Ditching Traditional Work and Creating a Career That Works for You: Part 4

As the 2020 landscape for women in the workforce has drastically shifted, so too have our needs as mothers. Working Momkind is committed to being a resource for you, which is why we've created an interview series highlighting the careers of five working moms and their successful leaps from traditional work to the freelance hustle, and building their brands to becoming Founders and CEOs. We invite you to join us as we release two stories per week, describing their experiences and sharing the knowledge of what they've learned along the way.

In Part 4 of our series, we chat with Jourdan Fairchild, Founder of Spruce Creative Studio. She talks to us about launching a freelance career in a new city and how to get over rejection and keep moving forward.

Jourdan Fairchild, Founder, Spruce Creative Studio

Jourdan Fairchild is the founder of Spruce Creative Studio, an interior design service that helps people create stylish homes that tell their personal stories. During her first career as a national magazine and website editor, Jourdan worked for Oprah, appeared on The Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda, and attended any work event that served free food. She now lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her husband and two young daughters.

WM: Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today! You've already experienced not one, but two career transitions in your lifetime. Can you tell us a little about your first journey and how you got to the second?

Fairchild: I spent the first seven years of my career working as a magazine editor in New York City. I started as an assistant to an editor-in-chief (so Devil Wears Prada-ish without the glamorous clothes, but all of the coffee runs) and worked my ass off to get to the senior editor level. Those years were a master class in learning to think quickly, problem solve, keep my head down, and work hard (a little too hard, probably). I also developed my design eye during this time. After seven years, my fiancé, and now-husband, applied and was accepted into medical school in Chicago. We married in mid-July, and by August 1st, we'd moved into a tiny apartment in a city where I had zero job prospects.

WM: Wow, moving to a new city is a bold move and a big undertaking after so many years of working your way to the top of your field in NYC. What was it like trying to find work when you arrived? 

Fairchild: That first transition was tough, given that I moved to a new city and had never freelanced before. I'd worked with basically the same staff my entire career, so I didn't have a vast network of colleagues at various magazines to reach out to for new connections. I also felt a ton of pressure not only to make money, given that my new husband was starting medical school (i.e., four years of zero income), but also to maintain a "successful" career in the eyes of my peers and former colleagues.

It took months for any Chicago editors to hire me, but eventually, I started writing for local publications like the Chicago Tribune while maintaining connections with editors back in NYC. After a few years, I picked up steady, well-paying work at Crate & Barrel and CB2. When my husband and I moved to Durham, North Carolina, for his residency program, I pivoted my career yet again, and since 2018, I've owned my own interior design business, Spruce Creative Studio.

WM: After two moves, it's clear you have plenty of experience with building your brand and business from the ground up. For many women, fear of the unknown is still what's holding them back. What were some personal obstacles you had to overcome to succeed in your new career?

Fairchild: I love the autonomy of being your own boss. I'm a driven, organized person by nature, so it was easy for me to stay on top of the work, but I did find rejection, particularly when it came to pitching stories, quite defeating. 

I also really missed the personal connection of having co-workers. I'm a classic extrovert, so I had to find other avenues of interaction within my work throughout the day. It's hard not to have colleagues to bounce ideas off of, which, in my case, means running things by my husband when we're working at night in front of the tv. Working for yourself is quite a roller-coaster experience. Sometimes you feel like you're manifesting your dreams, and then some days, you question everything. 

WM: And what about now – almost three years into Spruce Creative Studio, do you find you're still trying to hurdle these obstacles?

Fairchild: I most certainly learned to stop taking rejection so personally. I also gained the confidence to be a bit more persistent about communication and getting paid relatively quickly. I've come to realize that it's imperative to know your worth and value your skills before stepping out on your own. 

WM: We couldn't agree more - knowing your value is essential to growing both your confidence and business. However, as the boss, it can be easy to get caught up in wanting to do everything entirely perfect or on your own. When building your brand, what approach did you take if a skill fell outside of your expertise?

Fairchild: Having done this practice several times, first as a freelance magazine writer, after my magazine career, and then again when I launched my interior design service, I've gotten quite adept at knowing what I can do on my own and what I most certainly should outsource to another more competent freelancer. I've hired freelancers to help me with skills I couldn't or didn't want to learn on my own. For example, I enlisted a graphic designer to create the Spruce Creative Studio logo, but then built my website and handled marketing and outreach on my own. This practice allows me to focus on what I'm good at, saves me time in my personal life, and ensures I maintain a professional presence throughout all facets of my business.

WM: Your ambition and willingness to step into the unknown are actions many mothers aspire to cultivate in their careers. What have the last three years of building your business while simultaneously becoming a mother taught you?

Fairchild: Moms are excellent multi-taskers, great communicators, familiar with operating against deadlines, and natural cheerleaders for other people. They're truly born to thrive in the freelance world, as long as they have the confidence to chase their dreams, as well as the time and resources to work at their full potential.

WM: Thank you for sharing your story and helping to empower other women, especially moms, to know their worth and chase their dreams – even if it involves moving twice and reinventing your career!

Stay tuned for Part Five, and the final portion of our series, as we speak with Brooke Markevicius, Founder and CEO of Allobee. We discuss the spectrum of resources Allobee offers to both their small business clients and the freelance experts they hire to help them.

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