As your empire ramps up and you develop bigger clients, the current stable of clients, that have been a real feather in your cap, may unfortunately need to be let go. If a client has been with you since the beginning, there is often nothing more difficult than moving your creative career up to a higher level and having to leave existing clients behind. It’s a tough move, but needed for your career to grow.

It does not really matter what you do, it could be producing graphics, animation, music creation, video production, audio producing, web design, traditional arts, whatever you are doing to provide content or a service, as your career ramps up you’ll get bigger and potentially better clients. This is actually a good thing, as your skill set increases, so does your rates. You start to get the type of clients on your radar that would not have even been considered by you a few years back. Your business is growing and as you move up, you move towards a higher end client. They are ready and so are you, thanks to your body of work, years of experience and newly minted quest to achieve more in building your empire.

At least that is the plan. Some will work in the opposite direction. Jobs come a little less frequent, you hit a slow patch, you want more clients than you actually have. You start to drop your rates, you take on clients that now take up huge amounts of your time, clients that you would not normally take on if business was better. You are making less and working more than ever and you can’t really understand why.

The reason is you are scaling downward instead of upward. Keep in mind, if you do anything for say five years, at the end of that five years you usually have much more experience, lots more skills, you are just better in many different ways. Your rates and services should absolutely reflect that.

Some creative artists get stuck in a rut. They never can quite get out of their current client base, they strive to do more, charge more, and get higher end clients. But the quest to achieve that often does not materialize. Of course it takes drive and ambition, but it also may be something that is holding you back, it may be your current client base.

And the process of weeding out current clients need not be a difficult one. Be direct. Let them know that you need to raise your rates for your business to thrive, to remain competitive. Convey that you are no longer able to work with them on their projects and provide suggestions on other creative producers who may be able to help them out. Remember, the apprehension is often always worse than the implementation. In this case you will typically find out that clients will support you in your career move. They will miss working with you, but they will generally understand if you convey it properly.

Everyone wants their business to grow and a lot of times your client base has to grow with you. You can’t let it hold you back. Raising rates and moving on from some of your existing clients is one of the hardest things you’ll have to do as a creative professional. Believe me I know this is not easy. But you need to flex new creative muscles, you need to break into new client challenges, you need to ramp up and reach higher to keep your path of success constantly reaching upwards. Often it’s not enough to want it, you have to be around people, clients and contacts that will help pull you along and move you there.

Are you ready for the next level of clients? What can you do to move to that level?

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This episode: To do list overload, golden tasks, 3 story house mode, idea bin, trim and set creative project priorities and much more - franklinmcmahon.com - The Podcast for the Creative Professional

Media Artist Secrets (iTunes link) is an audio podcast I do that is focused on career building, getting things done and ramping up your empire. This new episode is focused mainly on to-do lists and how quickly they can completely overwhelm us.

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The main problem with a task list is every time you add a new task, you take a little priority away from all the others. If you have 3 tasks that are all pretty important and then you add another, and another, soon you have 10 or more tasks that are trying to share the spotlight. 7 tasks that are pulling you away from the 3 major ones.

We’ll call these top 3 tasks “Golden Tasks”. These are the cream of the crop. In any given day, these are the top 3 that are going to give you the most payback, the most traction and the most impact. The key is to trim down your task list to the most important. It’s OK to have ideas and things that pop into your mind, but those should be stored separately. Not jumbled in with your Golden Tasks.

At the end of the day, if you complete the 3 major tasks, you’ll really feel like you have accomplished a lot, as opposed to having a list of 10 or 20, and only working through half. If your list is 12 and you only do 9, you’ll feel like you did not complete it. If your list is 3, and you did those 3 plus had extra time to complete 2 more, you’ll feel tremendously better.

So focus on your Golden Tasks first above all. Let me know how you work your own To-do list.

Is it focused on a small number of goals or is it lengthy with minimal priorities? Do you have any tips or ideas on organizing your own task list?

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These days your brand is often you, it’s you and you alone. Even if you work for a large company, are part of a big enterprise or have a successful company that has a distinct name, when you are online, you are known by your name. Often on networks like Twitter, people will use usernames or handles, such as kim345 or tedphotoguy. These are great for log-ins, but don’t do much to extend your brand.

Facebook ensures you must use your real name, but it is more flexible with creating Pages, you can pretty much name them anything. But keep in mind that your name will never change (well marriage may alter that..) even as you move to different companies and get involved in various enterprises. In fact someday if you move from working for “the man” to heading up your own empire, you’ll want to ensure that your actual name has a good brand and a great following. If your current online name is based on an industry or company, remember that in 5 or 10 years you may be completely done with it. Maybe less.

So as you create accounts, as you dive deeper into the vast array of social networks, as you register a domain name, as you create a new account, remember that your name is the brand. FirebirdConsulting.com is nice, but KimSanderson.com is a lot more personable and recognizable. It all starts with you. It all starts with your name. People may remember your clever handles or usernames, but they will never forget you.

Are you marketing your name?

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This Week: Indie Shooting in 3D with 21st Century 3D’s Jason Goodman

Plus: BlackMagic Design Ultrascope, Worldweaver DX Studio 3.1, Microsoft sells Razorfish, Gridiron Flow ships, Sony Walkman turns 30 and more creative news and interviews - creativecow.net - Jason Goodman of 21st Century 3D in NYC talks to Creative Cow Magazine’s Editor In Chief Tim Wilson about building a 3D camera system from two prosumer DVX-100’s, switching from SD to HD, hard drive to solid state and other technical aspects he has learned with doing 3D himself. He also discusses his movie “Call of the Wild” an independent movie shot in 3D.

Hosted by Franklin McMahon

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The CreativeCOW.net Podcast is targeted at media professionals in the fields of audio, video, film, design, imaging and related fields. The show is hosted by Franklin McMahon, who is joined each week by guests in the industry who look at issues, tips, techniques and news of interest to media professionals. More signal, less noise™.

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Well it did not take long for me to reveal the secret of life here on the blog! Actually this is a common theme that will come up often in my posts and there are a few more secrets that are tent poles, supporting your creative life, but this one is probably one of the most important.

Creative artists are sometimes wired to be a little more demure than other people. You may be more focused on your craft, work and brand, and spend less time asking people for favors. But the key is to not be shy about it. Lots of successful people I know ask me for things often. I look at it as an opportunity to help and welcome it. I can’t help everyone all the time, but I do try to do my best.

Lets take photographers. When ramping up a photography career, you’ll often see a creative artist who is really focused on photographing events, people and other subjects. But so often they grumble about the lack of money that the work is bringing in. Sometimes they don’t see the value they provide. Or they once asked a few times for money, got shot down, and decided not to bring it up again with anyone. Of course they would do it for free because they love it, but it’s quite compelling to do something you love and get paid as well.

Professionals do this too. Even a seasoned pro with a successful operation will often be a bit shy about asking for the sale. They have lined up a great proposal, worked to get a client interested and then often leave it to them to let them know. Asking for the sale is important. It’s a black and white question. It’s probably more aggressive than you may be comfy with, but asking in general is a path to getting what you want and need.

I actually happen to know a few “serial askers”, really these are people who ask everyone for everything. I am floored by how much people do for them. Even more amazing is everyone is not grumbling, they are happy to help because the people are grateful to have the support. These people know what they lack and know to ask for help to fill in the needs.

Getting help is another main area. Most creative projects take resources. If you are planning anything it helps to have people involved. You may think people are too busy or may not be interested, but believe me, you may be surprised who steps up to help you in your mission. This can apply to your income as well. You may work at an agency and not be making the amount you think you should, or not as much as your peers. Ask for a raise, it can’t hurt and it merely will convey that you are on the rise and want more, as opposed to having your head down behind the monitor and quietly settling. Being a creative director for years, I was always impressed with the employees who worked for me who wanted more. I always thought to myself that these were the people on the rise who were going to make it.

Asking really is an art form that few master, but the ones that do have a lot of abundance. They are surrounded with people willing to help, they have the support they need in many areas, they have moved to higher steps not because they waited to be asked, but because they advanced the effort to move forward.

Ben Franklin said if you ever want to make a friend, ask them to do you a favor. Don’t limit asking to just your inner circle, journey out of your group of friends and ask new people to help, contribute and assist you in your path to what you need. The more comfy you get with asking, the better you get at it, the more you ask, the more you can receive.

I always tell people, “How do you get anything you want in life?”

“Ask.”

Are you comfy with asking? Have you been waiting to ask someone something but have been hesitating? What have you asked for lately?

Give it a try, and let me know if it works. And if you need any more advice or help, just ask me…

(And hey…do me a favor and leave a comment and/or retweet…thanks! Just figured I would ask…)

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Who do you know who is not cool? Think back to past business associates and contacts. Think about their emotions. The ones that did not hold back. The ones that really said what was on their mind. Do you remember one that got very emotional? Often frustrated? Seemed to be stressed out a lot? Some people find it very hard to keep their emotions in check. Especially in the creative industry. And well lots of industries.

But the problem is it sends a very defined signal to everyone. And it could keep you from advancing in your career. Flying off the handle, letting your emotions get control, even on rare occasions, may cause someone to pause the next time they have an opportunity with you in mind.

Master the fine art of coolness. Be rather unreadable. Why? People will often fill in the blanks with favorable opinions of you. It’s hard to judge someone who is almost impossible to judge. But very easy to comment on someone who is a roller coaster of emotions. And this goes for co-workers and connections as well. You may flip out with a designer you disagree with, but, well you would never do that in front of a client. Actually, don’t do it in front of anyone.

What if someone is driving you crazy? Well then their mission may be to push your buttons. Being unfazed is the right path, because once you snap back and react, then they’ve got you. You advertise your weakness to be toyed with. First to them and then to everyone.

The best course of action is to work at not be engaged in swaying emotions in your professional career. Having an appearance of calm, or more of an unreadable poker face, will often be your best strategy. Snapping and going off the deep end, even briefly, sends a radar ripple that goes a lot wider than you can imagine, once legendary stories of your behavior start to become prevalent. Being in the creative industry, I know a lot of these types of people, I am sure you do as well.

So try taking a breath…and practicing to be cool. You’ll find the better you get at it, the cooler you will become. And the better it will be for your creative career.

So…are we cool?

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One thing to focus on weekly is looking at what you are contributing to the community and what you are contributing to your online legacy. Your community is your contacts online, the people you interact with, share info, help and connect with. Your legacy is your body of work, what you create, what you develop and share with your audience. Most of what you share with people should be focused on your body of work, because that is the most permanent. That will provide you the most traction for advancing your creative career.

For years I have had various websites, email newsletters and podcast/online shows going in one form or another, it has been a way to get out information and convey to an audience what I was up to. The focus on keeping people in the loop built a following which kept everyone involved. Of course I do realize that doing something like a weekly show is work, but producing content on a regular basis is key to growing your audience.

Lets put it this way: you spend two hours interacting on social networks or you spend two hours doing some blog posts, maybe a video for your fans or updating your website. Both sessions involve some work, both can be fun and both have you contributing. But the two hours in social networking can be fleeting and not very permanent. 10 comments on a variety of blogs, chats back and forth on Twitter, checking out various links and images posted on Facebook, etc. You’ll get something out of it, you may catch the attention of some people, take part in a fun conversation, maybe find some new links and that will be about it.

Now think about two hours working on a blog update or doing a new video. Once you post those, its permanent and accessible. Every person you connect with can look back at the items, at any time, for years. It builds on your previous work, it grows the body of content you are pushing out to the masses. If anyone wants to see what you are up to, popping into your website is one easy stop. If your website has not been updated in weeks, it almost appears that you have not been making progress to the interested viewer. Show what you have been up to. Try to work to keep everyone up to date.

Lets take it to an extreme. You spent a year interacting on social networks, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. You’ve made some connections, got a lot of info and contributed to the community. But a few years from now, most of those items will be long gone. Say you spent a year updating your website or blog often, daily or even weekly, with video, images, opinions, tutorials, etc. A few years, even a year from now, you’ll have an amazing body of work that anyone can access at any time. And you can look back with a lot of satisfaction, you’ll suddenly start saying “wow…I did a lot” as opposed to “where did the time go and what did I accomplish to gather interest in my own empire?”.

Look at the people you really admire online. Chances are they are pushing out content on a weekly or daily basis. Chances are even better they have a large following. They do work the social networks, but the main difference is they have become a resource. They are a landing point. They are essentially putting on a show and more people are gathering around it. I am not saying to avoid building up your Twitter streams and Facebook pages, but keep in mind, you are building traffic and an audience primarily for Twitter and Facebook. Work more on your own site, your own house. Use Twitter and Facebook as secondary tools to keep people aware of what you are up to, but the focus is best if it is on your own website and domain.

It is important to take part in the community. Digital connections are vital. But if all you have are connections and interactions, with no content, your career may be much harder to build. You may spend more time going after people and clients, as opposed to building something that brings people directly to you.

You give someone your business card, they take it home and go to your website. How big is the world you want them to explore? How compelling is it? When was it last updated?

Really start to think about building up your empire online. Your digital legacy. Try building your own house, rather than spending all your time visiting other houses.

What can you do now that can ramp things up? What have you done lately?

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Have you ever had someone say, your name keeps coming up? That’s a good sign. It often means that the person has heard about you through multiple sources, often completely unrelated. This is a signal directly to you that your circle of influence is expanding. All that you are doing to promote yourself and bring your brand to a wider scope is working. The great part is the ball is already rolling, you now have a couple (or more) recommendations.

When working with a new client, the most important aspect is often not skills but trust. A new client wants to get to know and trust you, because they are often putting their career, business or brand right in your hands. Selling yourself and working to gain trust can be tricky and time consuming. However if “your name keeps coming up” this could easily provide some trust already through testimonials from your contacts. In fact chances are the potential client has been looking for something right in line with what you do. So the fact that they are now chatting with you, and had a few in-person or virtual references about you, is a fantastic start. This opportunity is one of the best ones to have and it is definitely the time to make a strong move.

So next time you hear your name has come up, focus in with laser precision on this specific opportunity. Other friends and colleagues have started the momentum for you, just grab the ball and run with it.

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Most of us read blogs daily, check out websites, catch up on news. Even though the web has made it a lot easier to access news quickly, it also spirals into reading more and more info. A quick trip through your Twitter feed will no doubt have you exploring some interesting links, links to new sites, links to more news. You may add a few more sites to your RSS reader, you may bookmark some new ones, you’ll discover information avenues you did not know existed. The problem comes when this is done daily, weekly, monthly…the info really starts to stack up. You may have started visiting your 5 favorite websites, but now it has expanded to checking in on 20 sites every day, several times a day even.

I just wanted to let you know: you don’t need them all. The fear settles in that you may miss something. Well you will, but that’s OK. The bottom line is you may be sifting through huge piles of info for one or two pieces that are actually relevant. I recently discovered this with a tech news blog I liked to frequent. I started to count how many items I was actually interested in, as opposed to how many I was actually viewing. The score was dramatic, it averaged that I was looking at 20 posts when I would find one that I was actually interested in. Now if you multiple this times 5 sites, or even 20, several times a day, you begin to realize that you have moved from getting the news to a daily quest to find tiny nuggets of information.

All of this results in an amazing waste of time. Time when you could be producing content. We’ve all seen the alarming statistics about how people watch hours and hours of TV per day. Just zoning out and absorbing. We all think “that’s not me” as we spend hours and hours zoning out on the web. Yes we gain info, but not all is relevant and that time could be spent building our empire, producing content to engage our own audiences. You may spend two hours a day exploring websites, while your own website or blog has not been updated with your latest projects and info in several weeks. You’ll realize this when you meet people in person and they say “So…what have you been up to?”. I assume you won’t say “Surfing the web!!”.

I feel your pain. I know, I know. You love the web! I love the web too! I am just suggesting a balance, between producing and collecting.

To eliminate info overload, one tactic I do is to periodically purge or delete all my feeds and news site bookmarks. The ones you really find valuable you will remember and add back in. A lot will fall by the wayside. But you won’t miss them too much.

I realized that I myself was spending a lot of time pouring over gadget sites, reading reviews, spending more time looking at what other people had linked to and produced on news and social media sites. I decided to take that time and focus on creating a blog, to offer some advice and tips on being a better creative media artist. Remember it’s good to take in info and be informed. But when that process is taking more time than actually producing content, building your empire online and getting work done, you could be wasting huge amounts of very valuable time while leaving little to nothing for a digital legacy.

Do you absorb more info than you will ever really need? Is it worth trimming back incoming to focus more on outgoing?

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This Week: Future of Desktop 3D with NVIDIA’s Andrew Fear

Plus: Maxon Cinema 4D special, Daz 3D updates, Luxology modo 401 launches, Fusion 6.0, iPhone 3Gs launch, Autodesk developers reach 70 and more creative news and interviews - creativecow.net

Hosted by Franklin McMahon

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The CreativeCOW.net Podcast is targeted at media professionals in the fields of audio, video, film, design, imaging and related fields. The show is hosted by Franklin McMahon, who is joined each week by guests in the industry who look at issues, tips, techniques and news of interest to media professionals. More signal, less noise™.

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