Guest Special: Going it Alone with Jane Kisnica

We welcome Creative Assassin and Visual Branding Specialist Jane Kisnica on this special guest edition of the Futurizm Podcast. She shares her remarkable story of quitting her 9-5 day job and striking out alone. From receptionist to LinkedIn influencer, since setting up her own business, Jane has more than tripled her annual salary, paid off her debts and landed contracts with some big names, not to mention appearing on this podcast! Tune in to hear about Jane's journey as well as her tips for anyone thinking of doing the same.

To see Jane's portfolio and services, head over to:

www.janekisnica.com/ 

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Transcript

00:13.67
futurizm
Hello and welcome to this special edition of the Futurism podcast with me, Peter Scott. And this week, I'm very pleased to welcome our very first guest, the self-styled creative assassin, Jane Kysnitsa. Jane, thanks so much for agreeing to come on.

00:30.90
Jane Kisnica
Hey, thanks for having me on. um'm I'm very excited about this.

00:34.94
futurizm
ah The pleasures all ours and I'm sure listeners will welcome a bit of a change from will and will if you're listening You're right, mate So on

00:44.52
Jane Kisnica
We still love you, all good.

00:45.85
futurizm
We do, we do, Will, we'll have you back on at some point. um and Jane, I saw your post on LinkedIn a couple of weeks ago about how you decided to quit the nine to five and strike out on your own. And I thought it'd be brilliant, a brilliant inspirational tale for any of our listeners who are thinking of doing the same. um I think it's fair to say that your career has gone into the stratosphere since taking the plunge, but I'm sure it wasn't without his challenges as well.

01:14.63
Jane Kisnica
Yeah, um yeah it's been it's definitely been a wild ride, um but ah in like a good way. I've i've traveled i managed to travel a lot. I've managed to make three times more the money I used to make in a nine to five job in just like under two years.

01:31.03
Jane Kisnica
So yeah, it's been um been really good. And all the different people I get to work with and the work I get to do is is really fun.

01:34.24
futurizm
I mean I mean, it's incredible. It really is. um You call yourself the creative assassin, and I think it's such a cool title.

01:46.91
futurizm
But before anyone starts thinking that you kill people in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways, let's give you your a proper introduction first, Jane.

01:52.44
Jane Kisnica
ah

01:54.91
futurizm
So you're a graphic designer and a a visual branding specialist. But before we dig deeper into your shift to freelance, can you just tell us a bit about yourself, your background, and how you ended up in the profession that you're in at the moment?

01:59.15
Jane Kisnica
the

02:08.19
Jane Kisnica
Right, oh how far do I go?

02:11.22
futurizm
ah as far as you want. There's no time limit.

02:14.71
Jane Kisnica
right um So i fell I fell into the whole graphic design thing by an accident. um about When was it? I think it was about 2017.

02:27.63
Jane Kisnica
um

02:27.58
futurizm
and Okay.

02:28.31
Jane Kisnica
I decided that i I was working in a gym. I was doing like reception work because my original plan back then was um to be a personal trainer.

02:32.58
futurizm
yeah Okay.

02:38.97
Jane Kisnica
But um so I got a job on reception so I could get to meet all the you know members and things like that. And I thought once I qualify as a PT, it will be easier to get clients because I already going to know you know the people that come there.

02:52.12
Jane Kisnica
um But then after working in the gym, I realized that it's quite of a toxic environment and it's not something that I want to be part of.

02:58.18
futurizm
Oh.

03:01.56
Jane Kisnica
And so I decided that I wanted a more of a nine to five job.

03:04.34
futurizm
Uh huh.

03:06.20
Jane Kisnica
And I had an acquaintance at the time who was a personal assistant, she was making good money. And when I did did some research, I also found out that, you know, you can, if you're lucky and find the right kind of employer, you can also travel and all this sort of stuff.

03:21.31
Jane Kisnica
So I thought, you know what, I'm i'm good at organizing things and I thought why not do that for someone else? like That could be a good career path. and um So I got a job on a reception in a recruitment agency in central London. Usually that's the sort of the step that you go. You go into reception, then you move into like office management and then kind of up yourself to becoming a personal assistant slash executive assistant.

03:48.62
futurizm
Right.

03:51.66
Jane Kisnica
So that was the original plan. And once I got the job and started working on the reception of the recruitment agency, ah They started getting me involved in some creative projects.

04:03.20
Jane Kisnica
So um at some point they asked me to do some sort of presentation.

04:03.14
futurizm
Mmhmm.

04:08.26
Jane Kisnica
I can't remember what it was for now, but it was like a PowerPoint slide um slide deck for like something. um And I did that and they were really happy with how it looked.

04:19.66
Jane Kisnica
And then I helped a few other creative things um within the marketing department and then um the boss there kind of turned around to me and said, ah, do you want to, do you seem really good at this?

04:32.24
Jane Kisnica
Do you want to go and take some, you know, design courses and learn a bit more about this um and we'll pay for it? And I was like, you know what, not something I have considered before, but why not?

04:42.80
futurizm
Mm-hmm.

04:43.43
Jane Kisnica
Especially if the business is paying, it's like an extra skill. Like I've always believed in skill stacking, right? So the more, the more things you can do, the better.

04:49.30
futurizm
Course it is.

04:51.18
Jane Kisnica
um So I ah started taking design courses and really enjoyed it and started doing more and more design work and kind of helping the marketing department with photography as well because I'm pretty decent with a camera so I can take a good picture.

05:03.40
futurizm
Mm-hmm.

05:05.85
Jane Kisnica
So I started taking pictures and things like that. And then it happened that my role because that the way the business was operating was changing. They were bringing a lot of their stuff online so they didn't need a receptionist anymore.

05:19.70
Jane Kisnica
So the position became redundant. and at the same time. ah the marketing manager resigned, she moved on to another role. So they offered me the job as a trial.

05:31.91
Jane Kisnica
They're like, oh, like, do you want to, you know, we can give you a six month contract, see how it goes, if you like it, we'll make it, obviously, if you like it, and and what it's working out, we'll make it a permanent job, if not, we'll give you plenty of notice, we'll allow you to go on job interviews, things like that during your working hours, blah, blah, blah.

05:49.90
futurizm
Okay.

05:50.37
Jane Kisnica
So I was like, why not?

05:51.44
futurizm
Wow.

05:51.85
Jane Kisnica
It sounds like really good.

05:52.40
futurizm
So very generous.

05:53.76
Jane Kisnica
Yeah, yeah, really generous. And I was like, you know what? It's six months. If I hate it, I can just move on. It's not that much time. I'll probably learn some new skills that I can add to my to my CV.

06:06.30
Jane Kisnica
So I took it on. And I got a pay rise as well with that, which was a nice bonus.

06:11.18
futurizm
Mm-hmm. It's always nice.

06:13.85
Jane Kisnica
Yeah. um And yeah, and I took on the job, it went really well, I got offered a permanent role. um And then yeah, I was there for about four years doing their marketing and graphic design.

06:27.29
Jane Kisnica
And then during COVID, I decided that I hate my job.

06:31.76
futurizm
Right.

06:34.10
Jane Kisnica
So you know, when you because it was, as you know, you have um you you kind of deal with the recruitment background and everything as well, you know, will and all this, so you know how hectic it can be, especially in an agency with like 100 people.

06:46.88
Jane Kisnica
And like, it was a, kind of ah it wasn't a small company. um So it's really hectic. And I was always very tired and overworked. And as I was essentially, I was one person managing a whole marketing department for 100 people business, you know, photography, video, marketing, social media, website, and graphic design, like everything, it was me doing all of it.

07:02.11
futurizm
Wow. My God. Well, that's quite the rise from receptionist to managing all that.

07:14.29
Jane Kisnica
Yeah, yeah it it was. But they like that company, they're quite good at promoting um their staff, like all of their directors and the MD and everyone. they're all They all started as training recruitment consultants and kind of built up their um career path to management and director roles.

07:34.41
Jane Kisnica
um So yeah, during COVID when things slowed down, I started realizing that I don't really like the marketing side of things, but that I do like the design side of things.

07:43.53
futurizm
Yeah.

07:45.14
Jane Kisnica
And that's what really makes me happy and I'm really enjoying it. But I didn't do you anything with it just yet. It was just kind of my realization. And then I was like, maybe I just need to change jobs and get like a different marketing role.

07:58.18
Jane Kisnica
Cause I felt a bit, that role started to feel a bit stagnant.

08:01.52
futurizm
Yeah. Yeah.

08:02.20
Jane Kisnica
And then COVID restrictions started lifting and they started forcing us to come back into the office. And I also realized that I don't want to do that anymore. um I am um a huge introvert.

08:13.53
Jane Kisnica
So for me being around loads of loud, bold personalities, eight, nine hours a day, Monday to Friday, very exhausting.

08:20.76
futurizm
Yeah. It's draining. Yeah.

08:23.71
Jane Kisnica
and like I got a lot more work done when I was working from home on my own, when no one's disturbing me or distracting me than and when I'm in an office surrounded by people.

08:33.96
futurizm
Mm hmm.

08:34.11
Jane Kisnica
and So then I was like, okay, what can I do?

08:34.69
futurizm
Mm hmm.

08:37.74
Jane Kisnica
Do I want to get and another job or do I want to try and go freelance with design? Cause I was like, well, if someone's paying me to do design as a full-time role, surely I can find enough clients.

08:53.58
Jane Kisnica
to supplement my income.

08:55.66
futurizm
Yeah, yeah wait you Jane, I'm just going to jump in there. You brought me very nicely onto my next question.

09:01.21
Jane Kisnica
Yeah.

09:01.24
futurizm
um but before But before I ask that, did you always know you were creative, say at at school or or at college, or was that something you discovered as part of that role?

09:12.20
Jane Kisnica
No, I've always had a create creative sort of streak, like i i I was into photography quite a bit when I was younger and I wanted to go to uni for it, but then like and any professional photographer that I spoke with told me don't do it, it's a waste of your time.

09:27.58
Jane Kisnica
You can take a course online for three months and for a couple of hundred quid and learn more than you will in uni in like three, four years.

09:27.85
futurizm
Yeah.

09:34.37
Jane Kisnica
So they kind of taught me out of it and

09:35.93
futurizm
Got you.

09:37.30
Jane Kisnica
things changed in my life around that time. And I decided I didn't want to like do the photography thing.

09:40.51
futurizm
Mm-hmm.

09:42.10
Jane Kisnica
So I was young, so I was probably jumping from thing to thing like every other year.

09:43.47
futurizm
Okay.

09:47.81
Jane Kisnica
ah But yeah, I've always had a i've always had that creative side.

09:47.76
futurizm
Yeah.

09:52.92
futurizm
sort of streak. Okay.

09:54.24
Jane Kisnica
Yeah.

09:54.37
futurizm
So the decision to to take the plunge and go freelance, it wasn't something that ah just came overnight. You didn't just wake up and hand you notice and you had been building up for a while with COVID and the office environment.

10:07.51
futurizm
So you've made the decision. How then did you go about building your own brand, developing your own business from scratch?

10:09.40
Jane Kisnica
and

10:15.30
futurizm
I mean, did you have some savings to tide you over while you got on your feet? Or did you have a sort of a soft landing into this?

10:19.09
Jane Kisnica
so

10:22.08
Jane Kisnica
so i um So the way I started building my business was and brand was on LinkedIn.

10:28.23
futurizm
Mm-hmm So not will then Yeah

10:29.05
Jane Kisnica
I started posting in the beginning, I had no idea what I was doing. And then I started following a couple of people that were like big on LinkedIn um and use them as inspiration for what I was doing. No.

10:44.48
Jane Kisnica
No, no, not not Will, no.

10:49.38
Jane Kisnica
But yeah, so they so kind of job was just like following other people, bigger accounts and people who have built their businesses already on LinkedIn and took inspiration from that. But I also I i kept my full time job. So I worked when I started freelancing, I probably worked for full time for about eight, nine months.

11:12.32
Jane Kisnica
before I left my full-time job because I wanted to make sure that I can make at least the same or close to the amount that I was making at my full-time job.

11:22.10
futurizm
Right.

11:22.29
Jane Kisnica
And then once I hit that, I then handed in my notice in September 2022,

11:31.46
futurizm
Mhm.

11:32.11
Jane Kisnica
from 1st of September 2022, I was fully freelance and I haven't really look back because as soon as I left the full-time job and actually had like a full day Monday to Friday to dedicate to the freelance work it just built up so quickly that within yeah I think like 12 to 15 months I had made three times more um in a year than I made in my in my full-time job that I had been in for nearly five years

11:53.62
futurizm
That's incredible.

12:02.91
futurizm
So that moment where you must have realized, like, hang on a minute, there's something in this, must have come pretty quickly. Yeah?

12:12.41
Jane Kisnica
Yeah, yeah, it took me about three months to build up some sort of momentum and start getting um jobs come in and clients inquiring. Obviously, a lot of the first calls and first talks and everything, they failed, people disappeared and things like that because obviously you have to like, it was all new for me.

12:26.90
futurizm
Mm.

12:31.11
Jane Kisnica
I've never you know, done business calls like that, or tried to somehow pitch myself or sell my services. So it was it was definitely a learning curve. And there was a lot of rejections and a lot of no's, but kind of stuck with it.

12:43.31
futurizm
Yeah.

12:45.51
Jane Kisnica
um Because I originally I gave myself two years to build it up.

12:47.82
futurizm
Mhmm.

12:49.52
Jane Kisnica
um And like, have my full time job and then build up the freelance stuff on the side, my boss knew about it, because I told him I was like, Okay, this is what I want to do. um I made a deal with him that I'm gonna be fully working from home, that I didn't have to come into the office anymore because I wanted to have like the mornings and then the evenings working on my business so I don't lose like two, two and a half hours, maybe sometimes three hours a day traveling into London and out of London.

13:14.36
futurizm
Yeah.

13:17.62
Jane Kisnica
So I started doing that and yeah, and as I said, gave myself two years and then within eight months I was gone.

13:25.20
futurizm
that's that's That's incredible.

13:26.05
Jane Kisnica
but

13:26.80
futurizm
I mean, in that relatively short period, Jane, were were there any times where you wondered if you'd made the right decision or not?

13:34.93
Jane Kisnica
Um, I knew from day one that I went, as soon as I went freelance, I knew I've made the right decision. Some like, so I still, I still have, like, even now I still have some days where I'm like, Oh, why did, why did I think this was like an idea?

13:48.40
futurizm
ah Oh, really?

13:51.20
Jane Kisnica
Yeah. It's just sometimes, you know, you get difficult clients and stressful projects and tight deadlines and things like that.

13:54.57
futurizm
Oh, of course.

13:58.21
Jane Kisnica
So it can get a bit stressful and overwhelming because. I think what a lot of people don't realize that when you go out on your own, you're not just doing the job that you're charging people for.

14:09.56
futurizm
No.

14:11.02
Jane Kisnica
You're doing everything. You're doing accounts, you're doing admin, you're doing marketing, you're, you know, you have to jump on calls and all like you become this one person team that runs a whole business, it even as a freelancer, I still have so many things that I need to do.

14:26.80
Jane Kisnica
Like I sometimes spend two, three, four hours a day just answering emails. um inquiries, getting on the phones, and then I still have to find, you know, eight hours in a day to actually do the work that makes me money.

14:33.08
futurizm
Yeah.

14:39.42
Jane Kisnica
So when things sometimes become like, stack up and become very overwhelming, and I have like 20 emails that I need to respond to another, maybe 15 DMs on LinkedIn, and then I have deadlines and everything, it's kind of like, oh, why did I do this to myself?

14:55.03
futurizm
well ah Yeah, I bet it's tough. I mean, you've obviously talked a lot about the benefits of being a digital no bad and going freelance, but there are still so some downsides to working for yourself.

15:09.07
futurizm
I mean, I did some some freelance work as a translator back in the day. And I remember there's a point that every time my phone went off or vibrated in my pocket, I'd get nervous. because that could mean that my evening was gone or my weekend was gone.

15:22.78
futurizm
And I thought that just to turn it down, maybe to relax and chill, that would cost me, I don't know, 100 quid, 50 quid, 150 quid.

15:30.84
Jane Kisnica
Yeah.

15:31.77
futurizm
It cost me money just to do nothing, even though that's what ah what I needed. um And you've obviously become a sort of a one, a one woman ban now, but do you have to be very strict with yourself when you're freelance and be like, right, it's six o'clock half six.

15:42.23
Jane Kisnica
this

15:48.33
futurizm
I'm switching off now. I'm not answering emails. How do you manage that work? Like, sorry, how do you manage that work life balance?

15:57.69
Jane Kisnica
but There isn't one I don't believe

15:59.47
futurizm
There isn't really.

16:00.73
Jane Kisnica
I don't, I don't believe in the whole work life balance, especially when you work for yourself, because sometimes, sometimes you have to do a 16 hour day.

16:11.15
Jane Kisnica
Sometimes jobs just fall in. Sometimes you have regular clients who come back and say, they need an urgent job and you know, they pay well, you know, they pay on time. So you don't want to, you know, turn them away and things like that.

16:23.34
futurizm
Yeah.

16:24.21
Jane Kisnica
I don't, I don't mind it. Like it can be stressful, but the stress that I'm experiencing as a freelancer, working for myself is a lot so much smaller than what I was experiencing when um I was working at a nine to five.

16:40.92
Jane Kisnica
At a nine to five, I was stressed every day because I had to not only do my job, do a lot of things that weren't part of my job, um because I've been there for a long time.

16:41.10
futurizm
Really?

16:50.49
Jane Kisnica
I knew like, i was sometimes I'm blocking toilets and going and getting coffees and, you know, do not sorry, sinks.

16:54.39
futurizm
Oh.

16:58.05
Jane Kisnica
sinks ah

16:58.85
futurizm
I was going to say, was that your contract Jane?

17:00.43
Jane Kisnica
Sinks. Sinks. I don't know why I said toilets.

17:04.10
futurizm
Oh.

17:04.97
Jane Kisnica
Sinks because we had like this a messy sink in the kitchen in the office and it would constantly get blocked and I'm quite handy with things like that and i'm um I know how to do that sort of stuff and because

17:10.74
futurizm
ah

17:19.27
futurizm
Yeah.

17:19.53
Jane Kisnica
Most people that work, they're very young. They don't really know how anything works. They can barely turn a printer on.

17:24.77
futurizm
Mm hmm.

17:26.18
Jane Kisnica
They can sell they can they can sell thousands of pounds of um recruitment contracts and things like that, but they can't so and can't turn a printer on. So obviously, like because I've been there for several years, and I know how everything works, soon as something breaks or the projector doesn't come on or whatever, people would come, and, ah, Jane, can you like come and help us turn this on or do this?

17:39.77
futurizm
Hmm hmm.

17:46.19
Jane Kisnica
or you know, things like that. there's ah There's a lot of that. And then obviously all the office politics and and and all that and once yeah constant overload of work.

17:55.23
futurizm
Of course. Yeah.

17:59.02
Jane Kisnica
And obviously for me, it didn't matter how much I worked or what I did. I was making i was making much more money for myself. I was making more money for the business.

18:09.86
Jane Kisnica
But now if I do a so if i need to do a 16 hour day,

18:09.94
futurizm
Yeah.

18:15.32
Jane Kisnica
I might be tired, I might be a bit stressed and overwhelmed, but at the same time I know that all those hours that I work, they're making me money and all that money comes into my bank account.

18:25.33
futurizm
Mm hmm.

18:26.12
Jane Kisnica
It's not for someone else.

18:28.07
futurizm
Yeah, you're growing your business.

18:28.16
Jane Kisnica
um Yeah, exactly. So there's um there are there's definitely downsides to being a freelancer and working for yourself because you know you have to spin a lot of plates and you really have to be on top of things and you have to be quite disciplined because if you kind of mess around and don't set strict deadlines or boundaries or whatever, you know, you get overwhelmed, you don't deliver projects on time, you disappoint clients, all that sort of stuff.

18:51.25
futurizm
Of course. Yeah, yeah.

18:55.68
Jane Kisnica
But I wouldn't, like, I wouldn't, the stress that I experience now is like minimal compared to what it was like working in an office Monday to Friday.

19:02.58
futurizm
Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Do you find it difficult being creative under pressure? So you have a deadline and you have a big, I don't know, PowerPoint presentation for someone, LinkedIn profile.

19:17.05
futurizm
You know, do you ever have like the equivalent of writer's block as a graphic designer?

19:20.45
Jane Kisnica
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. It happens it happens with, you know, any any creative in any field, you get your moments where you kind of just stare at your art board or your Word document.

19:33.37
Jane Kisnica
There's not like nothing's happening. You don't know what to do with yourself. And in those moments, I usually I just take a break.

19:40.49
futurizm
Right.

19:41.72
Jane Kisnica
I'll either play a computer game or go for a walk or have a nap or make a sound or whatever. I'll just step away from it or maybe do another task. maybe answer some emails or something else and then I come back to it and then it's okay, yeah, now now I know what i'm where I'm going with this, you know, so it's just important to kind of know that it's better to switch off and do something else than trying to just force yourself to come up with something things because it's not going to happen.

19:50.74
futurizm
Yeah.

19:58.18
futurizm
Okay.

20:00.95
futurizm
Uh huh.

20:09.30
Jane Kisnica
You're just going to sit there for hours and the needle won't move.

20:11.14
futurizm
Yeah, got you.

20:12.71
Jane Kisnica
so

20:14.01
futurizm
ah Slight aside, Jane, which computer games do you play? I'm a bit of a gamer myself.

20:18.83
Jane Kisnica
ah um i have I have a PlayStation 4 and I'm a bit of um Assassin's Creed.

20:25.64
futurizm
Oh, okay.

20:27.75
Jane Kisnica
Assassin's Creed and Witcher, those are my two um to go.

20:31.31
futurizm
ah I think you should speak to my brother. Yeah, he's obsessed with rich. He's pleased Yeah, he's played through so many times and he's obsessed with Gwent as well.

20:38.27
Jane Kisnica
Yeah.

20:39.83
futurizm
He goes in just plays Gwent on it sometimes Yeah

20:42.10
Jane Kisnica
Oh, really? I i don't like that. I'm just like, no, I just want to like go and explore and fight monsters.

20:48.07
futurizm
yeah Yeah, I gave Gwent one go and I was like, no, I'm not doing that again. ah What's the point? um Anyway, yeah um talking you know back about your your switch to freelance, um apart from the financial side of things, you know you paid off your debts, you tripled your annual income, which is amazing.

20:53.03
Jane Kisnica
Yeah, exactly.

21:06.93
futurizm
you know How else has your life changed? You've become a digital nomad, you've got tens of thousands of followers on LinkedIn. You've worked for some top brands, obviously now to top it all off, you're on the Futurism podcast.

21:19.00
futurizm
um I'm not really too sure where else you can go from that, but you know, I think you can retire now.

21:19.33
Jane Kisnica
yeah i know i think i'm pretty much like reached the top right i think so just every everything is better like i'm happier i'm happy here um'm less stressed i get better sleep i eat better um

21:27.50
futurizm
um

21:29.90
futurizm
ah yeah How else, you know, has your your life changed? Do you find it easy to work? I don't know, when you're in a foreign exotic country. um Talk to me about the benefits.

21:47.75
futurizm
Mm hmm.

21:48.81
Jane Kisnica
you know I get to travel, I have the location freedom so I can be wherever I want to be. you know I'm currently in the UK. Before that, a couple of months ago, I was living in Thailand. you know I spent about two years in Asia, um traveling Philippines and Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, um all over the place. it's just Yeah, it's it's just every for me personally, because obviously that lifestyle doesn't fit everyone.

22:19.16
Jane Kisnica
But for me, like the lifestyle that I always wanted to be just be able to work from anywhere, like if I want to go and work from Spain tomorrow, I can just pack a suitcase and go, you know, there's not like many things holding me down.

22:19.46
futurizm
No.

22:33.40
Jane Kisnica
I don't have a job that I have to go to or turn up at ah least once a week or whatever.

22:37.26
futurizm
yeah

22:39.42
Jane Kisnica
So it's just that general freedom, financial freedom, location freedom, all all of it. And I'm mentally a lot more, you know, better and happier because I have less stress and I have the benefit that I, if

22:53.21
futurizm
Yeah.

22:56.63
Jane Kisnica
If I, if a client comes to me and they're really stressful and they're very difficult, I don't have to work with them. I just fire them, you know, because I'm like, when it hits the point where I'm like, you know what, this is not worth my time.

23:04.64
futurizm
That's awesome.

23:08.65
Jane Kisnica
This is not worth my energy.

23:09.37
futurizm
Yeah.

23:10.91
Jane Kisnica
I'm not, I'm losing money here now. I can just fire them. And because I'm in such a good financial position as well, I don't mind losing a couple of hundred pounds, maybe here and there a couple of times a year because I fire a difficult client because it doesn't really change that much for me because I know I'll be able to bring on a few more nicer clients that are not going to be so much trouble.

23:30.45
futurizm
Yeah. Yeah.

23:35.55
Jane Kisnica
So there's that, that I think is a massive benefit as well that I'm not forced to work with someone I don't get on or don't want to work with.

23:38.85
futurizm
Yeah.

23:43.53
futurizm
it's it's a real you know i've you know i've i've worked um i mean I've worked in the retail sector, in a call center, and there there's such satisfaction now, isn't there, to be like, I don't need this.

23:52.29
Jane Kisnica
um

23:56.93
futurizm
that That's fine. Go and find someone else. you know i don't need to be you know The customer isn't always right.

24:03.80
Jane Kisnica
Absolutely.

24:03.94
futurizm
I've got other customers. Yeah, it's a real position of power. um

24:07.81
Jane Kisnica
Yeah.

24:08.68
futurizm
what What plans do you have for the future, Jane? Are you going to keep doing what you're doing? Are you going to expand? Are you going to hire people? um What are you thinking?

24:16.84
Jane Kisnica
I don't know. I don't know. So the way I don't think I want to hire people, because the The whole having and like having like a business with employees type of model doesn't like, I just, I'm not attracted to that.

24:38.77
Jane Kisnica
It doesn't seem attractive in any shape or form because it's so much more responsibility because you have to manage everyone.

24:39.34
futurizm
No.

24:45.19
Jane Kisnica
And it's just, it's not, it's not something I want to do. I like that I work on my own and I set my own rules and I work when I want to, and I don't when I don't want to. And, um, you know, I,

24:56.34
Jane Kisnica
if I deliver work, I know it's going to be up to my standards because I've done it and I've delivered it and I don't have to like um quality check people and kind of manage that.

25:00.30
futurizm
yeah

25:07.68
Jane Kisnica
I'm a bit of a lone wolf as well, so I kind of enjoy being on my own. um I have i have pardon and pardon apartment um ah can't speak partnered with um

25:20.22
futurizm
Yeah.

25:21.82
Jane Kisnica
with a copywriter, marketing person, and um a web developer to kind of bring another service um on on board.

25:28.20
futurizm
yeah

25:30.08
Jane Kisnica
So web design. So I designed the website.

25:35.26
Jane Kisnica
Alfie Brown, who's the copywriter, he he writes it writes the copy, like sales copy and all that. And then Kieran is a web developer who then designs it all and makes it happen in real life.

25:49.21
Jane Kisnica
so

25:49.19
futurizm
Mm hmm.

25:50.23
Jane Kisnica
But we're not, we're just like, we're all freelancers. We all work for ourselves, but we've worked on quite a few projects together before and it works really well. So we've just kind of decided to combine all of our efforts because it benefits us all, but it's not like an agency set up or anything.

26:05.00
Jane Kisnica
We just kind of.

26:05.51
futurizm
Yeah.

26:06.40
Jane Kisnica
doing our own thing and then we have this like combined offer um that we do, that's kind of like the next um stage after that.

26:09.27
futurizm
Mm hmm.

26:15.45
Jane Kisnica
I genuinely don't know, it all depends on how I feel and where I want to take it, but right now I'm happy to just doing my own thing.

26:22.98
futurizm
So go with the flow.

26:25.10
Jane Kisnica
Yeah.

26:25.14
futurizm
Yeah.

26:25.86
Jane Kisnica
yeah I don't like i'm i don't i'm not ah don't have the need or interest to like make millions of pounds and you know have some sort of big legacy. or but I don't really care about that.

26:37.22
Jane Kisnica
I just want to live a comfortable life, make good money, enough to be able to do the things that I want to do, enjoy life, you know help my mum pay off her mortgage, things things like that.

26:48.09
futurizm
Yeah.

26:49.05
Jane Kisnica
I'm not really bothered about the whole business, multi-million stuff. It's just not

26:55.22
futurizm
but even though Even though it seems like you're well on your path to that, ah Jane, with your your recent financial successes.

27:02.78
Jane Kisnica
ah I don't know about that.

27:03.26
futurizm
But there's certainly a lot to be... so

27:06.38
Jane Kisnica
I'm doing well.

27:07.25
futurizm
ah we we' speaking We'll speak again another year and then see where you are.

27:07.88
Jane Kisnica
I'm not that well. yeah

27:11.06
futurizm
But there's certainly a lot to be said, I think, for for being comfortable in in this economy and world these days, but that's a whole other podcast.

27:18.55
Jane Kisnica
oh yeah

27:18.73
futurizm
um what What advice would you give to people looking to follow in your footsteps, and not necessarily in the visual design industry?

27:19.31
Jane Kisnica
anyway

27:27.47
futurizm
What lessons have you learned that you could pass on to other people?

27:31.49
Jane Kisnica
um I think one of the main things I would say is definitely before you go freelance and you start anything, test the water and actually make sure that your concept works. So if you have a full-time job and you want to start something on the side, keep the full-time job. Start the thing that you want to start and see how it works. See if you can get it to a point where it replaces your full-time income and then start thinking about quitting and doing it full-time.

28:01.43
Jane Kisnica
It's hard work. Like I grafted pretty much two full-time jobs for about six months. It was exhausting. Cause I worked Monday to Sunday pretty much 24 seven, but it was worth it.

28:08.41
futurizm
Yeah,

28:12.90
Jane Kisnica
Cause I, um, I made, I made a lot of money.

28:13.33
futurizm
yeah

28:16.57
Jane Kisnica
I made sure that what I wanted to do was working and that it was bringing in clients. And I was also at the same time really heavily building my personal brand on LinkedIn. Uh, which then obviously after I went to freelance helped me massively.

28:31.92
Jane Kisnica
Um, but yeah, I would suggest not to just jump, jump into the pool and kind of seeing what's going to happen. Cause you, you never know, uh, it's better to test it and be safe.

28:41.36
futurizm
Yeah.

28:43.40
Jane Kisnica
And also while I had the full-time job but and the, uh, freelancing stuff that I was doing, I also managed to save quite a bit of money. So I, so I knew that, okay, if I go freelance and this all sort of dries up and the work stops coming in, I had at least I think four, five months.

29:02.03
Jane Kisnica
in the bank money to live from that would give me enough time to find another job if I need to.

29:03.32
futurizm
Yeah.

29:07.56
Jane Kisnica
So I think you need to be very just very pragmatic and careful about that and not make rash decisions that could put you in in a stressful financial situation because there's nothing worse than stressing about money and trying to build a business at the same time.

29:21.79
futurizm
Of course.

29:22.62
Jane Kisnica
oh

29:22.72
futurizm
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're very lucky to have a very understanding employer as well by the sounds of it.

29:28.07
Jane Kisnica
Yeah, yeah i was i was I was quite impressed. but I think it's just because I was so ingrained into the business that it would have been difficult and stressful for them to try to replace me.

29:35.95
futurizm
Yeah,

29:39.96
Jane Kisnica
So they just went, okay, just do your thing. As long as you're doing it up here, just just get on with it.

29:43.26
futurizm
yeah I mean, i yeah, I mean, who else would fix the projector and the sink? Say Jane, you know, it'd be overflowing.

29:49.19
Jane Kisnica
Exactly. Yeah, and i yeah go on.

29:52.94
futurizm
ah Sorry, go on, Jen. So yeah.

29:57.16
Jane Kisnica
I forgot what I wanted to say, so.

29:58.91
futurizm
Oh, that's me interrupting you. Oh, it's all right. I'll cut that out later. and and Finally, and I think I know the answer to this one already. Is there anything that could convince you to go back to the nine to five?

30:11.56
Jane Kisnica
No. Like, i've I have had people, not anymore, because most people that follow me kind of know me, know what I'm about and how much I hate the corporate world and the nine to five.

30:13.52
futurizm
No.

30:26.31
Jane Kisnica
um But I used to when I first went freelance probably for the first year I had quite a few job offers come through for like marketing and design and things like that and I i Didn't I didn't even care how much they were paying me.

30:39.11
Jane Kisnica
I was like, I'm never going back to I just don't I don't want to I don't want to have to ask for permission to go and see a doctor or to have a morning off because I'm having enough day or

30:39.67
futurizm
Right. Yeah.

30:50.44
Jane Kisnica
um you know, any like going on holiday, I want to go on holiday when I want to go on holiday, not when my boss says that it's okay that I can go.

30:56.10
futurizm
Yeah.

30:58.10
Jane Kisnica
So I just could not. I'm pretty much unemployable at this stage.

31:02.33
futurizm
Well, I'm sure I'm sure that's not the case, but I certainly understand where you're coming from there, Jane.

31:07.80
Jane Kisnica
yeah

31:09.94
futurizm
Well, thank you so much for giving us your time today and talking us through your journey from the 9 to 5 office worker to freelance digital nomad. I really enjoyed our chat, Jane.

31:21.11
Jane Kisnica
Same, thanks for having me.

31:22.66
futurizm
Thank you.

31:22.75
Jane Kisnica
I'm excited to hear this come out.

31:25.64
futurizm
um Well, if anyone wants to see Jane's Work, you need look no further than the awesome Futurism website, futurism.io. And if you like what you see, which I'm sure you will, and want to see more of Jane's Work, do head over to the Jane...

31:40.34
futurizm
do head over to JaneKissnitzer.com, a link to which will be in the description to this episode. um You didn't think of calling it thecreativeassassin.com? I did check, it's free.

31:51.96
Jane Kisnica
No, I just wanted because i've I focus on my personal brand.

31:52.17
futurizm
No?

31:56.14
Jane Kisnica
um So i just I just wanted it to be under my name. So it's it stay it stays personal because my personal brand is what makes me the money because people relate to my content and to my values and the way I am.

32:09.51
Jane Kisnica
So um I just wanted to keep that. um

32:12.94
futurizm
the That's absolutely fair enough. Well, Jane, thanks again so much and thank you everyone for listening. That's all for now and we'll see you next time.