Breaking The Boring Cycle Zero Fluff
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- Visual Arts
People really don’t know your potential until you show it to them. I can’t expect anyone, and particularly a prospect client, to hire me for something I’ve never done.
In the video-creation world, you can’t just shoot interviews and corporate videos all day long and expect a record label or a band to see that and think of you as a good candidate for their music videos. If you don’t remember anything else know this: Whatever work you’re doing, is advertising for you to do more work just like it. Because when you put out that content, whoever it resonates with is likely someone who can relate to whatever it is your making and will come to you to say, “Hey I saw that thing you did, and we have a need for something similar.”
Now this is where we get into the duality between art and money. Often times it’s really hard to make a living just chasing the art and this is why people end up doing boring stuff that pays the bills and forever get lost in that world. No one chose to shoot interviews because that was their absolute passion. It’s because someone offered them money. The problem is, the better you get at doing boring work, the more in-demand you’ll become as the person who does boring work. So how do you break the cycle? And answer is spec.
Spec work is work you do on your own dollar in your own time. The better you get at making whatever it is your passionate about, the more in demand you’ll become for what it is your passionate about, but it takes a tremendous amount of hustle. Because if you’re stuck in a cycle making a living doing work you don’t care about, you have to do overtime to create work you do care about in order to attract a new kind of client.
And here’s the bottom line, people just want to see what you’re passionate about. No one wants to hire someone who doesn’t care about what they make. They want to hire someone who is going to do an awesome job, not just because they’re getting paid, but because they love what they do. That’s the real question, are you passionate about what you’re making? Because if not, don’t expect people to see what you’re doing and think, “Man I really want this guy working for me.”
A good friend of mine back in the day was a super talented photographer. We both loved to skate and he used to shoot tons of shots of us at our local skate park and of different adventures he would go on, and once he was interviewing to shoot photos for a really nice country club. He showed the owner a catalog of photos he’d taken of different interior shots, and some corporate portraits of people. All things he thought would really appeal to this guy and his business. The owner then said, “That’s really great and all but, can you show me photos you're actually passionate about?” Then he pulled up a bunch of photos he’d taken just for fun, and that’s when he got the job. Your clients want you to care. And sure, not every project is going to be super exciting, but remember, every project is advertising for you to do more projects just like it.
There’s a great quote from Francis Chan where he says, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.” He’s talking in an overall life sense but just thinking specifically about the work you do, be careful you don’t get really good at something you don’t really care about, because all you’re doing is asking for more of the same old thing. Show us what you’re passionate about, and we’ll see your potential.
People really don’t know your potential until you show it to them. I can’t expect anyone, and particularly a prospect client, to hire me for something I’ve never done.
In the video-creation world, you can’t just shoot interviews and corporate videos all day long and expect a record label or a band to see that and think of you as a good candidate for their music videos. If you don’t remember anything else know this: Whatever work you’re doing, is advertising for you to do more work just like it. Because when you put out that content, whoever it resonates with is likely someone who can relate to whatever it is your making and will come to you to say, “Hey I saw that thing you did, and we have a need for something similar.”
Now this is where we get into the duality between art and money. Often times it’s really hard to make a living just chasing the art and this is why people end up doing boring stuff that pays the bills and forever get lost in that world. No one chose to shoot interviews because that was their absolute passion. It’s because someone offered them money. The problem is, the better you get at doing boring work, the more in-demand you’ll become as the person who does boring work. So how do you break the cycle? And answer is spec.
Spec work is work you do on your own dollar in your own time. The better you get at making whatever it is your passionate about, the more in demand you’ll become for what it is your passionate about, but it takes a tremendous amount of hustle. Because if you’re stuck in a cycle making a living doing work you don’t care about, you have to do overtime to create work you do care about in order to attract a new kind of client.
And here’s the bottom line, people just want to see what you’re passionate about. No one wants to hire someone who doesn’t care about what they make. They want to hire someone who is going to do an awesome job, not just because they’re getting paid, but because they love what they do. That’s the real question, are you passionate about what you’re making? Because if not, don’t expect people to see what you’re doing and think, “Man I really want this guy working for me.”
A good friend of mine back in the day was a super talented photographer. We both loved to skate and he used to shoot tons of shots of us at our local skate park and of different adventures he would go on, and once he was interviewing to shoot photos for a really nice country club. He showed the owner a catalog of photos he’d taken of different interior shots, and some corporate portraits of people. All things he thought would really appeal to this guy and his business. The owner then said, “That’s really great and all but, can you show me photos you're actually passionate about?” Then he pulled up a bunch of photos he’d taken just for fun, and that’s when he got the job. Your clients want you to care. And sure, not every project is going to be super exciting, but remember, every project is advertising for you to do more projects just like it.
There’s a great quote from Francis Chan where he says, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.” He’s talking in an overall life sense but just thinking specifically about the work you do, be careful you don’t get really good at something you don’t really care about, because all you’re doing is asking for more of the same old thing. Show us what you’re passionate about, and we’ll see your potential.