We recently connected with Brennan Gilbert and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Brennan, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
I’ve been working in the graphic design industry for nearly 2 decades. High school was when I first realized people would pay me to design. And so I earned a BFA with a concentration in graphic design at CSU in Fort Collins.
I graduated during the economic downturn of ’08/09. It took me 6 months to get my foot in the door but finally, a boutique agency took a chance on me. One thing led to another and I went from agencies to in-house roles with startups, staying in creative leadership roles for about 10 years.
Fast forward to 2023 and I took the plunge of working for myself. I’m happy to say I’ve been gainfully self-employed for a year and a half and only wish I’d jumped sooner.
I am grateful for a tenured career learning from a lot of inspiring people, all of which fueled my entrepreneurial journey. Truthfully, my 1st 4 months of self-employment were rough. But after seeing how other businesses were built for ~15 years, I was able to more quickly adapt and transform than had I gone freelance from day one.
Brennan, 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?
There’s no better feeling than helping people transform a loose idea into something real. As a kid, I saw I could do that through art & creativity. Of course, when I realized I also had to make money, I pivoted slightly to become a graphic designer (“starving artist” wasn’t all that appealing).
A design degree taught me the fundamentals like color theory and typography. Agencies showed me that real businesses need solid design – and are willing to pay for it. My years within startups took everything I’d learned and turned it up to 11: move fast with care, don’t be afraid to change things and make yourself stand out.
Now, I use all of this experience to build B.A.D. things with good people through Brand design, Art direction, and web Development. That could be creating a new brand identity & logo for a tattoo artist, a whole new website for a non-profit, or directing videos for social.
Internal teams, entrepreneurs, and startups enjoy working with me for my pragmatic approach, end-to-end process, and democratic design philosophy that you don’t need to spend a million bucks to look like a million bucks.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
I spent years too afraid to work for myself. And the first 4 months of doing so almost made me turn back: I had left a 6-figure salary with a nice team to make a fraction of that with constant worries. There was one month where the business brought in $0.
But I’m glad I stuck with it. All the cheesy metaphors around “greatness takes time” or “plant the seeds and they will grow” are right. Prepare for the downs, but trust in your vision, your process, and yourself, and things will pay off over time if you are consistent and intentional.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
I just finished reading “Traction” by Gino Wickman and loved it. It’s one of the few – if not the only – business books I’ve read that covers all the important aspects of building a business, but in a way that’s digestible and more importantly, actionable.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.brennangilbert.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brennangilbert/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brennangilbert/
- Twitter: https://x.com/brennangilbert
Image Credits
Brennan Gilbert