I don't know how people do Graphic Design as a living. As a hobby? It's fun as hell, but my current job has soured me on ever contemplating doing it for a living.
I work for a non-profit, and like most non-profits, we don't have much expendable cash. I've been doing a lot of outreach and I'm embarrassed to pass out our marketing materials - cause they legit look like some stuff thrown together in Word. So I voluntarily took some of my free time to cook up some flyers, brochures, etc in Photoshop and Illustrator. Considering I did this on my own time FOR FREE, and they look a trillion times better/more professional than what we have now, I thought they'd keep the amount of kickbacks to a minimum. But naw.
I've been working on this bullshit for months now. It took me a few nights at home to complete the templates, and get a proof of concept into their hands. And in the 3-4 months since then, they've been kicking my work back with the most ticky tack bullshit changes known to man - made worst by the fact that every high up wants to have some input.
I've changed the photos, layout, wording, etc more than I can remember at this point. Shit's fucking ridiculous. It's like... now ya'll have some fucking standards regarding this shit? How the hell do some of ya'll do this on the daily.
I created a website too, but there's no way in hell I'm moving forward with that - cause I'll have some grown ass kids by the time they approve it. I should have known better than to do extra work for free. It won't happen again.