- Hey everyone, it has been quite awhile
since I last did a Q & A,
but I love to do these every now and then
I think it gives you a good chance
to get to know me better me,
me a good chance to answer any like burning questions
that you have that perhaps
I wouldn't make a whole video out of,
but like I don't know,
I've got some interesting thoughts to share.
So that's what we're gonna do today.
I put out the call on both Instagram and Twitter,
you should follow me there
if you wanna be involved in the next one.
Now for your questions on this,
and we had a lot of good ones through,
we have questions about handling taxes
while living in Spain and working for a US company.
The like potential you can earn as a graphic designer.
Doing a master's degree.
Favorite projects that I've worked on throughout my career.
There's a lot of good stuff in here,
you asked some really good questions
so let's go ahead and get into it.
(gentle music)
All right first question.
How do you taxes work if you live in Spain,
but work for a US company?
This is one that was on many people's minds.
I've answered this many times in DMs to people and emails.
So I think it's good to include it in this video
and answer it once and for all.
How it works is the company that I worked for
based in the US doesn't have like company entity
outside of the US,
so I'm not technically an employee, I'm a contractor.
They hire me as a contractor to do work for the company,
and then I, in Europe when I lived in the UK,
I handled my personal taxes there.
Now that I live in Spain, I handle my personal taxes here.
I have to handle all that myself.
So I'm essentially paid like a freelancer, I guess.
And it's up to me to figure out the taxes
and know what to pay.
So in order to do that, I have an accountant.
I have an accountant in the UK,
I have an accountant in Spain
and they help me make sure that I'm paying the right things.
I think this is a very common way
that US companies do hire remote employees in Europe
or like, you know, outside of the US
that you usually are brought on as a contractor,
because it is a lot of effort for the company
to set up like a registered business in your country.
Some do, but I know smaller ones usually don't.
So if you're in this situation
or about to be getting into a similar situation yourself
I would definitely recommend hiring an accountant.
I just think with money, why risk it?
Like don't risk getting it wrong,
or, you know accidentally committing tax fraud
or something like that.
We wanna get it right and hiring an accountant
is a great way to ensure you're doing that.
Next question like speaking of Spain,
how long do you think you'll stay in Spain
and what's the next country you would live in?
So for anyone who doesn't know
who perhaps joined my channel more recently
I moved to Spain about a year ago,
I've been living here a little over a year now.
I moved from London where I lived for about
four and a half years,
and previously I lived in New Zealand,
which is like my home country.
I don't know how much longer it will be in Spain,
it'll definitely be a couple more years
especially because 2020 kinda got taken away from us right?
I wanna spend more time living here
and getting to really fully live a Spanish lifestyle
when we're not needing to be inside most of the time.
But as far as what's next, I don't know.
Honestly, there was one point in my life,
I thought I really liked to live in the US at some point
a lot of my friends are they're.
Like you know, I have a lot of ties to the US
with my job and everything like that.
But seeing how they've handled this pandemic,
I'm like no, no offense US,
but I don't think I could do that.
So I think after Spain would probably be
I move back to New Zealand.
That's what I'm thinking at this point,
but nothing is set in stone.
I kind of like, don't like to have a plan
like that 'cause I never know
how I'm gonna feel in the future,
but currently that's what I'm thinking.
There was a couple of questions about a master's degree.
Someone asked if I had one?
Someone else asked what would like change
in terms of my employment or salary opportunities,
if I had one?
I do not have a master's degree,
I have a bachelor's degree with honors
and that has served me wonderfully
throughout my career so far.
I do not believe that if I had a master's degree,
my employment opportunities
my earning opportunities would be any different
to what they are now.
I know that may be different from some other people
in a different industries or whatever
but all I can answer is like, for me personally right?
I have done a lot of learning like out in the industry
since completing my bachelor's degree.
And that is what I feel contributes
to my earning potential
in my employment opportunities you know.
I'm not opposed to doing a master's degree,
I actually like initially thought
there was no way I'd ever go back to school.
Like, definitely don't wanna do that.
But lately I have been thinking
that it would be kind of fun to you know,
do a research project for a master's degree.
So I'd be doing it more for the experience
rather than the like, certificate that you get
at the end of the you know.
Can a graphic designer earned 150K per year?
I would say, yes, it is possible,
however, if we're talking like graphic design,
what I think of as graphic design is like,
you know, doing layout work, doing print work,
digital graphics, you know, ad assets
that sort of graphic design.
I think it's gonna be a lot harder than if you transitioned
and got more into doing web and digital stuff.
I think that's what is needed
from graphic designers these days
because our world is so digital and so based on the web.
I think it'd be hard pressed to find a job
paying 150K a year as a graphic designer in print stuff.
I have not researched this so I could be wrong there
but that's what I think is possible, but it's not likely.
So if earning more money is important to you
then I would consider a shift
into more digital type of stuff.
Do you plan on having your own company at some point?
Interesting question.
I am not super interested in being totally self-employed.
I love having my side projects,
but I also really like being part of a team.
I like the team dynamics.
I like how much it pushes me as a designer
and also like as a creative professional as well,
having other super smart people around me
pushing towards more business goals.
I'm learning a lot about that,
you know, from being part of the ConvertKit team
and working at a company.
So I would say, never say never,
I might run my own company at some point,
but it is not currently in the plans.
So probably not in the very near future, let's say that.
Favorite design/project you've worked on
in your career so far and why?
All right, for this, I think I'm gonna answer
the "I Am A Blogger" project
which was project where I designed this book right here.
Yes, I designed a whole book
as well as a website to go along with it,
it was a huge job especially the book side of things.
Like, you know, that's not something I'd done before
but I think it's my favorite,
not because I think it's the best design I've ever done.
I think, especially looking back now
'cause it's a few years old now
there's loads of things that I would do differently.
But it's my favorite for the amount
I got to like lead the brand direction through the project
and the impact that the project ended up having as well.
It was huge basically what the project is
was telling the stories of 16 different bloggers
about how they came to be doing what they do
what they've learned through creating content
all these years and things like that.
Just honestly telling this story,
it wasn't like an advertising piece
for ConvertKit or anything like that.
Even though we as ConvertKit
for were the one's publishing it.
When the book first launched we gave away a copy to everyone
at craft and commerce, which is the ConvertKit conference.
And I was there speaking at that conference,
but then also like you know,
helping out with the running of it.
And it was just so special to be able to give a book
to every attendee, you know
and to see them flip through it
and their eyes light up.
And like so many of them just comment on like,
oh, I love the design of this.
And then I could be like, oh, I designed it.
And like, you know they were saying,
it just 'cause they thought it was true,
not 'cause they were wanting
to give me a compliment in particular,
so that was really rewarding.
And also we've heard so many stories since then,
'cause like I said it was a few years old
of how this book has impacted people.
There's this one particular story
that like I get goosebumps thinking about it.
There was this lawyer named Tanya
and she was, you know, working her a high powered law job
and writing her food blog on the side.
And it was this book that gave her the like confidence
and inspiration to take her food blog
this thing she was totally passionate about
and go full time with it, which is what she's doing now,
and she's super successful.
Our storyteller Isa wrote a full story of this.
You can go read it on the ConvertKit blog,
I'll put a link to it down below in the description,
it's super special to know that a project
that I had a hand in had an impact
on someone changing the life for the better,
it's just sort of rewarding,
so that's why so far this project is my favorite.
There were quite a few questions
that I got as part of this that
are honestly like nothing to do with what I do.
Like favorite agile methodology.
What do I think about database programming?
I was just like, what do you think I do?
Maybe I need to clear that up a little bit.
I am a marketing designer,
and if you don't know what that is
that basically means I'm a designer
within the marketing team at a tech company.
The main thing that I design is our company website.
I am not a product designer.
I do not design our app.
Of course I do UX and UI design
as part of designing the website.
But I wouldn't describe myself as a UX designer,
if that makes sense.
We do not use an agile methodology
to get our work done at ConvertKit.
I do not program databases anything like that.
So sorry to disappoint you there
but I hope that clears things up a little bit
about what it is I do exactly.
For Kwan over on Twitter, ask some of your questions.
You said how much value does more money
and having more disposable income give?
Or do people talk about wanting to earn more money
but what value does this give
once you got that highest salary?
And then he also asked if people's perceptions for me
have changed since I shared what I owned publicly
and since you know, the world, my family and my friends
whatever, know what I earn,
if things have changed with that?
So the first thing I'll say
is I hate the term disposable income
'cause like who (beep) giving away money.
But I know what Kwan means there.
I can sometimes feel a little bit like guilty, I guess,
wanting to earn more money
because we're taught that you know,
money isn't everything, which is true.
And to some extent but it does mean a lot
in this capitalized world that we live in.
And when you have more wealth, when you have more money
it gives you more power.
And I don't mean like power to control people,
that sort of thing.
I mean like power to have influences
in causes you believe in.
I also don't think that we should feel guilty
for wanting a better life for ourselves you know?
Like I wanna live in a really nice house one day
that I wanna buy and like own
and I wanna be able to travel wherever I want
and you need money to do all those things.
And I think that's okay.
I don't feel guilty about wanting those things.
Another side of it for me is that I know
that earning more and like having more money
than I necessarily need to live
the kind of life that I want to live
will allow me to give more freely to others.
It's not the sole reason why I want to earn money,
I don't wanna like come across like I'm super altruistic
or anything like that because you know,
there are a lot of materialistic reasons
why I wanna earn more money.
But yeah, another side of this
is that I want to be able to be more generous
not just in donating to the causes that I believe in,
but also in the people around me as well.
And like, I wanna be able to make my friends
and family's lives more comfortable.
I'm not planning on having kids myself
but like if my nephew wants to go to university one day
I'd love to be able to help him pay for that,
you know, things like that.
Just like, I don't know my family are fine
they don't necessarily needed my help in this area,
but I would do just love about it
make those things easier for them, I suppose.
And just be able to be that super generous friend
all the time, one day too.
And this is like way, way in the future
but I would love to be able to set up
some sort of like fund or something
to help people learn design,
just like there's loads of scholarships
and stuff for coding boot camps and things like that.
I would love to have an equivalent perhaps for design.
I just think there's a lot of good,
you can do in the world when you have more money.
And like I said that's not the only reason
why I wanna earn more money
but it is a part of it for me.
So yeah, I hope that answers
that part of the question for Kwan.
There's just a lot of value I think in having a high salary
and it's up to you, what you do with that.
And I do think that as human beings on this planet,
like living in this society,
we need to give back wherever possible.
I think there's too many very rich people
who do not give a lot back to society
and you end up taking a lot actually.
So the more we can earn
and like put back into the places that need it.
I kind of see that as everyone's job,
not just like the government.
Because as we've seen the government
doesn't always do the right thing.
And so, you know as functioning members of society,
we've gotta help out where we can.
And to answer your Kwan the second part of the question
about people's perceptions of me changing
since I've talked about what I earned more publicly
it's been really interesting,
I don't think it's had as much impact as I thought.
I have noticed things like family not protesting as much
when I like I'm going to pay for something
or whatever you know, they're more,
more likely to just accept it now
that I wanna pay for something for them.
I think because they know how much I earn
and they know that I can afford to do that for them,
and it's not gonna like hurt me.
But yeah, I can understand why
if you've got friends who are gonna be jealous
or like, I don't know, try and use you in some way
once they know how much you earn.
But I'm very lucky that I have very good friends
who are not like that at least like none of them
have been outwardly like that.
So yeah, that's not been a problem for me.
In fact, I would say that sharing what I earn
has had much much more positive effects
than being negative absolutely.
People telling me that me sharing my salary
helped them know better what to ask for in their job.
Or just like, you know, know what they should be earning
or what they could be earning, like what their potential is,
so that's been really awesome.
Zero regrets will continue to keep on sharing
my income reports and like updating you
on my salary changes whenever that happens as well.
Okay, the last question we're gonna end on
is what's next on the horizon?
This comes from my cousin Holly.
Hi Holly, next on the horizon for me,
so I've just wrapped up season one
of inside marketing design.
Hopefully you caught some of them,
it's okay, if you weren't interested in it though.
'cause I know it is very niche topic
but I absolutely loved producing that series,
that was a lot of fun.
But now that it's over,
I think I'm gonna take like a few weeks
before I try and start another side project.
I'm gonna try take a little bit of time off
but next for me, honestly, I think is getting more serious
about writing a book.
This is something I've talked about before in videos.
And honestly not something I've actively worked
on for a long time.
There's been a lot of thinking happening on it.
Not a whole lot of like, you know, actual writing stuff
down, which is what needs to happen next.
So I think that's what I want to move forward and work on.
There's talks of doing like maybe a book
about marketing design.
Then there's also the book that I have,
like in my heart which is a book
that's a guide to life as a designer
talking about all of the quote unquote
soft skills and you know the parts of being a designer
that you aren't necessarily taught in a course
or in design school when you're taught how to use software
and that sort of thing.
Yeah, I feel really passionate about it
and it's been brewing away for long enough
that I feel ready to actively start working
on it, I suppose.
Alright, thank you for hanging out with me
for this very long Q & A, I appreciate your time.
I hope you enjoyed it.
I hope you got some value out of it.
And like I said follow me on Twitter
and Instagram for when I put the call out for the next round
of these questions.
Because I think it's good to do them every now and then
to get your questions answered.
There are a few things as well that people ask
that I actually will turn into like full videos
'cause they would have taken longer
than a couple of minutes to explain.
So stay tuned for that.
I've got a lot of what I hope is good content
coming your way I'm feeling excited about it.
So I hope you're looking forward to it too.
Thanks for being here, have a good week.
I'll see you next time bye.
(gentle music)