Digital Hitchhiker

So often when a project or a design is finished we are so proud of it that it gets sent off to the client or posted online right away. Sometimes you’re done just because you’re sick of looking at it or working on it and don’t have any interest in prolonging the project any longer then necessary. However, just like a paper you wrote in high school or college that you revised, re-wrote and re-worked, you should also look at your work in the same way. When you think you’re done, stop and look it over. Maybe even sleep on it or get a second opinion. You always want to put your best work out there and if you’re not on a tight deadline, give yourself the time and chance to improve on what you’ve been creating.

My mom taught me lots of lessons growing up but there was one thing she helped instill in me that has helped me greatly over the years. It was a solid work ethic. My mom possessed a fantastic work ethic, something that she learned from her parents and worked hard to instill in me and my sister. Looking back on it now, it’s amazing that she worked a full-time job as a teacher, had a couple of part-time jobs and still managed to raise me and my sister into a couple pretty awesome individuals. Whenever I think about how hard work is I think about what she had to do and the amount of hustle she had. Hard work and passion have a huge pay off and I thank her for that mentality because without that I don’t know if I’d have the drive to work as hard as I do. The poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said “Men are what their mothers made them” and in my case I couldn’t agree more.

To my mother and every mom out there, Happy Mother’s Day!

Figuring out your marketing strategy is often a guessing game. You try one thing and see how it goes and then re-tool and try something else. Whatever you’re doing, you need to be pro-active with your marketing. Running a web banner and just letting it sit out there is a waste. Just waiting for the work to come in isn’t the way to get new clients or bring back past clients.

I really don’t have a big marketing strategy since I offer client services. Most of the time I’m working with a lot of new clients and a lot of those come from word of mouth. This is something that’s tricky to invest in and something you don’t really have much control over but I know it’s happening.

One thing that I try to do is to stay in touch with past people I’ve worked with. Whether that’s on one of the hundreds of social networking sites or with just email. Just a quick reminder to past clients that I’m out there and ready to work with them again. They might have a project on the back burner that would be perfect and all they needed was a little push. Or maybe they had a friend email them last week looking for exactly what I offer and they just hadn’t responded back to them. Boom! I’m in and all it took was a quick email saying hi.

I have a number of people who have worked with LooseKeys as freelancers, who have dropped me a line from time to time to just let me know their free. It’s happened a number of times where I book them and get them on a project that day. They just slipped my mind or I hadn’t had time to plan out the job yet and just needed that extra push.

Something I’m planning on for myself and LooseKeys is a simple email newsletter highlighting some of the work I’ve been up to. It’s an easy, effective way to keep folks up to date with what’s happening.

Don’t just sit around and wait for clients to contact you, reach out first. Now, get out there and make it happen. Find yourself some work.

You hear people say it all the time “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” That seems like such a copout, is that really the best way to run a business? Especially if you’re trying to innovate. Personally it seems backwards to me… how are you going to move your company and our collective culture forward if you’re always just going with what works. Shouldn’t you be pushing yourself and your business? Otherwise that mentality can stand in the way of progress. And at some point you’ll get left behind.

LooseKeys wants to work with the businesses that are pushing our culture forward. The ones that would rather break something to make it even better. A business that sees something that is commonplace and widely used like… socks and then tries to figure out how to make it even better. Nothing is ever perfect, there is always a way it can be improved on. Everything can be made better, if its an animation, socks or getting deals on goods and services. So stop worrying about if it’s broke and not why not just think about how you can fix it and make it even better.

Most of us have day jobs so it’s a little harder to not be working during set hours. But as more and more businesses are moving towards flexible work hours and many of us are working for ourselves, it’s becoming easier to work and be creative on your own time. Or on your own schedule. For me I find myself working a lot of the time at night. I got used to it when I was moonlighting on the side and it’s the time where I find myself being the most creative and able to focus on what needs to get done. Typically working until I fall asleep at the keyboard or know that getting some sleep is a better option then another pot of coffee. I’m not going to sleep just because the clock says I should. I’m going to sleep when I’m tired. If I’m more tired one day then maybe I go to bed early that day. Being flexible with my time and schedule is a perk and option I have right now and I’m taking advantage of it. But you have to find the schedule that works for you, your body and your creative mind. After all inspiration can strike you at any time of the day or night and anywhere. So don’t just limit yourself to working those typical work hours, you may be limiting your potential.

I find myself making quick decisions most of the time. If it’s about a project, what to eat for dinner or where I should take a vacation. Do I regret my choices? Most of the time no; I always trust my initial gut reaction. I make these gut calls because spending time agonizing over the pros and cons for everything can be needlessly time consuming and tedious. There are moments when you need to make those long drawn out decisions that effect your life and your families life but most of the time, especially when it’s work related, they are small simple choices to make. So I say go with your gut and deal with it. The solution to a problem often comes in a flash, almost like a premonition. The key to success is acting on your instincts. I bet even if you make the wrong decision you can fix it in less time then if you would have spent all that time worrying about which way to go.

I know in some instances this might frustrate others. And if you are one of these people you have to know that I still thought about my decision, no matter how fast I came to the conclusion. It might have been something I’ve been thinking about on the side for awhile and it just looks like its a gut reaction. Even if I did make the wrong choice, its sometimes those wrong choices that can bring you to the right place.

Try it, make a choice from your gut, no matter how small. Even if its just if you are going to have a side salad or fries with your lunch. Make the choice and live with it. Learn to trust your decision-making ability. Ultimately, your success is dependent on the actions you take. So go with your gut and take action now.

I love creating successful work as much as the next person but I always try to remember to share what I’m working on as I’m creating it. Whether its the final product or samples of some works in progress. And I love when I see people take the time to tweet out links to works in progress or share finished projects on Facebook. I feel like not enough people do it though. So many times people I know only share their work when they put together a new reel or are starting to look around for a new job. Maybe its because they don’t want to look too self serving or to seem like they are bragging or being too much of a self promoter. Well I think its important for you to talk as much as you walk. Your talent needs to be shared and you can’t just have your head down pounding away at the keys every day… You have to find time to connect with the right people and share with them what you’re working on. Sharing a work in progress is fun for people to see because it can gather interest, make people feel like they get a sneak peek at a project or even add some suspense for people who follow your work.

Admit it, when you are proud of something you’ve created, you like to show it off to other people. And in showing if off you are actually performing a crucial role. If you are a freelancer, you need to show off your skills so that when someone is looking to hire they remember that project they liked of yours. If you run a company or work fulltime its also vital to get your work seen in order to attract future clients or future employment.

So why not take some time out of your day to talk about and share what you’re working on? Shout it and share it for everyone to hear and see. Become that unabashed self promoter. A true hype man. Use social media networking sites to share what you’re working on and to demonstrate your abilities and aspirations.

Openness has become an important way I work and live. I share a lot about what I’m working on and where I’m working at. Since I am often working on projects alone it’s great to use the community online to get feedback on designs or ideas I might be struggling with. Being able to share allows me to get feedback quickly to see if this idea is working and what’s not. What I might think is a great and new idea might be dumb and a copy of something else out there. You need an outside point of view to critique and make sure you’re creating the best work possible. If someone is able to point this out to me before I spend too much time with it, I’m able to adjust before too much time and energy was spent on a bad idea. When an idea or style gets positive feedback, it can feel good knowing that I’m on to something and on the right path. Of course whatever I share I make sure never to give out much sensitive information on projects; a client wouldn’t like all their secrets exposed. Instead I share just enough to give a tease and get some initial feedback. With the speed at which work is watched and copied. Why not share early to make sure you’re creating the best work for the client?

This past week I spent most of my time working away from the home office. I know I’ve talked about the value of getting out of your home office and working from coworking spaces but this was something totally different. Two of the days this week were spent working in the air on an airplane. You have limited space and most of the time no access to the internet. The limited space on the plane was the number one reason I picked up a MacBook Air late last year. I knew I was going to be traveling more, not only around my home city but out of town as well. The MacBook Air doesn’t have the power of the MacBook Pro, but for space available on the plane, it killed it. I’m rocking the 11 inch and it fits perfectly on your tray table with room for a drink or notebook. On the flight I was able to tweak some animation and get renders ready for once I landed; as well as having a chance to finish up some blog posts. I could’ve used the flight for down time but when you’re used to working during the day, it’s difficult to shut that off just because you’re trapped on a 757. All the work this week wasn’t done in the air, it was done wherever and whenever. I think Maeve and I sat and worked in six different coffee shops over the course of two days. We would rock out an hour or two of work here and there and then move onto the next location. Either in search of better coffee, better chairs, food or just a location with enough power outlets. There was something about this constant movement the really kept me on my toes. You’re working somewhere new all the time and it’s fun but at the same time exhausting. Since I was on the move so much I didn’t find myself getting sucked into hours of web browsing. Anyone who works at a computer all day knows how hard it is to stay productive when the allure of a funny YouTube video or news article is just a click away. I knew when I sat down at one of these coffee shops I only had a fixed amount of time and I needed to use that time to get the most I could accomplished. Kudos to all the people that travel for business every week because doing this one week really pushed me and at times made me glad I have an office to work in back in Chicago. But I did find some value in not knowing where I was working at that day or in trying to figure out what I could accomplish in a short amount of time before my laptop battery died. It forced me to get out of my typical routine and made me have to work smarter. By getting out of my comfort zone it gave me a good idea of how I work and how I can work more efficiently once I’m back in the home office. I’d love to do more work traveling in the future; the constant movement and the energy of a new location really helps breed some creative ideas.

We are our own worst critic which can sometimes be bad but can also be good. It’s bad when you’re always tweaking and trying to make it perfect. Never shipping or releasing your product, animation or design. But it can also be good when you notice you are stuck in a design rut. Others might not notice your work becoming stagnant, they just chalk it up to your style. This is where you have to come in and push yourself passed your weaknesses and improve. Next time you don’t think your work is up to snuff, ask if it’s just you being a perfectionist or if it’s because you’re stuck in a routine. The more you find yourself falling back on your safe methods, the more it will just become repetitive or stale. If you don’t spot it early, it will be even more difficult to break from it a year from now. Put your mind and energy into pushing what you’re creating not just making sure it’s perfect, get out of your comfort zone. You might find you like it.

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.

If you’ve been working with a team of people for a long period of time and then you find yourself suddenly thrown into working alone at home, you can find yourself in need of someone to talk to. Now working from home may have its perks but great conversations isn’t one of them. And it’s not the important things you really end up missing the most, often its those lunches out and early friday drinks with coworkers. Just the common chit chat like “did you see that YouTube video,” or “I can’t believe that person just shared that photo.” The sort of stuff you might say to the person sitting next to you or in passing at the water cooler. When you’re at home there isn’t anyone there to chit chat with during the day. That’s when I find myself talking to my cats. Before you put me in the crazy category, I know that they don’t really understand what I’m saying. It’s just nice to say something out loud to something living when you’re working alone. At times I find myself telling the cats when I’m running out for coffee or for lunch, to “hold my calls”. If you do something similar with your cat or dog, there isn’t anything wrong with it. I’ve heard similar stories from a number of people. At least it’s a little less creepy then talking to yourself all the time. When you go from a large group to a solo operation it’s great to have someone there, even if they aren’t going to respond verbally.