Learning

I am a firm believer that leaders are always supposed to be learning. Not only because you can’t take others where you’ve never been, but because that’s the nature of being in the motion design business.

To get into the industry you have to do a lot of learning. And I’m not just talking about the technical side of things – although there’s no argument that this is critical.

But to stay in the industry you have to learn even more and at a much quicker pace. There’s new versions, new app’s, new gear, new territory, new techniques, new clients. new jobs, new plugins, new business angles and more. So instead of just doing your full-time production job to pay the bills, You always have to be learning as well to keep up with your clients and your own personal goals.

As a father of five with our sixth on the way, it’s sometimes difficult to find a balance between work (paying gigs) and play (non-paying, or for hire learning opportunities), but both are required for a business to succeed. If I get too unbalanced in either category, the business will fail.

So today was a day for learning. I’ve been receiving more frequent requests for 3D work in the past quarter, and actually done a few jobs dabbling in Cinema4D, but now it’s time to get serious. I have so much to learn – and it’s a great reminder of what it is like to be a student after spending some time being the teacher.

All in all, i think it was a day well spent. I’ll be back on the other side of the business model tomorrow.