Pivot Point

Let me (re)introduce myself.

Hello! My name is Patricia, you can also call me Pat. I have been a visual designer for 10+ years and am based in Vancouver, BC. This past year was a pivotal point in both my life and career direction. Since getting married last year, my focus has been to redevelop my own brand and market my design services. I took some time learning some new skills on UX/UI design and development, networking with local creatives and business owners, and working on my new portfolio. Then this past spring, on my 33rd birthday in fact, I received the most amazing news: I was pregnant with my first baby!

I was excited, relieved, overjoyed and grateful. My husband and I were dealing with many changes with work, career, and family since the previous year. There were months of stress and frustration. It’s true when they say that the first year of marriage will challenge you, but we stuck together and faced the challenges together. It made us stronger and better in our communication. So with a baby on the way, my plans to relaunch my online marketing strategies had me pause and go back to the drawing board.

Finding my focus.

I knew that what I most wanted as a mother is to be present with my child as much as I could. I want the flexibility to balance my design work and time with my baby. So a corporate or 9-5 position was no longer a priority at this point. I had to think deeper and analyze my next steps carefully. A major career change did not make sense, so staying within the creative and design industry was certain. But with the changing landscape with AI, design tools and processes, online marketing and social media, there was an overload of unknowns.

Therefore, I decided to select a focus. What was something that I could design and test quickly? What was it about branding and design that I absolutely love? I came to the conclusion of packaging and gift giving. I grew up celebrating many holidays from birthdays to Christmas to Mother’s Day and Father’s Day to weddings and baptisms. Every holiday was about family, friends, coming together, spending quality time together, and sharing kind words and well wishes. Then I settled on my outlet: greeting cards.

I am a collector of greeting cards. When I am cleaning and organizing, I find boxes of them from over the years. Rereading them reminds me of those times and some are truly special and meaningful. How beautiful that we take some paper and write down the most kind and special worlds of encouragement, love, joy, support, and care to one another. So I set to use my creative skills and aesthetic eye to visualize and package these thoughtful tokens with my own illustrations and designs.

But where to start? With a baby on the way, a big summer trip planned for Greece and the start of developing a gift giving brand, my mind was in between researching, packing, and baby brain. I could have easily just jumped in and started designing cards, printing them and posting them online. Yet, with the experience I gained over the years developing brands, visual identities, and designing marketing content, I knew that there was more to the story.

Setting up for success.

With AI content all over social media, polished, refined, and repetitive, I knew that there was value in digging in deeper to make the connections of my story and voice more of my own to speak and connect with my people and not optimize for the masses. So I started to journal and research. This was a big project and I wanted my efforts and direction to not only be successful and clear, but my next steps to be strategic. So I connected with an amazing local creator that is also a friend of ours, Liora of AMLiora Designs.

Over some coffee and pastries, I pitched my idea to start a greeting card business to focus my design efforts into a project that could one day sustain my creative and financial goals while caring for my baby and family. Liora has been in the business for 6 years, producing and selling her beautiful resin jewelry and creations. She was sharp, insightful, and most of all encouraging and supportive. Her tips and feedback gave me more context and clarity, as well as more aspects to reflect and decide on.

I took the rest of the summer to enjoy travels, friends, family, and outdoor activities before resetting into developing my brand and business again for the fall. I found myself paralyzed. After reviewing my notes with Liora, my work was definitely cut out for me: establishing my social media presence, building out my online shop/website, developing my product collections, and applying to Christmas markets, while consistently creating and posting content to market my brand. It is a lot for an almost 6-month pregnant lady to take on. But this designer mama-to-be was up for the challenge!

Taking baby steps.

So this week, I decided to take one step each day towards developing the business. I knew this would be a long journey and with new skills to learn, expecting perfection at the start was unrealistic. Aiming for progress, even small progress every day, was the goal. Luckily, earlier this year, I experienced building consistency and discipline using social media to keep me accountable.

I started daily 5am runs earlier in the year. At the time, my mental health was not in a good place. I needed a focus, so I started running. It not only helped regulate my mind and body, it helped me get into a consistent routine. I ran and posted it every morning for almost 2 months straight. What started as a challenge for a week turned into two, then a month, and kept going. For me, it wasn’t about beating my time, it was about staying consistent and showing up no matter what. That is, until I got pregnant. Some friends guessed something was up when my regular Strava and Instagram running posts stopped. Funny enough it wasn’t spring showers, rather nausea and constant fatigue.

Reviewing my notes, research, planning, lists, timelines and schedules, I realized that I needed to get into the mindset that nothing is going to be perfect, but that we’re going to learn and improve as we go. Instead of getting overwhelmed with infinite online tips and hacks, I would simply share my process and progress while building this brand. There will be some mistakes and flops, but I’ve accepted that data is still feedback and further clarity, whether positive or negative. The support and encouragement I have received so far from friends and family on the start of this journey has been amazing. I will keep growing and learning, showing up consistently, and sharing the small daily wins.

You’re invited!

In summary, my name is Pat. I am a designer and mama-to-be. I am developing my first holiday card collection on my online shop for this Christmas to jumpstart my creative business to support my baby and family. I invite you to follow my journey on Instagram @patmazurdesigns for daily story updates. Thank you for your encouragement and support!

– Sincerely, Pat ✨