Today we’d like to introduce you to Alvalyn Lundgren.
Hi Alvalyn, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
When I graduated from a prestigious design school here in SoCal I had my portfolio and not idea what to do with it. Design school doesn’t teach business skills. Being entrepreneurial at heart, I was determined to freelance, working from home and having the flexibility to work on projects I preferred and to schedule my time as I desired. I was able to land my first professional project within a few weeks of graduating, and began learning the ups and downs of being one’s own boss. With each new client and project I slowly built my reputation and creative practice, but it seemed like there was more downside than upside. I ran into a lot of obstacles, the majority of which were self-created. Each one taught me something. I learned more from failing than from immediate success — not that I was looking to fail — and as a result I developed policies, systems, and strategies to enable my solo creative business to thrive, to the point that I now work with high value clients. I started teaching part time in college extension programs during the early 1990s — design, illustration, drawing, and more recently creative entrepreneurship and brand strategy. I now spend about half my time teaching and the other half serving my clients.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t believe any road is smooth. There are always challenges to deal with. It took me several years to find my footing and start generating consistent revenue. I was really bad at doing business at first, mainly because I didn’t know any better. I was a creative — illustrator and designer — after all, and clueless about how to run a business. A recurring scenario was that projects would begin well but then somewhere in the middle the client would add things on, change their mind, request copious changes, or expect me to perform beyond what I was there for. For example, one client asked me to water their houseplants and feed their dog while they were away on a business trip. Struggles I experienced as a freelance creative included not getting paid, having my work altered in some way between delivery and publication, and responding to the eccentric demands of clients. I had to learn how to attract the types of clients I was best-suited to serve, and to position myself as a creative partner instead of an employee. There were also internal challenges — managing my time around being a single mom, building my business, and creative projects, staying inspired to create, and developing consistency with marketing and promotion. I struggled, as many do, with the “feast or famine” cycle. To help solve this problem I diversified my income by teaching and selling fine art prints of my work.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I started Alvalyn Creative right out of school. Originally I focused on illustration for books and editorial, but shifted into design. I still do both. When I shifted started out designing for print: magazines, journals, books, sales materials. When websites and digital design emerged I exchanged my X-acto® knife and Radiograph pen for a Mac and Pagemaker. I continue to design for digital and print spaces. I’ve developed my practice into a brand strategy design consultancy and work with missional enterprises and independent authors to help them meet their business objectives through deep-dive branding programs and carefully crafted visual assets. I believe that design is a service profession. I work with my clients is to help them discover or tweak their mission, vision, and purpose/divine calling as the basis for their branding, and then develop their graphic assets. I’m known for taking a deep-dive approach to strategy and creating effective graphic solutions out of that. My pitch is that I don’t design things, I design for the results those things achieve. I’m known for connecting strategies and tactics to a “why” — Why are they in business? What do they want to accomplish? Why does it matter? And for keeping clients involved in the development process. I think enterprises, mine included, should aim to be transformational and not transactional alone. I’m proud of having been able to overcome the problems I encountered and continue to grow my business over four decades. I’m currently developing my own education platforms, continuing with my podcast, and am working on a couple book projects. I’m most proud of raising a daughter who’s also a successful entrepreneurial creative.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I have a strong faith. In those circles I’m known for it and people often come to me for advice and counsel. If that’s not “publishable” with your audience, then there’s this:
While I have a strong creative drive I’m also highly logical and linear in thinking. Those two bents blend together in unique ways. I reason things through to logical conclusions and enjoy applying critical thinking and creative problem-solving to my design work, my teaching, and other areas of life and relationships.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://alvalyncreative.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/alvalyncreative
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlvalynCreative
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvalynlundgren/
- Twitter: https://x.com/alvalyn
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AlvalynLundgren
- Other: https://freelanceroadtrip.com
Image Credits
Alvalyn Lundgren
