your social circle
Keeping It Positive Online & Offline
Lately I’ve noticed that a lot of people using social media are being relativity positive. I’m not saying everyone is, some use Twitter and Facebook as an outlet to vent. Sometimes it just feels easier to be negative and complain. But I personally see a lot more positive tweets and updates in my stream. I guess it comes back to the if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all. Do you think anyone really wants to follow or be around you if you are always miserable or taking out your problems on the world? Uh, no. I wonder if there is a way to take the positive attitude we all put forward online and move it to our everyday life?
Yesterday when I was riding my bike I hit a pot hole and got a flat tire at the same time someone drove passed me in their car and yelled something about bikers. My day was not off to a great start. I started to tweet something like “Not a fun way to start your day… hit a potholed and got a flat tire. #FML.” Instead I spun it and said “First flat on the new bike. Looks like I’ll be switching these to armadillos when I make it over to the bike shop.” Although I had to walk a few blocks, I decided to take the positive and not have that event mess up my entire day. The day turned out to be a pretty good one and it was very productive. Don’t think it would have been that way if I had complained publicly.
If you handle what life throws at you with a more optimistic and cheery outlook, positive people are going to want to be around you, all the time. Wouldn’t that be a lot more fun to be around then someone complaining all the time and being negative about their lives. If you’re being positive online take it offline and enjoy life that much more.
Prepare Before You Meet Someone New
It only takes a few minutes to look someone up on LinkedIn or Twitter and find out what their business does and what they’ve been up to. When you go into any meeting unprepared, especially one where you’re meeting a new client or business, you come off unprofessional. These meetings can take longer and are less productive because you have to go over a lot of information and general chit chat that could have been taken care of on your own time. I’ve had a lot of different meetings with people over the years and the people that I remember and have the best meetings with are the ones where we both know a little about each other before starting the meeting. We’re able to ask better questions and get specifics on projects versus the general elevator chit chat you might have with someone else.
It’s not hard to prepare for your meetings, take 30 minutes the night before and just see what you can find out. You might be surprised at how much you have to talk about with this person, once you learn a little bit about them.
Stuck In A Creative Bubble?
The freedom of working for yourself can be great because you can focus all of your time and effort on just creating. It’s a great feeling when you first go at it, you have all these ideas and concepts you want to explore that had been bouncing around for months or even years with other creative people. But every once in awhile you can find yourself stuck in a creative funk and you have no one to help get you out of that. When you’re at an office or even a co-working space you can easily turn to the person next to you and ask for their quick thoughts on the problem. Just this quick outside prospective can add new creative energy to the project that can help you to bring your work to the next level. When you’re a solo entrepreneur finding the opportunities to share and show ideas is sometimes a tough task.
Peter Maxwell Davies said “If you don’t get feedback from your performers and your audience, you’re going to be working in a vacuum.”
You can think of that website your designing or your logo animation the same way, as a performance. Somedays it feels like you’re in this vacuum or bubble and have no idea if what you’re working on is relavent or even good any more. You can lose touch with what other people are working on and what boundaries they might be pushing with their own projects. Great work doesn’t happen in a vacuum. You need to get real feedback from your colleagues and customers. I’m lucky enough to have a very talented fiancée who has no problem telling me when something sucks. It might hurt my feelings or ego for a moment, but it helps me make something better. I also make sure to post samples of what work I’m doing online. Social media is a powerful tool for criticism; good and bad. You’ll find me sharing a sample on Dribble, putting up a photo on Twitter or Instagram and every now and then I’ll toss a video of a work in progress on my Tumblr. I know that you can only get better at your craft by working hard and getting constructive criticism; bringing in an outside perspective on things is always valuable.
So the next time you’re working on something, grab lunch with a friend and get their thoughts. Or toss it up on-line and get some outside opinions on it before you release the final product. You may just find that what you’re working on gets better once you reach for ideas outside your bubble.
The social web can’t exist until you are your real self online.
Sheryl Sandberg
Know What’s Happening In Your Industry
By you knowing what’s happening in your industry it shows that you are interested and involved. You are showing that your heart is in it and it shows this is something you want to do. Having the passion and drive for your industry is what is going help get your foot in the door or your name in front of potential clients. I’ve mentioned before that often people hire others that they like to spend time with. The questions they are sure to ask themselves when meeting someone new is if they were trapped in an elevator would they want to spend time with this person. If you have nothing interesting to share or say then that answer is quickly going to be, NO. But being likable isn’t the only thing that someone looks for when they make a hire.They also want someone that they think will make there company better, stronger, faster and more innovative; someone to help push the team forward.
While I was freelancing I remember being asked two questions from two different people. Both were at the time looking to hire new people for freelance and onto their staff. The first question was about a new plugin that recently came out and if I had used it. The second from a different person was who was my current favorite studio and why? (If you are ever asked this question don’t say the one you are trying to work at.) At the time I didn’t think too much of either one of these questions. I knew the plugin they were talking about and I was able to quickly choose a favorite studio at the time. Without me knowing it these two short answers showed that I knew what was going on in the industry. I wasn’t just some kid who had a Mac and thought it would be fun to do post production. I ended up working with both these people for a number of freelance jobs on and off. So my answer must of interested them.
By not only having knowledge of your particular industry but also bringing your own unique voice and creativity, you can help to take a team to the next level. Be sure to tune into those podcasts, read blogs, watch tutorials and check out a magazine or two.
Stop Selling And Just Hang Out
We’ve all run into that someone who is constantly trying to sell their product or service every time you see them out. Trying to talk up everyone in the room for at least 30 seconds, giving you the quick pitch on why you need what they are offering. I understand having a passion for what you do and wanting others to hear about it but if you are always working this way, it can be an annoyance to others. Personally I’d much rather have an actually conversation with this person with real back-and-forth. If I’m thinking about using a new service or product I’m much more likely to use the service from the person I spent two hours having beers with, or that I talked about the latest places to have a meal with. As I’ve said before you need to make friends not contacts. I’m turned off by the hard sell and I know most people are too. It’s not a race, the first one to talk to everyone doesn’t win something. You shouldn’t judge the success of your night by if you sold something that night or have a new deal in place. Just meet who you’re gonna meet, make that interaction truly meaningful, and the rest should fall into place.
10 Twitter Accounts to Follow For Freelance Work
Making Friends Not Just Contacts
Everyone tells us we have to network to get ahead in our careers. You need to be involved, no one is going to knock on your door or email you while you sit at your computer and push pixels around in Photoshop. You have to meet people in order for them to know who you are and in turn hire you to do work in the future. Of course, just because you are networking doesn’t mean that all you need to be doing is building your contact list. Networking is about more than just getting emails and phone numbers. Don’t be the person at the networking event just walking around handing out cards. I can’t tell you the amount of cards I have from people that just handed me a card without really talking with me and the next day I have no idea who they are or why I have their business card. When you have the opportunity to meet someone face to face and get an idea of who they are don’t just talk about work in the hopes of future employment, instead think of it as a chance to build real true genuine connections. You’d be surprised to find out that you will have a much more meaningful conversation with someone if you’re not thinking the whole time how can this person help my career.
There are a number of people in the community that I got to know over the years who have now become people I enjoy hanging out with outside of work. Since becoming friends with them they are the first people I look to when I need someone to help with a project and I would hope I’m on their list as well. Someone you call a friend is more than likely to hire you or pass your name on for a job then a random person you meet at last weeks meetup. You should open yourself up to not just meeting potential coworkers or clients at meetups and events but also long-lasting relationships or at least meaningful acquaintances. In ten or more years are those business contacts you made going to make a difference? Are they the people you invite to your 50th birthday celebration? So don’t just think of networking as a way to add more followers on twitter or connections on LinkedIn. You never know who you’re going to meet, it could be new friends, new business contacts, or life long friends who are also business contacts.
Chicago Motion Artists Group - MeetUp
Looking for something to do tomorrow, Tuesday May 11th? There is going to be a Chicago Motion Artists Group meetup at Bottom Lounge. Chicago currently doesn’t have an After Effects group so hopefully the Chicago Motion Artists Group will be able to fill that needed void. Motion Designers, Visual Effect Artists, Editors, Designers, or even if you’re slightly interested in the scene. Anyone is welcome! Check out the Facebook event page for more information.
Get out there and network and be sociable with other people within the industry. You need to show that you are someone people can enjoy being around or at least tolerate sitting in a room with. There is a good chance you will see and talk with the person sitting next to you at work more than your mother or even your best friend. I spend about 10 hours a day, 5 days a week in a room with the same four people at Daily Planet ltd. So if I didn’t get along with these people and I hope they get along with me (guess you’d have to ask them), it would make working with them incredibly hard. It’s important to be someone that people enjoy working with, especially when you are working with a team of people everyday. Even through we can spend hours sitting in front of our computers not talking with anyone, just focused on the task at hand it’s important to be social and get out there so everyone knows you’re not some creepy person sitting in your parent’s dark basement creating animations in your underwear. It doesn’t just matter how great your work is its also how well you work with others. Working well with others is a skill that most of us were graded on in elementary school, and I’m sure we didn’t realize how important it was at the time.
4 Things They Didn't Tell You At Design School
Your Diploma is Worthless Schools don’t want to tell you this since they are usually trying to get as much money from you as they can. But not once have I been asked if I graduated or even what year I graduated. There is the chance someone will ask you at some point what school you went to. But they are really just asking to see if you know anyone they might know. Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t go to school, the self taught vs school taught is a whole other debate. Personally I’m happy I went to school, I just wish I would of worried less about the degree. The people you also meet at school are important, which brings us to tip number 2.
Network With People Besides having fabulous work, networking is the best way to get a job. Be social online and offline, you need to meet new people both in your area of work and out. Even if you’re creating the best work no one will ever find out about you if they don’t meet you. With things like linkedin, behance and facebook it has become a lot easier to meet new people but don’t underestimate the face to face. Now you don’t need to attend every user group meet-up or all the industry parties, just make sure that you are hopefully there when it counts. Networking also keeps you up with what is happening in the industry; you may find out who is hiring or what skills people are looking for in freelancers. You also never know who you may meet and they may refer you to someone else if you are just a cool person to chat with.
This isn’t a 9 - 5 Job I can’t even remember the last time I started working 9:00 am and then finished for the day at 5:00 pm. The last time I can even remember seeing the 5 o’clock news was when I was on vacation. Most of the time you will begin working either early to get a jump start or end up working late trying to make a deadline. But you are not usually putting in all these hours for just the money, it is because you love what you do and you want to make sure that you produce the best product. Any designer knows that good design takes time and I’m sure many of those same designers can agree that there aren’t enough hours in the day. Just don’t let the work consume you, make sure you make time to enjoy other things in life.
Keep Learning Just because you are done with school doesn’t mean you should stop learning. I guess this could be a reason that this isn’t a 9 - 5 job, because when the work is done you need to keep moving forward. You need to read, experiment and learn just to stay up-to-date with everything that is going on. Especially in motion design and the web world; trends and software are constantly changing. I am always reading about new work that is happening, new trends as well as doing tutorials. If you don’t do this you will quickly lose touch and there will always be someone else is there to move in front of you.
Building A Better Portfolio
If you’re a freelancer you should have a portfolio website and if you don’t for whatever reason you should be making that one of your most important projects to get done. You should have a place to show off how great you are. Over the weekend I came across a couple blogs that talked about some great steps for creating a better portfolio. I figured I would link them on here and just spread the word about making a better portfolio.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/02/26/10-steps-to-the-perfect-portfolio-website/
http://www.youthedesigner.com/2009/02/13/7-tips-for-improving-graphic-design-portfolios/
A couple of my favorite tips from these two posts are, keep the portfolio up to date and to use social networking websites. I try and make sure this website is updated at least once a month with new work and I always post a news update when this happens. I hope to update that more often soon, ideas are in the works. As for social networks they only help promote yourself more and allow you to meet interesting folks who do what you do. So those are just a couple of my favorite tips but they are all excellent steps that should be taken when building your portfolio. I for one know I need to think about these as well. One of the tips that I feel like I need take to heart is making the contact information easy to find. I have links at the bottom of my page to see all the social networks I am apart of, but a button to get to my contact information is below that. Personally I think I may have to re-work my navigation area and include a button. As both of these sites say your contact information should be “obvious and easy to access.”
