animation

The Daily Routine of Running a Startup Animation Company

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I have had a few people ask me what my daily routine was in running my company, and how I keep myself on task.  I decided to share what my days running a animation startup looked like, and what I do to keep focused on what I need to get done.

Many of the people I talk to have misconceptions about how easy it is to work from home, and to be your own boss. Yes, not having a boss that is constantly on your back about getting your work done is awesome, but at the same time it means you have to motivate yourself.  If you are not a self starter, and have a system in place you can very quickly loose all your momentum.  Another misconception is that working from home you have all this time to watch TV, play with your kids, and to do what you want.  I’m often so busy with work I end up locking myself in my office all day, and only come out for food.  There is a door to our guest bathroom from my office, so I don’t even have to go out into the hallway.  There are days that I don’t even see my son until the end of the day when the nanny leaves.

In this post I will take you through what I do each day, and what I do to keep myself on task and productive.  Lets start with a quick run down of what one of my standard days look like.

5am/6am: I would love to say that my wife and I start our days at 7am, but the truth is our son often wakes us up around 5 or 6 am.  We normally bring him into our room, and take turns watching him as he crawls around on the bed while the other tries to get a little more sleep.  If we are lucky we can get him to fall back asleep, but most of the time he is jumping on our faces.  Rarely does my wife and I make it through this without one of us getting injured by him.  We try our best to hold him off until 7am.

I should mention that the schedule that follows is how we plan out our morning, but often times what is planned and what actually happens is very different.  This is more often a guide then the law of the land.

7-8am: This is my first official start of the day(I start and stop often).  My wife goes in the kitchen to get breakfast for our son, and I start going through my emails.  I also will eat breakfast sometime in this hour.

8-9am: If our son slept through the night, and we are feeling well rested we spend this hour working out.  We run to the park near our house, and then take turns with one of us playing with our son while the other runs laps around the park.  This plan does not happen as often as we would hope it to, but on occasion it is a nice start to our morning.

9-10am: In this hour is when my wife and I take turns showing, getting ready for the day and watching our son.  If we did not get to work out my wife will often take my son to the park to play, and I stay home to get through more emails.  I will also use this time to read industry news to keep up with what is going on in my industry.

10-11am: My wife leaves for work at 10:30, so I spend most of this hour watching our son while my wife gets ready, and eventually heads off to work.  This continues until the nanny shows up at 11.

11am-1pm: This is part one of what I call “Working Time”  The tasks I do during my working time varies depending on the day, and if I currently have a client project I’m working on.  If I do have a client project then it normally takes up the majority of my working time, but if not I work on company tasks.  The things that fall into this working time is often the things I write about in my blog posts each week.  Since this covers such a wide array of tasks I’m going to put this in its own section below called “Working Time”, and continue with my standard day’s schedule.

1-2pm: We will call this time lunch hour although I never actually take a full hour lunch like I did when I was an employee.  The time I take my “lunch” varies each day depending on how busy I am, and when I remember I still need to eat.  My lunch normally consists of taking 10-15 min to throw something together, and then eating it at my desk while I continue to work.  On rare occasions I will eat outside, and post a picture on Instagram that feeds into the romanticized belief that working from home is glamorous.  Don’t get me wrong I love it, but it is in no way the easy life.

Having to eat lunch in the office today. Boss is working me to death.

A photo posted by Eric Miller (@ericmiller333) on

 1:30-5pm: This is the second half of my working time(see below), and the only difference from the first is that I’m no longer hungry.

5-6pm: This is an hour that I block out on a daily basis each day, but more often then not I’m to busy to use it as planned.  This is my drawing time.  I’m always trying to get better at everything I do, so I use this time to practice drawing to improve that skill.  I also listen to business related audio books to further my learning.

6-7pm: I try and use this time as my first and only break each day.

7-8pm: Our nanny leaves at 7, so I watch my son for this hour until my wife gets home at 8pm.  Depending on the temperament of my now tired little boy I also attempt to make dinner if he does not require 100% of my attention.

8-9pm: My wife gets home at this time, unless she had to work late, and I either start making dinner, or finish making it while my wife puts our son to bed.  This normally means we don’t start eating dinner until after 8:30.

9-11pm: At this point we are both so tired that we don’t want to clean up after dinner, and often end up just sitting there watching some TV.  I also use this time to look over my to-do list from the day.  I will push off any tasks I was not able to get done until the next day, and I plan out the day to come.  Eventually we will head to bed to start the process over again.

Working Time (11am-5pm):
My working time is a mix of planned and unplanned tasks or events.  My working time is very limited and very valuable to me, so I want to make the most of it.  I will schedule events, meetings, or block out time that I want to spend working on important tasks.

I start this time by looking over my emails, calendar and to-do lists to see if there is anything I need to get started with. I take care of any urgent things that need my attention right away, but try and get to taking care of items on my schedule or to-do list as soon as possible.  If something does not require my attention right away I will often add it to my list, and schedule it for later that day.

TodoistFor my To-Do list I use and app called ToDoist, and it is the key to keeping my working time productive.  I have a lot of tasks that I have to keep track of, and would be lost without it.  I add reoccurring tasks for anything that I want to do every day, or every week.  Things like “reach out to one client per day”.  This is my way of creating daily quotas to keep myself productive, and working towards a goal.

I will add reminders for things that I might easily forget about doing such as “contact so and so”, or “follow up with person X”.  If I have a larger project I can add sub-tasks that I need to complete in-order to complete the main task.  For example “Make business card” could have sub-tasks of “design business card”, “order business cards”, and “confirm that I received them”

The app makes it very simple to schedule out tasks, and to move them to another day.  I like using this app, and have always worked best when I use to do lists.  I noticed that when I don’t have a list I would sit there trying to remember what I had to do.  Having a list keeps me productive, and keeps my laziness at bay.

Sometimes when I want to make sure that I complete a certain task I will schedule it as a block of time on my calendar.  This way I make sure I use that time for the important, and often time sensitive task.  Other things I put on my schedule are lunch meetings.  I try and set up at least 1 lunch meeting a week.  This is great for networking, but it also gets me out of the office to keep me from going crazy.  Last week I had lunch with the co-founder of Renegade Animation Ashley Postlewaite.  We have talked on the phone and through email, but this was the first time we met face to face.  Ashley has become a mentor to me being a great resource with great insight into the animation industry.  I mentioned her in an earlier post, so to learn more about her check out “You can’t start an animation studio alone, You need great mentors.”

Exceptions from a Standard Day:

There are a few things that I schedule on a reoccurring basis that causes exceptions to my standard day.

Monday: Every Monday I write my blog, and it ends up taking up a large chunk of my working time for the day.  First I have to think about what I want to write about, and then actually write it.  I will spend some time either looking for, or making the image I use for the featured image(top of page).  Before I post the post I normally either look over and edit, or rewrite the it after I got a rough outline.  If I was a better writer I’m sure I could knock out a new post in an hour or two, but I often end up spending 3 or 4 hours on it.

Wednesday: I was trying to make this a non-business day to get stuff done around the house.  Things like mowing and laundry, but also larger home project like cleaning out the garage, or organizing my file cabinets.  Unfortunately the business demands to much of my time, and have not been able to keep my non-business days. As of recently, every other Wednesday I will be going to ToastMasters from noon to one.  I wanted to improve my public speaking, and the best way to do that is by practicing.  ToastMasters will not only give me the opportunities to practice, but they will also coach me on ways to improve.   I feel that this is an important skill for me to have for running a business.

Thursday: Once a month on Thursday evenings I have a Producers Guild networking event that I always try and make it to.  This technically takes place outside of my working time, but I do have to quit early on these days to make it to the event on time.

Friday: This is my accounting & finance day.  Throughout the week I keep all my receipts for both personal and business expenses, and on Friday I reconcile all my accounts.  I go through and categorize all the spending, to make sure I’m sticking to the budget.  This also includes sending invoices to clients, and writing checks to any artists that did work for me.  Most weeks this can be done in less then an hour, but some weeks I have more to do.

That is a basic run down of my schedule each week, and how I keep organized and on task.  I would love to hear from all of you on what methods you use to keep yourself productive.  If you have any suggestions for me to improve my workflow I welcome your advice.

 

If you have not already, I hope you will join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  If you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.

Returning The Blog to its Roots

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I have now written 50 posts on this blog, and thought it be a good time to look back on what I have learned.  I started writing this blog over a year ago, and somewhere along the way I lost track of that reason.

I feel I lost my way after I started working with my first client.  An interesting thing started to happen when I would sit down to write a post each week.  I had so many exciting things I wanted to write about, but I realized that I was filtering everything out.

Since I had a client I was afraid to post something that they might read.  What would they think of it, and would they change their mind about wanting to work with me?  My posts were more often written in the tone of my struggle, and how I was trying to figure things out.  Was this what I wanted my clients to read?  I wanted my clients to see me as an expert, not as someone that was just starting out who still had a lot to learn about running an animation company.

Even worse, what about the potential clients that were coming to my website for the first time.  Would they click on my blog, and realize I don’t know what I’m doing and they might decide to look for the next animation company?  I originally thought my blog would help personalize my company, but now I was thinking that it instead might be turning clients away.

I started to second guess the purpose of the blog. Should I take it in a different direction where maybe I could write about industry related topics to show my expertise in the field?  Should I write about the products and services my company offers, and why their business should hire us for all their animation needs?  Should I be using the blog more as a marketing tool then a person diary?

I started to try out these different styles, and before long the blog was all over the place.  My blog was like a ship without a sail drifting away going where ever the current would take it.  It had no direction, and I feel I lost my way.  I was no longer being true to the reason why I started the blog in the first place.  That reason was to share and record my journey in starting an animation company.

As the subtile states “The greatest success story, or the most public failure”.  It’s not a sales pitch, or an industry article, but instead a true life story about my thoughts and experiences.

Although I feel writing industry articles that show our expertise in the field, and marketing posts to help sell our services are important for my company this blog is not the best place for them.  I also feel that this blog might not be the best blog for my business, so I will be making some changes.

First, I will no longer have a link from my company website to this blog.  If a potential client is on my website I don’t want them having easy access to this blog.  I realize that they might find it if they search the web, but I don’t want it linked from my company page.  This blog will no longer be a company blog, but it is instead a personal blog from the founder of the company.

Secondly, I plan to create a new blog that will be the company’s blog.  There you will find articles relating to the animation industry that will show potential clients our expertise.  The blog will also have marketing posts that will highlight the services we provide, similar to one of my previous posts “Why Small Businesses Can’t Afford Not To Have Animated Videos On Their Websites“.

I would also like to open up the company blog to guest writers if they have something to write about the animation industry that fits with the companies brand.

Some of the posts from the two blogs may overlap, but I feel this will be the best option going forward.  Please let me know what your thoughts are in the comments section below.  Also, please let me know if you are interested in contributing as a guest writer for the company blog.

 

If you have not already, please join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  Also, if you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.

Building An Animation Company’s Leadership Team

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I have been working on my business plan which forces me to take a look at the details of the company.  From this I have been doing a lot of thinking about my leadership team, or should I say lack of. I have for some time been wanting to bring on more people, but how do you know what would be best.  The people you have on your team is key to the success of any business, so it is a big decision.  So let me share with you my thoughts on building my leadership team.

I’m sure I’m the only one, but I have always been fascinated with the hierarchy of companies and their org charts.  In larger companies with hundreds or thousands of employees it is very important to have very clear titles and job responsibilities.  They also help everyone understand a reporting structure which is increasingly important as a company grows, and adds more people.  In a smaller company the reporting structure might not be as complex as The Walt Disney Co, but it is still important for everyone to have a clear understanding of their role and responsibilities in the organization.  It also helps your clients understand the structure of your business.  When you start a company on your own you have to wear all the hats of the organization.  If the company is doing well you may have to bring additional on additional people to split up the responsibilities.  Bringing on the right people to fill the role of that initial leadership team is vital, and is what makes or breaks your company.  Who you bring on also help to define the culture of your company.

apple_org_chart_large11If you look at a org chart for a corporation you will notice that everything is very departmentalized based on functions and responsibilities.  For example look at the org chart of Apple Computers from when Steve Jobs was CEO.   As a smaller company it does not make sense to be so departmentalized.  Instead fewer people take on more functions and responsibilities.  You might be wondering what the ideal number of people you should start with, or what tasks each of them take.

I found a theory of the 3 types of people you need for a startup, that I found interesting.  It is hard to track down who originally stated this, since different resources credit different people, so I apologize not giving the proper credit.  I also believe this was geared more towards tech startups, but it could also work for an animation company.  After all technology is a huge part in the production of CG animation.

According to this theory the 3 ideal people to start a company is The Hustler, The Designer, and The Hacker.  The Hustler has the grand vision, but also have their feet firmly on the ground.  They figure out how to make a good idea into a successful business. The Designer or sometimes referred to as the Hipster is the creative genius.  They make the product or service look good, and make it cool.  The Hacker is your programmer, and MacGyver of the group.  They build the ship, and make sure it keeps running at peak performance. If you take a look at the early days of Pixar you can easily point out these 3 types of leaders.  The Hustler being Steve Jobs, the Designer being John Lasseter, and the Hacker was Ed Catmull.

So how can this help me with designing my dream team?  I don’t think there is one secret formula for what makes the perfect team.  The truth is that it all comes down to the specific needs of the company, and what makes the most sense for their unique situation.  If you look at my current responsibilities in the company they would include, visionary, creator, marketing, sales, communications, technology, and finance.  As my company grows I think of who I should bring on board to help take the company to the next level.  The first person I would like to bring on would be a creative director.  Someone that is a creative powerhouse in story, animation, and design that can lead the company creatively.  With cg animation being very technical they would also need to be very tech savvy with a understanding of the pipeline and animation tools.

Additionally I would hire a tech consulting firm to help with additional technology needs we may have.  With the help of my CPA I fee I have a pretty good handle on the financial needs. I feel that covers a lot of the major needs of the company for right now.  The next team leader I would bring on board would help with marketing, sales, and other business admin functions.  Their main focus would be on the marketing and sales to help bring in more clients.

I will be starting a search for these key players to help me with the company.  Please let me know if you have any suggestions, or feel you might be a good fit yourself.

 

If you have not already, please join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  Also, if you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.

Why Small Businesses Can’t Afford Not To Have Animated Videos On Their Websites

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Are you the founder of a small business?  Do you work at a small business?  Have you ever thought about starting your own business?  Chances are pretty high that you have said yes to 1 or 2 of these questions.  Forbes estimates there are about 27 million small businesses in the United States.  A small business is defined as any company with less then 500 employees.  Over 50% of the working population works in a small business.

With so many things competing for their customers attention it is very challenging for a small business to stand out. In this post I wanted to talk about a service my business is offering to small and mid-size businesses that will help them gain more loyal customers.

It might not be true for all industries, but I feel it is important for the majority of businesses to have a website.  I know when I first hear about a business I instantly look them up online.  Before buying a product or service I want to research on my own to find out everything I can.  I don’t think I’m alone on this, and this brand awareness is a trait of Millennials.  This is becoming more important for the kids of Generation Z.  So for the owners of small businesses their online presence should be something they are paying attention to.

When building a website for your small business it can be challenging, and there are many things you have to think about.  First you setup your website to have all the information that is needed to help visitors of your site understand your product or services.  You may have spent time and money designing your site to look professional to keep your visitors engaged long enough to transition to being customers.  You may also have created a blog to attract more people to your company’s website, and doing everything you can to build your online presence.  You may have a good amount of traffic coming to your site, but they are not staying long, and those visits are not converting to sales.

This might be because your website is not engaging enough to keep their attention.  55% of visitors spend less than 15 seconds on websites. This is where my company can help, since time spent on a website increases 600% with video.  Having a video can also help make your company look fresh, and more engaging. Adding a video to your website can help in many ways other ways such as increase your companies website SEO(Search Engine Optimization). The higher your SEO the greater chance your company’s website has on showing up on page 1 when people search for specific keywords.

A lot of people see reading as work, and it is a growing expectation that when visitors come to a website that they will have the option to watch a video.  Around 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and if you don’t have a video on your business’ website you may not hold your visitors attention long enough for them to understand your product or services.  It has been shown in studies that people actually comprehend and retain more from watching an audio and visual presentation then they do from reading alone.  This is especially important if your product or service is new and unique and might require some explanation.

Another great part about videos is that they are versatile.  They can easily be added to your website, be shared through email, YouTube, and other social media sites.  There are statistics that video increases conversion rates on emails by 200% to 300%.  When you are competing for business every little bit helps, and this is hard to ignore.

Animated videos have additional benefits. Research has shown that people connect emotionally with animated illustrations, because it reminds them of their childhood. It being a time in their lives that they were more receptive to new information, and as a result video-viewers are 85% more likely to buy your product or services.  Complex messages can be distilled into clearer ideas that are easier for viewers to understand when watching animated explainer videos.

I’m going to start reaching out to small businesses to see how an animated video can help their business.  Not only will I get to make a lot of fun animated videos, but I will also get to help other small businesses.  These videos could be in the form of a commercial that they can post online, or even broadcast. They can also be in the form of explainer videos that help explain their products or services with illustrations.

I think I’m going to start by making an explainer video for my company to explain this service.  These types of animated videos can be made for as low as $1,500 depending on the length and complexity.

If you started your own business contact me to see how an animated video can help your business. Contact me!

 

If you have not already, please join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  Also, if you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.

My Marketing & Advertising Hat

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As I mentioned before when running your own business you often have to wear many different hats.  The hat that I have been wearing the most lately is my marketing hat… specifically the advertising one.  You might be thinking to yourself that marketing and advertising is the same thing.  Although they are often thought to be two words that describe the same thing they are in fact different.

Before moving on let me quickly explain the difference as best as I understand it.  Think of marketing as the whole pie, and advertising a slice of that pie.  It is often the most expensive slice of the pie followed by public relations and market research, but it is still only a piece of the pie. Marketing consists of market research, public relations, sales strategy, media planning, and the general process of preparing your product or service for the marketplace while advertising is the part of making your product or service known to the marketplace.

If you are still not completely clear on the differences that is OK, and you are not alone.  What is important is that advertising is a big part of any business’s marketing plan, and can be done through many different venues such as print, television, radio, and internet.  Knowing which venues would be best comes from the other pie pieces such as market research.

Although, I’m still working on my overall market strategy I have started to focus on my advertising options.  I first looked at how I was currently finding new clients which has mostly been relying on my website, and word of mouth. Looking at my options based on my target market, and what I can afford I can pretty much rule out radio and television.  I think radio can be a good option for a lot of businesses, but might not be the most successful for my type of business right now.  While I’m able to create my own commercials, airing them on TV would cost more then what I plan to spend right now.  Similar to radio, with television I might be paying for an audience that is very general, and not targeted enough.

Business_CardsPrint is one of the avenues I’m currently exploring.  The business cards I had printed are a form of advertising, since it is a way of getting my company name and services out to potential clients.  I upgraded from my home printed cards, since it was important for me to send the message that we are a professional company where quality is important to us..  They are printed in full color on both sides on a heavy card stock with a silky finish.  I have attached an image of them, but you only really feel the quality when you hold one.

Also in the realm of print advertising I have been looking to get direct mail fliers printed that I could send to ad agencies.  I will start by finding what ad agencies work in animation that don’t currently have an in-house animation group.  I would then find who at the ad agencies is responsible for bringing in outside production services, so I could send it directly to them.

I have not looked into getting into printed magazines yet, but if I did I would focus on magazines that are targeted towards people in the marketing and advertising industries.

The last venue is internet.  I have been focusing on this venue since it is often the least expensive, and is the best suited for targeting a specific market.  I have been using my Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter accounts to market, but I feel those are mostly for branding and public relations.  The free services may get me a client or two, but once you start getting into target marketing is when you have to start paying.  Which might be a good option for my business.  I have already signed up for the free listing in the online YellowPages as well as looking into some other online listing services such as LA411 where they specifically list production companies.

Today I was looking at Google AdWords.  I was a little surprised how difficult it was to get a price for what it would cost.  They kept saying it only costs you when someone clicks on your ad.  That’s nice and all, but how much does it cost me when someone does click on my ad?  I finally got an average of what a click would cost.  I guess it changes based on how much money Google wants to make off you that day, or something silly like that.  I was told it would be around $4 a click for my business in the target markets that I’m looking at.  I was expecting it to be a few cents per click, so I was a little shocked to hear that amount.  If I did this I would have to include on the ad a message saying, “If you already know me, please don’t click this!”  I can just see having over 100 clicks from my very proud parents.  I love you Mom & Dad, but you just cost me $400!

Well, this all gives me some things to thank about, and a lot of decisions to make.  I might try a few different approaches to see what works the best.  I will set a monthly budget for what I can spend per month on marketing and advertising, and make sure I stick to that.  I can easily see this getting out of control if you don’t watch it.  Who knows, maybe I will learn that it is more cost effective to keep with word of mouth only.  I feel like I might have to start with some marketing to get my brand out there, and then maybe I can rely strictly on word of mouth.

I would love to hear anyones feedback on marketing and advertising.  If you have any suggestions of on this topic that you would be willing to share please leave them in the comments.

 

If you have not already, please join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  Also, if you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.

Learn it, Master it, Redefine it!

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Several years ago I wrote down 3 phrases; Learn it, Master it, and Redefine it.  Whether it is learning a new skill, or starting a new job this explains how I approached new things.  It was frustrating to me that I always felt others would be able to jump into new tasks much quicker then I could.  I often was a slow starter, but would eventually catch up, and often surpassed others in understanding the task.  After reflecting on how I approached new situations I saw a pattern in myself that helped me understand how I work.

I’m a visual learner, so when I first approach a new assignment someone can explain it to me in great detail, but I would not be able to pick it up.  I realized that I have to discover it myself by visually breaking it apart into smaller parts.  It is a joke among my friends that I use excel spreadsheets for everything.  It is an easy way for me to visually lay out all the details, and see how everything relates to one another.  This is also why I like to schedule everything out, since I can visually see my day.  For larger tasks this goes far beyond excel sheets, and calendars.  I break down every aspect of the task, and really analyze every detail until I completely understand it.  This is why it takes me so long to pick up new things, but also why I feel like I might have a better understanding of a task then others that did not take the time to analyze every detail.

Once I truly understand the task I then start to master it.  This often just requires time, and practice that there is no substitute for.  When I start this phase I might not be the best at the task, but I can talk about it like I’m an expert.

Once I feel I understand the task inside and out, and able to perform the task at a level of mastery I start to analyze the process.  After I truly understanding and master something I start to notice the imperfections in the process.  I begin to think of ways that would improve the process, and more efficient ways of completing the task.  I’m never satisfied with the status quo, and I’m often looking for better ways to do things.

This is the process I tend to go through with every new challenge I face.  Currently I’m in the early stages of learning how to run my animation company.  I have never had to find clients, bid on projects, understand accounting, taxes, growing a company, or setting up a production pipeline.  The way I have been learning to do all these things is by looking at my competitors to see how they do it.  I mimic them to get a complete understand of their way of doing it.  I feel this is an important step before I start to redefine the way my company runs.

If you ask me what makes my company stand out from our competitors I would have to say that right now there is not much of a difference.  The more I learn about my competitors the more I will be able to find better ways.  It is at this point the company will start to take its shape, and will become uniquely its own company with its own culture.  This not only gives me a base to start from, but it also helps me under stand my competitors.

This is all incredibly important to me, since I don’t want to simply be a reflection of an existing company.  In order to be successful you have to find a way to stand out from the background.  I know that my process might take me longer, but I feel it will give me an advantage over my competition.  Lets see if my theory works.

Updates
Last week I spent a lot of time reaching out to both clients, and reps. I have also been doing a lot of research on the leadership structure of some of the other animation companies.  I’m making a plan for what I feel would be best for my company at its current stage.

This week I will continue looking into finding new clients.  We are starting on a small project with one of our existing clients, but that should not be more then a couple weeks of work.  This Wednesday I will be attending the DreamWorks Animation’s Home cast and crew screening and wrap party.  I’m excited to see how much the movie has changed since I left in July.  It will also be nice to get to see my old friends and co-workers.  I will let you know how it went in next week’s blog post.

 

If you have not already, please join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  Also, if you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.

Target Market

Who’s My Target Market?

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I finally started working on my business plan which has been helpful for me in evaluating my company.  I have always had a general plan of what I was doing, but writing it down really brings clarity to what my goals are, and what I need to figure out.  One of the things I have been doing a lot of thinking on is who my target market is.

Figuring out who our target market is, and who I should be marketing to will help me focus my efforts in finding new clients.  When I first started I was trying to find new clients everywhere, and my efforts were slit.  I often get contacted by independent filmmakers, small companies, and individuals wanting to make an animation.  Which is great, but most of them have little or no budget.  I spend a lot of time and effort trying to work with their limited budget to make things work, but in the end it is just not possible for me to be involved.

I can only reduce my rates so far until I’m taking a loss on the project, and if it was a great opportunity that would help build my portfolio I might consider it.  Issue is that they are working with such limited budgets that the end project would end up looking cheap, and that is not the kind of work I want to be putting out there.  These groups are often better off working directly with the artist or animator, and don’t need someone like me to produce it.

I realized that my company is best suited for projects that require larger teams and more moving parts that needs someone to keep it organized.  This is why advertising agencies and studios are my target market, since they have the budgets that can support larger projects.

I don’t know much about advertising agencies, so I started doing a lot of research on them.  I wanted to know who hired outside production companies, so I would know who the best person to contact is.  I have been doing everything from contacting people that work at ad agencies to watching The Pitch TV series on Netflix.  Watching the show actually has given me a better understanding of the inner workings of an advertising agency, but I would love to hear from anyone that works at an ad agency how accurate the show is to reality.

I have also started the search for a commercial representative.  They are like an agent for production companies that help bring clients and their projects to the companies they represent.  I’m looking for a representative that does not have a monthly fee, and only takes a percent of the revenue from a project.  That way if they are not bringing any work to the studio it won’t cost me any money.  If they do find clients I’m happy to give them a percent, since it is work I would not have had without them.  If anyone knows of a good hardworking reps please let me know.

These are some of the things I’m working on to help grow my business.  There never seems to be enough time in each day to get everything done.

 

If you have not already, please join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  Also, if you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.

Understanding vs Ability

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I have been thinking a lot about how my skills have changed over the years, and the difference between understanding and ability. I feel that I now have a much greater understanding of artistry and design, but that I have lost much of my ability to create art.  I have learned a great deal about art from working with and observing such talented people over the years, and this is why I have a greater understanding.  At the same time I have lost my ability to draw and paint, since I have not been doing it.  In the past if you handed me a pencil and asked me to draw something I would be able to do it, but now I would be a bit rusty.

Ability is something you have to constantly work at, and if you stop doing it you might loose your skill.  Understanding is something I feel is hard to loose once you have it.  Once you have the understanding to ride a bike you won’t forget, but you may loose the ability to ride it after a while.

I decided I wanted to regain some of that skill I have lost, and plan to set aside some time each day to develop my artistic ability.  I feel it is important that I keep these skills sharp.  Not only will it be a great hobby for me, but will also be a great skill to have in my line of work.  In the business I will still focus on the management side of things, and leave the art to the extremely talented people I work with.

I look forward to sharing some of my artwork with all of you as I develop my skills, but it might be awhile until I’m once again confident with my work.

If you have not seen them before here are my first two animations that I made in college.  Looking back on these I feel there is so much I have learned, and many ways I could make them better. Things like character design, modeling, story, lighting, and compositing to name a few.  I’m still very proud of them, and they will always be special to me.  I hope you enjoy them.

ChessMate

 

Mediocrity

 

If you have not already, please join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  Also, if you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.

Judging & Taxes

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Yesterday, I did my taxes which was the first time I did them with the business.  The business is still setup as a sole proprietorship, so personal and business taxes are done together.  DreamWorks Animation and my wife’s employer both took taxes directly out of our paychecks, but that was not the case for the business.  As a business owner it is my responsibility to pay the taxes myself each quarter.  I had an idea of how much they would be, so I made sure I set some money aside.  This was the first time I did not get a tax refund, but instead will have to pay Uncle Sam.  It is more obvious how much money you pay in taxes when you pay it all at once instead of having it taken out of your paycheck each week.

I’m looking into changing the business into a S-Corp for the tax benefits, but if I don’t make enough money it will end up costing me more then what it will save me.  I will see how the next month goes before making a decision.  I know there are other benefits to switching to an S-Corp, so I may just bite the bullet, and make the change.

I was contacted by the president of my alma mater’s Film/Video Society about being a judge for their annual Filmmakers Showcase.  When I was a student at the University of Toledo I always enjoyed attending this event, and would often have my own work in the show.  I was honored when they asked me to be a judge, and have been making my way through the 39 entries.  They include film, video, and animation projects that range from a couple of minutes to 30 minutes in length.  To be honest, some of them are pretty bad, but there are also a lot of really good ones in there.  I’m about half way through them, and still hoping for an amazing one.

This week I have still been doing a lot of work on my website.  I mentioned in an earlier post that I started with a website that I liked, and was trying to change it to be my own.  I realized that getting it to a point where I did not feel I was copying someone else’s work would require a lot more skill in web design & programing then what I have.  Although I was making a lot of progress, and learning a great deal I still had a lot of work to get done.  I already have spent more time on this then I wanted, so I needed a better option.

I typically try to stay away from the cookie-cutter website design programs, since they are often very limiting on what you could do with them.  After I had two friends mentioned using SquareSpace I thought I should check it out.  I was pleasantly surprised with the available options, and how simple it made it.  Realizing I was not progressing fast enough on my current course I decided to make a change.

I signed up for a SquareSpace account and started over with my website.  I already planned out the layout of my website, so with the SquareSpace tools I was able to quickly get back to where I was.  I now feel I have a functioning website that at the minimum shows our work, and gives clients a way to contact me.  I will continue improving the site, but the basics are there.  Please check it out and let me know what you think of it so far.

www.milleranimation.com

I hope to be finishing up the site this week, and starting next week I plan to focus on finding my next clients.  I feel I might have been dragging my feet on this with other projects, since I’m not sure where to start.  I have a couple avenues I can explore, and hopefully one of them will get me somewhere.

 

If you have not already, please join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  Also, if you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.

MillerAnimation.com Coming Soon!

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I wanted to give a quick update on the progress of things.  I have been spending all my time working on my website, but it is finally starting to take form.  I have also been learning a great deal about web design.  Putting my site together is a slow process, since anytime I can’t figure something out I watch YouTube videos for the answers.  I started with the main page to get that looking the way I want, so I can then duplicate it to the other pages and change the content.

I started from another company’s website that I liked, and then started changing it to make it my own.  That helped me from having to figure out all the coding, but still enabled me to have some cool features on my site.  What this ended up mean though was that I had to dig through the code to find out how to do every little thing.  For example if I wanted to change certain text to a different color I would have to find what CSS code was effecting that text.  It was tedious, but I’m starting to understand all this css stuff.

You can check out my site in its current state at milleranimation.com.  Some of the images and text are still placeholders, most of the links don’t work, and none of the contact forms are working.  My next task is to learn how to set up the contact forms, so potential clients can actually get in touch with me.  Let me know your thoughts on how it is coming along so far.  If you have any cool ideas I would love to hear those too.

In an earlier post I mentioned that I was expecting this January to be my companies first month with a negative net income, but I actually had enough work that the month ended with a positive net income.  It helps that my expenses right now for the company are extremely low, but I will still take the victory. Maybe I will get lucky again in February, but my prediction is that February will be in the red.  I’m OK with that since I’m putting so much of my time and effort into getting the company setup properly.  This is something I did not have time to do when I first set off on my own.  As long as I’m making progress I’m OK with a few unprofitable months.

 

If you have not already, please join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  Also, if you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.