I’m writing this post because I just finished watching MythBuster Adam Savage give a talk about some of his “Colossal Failures.” He paints a very relate-able portrait of what it’s like to be a freelancer — especially one just starting out — and his trials and tribulations translate almost seamlessly to freelance web design.

I learned to do web design pretty much the same way Adam Savage learned to be a special effects artist — I just jumped in. When you’re learning something new, failure is unavoidable. But failure is necessary. It’s the mistakes that make you better at what you do. They refine you, provide you with wisdom, and, as Adam Savage put it, strengthen your intuition.

There are limits to what a person can accomplish given a particular set of boundaries. As a freelancer, it’s up to you to test those boundaries, and at times fail, so that you develop a greater understanding of yourself, and therefore know what you need to get the job done for your clients.

Tags: adam savage, freelance, learning, mythbusters, web design