Meet Jeffrey Balazs

We were lucky to catch up with Jeffrey Balazs recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeffrey, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
I think this started at a very young age as I witnessed my parents educate my brothers and me and create our home with their creativity, vision and tenacity. My mother taught kindergarten at a local school so we were raised with a sound foundation and positive reinforcement in education. My father was an industrial design professor and was building our home when I was a toddler. We watched the construction process and even helped out with instruction and encouragement. His resourcefulness made a huge impact in allowing me to see options in my creativity. I later received awards for my artistic achievements beginning in kindergarten and extending throughout my graphic design career. My confidence partially stemmed from having an interest in how things worked. My older brother was also an source for inspiration as he’d take apart things and put them back together with success. I also honed my ability to envision what I wanted to become reality and use my developed use of tools and eye hand coordination to create illustrations, wood projects and other things that did not exist. Playing and exploring without rules allowed me to experience options – not necessarily a failure, but an alternative. This confidence fueled by a hopeful attitude stays with me today. I’ve learned that a solution often comes a shared vision from external sources, collaboration with others and having fun in the process. I visit my sketchbook from time to time to see if there are ideas that I want to breathe fresh air into. Being persistent is crucial if I have the desire to bring things to fruition. My parents instilled a strong work ethic that’s always in the background running silent and smooth.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
For the bulk of my career, I’ve applied my artistic talents and honed my skills in graphic design in producing marketing communications in B2B and B2C markets. I find joy in the challenge of developing the right deliverable that engages, educates and induces the customer to take action. Some of my past projects have included developing corporate identities with brand guidelines and even refreshing a firm’s tired brand. I’ve been fortunate to have worked in diverse business sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, education, hospitality, consumer goods, architecture, human resources and technology. This has enabled me to adapt and apply use efficiencies learned to a changing marketplace. As a devoted nature enthusiast, I was excited to be selected to work on a fundraising/awareness project for the national park system with goals of establishing a scientist to be posted at every national park in the nation. I believe that preserving our natural treasures, lands and waterways with education helps instil the value they bring to our wellbeing and for future generations. When I’m not working for clients, I like to use my craftsmanship in creating a variety of hand-made products under the j.design brand – visit myjdesign.com. All of my products have originated from a personal need and then made public realizing that others would also benefit from their functionality, design and attention to detail. Lately, I’ve expanded my line of waxed-canvas aprons and cross-body bags.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Be Flexible Be Proactive
Collaborate

Be Flexible:
I once heard, “a flexible person doesn’t get bent out of shape”. I wish I had heard of this earlier in my design career, as I thought my graphic solutions were quite good. I wore my heart on my sleeve and was dismayed that that some were deemed sub par. Be open to change and others points of view. Accept and ask for constructive criticism – don’t settle for “I don’t like that” and ask for “why”. This will help in achieving what is expected with rationale to back it up.

Be Proactive:
Look forward in your daily processes to find efficiencies and any roadblocks for yourself and others for a greater good. Pay it forward without a personal immediate gain. I once attended a sales meeting and was asked if I had any questions. After analyzing the project, I foresaw obstacles that could be remedied in a timely fashion and presented them to the client. This proactive thinking was hugely important in nailing the contract for the company I represented.

Collaborate:
Many times we are forced to work alone in silos, but greater ideas and perspectives come form others points of view. With a myriad of online forums and meeting sites, collaboration is easier to do form a home office. Or better yet, get out of the office and set up a meeting offsite!

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
Provide support and freedom to explore my curiosities, talents and passions. I wasn’t pushed into becoming a graphic designer, but at a young age, I was excited of letterforms, calligraphy and how they were laid out on a page with illustrations and images. Much later did I find out that it could be a career. My father had a large studio filled with tools in the arts from paints, brushes, paper and clay to a vast assortment of hand and power tools in the garage. My mother had her studio filled with cloth, sewing machines to patterns and a kitchen with an array of resources for cooking. This creative environment gave me resources to play, investigate and help create my world and skills. We lived on ten acres of rural land with woods, a pond and a neighboring farm that fueled my thirst for various interests in nature, biology and art. This later led to a creative project of wanting to build a traditional West Greenland kayak. My good friend and teamed up with mutual interests to do so in 2009. At the beginning, I knew this was going to be a huge and exciting project spanning several months of researching building techniques, tool and wood supplies, documenting photography for a book and creating a website, not to mention the actual building process. Visit https://www.kayak4fun.net.

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