Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Jones.
Jeremy, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I would say my story starts off like most people, I graduated from Texas Tech in 2016 with a marketing degree and I had zero idea of what I really wanted to do with my life. I started a job at an insurance agency out in Irving and I thought I was at a place I loved. A young company that had potential for leadership growth and opportunity. I had made a lot of friends and even wanted to move to Vegas to help start a new office. It was a good job but let’s just say I was drinking the Kool-Aid and not really thinking about the long-term future. Ironically, the move to Vegas I was looking forward to fell through and I was very down about it. So much to the point, I took a step back to look at the bigger picture. I learned that I wasn’t in the right place. I was working customer service at an insurance agency and I thought to myself, “Is this really what I want to be doing with my life?”. The leadership opportunities I was hoping for were a customer service team lead and manager. Which in my eyes, their jobs were to take complaints and tell people to answer phones. The thought of me actually doing that in a couple of years made me not hopeful for my future. I’m the kind of person that puts my all into whatever I’m doing and that wasn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to look back on my life and say that I’m proud of what I did for a living.
The next several months, I started to really stress about what I wanted to do for a career. I even developed anxiety and mild depression because I felt like I was stuck and couldn’t find a way. After going through several ideas and interviews, ticket sales for a soccer team, working for an autistic daycare, real estate agent, nothing hit home. I kept telling myself I may not have another shot at this, I’m still young and if I take a career risk, I want to take the right one.
While researching jobs, I found a lot of openings for graphic designers. I always admired design but I thought it was just a hobby where people were on photoshop. I had dated a graphic designer and I loved her work and what she did for a living. I thought of it as an idea but I had zero experience and didn’t know where to start. I researched schools and found a couple of options that seemed okay but I didn’t want to take out more student loans. I also didn’t want to take another four years to get a degree when I just spent six at Tech (Had too much fun freshman and sophomore year). So I kinda brushed the idea aside. Then one night in bed I thought of an idea to make a comic book called “Life With Jessie Lynn” which would be a comic book about my sister and her life growing up with autism. She would always say that she felt like no one understood her and I had thought of a way to tell her story. I just needed to learn the skills to do it. The idea inspired me so much it brought tears to my eyes and the next day, I applied for design classes at Brookhaven College. Shortly after, I decided to quit my insurance job to go back to school and work at a macaron bakery part-time to pay the bills.
Making the jump from having a full-time job to being a broke college kid again was terrifying but I look back and say it was the best decision I have ever made. Starting the first or second month of classes, I was already talking to my friends to see if they needed any help with graphic design and to find clients. I had no idea what I was doing skill-wise but I knew that I wasn’t going to succeed if I didn’t work my ass off from day one. During school and while I was working at the bakery, I did freelance design work for B&R Dental Lab in San Antonio, a potential political candidate for the Texas House of Representatives, a non-profit burlesque show called The Hopeful Theatre Project, the Official Liverpool FC Supporters Club of DFW, Granada Theater and a digital marketing agency in Deep Elum. It was a very busy and difficult part of my life but I’m so grateful for my experiences.
In Spring 2019, I finished up my classes at Brookhaven and I have been putting all of my efforts into improving myself and my career. Along with graphic design, I have been putting focus into learning as much about the creative industry as I can. Video production, digital marketing, advertising, animation, I want to be the go-to guy for a client. I don’t want to turn anyone down because of a lack of knowledge and to be someone that will work hard to figure out any creative problem. All of this while meeting new clients and growing my freelance business.
If someone would’ve said to me before I quit my insurance job that I would be doing what I am now, I wouldn’t have believed them. I am very fortunate and grateful for my journey and I cant wait to see what the future holds.
Has it been a smooth road?
It hasn’t been as bumpy as I thought but there are definitely some struggles. I think if I didn’t have my business background, I would struggle much more. The majority of my difficulties are all about learning how to deal with people in certain situations and learning how to work with them to find a solution as well as finding new clients.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
My freelance graphic design business is called Joness Design. Which specializes in digital design, marketing, web design, photography and video production. What sets Joness Design apart from others is the understanding to Design With Purpose. It’s more than producing a project that looks professional, it also needs to serve a purpose. It’s an incredible feeling to be able to work on a project knowing it’s going to help a client out in more ways than one.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I definitely think Dallas is a great city to start a freelance design business. Dallas has access to design organizations like DSVC and AIGA that have connections within the industry as well as many learning opportunities. I go to DSVC meetings every month to stay inspired and to learn something new.
Contact Info:
- Website: jonessdesign.com
- Phone: 9403907604
- Email: jeremy@jonessdesign.com
- Instagram: @jonessdesign
- Facebook: facebook.com/jonessdesign
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