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You cannot knock the hustle

If you have heard this phrase before you may or may not know what it means. But let me explain this to you. Because hustling has many different meanings. The one I am talking about is people who are putting in the work to achieve their goals.

When you are a person who puts in the time to achieve your set goals then you are hustling. Because you can sit and think about what it would be like to achieve the goal or work and get it done. So you do not want to knock or in other words dampen their progress.

 

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Gaming Meerkat

If you do not know what meerkat it is a platform similar to periscope. Meerkat is a livestreaming application where you can broadcast to the world. But there are things that are not allowed on there and one of them is nudity. If you do plan to use meerkat there are somethings that you have to take note and I’ll explain the darkside to you of meerkat and how people find a weakness in a platform and use it poorly.

Well on meerkat if you become very active on there and a regular part of the community you will become familiar with people and the regular streamers. I will be the first to admit I am having more fun on meerkat than I would periscope. What I like most about meerkat is the comments do not disappear, show and tell and the cameo feature.

On meerkat you will notice there are people who are gaming the system that needs to be improved. The system is a point based system. The system gets abused every single day. There are people who go around liking and restreaming and following everyone. The reason they follow everyone is so as soon as that person is live they can be the first there to like and restream and then leave.

Liking and restreaming on meerkat gets a person points. The more points you have the higher you can go up on the leaderboard. The leaderboard is basically like a scoreboard for sreamers on meerkat. Some people got there through hard work and others got there through gaming the system.

The way that the meerkat points system reminds me of how youtube had to redo their algorithm when the reply girls found a weakness in the system. So meerkat needs to get on this and re arrange how the point system works. The points feel as if its basically a game and a rush to get to the leaderboard.

When you find a weakness in any social platform I do not see it as building longevity. More or less you are looking for a short term gain. This short term gain is one that will not last. The reason it will not last is because you are not creating a strong connection.

The way I go about using meerkat  is I will like and restream the people who I like. Sometimes I will just like their stream if I do not feel its worthy of sharing with my followers. Then I stay in their stream and participate. By participating and sharing your voice you are getting to know the person. You are having a conversation with them. If you don’t think you have the time to do such a thing then you have to rethink your strategy.

So with all this said if you are or if you do plan to join meerkat just know there are people who game the system using like and restreaming. The point that people do it on meerkat is pretty sickening and for some its an addiction of habit. The main reason is the leaderboard. If they get high up on the leaderboard they’ll be happy. But my thing is I don’t care about being on any kind of leaderboard if people do not know who I am through a connection I took the time to create with them.

Because at times I have thought about throwing in the towel with meerkat and moving to periscope. But the time I have put in with meerkat and knowing a lot people and making a lot of friends there it would be stupid to throw it all away just because of an action done by people. If you join a social media network become a part of the community don’t just take advantage of the system and bring it to its knees.

Someone can always do it cheaper

If you are someone who has the mentality of I can find someone to do it cheaper you need to take a look at yourself. By that I mean why would you think finding the cheapest option is the best. Would you want to find the cheapest tattooer and get a shitty tattoo? I think not..

Because always the cheapest option is not the best option. You want to take the time to invest in what you believe in. By that I mean you want to not skimp on what matters. If you were to lets say have your friends son who has no skill in design creating a logo for you just because it is free.

Just take the time to think of how much your branding is apart of who you are. Especially in business its not something to be taken lightly. Time and time again I see dozens of businesses that took the cheap option. The cheap option is not a bad thing. Because if there is something you want done but cannot afford it at the moment take the best option.

Another thing is that if you cannot afford it is to save money so you can afford it. This is a simple solution to many things in the design industry and many others. But with all that said make sure you are not cutting corners just to skimp and save money on important things. You would want someone who knows what they are doing to do the best job possible.

 

Being afraid of your work not being good enough

Well recently  I was graciously bestowed with the opportunity to join dribbble. As we all may or may not know that Dribbble is a pretty big deal. The reason is because of the work on there how its so good and whatever else you want to say about it. I had thought to myself I don’t know if I am able to hang with those people in regards to designing.

But I said to myself you know what you are able to hang with them. Because of the amount of work that I have been putting in and also perfecting my craft of graphic design and calligraphy. A good example is the people you hang around you end up becoming like. So if you are forcing yourself to jump into the scene of amazing design work you will Do your best to match that quality that is set.

This is not something that only applies to graphic design. You can experience the same thing in any field. Because the level of quality and standard that is set. Always you have to keep the thought of that everything I do will reflect me as a person. Just think for a second how you would look at a landscaper who does a half ass job. You would more or less think they and anyone else who works with them is a poor worker as well.

So do your best to avoid falling into the trap of not thinking you are good enough. Because the only way for you to become better is to hang around people who are better than you. Spending time with those who are better than you may be scary at first. But you want to take the time to learn how they are and do as they do.

In regards to dribbble I am going to start posting work there soon. I will have to learn more about it first before I move forward with using it on a more consistent basis.

Michael Bierut Talks Brand Design & The Key To Creating Logos

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.

Do not be afraid of making mistakes a Graphic Designer

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.

An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail – Edwin Land

Stewart Butterfield: On How he scaled Slack to grow very quickly

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

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.

Break your limiting beliefs

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.