Gabe Valdivia - How to Thrive as an Independent Designer
29 August 2025

Gabe Valdivia - How to Thrive as an Independent Designer

Dive Club 🤿

About

I think we're entering a world where the market for fractional design is about to explode…

So this week's episode is with one of my favorite people in the industry, Gabe Valdivia.

We're going to explore his independent journey → how he made the jump, how he's evolved the practice in year two, and all of the lessons he's learned along the way.

Some highlights:

    Gabe’s three-phase client modelHow to sell a client on fractional designGabe’s rules of thumb for pricing himselfHow Gabe’s new apprenticeship program worksHow Gabe vibe-coded his personal Freelance OSHow he has redefined success from year 1 to year 2Gabe’s journey to figure out how to position himself as an independenta lot more

    Charlie Sutton who he worked with on VR team at FacebookTeam Human book by Douglas Rushkoff