Tom Froese - Closer in 10
In this episode of Closer in 10, I interview Tom Froese.
Tom is a Canadian dad who found his ideal career as an illustrator.
If you've ever considered working remotely on something you love, you're going to love Tom's words of wisdom!
Tom's Youtube channel.
Tom's Skillshare.
As in all videos of this series, you will find actionable strategies to discover your own ideal career.
Tom Froese Interview Transcript
My name is Tom Froese, I am an illustrator. I have been doing this for about seven years as a freelancer. I live near the beautiful city of Vancouver, British Columbia, with my wife and two daughters.
Why do you love it?
I love illustration because I love illustrations. If that makes any sense. So I am an illustrator and I love doing that because looking at other people's illustrations has always inspired me. And it's just that thing that I saw. I was like, I want to do that, too. And becoming better at doing this and learning how to communicate ideas. Using colors and shape and in refining my voice, all of that is a joy. And and I'm yeah, I'm just really lucky and glad that I get to do this.
Is it important for you to have a positive impact on your job?
It is absolutely important to me that I have a positive impact in the work that I do. I think that my job or my goal as an illustrator, it's not really to make a change in the world or something like that. That's not what I would mean by positive impact. I just mean that each and every illustration that I make, every project that I work on should have value to me. It should have value to the people who consume it. It should add something to their life. My favorite thing that people say when they see my work is it made them smile or it made them laugh. And that's really what I want my work to do. I want my work to carry a sense of joy.
Was your education helpful to get to where you are today?
Absolutely. My education has informed and influenced me, and I still use so much of what I learned then today.
For how long have you been working remotely?
I have been working as a freelancer for about seven years. So in that sense, always working in my studio for clients both local and abroad. For me, working remotely has been intentional, and that was a huge reason I wanted to become a freelancer. I find that when you're working only regionally for regional clients, you tend to get the same kind of projects, the same kinds of industries, even the same pool of clients over and over again. And I just find that you get more variety in all those things when you're working with clients around the world. I think it's just a natural thing you're going to. And that has always been really important to me, as is getting outside of my local paradigms from my local boxes.
What is your usual work environment?
So my studio is where I work. And that studio is in my house. And it hasn't always been that way. My studio used to be offsite. I would ride my bike out to it. And prior to living out here in the country where we live, we lived in the city of Vancouver. And I had my studio, you know, a place that was outside of my house, my ideal setting, my ideal work environment is solitary and quiet and a place where I can focus.
How do you integrate fun into your daily life?
For me, the biggest thing that I do to integrate fun in my life is running. I love running and I run every day. And lately, my favorite thing to do is I'll sign up for a race. And then leading up to that race, I'll have a training schedule. And I just go by that training schedule and that gets me out of the studio. And as someone who works from home, I don't really have to even get out of my pajamas and leave the house. So running gets me out of the house. And because when I get home, I stink. I need to have a shower and get dressed. And I don't think if it weren't for running, I probably would never change it in my pajamas. So that's one one huge thing that I do just to keep things fun and get away from my work. And it's good for me. It's good for my body. It's good for my mind. I highly recommend running.
How do you stay motivated?
Motivation is a huge thing for any creative, especially if you are working from home. And for me, I have various ways of staying motivated. There's no single tactic. And of course, one is just listening to podcasts of people that inspire me, like the Creative Pep Talk podcast. I've been listening to Andy for a long time now and he's always like a great example of someone who keeps me motivated. Just hearing conversations and thoughts from people who are doing what I'm doing or something similar to what I'm doing is super motivating. If you don't have a lot to do, give yourself a lot to do and you'll have no choice but to keep working.
How do you determine success for yourself?
For me, success is doing the projects, the kind of projects, the kind of work that I want to be doing. I feel the worst when I am working on projects that I feel trapped in that I didn't choose it or I'm not being used in the way that I'm best at being used and I'm most successful feeling when I'm working on projects that I feel like I'm made for and over time I've gotten better at saying no to good jobs that aren't for me.
What drives you? Why do you do what you do?
Ever since I've had to choose a career and make those kinds of decisions, know what am I going to do with my life, it's always been important to me that I do something that I enjoy and that I'm good at and that I'll be paid to do so. I'm driven by the financial side of things, I'm driven by doing work that I feel good and useful at. And I think those are pretty normal basic things that probably drive anyone. I guess we have to we all have to feed ourselves and spend our time in a certain way. And I've always just been determined to spend it doing something that I enjoy.
What do you think are the misconceptions that people have when they want to create their remote job?
I'd say one of the biggest misconceptions people have when when they want to start working for themselves is that they have to just go all in and take a huge risk and maybe it will work. Maybe it won't. They kind of take a gambling approach to it. And I actually don't think this is a very good way to start your new dream job. For me, it's all about taking small doable steps rather than big leaps.
What are your words of wisdom for the people who want to discover their ideal career?
I think the most important thing you can do is to set goals for yourself, know what you want in the big picture and then give yourself small things that you can do on the way up to that. And that's going to set you up for the most success. I'd say also you're going to have to be fairly stubborn and creative. So when problems come your way, when it feels like you should quit, you're going to have to really want what you're what you're doing. Otherwise, it's just going to be really hard to keep going.
What is the impact in your job that you're the most proud of?
I regularly get people telling me that my work makes them smile and that to me tells me that I'm on the right track. And that really is the impact that I want my work to have. It's just to elicit good positive feelings. I think we all need we all need more joy in our lives. And that's ultimately what I aim to have in my own work.
Where can people find you?
People can find me at my website tomfroese.com. They can actually find me here on YouTube at YouTube.com / Tom Froese and you can find me on Instagram. That's probably the thing I keep most fresh and up to date. And that's at Mister Tom Froese.
And of course, you can find me on Skillshare, where I teach a handful of classes about illustration.
I really hope you get inspired by this video. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel to let me know you're interested in this kind of content. And if you'd like to get more tips and resources to discover your ideal career, head over to yourecloser.co/filter