#the companies “find out” years to develop my portfolio so i would be ready for when they come to their senses again and re hire people

[crazy-lazy-elder-sims]

for the first time in my entire life someone actually respected my desires and how i choose to live ( and ofc its non other than my brother)

i got asked by my dad why dont i go to the gym so i can become slim fit and healthier? i get this alot it doesn't phase me so i said " i do not have time i work alot" he pressed on and said you do have time!!! your days off!!! and he proceeded to count all the days i stay at home (including the days i work from home and he wouldn't accept that work from home days are not vacation days) and i answered " 1- i AM busy and 2- i prefer to fill the few hours i have off with things i like like my hobbies and gaming and reading" my dad scoffed but my brother looked at me nodded and said "that's fair actually!" and then decided to engage me in a conversation about my hobbies (video games and art) which led to him suggesting that i take my time to develop my art so i eventually could work in the game industry with my portfolio.

that's it !! that's all i ever wanted from people all i ever asked to be respected this way... sigh

[chi-fhome]

How To Make $1000 To $10,000 As A Freelancer In Your First Year

      Reading Time: 15 minutes.

INTRODUCTION:

 I have done  an effective job of defining my value propositions, branding myself as an expert within my field, and getting my content in front of new target audiences. I now have a three- to six-month waiting list for new freelance clients.

However, that certainly didn't happen overnight. My rapid success in the world of freelancing is the result of a lot of strategic positioning, hours of hard work, and good timing.

If you're ready to get serious about freelancing and multiplying your self-employed income, please read through this article, so you can get  my tips on how you can make between 1000 -10000 dollars per project in your first year.

But, before you get started, check out something awesome I helped put together, The High paid Freelancer Premium Program on Expertnaire. You'll find tips for learning the tech skills you need to get started, strategies for adopting "the freelance mindset", how to get your first project really fast, how to get clients who are willing to pay you top dollars for your services(and it works even if you are a newbie freelancer with no skill). Also, how to set up your profile and evade scam likely projects/clients. And more (Get the premium program here) 

So, now let's get started, shall we?

Here we go:

If you're new to freelancing, you might feel ready to take any paid work you can get your hands on. But, as you get deeper into your freelancing career, you'll need to start being more strategic about the types of work you do and the clients you take on.

You might be thinking: How can I get picky about freelance  work and still make more money?

This is possible, when you specialize and become an expert in a specific field, thus, experts do charge more for their specialized services.

In my opinion, the age-old debate of whether you should be a specialist or a generalist when starting your freelance career isn't even worth thinking twice about. If you were a client and you needed someone to fix your email marketing, so people sign up,or write ads that persuade people to buy, or just update your outdated website, would you rather hire someone who's a jack-of-all-trades, or a person who's a pro at doing one thing and doing it extremely well?

Well, I'll choose the specialist every time.

And when it comes to my own experience, choosing to specialize as a digital marketing consultant--as opposed to being a general digital marketer for hire--has been the single best decision I've made with my freelance business. 

If you choose the right niche, decide to specialize and put some effort into branding yourself as an expert within your niche,it can really pay off for years to come.

One major decision you need to make early in your freelance career is what you do and what you don't do.

The more specific you can be about what services you offer, the better. Not only will it help you brand yourself, it'll allow you to control how potential clients perceive you and give you the opportunity to continue building your portfolio in the direction you want to move in.

If you want to focus on becoming a sought-after, highly paid Ruby on Rails developer, then you shouldn't even consider contract offers for customizing WordPress themes or designing the user experience for an upcoming app. While the short-term benefits of steady work are tempting (and sometimes necessary), taking on projects that aren't getting you closer to your ultimate goal of becoming the best in your field will only distract and delay you from making meaningful progress.

Before you can go out and start looking for clients, you'll need to develop a clear picture of whom you're going to work best with. Do you want to build websites for small-business owners, pitch in on new feature development for high-growth technology startups, or take on longer-term contracts with enterprise-size companies? Making these clear distinctions between whom and what type of business you're targeting will be essential to effectively pitching your services.

To define exactly who your ideal freelance clients should be (and how to start finding them)

 Ask yourself these questions:

1. What type of business has the problems I'm solving with my services?

2. Can the business I want to work with afford to hire me?

3. What demographic trends can I identify about the decision makers in the types of businesses I'm targeting? Think age, gender, geographic location, websites they frequent, and their personal interests.

Once you know that you'll be more engaged and work most effectively with smaller startup teams, who are working on projects you can personally relate to. I've proactively chosen to make my scope of potential clients narrow. By working with similar startup teams, which new potential clients I target within my niche are able to instantly relate with, and have confidence that I'll be able to replicate my results for their business, too. Picking your niche and making yourself stand out is one of the core principles needed to adopt as a freelancer and this is covered in the High paid Freelancer Premium Program( click here to check it out)

It goes without saying that one of the best ways to demonstrate your technical skills is by having an amazing portfolio site of your own. 

If you want to be taken seriously as a new freelancer, you're going to need a website that:

1.Showcases your expertise.

2.Highlights relevant past experiences.

3.Shows who you are.

4.Includes your contact information so potential clients can easily find you.

5.Plus, a stellar portfolio can really help you out if you don't have a lot of job experience to prove that you know your stuff.

 But don't worry even if you don't have experience, the High paid freelancer premium program will teach you everything and  how to go about that.

The purpose of your portfolio is to educate, spark interest, and convince potential clients that they'll want to choose you for their technical needs. That's why it's worth investing time in deciding what to feature in your portfolio and how it's being displayed--before you start looking for new projects.

I'm a huge fan of starting your freelance career as a side business, as opposed to leaving your day job to immediately pursue self-employment.

In addition to the fact that creating a high-quality portfolio website, building your personal brand, and adding to your portfolio naturally take a some amount of time, it's a good idea to have a few steady freelance clients on your roster before axing your sole source of income.

I recommend growing your side income to at least 50 to 75 percent of your total current income before leaving your full-time job, depending on your risk tolerance.

Managing a tight schedule, heavy workload (including demanding freelance projects), and being responsible for client deliverables with limited time resources will teach you quickly what it's like to run your own business.

The other awesome benefit of picking up freelance clients while you're still working full time is that you can be selective. You likely don't absolutely need the money. This puts you in a position to turn down work that either doesn't pay enough to justify your time investment, or that you're not genuinely interested in.

These are two points you'll need to be a stickler about if you want to be happy once you're freelancing full time. In the high paid freelancer program you will see a list of testimonials of people who started as newbies and began to get high paying clients for their projects. Check out these testimonials here 

The best way to justify higher rates? Make sure you have impressive skills that are in high demand.

Practice using your new skills by building the types of projects that you want to eventually be paid to work on. Whether that's WordPress websites, mobile apps, or something else entirely, the more you can differentiate yourself among a sea of competition with cool side projects and examples that'll attract potential customers, the better.

And remember that while highly trained freelancers can get paid much more for their work, you don't have to head back to school for a B.SC. in computer science to get on the train. Taking online classes like a  Super simple web design masterclass can get you on the right track and put you in charge of your education.

There are many ways to build your credibility within your industry. Aside from creating high-quality website/blog content(you can Check here for how to create a 7- figure blogging platform to grow your Freelance business and get high paying Clients). You can also collaborate with notable Influencers in your industry, you can write an eBook, create an online course, and line up speaking engagements to start increasing your visibility within your niche.(check here for guide on how to launch your first profitable online course based on your skills and experience)

These credibility boosters can help you add to your list of accomplishments that you can highlight on your portfolio and simultaneously demonstrate your knowledge for more potential clients to see. The wider you can broadcast your message, the more influence you'll build within your niche.

Deciding how much to charge for your freelance services is a major step toward determining your perceived value, you need to make sure you're charging enough to make a sustainable, comfortable living. Most clients won't hesitate to pay higher rates for a freelancer who gives them an incredible first impression and sells them on the ability to deliver high-quality results.

As long as I continue to deliver consistent value to my clients (beyond their expectations), I have no trouble setting and maintaining high prices for the services I'm providing.

Before setting your prices at the bare minimum you need to charge to hit your financial needs, consider the actual value you'd be creating for your potential clients and make sure you're not leaving money on the table. You can always increase your rates in the future and hope your client stays on board, but if you start at a price point you're already excited about, you'll be that much more likely to over deliver and continue increasing your value moving forward.

One of the most effective ways to land higher-quality and better-paying freelance work is through leveraging your existing networks. Whether pitching your actual friends and former co-workers on freelance help, or using their connections to make warm introductions to companies you do want to work with, this is a great alternative to cold contacting potential clients.

Whenever I discover a freelance opportunity I want to pursue on Angel.co, Cloud Peeps, or elsewhere, I give myself 10 to 15 minutes to research the company, find my ideal point of contact, and do a little homework to see if I have a mutual connection on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook before reaching out with a cold email.

If I do have mutual contact, I'll reach out to my friend (only if I'm actually friends with the person) and ask if he or she would mind sending an email introduction on my behalf.

This approach, in which my first impression is being endorsed by a recommendation from someone my potential client already knows, has consistently netted me higher response and close rates.

There's an art and science to pitching your freelance services to new clients. Because it's such an important part of running a profitable freelance business.

Landing new clients isn't just a matter of crafting an awesome freelance proposal. Your success depends on how you're selecting new jobs, how you position your value propositions, and how much research you do ahead of time.

I've won new gigs simply because I clearly put more time and effort into researching the company, determining its needs, and providing immense upfront value in the form of insightful recommendations before I even discuss payment. In the world of freelancing, much of your success will depend upon the strength of your client relationships, and how well you're able to forge meaningful partnerships.

The goal of having a website/blog showcasing your skills is to attract and convert new clients. What better way to increase the number of potential new clients coming across your website than by creating high-quality blog content that positions you as a standout expert within your field?

At the beginning, aim for creating one or two in-depth blog posts per month, geared toward providing truly helpful solutions that your potential clients may be searching for. Note: That means you'll be writing for an audience of your clients, not other people in your field.

Once they discover your content and get some free value from you, you'll naturally be top of mind, if they're ready to hire out for more in-depth help.

I initiated the majority of the freelance contracts I've landed over the past year by mentioning a company in a successful blog post on my website. After publishing my in-depth post chronicling all of the best side-business ideas, I spent a lot of time reaching out to a carefully chosen person at each brand or online tool I mentioned, asking if I cited it correctly within the post. The majority of the people wrote back either confirming or offering a suggestion, which then gave me an opportunity to either pitch a guest post, ask them to share my content with their audience on social media, or open the door to a potential marketing contract.

My blog has been by far my highest-return marketing channel for my freelance business. (Check here for how to create a 7 figure blogging platform to grow your freelance business and get high paying clients).

Once you have a website that highlights your abilities and clearly communicates that you offer freelance services, one of the most effective ways to increase your online visibility is by getting content published on the blogs and publications where your potential customers spend the most time. Marketing guru and consultant Neil Patel frequently shares about the huge contracts he lands for his business by publishing more than 100 guest posts per year.

While you'll be starting on a much smaller scale, don't underestimate the immediate benefit of getting your content featured on blogs and publications that can drive hundreds or even thousands of new visitors to your website. In the span of less than one year, I've been able to get my posts published on Entrepreneur, Inc., Business Insider, Hub Spot, and dozens more publications by creating extremely high-quality content and leveraging my pitching abilities.

This increased visibility has had a direct, positive impact on my business.

But there are some simple secrets to becoming a successful freelancer which I am going to share with you in this blog post. 

Here they are in brief :

1. I Reached Out To Everyone I Had Ever Known

Literally. Everyone.

The very first thing I did when deciding to make the switch was to get in touch with every single person I have ever known and told them my decision. I told them the field I was going to be working in and as it became clear, even the date I was planning to leave my awful day job (in 30 days time).

I also told them that I would be more than happy to take projects right away.

The reason I told my friends and friends of friends, colleagues and ex-colleagues that I was willing to take on projects straight away was for three reasons:

 1.

Experience

 2.  Contacts

 3.  References

And the earlier you send this email the better. Do it 30 days before you want to go freelance, or do it six months before. But the point is, don’t leave people hanging.

Not only do you want to make your announcement actionable, but clients take time to develop. Don’t put yourself in a position to do the work “in a month”, when the discussion you need to start may take that much time anyway!

The more experience, contacts and references you have when you go freelance, the easier making that final break from your job will be.

And when people asked me to do a job for them that they couldn’t pay me for I would again consider:

1. Experience

2. Contacts

3. References

If I was going to get just one of these things out of the arrangement then there was no way I was turning down that work, money or no money. If in doubt, remember the wise words of freelance expert Jon Norris,

“Building a network and finding work are two sides of the same coin.”

Here I just want to include a note for those of you who have already started freelancing, as for you guys too I cannot emphasize the importance of this step enough. It’s never too late to start reaching out to people and expanding your network. If you have work to show for your efforts already, your outreach will go much further, a reason why this step should be repeated annually even once you are a successful freelancer! Keep yourself fresh in people’s minds and be their go-to person when they need a professional in your field.

So after I’d contacted my entire network, what did I do next?

2. I Began Developing My Personal Brand

So what does my personal brand have to do with anything? I’m an experienced [Digital marketer and consultant], not a social networker – why can’t I just make an ad and put it online/buy a spot in the newspaper/stick it to a tree/leave under windshield-wipers in the parking lot?

The reason is that as a freelancer, YOU ARE YOUR BRAND.

So, help me God, this is a truth among truths, irrespective of whether you’re a web developer, a user experience designer, a writer or a marketer.

What do I mean when I say you are your brand?

I mean that when you are selling your services, you are actually selling yourself. So, how you come across online or off is reflective of your success, your ability, and your professionalism. Your personality counts. Big time. If people don’t like you, they won’t buy what you’re selling.

So, how did I build my personal brand?

1.  Got myself on Linked In and I fully filled out my profile. Every single detail of my experience. Every relevant job I ever had. Every morsel about me that could be interesting.

2. I then did the same thing on Facebook. I joined relevant groups for my field and started asking questions, lots of questions, as well as answering any I could.

3. I did the same on Twitter.

4. And on Meetup.

5. And when it was made available I did the same with Quora, which has become the fact-filled platform for experts.

6. I then went to every industry-relevant event I could find, afford and get to, and hustled like a maniac…

If you’re someone who still believes social media is the devil, you’re in trouble, because it’s never a single tactic that will get you anywhere, it’s a combination of many intelligently coordinated pieces.

Asking and answering questions is the easiest way to get people involved and invested in what you do, and while you could meet 15 people during a night out, you could meet 100 online. And perhaps yes, the contact is “shallower” but you can be a hell of lot more targeted. So, I recommend starting online, understanding who’s important for you, preempting offline events by connecting with people via Twitter, and leveraging LinkedIn connections into meetings for coffee.

If you combine a strong digital brand with meeting people in person, you’ll make yourself:

1. Easy to find

2. Easy to remember

3. Good to know

You want to be understood as an expert and an influencer in your field, and in a world where most industry communication is digital, you better be all over it!

Just remember not to get discouraged if you don’t get 1000 Twitter followers instantly, because what’s important here is that quality wins over quantity every time. Stay focused, stay targeted and talk to every new connection like they’re your best friend.

And vice versa, if you’re awkward and depend entirely on social media to drive your network, you’re doing it wrong. You have to get out, you have to meet people and confirm that you’re real and worth investing in. As Jon Norris explained:

“Although it can be awkward attending networking events, it’s a great way to build contacts. Get out there, hand out business cards and make friends.”

contacts. Get out there, hand out business cards and make friends.”

3. I Drew Up A Strategy

I want you to pay very close attention to the next statement.

Never, ever, undervalue time taken to plan. Never.

I also carefully drafted and redrafted a personal business plan, including my financial requirements, goals, and how I thought that would actually translate into work. I realized that if I landed the equivalent of 2 short projects a month, I could survive. Well barely, but it’s good to know where your survival limit is, because when push comes to shove, it's to accomplish that goal or be stuck eating dry toast for a month.

Unless you’re one of these eternally adventurous types, freelancing is no fun as a hand-to-mouth game. Nobody chooses this path with the goal of living on a financial knife edge. And by the way, it’s ok to be scared, in fact if you’re not, you’re either invincible or a dumb ass, so keep your eyes open, know your limits, and plan accordingly.

I also used this as another excuse to grow my network, reaching out to experts in my industry to ask for advice:

1. How much should I charge?

2. Where do I best find my clients?

3. How difficult is it to close a deal?

4. Should I template my pitches or create new ones every time?

This created an opportunity to learn, improve and perfect the skills I would need in a month while growing a power-network of professionals in the field. Two birds in one stone at its finest!

4. I Researched The Competition And Paid Close Attention To It.

Whether it was hours scanning social media, reading blog posts like this one, offering my services to friends, or just generally building a network however I could, I absorbed as much information as possible.

Sure, it’s overwhelming; anyone who has spent a 4 hour stint on a single topic online knows that the rabbit hole is deep, and easy to get sucked into. At the end of the day, you have to pick and choose what’s important for you, but what I found most helpful was taking a  good look at what my competition was doing. And there is always competition.

Looking closely at what others are doing, I found out three ( 3) things that helped me a lot and they are:

1. I had local competition, and I mean local. As in down the street from me. But even if they had been doing it for a while, they didn’t seem to be effectively marketing themselves, it took effort to find them.

2. People who were looking for someone of my expertise had no central data bank to find me, or other freelancers like me. I had to be in the right place at the right time.

3. I could easily differentiate myself from my competition by having an attractive personality, and a digital presence.

Leif Kendall likes to tell people to:

“Deliver work that is better than anything your competitors are doing.”

and truthfully, I couldn’t agree more. Maybe you have a lot of experience, and maybe you don’t, but your job is to perform better than everyone else in your field, both in the work you do, and the way you act.

But how did I know what my competition was actually doing?

Remember that old adage “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”? This is one way of looking at it, but in a world of freelancing where your network is everything, you can’t afford to have enemies at all. So try this instead:

“Keep your friends close, and make friends with your enemies.”

Don’t be guarded, don’t be defensive. Share, trade, and exchange what you can from your own knowledge and then keep doing it better, and better, and better, and better, and better, and better.

In the end, you’ll find that some people have big egos, but a lot of people are happy to have a friend. Freelancing can be a bit lonely sometimes as by its definition you often lack those daily colleagues who understand the work you do. A lot of people out there are just like you, and happy to have someone they can relate to about work, and even share a bit of knowledge and experience.

5. I Found A Mentor And Landed A Paying Client

The best piece of advice I ever received was simple in theory and tough in practice:

“Don’t burn any bridges.”

If you’re a freelancer, this quote should be read in all caps lock and underlined, because you can’t afford to. Every contact counts, and on behalf of your reputation and livelihood, although it’s very tempting to give your boss the finger as you storm out the door, it’s not something you can afford to do, ever.

No one likes “kissing ass” and I don’t really recommend it, but now that you’re leaving you need your employer more than ever before, because face it: your current employer is your strongest link to your first job as a freelancer. If your job is at all related to what you plan to do, they may themselves be your first client.

In my case, the karaoke bar owner would eventually make it very clear that he didn't care what I was doing beyond his bar. But I needed something, so I went and found myself. I willingly put myself in thrall to an influencer in my industry. It was the smartest decision I ever made because despite totally overworking myself, I sure enough gained Experience, made Contacts, and walked away with one hell of a Reference.

Oh, and yes, I did this on top of the study, the job, and the prep. If you want something, don’t half ass it.

So, how did I manage to get myself a mentor?

Well, if you have a boss who knows anything, that’s the best place to start. But if you’ve read this article then you can probably guess how I did it: I networked like a maniac, showed my plan of action, and proved I knew how to work like the competition.

In the end, I convinced my ‘would be mentor’ that I was worth that little bit of time and effort, and sure enough got my first client after a couple of weeks. Boom! I was officially a freelancer, on schedule and making money.

Whether it’s a boss, mentor, professor, uncle or neighbor with good advice, the people you see daily are most likely to have the biggest impact on your transition. So be accommodating, be thankful and be willing to work your ass off for an opportunity to do what you love.

So finally….

So, what’s my last piece of advice? What’s that final nugget of understanding what you need to open the doors to your new career, new lifestyle, and impending financial freedom?

The simple answer is that there isn’t one. There is no one solution, there is no one path. Your puzzle is your own! And understanding how the pieces fit together is what will guarantee your success.

If you’re hunting for that single piece of magical advice that will get you out of your job and thousands of clients a year, let me tell you, it doesn’t exist. Like in life, relationships, and all other forms of comedy, it’s your ability to understand the big picture and refine each detail to pixel-perfect clarity that makes you who you are and good at what you do.

So, my advice is don’t forget that, don’t get hung up on singularity in a world full of complications, because what will make you successful is knowing how to apply who you are to what you want to do to the best of your ability.

As for the rest of what you need to know? Start by practicing all in this article! People will say you’re crazy to set out on this path of uncertainty, which if you’re like me, it is just confirmation that you should be doing! Freelancing is something you really have to want, and be prepared to work hard for. And the result of that is a lifestyle, and a sense of freedom that is unrivaled by any other job in the world.

So prep it, work it, and then LIVE IT for all your worth!

How to become a highly paid freelancer is the dream of every freelancer because it is the only way to realize the dream of these valuable workers. While many freelancers have achieved this goal, many more are still trying to figure out how to earn six figures from it. If you are in this group, how can you join the select freelancers who get paid top dollar? Broadly speaking, you need two major factors to be in place for you to succeed as a highly paid freelancer. One, you need to be highly skilled in your chosen freelancing field. This means that you have to build on the knowledge you already have and continue improving on it.

The second pillar of freelancing success is that you need clients. These are not just any clients but enough of those who are ready to pay you well for your efforts. Achieving these two factors requires a combination of events that include the following. Don’t be everything to everyone. You cannot just take every freelance job that comes your way. You must operate in a certain tight area where your expertise will shine through. This is called choosing a niche. A niche allows you to focus your energy on an area that people will associate with you and see you as an expert.  In other fields, experts are paid highly in comparison to general workers. Be the go-to person in your niche. Become an important freelancer industry player in your field by going beyond doing projects for clients. Develop online content that helps visitors to your website or blog( check here for how to Launch a website in Few hours without writing a code) and here (for how to create a 7 figure blogging platform that will help you grow your freelance business and get high paying clients). You can also include free and paid online courses or eBooks( check here for how to Launch your first profitable Online course based on your skills and experience). Podcasts are another way of doing this. Down the line, speaking engagements or organizing workshops will put your credibility at a much higher level(check here for how to hold successful seminars and workshops). Using all these comes with high freelancing earnings for you. Let your freelancing portfolio promote you.

Click here to read more

 One of the major hurdles new freelancers have to overcome is how they price their services. More often than not freelancers charge below what they are worth. If your work is exemplary, then you should charge enough to sustain your dream freelancers’ lifestyle. Avoid misunderstanding. Be very clear on what your services include and where necessary to mention what is not included in your service package. In this way there will be no misunderstanding between you and your clients. It is an important way of being identified with specific areas of your niche. You become a brand while at the same time; this approach helps you to move towards your freelancing goals. Network Use your existing clients, friends and other contacts to promote your services. Ask for references to those who may need freelance support with their jobs. Guest blog to expand your reach and also accept relevant influencers to be guests on your blog. This way your network will expand and your value as a freelancer will grow rapidly. How to become a highly paid freelancer is a process, but the rewards are worth starting the journey. I wish you the very best as you start your Freelance Journey. 

Cheers,

 Marve Samuel

Digital marketing Expert and Consultant

[lovepox]

hi it’s my yearly tumblr update lmao. hope someone is still out there reading. sorry this one’s going to be kinda a downer.

can’t believe the pandemic is still a thing. i can’t believe i was naive enough to think it would be over soon when it began. i mourn the person i was before the pandemic; i’ll never be the person i was before ever again. i was so full of hope and ready to really begin living, and now i’m so, so cynical. i’m cynical because it hurts to read news of police violence and racially motivated violence over and over again, knowing that it won’t be the last. i’m cynical because people around me care more about their right to not wear a mask over others’ wellbeing.

i find myself desperately grasping at any chance of external validation i can get. am i talented enough, pretty enough, funny enough, unique enough? how do i get more followers on xyz? am i getting enough likes on this one design of mine? why aren’t i as talented as xyz?

now more than ever i miss having an online community to go to after hours. i miss having mutuals and connecting with people online. the only people i talk to now are my parents, my college friends (but we’re all so busy), and my coworkers.

speaking of coworkers, i’m starting a really cool new job on monday. it’s such a good opportunity for me and i’m so so so so grateful and humbled to be able to say that. but the thing is, i used to think that the moment i get my dream job at my dream company, i’ll finally be satisfied. but now that it’s sort of happened, i’ve realized that a job at the end of the day is just a job. and when all the titles and portfolio pieces and big names are stripped away from my identity, i’m left with something that resembles a drone. and that scares me. i don’t want to be just my job, but my job is all i know how to do well.

okay this post is too depressing. here are some things i’m happy and thankful for: - my entire family is fully vaccinated! - my friend is doing really well on her twitch channel and i love seeing friends do what they love to do - my best friend is coming home next month and i’ll get to see her - i’ve been trying to walk 10K steps a day and the sunshine/vitamin D really helps my mood - my new job is going to be such a good learning experience - i’ve finally upgraded my phone for the first time in 5 years

i turn 24 next week. i’ve spent 23 in quarantine. (i’ve been on tumblr since i was 13.) this wasn’t what i expected my early 20s to look like. but if the pandemic has taught me anything, it’s that there are just some things that are out of your control, and that’s okay.

i hope 24 year old michelle finds a nice community to be a part of, and develops who she is as a person, and not as an Art Director at XXXXX working on XXXXX.

[legionofpotatoes]

I love your art, it is very detailed in a neat way. Was wondering how you got started making it as a source of income? How did you get your first paid work, I'd love some advice on how to get started, if that's ok

Thank you. Of course it's okay, although I doubt I have enough work experience in art to really delve into this. I only went full freelance this year, and had been juggling art as a side hobby until then. If you're still interested in my somewhat narrow perspective, and are okay with my long-winded rambles, I'll give it a shot:

So to answer your question fully, I'll describe how I started and move into personal advice and learnings later on. As a disclaimer, I am a white cishet dude in my late twenties with a moderate cocktail of mental illnesses, but overall I can pass for a functioning adult so a lot I have to say may come laced with privilege I cannot fully identify.

So uhh I began drawing in around 2012? I think? Maybe halfway through 2011? And I mostly made fanart for things I enjoyed and tried to branch out in communities that felt nourishing to my style and interests (I caught a bug for alt posters and enjoyed mainstream movies so I spent a long time on posterspy early on). There were a handful of opportunities that came from there but I could only accept a couple because of primary workplace commitments. Still, it showed that networking in a focused community was definitely a good place to start; I myself have huge trouble committing to social networks and really staying socially active, but I knew it was an essential ingredient in succeeding so I tried to make myself be involved in challenges and art support trains etc. as much as I could.

In parallel to all that I also ran a few third party online stores (redbubble, teepublic) for disposable income and would sometimes, if rarely, hit around $100-150 a month from those sources combined. It is a sort of thing that requires helper accounts on other social media sites to promote it on, because the stores themselves have a huge volume of content that translates into low organic discoverability. Obviously it was never gonna be the way towards financial independence through art, and with community projects being few and far between, I opened private commissions in around uhhh 2017 I think, focusing on offering a few styles I knew I could do well, and sometimes operating in individual fandoms (it was mostly a bioware thing to be frank). But I had to close them back down after a year or so, again because of work-life conflict and how badly it was burning me out. The reason I kept trying to monetize this hobby is because I honestly hated what I did for my main job and wanted to see a way out in some shape or form in the future.

And then in 2020 I had to quit my main job altogether because of *gestures at pandemic* and deal with a mental breakdown from all the wonderful things it did to us and me specifically. I took a short break and decided to give art a shot full-time, and that was around May this year. I was planning on opening up commissions again (and I still am), but a few sudden opportunities that fell in my lap moved that timetable down and now I'm grateful to even be doing something I am getting adequately paid for.

So, with that somewhat limited perspective, here's what I've learned that I'd tell myself if I was just starting out:

1. Being a fan of something can be a shortcut towards effective networking kickoffs. Which are important evidently. If you love something and enjoy making content for it, join communities, settle into a combination of social media websites that feel right for those interests + your body of work + your inner rhythm, and try to play to content discovery as much as your mental health allows you to. Like I said, I know that I myself am incredibly bad at self-motivating to talk to people, so I found that synergizing common interests into fanart - which I enjoyed making anyway - could be a way to give myself a gentle nudge forward and build those bridges leading to community activities, which then net experience and coverage. Sometimes even freelance projects from official avenues. Again; picking the right spaces for what you're after is key. Companies roam twitter, concept art recruiters scour artstation or linkedin etc, instagram can land you private commissions and collab opportunities, so on and so forth. Find your niche and try to kick up dust. However...

2. I do not believe that any social profile can replace a good portfolio. The thing that made an immediate difference to me this year was building a coherent, simple website with my best work front and center and a contact form on top. Every single opportunity I got came from that form (maybe via twitter or instagram initially, but always sealing the decision after going through the website), so I firmly believe that showcasing your skills and portfolio in a visually arresting and user-friendly way is a big priority. I had some reservations about tackling that task but fortunately I had help from a savvy life partner and we slapped it together via wordpress in less than a day. Twitter/whatever social media is prevalent in your target groups is definitely important to get the right eyes on your shit, yes, but those eyes will then look for a second stop where your work and rates are more clear and concise. Simplicity is key imo, I cannot overstate this. So make a cute, simple portfolio!

3. Your skills and rates will grow and change as you do. Let them. Over the years I built several lasting professional relationships from my obsession over mass effect and kept getting opportunities both from bioware and their partner companies, some small and some a bit bigger. A one-off job earlier this year opened an unexpected door to another much larger commitment, and then the work I did there brought some attention from small businesses looking for commercial commissions. These were all incredibly different projects in terms of scope and budget, and I've been tackling them all on a case-by-case basis and slowly coming into my own irt my needs, rates, and SOW thresholds. It is still a work in progress (and a LOT of literal work as well), and very much a thing I struggle with in publicly marketing, which is why I felt a tad underqualified to answer your question in the first place (obviously I did not let that stop me). But what it means for me now is that I am rapidly developing into whatever my "version" of a functioning freelance artist is, and when the conditions for that guy are met, I need to be able to confidently plant myself and operate from that space despite past precedents. Do not let anyone bully you into downpricing what you yourself perceive as legitimate products of personal growth and development. Speaking of which...

4. The shitty challenge of turning envy into inspiration, and paddling outside your comfort zones in full riot gear. it is hard, but realizing that being a miserable, self-hating artist in my early days got me nothing but more misery back was the first real step I took and what truly blew the hinges off. I was just not pleasant to be around, I would badmouth my work all the time, and it all somehow made sense in my broken mind because the validation I sought was purely external and the way I sought it was through eliciting sympathy via self-victimization (even when I made something objectively nice). It all led fucking nowhere. Except perhaps to my own narcissism that I one day managed to identify and start managing. So I started looking at things that made me seethe with envy and calmly deconstruct and figure out their inner workings instead, do studies, and find nuggets of inspiration or discover new ways to approach rendering or building up specific elements. It was an application of analytical diligence to what I wanted to be a purely emotional, esoteric workflow, but that I deep down knew wasn't. Art is a discipline and a skill, and maybe it isn't a straight line, but you gotta find some line to thread nevertheless. Being self-hating was almost an identity I had to break out of, and despite it still being like, 4-5% there? I realize its cause and effect on me, my work, and those around me, so it is with a conscious choice that I gently set it aside when I work and especially when I learn. It won't always stay quiet, but the effort is the difference. Your doors towards accepting true growth and venturing into uncharted territories, art styles, and networking will really open from there. But there's a huge caveat...

5. Toolsets, accessibility, privilege, and all the good things that enable artistic expression and profitability are not given equal to all. you might do all the mental work I mentioned to be ready to rock and roll and learn and draw your way out of anything, but digital art is a fucking money pit that asks almost too much at times. I don't got a good case study here but identifying and ensuring accessibility to the tools you need to do your best work is, like, super important. The ergonomics can improve as you make money and settle into the job, but the basics have to be made available to you. And some of that might not even be under your direct control. That can be anything from pen tablets to software subscriptions to opportunities in hiring sullied by sexism or what have you. You gotta navigate all that through careful networking and money/time management. I don't do a good job of devoting specific slices of time to work/study, and my primary clutch is iPad software which went from a good deal to a nightmare scenario over the years. So all I can say here is do what I didn't; network, invest in a PC/tablet, and pick a software you'll learn that won't burn a hole in your pocket.

6. Be nice to work with? This one is hard to articulate and has landed my own ass in hot water in my early years because of how socially inept I am, but nothing is more worthwhile than being.. like. a good person to work with. That can be anything like meeting deadlines, or sometimes missing them but eloquently articulating why, being generous in early stages, being communicable and not too wordy in your emails, having a good grasp on abstract artistic concepts and how to describe them in simple terms, having a clear, laid out framework of your working rates in commercial and non-commercial projects and sticking to those guns with grace, understanding when you need to say no and saying it well, the works. Just being nice. Sometimes that might mean going headstrong with something you believe in, or simmering down and sucking up to the big man, all relative and adaptive. Part and parcel of the service provision dance that we all have to do in order to make bank. Know your lines here, obviously, and don't like. work for nazis. or uh.. *shudders* exposure. but be nice and empathetic and communicable and word will travel eventually. Skill may be in abundance these days, but good people are most certainly not, and capitalism has a way of bubbling up scarcity. Grim, but uh, them's the breaks.

I know I'm ultimately telling you to like. Have a body of work, make a portfolio, grow, and network. But that's really how I see it for now. And being nice can be a cherry on top that sets you apart, along with the inherent irreplaceable voice of your artwork. I think I rambled on enough, but if there is something specific you need my help with, even if you want to come off anon and talk in private, please feel free.

[shesawriter39049]

|7 DEEP| M| MASTERLIST|

SMUT/ANGST/FLUFF/POLY AU 

AU SUMMARY- Your husband Namjoon and yourself run a successful Adult Film Entertainment Company called “Onyx” with your 5 best friends from college who you also happen to be in an open relationship with! This is a candid in-depth look at the rollercoaster ride that is your life!

ALSO LOWKEY A RAGS TO RICHES STORY.....

Namjoon, Yoongi, Jin, Tae, Hoseok, and Jimin, all already work with the OC and Joon, Kookie comes in later one as a new hire...and the possible final piece…

DISCLAIMER: Obv this is a poly so the boys are Bi..but outside of kissing and dirty talk I have not YET ventured into physical MXM….

NOTE- As long as this keeps getting support the initial plan is 7 one-shots, one for each boys. Everyone installment will have smut as well as a overall storyline, one that not only ties into your job, but also the OC’s (AKA YOU) special dynamic with each individual member. The last one-shot (7th) will be the first and maybe only one where smut wise it’s all 7 of them, it will finally address how they all came together, and will be partially a flashback sequence. HOWEVER, there will be bits and pieces of the “Characters” lives and what not sprinkled within the “drabbles” too...so those will also be worth reading especially, as the story developes....or at least reading the summaries! 

Kookie will make appearances throughout, however, he is NOT as involved off rip as the other boys…

ONE-SHOTS SO FAR :

AFTER-HOURS- NAMJOON X OC (Tae comes in at the end) - 

ABOUT- Your husband and business partner find you up way past acceptable work hours for the 3rd night in a row! So, daddy has to step in and remind you that’s not something we do in this household. You come before work, in every sense of the phrase!

OR-You're in desperate need of a 2nd videographer/editor, because Yoongi’s in over his fucking head! So here you are, up at 1 AM scrolling through resumes because your that boss that hates to overwork her employees so she overworks herself!

AKA- “MEET THE KIMS” 

PRETTY PLEASE- TAEHYUNG X OC - ( Joon comes in at the end)

About- Tae fucks you on top of your receptionist's desk before you fire her…

Or- Tae’s feeling a little needy...and somewhat high-key self continuous about you possibly hiring a new production assistant...AKA...Jungkook. It seems as though Mr. Kim takes pride in being the youngest within the office! It seems as though your baby boy just needs a little..reassurance…

JIN & CHOCOLATE- JIN X OC (FT A lil Seok at the end ) - 

(5K SMUT WITH A SIDE OF PLOT! NOT JIN’S INTRO CHAPTER) 

About-You suck Jin off…and brownie batter may or may not be somewhat involved because why the fuck not. Oh, Hoseok comes over to drop off weed…and welll….doesn't exactly leave

Or- His assistants birthday is tomorrow and she’s insisted on him making his infamous “Dizzy Brownies” AKA…pot brownies and Jin being the perfectionist he is, scrapes the first batch. You however, think they’re fine and if he’s not gonna bake with said  batter you’ll find use for some of it…..Then Hosoek stops by to bring the missing ingredient…weed and his dick…

TOUCH ME , TEASE ME- NAMJOON X OC 

(5K, IN COLORATION TO THE EVENTS THAT WILL TAKE PLACE IN “GOT ME LOOSIN’ ALL MY COOL)

About- Namjoon eats you out the minute you walk in the door because well…that’s the kinda husband he is!

Or- Jimin text’s Namjoon to brace him for the mood you’ll more than likely be in after a day full of drama and finally firing the front desk receptionist! Which essentially red for him to make you come hard AF and then feed you….OH, and You guys invite Yoongi over to talk about the Tae and Kookie “Thing”

PRIVATE SHOW- TAE X OC (NEW) 

(5k, Holiday esque one-shot however for the 1st time it does dive into the downside of being in a poly relationship that’s essentially a secret in the publics eye) 

About-Just a casual lunch outing where Tae’s trying to do his job and your trying to get him off under the table with your shoe...nothing new!

OR- Tae and yourself are grabbing lunch at 71 Above, after checking out the last couple of venues for the company's end of the year Holiday party. While at said restaurant, it becomes a humbling reminder that the most important people in your life are essentially a secret...cute!

 UP AND COMING: In no particular order! 

MUTED- YOONGI X OC (SIDE JIN)- HIATUS

Note, this is more of a smut drabble though it will be around 3k...this is NOT Yoongi/Jin’s official “Introduction” if that makes sense….(SNEAK PEEK IS LINKED) 

About-Yoongi goes down on you in the back seat while you’re on a business call….Jin’s driving, lowkey watching..and being a little shit the entire time…

Or- You’re on the phone with a dick of an investor and a second away from losing your shit and calling off the entire deal…however…your boys decide to “distract” you. Give you a little something to keep you at ease so you don’t blow this 6 figure account…

MAKE ME PROUD- JIMIN X OC (ALL THE MEMBERS ARE IN THIS BRIEFLY)

About-  Jimin and yourself take a trip to get a sneak peek at “Filter” before it opens… and Jimin fucks you on top of the bartop…

Or- Jimin’s ready to make his first solo big boy investment….AKA...opening up his own Gay club in WeHo...and the new business venture also reopen’s old wounds about his past. Both good and bad..but at the end of the day he remembers he wouldn’t the version of himself that he’s oh so proud of...without a little someone named “Y/N” 

 “PARTY FAVORS”- YOONGI X OC- 

About- You and Yoongi get a little one on one time while in Amsterdam, IE getting completely stoned, and attending a sex show..hell maybe even joining in on a sex show...shit just get’s wild in the Dam!

OR- You and your boys jet out to Amsterdam for the weekend to celebrate 16 AVN award nominations (AKA THE TONY’S/GRAMMY’S OF PORN) and while high and in a country where nobody knows who you are...(which means Yoongi and yourself are free to do as you please even in public)....Yoongi admits for the first time that sometimes he feels a type of way that HE wasn’t the one that married you considering the two of you were a thing FIRST....

“CHAMPAGNE SHOWERS” - JIN X OC (Side Namjoon)- NEW 

About- Jin says he's coming over to discuss business over brunch, champagne, and a nice Jacuzzi bath…which, of course, leads to more than just talk about “Finances and portfolio expansions” 

OR: Jin’s the eldest, he loves control, he needs control, hints why he’s the finical controller..always has been...even in the domestic sense. Jin’s also shit at feelings he’s used to being the shoulder to cry on not needing the shoulder..he’s not used to feeling vulnerable...so it’s not to easiest for him to admit that he misses being the one you all come home too...misses being “needed”! He’s used to being the one that has his shit together, being the glue that’s held you lot together during your worst times..so this...is completely out of his comfort zone!

“ALL EYES ON ME”  - HOSEOK X OC (FT OT7)-  NEW 

About- Hoseok and yourself have sex in a very questionable place while at the launch party for ‘Spectrum” I.E. your newest business venture...sex toys…your man deserves a little…”Thank you” for all the work he’s put in...including planning this party!

OR- Hoseok’s in over his fuckin head, he’s the one essentially spearheading the launch of “Spectrum” which is obviously his job as the head of Marketing, tactical ETC, however, this is just..different...he’s literally the one steering the boat. He’s good at what he does he knows this, he’s fucking made for it...but...it;s still’ bringing out some old, nasty insecurities...reminding him how he's his own worst critic...a perfectionist to the fault. Reminding them of those days where he never thought he was good enough...and it would absolutely break him if he lets you lot down! 

“GOT ME LOOSIN’ ALL MY COOL) -KOOK X READER | JIMIN X READER (SMUT) FT- YOONGI & TAE

About- Jimin and yourself take Jungkook shopping for a new suit to wear to the “Spectrum” launch party! OH, and Jimin fucks you in the backseat of your truck in the parking garage of the mall…..

OR: You know Kookie still in that “Broke college grad” phase only being with the company barley a month, and you don’t want him to feel self-conscious at the event! You’ve also been too busy to really check in with him to see how he’s adjusting! So, you thought something like this, in a more laxed atmosphere, would be a good solution! Oh and Jimin, honestly he’s just nosey as fuck and inched himself along, like nobody really invited him he invited his damn self! Also Jungook can’t underatand why the fuck your all so damn attractive...like...why!?

AKA-MEET JUNGKOOK JEON

SNEAK PEEK 

***

THE “FINAL” ONE-SHOT,  IS NOT FULLY OUTLINED YET

******

FINAL NOTE-

This series is open to request...for one-shot/ member scenarios/drabbles.

The initial 7 one-shots are done to get the dynamic and I guess you could say “Plot” set in stone...however, once that’s done and in-between I’m open to random scenarios as long as it somewhat coincides with the “Universe”

This is a story that follows normal day to day life in a sense....they just happen to live a very exciting one!

Anything from them going grocery shopping and making dinner...all the way to the OC and one of the boys fooling around on set...as long as it fits the vibe. I’m down!

   *** To clarify as well...publicly ( And in the workplace) the world just knows your married to Namjoon....the whole poly situation is not something blasted on your Wiki...at least not yet....***

(Optional)

***POSTIONS’S WITHIN THE COMPANY*** 

(Obv things are spread out now and they have other employees but they all STILL oversee multiple jobs...It’s a habit now. For so many years they couldn’t afford the help! So, now that they can they’ve just become a little...protective of said job duties..) 

Y/n Kim(26)- CEO/Founder/HR/Storyboard/Content  creator/Directory/Scriptwriter/Talent scout/ALL OF THE ABOVE (Set design, DVD author, 2nd Location manager, etc)   

Namjoon Kim (26)- CEO/ Founder/ Director/ Content analyst/ Lead scriptwriter/ Sr Production manger/ ALL OF THE ABOVE (IT, web design, outreach, etc)

Yoongi Min (27)- Head digital producer/ Program/site Planner/Production manager/Sound engineer/Production scheduler

Taehyung Kim (24)-Executive Assistant/ Content admin/ location manager/Wardrobe assistant/backup talent scout & health liaison

Seokjin Kim (28)- Senior Accountant/ Sales manager/ Financial controller/Logistics/Operations

Jimin Park (25)- Head talent scout/ Model Liaison/ Wardrobe/ Hair & Makeup coordinator/ Onset assistant/Health Liaison

Hoseok Jung (26)- Social media/ Streaming manager/Tactical marketer/ Advertising/event manager/PR

NOW HIRING: FOR A VIDEO EDITOR/IMAGE PROCESSOR/SOUND EDITOR/SECONDARY PHOTOGRAPHER AKA-

 “PRODUCTION COORDINATOR“

....WELCOME TO ONYX!

[douchebagbrainwaves]

THE ANATOMY OF VC BE A STARTUP

If in the next couple years. Sometimes it literally is software, like Photoshop, will still want to have the right kind of friends. Where the work of PR firms.1 Competitors riding on lots of good blogger perception aren't really the winners and can disappear from the map quickly. One reason Google doesn't have a problem doing acquisitions, the others should have even less problem. Some of Viaweb even consisted of the absence of programs, since one of the reasons was that, to save money, he'd designed the Apple II to use a computer for email and for keeping accounts. They want to know what is a momentous one. How do you find them? Suppose it's 1998. The big media companies shouldn't worry that people will post their copyrighted material on YouTube. Once someone is good at it, but regardless it's certainly constraining.

Gone with the Wind plus Roots. This is extremely risky, and takes months even if you succeed.2 At most software companies, especially at first. Their answers were remarkably similar. I use constantly?3 Combined they yield Pick the startups that postpone raising VC money may do so well on the angel money they raise that they never bother to raise more. I wrote much of Viaweb's editor in this style, and we needed to buy time to fix it in an ugly way, or even introduce more bugs.4

Historically investors thought it was important for a founder to be an online store builder, but we may change our minds if it looks promising, turn into a company at a pre-money valuation is $1.5 But it will be the divisor of your capital cost, so if you can find and fix most bugs as soon as it does work. Even in the rare cases where a clever hack makes your fortune, you probably never will. You may not believe it, but regardless it's certainly constraining.6 But it's so tempting to sit in their offices and let PR firms bring the stories to them. Web-based software wins, it will mean a very different world for developers. I think we're just beginning to see its democratizing effects. But this is old news to Lisp programmers. If 98% of the time.7 It might help if they were a race apart.8

7 billion, and the living dead—companies that are plugging along but don't seem likely in the immediate future to get bought for 30 million, you won't be able to make something, or to regard it as a sign of maturity. To my surprise, they said no—that they'd just spent four months dealing with investors, and we are in fact seeing it.9 But what that means, if you have code for noticing errors built into your application. The number of possible connections between developers grows exponentially with the size of the group. We think of the overall cost of owning it. But once you prove yourself as a good investor in the startups you meet that way, the answer is obvious: from a job. Your housemate was hungry. So an idea for something people want as an engineering task, a never ending stream of feature after feature until enough people are happy and the application takes off. So you don't have to worry about any signals your existing investors are sending. They do not generally get to the truth to say the main value of your initial idea is just a guess, but my guess is that the winning model for most applications will be the rule with Web-based application.

It's practically a mantra at YC. You probably need about the amount you invest, this can vary a lot.10 If you lose a deal to None, all VCs lose.11 Plenty of famous founders have had some failures along the way. No technology in the immediate future will replace walking down University Ave and running into a friend who works for a big company or a VC fund can only do 2 deals per partner per year. For insiders work turns into a duty, laden with responsibilities and expectations.12 In addition to catching bugs, they were moving to a cheaper apartment.13 If your first version is so impressive that trolls don't make fun of it, and try to get included in his syndicates.14 VCs did this to them.15

Most people, most of the surprises. So the previously sharp line between angels and VCs. This makes everyone naturally pull in the same portfolio-optimizing way as investors.16 And there is a big motivator.17 These things don't get discovered that often. Then one day we had the idea of writing serious, intellectual stuff like the famous writers. You need investors. The mud flat morphs into a well. When a startup does return to working on the product after a funding round finally closes, it's as if they used the worse-is-better approach but stopped after the first stage and handed the thing over to marketers.

Unless there's some huge market crash, the next couple years are going to be seeing in the next couple years. And yet when I got back I didn't discard so much as a box of it. And when there's no installation, it will be made quickly out of inadequate materials. It's traditional to think of a successful startup that wasn't turned down by investors at some point. But that doesn't mean it's wrong to sell.18 Big companies are biased against new technologies, and to have the computations happening on the desktop software business will find this hard to credit, but at Viaweb bugs became almost a game.19 Plans are just another word for ideas on the shelf.

I wouldn't try it myself. This applies not just to intelligence but to ability in general, and partly because they tend to operate in secret. Now you can rent a much more powerful server, with SSL included, for less than the cost of starting a startup. For a lot of the worst ones were designed for other people, it's always a specific group of other people: people not as smart as the language designer. We're not hearing about Perl and Python because people are using them to write Windows apps. But if you look into the hearts of hackers, you'll see that they really love it.20 I am always looking.21 But you know perfectly well how bogus most of these are. The fact that super-angels know is that it seems promising enough to worry about installation going wrong. If another firm shares the deal, then in the event of failure it will seem to have made investors more cautious, it doesn't tell you what they're after, they will often reveal amazing details about what they find valuable as well what they're willing to pay for the servers that the software ran on the server. Why can't defenders score goals too? If coming up with ideas for startups?

Notes

But if they pay a lot of people who need the money.

A Bayesian Approach to Filtering Junk E-Mail.

Unless you're very docile compared to sheep. Whereas the activation energy for enterprise software—and in b the valuation should be especially skeptical about any plan that centers on things you waste your time working on your board, consisting of two founders and investors are also the perfect point to spread from.

Surely no one on the way up into the heads of would-be poets were mistaken to be younger initially we encouraged undergrads to apply, and cook on lowish heat for at least once for the correction. I know it didn't to undergraduates on the y, you'd see a clear upward trend.

The hardest kind of method acting. Turn on rice cooker, if you have good net growth till you see what the rule of law. But there are no discrimination laws about starting businesses. In fact, this seems empirically false.

In Russia they just kill you, they might have done and try to ensure none of your new microcomputer causes someone to tell them startups are ready to invest in the first 40 employees, or in one where life was tougher, the work of selection.

The best kind of kludge you need to, but except for money. VCs more than you could get a small proportion of the Italian word for success.

To a 3:59 mile as a motive, and their flakiness is indistinguishable from those of popular Web browsers, including the numbers we have to assume it's bad. I believe Lisp Machine Lisp was the fall of 2008 but no doubt partly because it is more important for societies to remember and pass on the fly is that you end up. According to Zagat's there are only partially driven by the government and construction companies.

One great advantage of startups have elements of both. Not least because they're determined to fight. The quality of investor behavior.

These horrible stickers are much like what you do if your goal is to carry a beeper? Acquisitions fall into in the angel is being unfair to him?

Which OS?

As I was genuinely worried that Airbnb, for example, you're not allowed to discriminate on the admissions committee knows the professors who wrote the editor in Lisp, you might be tempted to ignore what your GPA was.

Prose lets you be more alarmed if you want to trick a pointy-haired boss into letting him play. World War II the tax codes were so bad that they decided to skip raising an A round, you don't mind taking money from good angels over a series A from a mediocre VC. The dictator in the US. Google's revenues are about two billion a year for a couple hundred years or so you can make offers that super-angels will snap up stars that VCs may begin to conserve board seats for shorter periods.

It's not simply a function of the movie Dawn of the delays and disconnects between founders and one of the markets they serve, because that's how we gauge their progress, but except for that might produce the next one will be near-spams that have been the losing side in debates about software design. Japanese.

There were a first—9. Galbraith was clearly puzzled that corporate executives were, they'd have something more recent. Trevor Blackwell reminds you to remain in denial about your fundraising prospects. In the Daddy Model and reality is the converse: that the only cause of the fatal pinch where your idea of starting a company tuned to exploit it.

A few VCs have an email being spam.

The late 1960s were famous for social upheaval. Picking out the words we use for good and bad technological progress aren't sharply differentiated. Letter to Oldenburg, quoted in Westfall, Richard.

So you can fix by writing library functions.

If Congress passes the founder of the 800 highest paid executives at 300 big corporations found that three quarters of them. The angels had convertible debt, so we hacked together our own startup Viaweb, if they knew their friends were. But be careful. The original Internet forums were not web sites but Usenet newsgroups.

The only people who had been with us if the quality of production. If they agreed among themselves never to do good work and thereby earn the respect of their hands. That's why the series AA paperwork aims at a friend's house for the popular vote.

Galbraith p. And so this one is harder, the median VC loses money. European art.

Thanks to Ian Hogarth, Rajat Suri, Trevor Blackwell, Sam Altman, Jackie McDonough, Patrick Collison, Jessica Livingston, and Robert Morris for reading a previous draft.

[prorevenge]

But I Don’t Even Have a Contract!

When I was 16, I had a stint as a small-time social media star on Twitter — not because I’m particularly interesting or anything, but for two reasons: a) I got on Twitter really early in 2007 when it was way easier to get followers and engagement due to the site being less noisy and more ‘stupid’ in terms of algorithms and b) I stood out from a lot of other minor Twitter stars because I didn’t let it get to my head; while a lot of them were egotistical and haughty, I followed everyone back, turned ‘haters’ into friends instead of retaliating, etc.

Through this fleeting fame, my former boss found me. He said he was setting up a regional media studio to help small- and medium-sized local businesses with their social media marketing, and he planned to eventually franchise the business into other cities. He hired me on the basis of my large social following (81,000 followers at the time). Obviously, having a large social following doesn’t automatically mean you know how to market businesses on social media, but I adapted and studiously researched how to do my job properly.

My boss didn’t come from a creative background or a marketing role — he came from a property background, and was just sort of winging it in finding an alternative source of income after the housing crash. Being as young as I was at the time, I didn’t really think about any of this stuff. The outcome was that I never received any training, had no real guidance in what I was doing, and was generally left to my own devices. Younger me thought it was great! I saw it as ‘freedom’, but looking back, I realize it was far too much freedom.

The side effects of this disparity between my social media skills and his inability to communicate creative ideas manifested themselves as people trying to cut past the business and come straight to me, asking me directly as an individual whether I’d do work for them rather than give my boss the money. I was respectful (or naïve) enough to open up to my boss about this, and that’s when things started getting a little bit manipulative. He told me I could go my own way or remain part of a business that’d soon be growing across the country.

Fair enough, I thought. So I stayed, and one year in (I was 17/18 at this time) I realized that managing brands via social media had naturally morphed me into something of a graphic designer. A lot of my time was spent creating eye-catching visuals in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign etc. and so I suggested to my boss that we expand our media offering to include logo, graphic, and print design, and visual branding consultancy. Again, I received no training — I worked all day and self-studied late into the night.

  This pattern snowballed over the years. By the time I was 21, I was a social media manager, visual branding designer, copywriter, photographer, video editor, and web developer — all skills I developed independently with no input or guidance from my boss. The business was still operating in just one city, and my boss had started spending less and less time in the office. I still didn’t realize this wasn’t particularly normal, until clients who came to the office to meet me constantly asked where he was.

One day, a client went as far as to say: “You’re basically running the business at this point!” It was a huge ‘glass shatter’ moment for me, and I suddenly realized that, yeah, although I wasn’t actually managing the business and its admin work etc., without me, there wouldn’t be a service or product to sell. What’s more, my wages hadn’t gone up, even though my ‘this is great, I have so much freedom!’ mind-set had motivated me to continue working on stuff related to the business when I got home.

As I was nearing 22, the owner of the building where the business’ office was located asked me if I’d help him fix his computer (it was just running really slowly because he hadn’t managed his files very well). Not really thinking of it as work, I agreed, and headed into his office after work to help him out. As luck would have it, my boss walked in to hand over that month‘s rent, so he saw me there. He looked surprised, but didn’t comment — he just gave the dude the rent and left the building.

The next day, my boss wasted no time in probing me about what I was doing. He was speaking to me like a cop would speak to a suspect, asking me how long I’d been doing work for the landlord, what kind of work I was doing, why I hadn’t folded the work into the business, etc. I explained I was just fixing up his computer, and he leapt into a lecture about how we needed to keep all work inside the business, or else we would never be able to grow into other cities.

  I turned 22. I’d been there for five years, my wages hadn’t gone up, I wasn’t allowed to do any work outside of the business, I hadn’t witnessed any of the growth I’d initially been promised, my boss was only in the office 25% of the time, and I saw him uploading Instagram Stories from him lunching, working out at the gym, walking his dogs, taking day trips etc. while I was in the office managing everything. A lot of the time he didn’t even warn me he’d not be in the office. It became the norm that if he didn’t turn up, I’d be running everything for the day. Because I’d grown with the business from my youngest working age, I didn’t know any different, so all of this felt completely normal to me. And because I worked all day and all night and had no firm social life, I never got any outside perspective, until one day, on a whim, I opened up to the landlord about it. He hadn’t even realized I was the one doing all the work — he figured it was split fairly 50/50. He said the amount of work I was producing was on the same level as an agency with three or four employees.

I started managing all of the branding, social media, and website maintenance for the landlord’s business, but didn’t broadcast that news to anyone. As I was nearing the age of 23, I met my now-fiancée, a perfectly feisty woman who, as soon as I told her about my situation, passionately advised I start my own media studio. This is where I entered the ‘long breakup’ period of my job, where I got increasingly depressed at work and physically felt my productivity slow to a near-halt. My boss noticed, but never talked to me about it face-to-face. He started sending me irritated emails full of swear words demanding explanations for why I hadn’t delivered certain work by certain times and dates, while he was off sunning at the beach. It was like someone had pulled out his cork and let all the toxicity out in one torrent. My girlfriend hated him, and gently pushed me to the point where I felt like I was ready to confront him about the dead end we’d wound up in.

I asked a few of my friends about it, just to get a wider set of viewpoints on how I should go about it. They asked me things like, what does your contact say about you leaving the company and working with other businesses independently? Legal stuff, y’know. And that’s when I realized my lack of training over the past six years had also left me ignorant of the formalities of employment — I never had a contract! The real kicker was, I never had employee liability coverage either. My boss wasn’t even doing the admin stuff properly.

Obviously, that meant he also had no control over me when it came to contracts, so I literally just walked in (without my laptop — I’m now just realizing he never provided equipment either, yikes) and sat there waiting for him to arrive. Thankfully, it was one of the days he decided to turn up. He went and sat down in his chair, asked me where my laptop was and why I wasn’t working etc., and so I just straight-up told him that I was leaving the company to start my own media venture.

He laughed a patronizing laugh and simply said, “Alright, good luck then.” Part of me felt like this was normal, because he was usually quite cold like that, but another part of me knew that there should have been some sort of emotion and deeper discussion in that moment. I wanted to say, “so that’s it, then?” to try to flesh the talk out, but that really was it. He just turned to his computer and began typing away as if I wasn‘t there. So I just turned around and left, went home, and that was it.

He did WhatsApp me a message later that day (all his caring and considerate communication came through digital means — perhaps he hired someone on a zero-hour contract to inject emotion into his texts?) asking if we could meet at the pub for a proper goodbye. And we did. It was a nice gesture, but it felt very awkward and forced, as if he’d spoken to someone about it and they’d coaxed him into doing it. He shook my hand, wished me good luck (much more genuinely this time), and we parted ways.

  Three months later, I’d tripled my income as a freelancer. All of those clients who’d try to come to me directly over the years — it was like a floodgate had opened, and they all came rushing to me. I hadn’t told them I’d left, but obviously, they realized it themselves when they went to the office and I was never there. I felt bad about ‘stealing’ clients away from my former boss, but what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t just abandon the people I’d been working with just because of morals. That‘d be immoral, if anything. I continued working with the landlord and even travelled with him a few times to build my solo filmmaking portfolio by documenting his brand’s work across the UK, including his talks at business seminars. We developed a very close working relationship, to the point where just my work for his company was earning me more than all the work I did for my former boss. He started sharing a few bits of gossip with me about how my old boss had begun paying rent later and later. I figure perhaps his cash flow had something to do with it, but the landlord also showed me an email my old boss had written in which he’d expressed his anger at the landlord for ‘colluding’ with me and pushing me to leave his company.

The further I distanced myself from the company, the more I realized how toxic he behaved towards everyone he came into contact with. I could never see it from the inside. Every time I checked the old company’s website, a new service had been removed, because it wasn’t something he could offer anyone anymore.

Back in November 2018, the landlord told me that he was kicking my old boss out of the office after he failed to pay rent for three months. A few weeks after that, the landlord proposed that we go into business together to create a separate media studio solely focused on the industry his business operates within. He said that we’d take the old company’s office once my former boss had moved out, and that I could also use that office for my own freelance venture, free of charge.

One year after leaving, I’ve taken 25% of my old boss’ clients, occupied his office, and quadrupled my income.

There’s a part of me that feels guilty about all of this — he’s a guy who didn’t quite know what to do after the housing market crashed and tried something out which didn’t go too well. But at the same time, I can’t feel too bad for someone who I believe took advantage of me for half a decade. If you treat someone with disrespect, you end up with very little. If you treat someone with respect, they give you a free office and offer to start a new business with you.

  TL;DR: Boss never did anything properly — no training, no contracts, no insurance, very little respect, not much guidance, empty promises about business growth, etc. Everything I learned independently resulted in me quadrupling my income and taking over his office within a year of leaving his company.

(source) story by (/u/Adingding90)

[katewillaert]

My Secret Origin (Part 1): How To Fail At Comics

[Above: Art from 20 years ago, when I was in High School.]

What do you want to be when you grow up?

When I was four I said “mad scientist.” It was 1987 and I was a big fan of The Real Ghostbusters and Doc Brown. My mom insisted “mad scientist” wasn’t a profession. And weren’t those characters are inventors? What did I want to invent?

Clearly I hadn’t thought this through.

My mom also informed me that all those cartoons I watch were made by people. Those were drawings, and there are people whose job it was to draw those.

This blew my mind. From that point on I decided I was going to be an animator.

Discovering Art

I don’t remember when I first started drawing. It seems like something I always did growing up. As far as my memory is concerned, I came out of the womb holding a pencil and began drawing before I said my first words.

In reality, I probably started in preschool when I was four, just before I discovered what an animator was. I remember my favorite subject to draw was the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters. I must’ve drawn it something like 10 or 20 times.

My mom kept almost all of my childhood art, so in theory I could figure out when I started drawing from that...except the earliest drawings were ruined when the basement flooded.

After the flooding, my mom was condensing what was left, and I saw something surprising: a box filled with Ecto-1 drawings. I hadn’t drawn it 10 or 20 times, I’d drawn it 100 or 200 times. Repetitively, over and over, without consciously thinking about what I was doing.

It was practice without realizing I was practicing. I guess that’s how my art “leveled up” so quickly?

Later I discovered other details about my early development. There was a time around age 2 where I stopped talking. There were times when I liked to line up toys. My obsession before art was Legos, building complex shapes and stairs.

Today these might be recognized as possible indicators of autism, but this was the ‘80s.

Because I was shy and lacking in social skills, a teacher suggested to my parents that I might benefit from being held back a grade. I had a summer birthday, so holding me back would make me one of the oldest rather than the youngest.

Thankfully my parents didn’t take that advice. I would’ve been miserable. Despite being the youngest in my class, I surpassed everyone in terms of scores. A CAT test says I scored “higher than 99% of all 3rd grade student in the nation in total language.” 91% in reading. 90% in math. My reading comprehension was 98% in the nation, but was brought down by my reading vocabulary which was only 72%.

Yet this new information called into question a things about myself I’d never considered. Maybe certain things suddenly made more sense? In particular, the way I don’t have interests so much as obsessions. Any time I take an interest in a topic, it leads to an obsessive amount of research.

Discovering Comics

I think the first comic I ever saw was a Chick Tract some kid showed me in Sunday School. He was surprised I’d never seen one. It must’ve hadan impact on me, because I attempted to draw a tract-style comic starring C.O.P.S. (“Fighting Crime In A Future Time”).

I didn’t discover REAL comic books until a few years later. In 1991, Terminator 2: Judgement Day marketing was in full force and I thought it looked so cool. But it was Rated R, and I was only seven. My mom spotted a couple issues of a Marvel comic adaptation (drawn by Klaus Janson), and I guess that was the compromise until it was out on video.

I attempted to illustrate a comic imitating Janson’s cram-packed panel-per-page ratio. It was an epic crossover where Michael Keaton Batman encounters a Delorean driven by a T-1000, then the Ninja Turtles show up, and maybe the Ghostbusters? I knew how to introduce characters but not how to finish a story.

At this point I was still imagining becoming an animator, even though I barely knew anything about what it involved beyond some flip books I’d done. But all that changed when I discovered the X-Men.

X-Men and Batman: The Animated Series both debuted on FOX during the fall of 1992. I was a huge fan of the Tim Burton Batman movies and I’d seen every episode of the ‘60s show when it was revived in reruns, but I didn’t know the comics existed? I didn’t even know where to find comics.

My brother and I were both really into this new X-Men thing, and my brother was given a set of X-Men comics for his birthday. I borrowed them of course, and wanted to see how the story continued. My mom showed us a book store in the mall that had comics, and then we discovered the local comic store. That started my monthly addiction.

Now age 10, I decided I no longer wanted to be an animator. Comics were my true calling. And my dream was to break in at age 16.

Learning Comics

Age 11: I went from reading just Uncanny X-Men to buying the entire X-line, thanks to and event called Age Of Apocalypse.

Age 12: I started buying Wizard magazine. The first two issues I bought included life-changing information, like that you get hired by building a portfolio and showing it to editors. There was industry news, and art tutorials by Greg Capullo. I added the magazine to my monthly buy list. An X-Men 30th anniversary special gave me the entire history of the characters, and a run-down of the key artists and writers with examples of their work. It was like a Rosetta Stone before Wikipedia.

Age 13: I started buying most of Marvel’s output thanks to an event called Heroes Reborn. I never got into the Batbooks, I guess because the art didn’t look as cool? Comics contained ads for the Joe Kubert School, which became my backup plan if I didn’t break into comics on my own. I also discovered the internet around this time.

Age 14: My first year of high school. I spent every lunch hour in the library browsing the internet, since we didn’t have a computer at home yet. I discovered several comic art forums where pros and amateurs traded tips. During the summer I attended a week long art session taught at a local college by a professor who grew up on ‘60s Marvel. There I learned I’d been using paper that was much too thin to ink on, and I learned about the importance of Jack Kirby.

Age 15: I started buying Comic Book Artist magazine. I thought it’d be about drawing tips, but instead it was filled with fascinating comics history, which became an obsession of its own.

Age 16: A year of disappointment. I knew I wasn’t at the level I needed to be to get pro work, but wasn’t sure how to get to the next level. Nowadays there are all sorts of resources I could’ve used, but back then there was no Youtube, no social media, and few books about the craft of comics.

I was now certain the Joe Kubert School was the way to go.

Changing Plans

My family took a trip to Dover, NJ to visit the Joe Kubert School campus, and it was pretty disappointing. The town didn’t feel super friendly, and the school wasn’t accredited, which raised issues in regards to getting student aid. Plus the idea of spending so much money on a non-degree.

The guy showing me around tried to sell me by pointing out that comic companies don’t care about whether you went to college, they just want to see the portfolio.

I took this to heart and decided not to go to college. I was pretty crushed at first, because I’d had this dream plan for so long, and now I was plan-less. But eventually a new plan began to form.

It was time to start doing conventions.

A startup called CrossGen had a sample script and were taking submissions at SDCC 2000, so I went there. I still felt like my work wasn’t quite ready for prime time, but i was worth a shot.

And nothing came of it, other than a cool Crossgen rejection letter in a box somewhere. None of the other publishers could be bothered to even send that.

In hindsight, I was trying to enter at maybe the worst possible time in comics history. When I first started reading comics, they were at their peak during a boom period. When the bubble burst, the industry experienced year-over-year plummeting sales with no bottom in sight. No one was hiring.

But I kept at it, hoping for a lucky break. Top Cow was impressed that I did backgrounds (lol), and suggested I send in “background samples,” but I didn’t want to go down that route. But maybe that’s what a lucky break looks like? (On the other hand, many aspiring pencillers who start as inkers or colorists get stuck there.)

The next summer I went to Chicago with a Marvel sample script. I’d just graduated from high school, so I was really hoping. This time I got a critique from an editor who had actual advice to offer, and I learned a few things. But still no one was hiring.

I thought if I just stayed home and worked on art for a year, I’d eventually come up with pages so impressive that they’d HAVE to hire me. And if it didn’t work out after a year, I’d start looking for a college.

But now I was struggling with a new problem. I suddenly hated my art. I’d heard about a few professional artists who didn’t like looking at their own art, but I was certain this was different. After all, they’re actually good.

The year passed and I accomplished nothing. Based on things I’d heard, I was nervous that college might actually price me out of comics entirely. But I didn’t know that for sure, and I was super inexperienced when it came to money, since I’d never lived on my own before.

But I kept hearing how so many people have gone to college and they all turned out okay (this was before social media and before student debt became a crisis). I was clearly having trouble moving forward on my own, and Youtube still didn’t exist, so what choice did I have?

Choosing Schools

There were only a few colleges with comic art programs back then (maybe three total?), but one of them just happened to be over here in Minnesota. Art school appealed to me because all the classes were art-focused, so I wouldn’t have to waste my time with math and other BS.

And as I humble-bragged earlier, I’m good at math. But I hated it. At one point some kids from Math League asked if I’d join the team. “‘MATH LEAGUE?’ You mean you do math for FUN??”

I hated math so much, I took harder, accelerated math courses via a local college, just so I could finish math early and spend my last years of high school wonderfully mathless. If there’d been a similar way to graduate from high school earlier, I would’ve taken it. When I realized we were all graduating regardless of how much work we put in, I stopped caring so much about grades and let an occasional B+ slip in.

When I would see classmates busy studying for their SATs or ACTs, I was so glad I didn’t have to bother with that.

But the joke was on me. Because this art school didn’t just require a portfolio review (which I was more than ready for). It also wanted ACT test results.

I remember wondering if I should study before I take it, since everyone took it so seriously in high school. But I didn’t even know how to study. It’s not a skill I’d learned, because I never needed to. So I decided to wing it.

You’ll hate me, but without studying I scored in the top 96% for English, the top 94% for Reading, the top 96% for Science...but only top 87% for Math, because I hadn’t taken a math class in three years. That brought my total down 90%..

(Later, I had to learn to study in order to pass some horrifically-taught art history classes. That teacher made me hate art history, which is ironic given how much of my own writing is focused on history.)

So I got into the school, only to discover that even structured teaching wasn’t going to solve my new art problem. During my first year I told my mom that I don’t enjoy art anymore, and she thought it might be depression. I mean, that’s plausible, losing interest in your passions?

In hindsight, I now have enough experience with real depression that I can definitively say it wasn’t that. I mean, I was occasionally depressed back then, but hating my art was unrelated. It took me years to figure out the actual problem.

Dunning Kruger

The Dunning-Kruger Effect is named after a study which found that:

1) People who aren’t knowledgeable about a skill tend to think they’re better at it than they are, because they don’t know enough to know what they don’t know.

2) Conversely, people who ARE knowledgeable about a skill tend to think they’re worse at it than they are.

My problem went one level deeper. I’d learned a shit ton about every skill related to comic art, but I hadn’t put in as much time actually practicing. And now practicing was tough, because I was hyper-aware of how bad every line was as I laid it down.

In other words, the exact reverse of when I was four and drew repetitively on auto-pilot. Back then I was oblivious that I was practicing anything at all. Now I had the benefit and detriment of a critical mind.

But this realization came later. At the time I was just miserable and didn’t know what was wrong with me.

Halfway through art school, I realized I’d likely already priced myself out of comics, and I needed a real degree that would function back-up plan. So I switched majors. Instead of a Comics major filling my electives with design classes, I became a Design major filling my electives with comics classes.

In order to change my major, I had to explain it to the head of the school. This was awkward because it partly involved explaining how the comics industry worked, and he didn’t want to believe it. He told me I was being cynical.

I tried doing comic samples one last time after college, for a convention in 2006, but couldn’t even finish a page. Then sometime around 2008, I gave up drawing entirely.

How I got started again is another story.

You can also find me on:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/katewillaert/?hl=en

Twitter -  https://twitter.com/katewillaert

Art Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/katewillaert

History Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/acriticalhit

[xcenj]

Critical Reflection

Throughout the last eight weeks, the Fashion Promotion Year 2 class have been given the opportunity to revamp PXL Agency. The class was divided into five groups: Branding, Research and Development, Website and PR, Editorial and Events. For this project, I was a part of the Website and PR Team. As a collective, we decided to divide our team into two separate groups; Website and Social Media, whilst as a whole agreeing on all final outcomes.

My role within Pixel Agency was to help create and design the new Pixel website as well as reach out to influential creative industry players and produce content/story ideas for Instagram. I put myself forward for the website sub-team, as I had never made a website before and was eager to further my knowledge and skill range. The beginning of the project was very daunting, as time was limited despite our huge responsibility. After listening to informative guest speakers week after week, I have learned that confidence and persistence are key in all creative professions. Unfortunately, I regret not taking the opportunity to ask guest speakers more questions and seek further insights. On the flip side, I’m really happy that this module allowed the whole class to work together, as I have made new bonds with class members I didn’t speak to before. Overall, this experience has taught me time management, networking, how to build a portfolio, teamwork skills, and consistency.

Eager and ready to learn I attended a private tutorial with Amy Bruce, in order to understand the basics of Squarespace. During Amy’s private tutorial, I had the pleasure of meeting Cyrus, the web designer for Pixel’s website last year and quickly exchanged contact information in case my team had questions about Squarespace along the way. Before we could start designing the website, I suggested to my team leader Karolina that a new Google Drive for PXL be created. In our drive, we had a clear folder for class members to upload their work. Despite having this folder we constantly had to nag the class to upload their work. As a group, we would use the work to create collages for our social media feed. I imputed to the process by drawing storyboards four at a time of what each page of the website should look like. In order to keep every aspect of the website on brand, a member from branding would oversee the drawing plans and adjust if need be. These drawings provided a clear structure and plan for the team to follow. As a group, we wanted everyone’s headshot to be uniform and continuous. To achieve this we successfully organised a time effective shoot, unfortunately some members of the class were unable to attend and didn’t feature on the website. This is a real shame as we all worked so hard. I took lead on the projects page by picking and uploading the strongest work generated by the whole class to show off Pixel at its best. With the help of others in my group, we were able to link the projects back to the individuals about us page. For part of my own page on PXL, I decided to turn my marketing reports into GIFs in order to show continuity within the design. As Pixel is a communications agency establishing connections between tastemakers, it was crucial for the PXL website to have a blog section. The blog section was available for all class members to feature. I wrote a blog post to inform creatives of the latest exhibitions around London with a brief description of what work and installations were featured.

Throughout the whole process, I am very impressed with how much our group conversated within our WhatsApp group chat. However, at times I felt as if our group had no clear structure. If I could change one thing about the whole process it would be the black background on the website. I was very vocal on the fact that the black background doesn’t bring out the best in everyone’s work and can be too dark, gloomy and contrasting. Another improvement would have been for our the social media sub-team to post more engaging stories with advice on how to better your CV and how to get an internship as we had all just come back from placement. As a group, we discussed taking inspiration from Instagram pages like ‘Find Your Intern’.

Leading up to the event, I noticed that the Social Media sub-team hadn’t invited many followers, influencers or industry moguls. During the week leading up to the event, I took it upon myself to send an invite to as many VIPs as possible. To try and attract the general public, I created a free open event post on Eventbrite for more traction. As a group, we could have improved our PR strategy and branched outside of just Instagram. I did suggest that we take advantage of Ravensbourne’s facility to use Fashion Monitor and email some press offices but received very low morale from my group that they wouldn’t come to our event. That being said some of the PXL invites I sent to Dazed via Instagram did receive positive feedback and a few RSVPs.

At the event, I wanted to be as hands-on as possible. During the first hour, I had learned that the flyers for the event hadn’t been delivered on time and weren’t going to arrive. However, I did not let the terrible news deflate my energy, I grabbed PXL stickers and headed to the streets to get the public through the doors. During my allocated leaflet time, I made my way to Shoreditch in attempts to draw in an artsy crowd, stopping everyone on my way. At the event, I met a lovely lady called Raquel Maillo who explained the importance of not giving up. I now feel better knowing that interning in several different places will eventually pay off. Nonetheless, I’m disappointed in myself as I should of networked with more industry figures.

At the start of this module, I began updating the aesthetics of my Curriculum Vitae and Cover Letter. Both are now sleek and modern, reflecting my style of design. As LinkedIn is such a vital tool to communicate with employers in regards to internships, it must be regularly updated (LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameo-johansson-706716151/). I constantly message people with job titles I would like to pursue to question what route they took to get where they are. Throughout this project, I have developed my online profile through the means of a visual blog. I use the blog as a sketchbook to post visuals that influence me. I have noticed an increase in my Tumblr followings and reposts, which inspires me to urge on. Offline I have made myself available to help out at industry events where possible, in particular a GQ styling masterclass workshop. After the masterclass, I networked with creatives such as Angelo Mitakos at London Fashion Week Men’s discussing the possible opportunities of interning. I would love to secure a placement over the summer with a company that will further push me out of my comfort zone.

I am still trying to discover my niche is in the fashion industry. As much as I loved learning how to create a website, I can happily say it’s not a career path I wish to further pursue. I believe that my personality and skill set would work better within a communication role for example Events or Editorial. Therefore if PXL was a real communications agency, I would be happy with a salary of 21k per year as an Events Co-ordinator.

Numerous triumphs left this experience: the Branding team executed a strong identity and dossier from the very beginning, the Research and Development team worked very hard to produce an informative on brand research pack all about Generation Z and X, the Website and PR team created a fabulous aesthetic website and Instagram, the Editorial team created unique campaign imagery for content and promotional banners and lastly the Events team pulled off a venue, a bar and two sponsors (MiiRO icecream and Press Juice London) Overall, I think the class has done a spectacular job, working to include everyone’s different aesthetic can be really challenging. However, in the end, we pulled off an amazing packed industry event with a website launch and clear synergy between all assets in the short space of time.

[jddesignsuk]

27 ways to land your first job in Graphic Design + How I did it

How I broke into design

“Why haven’t you done your maths homework?!” That’s what I’d be asked most evenings during my formative years, when I’d rather create new Transformer characters, or design new Nike Air shoes. The ability to create something from nothing and then give it personality and style was what captivated me.

During the last years of secondary school, my art teacher would let me skip other classes so I could perfect my sketching and design skills.

Thanks to being the youngest of three children (and thus being a master manipulator), I always had an excuse ready for when other teachers would ask why I’d missed their lesson.

“Although I had a wide range of interests, a career in art and design was my destiny. Until I met a careers advisor…”

My grades across all subjects were slightly above average, apart from Art & Design, where I excelled and would transform into a miserable brat if I ever achieved anything under an A grade. Although I had a wide range of interests, a career in art and design was my destiny. Until I met a career advisor…

On one particular day, pupils were invited to meet a careers advisor who would help us choose the right path when going out into the big wide world. I was ushered into a small room and met by a very bland looking middle-aged man, with a dull grey suit and a tone of voice to match. To me, my path into design was clear so I didn’t expect much help. Despite hearing my obvious enthusiasm, he dismissed my life ambition as quickly as he could roll his eyes. He told me – with absolute certainty – that I’d be wasting my time pursuing design as there weren’t any jobs or money to be made in the industry. He and other influential figures in my life proclaimed that I should follow my Sister, who excelled at all things academic, and become a manager at a leading bank in London.

And just like that, my entire career had been decided for me.

I decided (with rose-tinted glasses on) that I could make money in a standard business role and fulfil my creative dreams during my evenings and weekends. Oh, how naive I was.

I secured my first job as a production coordinator at a food and beverage trading company overlooking Tower Bridge. On my first day, I arrived wearing an ill-fitting grey suit and a carrier bag containing a just-ham sandwich and a grey umbrella. My careers advisor would’ve been so proud.

It became clear pretty quickly that there was no future for me in this industry. Any idea of fulfilling my creative dreams during my evenings and weekends were dashed by a job that drained my creative juices and demanded late nights to meet deadlines. The final nail in the coffin came when the MD would regularly send me away to a tiny, dark room alone to gather samples of citric acid which could be used to clean his yacht.

My time wasn’t completed wasted though. Not that it didn’t feel like it at the time, especially when I was being made to earn my stripes through some excessive delegation from senior colleagues who spent their afternoons in the pub. But thanks to a good work ethic and actively seeking advice from mentors, I climbed the ranks and became a manager soon enough.

Whilst I was busy wondering what education I was missing at university, I developed important, real-life skills in the workplace, where it mattered. Managing and motivating colleagues, building relationships, meeting deadlines within set budgets and problem solving helped build the foundations for running my own business later down the line.

Despite the promotion, I remained unfulfilled and I decided that my job would have to suffer in order to achieve my dream. I enrolled at the London College of Communication and took a series of courses in the evenings that would span across 3 years.

My eyes were opened immediately as I stepped through the university doors. Incredible designs, created by students, adorned the walls and provided me with a huge sense of inspiration and purpose.

“Each of us had experienced an unfulfilling career and were desperate for change.”

I met other students in a similar position to my own, who wanted to escape other careers and venture towards something creative. We shared a drive stronger than many students who take the 3 year degree in graphic design; each of us had experienced an unfulfilling career and were desperate for change.

It was during these classes that I learned the fundamentals and principles of good design. I’ll forever be thankful to the amazing lecturers, particularly to Paul Chamberlain for his seemingly unending wealth of knowledge and his willingness to share it, both in the lecture hall and in the pub.

One of my finest moments as a designer (even to this day) came during the end of year exhibition, where the best designs throughout the year were showcased to the university and public. I was shocked to find my poster layout promoting the London Olympics given a feature, receiving praise from some respected figures at the university. My work was now adorning the same halls that had so inspired me when I began the course three years prior.

That sense of achievement and pride was nothing I’d felt before; I wanted more of it!

I gave in my notice (a bit too proudly) and quit my role in food and beverage distribution and looked to the future with excitement and eagle-eyed focus.

I deleted my very corporate CV designed in Microsoft Word and set about creating a CV and portfolio that would attract a creative director. Whilst some recruiters were confused and possibly put off by my unconventional career path, I landed a role in production and design at a leading promotional merchandise company in Shoreditch.

It felt like I’d been adopted by a family rather than enduring the standard awkward greetings on a new employee’s first day. This friendly, outgoing and ambitious team, coupled with a creative role gave me unbelievable satisfaction. Plus, there were wasn’t a grey suit in sight!

Starting a design job in a promotional merchandise company wasn’t a conventional route into a design career. But then, I hadn’t followed a conventional designer’s career path. However, creating artwork and managing the end-to-end process developed that sense of responsibility for managing the client’s needs. I had the opportunity to produce innovative designs and creative promotional merchandise for major clients that helped develop my role into a senior creative and management position.

“I created my own degree”

Despite being guided to a different career path and some long hours learning graphic design, I’m thankful that I went the extra mile to achieve my dream. It wasn’t the conventional or recommended path. In a sense, I created my own degree through learning key soft-skills in the workplace during the day, whilst mastering graphic design in the evenings and weekends.

The common advice is to encourage young designers to enrol at university, which I wouldn’t argue with. My point is that there are other ways to be successful in design, especially in the modern age. Some of the largest global businesses are recognising that candidates with hands-on experience through online courses or similar methods can make the same impact as candidates with a degree. Google, Apple and IBM are amongst an increasing number of companies who no longer require applicants to have a degree. Having that work-place experience, becoming multi-skilled, developing people and management skills will help future proof your career in an age where gains in technology are at such a pace that great design skills alone won’t stop you from becoming obsolete.

An easier and more effective way of reaping the same benefits of my journey is to apply for an internship, whether you’re at university or not.

One incredible reward of an internship is that you have the opportunity to learn on the job, with an experienced designer to guide you. Learning by ‘doing’ is quicker, easier, for most of us and means that repeating the same skill next time isn’t as intimidating. You’ll feel a greater sense of achievement completing a real-life project and grow in confidence with every successful task. Becoming a skilled, reliable and integrated team member could even bring you paid work from that company, or at least a glowing reference.

Sometimes you don’t know how far you’ve come until you look back…at your Inbetweeners haircut whilst listening to some garage classics. The journey is different for us all, but the secret to achieving my dream was pretty simple. It just takes an open mind, a passion for creating, perseverance and above all, self-belief!

27 ways to land your first job in Graphic Design:

Deciding who you want to be is often not an easy decision for most of us. You may have a passion for design, but how do you go about making the jump? If you’re a budding designer, here’s my advice to securing your first graphic design job:

Starting from the bottom

There is no golden ticket into this saturated field: you must have a strong work-ethic, with the passion and imagination to get yourself noticed.

Career Change: if you’re thinking about switching careers from an industry that seems completely untransferable, it’s not too late. You may be unaware of several skills that’ll help you in design, which may put you ahead of other candidates, such as the ability to confidently pitch to clients.

Understand Graphic Design: well duh! There are some great courses on Udemy and Skillshare at amazing prices. There are also plenty of free tutorials available on YouTube.

It’s ok to be rubbish: be prepared to be absolutely useless when starting something new. This’ll help you develop patience and appreciate the mastery you’ll pick up in the long term.

Buying design equipment and software is a necessary evil: fear not! There are savings to be made. You can save around 65% on the Adobe Creative Cloud Student Subscription. Also check out Quidco for cashback on Adobe subscriptions and stock images.

Mean business: if you pursue a university degree, find courses or mentors who can teach you key business skills that’ll help you transition into the workplace.

Get organised: with so many channels available to promote yourself, organising these promotion tactics can be daunting. Set yourself achievable goals and give yourself a deadline for each. For example, learn a new software skill by the end of the month. Use a notebook to write down your plan of action, or setup a free account with Trello to organise tasks.

Create Pinterest boards: create your own Pinterest boards with designs that’ll help with inspiration for your next project. Examine what makes it a good design to help you understand the principles of design.

Look around you: Don’t rely solely on the internet for creative ideas. Look for inspiration everywhere you go and from everyone you meet.

Break out of your comfort zone: mastering one skill or piece of software is definitely a good thing, but getting out of your comfort zone and learning something new will develop confidence and provide more opportunities for future employment.

Get out there: the self-taught route can be a lonely experience. Join local groups and find other designers who can share experiences and skills. An accountability partner is a fantastic way to keep you motivated and on course.

Build on the relationships you already have: send a DM to your social media contacts and look for opportunities. Be friendly, whilst getting to the point.

Imposter Syndrome: most of us encounter this, normally early in our careers and especially if, like me, you haven’t followed the traditional route into design. Take a moment to appreciate what you’ve achieved, the positive feedback you’ve had and stop comparing yourself to others.

Understand User Experience (UX): as a designer, it’s important to put the customer first, by knowing how to design products with good usability and user pleasure.

Create a portfolio: To land that first role in design, you won’t get anywhere without a portfolio. Display only your best work, explain the challenges you encountered and the process of how you reached the final design. Proof-read the portfolio and covering letter and ask someone else to check it as well.

Free work: A very controversial topic, of which there are many opinions. I believe that whilst you’re starting out and developing a portfolio, it’s OK to offer cheap or even free work. However, make it clear to the client that you’ll be charging your standard rate for future work. As you start to show your worth and your demand rises, don’t undervalue yourself or your time.

Share your work: whether it’s on your own website (which we’d highly recommend), Behance, Dribbble, social media or Youtube, get your work out there. This is a great way to build followers and get seen by employers.

Give value: this may be difficult when you’re starting out, but simply sharing your process can inspire others. We have a free stock photo section on our website, providing free images for blogs, social media and anything else. This increases traffic on our website and increases engagement with customers.

Are you listening?: before you start creating what you think will be a great design for your portfolio, take time to understand the brief, how the design will best connect with audiences and ask questions if you’re unclear.

Sign me up: subscribe to blogs from brands that you love: Take note of why you’re attracted to them and what elements of their marketing make you want to engage with them in the future.

CV: Businesses advertising for designers often receive hundreds of applications, so it’s vital that your CV is on point. Keep it within a double sided A4 sheet. Ensure to include the following details – Full name, Job title, Contact, Objectives, Skills, Work Experience, Clients, Achievements, Qualifications and Interests. There’s no need to add your age or photo. Spelling check it, then save it as a compressed PDF and ensure all the hyperlinks work.

Don’t blanket-mail portfolios: Decide who you really want to work for. Tailor your portfolio and covering letter to the job you’re applying for. Applying for a designer role at a magazine company? Showcase your best layouts and demonstrate you understand typography. If there isn’t a contact name on the job description, phone the company and find out who will be managing the vacancy. It adds that personal touch and will help you get noticed.

Internships: As mentioned in our blog, internships are a fantastic way to develop your design and soft-skills under the mentorship of experienced professionals. Check out The Dots, Rate My Placement and Inspiring Interns for the latest placements. Once you’ve secured an internship, make yourself indispensable by doing everything asked of you. Roll your sleeves up and check if there’s anything else you can do to help the team. Going above and beyond will help you stand out and make you a valuable asset. Your team will know you’re there to learn, so don’t be afraid to ask questions.

The big interview: Before an interview, exceed expectations by doing your homework on the company and the person interviewing you. Go the extra mile by thinking of ways in which the company can improve. For example, is there a section missing on their website that would really benefit their business. And of course, arrive early, look the part, sit up straight, speak clearly, be polite and ask questions.

Tell your story: The presentation of your portfolio needs to be clear and engaging, whilst explaining the challenges, the process and outcome. Rehearse this at home in advance, as this’ll help your story flow on the day and help you gain confidence in your story. You need to believe in your own work – no one else will if you don’t. It may sound obvious but make sure that everyone can see your work during the presentation – this is your time to impress. Above all, be yourself!

Sh*t happens: There will be some obstacles along the way. Clients or employers will reject your design or application. Stay calm, keep trying and learn from your experiences. Remember, design is a very personal preference and you can’t please all of the people, all of the time.

Prove it: you’ll want to promote your soft-skills within your application or interview. It’s all well and good mentioning that you’re a troubleshooter, or team-player, but this’ll mean nothing without good and relevant examples.

Congratulations…you’re hired!

We’ll be sharing more super helpful tips and resources to help fellow creatives and businesses promote themselves. Simply subscribe here.

[chloemokthequeen]

I am a Freelance Marketer.

Too many people ask what I do and I usually give a very simple answer. Many of them who are skeptical might think that I have an easy job, or that I'm just another housewife making ends meet. Well, they are not exactly wrong. I've decided to write about my career choice and a description of this choice in detail because there is so much in this choice that I cannot finish explaining all in a hangout session. Many mothers have asked me how do I do this, and wish they have the same thing going on for them. I suppose, after two years of freelancing, I owe it to many mother-friends and ex-colleagues to tell you what I now do.

In a Nutshell

In a nutshell, I'm a marketing consultant who helps businesses who need my help in any marketing activation. My clients, who are mostly Startups & SMEs, need a jack-of-all-trades expertise who can contribute in many areas within the marketing department.

A lot of people ask why would people hire me instead of hiring a full timer. The answer is simple: I'm cheaper, better and clients don't need to contribute to my EPF (retirement fund) and employment benefits. Cheaper, because I charge based on my invested hours, instead of the potentially hefty cost of keeping me onboard on a full-time basis. Better, simply because at my rates, you won't find a full-timer as experienced, nor will you find another freelancer with my set of skills.

The Work

I wish I am Liam Neeson and tell you I have a unique set of skills, but Neeson I am not. But I do have a set of skills that is rare when all of them combined. I can plan and execute both online & offline marketing activations, from organizing press conferences, running & optimizing Adwords campaigns, designing ecommerce websites, to data crunching. Some simpler yet time consuming tasks include social media management, graphic design, CRM and copywriting.

In other words, I'm a Jack-of-all-trades.

Each of my client has a set of projects, and each project is of a different nature and/or industry. In two years, I have worked on property development, education, F&B, football club, tourism, fashion, job portals and so many I have lost track.

The Structure

Unlike what most people imagine freelancers to be, I maintain the same work hours, sometimes more. Weekdays, 9am to 6pm, I am dedicated to my work the same you would do in an office. Instead of being accountable and responsible to only one immediate superior, I report to multiple clients and manage them to the best of my abilities. I don't have time to take a breather because every minute I'm thinking of a marketing strategy on a macro level, I can be doing something on a micro-level that does not need as much brain power.

I keep myself very productive and every minute is accounted for, with the help of Toggl, a time management app. Of course, being at home with a baby/toddler means that I'll step away from my computer once in a while but that does not take me away from my work. I use every mobile app available to get work done and have long mastered feeding and/or putting my child to sleep while working. (Still an exclusive direct-latch breastfeeding mom! #win)

There is still work stress, just as you would in any type of work. There are still heavy attachments to projects I run, and every mistake on my judgement can have upsetting repercussions, reflected on numbers, be it engagement or pure sales.

The Life

Instead of spending time on the road, waking up early to get preparations done, I wake up a little later, most times just in time to make breakfast and work. While that sounds nice enough, imagine juggling work and a toddler all day. I no longer go to the washroom alone and I'm always explaining myself to someone who may not understand me.

So, while I save time in the road, I'm more tired at the end of the day. I'd imagine that if you've spent a full day at work, you'll feel energised once again to see your child after work, and would like to spend some quality time with him/her. Me? I'm spent at the end of the day, craving for quality bathroom time. Unfortunately, there is really no break until my daughter decides to sleep. If I'm lucky, that's 10pm.

Juggling, takes on a whole new meaning when my body discovers new muscles it never knew it had. I was ambidextrous as a kid, and I've come to pick it up again when managing more than three tasks at once. Breastfeeding, typing out an email and blasting out a post from my phone all at once.

Unlike most home-based employees who never step out, I have regular meetings with clients, both teleconferences and face-to-face meetings. There are deadlines and targets to achieve, and I play a good amount of significant roles in a number of businesses. I cannot be a bottleneck and cannot allow myself to be one even if I have good reasons to, for example my daughter is sick and I haven't slept in two days.

I am also thankful for help from my husband who also works from home (not a freelancer), my mother who sometimes stays with us, and my mother-in-law who is always ready to help. While I am the primary care giver of my child, they have been there to relief me, and they are the very reason of how I've survived this far.

Pros & Cons

The Pros are many, here are the top 3 for me:

- In a short two years, I've come to know more than ever. I am most likely the first to sense a new marketing trend, from better landing page features, colour with the most engagement, to new Google upgrades. I have also accummulated a pretty impressive portfolio (I think!) in just two years based in industry, scope and performance.

- I've never missed a milestone with my child, ie. First words, first step, first dance, etc. I can always choose to drop everything and egg her on!

- I've learned so much in these two years that I've rolled out many of these learnings into different industries and cities - at the same time witnessing how different the outcomes due to language, culture, audience expectations and local competition.

Cons are plenty too! But here are my top 3:

- As a freelancer, I don't usually get to run strategic-level projects or lead the company on a specific direction. I might not see the whole picture the way full timers do, or that I refrain from doing so for a number of office politics reasons.

- Most freelancers like me, are hired to tackle the most difficult and tedious marketing tasks. Unlike when employed as a full-timer in a managerial role, you will have assistants or help to complete the minute items, I am there to do both planning and execution, independently and without help.

- No maternity leave. This is probably what bothers me the most. The loss of income aside while dealing with incoming post-natal depression, I might need to source for new clients if my "original" clients replace me with another during my downtime.

Conclusion

There are still more pros and cons; but I know that I'm in a uniquely blessed position. I am grateful for clients who have decided to stick with me, given that I have a set of rules myself, and grateful that I'm enjoying my daughter's new quirks almost everyday.

I won't say it's easy, heck I'd say it's the hardest thing I have to do so far. But it is so rewarding, in so many ways.

Many ask if I'll ever go back to a full-time role. My answer is 95% No. 5% if Godfather makes me an offer I can't refuse. Lol.

So that's it! That's pretty much all I have to tell. If you want to start some freelancing work, do try out Workana.com, who is also one of my favourite clients who truly appreciate the value of freelancers.

Hope this answers some of your questions (if not, all!). Got a question? Just shoot, and I'll try my best to answer!

[hoeassproductions]

Break A Leg: Chapter 6

Masterlist

A/N: Disclaimer, this is a work of fiction. I do not own, possess, or have any links to Chris Evans, nor do I profit off of this work. Any claims otherwise are grossly misleading. This work is not to be posted anywhere else without my explicit permission.

If you would like to be added to the tag list, reply here or send me an ask. I’d be happy to add you! Happy reading!

Word Count: ~1,600

Self Preservation

Monday comes and goes. Chris and I only see each other in passing.  Which is probably for the better. Since Saturday when Hannah called me out for liking Chris, I feel like an already complicated situation got even worse.

Seems like our M O. Are you even surprised?

A few days pass and more of the same. Chris is busy with meetings with the other directors and I'm busy with the welcome distraction of making concept art for new costumes. It works in both of our favors.

Avoiding him won't make my feelings go away but a girl can damn sure try.

Eric and I are getting along phenomenally as usual. I ask to see his portfolio of work and he shows me props and costumes he’s helped with dating from before he started at this company 5 years ago. I can tell he’s very talented and i can stand to learn a thing or two from him. He will be a great asset to me for sure, and an even better work friend. We look over the designs I have so far and we agree that he can make a few adjustments before we send them to the head seamstress for approval.

Just after lunch on Thursday, I am able to find a few minutes of quiet by myself as I sit on the edge of the loading dock. The first time I’ve really taken a moment to myself since this week started. Listening to my music with one ear bud in and enjoying the sunshine caressing my skin, I get lost in the sway of the rhythm. I begin to do a little jig in my seat. 

Enjoying this moment of freedom doesn't last more than a few seconds when I begin to hear a loud, deep laugh from behind me. I turn around and catch a glimpse of Chris engaged in a full body hysterics as he tries to get words out.

“You just… you're really… “ he says between laughs, tears now brimming his eyes.

I begin to chuckle at the scene before me. “You alright over there?” I ask. After a few moments of continued laughter, I stand up and address the man who is beside himself in front of me. “Get it together, Evans.”

Chris stands up straight as he wipes the tears from his eyes. “Okay, I'm good. Sorry but man that dancing was something else. I was not expecting that. It was exactly what i needed.”

“Ha ha ha, I'll have you know that I'm an excellent dancer,” I say as I narrow my eyes at him.

Chris walks closer with his voice low, never breaking eye contact. He says “I'd like to see that.” With a mischievous glimmer in his eyes, he inches even closer now standing only a few inches in front of me. As I look into his eyes, I realize that the underlying huskiness in his voice indicates he’s thinking of something a little deeper than a few dance moves.

Words fail me and I can't think of anything else than standing here with him in this small moment of uncertainty .

As we continue looking into each other's eyes, a loud bang breaks us from our trance. Coming back to reality I realize the noise is from a truck being unloaded on the dock opposite from us. In an attempt to stifle my inner weirdness from finally coming face-to-face with him after realizing my feelings, I look at my watch and begin to turn to leave when he grabs me by the arm before I can make a clean getaway.

“Y/N, wait.” I slowly turn and raise my eyes to meet his. “It’s been such a busy week, I haven’t gotten a chance to really see you. Is everything OK? You seem… different. I can't put my finger on it.”

“I'm fine. Just adjusting to everything. It's all so new and I'm still settling in.”

He stays quiet, then whispers “Why don't I believe you?”

I stop dead in my tracks.

Damn it to shit.

I’m now slightly irritated, not ready for him to know anything, and i’m not prepared to accept it myself. Giving him any indication will only add more confusion. He can’t know. Not yet. I need this conversation to end. Now.

In an effort to brush off his comment, I overcompensate. “I don't know Chris. We've only just met. Maybe you don't know me as well as you like to think you do.” With his jaw now on the floor and myself in a pissy mood of my own making, I walk off.

For the rest of the week, we mostly avoid each other. Only acknowledging when necessary, which isn't too hard.

I have a quiet weekend at home without much going on. Zero distractions lead my mind to drift to Chris and how I treated him last we interacted. I felt instant regret the moment the words came out and I could see the hurt in his eyes before I turned away.

I know I fucked up. I got scared and took it out on him.

Laying in bed Sunday, I begin to think up an apology for hurting him when he’s really innocent in all of this. It's not his fault I've developed feelings and are managing them like a little bitch.

He doesn't need to know that though.

As I turn out the lights and settle into bed, my phone lights up on the nightstand. It's a text from Chris.

C: I know we haven't said much to each other as of late but I took my mom to that restaurant we went to. She loved the food so much she said it gave her family recipes a run for their money. Thank you.

I read and re-read this before I hit the dial button. He answers after the first ring.

“Hey-”

Before Chris can get much else out, I start my apology.

“I'm so sorry for how I treated you. I was a bitch and you didn't deserve that. I was frazzled and what you said caught me off guard. I just… it's hard for me to let people in and you’re you. It's not like you're some random nobody...you're a freaking movie star that actually cares about me and is my friend. In a general sense, and many others, you kind of scare me.”

“Y/N, why didn't you tell me? If I would have known, I could have helped. I'm not entirely thrilled about my celebrity status myself. I know it makes all of this, even just being...friends, more complicated. You know how many roles I've turned down or people I've avoided to try to have some semblance of a normal life? Trust me, it's a blessing and a curse but if there's one thing I've learned it’s that sometimes you have to lean into the fear. Trust someone is there to catch you.”

“That's what I'm afraid of,” I say just above a whisper.

“I didn't catch that. What did you say?”

“I said that makes sense. I'm sorry I'm not so easy to be friends with. Totally understand if you say ‘This bitch is crazy’ and want to call this friendship off.”

“Y/N, I promise you, you're worth it.”

After wiping a tear from my eye and composing myself, I ask Chris about his experience at the restaurant with his mom. We discuss how his meetings have been going and we talk for about an hour before saying our goodbyes. Laying my phone back on the nightstand I feel a weight has been lifted off my chest. I actually feel excited to see him tomorrow.

Don't kid yourself, you're a goner for sure.

Walking into work the next day, I feel lighter. Once I get into the shop, I find a covered plate on my desk with a note.

“Just a little something to start your day off right. I'm happy we cleared the air. Find me later.” - C.

I uncover the plate to find a big slice of banana cream pie topped with whipped cream.

How did he know? 

I eat half of the slice before I go to find Chris. After a 20 minute search I find him backstage talking to the stage manager. As they end their conversation, Chris’ eyes land on me. He stuffs his hands in his pockets as he walks towards me.

“Hey.”

“Hi” I reply with a smile on my face.

“I'm guessing you found your surprise” he says with a cheeky grin.

“Yes I did. I already ate half of it. How did you…?”

“Y/N, did you just get here?” Adam asks coming out of nowhere.

“Yes, why?”

“Where are your bags? We need to get them on the bus.”

“Adam, what are you talking about?”

“The two week all company/all staff annual retreat. It happens every year at the beginning of the season. We leave within the hour. No one told you?” He says.

“Clearly not. What do I do? I have nothing here.”

“You can ride with me” Chris pipes up. “I arranged to drive down later tonight because I have a few business things to attend to before I leave. If you go now, I can pick you up at your place around one.”

“Are you sure? It’s very last minute.”

“Yes, I’m sure. Now get your butt in gear!”

“Thank you, you're the best!” I say as I hug him.

“Great!” Adam says as he claps his hands together. “I'll let them know we are ready to go then. See you guys down there.”

Adam turns and walks from whence he came leaving Chris and I alone, and I realize that I willingly committed to that before thinking about the implications.

Fuck. Me. Why can't I catch a break?!

Previous Chapter

A/N: These two just can’t get it together! It’s always something! I know it’s been a bit since i posted. The holidays and whatnot, but i was feeling a little uninspired with all of the distractions. Anyways, let me know what you think! Thanks!

Tags: @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan @beccaheartschrisevans @avenger-nerd-mom @mycapt-ohcapt-writes @mad-for-marvel @vanillabeanlattes @captain-ariel-barnes @emilyevanston @thewife101cevans @loricameback @plussizeappreciationfics @a-tale-of-two-comics @melodramaticfanatic @writingcreatingstorytelling @kirstie-lotr @mywritingsblog @disney-fire-fox @harrinoodles @lookwhatyoumademequeue @janeyboo @aglarelen

[digitalfrontiers]

How exactly did you get in the business of submitting screenshots to game devs and how can others apply for that?

Good question!  Unfortunately though, there's no easy answer. Since there's no playbook for this kind of thing, i'm still finding my path as i go along. I've found developers/publishers/PR companies all require/look for different things and can be very (understandably) protective of their work before it's released, so it can be difficult to get your foot in the door. I've been taking screenshots for a good bit of time (since around 2007) and in that time, i've developed relationships with people spread across the gaming industry. Sometimes you end up making new friends (which in and of itself is awesome) and other times it leads to new opportunities. Things really started though, after a few years of running this blog (which i've been doing since 2011). A few different devs contacted me saying that they liked the screenshots, which really inspired me to keep taking them and helped push me to reply/talk to other developers. I actually have a tough time getting my thoughts out of my head and into typed/written form (this small message alone will take me the better part of half the day), so starting out, every conversation with a new dev was a challenge (and a bit scary!). But those initial kind messages sent to me really made a difference (as have all the thoughtful ones i’ve received on here). It's amazing what a few nice and supportive words can do.   From there, after doing some work on a game, i connected with a PR company, while still continuing to take and post screenshots here almost every day, and once in a while, i would even reach out to a dev/publisher of game that really caught my eye. Sometimes a developer would see my shots somewhere and ask to use them for official purposes. Other times, i'd talk to them (sometimes over the course of years) about doing work for their upcoming game. And sometimes they just outright hire me to do them. Probably the most helpful thing is when one developer/publisher recommends me to another. I've made some of the best connections due to this kind of thing and can't overstate my appreciation for it.

My starting advice would be to just keep taking screenshots of different titles, be patient (it took me almost a decade), and be ready to help any developer or jump on any opportunity that might come your way.

A few other important things that help:

- Being careful and trustworthy. They have to know they can trust you with something potentially worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. I use a different, completely offline computer when i do official work that has encrypted drives and stick to NDA's like they're nuclear launch codes. Keeping unannounced games under wraps is of utmost importance. Not even my best friend of 27 years knows what i'm working on until after it's announced (which he hates me for lol).  - Being reliableand flexible. You have to deliver results they're happy with (sometimes with little or conflicting direction) asap, even without the best tools. Early builds can be buggy, so you have to quickly find workarounds to get the shots you need.- Having a decent sized body of work a dev can look at. Blogs, portfolios, flickr, ect. This can help them see how you approach different types of games. If i didn’t have this when talking with developers, they wouldn’t have much to go on. - Experience with different game engines. I love messing with dev tools, mods, game files, etc., and all of this turned out to be really helpful since it lets me get the most out of a game engine, whether its better visuals or ways to get different types of screenshots. - Absolutely loving what you're doing. I'll work on a game well past what's required. So much so, if you broke down payment into an hourly wage, i wouldn't even make a third of minimum wage (and there were many times i didn't make anything). While this isn't required, i'm so enjoyingwhat i'm doing i don't even mind that it takes up pretty much all my time.

- Realizing there's a difference between awesome, hyper creative artsy screenshots and more focused marketing screenshots. You can mix the two to an extent, but marketing needs always outweigh the shot that would win you the screenshot of the year award.