Baseline #21 – The Long Game of Patience

Joey Banks

Joey Banks

— 4 min read
Baseline #21 – The Long Game of Patience

Hello again! 👋 In case you missed it, I’m taking on a challenge I’ve set for myself to begin publishing weekly newsletters, and well, we’re into week two! I’m so glad to have you here, and even more excited to continue sharing all I can about design, working within tools such as Figma, and everything I’m learning as I build my business, Baseline, and work as an independent designer in design systems.

I wanted to share and talk a little about fear and patience in this newsletter, and what I've learned. Let’s get into it!

When I was first getting up and running with Baseline, I remember feeling so worried and panicked whenever an active email thread for a potential opportunity would stall. I would wonder what happened, thinking we were so close to locking in a date or approving that statement of work. Did I say something wrong? Did they find someone more experienced? Was I completely out of my element? I tried hard to not let my brain and its thoughts swirl from anxiety, but more often than not, it won, and I lost.

In business, so many natural ebbs and flows can and often do occur. Whether you’re independent today or working within a larger company, you’ve probably felt many of them happen. From seasonal and budgetary cycles to surprise (ugh.) re-orgs or priority adjustments, those ebbs exist. The last three years have taught me that each one has the potential to directly affect if or how long an opportunity may take to close, and it’s something that’s frequently out of our control.

Last year, I worked closely with a design manager at a company I highly admire and wanted to partner with to solidify our agenda for an upcoming design systems training with their team. Just when we were about to give the agenda the stamp of approval and set a date, things went silent. Oh no, what happened? In this new world of variable income (more on that soon), losing a potential opportunity isn’t easy, and the unhelpful thoughts again began to swirl.

Many months later, I received an email from that same individual, but this time, it was from a different address. Like many in our industry, they told me they had been laid off from their previous position. Fortunately, many months later, they found a new role and team that suited them well, and they were interested in setting their new team up with a series of training sessions. I felt so grateful for that email, not only for the opportunity but also because they had kept me and what I do in mind enough to reach back out after what had likely been a very stressful period in their career.

While sometimes our fears come true—maybe they did find someone with more experience—it’s important to recognize that patience frequently plays a very real role in the process. Just because the thread goes cold doesn’t mean all interest is lost; you may be caught in one business’s ebb. They may be in the middle of an active and high-priority project, or perhaps they’re waiting for approval from someone who also needs approval. No matter what the case may be when I’m in this “waiting mode,” I'm trying more to focus my energy on the things and tasks I have control over and may even hit the “snooze” button to follow up again in a few weeks or months, just in case.

Sometimes, the opportunity does come around again, and sometimes, it wasn’t meant to be. Patience and learning what to do in the downtime is, without a doubt, an active skill that’s an essential part of moving forward, no matter the outcome, and it's one skill I'm learning to practice daily.

In case you missed it...

I'm thrilled to share that the 11th cohort Level Up with Figma, the course I’ve created and taught, starts in just a few weeks on October 21, and I'd love to have you or your team there! 🎉

Whether you're brand new to Figma, looking to brush up on the fundamentals, or want to understand more about how the basics relate to the design tool's advanced features, such as multi-edit, variables, auto layout, or design systems, this course covers it all. ✨

🎓 → baselinedesign.io/learn (25% off for the next week!)

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I always love hearing from people, and if you enjoyed this, please reach out! You can find me on Threads @joeyabanks.

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