Episode #1 | Here We Go… Welcome to the Pivot Playground Pod!
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Links & Mentions —
🎨 Grab my FREE DESIGN GUIDE, Playground, over here.
👏 Check out My Human Design here if you’re interested in learning more about it.
⛰️ Check out my new Solo Travel & Photography BLOG, The Solitude Sessions.
👩💻 Come LEARN DESIGN with me in the Summer Design Club.
This is a space where we shoot the shit on living a creative and adventurous life, one not bound by rules, or how it's been done before.
From navigating the wild ride of solo entrepreneurship to evolving through the ebbs and flows of just being human, we're here to explore all of it, to do things on our own terms and to remember that we always have the power to pivot.
Jump in, play hard and savor the journey.
So welcome to the first episode of my podcast, which is not something I ever thought I would say to be honest. but you know, sometimes things just happen and it feels like the right time to do something that for a long time, it just didn't vibe. So this is going to be a new creative space to just talk shit about creativity, business, design, adventures, all of the things. So welcome.
And in this first episode, I thought I would do kind of like a backstory of like why, what my intentions are with the pod and a little bit about me.
Episode 1 Transcript —
Introduction
Welcome to the Pivot Playground podcast. This is a space where we shoot the shit of living a creative and adventurous life, one not bound by rules or how it's been done before. From navigating the wild ride of solo entrepreneurship to evolving through the ebbs and flows of just being human, we hit a question and explore all of it to do things on our own terms and to remember that we always have the power to pivot.
Jump in, play hard and savor the journey. So welcome to the first episode of my podcast, which is not something I ever thought I would say to be honest. but you know, sometimes things just happen and it feels like the right time to do something that for a long time, it just didn't vibe. So this is going to be a new creative space to just talk shit about creativity, business, design, adventures, all of the things. So welcome.
And in this first episode, I thought I would do kind of like a backstory of like why, what my intentions are with the pod and a little bit about me.
If you're like new here and you're like, who is this chick? What the fuck is she talking about? Also, there is definitely going to be profanity. That's just how I talk.
Background
So get used to it. So I will start with just a little background, I guess. So my name is Sian. I am a graphic designer slash creative entrepreneur. I'm from New Zealand, but I live in British Columbia, Canada these days. I've been here for about seven -ish years on my permanent residency and I fucking love it.
It's such an awesome place to hang out and yeah, so I've been in business for, since February, 2011 was like when I quit my job to be self -employed. so through that time, most of my business has been working one -on -one with design clients, mostly a lot of online businesses, especially in the coaching world. just working with some incredible clients to craft some really awesome branding projects and websites.
Early Days of Freelancing
And like way back in the day, I did a lot of like really big course branding when kind of online courses were really kicking off. So like fully branding and designing like custom course websites and stuff like that. And then over the years, I've also kind of always had my own products and design templates throughout the years. And that's sort of my focus these days.
is design templates for other graphic designers and business owners. And also design education is something that I'm starting to lean into a lot more now, which I'm very stoked about. And doing some select client work here and there. And it's a pretty good time. So in terms of the podcast, this is something, I mean, obviously they've been around for a few years now and It's always something that like, everyone always says like you should have a podcast, even like to me and to everyone, they're all just like, a lot of people are like podcasts are so good for your business and your brand, like everyone should have one, blah, blah.
Lead With Passion
And like, honestly, anytime anyone says you should do something just because everyone else is doing it, it's like, I'm going to just like not do it for that reason. Like I hate being told what to do and that I should do something just because like someone told me to or just because it worked for like that one person or that group of people or whatever. So that kind of turned me off for a pretty long time.
And also the other part of it is that it just didn't feel exciting to me. And these are two very big things that if you've been around for a long time, this is not new stuff. A lot of this like isn't gonna be new shit that I'm talking about. It's just like things I've always talked about in like a new way.
Like doing things on your own terms, not doing things just because people tell you you should. And also like being fucking stoked about the stuff that you are bringing to the world, especially if it's going to be a creative project. Like for me, creativity and bringing new things to life. Like it's always going to be so much better when it's something you're stoked about and like the drive is coming from you, not from someone else telling you, you should be doing something. so.
How The Pod Came To Be
Really the podcast has been something that's been on my mind for... on my mind as something I could do and something I could actually be interested in for maybe like six -ish months, I would say. It's slowly started building over that time. And yeah, it just kind of started to snowball a bit of like, what would that look like? And like...
How would it feel for me to make that and what would I want to do with it? And then kind of over the last few weeks, it just really like, it was like an idea that it was like a fuck yes, like this is the time to do this. And yeah, I'm going to make it happen.
Road Trip Inspiration
So I was also recently on a road trip. I did a solo road trip to the Rockies, to Jasper, and I went fully off light for like the whole time. Well, not fully offline. I like deleted social media. So I didn't have Instagram, didn't have threads, put my like out of office email on.
I was, I wasn't really talking to many people the whole time. Like I was going solo. So I was like checking in with family and a couple of people here and there, just like safety reasons, obviously outside of that, I really wasn't talking to many people. Like I wasn't messaging people or on the phone much. So it was very like.
It was definitely a trip for the soul kind of thing. And I feel like this trip just reinvigorated so much of my creativity, probably because I think it's that conversation of consuming versus creating. And when you're just consuming stuff all the time and when you're just constantly living online and on Instagram and consuming so much stuff all the time.
Creative Clarity
Of course, you're not going to be able to like have the mind space to be creative in that. So I think for like so many reasons, which I will get into lots of it, maybe on this podcast, in terms of like mental health as well. And just like, there was a lot of things. And so taking this week to be like very intentional about going on a road trip, getting some real solitude, exploring, and just doing something that I love doing.
It really like made it very clear to me some like creative projects that I really want to bring to life. One of which, well, both of them. So first one was my blog. I just started a new travel and adventure blog, which I will come back to in a second. And the second one was this podcast. So the podcast was brewing, like I said, kind of slowly building momentum.
Vision for the Podcast
And then I went on this trip and at the time I was kind of like, I don't know what I want to call it. And I don't know like, what the fuck the description and like the like kind of elevator pitch, if you will, like the how I don't know what that is going to be. And like being on this trip, like on the first night I stayed in this incredible lodge. and I wrote about all of this on my blog. If you want to go check it out, read the photos and see the places. I'd been driving like all day.
And all day like eight hours to get there and I got to this freaking amazing lodge and I wasn't even that tired which is pretty crazy. I wasn't even that tired like I chilled out for a little bit and then I just felt like very in the zone and I literally wrote the entire like description for this podcast. I just had like this entire download of the whole vision for all of this and
Ditch The Noise
Yeah, it was just like, as soon as I'd stepped away from all of the noise and things, it was like extremely clear to me what the name was and how I was going to talk about it, what the vision for it was. Because I think that's really important sometimes. Like, it's really easy sometimes, like I was saying, to get lost in the like, what should you be doing? And then good things can come from there. It's not always that bad. But I think when it's driven,
from something deeper. It just has so much more soul to it and it comes together in such a way that's so organic and it feels really exciting. And I think with creative projects like this, I don't know if anyone else kind of has this, but when I'm starting something new, I always start with the vision of the thing and how I want it to feel and look. So like, landing the name and like designing the cover and also getting the description and like the copy that really informs the rest of it a lot.
And like I find that with client projects and like any design project like you when you can start with like how do I want this to feel and what does this exist for everything else kind of snowballs so easily from that.
Exploring New Projects
And I'm just very stoked to have a new place to chat about lots of things. I have a ton of ideas for like episodes that I want to talk about in terms of like business, like entrepreneurial stuff, branding stuff, life stuff, and just like a place to chat about all of that. Also the name of the podcast, I will briefly kind of go over that because
Again, that was something that felt very intentional for me. And I still have this huge list of other possible names that I could have gone with. So Pivot Playground is... So first of all, the word playground is actually the name of a free design guide that I have that I started December, January. It's a free monthly design guide. If you haven't got it, you can check it out on my website.
Meaning Behind the Name
And, but that word playground isn't just the name of a design guide for me. Like it's a real, kind of value and like way of looking at creativity and just like an essence that I want to bring to my work. So that word was kind of already in the back of my mind of just like, make the shit you want to see, have fun with it. Don't overthink it. And just like, yeah, just have fun with it.
So that word was kind of already there in the back of my mind. And then the word pivot is something that I actually came across. I was looking through, I have so many old notes. I use my iPad and the Notability app just to like write all kinds of stuff. And I was looking through that just for like ideas and just words that might spark something.
And I found some notes that I had taken from an old human design reading, which maybe I'll talk about that in the future. I would love to like find someone to do, to chat about it with on here. Human design is amazing. It's just a really cool way to basically like find out more about yourself. It's like kind of like astrology, but like way deeper than that.
Embracing Change
So I had found like, a couple sentences and those notes that kind of talked about how I, it's like, just like pivot more often, like just like try stuff and pivot, try stuff and pivot and like change direction. And I feel like that's also something everyone can relate to. Like, it's not like, I think sometimes we get too stuck in the idea that like, once you start something, you have to like stick at it and keep doing things the way that you intended them to be. And
just like follow the path or like follow what other people are doing. So anyway, putting these two words together, like the pivot playground just was like an immediate, like, yes, that's the vibe. Like a playground where you can just like change direction and do stuff you want to do and like bring the shit to life that you wish existed. And yeah, just a place where there is dialogue and like conversation about
kinds of different things and like changing direction and like how that works for you. Maybe sometimes it doesn't work and just like a place that is not just for talking about design and business, like a lot of things in life because yeah, that's the vibe. So that's like the very brief backstory on like the podcast, why I'm doing it now and yeah.
How I Started Out
So to kind of finish this episode off I thought I would do go back to a little more of my story and like how I got to where I am now also because like the blog that I mentioned the new travel blog it's called the Solitude Sessions that I literally just posted the first post yesterday that's up on my website if you want to check it out.
Like that essence of like travel and photography blogging is actually like the core original piece of how I started my entire freelance designer slash creative entrepreneur journey. So it's something I've been kind of reflecting on lately. So I thought I would like just like go back over that story a little bit just because it's fun. So
And I'm from New Zealand and I moved to Australia. I got a job there right after I finished studying graphic design. I studied a bachelor of media arts majoring in graphic design in New Zealand at Wintec. And I finished that, graduated, and then I got a job in Australia. Moved to Sydney. The first job lasted two weeks. It was a complete nightmare. My boss was like,
the absolute definition of like a toxic workplace. It was so bad. Anyway, that job lasted two weeks. Then I got another job that lasted about two years ish. I was a designer at like a printing and signage company. It was a okay job. I didn't love it. It wasn't like amazing.
And it was when I was working at that job that I wasn't really feeling that creatively fulfilled. So I started a blog on the side. And this was kind of around the same time that I started exploring a little more like in Sydney, like I would just get in my car and go places on the weekends and stuff up like prior to that. Like I was working in nine to five, my workplace was really far away from where I lived. So I spent all this time commuting and traffic.
Freelance Beginnings
On the weekends I did nothing. Like I honestly feel like I just watched TV. Like I'd had no life. And then things kind of started to turn. I was like, I have to do something. So I started like doing little adventures kind of on the weekends. Like I would just get in my car and drive and just like see what I could find or even just like catch the ferry into the city.
Like into Sydney, like Darling Harbor and stuff and just take my camera and just go fuck around. So I started sharing these like adventures and like thoughts about life and stuff. I wish I had, I have no idea what that blog was called. I've had so many blogs over the years, to be honest, they've all had different names and I don't have access to any of them anymore, unfortunately. but yeah, so I was starting to like share those adventures and this was around the time where like blogging was definitely a big thing. Blogging, Tumblr and Twitter.
That was the vibe. And during that time, I started kind of finding other people that were also just like seemed really chill and had really cool blogs. And they were like talking about life and just like sharing really cool shit. And being a designer and this being like a creative outlet, I was like spending a decent amount of time designing like fun graphics for my blog.
like the header and like all of the images and the posts and stuff, like I would spend time just designing shit that I thought was cool because it was fun. And so the people that I started meeting and like other people that found my blog, they were like, Hey, I, I see that you're a designer and like, I love this shit that you're designing for your blog. Like, can I pay you to like do stuff for me? Can you design my blog header or like design this like snazzy little ebook situation and whatever?
So that's pretty much how my entire like freelance situation started to kick off while I was working this nine to five. And then that probably lasted six months ish of doing both. And during that time, like my, I just grew to like really dislike my job and my stoke and like excitement for the clients I was working with on the side.
just really picked up and I got to a point where I was about to lose my shit at my job and I was like, I have to quit. And at that point I had enough jobs coming up that I was like, I think I can make this work. I definitely did not have that much in the bank, but I knew there was no way. I just could not heck it any longer at my job. I was so close to just losing it at my boss, which I would not recommend.
I didn't do that, but I was like, very close. and I was like, I'm just going to quit. I'm going to figure it out. I don't have my shit sorted, but this is what I want to do and I'm going to figure it out. and that was in February, 2011. And I've been self -employed ever since then. So yeah. And recently, like back to the blog thing,
Return to Blogging
It's something I've kind of missed recently is like having a blog and just a place to share my photos. Like when I'm not designing and when I'm not working, that is still something I really love doing. It's just like taking my camera and going, especially now, like in the last few years I've started camping, which I've never done prior to that, to be honest, in my whole life. And so like going on like summer camping adventures, taking my camera, just like seeing what I can find.
is kind of my favorite thing and I wanted a place outside of Instagram for this to live. So the travel blog was kind of like, it had just hit me. I was like, my God, this is how it started and I'm going to do that again because that feels so exciting to have a place for long form content to live like outside of Instagram. So I guess that's also why I'm kind of, it just feels like.
cool timing that both of these ideas like the blog and the podcast have very much landed at the same time and they feel, it just feels fun to have stuff that lives outside of Instagram and like the other formats that we're so used to to have like long form content and like a place for things to live. The way I've been looking at it the last few days is like, what kind of container does the work need?
Finding the Right Format
Right? Like sometimes I think we get so used to thinking like, how can I fit this into a fucking reel or like a carousel or the grid or whatever. And then it's like, well, does it have to fit into that container or do we just think it does? Like, is there a, is there something else we can build that would way better suit the stuff we want to bring to life? Like obviously podcasts like on a big deal. They're like, everyone has one.
I feel like blogging, maybe it's making a comeback and like maybe there's other stuff. Maybe it's like YouTube or maybe it's maybe if you're not on Instagram or TikTok, that's like the place where you go. But it's like, what container does the work need for it to really be the place that gets you stoked about bringing some cool shit to life? so that is kind of
Future Plans
Most of the stuff I wanted to go over in this episode, in terms of like the plans I had for the podcast, I would love for it to be a mix of solo episodes and also guests in the future. So keep an eye out for that. If there's stuff that you would love me to talk about, like business stuff, creativity, design, solo adventures, like any of that, shoot me a DM or an email and I would.
love to add it to my list of like possible future episodes. And yeah, that's it for now. I hope you dig the pod and what's to come. And if you want my free design guide that I'm mentioning called Playground, it is up on my website. I will link it in the show notes. Also, this podcast is going to be audio. It's going to have YouTube.
So if you prefer to watch video, I am recording it in the video, even though it's not super great quality, you can watch it on YouTube. And then I'm also going to have the transcripts on my website so you can listen to it, watch it or read it. And yeah, I think that's it for today. Thanks for listening and I will chat to you soon.
