Out Like a Lamb

Looks like things are starting to slow down a little bit. Which has a positive and negative side to it. On the positive, it lets me follow up this month’s first blog title (“In Like a Lion”), and now I have a chance to get my office back in one piece. On the negative however, that means that I’ve got to hit the bricks and shake some stuff loose. Gotta love this new-fangled digital age we’re all lucky to be a part of. This is much easier than hitting the street or cold calling. It’s a tremendous benefit to be able to scout out new work so easily and to be able to keep in touch with all of my clients at the touch of a button.

Got to see Toddler Tales air. I’ve had stuff air in the past, but I was most excited that my parents got to see it and called me right after. My father-in-law called to congratulate me as well. Very happy moment, I’ll get the vid up here soon for you to check out (next post perhaps).

Beyond work, I’ve also got some fun personal stuff going on lately. Stacy and I will be walking for the Animal Welfare league of Arlington coming up soon. The badge at the top of this entry is the design I came up with for our shirts. If you’d like to own your own “PAWesome CRIMEFIGHTERS” shirt, follow the merchandise link on the right. All profits will go towards our donation goal to the league. If you don’t want an awesome, er... “PAWesome”, shirt, you can still contribute to the league by following this LINK.

It’s shaping up to be a fun event that will do a lot of animals a world of good. Our team is in second place for most money earned and-to the best of my knowledge-is also the only team who has designed their own shirts (at least until another team reads this post). Help us support the AWLA!

Nationwide Debut!

I just received word today that the Huggies spot I did for BET is debuting tonight! It's a 30-second vignette--the "Toddler Tales" piece I've been yammering on about. You can catch it on BET tonight at 12:29am or tomorrow night at 10:46pm (that's Eastern Time, for those of you who aren't in Virginia). Yeah, it's on a little late, so DVR it and let me know what you think! I'll post the video here soon!

Coming Through!

Perhaps this isn’t the clearest analogy, but let me try and explain it anyway. The image above is that of a double-decker bus moving at high speed. Sounds tough to handle right? What I’m trying to say is it’s not a great idea to double book clients, unless you know exactly what you’re doing.

Right now I’m working with a couple of clients. Some of them have very lenient schedules and others are less forgiving. Every one has work to be done, and you’re their guy to do it! That said, working with a few different clients isn’t easy, and it’s very easy to miss deadlines, or worse, sever business connections with shoddy work or poor attendance and crimped availability. Here are some things to keep in mind before you attempt the possible impossible.

You have to be honest with yourself and your clients, and it’s not a bad idea to be aware of the number of hours in a week, which is 168 total. That’s 168 hours for working, driving from site to site, eating, hygiene and sleep. So actually working 80 hours a week is quite plausible. After all, that leaves you with 88 hours to do everything else you need to, right? There’s always going to be a few all-nighters here and there, but that’s just what you’re going to have to be ready for in this business. Sure its fun work, but nobody said it was easy. 

If you’re doing on-site work, you also have to be aware of when the office opens. Working 5:30 to 13:30 at one office and then getting to another office to work 14:30 to 22:30 might sound like a good, fat 16-hour day, but if the first office opens at 9:30, you’re sort of stuck up the creek without a paddle. My recommendation in this situation would either be to cut loose a project, or to take one on that you can finish at home in the early mornings or late evenings.

The math makes it sound good, but really before you tackle this sort of thing you need to know whether or not you can deliver to all of your clients. Juggling different clients is a great way to make money, but it will backfire terribly if your deliverables are late, your availability becomes too pinched, or worse, the quality of your work suffers. If your client needs you there for 40 hours, you need to make it happen. Make sure you can handle the workload and that your clients’ schedules don’t conflict.

I hope this helps anyone out there facing a similar situation, I’d love to hear about your situation (you don’t need to tell me who your working with ;P). Good luck out there!

P.S. I haven’t forgotten about Toddler Tales. As you’ve probably gathered from this post, I simply haven’t had the time to ask for permission. 

In Like a Lion!

March is here! Which means I’ve kept this thing going for a whole month! Awesome! I’ve got all kinds of new stuff to work on and write about too! Looks like I’ll be back at The Teaching Company through March as a graphic artist (I’ve been editing for them), and I just got finished with some work for BET International (hence the delayed posting). Speaking of delayed postings however, I’ve decided to simply post when something worth writing about happens. Otherwise I’m simply limiting myself so writing once a week on a set schedule and really, a lot happens in a week that warrants attention. 

It looks like Toddler Tales is going to air on BET soon. Keep your eyes peeled for it from this month through next if you happen to be watching the station. If they decide to do a bunch of these it will be a phenomenal addition to my reel, and could help to usher in some new work :D. I will post the video on this site as soon as I have confirmation that it’s airing and that the client doesn’t mind. For anybody that doesn’t speak with me everyday (which I hope are at least some of the people reading this), Toddler Tales is a vignette for BET that will hopefully spawn more vignettes for other products. We’re out of the gate with a spot for Pullups Training Pants.  Not hardcore, head banging awesome stuff, but a cute and quirky piece nonetheless that I’m quite happy with. More on that when I post it. 

I’ve also just signed up for Twitter, I have a small following now, but I’m certain it will grow. Please feel free to check it out here: www.twitter.com/nickdesigns. I will add a link to the right sooner or later (kinda beat after today and can’t muster the energy right now). 

Until next time!