We were lucky to catch up with Ariana Rodriguez-Gitler recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ariana, thanks for joining us today. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

A few years ago, I left my full-time job. The pandemic was a huge factor, but I was also reeling from the loss of my dad after his long battle with cancer. Like many others, I was feeling less engaged and fulfilled in my work and had begun to question the path I was on and how I wanted to spend my life. To help me figure out my next steps, I decided to gift myself time away from work to recharge and reflect. (Two books I recommend that helped me in this time are: “Wintering: The Power of Rest & Retreat in Difficult Times” by Katherine May and “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals” by Oliver Burkeman).

I spent the next nine months recovering by reading, traveling, visiting family, and making art. I also gave myself space to reflect on my life and career with the help of more books: The Squiggly Career by Helen Tupper & Sarah Ellis and Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans.

I took what I learned from the books and met with a career coach to try to figure out my next steps. One path I was considering was starting my own business, but I was nervous about finding clients and being fully responsible for my income. As a multi-passionate creative, I also worried about how I could translate my multiple interests into a cohesive business. The more I talked with my coach, heard her story about starting her own diverse portfolio business, and considered the flexibility and freedom I craved, the more I wanted to give a business a try. From the beginning, I told myself, “If this doesn’t work out, full-time office jobs will always be there waiting for me.”

After that, I worked with my coach to define my offerings and ideal clients and projects. Based on my work with mission-driven organizations and other small business owners, I knew they are often strapped capacity-wise and would be a great place to plug in my skillsets. Working with mission-driven organizations also aligns with my values of giving back to my community and others. Whenever I doubted my ability to run a business, I reminded myself that my work with in-house “clients” at my previous nonprofit roles and more formal external clients when I was a consultant, had prepared me to manage client relationships and projects.

Once I had an initial business plan, I put the word out in my networks. I also applied for a part-time role with a nonprofit organization that became my first client and helped me pay my bills while I formally set up my business.

Before I knew it, folks were reaching out with questions and requests for support. For the last two years, I’ve been regularly busy with clients, using my different skills and fully engaging my creative brain. I’ve more than doubled my income in year two, which makes me feel more comfortable trusting myself and what I’ve been doing to continue my business.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a partner for mission-driven organizations and small businesses that need support developing new creative and digital projects and strategies. As a multi-passionate creative, I love being able to tap into my many interests with my diverse portfolio of clients and projects.

I have a background in storytelling, communications, design, and project management, which makes me a well-rounded creative partner. On any given day, I can be planning and creating content for a nonprofit’s engagement strategy, building out a website for a university program, designing an infographic or one-pager about new research, or facilitating brainstorming sessions for an interactive tool.

My core values of collaboration, curiosity, empathy, and transparency lead my work and approach. No matter the type of project, I use different project management frameworks and collaborative, human-centered design practices to figure out what my clients need and how we can best solve their problems together.

It’s been so rewarding to assist nonprofits and small businesses that feel underwater with their workloads. I’m constantly in awe of the impact these organizations and businesses have on their communities and am so happy to provide the extra hand they need to put all their goals in motion.

I also round out my business through mixed media art. I exhibit original pieces in local galleries, sell my work online and at markets, and teach collage workshops at local businesses, arts organizations, and private events. My collage style is a blend of magazine cuttings, paint, hand embroidery, and beading, inspired by the bright colors, patterns, and needlework of my Puerto Rican and Mexican background.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

While I’ve seen a few clients come in from adding myself to different creative, small business, and freelancer directories and Slack communities, it hasn’t been the biggest avenue of new clients for me. More than anything, my clients have come from word of mouth and referrals from people I’ve worked with in the past. This is why I always tell folks considering starting a business, “Make sure everyone you know is aware of what you’re doing.” Your community, colleagues, friends, and family will be your cheerleaders, passing your information on when they hear people needing someone with your skillsets. Easily 80%, if not more, of my work over the last two years has come from connecting back with previous jobs I’ve had or from someone I know.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

From the start of owning my business, I wanted it to help me stay engaged by having variety in what I do. That means I’ve intentionally worked to set up my business model to include a mix of work — long-term strategy and project management contracts, retainers where I provide recurring creative services, and one-off, quicker content creation projects. While I’m working on longer-term projects, I can pick up quick turnaround branding or infographic design projects to supplement my business.

This flexibility also leaves me room in my schedule to pursue interesting opportunities when they come up and allows me to spend more time with my mixed media art.

This has not only been critical for my overall creativity and getting to be in creative spaces with other designers, makers, and artists, but it also gives me a few extra income streams: selling art online, in local stores, and at markets; teaching workshops in local stores and restaurants; and doing private events and party kits.

While the art piece is a small portion of my revenue at the moment, it’s a fulfilling one, and also gives me some options for when the consulting work is moving more slowly. I’m also always considering new products that I can offer based on the feedback I hear at markets and events.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://arianarg.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madebyarianarg/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arianarg/