Career advice

[myz_lilith]

Had a very interesting meeting today. I went to see a guy who I had a chat with when I first left Uni. He's the head of a major marketing \ design company based in Leeds that is a major player already and has serious ambitions to be one of the biggest in the country.

I got a lot of very practical advice about how to attract work, deal with clients, set prices etc. But he also talked a lot about mapping your life out. SERIOUSLY thinking where you want to be, not in one years time, or ten, but on the last day you work. Not just where you'll be working and how much you'll be making but where you want ot be living, what colour the walls will be, what you'll be wearing, who you'll say goodbye to when you step out of the door on your final day. And then working out how each step you make will get you there. He was talking about making a map not just in career terms, in s traight line, but as a wild and wandering journey that includes friends, family, relationships, lifestyle, but making it all with some kind of final, COMPLETE goal in mind. Not necessarily expecting that to be the path you'll stick to rigidly, but as the one you'll set your milestones on, even if it does change at some point.

Practically the main points he made were know who you want your clients to be and aim high. If you really want Marks and Spencers as a client, be prepared to camp outside their store with a sandwich board and a petition for passers by. If you want to arrange an exhibition, don't aim for a little cafe by the Corn Exchange, aim for New York.

It's way too much to think about in one night. But I need to be a lot more focussed, and I'm thinking right now of a few things. I don't want to be a cog in a big company, or even the owner of a big company. I don't want to be in management.... collaberation maybe, but I like being hands on. I ~like~ the idea of being one hundred percent in charge of my own projects. I want to work within the creative sector as far as possible - with writers, dramatists, theatres, artists - which is a lot harder as there's less money sloshing around, but it's there if you reach the top. I want to be able to pick out my own clients on the grounds of the project that interests me most. I want to be the one person that people are fighting for to design their image, illustrate their idea. I want to be the one that everyone else's work is compared to.

Big ideas, but why not?

Comments

[echo-echo.livejournal.com]

I thought about this (and indeed, I know people in similar boats to the ad exec). The trouble is if you have any sense of integrity getting to the top levels and still maintaining it is damned hard, a lot of the people up there are absolute shits. And the path there means you will almost certainly have to shit on other people. Have you ever met those vacuous company people who have no substance, they are all facia, shit eating smile, everything to please you because they want something from you? Tell you everything you want to hear and nothing of the truth.

But without ambition you end up nowhere. Sure, aim for the stars, you might not hit them, you might hit the moon instead, but the moon is a lot higher up than the earth. Most people fail through lack of drive/ambition. If you can keep your dreams alive you are halfway there.

I think artistic integrity and creative freedom is all a lot of people ask for. Sure you can be super rich but money buys little in terms of genuine happiness. It helps, but nah, I'd rather be comfortable, have my creative freedom and my integrity intact.

[strawpig.livejournal.com]

he's right to a point about the aiming high bit, but remember most blue chips have dedicated design teams and things these days, and even thoughs that don't would end you up in cog mode, which as you've said is not what you want. Maybe there's less money slooshing round in the market you're after, but it's a bit market, go into a bookshop and see how many authors there are et cetera, how many of the smaller ones actually have good websites (and the bigger ones for that matter, I was looking at the Neal Stephenson website the other day, and that leaves a lot to be desired, especially since he is a cyberpunk writer originally... although this may be a cog wheel thing in that it might have been one done by his publishing company, since most authors have there own and there publishing company one).

The only advice I can give at the moment really, is get as much help, financial and otherwise, now. It's much more difficult to get it once you're actually up and running, and what is avalible is a lot less and a lot more in demand, and don't worry about being cheaky and asking for a lot, if people don't want to give you that much, the chances are they'll still give you more than if you'd asked for the ammount you need, and if you ask for the ammount you need and get a bit less, you start to get stuck...

And see you in new york! (or maybe tokyo, I haven't decided yet) I'm trying to get various people to send me there to show off my stuff in one of the various "underground culture" shows both of them have, Japan is potentially a HUGE market for me, as are bits of america , to... and as you've said... aim high!
lots of love
Patrick
XXXX
(did that make any sence at all, I've only been awake about half an hour, and I'm listening to bleepy sh1te as I need to expand the "market" section of my business methods... "there's these people called cybergoths, they'll buy almost anything" isn't enough apparently)

[miss-behave.livejournal.com]

Go Anna! :D

[cyberlite.livejournal.com]

Good luck!! :D
I'm proof enough you can aim high and gradually get further (if not quite there yet!!) however wild the dream!!
Keep up the struggle :)