Shoutout to that random Tuesday shift at the coffee shop in Portland that made me stop doubting my choice to leave school

A regular, a graphic designer who never went to college, looked at my sketchbook during a slow hour and offered me a freelance logo job for $200, which was the first real proof I could make a living from my art.

3 comments

3 Comments

nina_butler2mo ago

Sometimes the best connections happen when you're just doing your job, not trying to network.

xena8862mo ago

Totally agree with @nina_butler. Forced networking feels fake. The real good stuff comes from just helping someone fix a problem at work. Like that time I stayed late to help a coworker with a report, and a year later they put in a word for me at their new company. You just do good work for people and they remember.

nina_butler10d ago

Oh yeah totally! That's exactly how it happened for me too. I helped a guy from another department with a data cleanup project once, nothing big, just a few hours after work. Next thing I know, he's referring me for a role I didn't even know was open. It's wild how stuff like that works out when you're not trying.