You may know this feeling. You feel compelled to do something new — something that means leaving a secure place, or taking a risk that’s hard to explain to other people. For me, that thing was starting my own business for the first time.
I was stepping into an industry I hadn’t worked in directly. But I’d spent years building the skills that matter here — across technology, design, storytelling, and client relationships. What I didn’t have was the experience of being the one who started something. That was the scary part.
Then there was the market; so many agencies, tools that promise you can build a client’s website in a week from your kitchen table. I looked at all of that and made a deliberate choice: I wouldn’t try to compete there. I’d go after a small segment of clients, keep my overheads lean, turn work away if someone else was a better fit. That was scary too.
I was also going against the trend of templates and rapid turnarounds. That meant people would go elsewhere — plenty of them – leads would take longer to come, and longer to convert. Scary.
But here’s why it’s ok. My ambition isn’t to do a website in a week and move on. I want to work with clients over time, explore their story and values properly, so what I build looks and reads like them — not like a decent idea from a designer working in the abstract. And alongside the story, I want to deliver technically clean solutions: performance, accessibility, compliance. Not as afterthoughts, but as part of what good work means to me.
That’s what I actually want to do. And that changes everything.
If any of this resonates — if you’re at your own crossroads, wondering whether to follow the loud trends or trust something quieter — here’s the only thing I’d offer: know what you want to do, and sit with it honestly. There’s nothing wrong with the high street suit, or Savile Row, or somewhere in between. Find where you belong in that range, do your research, and don’t give up on it too quickly. The clients who are looking for exactly what you offer do exist.
It was scary to go against the grain. But it was ok. And it might be exactly what you — and the right clients — are looking for.
