Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business

Latest Episodes:

038: Getting started as a freelance motion designer w/ Donna McAvoy Apr 16, 2019

Show notes

As freelancers we often feel like we’re all on our own, that we have to come up with everything ourselves. But there are communities of us, both online and offline, that we can lean on and use to learn from each other. Whether you’re just starting out or have been running your own freelance business for years, the power of community and networking can be a major benefit. Few know this better than today’s guest.

Donna McAvoy is an amazing freelance animator and a member of our recent Mograph Mastermind Program. She studied computer arts at Abertay University and worked on mobile games before moving into animation for television. Now she’s freelancing as a 2D animator based in Glasgow where she creates some truly awesome work.

In this bonus episode, Donna shares the story of her journey into freelance motion design. She has found a way to make a career in her home in Scotland where it may not seem like there are as many opportunities as elsewhere. Donna talks about the realities of looking for and finding jobs as a freelance animator and how she makes it work.

Donna credits much of her success to proper networking. It’s helped her discover how others in her situation are making a living and has connected her to some of her best jobs. By connecting with other freelancers, Donna has been able to learn valuable tips from others like her, including that she could significantly raise the rates she was charging her clients.

In this episode:

Finding work as a freelancer while living in a place without many big studios
The power of motion design communities for helping you find direction as a freelancer
The importance of networking for finding jobs when it may seem like none are available
Why you should think about significantly raising your rates and the challenges and payoffs of doing so
Why freelancers should be charging more than employees of a company
How a mastermind can help build confidence, keep you accountable, and come up with great ideas for your business

Quotes:

“Networking is just the biggest thing to be doing. And it’s also good to just get out from your desk. I guess a lot of people are working from home and you get a bit crazy there.” [10:43]

“Although what you can charge varies from media to media, I think if you’re working remotely, it shouldn’t have such a big impact where you are based.” [12:23]

“The networking part is probably most important I feel. Basically just getting your work out as soon as you can because maybe if you do feel like it’s not good enough, it’s good to get someone to give you perspective and feedback on what you could be doing to make it better.” [24:35]

Links:

Find Donna McAvoy online

Follow Donna on Instagram | Twitter | Vimeo | Linkedin

School of Motion

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037: Making Money in Mograph Part 6 w/ Hannah Jacobs Apr 09, 2019

Show notes

This is part six of the mini-series Making Money in Mograph where we talk about some unconventional ways to earn an income in animation. Did you know that as an animator you also have the skills to make money as an illustrator? There are people like my guest today who are using these two sets of skills to showcase their creativity and earn more than they would in just a single field.

Hannah Jacobs is an animator and illustrator with a wonderful and unique style all her own. She has an MA in animation from the Royal College of Art and her work has been featured at international film festivals like SXSW and Tribeca. Some of her clients include The New York Times, VICE, and the BBC.

We sit down to chat about how to make money as both an illustrator and animator. These two fields complement each other as well as open up different revenue streams for you. By approaching animation with an illustrator’s background, Hannah faces some unique challenges but it pays off by setting her apart from the pack.

Hannah also discusses what it’s like being represented by a big production company and its advantages. She shares some great tips on what to do if you’re thinking about finding representation. Hannah talks about all the ways she is branching out to make money from her work, from selling prints to making kids’ books, she is exploring so many ways to earn an income.

In this episode:

The challenges that approaching animation as an illustrator presents
How having a unique style can attract clients
The advantages of being represented by a production company and the support it gives you
Tips for finding the right production company for you so that you can do what you want to do with the right support
Selling your personal work as a way to generate passive income
How the amount of creative control you might have varies depending on whether you’re illustrating or animating
Valuing the work that you do for yourself and finding the time to work on your own projects

Quotes:

“For me, the first stage of any animation is the design -- it’s the driver for me.“ [4:18]

“I know as creatives we often question absolutely everything we do all the time, so I think it’s so nice just to have a producer or another animator or someone to turn to.” [8:13]

“I think so many animators now are working in an illustrative way. I feel like you can press pause in a lot of films and take a frame out and be like this would be such a nice print for the wall … I feel like a lot of animators should think about potentially selling prints of frames from their films.” [18:10]

“Something that might seem like a bit of a random thing that you find yourself doing can often lead to something else. I love that opportunities sort of spring up in random unexpected places.” [29:26]

Links:

Find Hannah Jacobs online

Follow Hannah on Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Vimeo

Strange Beast

Barbican

The Association of Illustrators

The Ajoto Pen

HiFest Illustration Festival

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036: Making Money in Mograph Part 5 w/ Victoria Nece Mar 26, 2019

Show notes

In Part 5 of the mini-series, Making Money in Mograph, we’re looking at more of the non-conventional ways to earn an income as a motion designer. We spoke to someone who definitely plays a big part in the motion design industry but she doesn’t have a role many people are familiar with.

Victoria Nece is the senior product manager for Adobe After Effects. Motion design is truly a life calling for Victoria. In fact, she’s been involved with it since she was a teenager. Before getting involved with Adobe, Victoria oversaw graphics, animation, and design for dozens of productions across broadcast, theatrical and educational markets as Director of Animation at the Documentary Group.

Today you’re getting an inside look at what the Adobe After Effects team does. Victoria talks about how her job takes her all over the world to work with some great talent. She also shares what it’s like to speak in front of large audiences and how to do so in a natural and comfortable way.

Victoria also shares some ideas about how you can make some passive income as a motion designer. This is particularly the case when it comes to making templates and Victoria gives some advice on what to keep in mind when making these. She also shares where she thinks the future of this industry is heading and how you can position yourself to take advantage of these changes.

In this episode:

How proper networking and connections can help you get involved in films and documentaries
Tips for those who are afraid of public speaking and why it’s an important part of this industry
The future of making motion graphic templates and their potential to make you more passive income
What Adobe looks for in the designers they want to hire
How teaching tutorials will make you more competitive
How you can get more involved with shaping the tools of this industry

Quotes:

“Just keep doing it [public speaking] and you’ll be more comfortable every time. It’s also helpful to remind yourself that the audience isn’t hostile; they don’t want you to fail. They’re not sitting there waiting for you to mess up.” [14:45]

“If you’ve made three options for something and the client goes for Option C, why not turn Options A and B into stock templates and sell them? It’s a way to reuse work that might not otherwise see the light of day.” [19:28]

“With a motion graphics template you don’t just design your design, you’re actually designing the experience of using it as well.” [20:54]

“Everything we do is based on user feedback.I don’t think we’ve built a single feature in the last several years that I couldn’t put specific people’s names on.” [36:32]

Links:

Follow Victoria Nece on Twitter | Linkedin | Facebook

Motion Design on Slack

Get Adobe’s free guide to motion graphics templates

Look for a job with After Effects here

World Time Buddy

Adobe Prerelease Program

Episode 31: Adam Plouff - Making Money in Mograph Part 1

Episode 32: Zack Lovatt - Making Money in Mograph Part 2

Episode 33: Jake Bartlett - Making Money in Mograph Part 3

Episode 34: Matthew Encina - Making Money in Mograph Part 4

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035: How to Network and Make Industry Friends w/ Marsha Shandur Mar 12, 2019

Show notes

Do you hate networking? Maybe you imagine that it's just sucking up and brown-nosing. Maybe you’re just feeling shy. These are common concerns, but they shouldn’t stop you. Today’s guest will tell how to set these worries aside and start making important connections that will help your business grow!

This week, I speak with Marsha Shandur, a Networking Mentor and Storytelling Coach. In short, she helps people tell personal stories so that they can use them to help promote their business. Marsha also helps people overcome the barriers that they perceive are stopping them from properly networking and making connections.

In this episode Marsha and I talk all about the power of networking. Marsha shares some great tips as well as her own personal experience on how to get over fears and jitters surrounding building professional relationships. We also discuss how to make connections with big shots without letting our own fears get in the way.

We continue the conversation with a chat about Marsha’s approach to storytelling and how we can use that in our businesses as motion designers. Marsha breaks down the way we want to tell these stories and the types of stories to tell to get the attention that you want.

How has networking helped your business grow? What worries did you have to overcome to make those connections? Tell me about it in the comments!

In this episode:

Top tips for networking that will have you fearlessly making connections at your next big industry event
Not letting your “dork goblin” get in the way of networking
How to approach the big shots without fear in a way that will make a good lasting impression
Making and leveraging personal connections when you need a favor
How to use your own stories to attract the clients that you want to work with

Quotes:

“I don’t like to call it networking. I like calling it making industry friends.” [2:44]“You think that these people who you think are big heroes get a giant mailbox full of fanmail everyday and they just don’t because people are lazy and also because we don’t tend to thank people in our culture.” [20:32]

“I really believe that all anybody wants in life is, one, to feel truly seen and heard and understood and feel like they belong; and two, to feel like they’ve been of service, to feel like they left the world better off than they found it.” [21:58]

“Having emotion does so many amazing things in your stories. I feel like the biggest mistake people make is that they leave out emotion.” [42:29]

Links:

Find Marsha Shandur online

Follow Marsha on Facebook | YouTube | Linkedin | Twitter | Instagram

Check out Marsha’s secret special page of resources just for Motion Hatch listeners!

Jeff Goins

Portfolio Life podcast

Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

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034: Making Money in Mograph Part 4 w/ Matthew Encina Feb 26, 2019

Show notes

For part four of the mini-series, Making Money in Mograph, we’re going to talk about how you can earn an income in a few non-conventional ways as a motion designer, using content creation. As a content creator, you can put your skills to use to attract clients and even earn passive income.

Matthew Encina is the chief content officer at The Futur and creative director for Blind. He started off his creative career fifteen years ago as a print designer before transitioning into motion design. Since then he’s been heading up some amazing projects helping clients with their branding strategy through motion design and creating courses and content to help other people in the industry grow their profession.

In this interview, we discuss how we as motion designers can make content for our businesses and how that can help us stand out as an expert in this industry. Maybe it will even help you generate passive income one day. The key is identifying what makes you unique and relevant to a specific audience, then sharing what you can do in a way that appeals to them.

We also talk about building an audience through Instagram and how you can get started right away with Instagram Stories. Furthermore, we chat a bit about how and why to offer a presale and the importance of having a diversified income.

In this episode:

What content marketing is and why we should care about it as motion designers
How teaching what you do will help you become a master of your craft
Identifying what makes you unique so that you can find the audience that’s perfect for you
Using Instagram Stories to connect with an audience and show them the face behind your work
How content creation can turn into passive income for freelance motion designers
The advantages of offering a presale of a product in order to test out your ideas and make money right away
A diversified income as an essential part of having financial security as a freelancer

Quotes:

“The reason why I feel that content is important is to establish yourself as an expert in the industry.” [7:05]

“So I don’t think that you should try to filter out ahead of time who the audience is and what exactly they want. What I would do is just focus on yourself - what makes you unique? What are things that you spent time and money to learn? Look at those things. Can you teach that to somebody else? Part of that teaching process is where you master your craft.” [13:26]

“It’s really important to embrace who you are, not trying to become vanilla and trying to find something new to say, because everything has already been said. Just share it the way that you want to say it or that you see it because your POV is the thing that’s really important.” [19:52]

“There’s so many cool people out there. I think if people were just more vulnerable and open about who they are, they might develop a stronger connection to the community around them and the people who resonate with them.” [25:58]

“I think it’s very important to diversify where you might be getting income from. So some of it could be passive; some of it could be opportunity based; some of it could be consulting.” [34:50]

Links:

Find Matthew Encina online

Follow Matthew on Instagram | Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube

The Futur

Follow The Futur on YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Blind

The Win Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns

DotCom Secrets by Russell Brunson

Handel Eugene

BROGRAPH

Episode 31: Adam Plouff – Battleaxe – Making Money in Mograph Part 1

Episode 32: Zack Lovatt - Technical Director - Making Money in Mograph Part 2

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033: Making Money in Mograph Part 3 w/ Jake Bartlett Feb 12, 2019

Show notes

For part three of Making Money in Mograph, we’re talking about how you can earn extra money or even replace all your income by sharing what you know with other motion designers as an online instructor. Even if you’ve never taught anyone anything about your work before, today’s guest will tell you how and why you can teach starting right now.

Jake Bartlett teaches motion design on Skillshare as well as a couple of School of Motion courses. Although he started out working for a production company, Jake found that he can actually make enough to support himself by creating online courses. Today, these courses make up nearly all of Jake’s income and he continues to make new courses all the time.

This episode is all about how you can put your knowledge and skills to work by teaching others just like Jake does. There are a number of different platforms that you can use to host your lessons and we talk about the structures and advantages of several of them. We also go over how to cultivate your teacher persona and create your videos so as to reach your students in an engaging and fun way.

In this episode:

How online teaching platforms can pay you for sharing your skills
Advice for designing and creating your first class
Honing your persona as an instructor so your students will always be engaged with your content
Building a course from scratch even when you’re new to the material you are teaching
The advantages of using another company’s platform to host your courses instead of doing it independently
How motion designers can make extra money with stock websites

Quotes:

“Anyone can teach as long as you know something. If you have knowledge to share, you can teach it.” [8:51]

“If you have a topic that you want to teach, but you feel like other people have already taught it, that shouldn’t be a hindrance, because if other people have taught something and it’s done well, that means that students are interested in that type of content.” [11:48]

“The policy that I have taught by is to just have 100% content. Don’t have any fluff, don’t put anything in there that is boring that people are going to want to skip around or wait hoping the section will start. As long as what you’re putting into the video or tutorial is stuff that is actionable and things that they’re going to be learning from, and it’s engaging, then I don’t think length is an issue.” [14:27]

“This is how it works as a teacher - I have to learn how to do what I want to teach and then I can teach it. It doesn’t matter how recently I learned it.” [26:32]

Links:

Find Jake online

Jake’s classes on Skillshare

Get 2 months premium for free on Skillshare!

Episode 31: Adam Plouff – Battleaxe – Making Money in Mograph Part 1

Episode 32: Zack Lovatt - Technical Director - Making Money in Mograph Part 2

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032: Making Money in Mograph Part 2 w/ Zack Lovatt - Technical Director Jan 29, 2019

Show notes

For part two of our new mini-series, Making Money in MoGraph, I’m talking with someone who does something that not to many of us in this industry do - 2d technical directing. It’s just one of the many different and less than conventional ways that people who work in motion design can make a living.

Zack Lovatt is a technical director with a truly diversified income stream. He writes and sells scripts in After Effects as well as working directly with studios to help streamline their process and improve their efficiency. Having started out as an artist before transitioning into his current role, Zack knows quite a few ins and outs of this industry.

In this interview, Zack and I talk about what it’s like being a 2d technical director in motion design and how he diversifies his income through various types of work. We also discuss our predictions for the future of writing scripts for after effects. Furthermore, Zack is really upfront about his profits and losses which he shares publicly on his website and we dive into that too.

In this episode:

What it means to work as a 2d technical director in this industry
The future of creating and using After Effects scripts
The role that creating passive income streams can play in supplementing your income as a freelancer
How and why you should keep close track of your bookkeeping and why you may want to share it publicly

Quotes:

“It’s the idea that anything that you don’t want to spend an hour doing manual finicky work, you can probably write a script to do that. I see a lot of value there and that is something I see growing; just everyday accessibility to these more technical approaches.” [10:13]

“Having multiple sources of income is very important. I think passive income, or as passive as you can get, is also very important, especially in the freelance gig economy where you might not have work for three months. So even a trickle coming in on the side is more than nothing. The issue there is telling people to start writing scripts or learning plug-ins with the assumption that you’re going to retire is unrealistic.” [21:59]

“A lot of people are like, ‘choose your rate and stick to it.’ But, in practicality, I never found that to be true. It's choosing your rate, stick to it unless you can’t, in which case be flexible because having some work is nicer than no work.” [31:25]

Links:

Find Zack Online

Aenhancers After Effects Forum

Episode 31: Adam Plouff - Battleaxe - Making Money in Mograph Part 1

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031: Making Money in Mograph Part 1 w/ Adam Plouff - Battleaxe Jan 15, 2019

Show notes

This is part one of a new mini-series we’re doing here at Motion Hatch called Making Money in MoGraph. We’ll be hearing from people who are making money as motion designers in a number of different and less than conventional ways. Today, I sit down to talk with one of the most well known After Effects tool designers in the industry.

Adam Plouff has created some of the most amazing After Effects tools, including RubberHose and Overlord. Before becoming an awesome tool creator, Adam worked in TV broadcast. It was there that he serendipitously fell into his current career. Since then he’s become one of the most prolific After Effects tool creators out there. He’s even been working with Google to make some of their tools.

Adam and I talk about what it’s like to sell tools in this industry. It’s difficult to make this a fulltime job, but Adam has found ways to make it his. We also discuss how you can find the part of the motion design industry that’s best for you as a freelancer. We end by talking about how to strike a good work-life balance and creating work that still feeds your desire to create without getting bogged down in the business side of things.

In this episode:

How Adam transitioned from working with broadcast television to becoming one of the leading animation tool developers in the industry
Why we need to appreciate all the aspects of the motion design business that may not be that obvious
Reflecting on the work you’ve done to pinpoint the part of the industry that you’d like to work in the most
Doing something different and unique so that you’ll get noticed (perhaps even by Google)
Dealing with struggles and successes that come with working in this industry and its impact on our mental health
Setting limits and guidelines in your business to make sure that the job doesn’t destroy your love of the craft

Quotes:

“There’s a definite downside of the quick sharing that we live in today. You don’t see all of the hard work and the years of practice that go into some stuff, and you don’t see how long it takes a team to come to a really cool solution. You just think everyone should be able to sit down and just generate content.” [8:25]

“A lot of the confusion that can come from people who are in and around motion design is that they see just the cool parts of it. They see really pretty videos that go on the internet somewhere and it can be easy to miss the fact that there are so many other things that go into a good piece. Motion design is just a really small part of it.” [10:42]

“I think it’s really easy as a freelancer to be reactive to what comes at you and to think that you only have the option to say yes or no to a project. But if you are treating your work like a business then you have a lot of opportunities.” [15:27]

“As a commercial artist, developer, designer, whatever you do creatively for money, there are a lot of struggles and there are a lot of really good things in that if you take the time to curate your own life experience and find ways to enjoy what you do.” [38:35]

Links:

See what Adam is working on at Battle Axe

Check out Adam’s older work

2018 Tried Really Hard to Destroy Me

Figma

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

Zendesk

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030: One year of Motion Hatch what we have learned so far Jan 01, 2019

Show notes

Happy New Year Hatchlings! It’s a new year and time to reflect on 2018, what’s happened to Motion Hatch and this podcast, and go over my goals for next year. There’s a power to reflecting on the goals the goals we set, and I’m so glad you can be here with me as I do it. I hope this will help you reflect on your 2018 and set your own goals for next year.

Today, I’m going over the goals I set for the last year. Some of my goals went better than I could have hoped for, such as doing more speaking engagements. Other goals went in a completely different direction than I thought they would. That’s just fine though because they led to new and wonderful opportunities.

I also share my goals for 2019. From getting into mastermind groups to keeping my goals organized in a planner while I continue making this podcast, there is a lot in store for the year. The truth is, I couldn't have done it without you. I am so grateful to all you listeners for helping make this all possible!.

So it’s time to nurse your New Year’s hangover and set some goals of your own for 2019! I’d love it if you could share a goal or two of yours in the comments below!

Don’t forget to enter to win some sweet giveaways by tagging @motionhatch on Instagram or Twitter and use #newyeargivaway. Tell me an episode you liked, what you learned, and a goal you have for 2019!

In this episode:

Reflecting on my goals that I set for 2018
The way that setting goals makes clear what our values are
What listeners like you are saying about the Freelance Contract Bundle
Being part of a mastermind group and the amazing things it can do for your business
Planning well so that you can find your purpose and then live it

Quotes:

“It was really awesome to look back and think oh, that’s what I was thinking about doing, and then some of it has actually happened. It was super incredible. It just shows you the power of putting stuff out there and thinking about what you want to do in your life and going for it.” [1:35]

“If I didn’t have a mastermind I wouldn’t have Motion Hatch. I wouldn’t have my podcast. They just help me so much. It’s a great way to keep accountable and have accountability for your goals.” [14:57]

“Finding your purpose means finding the way to use your unique skills or passions to live a fulfilled life.” [20:11]

Links:

Episode 8 - Austin Saylor

Episode 29 - Mair Perkins

Episode 20 - 6 Tips to Avoid Burnout and Achieve Your Goals

Keyframes Conference

Freelance Contract Bundle

Join the Motion Hatch Community

Sweet Ass Journal by Heath Armstrong

MiGoals Planner

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029: How to use LinkedIn to get direct clients w/ Mair Perkins Dec 18, 2018

Show notes

One of my favorite parts of being a motion designer is that it is possible to work from almost anywhere. However, finding clients when you’re not attached to a studio or location is a challenge. Don’t despair! There are strategies to use to allow you to get clients directly and make it all possible.

Mair Perkins is an independent creative freelance business owner. As a motion designer that works remotely and direct to client, she knows a thing or two about staying gainfully employed while bucking the trend of being tied down to a studio.

Most of Mair’s work is direct to clients. In today’s conversation, she shares how she finds these clients, or rather how she ensures that they find her. She really enjoys not working at a studio and talks about what it’s like to have the freedom to work from home.

We also discuss how a properly run social media presence, particularly on Linkedin can be a huge resource for helping the right clients find you directly. There are tons of little and big things you can do to make this work for you. I’m so happy that Mair came on to share them with us all!

Have you landed clients through Linkedin or other social media? Leave a comment!

In this episode:

Finding clients when you’re based far away from traditional animation hubs
The advantages of not working in a studio
Meeting other animators when you work from home
Leveraging your website and social media presence to land more clients
Getting testimonials and references to build your credibility
Why not to ignore the altruism that can be part of your work

Quotes:

“I find if I post stuff, like a finished video or an animation I made recently for an organization, then I’m more likely to get an inquiry from someone who works in a similar organization.” [22:25]

“I try to take as much responsibility for the project [as possible]. A lot of the people that hire me are often employees in a marketing department, so they already have tons of things to do. They don’t want to be micromanaging something else.” [34:02]

“Try to empathize or think like the clients you’d like to work with. Try to imagine why they might need an animation, what kind of search terms they’d use when looking online for one and what sort of worries they’d have and how you could alleviate those worries.” [41:16]

Links:

Find Mair Online

Follow Mair on Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Youtube

Animorsels Meetups

School of Motion

Freelance Manifesto

Freelance Contract Bundle

Episode 21: How to Shape the Life You Want Through Your Freelance Business

aNEmates

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