Designed by Fi

There’s nothing quite like the possibility of redundancy to make you get off your bum and get moving.

A couple of weeks ago, we were facing a restructure at work. I was fairly sure I’d be ok, but there was still that little voice in the back of my mind asking, “What if?”

I was retrenched last September and it happened so quickly that I felt like I had whiplash. At the time, I decided to use the opportunity to complete Bonnie Christine’s Immersion Course in Surface Pattern Design. I learned a huge amount about Illustrator, pattern design and developing a creative practice.

More importantly, I finally found something that clicked.

I’ve always wanted to build a creative business, but I’ve never quite known what that business should be. Over the years I’ve explored writing, theatre and more creative-business courses than I can count. Every time I learned something useful, but I still couldn’t answer the question: what am I actually building?

Surface pattern design changed that.

For the first time, I can see a path from creativity to business. I’m still finding my feet, which is one of the reasons I started the 100 Day Pattern Challenge, but I genuinely feel like I’m heading in the right direction.

At the beginning of the year, I set myself a goal of launching my pattern business before my 50th birthday in April. By March, I’d quietly moved the goalposts and pushed the start date back to May. Then May arrived and, if I’m honest, I still didn’t feel like I was ready ready.

The 100 Day Pattern Challenge came about because I was tired of faffing around and wanted to build a consistent creative practice. What I hadn’t realised was that I was still treating the business side of things as something I’d get to later.

Then the restructure happened.

The whole point of building a business is to create another source of income and a bit more control over my future.

So on the evening we were told about the proposed changes, I decided I needed a plan. Since we’re living in 2026, I opened ChatGPT and asked for a seven-day plan to get my business up and running (or in cruder terms, make money quickly!) I wasn’t looking for the perfect answer; I was looking for somewhere to begin.

The plan was ambitious. It involved pulling together a full collection of patterns and preparing them for launch.

I quickly realised I didn’t have enough finished work for that, so I asked for a revised 14-day version instead.

A few days later, something interesting happened.

I realised I wasn’t actually worried about losing my job. What the exercise had done was give me enough structure and momentum to finally start moving.

In the past fortnight I’ve done more to develop Designed by Fi than I had in the previous six months.

I’ve launched this website. I’ve written blog posts and I’ve set up an Insta account. I’ve started organising my patterns into collections. I’ve ordered Spoonflower samples for fabric and wallpaper, which was something I’d been meaning to do for months and had somehow never got around to.

None of these things are huge milestones on their own.

Together, though, they feel significant.

One of the most useful things about that original plan was that I told ChatGPT I only had an hour a day available. That hour also had to include my daily pattern challenge. I added a few extra hours on weekends and asked for a plan that worked within those constraints.

Just saying that out loud helped.

It reminded me that I don’t need to spend every spare minute building a business. I don’t need to work endless evenings or disappear into a productivity rabbit hole. Right now, I just need to keep showing up.

An hour a day is manageable.

A few extra hours on the weekend is manageable.

Most importantly, it’s sustainable.

Years ago, when I was learning how to build websites, someone gave me a piece of advice that’s stayed with me ever since:

When you’re starting out, nobody’s really looking.

At first that sounds discouraging. In reality, it’s incredibly freeing.

It means I can experiment. I can refine my website, work out what I want to say on Instagram, develop my style and figure out what this business wants to become without feeling like the whole world is watching.

There’s room to learn.

There’s room to change my mind.

There’s room to get better.

Looking back, I think the possibility of redundancy arrived at exactly the right time. My self-imposed deadline had started to slip, and I needed something to get me moving again.

Not because I was unprepared.

Because I was waiting until I felt ready.

The last fortnight has reminded me that readiness usually comes after you start, not before.

So here’s to the next six months.

Let’s see where this goes.