Graphic Designer & Calligrapher
I always love seeing new videos from Michael Beruit he always has such a great handle on passing the knowledge he’s learned. Another thing I was shocked a little was when he said when a client comes to him he always asks “whats wrong with what you got?”.
With all that said you have a great weekend and thanks for dropping by.
I wanted to personally share this video with you all. Because the message behind everything that Eric thomas says always touches my spirit.
Have a wonderful wednesday
Making mistakes is a part of life. If you are not making mistakes then you are not learning. Every mistake is a potential reason for you to protect yourself in the future. By protect yourself I mean use your experience to get further a long in life.
Mistakes can for one seem crazy. For example why on earth would I want to ever make a mistake. Well believe me you will make mistakes. You will make mistakes with under charging clients, Mistakes with file types, and etc. But you cannot let this hold you back and scare you. Learn to embrace them.
Embrace mistakes to learn quicker. Mistakes help you learn quicker and you will be able to make more progress faster. The situation is similar to a person who sits in their comfort zone and does nothing different to get out of it. This is what you call playing it safe and or going with what feels safe.
So do not ever be afraid of making mistakes. Making mistakes will allow you to move quicker in your chosen field. Whether you want to be a graphic designer, an interior designer, calligrapher, Hand lettering artist you have to fail often. I always want to be learning something knew and failing. Because if I am failing, making mistakes I know I am learning.
Very interesting Talk with the Co-founder of Slack. I for one need to check out slack and see how it works. I know it has to be beneficial. Also Stewart is the cofounder of Flickr. I remember when flickr was the go to place for pictures. It seems as if when yahoo buys companies they are never the same for some reason.
The hardwork matters whether you believe it or not. Because the time that you spend doing nonsense or productive work is what determines a lot. Sitting around watching netflix and watching the game is not helping you. If you are playing the victim mentality that is not doing you any good.
For example as graphic designers and creative people we can be so hard on ourselves. Which then will lead us to believing that we are not good enough. then will lead us to want to give up. As a creative person our gift can be a gift and a curse. But focus on appreciating that gift.
Do not go around wasting it and not putting it to good use. The same goes for anything else you do. Why would you want to let something go and die. If you let it die you would not be able to see its full potential. Just think of the returns you would get as a designer.
There are many people who have never gave 100% in their career and probably never will. But that is ok for them to do. The reason why I say that is because you are better than them. I do believe that if we dedicate ourselves to being a better graphic designer, interior designer, calligrapher or whatever we will see results.
Now go and execute and stop talking but not doing what you talk about. If you talk about being so deep and etc none of that matters if you are not living what you speak about.
Your beliefs about everything you are doing as a designer can be limiting you. You can think oh I’ll never get any clients. I’ll never be able to find a job as a graphic designer. But you are only destroying your belief about those things.
I can speak from experience that I had those limits on myself. After realizing that you do deserve to be able to have those clients and you do deserve to be doing what you are passionate about. This can also be in relation to playing the victim role. Because a lot of people who go to college and graduate then are not able to find a job they play the victim role.
Which playing the victim is so easy to do. You have to get up off your ass and make things happen. The professors and everyone around you are not going to make your dreams happen. If you want to have clients and or get a Graphic design job what are you doing to make it happen. Watching netfilx and or Youtube videos all day is not going to help you.
The low self esteem sets in from getting comfortable. Then from not wanting to take the initiative to make things happen. You have to blame no one but yourself for your results. If you are not doing what you said you will do its all up to you.
Break your limiting beliefs as a graphic design by pushing yourself and be honest with yourself even if it hurts.
If you are content with thinking that I’m a designer and I have nothing to lose. Well you should be thinking on a larger scale. Because you are putting yourself at risk. By putting yourself at risk you are risking your creativity drying up.
Think of your creativity and thinking abilities as a muscle. If you do not take the time to nurture and strengthen them they will become weaker. Then when that happens you will think things such as I don’t know if I can do it or I’m not good enough. Well If you are not working on anything that is no ones fault but your own.
Because we like to create excuses and blame others. A good example is if I went to another college I would be in a better position. When most likely you probably would still be in the same situation. Because that is a victim mentality to have. But you know what this is a common thing.
Stop letting those around you take advantage of you and your creativity. Everything you do is a choice. Whatever clients you have or go after they are what you’ve found instead of them finding you. So do not let people take advantage of you on a constant basis. Learn how to say no and stop chasing the money and work on your craft.
I for one am not surprised at all by this. Because just think of how many people purchase things from amazon on a day to day basis. Also ton’s of sites have their own algorithm.
If you are in college or just out of college and you are frustrated with the way your career is going, you have to keep doing it often. By doing it I mean graphic design. Sure you are upset at not finding that job or having clients. But doing graphic design work often will polish your skills.
Because you have to truly want to be a graphic designer. Think for the long game and not the short game. Many times we focus on the now and what can we do to get paid. Even though I do understand people have bills to pay and demands to be met. You just have to truly believe in your heart that it will get better.
Truly loving graphic design comes from within. If you are thinking I will be a graphic designer because it is easy. Well its not easy at all. You can teach people how to be creative, but being creative is whats difficult. Just because you learned how to be a graphic designer in college it does not mean you have finished learning.
Also if you believe like I do that your time may not have come yet. By that I mean you have not reached your plateau yet of being a good designer. Or you have not found an employer who is willing to invest in your skills to make you a fit for the position you are applying. Because people will promise you so many things and then do absolutely nothing.
Learn to see through the bullshit immediately. If someone says I will recommend you after you do this job for me and not want to pay you. Well they are doing nothing other than taking advantage of you. You want to know why? Its because they do not value you and or your profession.
Setting goals for yourself as a designer are very important. There is many ways you can set goals and achieve them for yourself. I for one set a goal to do at least one branding project that will help someone at least once a week. Well I fell off the rails and slipped up and let life creep in.
The amount of discipline being a designer takes a lot of time. You have to sit down with yourself and then focus on your strengths. I for one focused on my strengths of typography and I have made drastic improvements.
If I took the time and did not focus on what I was somewhat good at I would’ve taken a longer route. Which is pretty interesting on how that works. When you focus on your strengths then the weaknesses are very minuscule. Then they tend to take care of themselves.
The act of cutting out what you are doing that is not helping you as a graphic designer is needed. If you want your life to change you have to focus. For example being out with friends drinking, and getting in trouble or whatever you’re doing is not going to do any good. They are simply distractions from the real goal here. But I mean if you are just being a graphic designer for the moment that is ok. We are able to use what we learned as a graphic designer and move with those skills in the real world to other industries and starting up a business.
This is a saying that I recently heard Gary vaynerchuk said. I was utterly blown away by it. The reason is because 1 is better than 0. We get so caught up in the numbers and then we forget to put in the work. By putting in the work the numbers will continue to grow.
When I started posting my work on instagram no one gave a damn. I mean if you go back deep into my feed you will see the difference in my work quality till now. Also seanwes had said show up everyday for 2 years. So I took it upon myself that I am going to show up everyday for two years on instagram.
Really focus on playing the long game instead of the short game. Being patient with the whole process and climb. I also believed that my time is coming with getting notoriety. But I did not focus on that from the beginning. By not focusing on getting famous from the beginning allowed me to gain traction and momentum with my work.
The aspect of focusing on long term instead of short term with my graphic design and calligraphy work has helped. Being a graphic designer so many people tend to focus on getting noticed as soon as possible. As long as you are putting in the work and constantly improving it will show. The aspect of being a creative person and or designer its a game plain and simple.
Playing the game of being a creative person you know what to do and what not to do. Our work should be focused on creating long term value. So many people just focus on how can I get paid right here right now. I will be the first to admit I had the same mindset. By that I mean I would largely undervalue my time with client work.
So back to the topic of 1 is better than 0. You cannot think that this is going to happen overnight with getting known. The people who put in the work and do what they talk about will see the results. Many claim to be internet marketer when you know there is no way in hell they can be actually interacting with over 100k followers.
When I first got aggressive with twitter I would follow back everyone who followed me. Then I quickly learned that was not the right thing to do. Because I should be following those who create long term value for me and also who interest me.
So from now on focus on creating the long term value as a graphic designer and or in your profession instead of the short term. Enjoy the climb because its what makes the journey worth it.
