Interview with John O’Nolan from Lyrical Media
John O’Nolan is a strong web designer who is running his own successful design and development firm at the age of 22. Lyrical Media is a design firm with an original yet practical style that focuses on their client’s business and success. On top of running his business, he runs a great blog on his experiences of being a web design professional, and is a very active, upcoming star within the design community.
The Free Creatives wanted to get an interview with John, so we could find out more about him and how he got to where he is today. Be sure to follow him on Twitter, add him on Facebook, and check out his blog!
Now onto the interview…
To begin, for those of us who are unfamiliar with you and your work, tell us a bit about yourself and what you do for a living.
Well hello there! I’m John O’Nolan, and essentially I’m a web designer with a lot of ambition. I work full time for myself, and I do graphic design, front end development, marketing, and a lot of things with WordPress.
I understand you’ve worked on a freelance basis, at a design agency, and now run Lyrical Media full-time. From your experiences, what type of work environment in this field has been the most rewarding? What have been the pros and cons of each?
Yes, my first job “in the industry” was at an agency whilst freelancing in my spare time. I later moved to an in-house position for another company, before finally striking out on my own. To be totally blunt, there really weren’t many pros about working at another company. There was financial security, and I only had to work 8 hours a day — but to be honest those aren’t things I’m particularly interested in. I mean who wants to look back on their life and say “I’m glad I only ever worked 8 hours a day and made a standard salary?” Not me.
On the flip side, working for myself has had plenty of ups and downs too, but I wouldn’t change a thing. I work crazy hours, doing 42 hour stints with no sleep every so often – and once in a while I have no work for 2 weeks and I panic. That being said, it’s currently 11:30am on a Wednesday and I’m lying on my bed typing this out; so it’s a real mixture of freedom and a lot of hard work.
It’s been about a year since you’ve opened up Lyrical Media full-time, so what has the first year of running a web design business been like? What are some of the top lessons you’ve learned about running a successful business like this?
Hectic. I thought I knew everything (ok, most things) a year ago about running a business – I never imagined that I’d have to learn so much in such a relatively short space of time. I could write a whole book about things I thought I knew that turned out to be wrong/different.
The biggest things I’ve learned have all been to do with managing clients. I vet clients really carefully now before I consider working with them. A good client will make you money, but a bad client (as I found out) can, and will, cost you money. As a result of this I don’t take on local business enquiries any more. I’ve found that the sort of people who look for “local” web designers are not the best clients. They usually have a smaller budget, bigger requirements, and less knowledge… all of which lead to a very frustrating working relationship.
The best clients I’ve had are the ones who have specifically sought me out to work with me, from all over the world. Those are the ones who I hold out for now.
Many of us within the design community find you via your blog (http://john.onolan.org), or on Twitter and other forms of social media. What is your ultimate goal for running a blog and contributing to the design community so much? Are there pros and cons to running a blog related to this industry and relating that blog to your business?
The answer to this is two-fold really: 1.) because I really enjoy it, and 2.) because it definitely helps business.
The design community (despite its flaws) is a truly fantastic one. I’ve never come across any other community with such a large group of friendly people who are all interested in the same thing, and at the same time all so willing to help each other. When I was getting going there were several blogs just like mine that really inspired me, so when it came time to do it myself I thought my own blog would be a great way to help out the next wave. Hopefully the people who read my blog now will some day follow their dreams and ambitions, and blog about it to help others — then the cycle will continue.
As for how it affects my business, it has been the number one thing that has really worked for me. By getting involved in the community and blogging you slowly get your name out there. Last year I started getting commissioned for work by some really (really) big corporations. Of course I asked them how they found me, and the answer was the same every time: They found me through a feature on a large design blog, which then led them to my Twitter account, which then led them to my blog. They liked what they saw, so they gave me a call.
Many readers of The Free Creatives are professionals just starting out, whether it be just starting in the web design industry, or just starting out a business. How did you get your start in this field? (Did you attend school for design/development; are you self-taught? How did you first gain interest in web design?)
I suck at structured education, I really do. I dropped out of school twice — not because I couldn’t keep up, but cause I knew it wasn’t working for me. When I want to learn something, I do it, and I don’t need years worth of education. What’s the point of spending thousands going to university to learn things a few hours a week? I taught myself everything I know by knuckling down with books, the web, friends, colleagues, and experience.
I enrolled in a course about Computer Aided Design once a few years ago (which was primarily focusing on a piece of software used for architectural design). They made the mistake of giving me the course textbook a week beforehand – so by the time it started I had already taught myself everything and was totally bored during the lessons.
In hindsight, I should’ve just bought the textbook, so that’s what I do now.
Of course my way isn’t for everyone, but I’m a big believer that if you want something then you should go out and get it. Stop screwing around on YouTube, stop procrastinating, stop enrolling in things that you could teach yourself in half the time. Seize the moment and remind yourself every day just how short your life is.
I’m 22… a quarter of my life is over. That scares the crap out of me.
Last but not least — In your opinion, what are the greatest qualities you think a web designer should have? What do you think are some essential qualities someone running an online business should have?
A year ago I would have said “to be a great designer” — however nowadays my answer is definitely “to be a great communicator.” You probably think you’re great at managing emails and explaining things to clients (I did), but this is the area I’ve tripped up on most often.
The are a lot of fantastic designers out there who don’t get noticed and there are conversely some really mediocre designers who get featured constantly in magazines, podcasts and conferences. The difference between them is that the latter know how to communicate both with their clients and with their colleagues. They’ve made success for themselves by forming really strong relationships.
If you want to get anywhere, you need to make friends with as many people as you can. Ultimately, there is a person behind every business decision, and that person will (generally) only want to work with you if they like you. So play nice!
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