I often fly by the seat of my pants and make decisions from my gut. This typically works out but there are those times when you have to stop, think about what’s about to happen and plan for it. This is especially true when I’m crafting a video. A video takes a lot of time and there is a good amount of planning that needs to happen so everything can run as smoothly as possible. When you just dive in without thinking things through; you’re just going to end up wasting time and money having to start over.

No matter how much you’re chomping at the bit to start making something, you must plan things out, in particularly when you’re on a tight deadline. At LooseKeys I know we’re working on videos that are a key piece of branding for a business and that’s important. You really can’t plan enough when you’re putting something like that together. So put together a great script, make storyboards, do some test animations, scout locations, and think about what you’re going to need to make your project a success.

Test new ideas, try new marketing campaigns or even attempt something crazy. If it doesn’t work out, oh well at least you tried. Maybe you spent a few thousand dollars to build a mobile app and it turned out to be a flop, that’s nothing really… at least you had the opportunity to be wrong. Plus, I’m sure you learned something and now the next time you try to build something you have experience to do it differently. 

I’m always trying to learn new tools and skills; sometimes getting value out of them and some even improve how I work. These new skills can sometimes make jobs easier, but even if they don’t work they give me the chance to look at what I’m doing in a different way. Many of the worlds best inventions and discoveries started out as a mistake. You often have to fail in order to find the right answer. At least people took the chance at something, even with the possibility of failure. Its important to try new things, you never know what can happen. Success or failure, its all part of the surprise that keeps work and life interesting.

Don’t be afraid of being wrong and one of the potentials of being wrong is that it really might end up being right. 

Asking yourself, how can I get rich with this business is a silly question. Unless you win the lottery or rob a bank, no one get’s rich quick. The chances that one day you’ll own your own private island is pretty slim. Even those successful startups you hear getting millions for their ideas took time to get there. None of them were a million dollar business the first day they launched. Instead you should be asking, what do I need to do to build the sort of business that I’ll want to work at in two years, five years, or 10 years. Is this something that you’d be proud to tell your kids that you do? I believe that most people start a business because of an interest. Whether it’s a bike shop, a bakery, or a design firm. Be sure to start a business based on your interest or passion and not just for the money because you’ll get a lot more out of the business that way.

Don’t kid yourself, you physically can’t do it all by yourself and don’t worry it’s not a sign or weakness or failure to ask for help. For many of us, asking for help can be a difficult thing to do. Sure it may be hard to admit you need a hand, you’ve been making it work this long without that help but at some point there comes a time when you’re better off getting things off your plate and your mind. If you’re getting better at your work or your business is growing you’ll need to use your time to focus on harder, more time consuming things. It doesn’t mean you failed or couldn’t cut it, your efforts were just focused someplace better. But figuring out which tasks to give up and hand off is the hardest part and this is what I think makes a good leader or great boss.

That’s the fight I’m having with my work right now and its something that needs to happen if I’m going to grow LooseKeys. Most of the time I can be a “lone ranger” of sorts and do everything myself. It’s not because I’m afraid to ask for help but more often then not its because I want to prove that I can do it all myself. But it’s gotten to the point that I need to figure out the best way to scale up or pull back a little. More and more I’m starting to see the benefit of asking for help to get the work done. And I’m finding in most cases that the work is better when you are putting faith and trust in another person. The people I’ve chosen to work with have been doing such great work with each and every video that I’m receiving more requests with even larger projects on the horizon. Now I’ve always been a team player and love working with others but it’s a different thought process when it’s your team and it’s your job to figure out how to make it all work. At times I have it in my head that I’m the only one that knows how to do it the right way. But you can’t play a game of baseball by playing every position on the team so why am I thinking of the business as a single man game. Just sitting down and creating the work or doing the sales is the easy part but being the leader and finding the right people to make your team great is trickier then you’d think. If you just ask, you can quickly find some great people out there that are willing to help you in any way they can. You just have to ask for it. You’ll likely see me giving up more responsibilities on some projects and trusting the team I’ve been putting together to handle more so I can focus on other parts of the business that might not seem as exciting but are crucial. Success is almost never forged alone, there is always a team right there with you, you just have to know when to ask.

Face it this field moves quickly and it’s always pushing you to be creative at every turn. It can be overwhelming and stressful but at the same time exciting and full of possibilities. Seeing your work on television or in magazines is always wonderful and is a nice reward for doing something you love. Hopefully you went into motion graphics or design because you do indeed love doing it. This is something you should try and remember everyday, it isn’t just a job it’s a job you really enjoy. The passion and determination you demonstrate will likely come with success. Just try not to stress yourself along the way. Success will only come if you keep learning, creating and just don’t give up. Just because you run into an issue with a certain job don’t let that freak you out. Each and every project should deliver a range of new challenges that you can learn from. If you want to be the best designer you need to set a goal and then put in the hours to get there. Get knee deep in it and read books and do tutorials. But don’t worry if you are not meeting the goal you have set sooner or later if you put in the time, things will just click and you will be cranking out quality work to the level you had been working towards.