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Sam Vogel

@samvogelcreative

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How should freelancers structure payment terms? Four changes to the standard 50/50. Here’s the thing underneath all four, which I didn’t spell out in the video. Payment on delivery is the exact moment you lose all your leverage. You hand over the files, and now you’re not a designer anymore, you’re a creditor. Every late-payment story you’ve ever heard starts right there. Not because the client is bad, but because the incentive to pay you quietly disappeared when they got what they wanted. So all four rules are the same move in different clothes. Non-refundable deposit, no work before payment, second payment at week three instead of week four, split payments for the ones I know. None of it is about distrust. It’s about never being owed money for work somebody already has. Get that sequencing right and you almost never have to chase anyone. #freelance #pricing #payment #designcommunity #creativeentrepreneur
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No tip today. Some of you are having a great year. Some of you haven’t had a real project in months and are quietly doing the math on how long you can keep this going. Most of us have been both, sometimes in the same quarter. This work is strange that way. We go client to client, project to project, mostly on our own. There’s no team meetings where somebody notices you’ve had a rough week. Nobody’s checking in. So consider this the check in you need and deserve. Drop a gif in the comments. That’s the whole ask. If you want tos ay more than that, I’ll be in the replies all day. Lone wolves, sure. But there are a lot of us out here doing the exact same thing at the exact same time, and that counts for something. I’m here for you. #freelance #freelancelife #designcommunity #creativecommunity #mentalhealth
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Twenty years of client work and almost none of it happened in public. Every project ends the same way: a finished case study where every decision looks inevitable. Nobody sees the eleven rounds before it, the direction that almost worked, the week you spend chasing something that turns out to be wrong. That’s the part I’ve decided to show. This is a one-person brand studio for B2B and SaaS companies. No team, no account managers, no back office. What I do have is a decade-plus of process and a stack of systems that let one person deliver what used to take five. If you’re a designer or a freelancer, you’ll see how the whole thing runs. The sprints, the tools, the pricing calls, the stuff nobody teaches you. If you’re a founder, you’ll see how brand work actually gets made. Which is useful before you hire anyone to do it. Doors are open. Come watch the work. New videos weekly. #BrandDesigner #GraphicDesigner #DesignStudio #FreelanceDesigner #BehindTheScenes
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Meet our new Account Director, Sam Vogel! With a background in branding, web design and UX, Sam brings years of experience partnering closely with clients and guiding smart, thoughtful strategy. Outside of work, he's always up for a new challenge, from ultramarathons to brewing beer and coaching youth soccer. We're excited to have him on the team! Here are three fun facts about Sam: 👉 He was the first Grand Champion Chicken Showman in Cheyenne, WY. 👉 He's run multiple 24-hour trail races. 👉 His youngest son thinks that he's a raccoon. #MarketingAgency #BillingsMT #AccountDirector #Kinetic #WelcomeToTheTeam
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Nobody posts when the work dries up. That’s the part that keeps it lonely. Everyone goes quiet at the exact moment they should be the loudest, because showing up feels pointless when the proposals aren’t landing. So the feed fills up with the people who are winning, and everyone who’s struggling assumes they’re the only one. You’re not. It’s most of us right now. Visibility is the one lever you fully control when nothing else is working. It won’t feel like it’s doing anything. Then three months from now someone remembers your name at the exact moment they need it. Make the thing today. Not because you feel like it. Because the people who keep showing up in the quiet stretch are the ones still standing when it turns. #CreativeEntrepreneur #Freelancers #DesignCommunity #SmallBusiness #SelfEmployed
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This week Intuit and Meta both laid off massive amounts of their workforce.

This means that the job market is about to be flooded with some pretty experienced talent. Most of them have been heads-down at the same company for five, ten, fifteen years. They’ve shipped real work. They’ve built real systems. But they haven’t had to compete for attention in a long time. They’re about to. If you’re a designer right now, this is the moment your portfolio either separates you from the crowd or… it doesn’t. And the way you separate isn’t by posting another carousel about how the industry is changing. It’s not another thread about how to find work. It’s not another long-form essay about AI and the future of design. It’s by making something. Pick a movie you loved from the 90s or early 2000s. Find a business in it. Brand it. Build the identity system. Design the website. Pretend the brief is real. Then put it out. The work you make this week, in the next forty-eight hours, on a Saturday morning when nobody told you to, is the work that proves you can do the work. Talking about design isn’t design. #designjobs #creativecareer #designcommunity #branddesigner #graphicdesign
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AI isn’t taking your career. Inaction is. Get up. Make something today. Then make something tomorrow. The designers, illustrators, and letterers who keep showing up are the ones still standing five years from now. Your craft compounds when you practice it. It atrophies when you don’t. Stop scrolling. Go create. #designerlife #creativecareer #branddesigner #illustrators #handlettering
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One of my favorite photos from my time at @creativesouthga. The Columbus waterfront was so beautiful! Shot on @kodak Ultramax 400 #shotonfilm #film #filmphotography
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WEEKLY BOLT ⚡️🏹 Episode 119 || Creative South 2026 Recap Had an amazing time this year at Creative South! Huge shoutout to everyone I got to spend time with, I genuinely enjoyed the time I got with anyone! You’re all amazing people!! I’ve got a million thoughts floating around in my head about my experience and I’m sure I’ll continue sharing more about this year’s CS in the near future, but just wanted to share this small recap for now! I could talk for hours (and already have 😂) about the week, but for now, it all boils down to spending quality time with quality people! Already looking forward to next year and you should check it out too!! 👉 @creativesouthga And while you’re at it, go check out all the talented folks tagged who are doing awesome things!! Ran out of tags, so here’s the list of those people behind the stickers continued! @kelseykaycreativeco @vliethuiscreative @snapkat77 @brianwhite.design @dandylyondesign @naomi_loves_2_draw @clarkorr @britt.reagan @ashleyallegrettiart @deadtooth.art @heydustinlee #lightningandarrows #weeklybolt #CreativeSouth #conference ColumbusGA
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and I think to myself, what a wonderful world. wanted to spill my little journal guts on this one. @creativesouthga, and all yall that show up every year and make it so breathtakingly refreshing, you mean the world — the wonderful world — to me. I love that we get to do this together, that we have the privilege to make joy wherever we go and whenever we gather. we celebrate. we build. we learn. we heal. we continue. we’re gonna make it because we’re gonna make. 🌺✨ (gon tag all you beautiful stickermakers in comments!!)
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🍑 @creativesouthga what a trip! I’m so physically and emotionally exhausted in the best way. I met so many lovely people and yet somehow didn’t meet enough. My curiosity and creativity cup is overflowing. I didn’t take enough pictures. I can’t wait for next year. I need a nap. Thank you @dandrawnwords for bringing me along. Thank you @bucket826 for creating something so impactful. Thank you new friends for being my new friends 🫶🏻 It’s a good, good life. #alwaysbearting folks.
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The swag haul from Creative South 2026 . . . . #creativesouth #designer #stickers #swag #libbydesignco
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