Tips for Student Designers and the Small Businesses Who Love Them: OrangeSlyce Life

Meet our second student of the month:  Nicole Kutz!  Nicole is a very talented and driven Art Studies major in her senior year at Arizona State University.  After creating exceptional work for us at OrangeSlyce, we realized that this gem of an artist should be our next Student Spotlight.  We asked Nicole a few questions about freelancing, her career goals, and of course, OrangeSlyce.  Here’s how the interview went:

OS:  So what got you interested in Art Studies?

NK:  Ever since I was a little kid, I loved to draw and paint.  My school work was always covered in doodles!  I hope to write and illustrate books eventually, so I wanted to be able to learn the basics about a wide variety of mediums that I could use to achieve this goal.

OS: That sounds really fun!  So what compelled you to join OrangeSlyce?

NK: Actually, a friend emailed me the link to the specific job (drawing illustrations for the OrangeSlyce website) because he thought it looked like something I would be interested in.  The more I learned about it, the more appealing the concept was.

OS: And what appealed to you about OrangeSlyce?

NK:  I liked that, as a student, I have job information without making any initial commitments.  Also, since it’s marketed to students, I know my crazy school schedule will be taken into account from the beginning.

OS: Well said!  So then have you found any other jobs through OrangeSlyce?

NK: I have done a little bit of checking since I started work for OrangeSlyce.  I am currently employed with an engineering company, so I’m not exactly needing any more work at the time.

OS: Do you have any advice for freelancing students?

NK: Being unsure and not knowing all the answers is okay, but being impolite is not!  As long as questions are respectful and you truly apply yourself to learning as much as you can as fast as you can, I have found that people are willing to work with you and help you.

OS: Good advice.  So just to mix it up here, what would be your dream job?

NK: My dream job would be to do writing/freelance writing in between traveling around taking photographs for magazines and books.  Hey we can always dream…..

OS: Of course we can!  So to build on that, do you have a motto or work philosophy?

NK:  My parent’s always taught me to do my best, strive for excellence and work hard and honestly.  It may sound cliche, but it really pays off, especially as I get older and my actions have a larger influence on my reputation and future.

OS:  Thank you Nicole for taking the time to answer our questions.

NK:  Thank you so much for the opportunity!

More from OrangeSlyce Blog

• Is Your Personal Website A Dinosaur?
• Student Spotlight: Elizabeth Rice
• How to Find a Good Logo Designer: Knowing What You Want
• The How to Use OrangeSlyce.com for Students
• Why You Should Hire a Student Designer

Ask OrangeSlyce Blog To Recommend Your Posts

Our product lives and dies by its user base.  We’ve told people this before, but what makes us love our job (and our product) is the great community of users that we get to help build.  If we’re going to be successful it will be because of the great students who signed up to get work done.  With that in mind, today we’d like to draw some attention to one of the students who makes the OrangeSlyce community great.

Our first ever Student Spotlight is shining on Elizabeth Rice, a multitalented student at Arizona State University whose interests include Design Management, Film and Media Analysis.  Elizabeth has received gushing praise from pretty much every business that she’s done work for, which made her an obvious choice for our spotlight.  Ms. Rice took some time out of her packed schedule to answer a few quick questions for us.  After we completed the formalities, here’s how our interview went:

OS:   Going to jump right in here: what got you into Design Management, Film and Media? 

ER: I’m a very visual person so naturally I ended up in ASU’s College of Design (now the Herberger Institute for the Arts and Design).   I started down the path of interior design but not having a clear idea of what I wanted to do in terms of a career lead me to taking more business classes so I ended up in Design Management, which essentially married the two. 

Film was something I explored as an extension of loving movies and having an interest in the film industry and my second minor in Media Analysis actually became an interest of mine after interning for a semester with a local magazine.

OS: Very cool.  How’d you become interested in OrangeSlyce?

ER: Twitter!  Believe it or not OrangeSlyce started following me on Twitter so I looked at your twitter profile, checked out your website, liked what I saw, and the rest is history.

OS: And that history has included a great run of freelance work.  What advice would you have for someone thinking about getting into freelancing?

ER: My advice:  go for it!  Freelance work or project work is a great change to test out a new field, make connections, build your resume and overall see what types of work is available and figure out what you enjoy doing.

OS: Excellent advice.  Let’s talk a little more about your freelancing career, though.  To this point, what’s your crowning achievement?  Why?

ER: Honestly, any professional goal that I can check off my career development list is a crowning achievement to me.  Every job/internship I’ve had has come with crowning achievement moments but the achievements that I feel have been particularly crown worthy are those when I was presented with a new and often difficult project and accomplished it with a high level of success.

OS: That’s good to hear, because our next question is “do you love what you do?”

ER: Of course!  I have to love what I do because that is ultimately what makes it more fulfilling but also what makes me more successful at my job.  If I hated what I was doing I would change gears and pursue my career goals elsewhere. 

OS: Here’s an open forum to address all of our users.  If you could pick one thing to tell our other freelancers, what would you tell them?

ER:  Can I tell them two things?

OS: For you, Elizabeth, anything

ER: Thanks!  Here’s what I’d tell them:

First, take on as many internships/freelance work as you can.  Nothing has been more rewarding to me than actually working in the industries I enjoy and am studying and nothing has given me better insight pertaining to my own career planning.  We all think we know exactly what we want but the truth is you really can’t know what you want until you explore all of your options.  That’s what’s great about OrangeSlyce it gives you a chance to see what’s out there career-wise. 

The second thing we’d tell them, is to weigh your options and narrow your scope.  This is basically an extension of the above but after completing an internship or freelance project, reflect on what you’ve learned, what you liked and didn’t like and then decide if that kind of work is something you enjoy and would like to pursue.  Also, know that it is perfectly okay if you decide that a career path isn’t right for you.

OS: We’re glad we let you have the two things.  Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions, Elizabeth!

ER: Thanks! It was a lot of fun!

More from OrangeSlyce Blog

• Is Your Personal Website A Dinosaur?
• Student Spotlight: Nicole Kutz
• Using Twitter Effectively: Seven Guidelines Every Business Should Follow
• Why You Should Hire a Student Designer
• How Much Am I Worth? A (Short) Guide to Freelance Rates For Students

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