We recently connected with Meg McConnell and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Meg, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?
Generosity is something I’ve always strived for–I do my best to be present and giving of my time, energy, knowledge, and resources in whatever ways I can. Both of my parents were public school teachers growing up so I was modeled a lot of hard work, volunteerism, and going the extra mile for students and families. From a young age my family adopted shelter animals, bought Angel Tree gifts for kids in need around the holidays, and gave what we had to help others. I’m very aware of my privilege and the many people throughout my career who helped make an introduction, hired me for a freelance project, or encouraged me when I was just starting out. It’s really important to me to pay it forward and help others when I can and just try to put good energy back out in the world.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
After working full-time communications roles in the small business, nonprofit, and corporate sectors (while freelancing on the side), I became fully self-employed as a design freelancer in 2016. I launched Due West Design studio in 2020, a boutique branding and web design studio based in Colorado Springs. It can be tricky going from that “jack of all trades” mentality as an employee to learning how to niche down your services a bit more as a business owner. I’m constantly working on fine tuning our offerings, processes, and skills to deliver the best experience possible for our clients. Due West Design experienced a lot of growth over the last three years and now it’s really about becoming more streamlined with the administrative tasks so we can focus on and enjoy the creative work even more. I recently hired a systems consultant (Erin at Lunimae.com) and she’s really helped us step up our project management and client experience, which has been amazing!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
In hindsight, the first thing that has really helped me go from part-time freelancer to full-time business owner is having a solid network in place. I worked in full-time roles for about 15 years before making the leap and met so many incredible people who went on to work at different companies (or started their own) and thankfully kept me in mind when they needed a designer for a project. I’m beyond grateful that this network of former co-workers, friends, bosses, etc. has kind of spiderwebbed out around the country and led to a great source of referrals over time.
The second thing, going back to the “jack of all trades” mentality, is that when you work in full-time roles for other companies you get paid to try out lots of different tasks and develop new skills. Between that and saying yes to most projects early on as a freelancer I got a lot of experience, which helped me figure out what I liked and was good at vs. what felt like a struggle. Now that we’re able to niche down a bit with our services I’m thankful to have that broad experience because it’s helped guide me towards my strengths and given me confidence in our direction. It’s also been cool to meet other freelancers and small business owners who specialize in complimentary services so if someone needs help with something outside of my wheelhouse there is usually a great contact I can refer them to.
Finally, a positive outlook and good sense of humor go a really long way in life. There are so many ups and downs being self-employed, and so many things to figure out. You have to reflect sometimes and appreciate how far you’ve come (celebrate the wins!) and be able to roll with the punches when times get tough. Nothing is permanent and each day is a fresh start.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
The book “Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle” by Emily Nagoski, Ph.D. and Amelia Nagoski, D.M.A. has shifted the way I think about stress. Building a small business (in a pandemic, with so many things happening in the world) can be really, really stressful. There’s a lot riding on it and that often translates to long hours staring at a screen, poor sleep, too much time sitting at a desk, and a number of other unhealthy coping mechanisms.
This book dives into the cycles of being a human, and how when we’re under stress for long periods of time we’re often not completing the full stress cycle (like we are biologically wired to do). Having the science and explanation behind it has made it easier to prioritize movement–sometimes it’s a break during the work day to go to the gym, sometimes it’s a quick walk or stretch break, sometimes it’s just dancing around the kitchen while I make lunch. Just physically letting the stress energy out of your body. And the book is packed with lots of other small ways to connect, feel your feelings, and breathe–that you can actually fit in your day and that makes a noticeable difference in your quality of life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.duewestdesign.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/duewestdesign/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/due-west-design
Image Credits
Mikaela Stern of Xaris Photography
