Hey Jordan! Could you tell us a bit about yourself? Who are ya, where do you come from and what do you do?
I’m Jordan, originally from the mighty Hertfordshire. Can neither confirm nor deny if it’s still mighty. Now firmly routed in Leyton, London.
Been a freelance senior designer for the past 4 years now. I actually fell into freelance after being made redundant at a game publishers just before COVID which was about as fun as it sounds. Since then been lucky enough to work for some heavy hitters like Meta, Amazon Prime and some other big boys.
When I’m not hunched over the MacBook i’m off playing gigs with my band goldenbloom who you should try and catch for no other reason than to scratch my ego.
Can you recall a moment when you suddenly realised, ‘Yes, this is exactly what I should be doing’?
I can actually. I was only a few months into freelancing when I was in an office with one of my very first clients. One of the creative directors tapped me on the shoulder and asked for me join them on a review session for a huge job I wasn’t even working on. I asked them why out of curiosity. They simply said “well, you’re a professional and we’d appreciate your feedback.”
I think the rest of the day I had a 50/50 mix of smug and swag. Jokes aside, it really made me feel confident in what I do and my creative opinion. Two of the comments I made in that session went on to the final piece.
What do you think your younger self would say about you now? How would they feel meeting you?
Probably not surprised at the fact I still struggle to grow facial hair.
I do think my younger version would be pretty stoked with how far I’ve come. I remember when I was younger, seeing freelancers come in and out of agencies I worked at and always being in awe that they could just drop in, slay a project and then bounce. Now I’m one of those guys. He’d be pretty happy that I got a doggo too.
In five years, what’s your dream scenario for yourself and your work? What are you most excited about?
For ages, I’ve had this idea of starting an agency. It’s been really close before. Looking at office spaces, potential hires. I think the idea is still swimming around in my head. Maybe it’ll happen. Other than than, i think getting some more big names on the books would be tight.
If you could sit down with someone just starting out on their own freelance or entrepreneurial path, what one piece of advice would you love to give them?
It would probably be the same advice I got given when I was starting redundancy in the face. “You’d be surprised who comes out the woodwork when you tell everyone you’re a freelancer.”
I was bricking it when I started out, didn’t really have any direction or any idea of how to make this work. Thankfully though talking to friends and ex-colleagues, at least 1-in-5 of them “…had a mate who works at some agency that always needs someone.”
That’s how I started out and believe that can work for anyone. Apply yourself, put yourself out there, back yourself, vouch for yourself, do a good job and repeat.
Picture this.. You’re stranded on a desert island and you can only listen to one song forever. What song would you choose and why?
Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer because it’s a banger. That’s literally all you need to know.
