Freelance illustrator Jo Harrison proves that passion and prosperity can go hand in hand

In the business world, you rarely hear entrepreneurs advocating that artists should work for free. While Jo Harrison wouldn't recommend that path for everyone, it’s exactly how she got her start as a freelance designer, illustrator, and artist. 

Harrison has been passionate about art from a young age. In her twenties, she began designing gig posters for friends at school, which is when her career began to take shape. Now, she’s built up 20 years of experience designing impactful branding and visual communications for a wide variety of clients, including universities, professional associations, Big Five publishers, and nonprofits. One lesson she learned early on after her school days? “Be really explicit that you want to be paid in money.”

Harrison still believes that authentic investment should be a driving force for illustrators and designers thinking about starting businesses. “It is difficult for artists going out on their own,” she admits, “but I would say, do things you really care about.”

What led you to start your own business?

Just the sheer belief that I could. I think I always wanted to. I used to do sign writing, and years back, my boss told me I wasn't cut out to be an employee. I don't know if it was a compliment or not, but I take it as one, because I do like working alone. I like collaborating a lot, but day to day, I like to decide when I'm going to be working and how I'm going to work. 

When I look back now at the work I did early on, I’m like, ‘People paid me for that?’ But you know, I started out really small, doing stuff for 50 pounds here and there. I did lots of work for free. I used to do gig posters for friends because I was in my mid-twenties and still knew lots of people in bands. I made friends that way, and then people referred me, and it’s been like that since… I started my business in 2007 while doing other things as well. 

You also do animation work. How does that differ from working with still images?

In some ways, it's great because you've got extra scope. You don't have to tell the whole story in one image. I really like stuff that's got quite a strong gesture in it, and sometimes, it's really nice to be able to show the whole gesture rather than just the end point. You can also use more humor with animation. In a recent project I just did for QuickBooks and Mailchimp. There's a little thought bubble, and the animation says, ‘Your idea’s got legs,’ and it grows legs. I bent its knees and made the feet sort of turn in just to amuse myself.

Animation is harder because it’s all frame by frame. I'm not using any sort of software, so it's all hand-drawn. It's really a lovely process, and when you see it work, when you press the button and watch it go, you’re like, “Oh, that was great!”

What was your biggest lesson early on while running your business?

Once, somebody asked me to do some drawing for a CD cover, and it was really exciting. We'd agreed to 50 [British] pounds, and I had a gas bill to pay. But then, the guy turned up where we were meeting to buy me a drink and say thank you, and he’d bought me this really beautiful book and some art materials instead. I was like, “Oh, I really needed money.”

How did you handle that? Did you ask for the money?

No, I was like, “It’s gorgeous!” 

I think it's a lesson for business in general: Be very clear about expectations.

So, how did you learn to run your business?

I run my business in a fairly loose way, in that I’m really lucky that people come to me and say, “Can you do this work?” And I go, “Yeah.” 

I do have to schedule things, invoice things. It took a long time to learn how to build a quote—to learn the wording you use and how you negotiate with people. It’s still a really fine line, and sometimes you have to judge it on who you’re dealing with. But I think my learning process was really intuitive and trial and error, really. Sometimes I wish I hadn’t been quite that trial-and-error.

Did any aspect of being a business owner catch you by surprise?

It’s only recently that I’ve started considering what I do as a business, which might sound strange. I’ve always just thought, ‘Oh, I'm a person that does a thing.’ But it's a business, and I have a reputation, and I'm really proud of it.

A good thing that caught me by surprise was when someone said that I was a safe pair of hands for something. It was a design job, and they needed it quickly, and they said, ‘We know you're a safe pair of hands.’ I felt really proud of that—that I’ve got a reputation for being good at what I do, and reliable.

What tools do you use to help you run your business?

 I'm going to have to start using something like QuickBooks, because the UK is going to make taxes digital. We're going to have to file four times a year, like you do in the US.

When I was working with associations and on political campaigns, I used Mailchimp a lot. We used it to get messages out to big groups of people, keep supporters updated, and things like that. We used to try and be creative with newsletters, put GIFs in, and that kind of thing. I enjoyed doing those.

It was one of those things where you've got all these quite strict parameters, but we learned to be really creative with them. That’s a really fundamental thing when you're designing, is having good boundaries and parameters for your creativity. You can flourish within those.

How do you channel your artistic style into client work while also serving their business goals?

I used to try really hard, always, to satisfy clients’ wish lists. But sometimes, the things on the wish list contradict themselves, and so I would bend over backwards to try and do all of them. 

I'm a lot more intuitive now. I start by sketching things out and seeing what the project lends itself to. I bring myself to it by trusting that my creativity will find a way. I don't always work in the same style, but I also don’t like to say, ‘Oh, I'll do whatever you want.’ I like to be influenced by things, but it's really about trusting learned expertise and trusting myself.

What advice would you give artists who are thinking of starting their own businesses?

You're not supposed to advocate working for free, but if you want to get your foot in the door of a certain sector, find a client that's maybe a charity or a smaller business. They might not be able to pay so much, but there's less risk. Or maybe say, ‘Can I swap?’ Build up a portfolio of client interactions so you’ve got people that can recommend you. Building relationships is really important, so that people know that you’re a safe pair of hands.