A Call for Income Transparency in Surface Design

When I was starting out in surface design and decided to go all in on building a business from my art, I was completely lost around how much I could actually earn.

There are so many different ways to make money, but no one wanted to talk about how much they were earning, how they were doing it day-to-day, or how long it took them to get to where they were.

Because of the lack of transparency, as a beginner it felt like success for me was impossible, like everyone else achieved success because of some special circumstances that I couldn't actually replicate.

It also felt like growth was taking forever. I was chugging along, day after day, trying to do all the right things and it felt like nothing was happening and I was going nowhere.

I felt embarrassed to talk about how things were going because I didn't know if I was doing okay or was working towards an impossible goal.

It would be like if I was working toward a college degree and no one told me how long it would take, how hard it would be, or how many failures I would experience. I would probably quit after the first semester.

If I had actual data to compare my own journey to, I wouldn't have felt so stuck.

This has driven me to call for a change around income transparency in surface design, starting with myself. I plan to use this space to share real stories and data around my business. Every week, I'll be sharing one of the following resources:

1. My monthly goals & reviews along with high-level earnings data
2. Detailed income reports with sales breakdowns by design & product
3. Mid-month check-ins on my progress toward my goals
4. A breakdown of one of my best-selling products and why I think it's successful

I will be sharing my goals, reviews, check-ins and high-level earnings data for free every other week. On the off-weeks, I'll be sharing my detailed income reports and best-selling product breakdowns to paid members.

Creating these reports takes a significant amount of time and energy. Becoming a paid member helps supplement the time I take away from my business to serve the surface design community!

This is the newsletter I've always wanted to create, but I never had the guts to fully go for it. I know that, for some, money is such an uncomfortable subject that they don't even want to hear other people talk about it.

I plan to make this an accessible and welcoming space for everyone, regardless of where you are with your money mindset.

I hope seeing the ups and downs of my own money stuff can help you feel more safe around the subject and give you some expansion around what's possible.