This is an old post but thought I should move it from its own page to a post.

Life after a ‘proper job’ – A year of freelancing

It’s been a year now since I left New Scientist magazine to pursue a career running my own business and working for myself – and what an interesting year it has been.

Leaving a secure job after 25 years is a major step. You get very used to the office environment and a monthly wage, so stepping away from that is hard and a worry. Will I survive? Will I get any work? Will I like working for myself? but I needed to do something else…

It was something that I had been thinking about for a while and so had been building up my freelance contacts and presentation skills in London and abroad.

My final day at New Scientist was Christmas Eve, so I left with a fuzzy head ready for a new start on January 1st – as it happened I was busy from day one.

Christmas was spent setting up my company and registering nigelhawtin.com 

I hit the ground running with a couple of projects designing graphics for a company report as well as consultancy work – a brilliant feeling – I actually had work and the prospect of money coming in. Since that first commission, I have rarely stopped.

So life after a ‘proper’ job is good. I have been extremely lucky to have had plenty of interesting work in my first year,

from one-off projects, regular consultancy and training days, to working alongside talented teams of designers and coders.

Life is certainly more interesting. New opportunities appear all the time and when I do get some free time, I can update and improve my skills, as well as being able to jump in the car and do some walking and birdwatching – what could be better!

BTO Breeding Birds Survey 2015

Many thanks to all those who have commissioned me this year as well as to the teams of talented people I have worked with. There are too many to mention, but you know who you are.

It had been rewarding, exciting and a bit nerve-wracking to be honest, but I am looking forward to more of it in 2016…

Have a look at my blog or latest projects to see what I have up to lately and I look forward to designing more story-telling data next year.

Here’s to 2016

Nigel