Auspreneur interview about my career journey and inspirations
Doing this interview made me think about my career journey so far, and it also reminded me why I started my own business in the first place. Every designer needs clients though, so big thanks to all those people that have supported me and Citizen By Design over the years 🙏✨
AUSPRENEUR ARTICLE
Sean McCaul is the founder and creative director of Citizen By Design, a Melbourne-based studio that specialises in visual communications for brands, councils, clubs, and events. Since 2016 Citizen By Design has helped clients to engage and grow their audience, by applying the creative skills Sean has developed working for some of Melbournes biggest branding & advertising agencies.
Here we sit down with Sean, to know a bit more about his journey as an entrepreneur.
Q. What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
Sean: The main reason I set up my business is that I love to travel. I’m originally from Ireland and I’ve been so fortunate to travel extensively through Asia, America, Europe, and Australia, where I’ve been based since 2009. What I love about graphic design is it gives me the flexibility to work from wherever I am in the world … even from the back of my campervan.
Q. How did you get started?
Sean: I started by buying a new Mac laptop, and contacting my connections to let them know I was available for work. In the early days, most of my jobs were coming from other design agencies, working remotely for studios in Ireland & Australia, and also occasionally freelancing in-house for some big-name advertising agencies and branding studios. But over time I’ve built up my own client base, and thankfully I had a lot of regular clients on the books when the pandemic happened in 2020.
Q. What was your biggest startup challenge? What steps did you take to overcome it? What did you learn?
Sean: The biggest challenge for every design agency is finding and keeping clients. My business has grown steadily over the years, and it’s all thanks to referrals – from businesses we’ve worked with and friends from my agency days. I’ve been a designer for over 17 years, and the biggest lesson I’ve learned is to read (and re-read) the brief. Design is all about problem-solving, and you’ve got to understand the challenge your client is facing to make any project a success.
Q. What is the Most Memorable Thing You’ve Done Since you Started your Business?
Sean: One of the most memorable jobs I did was the branding for Wanderlust 108 festivals – the ‘worlds only mindful triathlon’ where participants complete a 5K run, yoga, and meditation. I worked on this project whilst staying at an Ashram in Rishikesh, India, where my wife was completing her yoga teacher training. Being in the yoga capital of the world, looking out at the Himalayan mountains and Ganges river every day definitely inspired my work… but more importantly, the internet connection was fantastic!
Q. What is one book you recommend, and why?
Sean: ‘Brand Gap’ by Marty Neumeier. There are a lot of self-proclaimed brand specialists out there, but this man literally wrote the book on branding. I took part in a 4-day masterclass taught by Marty last year, and on one of his slides, he showed an image of Steve Jobs’s personal copy of this book, with all his notes and sticky notes attached. I don’t think you could get a better recommendation than that!
Q. What are your top 3 favourite online apps, tools, or resources and what do you love about them?
Sean: Pinterest has become one of the most important research tools for my business, and I’ve collected an extensive library of creative references that I use for client presentations.
The Noun Project is the ‘most comprehensive icon collection in the world’ and you can download over 3 million vector and PNG symbols for free.
Streamtime is a cloud-based project management software designed for designers, and it’s helped make job quoting, invoicing, and tracking jobs so much simpler.
Q. In terms of legacy, what is the mark you’d like to leave on the world?
Sean: The legacy I’d like to leave would be on my young son rather than the world. I hope that when he grows up he’ll tell people his Dad was a designer, and he was happy. I’ll try to encourage him to follow his passions, to find a career he enjoys doing, rather than just a job with a good salary.
Q. In one sentence, what’s the best advice you’d give to someone just starting out on their entrepreneurial journey?
Sean: If you’re trying to build a professional network, focus on being a friend first, and the clients will follow.
Many thanks for Auspreneur for the feature – click below if you’d like to view the original article and the images that went with it…
