Last night was the Chicago / Midwest Emmy Awards; LooseKeys was nominated for the :30 second BodyShopBids commercial spot we put together. We were up against some great work from some very talented people and unfortunately we didn’t pull out the win. Win or lose, it was a pretty amazing accomplishment to get nominated. LooseKeys has only been around a year and a half and we’re already playing with the big boys. Being a small company and being up against bigger teams and companies who have been doing broadcast work much longer than us is awesome.

The startup world always talks about disruptive startups; if LooseKeys isn’t destructive to the industry I don’t know what is. We’re seeing the industry change and we’re zigging and zagging with it. Showing that you don’t have to be a big studio or even TV station with a large budget in order to put out great work that can get you recognized by your peers. 

Even though I didn’t come home with an Emmy last night I’m not going to let that slow me down. Everyday I’m going to keep hustlin to make great work, share what I learn and continue to grow.

We’re always looking for a way to get more done in the day. How can we squeeze one more hour to get it all done? It seems that in the last couple years the trend has been to cut sleep. Work later at night till you fall asleep at the keyboard or force yourself out of bed an hour earlier everyday. Sure sleeping less might be ideal for productivity, but it’s near impossible to get any work done while totally exhausted mentally. Instead why not cut one hour of TV? We tend to use TV as a way to relax or unwind but I bet you can drop one of those shows you’re watching and knock out some work or even use the time to get some extra sleep that you probably need. If I start a new show and it doesn’t hook me in the first two episodes, I’m done with it because I have better ways to spend my time. Most recently I stopped watching Game Of Thrones. I know many people love that show and would be shocked to hear that I gave up on it, how could I? I got sick of trying to follow what was happening and I was spending time trying to figure out who everyone was and I really didn’t care if winter was ever going to come. By reclaiming that hour every week I basically get an extra half day of work in every month. If you’re able to cut an hour of TV from your day, you can give yourself around 45 more 8-hour workdays in a year. That means more time to hustle!

For the last couple weeks I’ve decided to get out of my home office and work out of a coworking space with some other freelance friends. It’s an entirely different vibe when you’re working around other creative people. At a coworking space there are less distractions; you don’t have the TV tempting you away, the dog looking to go for a walk or those dirty dishes wanting to be washed. And since everyone around you is working hard on their projects, you too will be motivated to push harder. As a result, your productivity level can shoot through the roof. You can’t be slacking off on Facebook or Twitter when everyone around you is plugging away. The energy in a room filled with other passionate, hard working creative people, can’t be beat. Since no one likes to look bad, you can use this “peer pressure” to your advantage to help you to push yourself. I think it helps me to stay motivated and be more creative when I get out of my normal routine or surroundings every once in a while and shake it up a bit. I plan to continue to check out more coworking spaces from time to time and spend a few days away from the home office working with other creative people.

If you’re looking for a coworking space in Chicago check out DeskTime, and find a space that works for you.