Your business can change fast and there are new tools and software coming out almost everyday; it can be hard to keep up. But guess what that’s part of your job! You have to know what happening, you have to know what coming up so you can adjust and make corrections. Ignorance is bliss but you can’t run your business with blinders on because one wrong turn and you’re in trouble. You have to challenge yourself to stay on top. I work in an industry that is always changing and I have to know what’s happening otherwise it will be difficult to stay competitive.

That conventional work idea of going to a place and working 9 AM - to - 5 PM seems to be dying and for me it’s been gone for awhile. Being in the creative field, I don’t even recall the last time I called it a day at 5 PM, even when I was working at Daily Planet Productions ltd. But now that I’m working for myself and building my own business I go back and forth on the need for a physical space. I can’t say you’ll never see me with an office but right now I don’t really have a need for it. Every dollar I spend or save is important and with a business starting out, a physical space is something that isn’t worth the overhead. The traditional office was necessary less than a decade ago, you needed a place for clients to meet and packages to be delivered. But today working from home, a coffee shop or a co-working space seems to be the norm. And since many of the clients that I work with don’t live in Chicago it dosen’t matter to them where I’m physically working at as long as the project gets done on time and looks good. Even having a space for freelancers who I might have working for me isn’t necessary when I can easily pass files around through Dropbox or jump on a Skype video chat with them. Sure it might be nice to be able to just walk over to their desk and check on the status of things but why shouldn’t I give them the freedom my clients give me. I know this isn’t an option for some folks since you might be working on a project with a larger team and larger files. For that I’d recommend looking around your city for a co-working space or incubators. With a small amount of money, much less then you would spend on your own space you can rent a desk or multiple desks for your team. You’ll also be surrounded by other people who are working because I know working alone can sometimes wear on the solo entrepreneur or freelancer.

Embrace the end of the office and cubical and enjoy the freedom of working wherever and whenever.

I wanted to a take a moment and let you know that I’m leaving my position as a motion designer with Daily Planet Productions ltd. I’ve enjoyed my time at Daily Planet but I’ve finally decided to move on. It was a very difficult decision. Harder than the one I made over three years ago to join Daily Planet. I’m leaving not because of anything that happened at Daily Planet. I’ve enjoyed just about every day I came in and sat down behind my 30 inch cinema display. Everyone I had the pleasure to work with have taught me a lot and have become more then just co-workers. I am not moving on to another company. Instead I will be going freelance as well as working on building my own company called LooseKeys. I’m leaving because I want to try something new. I try and push myself everyday and this will not only force me to do this but I also feel like I will learn a great deal about what it takes to manage a productive and profitable business. LooseKeys will be focusing on explainer and demo videos. Over the last year I’ve done a handful of these at Daily Planet as well as on my own for some great businesses like Groupon, Sprout Social, Offermatic & Wamboo. I love meeting the people that are driving innovation on and off the web. By me creating videos for these companies I’m able to help them explain their message to a larger group of people. People want a simple, easy to follow message when they visit a new service or product and I’m looking forward to helping deliver that. I know I will miss my colleagues and this company greatly but I’m really looking forward to the new challenge that working on my own will bring.

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.”
John F. Kennedy

If you’re part of the motion graphics field or any technology driven field you know that change is constantly happening. You have no control over it and it can’t be stopped. New software is released, faster computers become available, new techniques are discovered, and jobs are moved and downsized. One thing that you can always count on is that each day is going to be different and that things are not going to get stale or remain the same. You can try to resist them and ultimately you will fall behind and be tossed aside like yesterday’s leftovers. Once you are no longer innovating and growing you become disposable. The best practice is for you to embrace these changes that are happening with welcome arms. Don’t resist, instead cooperate with change, adapt to change, and benefit from change. Knowing that you can be ready for it and embrace it when it happens.

One of the problems I see occur when doing design work is that you become set in a style or technique. Once this happens it becomes harder to change because it’s easier to just stay the same. There’s a part of the human mind that is often referred to as the “lizard brain,” Seth Godin, talks about this extensively in his books. The lizard brain is concerned with survival; it likes the tried and true, so it’s likely to pipe up when you’re presented with a challenge or change, flooding you with adrenaline warnings of “Danger!” as you veer off course. The lizard brain doesn’t want you to change, it wants to take the easy way out. You must learn how to resist the call of “lizard brain,” and try something new.

But change isn’t all about huge moves it’s also about learning. As I’ve said before it’s important to keep learning. Personally I like to be challenged when working. If it’s too easy then it’s not going to be fun and I’m not learning. The challenge of change drives me.  If you want to stay ahead of your competition you must change. Think about it if you learn one new trick or technique a day or even a week your skill level has changed. You are that much better then the person who hasn’t changed. I recently just finished Tony Hsieh book Delivering Happiness and I really liked Zappos’ second core value: Embrace and Drive Change. The word embrace suggests not only that you are ready for change but you look forward to it.  There is no time like now to explore what it is that you really like or want to do. Change keeps us fresh and energized. Experience change as an opportunity for creative growth and new experiences. The ones that embrace and drive change are the ones that move ahead and become leaders in the field.