Lesson #5: Invest In The Future, Then Get Out Of The Way
Learned from Emily Poulin
Learned from Emily Poulin
Emily didn’t know she was a designer. I was teaching at a local college and this girl showed up chatting in the side of the class. She mentioned she was exploring art and starting to get into design. I saw her work and she showed promise. She was lacking direction, but packed with perspective and drive. It was a perspective so different from mine and I wanted to learn from her and grow with her.
I knew that someday, she would be creating the future I would be living in.
For the entire beginning of my career, I had been focusing on me. I wanted to create my future and hit my goals and become the best I could be. That can be important and appropriate to a point, but eventually creativity can't thrive without collaboration.
There's a magic that happens when two perspectives clash together.
I decided very quickly that the knowledge I had gained in my time as a designer was no longer mine. The white knuckle hoarding of my own processes and inspirations had outgrown their cage and Emily was eager to adopt them. We had a long journey together, with her interning and working alongside me for nearly 4 years in an ever shifting and growing exchange of creativity.
She took the jump to freelance when I should have.
I had taught her techniques and principles. She taught me confidence and resilience. I watched from the wings as she grew and thrived as a freelancer. I wanted that. What I once was teaching to be the future was now leaving me in the past.
We have stayed close and continue to work together, but I often think back to her transition and wonder if I did something wrong. Was I too hard? Was I not teaching her enough? Was I not a good leader? But I've landed on this realization:
The best thing I could do was get out of her way.
She was on her own journey and a warpath of creativity that had momentum I could never had stopped. That momentum is in constant motion and pushes on today. At this point, I'm just running to catch up.
Over the last year of full time freelance, Emily has fully switched to being my teacher. She’s consulted on pricing, taught me how to plan, how to structure project, and most importantly, that the future of creativity is in good hands.
