Fuel your creative juices with personal projects. We graphic designers are creative people. It's in our blood, it's who we are. And as creative people, we need an outlet for our creativity. We get some of it through client work but limitations and restrictions hold our full potential back. The only way for us to truly unleash our creativity is by working on personal projects for ourselves.  I talk in length on this topic in this episode of the podcast so please listen for the full story. Below are some takeaways from the episode. Make time for yourself and your personal projects. Just like the mechanic that never has the time to work on his own car, most designers don't take the time to work on the projects we want to work on. We spend our time every day (and some nights) fulfilling our clients wishes so why don't we do the same for the things we want to work on? You need to learn how to set time aside for your own personal projects. Set goals for yourself and make deadlines. The only way to ensure you have the time to work on personal projects is to set goals for yourself and make deadlines. For example, if you like to paint, set yourself a goal to complete one painting by the end of the month and then make the time to work on it. Instead of setting deadline you could also set a time commitment such as committing five hours per week to painting. Simply set aside a certain time period every week to work on your personal projects. It's no different than the time you schedule for your clients. If need be, delegate or delete things from your calendar to make room for your personal projects. After all, we are trustworthy to our clients. Why not be trustworthy ourselves as well? Personal projects help your creativity. Working on personal projects allows you to stretch your creativity much more than you can on client work. It allows you to experiment, it gives you release and creates a sense of peace within you that will show through in your client work. Take it one step at a time. Pick one project you would like to start and commit to it. you'll be better off for it. What personal projects do you work on? Let me know what personal projects you work on by leaving a comment for this episode. Questions of the Week Submit your question to be featured in a future episode of the podcast by visiting the feedback page. This week’s question comes from Liz I have a question regarding volunteering time and work. I am a home-based designer who lives in a smaller community in Vermont where everyone is somehow connected to everyone. Word of mouth has been great, but once you are "discovered" you continuously get hit up for volunteer projects or asked to join various committees and boards. I certainly want to give back to the community but I fear I am often asked because they want free design work out of the deal. Do you have any advice on how to go about this whole can of worms? I wouldn't object to offering up some knowledge or volunteering some unrelated skills or tasks, but at this point I really can't do all my design work for free. I have an instance in particular right now where a client I did some fundraising event marketing material work for last year is asking me to join the planning committee this year. I would consider but only if I could still get paid for the work. However, I fear that might be a conflict of interest. To find out what I told Liz you’ll have to listen to the podcast. Tip of the week. This week's tip of the week is to get yourself a mailbox that is not at your place of residence. If you are a home-based designer you may want to consider renting a mailbox locally for your business. Your clients don't need to know where you live or work. There are several safety reasons for this. Especially if you are a female working alone from home. But also in the case of a disgruntled client. Plus if you have a family, you probably don't want your children dealing with strangers ringing the doorbell if you're out. There are other