How Sarah Jutras is teaching the world how to work for themselves

Summary

Sarah Jutras moved from junior UX designer to director of interaction design before age thirty, but repeated conflicts with startup hustle culture, demanding bosses, and corporate work led her to leave her tech job in 2016. She now runs Huzzah Studio, a product design practice serving clients including Instacart and Imperfect Produce, while also leading Freelance for Life, a community launched in 2022 that has helped more than one thousand professionals design freelance practices. She uses Notion as a hub for client relationships, with a customer relationship manager, onboarding guides, and project boards, and created a Business Kit covering finance, business development, client experience, and work-life balance. Her guidance emphasizes identifying the audience and its problem, treating business building as an experiment, and designing a supportive team through community, collaboration, and public learning.

Takeaways

1. 1

   Jutras keeps separate Notion setups for Huzzah Studio and Freelance for Life, adapting each workspace to its users and purpose.

2. 2

   Her Freelance for Life Business Kit covers finance tracking, business development, client experience, and work-life balance for aspiring freelancers.

3. 3

   Jutras says builders should identify whose problem they are solving, stay open to experimentation, and create community through collaboration and learning in public.