INSPIRE: The Road Less Travelled...Phylecia Sutherland

This week we are delighted to introduce Phylecia Sutherland of By Phylecia letterpress boutique. From an early age, she has followed her own path, and today she brings her own brand of wisdom, humour and honesty about the path she has taken to pursue her creative career. 

Give a brief description of your career path up before you started your creative business.
My first ever business venture was at 18 years old when I started my own Hawaiian Shaved Ice business, the purpose of this was to help me save money to pay my way through university, while it was successful and continued for 7 years, I finally made the decision to close as I was now living here in the UK. At university I studied Public Relations and Anthropology and graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism (PR). I did a short internship with a lifestyle PR agency in Atlanta and later became a Managing and Marketing Director of a small, privately owned spa in Atlanta. After moving to the UK, I worked for a PR and Social Media agency in Leeds before leaving to start my own letterpress business.

What prompted you to pursue a creative career?
I have always been creative, always loved anything to do with paper, and have always loved stationery. While a job in social media may seem appealing to many my age, I wanted more. I needed to use my hands for something else other than mouse-clicking and typing and I wanted an outlet for creativity and in PR you are many times limited by your clients’ own creativity or risk-taking.

Secondly, I felt, as many people do, that I was living to work instead of working to live. It was dark when I left the house and dark when I came home, leaving only enough time to have dinner, sleep and do it all over again. I was living for the weekend and I didn’t like it. Many people might say “well, that’s life” but I don’t think it has to be. I am a young twenty-something and some people may think I just don’t know what hard work is, but I was realizing that I didn’t want to end up like all the other people I saw on the train every morning, stuck in a mundane routine because they swallowed the lie that “that’s just life”.

So my husband and I discussed the possibility of me setting out to start my own wedding stationery business and it’s all happened from there…

What was the most difficult thing about this decision? And what was the easiest?

I can’t say that the decision was that difficult because it was so clear to me that it was not only what I wanted to do, but what I needed to do for my own sanity’s sake (ha!). I think if anything was difficult, it was deciding when, and after how much money was saved. I knew that cutting my salary out of the equation was going to alter our lifestyle, but the freedom of being my own boss, being as creative as I wanted, seeing what my house looked like in the sunshine far outweighed having disposable income. It’s just a choice you have to make.

How supportive of your decision were your family, friends and (former) colleagues?

My husband was extremely supportive and while at times I was hesitant, he was the one that pushed me out there to take the leap, told me he knew I would be great and said he’d be there behind me 100% success or fail. He’s my hero. :)

I think my family back home are used to me doing spontaneous things and know it’s my character to want to work for myself. They were all very supportive and are the influences in my life that taught me to put happiness above wealth and family above work. Growing up we didn’t have much, and you learn what really matters in life and money isn’t one of them. I started my own creative business because it would allow me to focus on what’s most important, I didn’t start it to pursue wealth.

For everyone else, reactions are mixed, but it goes back to what people desire in life. Some people value a steady salary and a solid “career” job and would never do what I’ve done, while others know EXACTLY why I did it.

Of course there were negative people, but you have to learn to ignore them. One of my favorite quotes is: Those too weak to pursue their own dreams will always find a way to discourage yours.

How has pursuing a creative career been compared with your previous career? What are the challenges, and what are the highlights?

Challenges? Where do I begin! Let’s just say, I put the PRO in procrastination. It takes a lot of discipline and I mean a LOT of discipline to work for yourself and especially if you work from home. My biggest challenge has been time management.

Secondly, because I work for myself and I work from home, I find it very easy to put my business on the back burner if anything else comes up. I have to remember to respect my business like I would any other job, and that means limiting my availability.

On the flip side, though, that availability is also one of the reasons I wanted to work for myself. For example, doing more things with my church that I couldn’t do before or being able to walk into Otley on Market day mid-week in the sunshine. That freedom is a definite highlight, but balance is key and a balance I continue to struggle with.

Have you had any regrets about choosing a creative career?

Absolutely not.

What has been the best thing about your decision to pursue a creative career?

Other than the obvious freedom to be creative and be your own boss, I have been blown away by the community amongst the creative ‘network’. In comparison to the industry I used to be in, people are genuinely friendly, willing to help and put out such a positive vibe. I really like that and I value that a lot. Social media allows my creative circles to be international and the genuineness is consistent all across the globe: the creatives (that I follow at least) are such an encouragement and so inspirational. While I work from home alone, these ‘colleagues’ are the best you could ask for.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone considering taking up a creative career, what would that be?

Be unique and be yourself. That is the point of creativity, after all. It is very easy, and I fell right into this trap too, to look at those who are doing similar to you and compare yourself to them. While it may be good to know market trends, it can actually be detrimental to your own creativity for various reasons. It may make you think you aren’t good enough and make you lose confidence in yourself or you can focus so much on others’ stuff that instead of “creating” something you are “imitating”.

Also, networking is good, but sometimes you got to STEP. AWAY. FROM. COMPUTER. Go outside, take a walk, get inspired elsewhere.

Have confidence and value your work. To do that, you have to know what you’ve made is from within you and that’s you’ve created it to the best of your ability. Once you KNOW THAT you can value your work, because if you don’t value your work, no one else will.

What are your plans for the future?
At the moment, I’m focusing more on the wedding stationery side, because that was my initial goal. Previously, I have been making cards and prints as I learned more about letterpress. Now I’m at the place that I’m confident in my own abilities as well as my press’ capabilities and plan to grow ‘By Phylecia’ as a letterpress wedding stationer. In the next year though, I do intend to continue to sell cards, prints and other stationery in my online shop.

You can see more of Phylecia's beautiful work at the following sites:

Business website: www.byphylecia.com
Business Shop: www.phlightsofphancy.com
Blog: www.perfectforme.wordpress.com