In 2019, I was just starting my second semester of high school. In my school, during the first year, they ask you to do a personal project. You get to choose what you want to do and how to do it, with the only condition being that you treat it like a real project, with goals, objectives by dates, and a teacher becomes your mentor to guide you through the project.

I decided to create a basketball poster. At that time, I used to play basketball a lot, and I had always been interested in learning Illustrator. I drew a picture of my friend Yuta and converted our image into vectors. From then on, I thought I knew Illustrator, so I decided to make the poster using that software. Later on, I realized that Illustrator was expensive. At that time, I had never worked before and didn't have my own money. So, I looked for a free or one-time payment alternative that would be worth the investment.

That's how I discovered Affinity Designer, a software similar to Illustrator but with a one-time payment. I remember going to my dad and starting with the same words that we have all probably used at some point, "Hellooooo, how are you?" Haha. Obviously, he knew that I wanted to buy something, so he asked me, "What do you want to buy?" I told him that I wanted to buy this software for my project, which was a one-time payment and that I could use it from now on. Without hesitation, we bought it, and I started using it. Thank you, Dad <3.

I finished the poster and presented it, but even after completing the poster, I remained interested in illustration. I continued doing things on my own, such as making stickers with a picture of my dog, personalizing a portable battery, and other things. I used to follow a YouTuber from Puebla named Wefere. I followed his news channel to stay updated occasionally. One day, he announced that he would have a t-shirt design contest, and the person who designed the best shirts would win around 10,000 pesos. Without thinking twice, I decided to participate.

I created about 10 t-shirt designs and uploaded them to my profile with the contest's hashtag. On the day of the voting, I ended up in the top 10. Unfortunately, I didn't win the contest, but I at least learned more about the software. The days passed until one day, I was getting out of the shower and checked my phone to realize that someone had messaged me on Instagram. I was surprised because Instagram was not the social media platform I used the most to talk to people, so I wondered, "Who could it be?"

I checked the message, and it was a man named George Madrid. He mentioned that he saw my designs in Wefere's contest and that he had 2 projects for me: one for designing cards for a car wash and another for a logo for his running team called LA Street Runners. I remember quickly going to my dad and telling him that I was being sought after for a design job. He asked me, "How much do you plan to charge?" I said I had no idea.

My dad told me to think about how many hours it would take me to do what he asked and set an hourly rate, then do the multiplication. Obviously, being a beginner, I didn't have a very high amount in mind. In the end, for both jobs, my dad and I agreed to charge $100. However, just as I was about to send the message, I gathered my courage and added $20 more.

The man accepted, and I got to work. I remember that he wanted the car wash design to have a metallic look, so I designed it as if the car had drops on it. Now when I look at the logo again, it seems like it's melting, but as some would say, "All of us start somewhere." We all have that first experience when starting a new job or facing a new situation.

In the end, I finished both logos and delivered them to the man. Before sending him the files, I waited for him to make the payment of $120. Since I didn't have a credit card, I asked my dad if we could use his for the deposit. The days passed until one day, the man confirmed and told me that he had made the deposit. I ran to my dad to check if the deposit had been made, and he showed me the bank statement, confirming that I had indeed earned $120. I couldn't believe it. I quickly sent the files to the man for him to use and thanked him for the opportunity.

In the end, I believe I used those $120 to buy a design tablet for making illustrations, but that's another story for another post. Before finishing, I would like to say, Sir, if you ever read this, I would like to express my deepest gratitude for giving a 16-year-old kid the opportunity to keep working on what he loves and to see that it is possible to make a living doing what you want. I hope one day I can treat you to something and give back those $120 that you gave me.

I hope you enjoyed this story. Thank you very much for reading :)