28 Years - Lessons From The Studio

Some days move slowly, but time always moves fast.

This week my wife and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary.

We have also been business partners in Spindrift Design, we are Spindrift Design. Married for 30 years, running a business from our home for 28 years, and raising two daughters. What could be easier?

The Start

We moved to Calgary in 1995, with nothing but the name Spindrift Design, and a bank loan to buy our first Apple computer, monitor, and printer (yes Apple made printers back then). We rented a small two-bedroom apartment that came with a wall-to-wall brown shag rug and a neighbour above us who squeaked when he bathed.

New to the city with no connections we printed business cards and I approached local businesses in North West Calgary for work. I began by going to every strip mall within walking distance and getting to know the owners of the nearby businesses. I was successful in landing two projects in my first week. We made $150 redesigning and printing the takeout menu for a Chinese restaurant and designing a print advertisement for a small engine repair shop. We were off and running!

More the Same Than Different

Have you ever heard the saying opposites attract, we drive each other crazy, or love is complicated? These kinds of claims have been romanticized in an effort to somehow defend improper conduct between partners.

If you’re going to run a business, have a marriage, and raise two daughters, and rely on these types of statements to justify actions it’s not going to go well.

We much prefer the saying derived from William Turner's poem, Birds of a Feather…

We have the blessed to have similar worldviews, work ethic, and goals. We love art, music, graphic design, and coming up with graphic design solutions for our clients. But we don’t love those things more than each other, or our kids.

That is not to say there aren’t bumps in the road, we aren’t the same person. However, the fact we are like-minded allows us to keep those bumps to a minimum. And when they occur we can usually resolve those sticky issues in short order.

Make the Right Choice

Find joy in the little things. Our minds tend to drift toward the negative. Being grateful for the little things frees you from focusing on the stuff that sucks. This is not a natural direction our brains like to go, it takes a conscious effort to stay in that head space. Good and bad come and go daily, we choose to focus on the good.

A Day In the Life

Although our daughters are now adults if you distill down the last 28 years of work life a typical day looks like this. Design approved (yeah), design rejected (try again), lost a client, gained a client, daughter 1 ______ (fill in the blank), daughter 2 ______ (fill in the blank). Do you know where that file is? What’s for dinner?

Focus on the bright spots, and work through the rest.

Celebrate small

We love vacations to warm places and special occasions, but those don’t come along every day. Life can grind on you and just coping until the next special event is not an option.

For the past twenty years, every Thursday, we have enjoyed a glass of wine and a bowl of chips, Leona goes for All Dressed, I’m a BBQ guy. We are, after all, not the same person. This little celebration has served as an anchor in our week. No matter how the week is going we know what our Thursday night looks like. That Thursday night comfort zone always comes at the right time. You now know, what team Spindrift is doing on Thursday night.

In Conclusion

Spindrift Design Studio Inc. was, and continues to be our professional identity, and we love it. We love working with all our great clients, we love creating graphic design that works, we love challenges that every day brings. The reason we still love it after 28 years is because it is not our true identity. Family and faith is where our true identity lies. That truth allows us to serve our clients with passion, creativity and joy.

Running a husband and wife business isn’t easy, nothing worthwhile is.