Get Nervous
It’s totally OK to be a little on edge. You may go through phases where you are very stressed and worried about every aspect of your creative career. On the other side, you may have times where everything is going just perfect. Completely calm and flowing excellent. These two ends of the spectrum do have their long term drawbacks however.
If you are completely stressed and worried all the time it can signal a few things. The main item is there needs to be changes that perhaps you are not making. Maybe you want more clients, but rather than focus on marketing, you loose yourself in busy work. Checking the web, chatting online, working on projects that are not on the path to your goals, anything you can do to take your mind off the real issues.
Or perhaps you have too much work, you are taking on an enormous amount yourself and not getting help. You are focused on deadlines and being overwhelmed, rather than the quality of the projects.
On the other side, things could be going great. Everything is in place, all systems are working fine. Your empire is sailing along, clients are happy, work is being produced. It sounds all well and good until boredom sets in.
You start to become apathetic because the challenges are not as great, the momentum you had is just not there anymore. You are doing the same thing as you did last year and feel like you will be doing the same thing next year.
Stressed out and overworked is not good. And often things going fine with no changes, challenges or momentum is not good either.
The middle ground is getting a little nervous. Just a touch of things not being completely perfect, an edge of uncertainty that keeps things spicy. It’s a delicate balance to be in the middle, but it’s often not a bad place to be. You are succeeding and confidently enjoying your success, but you have an eye towards what happens next, what will be the next big challenge, little slices of unknown that are mixed in to keep things interesting.
You will strive to have your empire working perfect but there will always be things that crop up, some of these items will be in your control and some will not be. But it’s OK to be in the middle ground, it’s a mix of accomplishment and challenge. That friction has launched many successful creative enterprises. Losing that friction could be running on an empty tank in either direction, stressed or serene.
Creative artists sometimes tend to hit the extremes. You may be overworked and totally slammed with clients and productions, stuff is being accomplished but the process is scattered, somewhat disorganized and not very satisfying. Or you may be smoothly coasting, not a lot of pressure but also pretty much flatlining without preparation or planning for the future. No ramping up.
Get nervous. Get more in the middle. Strike a balance between solid productive work with an eye towards advancing in the future. Media artists who are in the zone love what they do, embrace their market and the people they work with. They get a lot of satisfaction and look forward to new challenges. And they are growing. They are not stressed with work they don’t enjoy and they are not overly worried about scarcity or what may happen next. They have balance.
Where are you? Stressed? Flatlining? Nervous? Balanced?
Are You Dressed For Success?
We all like to think that it’s really about our talent and not how we look. But the fact of the matter is you will often be judged on your appearance as you work your way through your career. Sure it’s not fair but the important thing is to be aware of it. Now I am not necessarily saying you need to dress up in a suit everywhere you go, but certainly take some time to think about how you are perceived to the general public. You may spend a lot of your time in a studio or working for yourself or with a small team. Comfort is one of the luxuries we have when building our own empire. The difference is when we walk out into the world, when we network, attend functions, interact with people.
One of the best things you can do is convey a sense of confidence and success. A lot of this is attitude. Talent with a dash of ego, in moderation, is not a bad thing. But keep in mind as you ramp up your career you will be ramping up the quality of your contacts. It may be inevitable that you will be in scenarios where the attire is getting better and more official.
Stop to think about some of the most successful people you know. What are they wearing?
I discussed this topic quite a while back on my Media Artist Secrets podcast (iTunes) and got a huge response. Half were agreeing with me and the other half were very against, saying that being successful is based on skill and not about certain clothes worn. And again I am not saying wear a suit everywhere, but really start to think about what you are conveying with your attire. A lot of times you will go to functions and feel overdressed or underdressed. In fact before you even go you may be wondering if you should dress up or dress down. I suggest going for the dressing up part. You’ll never offend anyone by dressing up and you may get some new respect just from some presentable threads.
You have to remember that most of the time when you are networking, a lot of people don’t know you. And as your career ramps up you may be in situations that are basically more dressy. Ramp up your attire to coincide with your ramping up career. Dress “up” when your career is going “up”. It may be cool to dress down and be hip, but what is hip to you may not be hip to others. If you want to close the deal, connect with better clients and ramp up your career, start to really think about how your dress code is in sync with your new business paths.
How do you dress for your industry? How does your industry dress? Do you have a clothing budget as part of your empire?
Are potential clients you are connecting with dressing better than you?
How important are your clothes as a marketing element?
http://www.franklinmcmahon.com/
Your Creative Career is Online but Where is your Digital Legacy?
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?
