I’m starting to embrace variety.

Since deciding back in 2006 that it was time for a change of career, I’ve been focusing pretty narrowly. I went back to school to properly learn the principles of graphic design, which I’d been doing in one form or other (primarily for my own projects, but occasionally for others) since 1995.

Upon graduating from my chosen graphic design program at the end of 2008, I began searching for a graphic design job.

My initial foray, a volunteer/pro-bono assignment for a non-profit arts organization, did not pan out. My efforts were deemed “too corporate” by my contact at the organization, despite having tried a number of different approaches to the project. In retrospect, it was doomed by ineffective communication on both sides—a valuable lesson.

With one exception—doomed (again) by ineffective communication, despite my best efforts to elicit clarification and specific information—subsequent projects have been much more successful. I’ve done a series of posters for one client over the last two years, plus I’ve worked on three CDs, done some magazine layout work, and, most recently, have been working on an e-book cover and promotional postcard.

But something else has happened within the last couple of months. I’ve started writing music reviews for a blog. (No, I don’t get paid for it—but then neither does the person who “hired” me.)

Now, this wasn’t something I’d anticipated doing. And, even as I was composing the e-mail I sent to indicate my interest in response to the posting I’d seen on Facebook, I had no expectation that I would be seriously considered for the job. Yet, one sample review and a week or two later, I’m downloading review copies of new albums and writing 200-word reviews. (200 words, by the way, makes for a really short review, so it’s not as easy as it sounds, especially if you’re prone to verbosity, as I often am.)

This has been something of an eye-opener for me. While I try to use my own photographs as part of my graphic design work whenever possible, I have hesitated to think of myself as anything other than a graphic designer—and sometimes even that has been a stretch for me.

So, now, here I am being taken seriously as a writer, even being given positive feedback on the work I’ve turned in so far.

All of a sudden, it seems I have these additional skills and abilities that I’d never seriously considered before. Skills and abilities that people have been complimenting me on for years, but which I haven’t been taking seriously.

Intellectually, I know that there are things I do well. I know that many people either do not possess these skills, or have not developed them to any appreciable extent, or have simply not let other people see the results. That part is easy.

Actually believing that there are things I do well, things that other people either cannot do or have not developed their ability to do well, is an entirely different matter. Convincing myself of this may never be entirely possible.

But I’m remaining open to possibility, and embracing variety. Because if I deny my abilities, I cut myself off from opportunities that may lead me somewhere, that may contribute to my personal and professional success.

So now I’m broadening my job search to include positions that also include writing. And not just writing, but also digital photography, as I’ve been taking photographs since I was a kid, and these days shoot exclusively digital. (Plus I’ve been using Photoshop in one form or another since 1994.)

I will always struggle with the knowledge that there are folks out there who are able to do things I do not or cannot do, or that are better than I am at the things that we both do. But I’ve started to realize that the things I know how to do, that I’m capable of doing, are the things that will help me to carve out my own niche in the world, and, ultimately, to make a living.

Whether it be graphic design, photography, writing, editing—or whatever—I will be doing my best to embrace variety, so that I can make the most of what I have to offer.