity.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
My current situation I feel perfectly illustrates my resilience. I unexpectedly had my contract cut short in 2022 due to the tech industry layoffs and budget cuts. It was definitely a blow because I didn’t have anything else lined up and I knew the market was not in my favor. I instead took the opportunity and gave myself 6 months to try out full freelance work — something I had wanted to try in the past but hadn’t yet had the courage to leap into.
I made a plan to reach out to everyone I had built relationships with over the many places I had worked. Some were long-time friends, some were even passing acquaintances. I told them what I was looking for and slowly but surely, work began to come in. People were excited and eager to work with me again. New relationships I built into bigger relationships and am continuing this into my second year.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
My number one source has been referrals. I like getting to know people that I work with, even if we are on different teams or different departments. When I click with people I put effort in to build a friendship. Over the years it’s hard to keep up with every single person you worked with, I think social has made it both easier and more difficult. When I can, I reconnect with people. I try to help people when I can.
For a while I thought being nice was sort of a flaw in business, that people will take advantage of you if you are too nice or too helping. As corny as it sounds, being nice has been one of the biggest assets in building my client base. Referrals came in from people I worked with sometimes 5-10 years ago, sometimes from people I didn’t even work with directly, but I had gotten to know them and built a relationship.
Contact Info:
- Website: awongisright.com
- Instagram: @awongisright
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/awongisright
Image Credits
Gina McDonald