Meet Gogi Randhawa | Freelance Graphic and Web Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gogi Randhawa and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gogi, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I don’t know that I had much of a thought process in starting my own business. I’m a bit of a free spirit, I guess you could say. If I think too much about anything that involves risk then it would never happen, so I tend to not think too much and just dive in. That is true for nearly everything I do.

I wanted to play music. It’s all I cared about. I got into graphic and web design because my band needed it, and we didn’t have the money to pay anyone, so I said I would figure it out. I got some software and while in engineering school I taught myself graphic and web design. After graduating engineering school I had an internship for a short period of time but I got out of it because it was too sterile and regimented. I was bored to tears and it wasn’t creative enough. If I’m being honest I just wanted the degree and I knew it would make my mom happy.

After leaving the internship, I got a job at a large format printing facility for a while and it was pretty obvious that my manager didn’t place much value in his employees’ work or time. I stuck it out for as long as I could, but after a team meeting one day where he spouted off one of his less-than-motivational speeches, I put in my two weeks notice. His response was that it was fine and I didn’t need to come back – proving there was no value placed on me or the work I did.

From that point on, the idea of getting another job never entered my mind. It was all about doing it on my own. I didn’t stress about it. I didn’t look for other jobs or fill out applications. I just immediately started looking for clients. I had to make it work because I was going to go on tour and play music, I needed to pay bills and, most importantly, I was never going to be under the thumb of another person again. Ever since then my outlook on most things involving a challenge is, “you have to figure it out and you don’t have a choice.” I believe that that mindset has served me well in starting, building and sustaining my business for nearly two decades as a freelancer.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a freelance graphic and web designer who has been working for hire since 2001 and been doing it full time since 2004. It hasn’t been an easy road entirely but anything worth doing never is. There are always challenges. I jumped straight in with no experience or any idea of what the next step was. I just knew I didn’t want to work for anyone else and I enjoyed doing graphic design.

Many lessons were learned over the course of my 20 year journey:
– Business – Becoming more adept at contracts, invoicing, taxes, networking, etc.
– Psychology – Being able to read people, their wants and needs, and knowing how to create designs that fit what they are looking for rather than just designing some stuff and hoping they like it.
– Confidence – Being confident enough in my work to turn down jobs when I don’t feel like it’s a good fit or the client doesn’t have a budget that fits me.
– Awareness – Not accepting jobs I’m not suited for just because the money is there or because I was referred. Every designer is not right for every job and that’s ok.
– Faith – Learning to let go sometimes and realize that the work will come but you have to do what you can smartly and know when
– Balance – it’s not all about work. Creativity comes from life experience, not design experience. Get out and experience things.
– Education – Never stop learning. There’s always new techniques or tricks to doing things. You can’t just keep doing the same things over and over.
– Comraderie – There’s no competition. There is plenty of design work out there for everyone and if someone else gets a gig and I don’t, then it doesn’t mean all is lost.

The process of learning all of these lessons over the years wasn’t always easy but I feel they were always necessary to get me to where I am. I overcame these challenges but taking every single of the thousands of mistakes that were made and doing my best to learn and grow from them. I definitely didn’t always get it right, but if you don’t learn from that and adjust, then you increase your chances of continuing to have issues in the future.

Hope to set myself apart from others in that I have built relationships that allow me to be a sort of one-stop shop, so my clients only have to work with me rather than coming to me for design and then having to deal with a hosting company and then having to deal with a screen printer and then having to deal with a print vendor that does car wraps. I take care of all of those tasks so my clients only have to deal with one person and can say “I need this, this, this and this and I just want you to take care of it.” I also think my clients appreciate that I don’t have any problem raising red flags when I see them. I don’t feel as if I am doing anyone any favors by telling them all of their ideas are great and special. Sometimes a client’s ideas can be damaging and I have no problem telling them that because it only serves to benefit the overall goal. Some take a little offense to it but I’ve found that most really appreciate it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This is Atlanta. There’s no shortage of great places to go and you can easily fill up a week with good times. I’m a bit of a craft beer lover so every single day we would be hitting up at least one or two breweries. A few off the top of my head would be Monday Night Garage, Scofflaw Brewing, Three Taverns, Variant…the list could go on for days. The Battery is also a great time even if you aren’t into Baseball. The Works is a great spot. Any section of the Beltline is always a good relaxing time. Hiking around the North Georgia Mountains when the weather is clear is always fun. Top Golf…its just fun. You have to hit up Mercedes Benz stadium to see my beloved Falcons play. There’s definitely a concert or three in town. And then you could spend half of the week just trying to decide which restaurant you want to eat at – wings at Anchor Bar, Indian at Tabla, burgers at The Vortex, ribs at Das BBQ, And when its time to get crazy we might have to hit The Clermont and finish it off at The Highlander. I love this city so much. There’s never a shortage of things to do. Atlanta definitely has my heart.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to Nicholas Brown of BrownDaniel Group and &Brown. Nicholas and I connected via a mutual friend in 200. He called me to develop a logo and website for a new marketing company he was working for at the time. In time, Nicholas left that company and got into real estate and is one of the most accomplished, driven and hard-working real estate agents in all of the Atlanta area.

From the beginning he hired me to help with his graphic and web design. We have done many projects together over the 15+ years we have known each other. He has referred many clients and hired me for many jobs. If I had to name one person that has been a major catalyst to my business up to this point, it is absolutely Nicholas and I am forever grateful for all he has done for me.

Website: https://www.msndrstdcreative.com

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/msndrstddesigns

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/541106/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/msndrstdcreated

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/msndrstdcreative/