Digital Hitchhiker

The other night I was talking with a girl at a party and she mentioned that she was an aspiring fashion designer. I asked her what her focus or niche market was. Her response was “everything, I didn’t know you needed to have one.” Everything? I don’t know much about the fashion industry, any little knowledge I have comes from watching project runway. So really that’s basically nothing. She was trying to tell me her potential brand was going to design shoes, underwear, and dresses? Even if I don’t know much about the fashion business I know from my own business that not having a target seems silly.

From my experience in the motion graphics industry I know that at times being a generalist can be an asset. You can work on a lot of different projects and fix any issues that might come up. You’ll get a good amount of work because you have a lot of skills. But it seems that to really excel you need a focus; if that’s 2D, 3D, matte painting, editing or composting. You might not have as much work sometimes but when you do you’re able to charge more for it. Some day you’ll want to be paid as an expert in one area not just known as the person who knows a little about it all. I know a lot of generalist who are busy but I know more specialized people that are busy and they are creating amazing work.

Maybe motion graphics is a bad example compared to a fashion designer. But no matter what field you’re in, having a focus is going to get you further. Don’t try and do it all right away instead expand your field as you grow and learn.

The creative process is a strange one that’s hard to explain and even harder for you to bill. One day a simple task might take you 30 minutes, the next time that same general thing could take two days. Learning your creative process and how to make use of your time more efficiently is often trial and error. I’ve learned over the years what works best for me. For instance, I know that I have to have a little time to think and brainstorm before I start a new project. When a new project hits my desk you’ll almost never see me start working on it right then. And that’s not just because I have a handful of other things in the pipeline. Its actually because I need time to think about it and let it digest. Depending on the project, that could take me five minutes or a week. No way I can just jump into something new straight off. I need to let it simmer there for a while… you can’t just turn creativity on like a faucet. I usually have at least one project on the back burner that I’m starting in a few days or next week. I’m not working on it so I’m not billing for the time. But I know it’s there and my brain is thinking about it. Perhaps while I’m sleeping or while I’m out for a run, the ideas will start forming and coming together. Maybe its the color, style or how best to explain the product in a witty way; it all begins to take shape before I actually start officially working on it. So when I sit down to finally get to work on this project or idea I don’t spend a day forcing myself to be creative, I already have an idea of what I want to do. If you take time to understand your creative method, you’ll be able to work more efficiently and maybe even produce better work.

You might be surprised at how many late nights I spend moving a few keyframes back and forth trying to get a video perfect. Or maybe you’re not surprised because you’ve seen my updates online at all hours. I hear a lot of similar stories from folks, toiling away at their computers trying to get things just right. There is always one more thing that needs to be done or fixed. But is it really ever going to be perfect? What we need to realize is that nothing is perfect and that perfection, is just an illusion. You’ll never finish anything if you are always trying to make it perfect. Instead we should focus on simply doing our best everyday and forget about trying to make it flawless. Do the best you can with the time and skills you currently have. It might not be perfect but don’t let that stop you. Learn from this one and move onto the next project.

I can’t believe I’m writing a post about keeping focus. I must of been derailed a dozen times while I was trying to put this together. But I’ve embraced that a long time ago and know it’s going to happen. As an entrepreneur and creative person, I’m a bit all over the place. I have a constant stream of ideas for designs I want to explore and things I want to try to do. For the most part I try to welcome these ideas and go with it. Life is an adventure and you have to see where the path takes you sometimes. Usually it works out and the design or concept is stronger; the creative process was victorious. Far too often I have to reign myself in a bit because I could spend the entire day working on new ideas and opportunities. If one of these new ideas isn’t adding real value, I need to shut it down. Every minute I’m not focused on building my core business or brand is a minute wasted. It might seem like I have a hundred projects I’m working on but I try to make sure each and every one of them is helping my core business grow and improve. If you love what you’re doing, stay focused on that and become the best at it. Then worry about moving onto the next thing. Because if you head down the wrong path, there is someone right behind you who has just been waiting for your focus to slip. They’re going to sweep in there and take your place. Don’t let all the new opportunities that arise let you lose sight of your real focus at the moment.

How quickly it can happen, losing site of your vision and your goals. This happened to me over the last couple weeks and I find myself needing to take a step back to remind myself why I decided to work for myself and what I’m trying to do. After years of creating motion graphics work in the industry for small and large clients I decided to take the plunge and try to start my own business and work for myself. Being my own boss and creating my own hours, working where and when I needed. I wanted to focus my craft and create videos for startups and small businesses. To see the work that I create help those businesses grow and succeed. And I’ve been very busy doing just that! And yet I quickly lost sight of this goal in only a months time. I recently took on a project that split my focus, it took time away from this goal and time away from important projects that I should have been focusing more attention on. It wasn’t something that I had passion for or something that helped me to reach towards my goal but for some reason I still found myself saying yes to doing it. I can see now why the idea of a mission statement or a defined goal is so important. It gives you something to keep yourself from going off track. Try writing up a mission statement or a set of goals for yourself or your company if you haven’t already. If you don’t have a clear path set out, sometimes all it takes is a push in the wrong direction to remind yourself of the right direction that you should be heading in.