Monday, December 26, 2016

10 reasons for Inspiration

Not necessarily a blog post...more of a list of inspirations:

Picasso - The first artist I learned to love.
Architecture - Being from Chicago, this is kind of a given.  Speaking of which...
Cubs - Yeah...lifelong Cubs fan, lover of baseball, and lover of the lovable WINNERS!
Family - My family is very proud, hardworking, and extremely tight knit.  The driving force behind the majority of my decisions and motivations.
Fatherhood - I know that goes in line with Family, but I love being a husband and father.  I LOVE it!
Business - I love discussing business.  Concepts, ideas, etc.
Politics - I'm very opinionated, politically.  That is for a very different blog though :)
Cars - Yes...a Photographer who concentrates on automotive photography is a bit of a car freak!
Nature - The world around us is beautiful, and such a gift.
Travelling - I try to take at least 4-5 trips a year.  Its a must.  I work really hard, in order to live really easy.

Just 10 of my reasons for inspiration.  How about you?

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

The Balance

We all search for it.  We all long for it.  We all desire it.  Yet not many of us actually achieve it.

Why?

Let's face it.  Especially us American artist are up against a giant wall.  We have to work harder, longer hours, for less earnings, than ever before.

There's several factors for this...but...consider, for one moment...could this be, because of us?!

Outside of all the regular demands of a creative professional, are the internal demands of our perfectionism.

Prime example:  I had a conversation  friend of mine, who often told me she is feels like she's not maximizing her earnings.  We sat down over a cup of coffee and discussed her processes.  Here's what's happening:

She would get paid for something that would take her...say, A hours, to accomplish, X.  Yet the artist/perfectionist in her would want to take B hours, to accomplish Y.

This is the problem with us, creative professionals.

Many times, we become so wrapped up into providing, or, overperforming, with "perfect" work, for clients who aren't willing to pay "perfect" type of rates.

In no way am I excusing providing shit work.  If you are paid to provide a service, you should do so.  To the best of your abilities.  What this post is about is that my good friend, like most of us, was paid, to do something like basic corrections...yet the perfectionist artist in her, wanted to go to the extreme.  As artist, we cannot do that.

We cannot live in a world where we are paid for the basic, yet we provide the extreme.  As we do that, our clients will learn that they can pay us for the basic, while we provide the extreme, no matter the type of creative work we do for them.

How have you crossed this barrier?

Friday, December 16, 2016

Editorial Calendar...ugh!

Let's face it...if you follow my blog, you'll note how random my posts are.  To be perfectly honest, with a blooming career, Real Estate Investments, marriage, fatherhood, and the demands of daily life, it gets difficult to make time for something which already is not one of my favorite things...blogging.

Yet, I know how important it is.  Therefore, I'm putting together an editorial calendar, to help keep me on track.  I'm reaching out to all of you to see what tips/suggestions you may have.

What has worked for you?  What's helped keep you on track?  As always, feel free to inbox, as most of you do, or comment!