Greetings,
I was reflecting on what kind of content I could share next something that would ensure you leave this page not with the feeling that you’ve “wasted your time,” but rather with the sense that you’ve been part of a genuine exchange. In the end, I decided to focus on one of my greatest strengths: talking about the significant mistakes that have shaped who I am on this journey.
My recommendations which were specific to a certain period and contingent upon particular conditions might not have aligned with your own situation. However, my mindset and the mistakes I consequently made will show you that you are not alone, and these real-life experiences will help you draw your own conclusions from your own perspective.
The mistakes discussed here are framed within the context of multimedia and visual arts—the field in which I completed my studies—though they will undoubtedly be relevant to other areas as well.
Here are the honest answers to the question of what I would have done differently on this journey:
Mistake 1: Not Being Positioned Correctly
It matters far less how well you do something than for whom, where, and through which medium you do it. This is one of those realizations—perhaps the most valuable one—that later struck me with the force of a harsh reality.
For a long time, I worked on freelance projects online. Some paid well, while others offered very low compensation. To be frank, when I look at the time invested, I realize I worked much harder—and with fewer benefits—than someone earning a minimum wage. The fear of “ending up in a bad job” always kept me confined to a more limited scope within my chosen field.
Your location and your connections have a far greater impact on your professional life than you might think. Think of it like a trading game: you could buy spices cheaply in India and sell them for a much higher price in a region where they are scarce, but where demand and prosperity are high. Even setting aside long distances, you have likely observed how the income level of your target audience—even within your own city—directly influences your own success.
A striking example of this is as follows: One day, I received an email from a large corporation known for its excellent art-related initiatives. They wanted me to create an illustration to be applied to equipment used in an extreme sports activity a personal hobby of theirs. This project became so personally meaningful to me that I let them decide the price entirely on their own. Even so, they offered me 10 to 15 times what I would typically earn through any other platform. Naturally, I accepted.
Inference: A key factor when taking a career step is ensuring that the organization has high profit potential. The second most important aspect is that the department you join should be well-established—comprising a diverse and experienced team—while also fostering an environment that embraces bold projects in new areas.
Mistake 2: Failing to Separate Passion from Career
Back when I was working as a receptionist, an Azerbaijani businessman I met once told me: “Semih, from my experience, I can tell within the first three months whether a business I’ve started will succeed, and I decide to either shut it down or keep it going accordingly.”
If you ask me, a well designed venture can deserve a lot more time than that. But when he said this, I thought about how I had poured so much into one of my passions for so long without getting a productive return, while closing my eyes to every other financial opportunity and need I had.
Over the years, I realized that loving your work and earning money from your work are two separate matters. When doing what I loved, I put my own tastes first and pushed what clients and the market wanted to the background. This widened the imbalance between my effort and my earnings. On top of that, once I turned my hobby into a workload, I could no longer enjoy it the way I used to.
Let me be clear: I’m not saying give up your passion. But your passion doesn’t have to be your only source of income. Sometimes leaving your passion alone is the best way to hold on to it freely and without pressure.
Inference: Earning money and advancing a career are different from practicing a hobby you love. You should find an occupation that strengthens your life financially, perhaps one completely different from what you studied, but one that keeps you afloat. Once your financial footing is secure, you can live your passion far more freely and joyfully.
Mistake 3: Turning a Blind Eye to Market Needs (Technophobia)
Perhaps the most insidious of all mistakes: instead of looking at what the market needs, I kept doing only what I knew, saying “this is my job, art is handcraft.”
While I was working from morning to night preparing children’s book illustrations for small per-piece fees, a friend who came by for coffee noticed the NFT wave. He had no drawing ability at all, but he was curious about technology. He sat down, learned the bare minimum of Blender 3D software, made a 3D model, showed it at an event he attended, and sold it on the spot for $2,000.
The difference between us wasn’t talent; it was curiosity, adaptation to technology, and perspective on the market. Keeping your distance from new design tools, AI-assisted production processes, or the dynamics of stock platforms by saying “these will ruin my work” may look like a principled stance from the outside, but in reality it means turning your back on the market.
Inference: You don’t have to embrace every new technology, but you should at least have the courage to give each one a try. See technology not as a threat but as a multiplier of your own skills. Producing without looking at what the market wants is like opening a shop on a street no one walks down.
Mistake 4: Failing to Define Comfort Zone and Expectations Correctly
I interned at a not-yet-established startup I met through freelancing, and it gave me nothing beyond having completed the task. Later, I worked for a year as the sole designer at another startup for a relatively good salary; although I was confident in my experience, it added no new vision I didn’t already have, apart from the paycheck.
Now I ask myself: why didn’t I join environments where things were far more active and that, even with a low starting salary, could have given me the right experience, a solid network, and mentorship?
The reason was probably the overconfidence that came from being in good form, my turning up my nose at the minimum terms offered, and my instinct to protect my comfort zone. I focused so much on the conditions on the table that I sabotaged some of the offers that came my way. Or maybe everything related to this field simply happened entirely beyond my control.
Inference: From my perspective today, I see that at the start of a career, the starting salary matters far less than people think. The real gain is acquiring indispensable experience in an environment where work is actually happening, and building a network through which you can market those skills. With the mind I have now, I would keep doing my freelance projects much more “selectively” while immersing myself in those dynamic environments.
Up to this point, I may seem to have focused on mistakes stemming from my own decisions and drawn the profile of a “failed” person. But when I look back at where I started, I can describe myself as someone with inner peace, thanks to the comfort of having tried.
Although I’ve voiced my regrets throughout this piece, the working pattern I followed let me preserve my freedom, build a portfolio used in very important places, and put my name on projects I’m proud of. I’m quite happy with who I am now; still, I can’t help asking: “If I had taken more strategic steps better suited to the energy within me, would I be in a better place today?”
You’ve probably read this far because you, too, have asked yourself these questions many times in your own life.
Would you like me to flip the coin in my next piece and talk about the “proud” projects this challenging process gave me, and the things I’m glad I did? Let’s meet in the comments or in the poll below.
