Portfolio-Building: All The Things

Aug 2

Written By Stacey

I’m a big, fat liar.

Y’all remember when I had said that I was going to be kicking back the rest of the summer? I distinctly remember writing something along the lines of getting back to my pencils and my bottle collection until school was back in session.

Well, the survey says that was 100% untrue.

It wasn’t an intentional lie. I’m an angel.

It’s just that a couple projects circled back around and converged on the same week.

One of those things had me looking at my old work recently.

I was asked to guest speak for a group of college students in India. It was awesome! The kids were great and had a lot of good questions afterward. I had a great time! 🥰

While I was prepping for the presentation, I ran across some old work.

One of my calligrafriends said she needed to go back and see where I had discussed that because she hadn’t seen it. But, the truth is, I hadn’t shared it. 😬

I have a really good reason for that.

I really don’t want to do work like that anymore. So, I just don’t show it. 🤷🏾‍♀️ Well, except to college students in India to let them know that their early influences are right under their noses…and that everything they are doing is of value to their careers.

The next day, another project had me revisiting a past side hustle.

Pre-pandemic, I had a small, family photography business. True story.

For those in the area who knew me when, I can occasionally still be called upon for those services. I still photograph for my school on occasion, and I’m currently the school’s newsletter editor. So, technically, my cameras are still in use often enough throughout the year that I may still get requests. But, I don’t show that work outside of school because my current goal is to be hired for lettering and calligraphy.

So far, Ive had more requests for lettering. But I’ve been doing that longer.

To date, I’ve had one, on-site calligraphy engraving event. But, I’m also hoping to get more calligraphy-related work in the future. Can you smell the new portfolio project on the horizon?

Now getting work in lettering and calligraphy is still somewhat new to me. But, in the past six months, I have had the opportunity to work with eight different clients! I have completed work for four and am still working with four…two of which are back on the roster as of the past two weeks.

It’s not a bad thing. I’m a teacher, so I’m used to the constant grind and juggling of things to do…I might even be mildly addicted to it at this point.

But, that can be freelance, sometimes. Until you’ve truly carved out your schedule and gotten a groove for what it is you do exactly, it’s all a little jumbly.

Also, the variety of things I may be hired for is pretty extensive at this point, which is something I will need to think about moving forward if I want to narrow down the kinds of projects I get.

Don’t get me wrong…I still love to do all the things… But showing them all must be very confusing to someone looking to hire you, for sure. So, for the rest of the year, I’ll be focusing on how to present my work in a clearer way.