Mike Klassen
AWAI Member Since: 2003
Age: 40
What’s your current occupation?
Freelance Graphic Designer
What’s your former occupation?
Technical Writer/Editor
What was the first project you landed?
Based on a spec assignment from the 2004 Bootcamp, I was offered the chance to layout one of AWAI’s new programs, Secrets of Writing for the B2B Market.
What are your current projects?
- The layout of a new AWAI program, Secrets of Writing for the Christian Market
- The layout of a sales letter for a financial company.
- The layout of a bottle label for a health company.
- Working with AWAI on an upcoming program for writers who want to learn about design.
- Every month, I do the layout for the bonus report that goes along with each issue of Monthly Copywriting Genius.
- In a week or so, I’ll be starting a book layout.
What has been your proudest design moment?
It’s a toss-up between the completion of my very first project (AWAI’s B2B program) and my first magalog. They both represented significant milestones … my first project to launch my career and the first project that required me to step up to the next level of design.
What’s your favorite niche to design for?
I like to do layout for magalogs, books and large print projects.
What’s your design routine?
I intentionally don’t have one. That feels too much like a regular job. I like to stay flexible and work some days in the morning, some days in the evening. As long as my clients can reach me, and as long as I hit our target dates, they don’t care when I do the work. Hopefully Michael Masterson doesn’t read this, but I am a slave to email. I check it as soon as I wake up each day and multiple times during the day. Most of my clients communicate with me that way, and I’m obsessive about getting back to my clients quickly. Most clients are on tight schedules, and I try to respect that by getting back to them as soon as possible if they have a question or need something.
Please give us an example of how your life has changed since becoming a freelance graphic designer.
It’s hard to think of just one example, because going this route is not just a career change, it’s a total lifestyle change. You wake up one day and realize you have far less stress in your life because you’re not in the endless “9-to-5” battle most of us are used to. And you realize how much control you now have over your life that you didn’t have before, when you were expected to follow the traditional work routine of Monday through Friday, 9-to-5 with two days off before you repeat the process again and again until you retire.
The one thing you really know is that, once you’ve tasted the freelance life, you never want to give it up.
What success tip would you like to share with your fellow designers?
Be clear on your goals, and then do something every day to reach those goals, whether you feel like it or not. Lots of people never reach their goals, not because it’s impossible, but because they’re unwilling to fully commit to them on a daily basis.
Bonus Tip: Turn off the TV. Most people watch shows that have no long-term – or even short-term – benefit to their lives, which contributes little if anything to reaching their goals. I’ll bet no one on their death bed will say, “My life and my family’s life was enriched because I never missed an episode of [fill in the blank].”
When did you realize you were living the designer’s life?
I don’t know about the “designer’s” life, but I do know about the “freelancer’s” life. It was snowing early one morning a couple of years ago, and I wanted to play outside with the kids. I didn’t have to call the boss to ask if I could come in later or stay home altogether because … I was the boss!
