Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business – Details, episodes & analysis

I have some news for you this week...

We are taking a short break from the podcast and YouTube channel until the Autumn (fall). We'll be coming back even bigger and better with the second half of season 2. I hope you have a wonderful summer, and thank you so much for supporting Motion Hatch!

Links mentioned:
🚀 Join the self-paced version of Client Quest Live
💬 Leave us your feedback and suggestions

Free resources to grow your career:
💸 Get your next client in 5 days!
📲 Download our free social media guide

Connect with Motion Hatch:
✉️ Subscribe to our newsletter
📸 Follow us on Instagram
🖥️ Find more free resources on our website

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Flow Creative is an award-winning animation and branding studio based in Manchester, UK.
In this episode, Karl Doran, owner and founder, shares his insights into running Flow Creative, along with key points on his journey from freelancer to studio owner. 

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How to start an animation studio
• The difference between freelancer and studio owner
• How to get clients as a studio
• How freelancers can get hired by studios
• Transitioning from a creative to a management role

Follow Flow Creative: Website | Instagram

Free resources to grow your career:
💸 Get your next client in 5 days!
📲 Download our free social media guide

Connect with Motion Hatch:
✉️ Subscribe to our newsletter
📸 Follow us on Instagram
🖥️ Find more free resources on our website

Rate this podcast

Should you niche down as a designer? We’ve all heard this advice! So, does niching down help you to win more clients or empower you to be seen as an expert? In this podcast, Hayley speaks with one of our Accelerator students, Giuseppe about how he niched down his animation studio Motion Aptitude to work on projects he loves.

About Giuseppe Forestieri

Giuseppe Forestieri is the Animation Director of his own studio, Motion Aptitude and has a background in visual communication, specialising in animation and Illustration.

Motion Aptitude is the fusion of two of Giuseppe’s biggest passions in life: creativity, and the great outdoors. In this episode, he explains how he found his niche and hopes he can inspire other designers to pursue the work they love. 

Read the full shownotes

We’ve all wanted something more from of our work at one time or another, but how many of us actually take it upon ourselves to create what we’re looking for? TJ Kearney did just that with the help of four friends when they founded Oddfellows and purposely changed their lives and constructed the careers they wanted.

TJ Kearney was a founding member of Oddfellows Studio and is now the EP at Instrument. In this episode, he breaks down how the roles you started with will change as you grow your business, and how growth and talent acquisition can be best accomplished using remote workers. You will often need to put aside your fears and preconceived notions to best serve your clients, your employees, and your business as a whole.

He also gave some amazing tips on how to properly reach out to studios you want to work with, how to budget a project that gives you the wiggle room you will need to negotiate and make a profit as a studio, and how having a producer partner that you know, trust and have worked with before can make or break a new studio.

Do you have the work/life balance you want? If so, what do you do to make sure it stays that way? If not, where do you think you struggle most with it?

In this episode:

• Factors you should consider when choosing which projects to take on
• The trifecta of people to have in place to run a successful business from the start
• The importance of community involvement and how it can help you hire the best, network effortlessly, and give back in ways you didn’t think were possible.
• Steps to properly reaching out to studios you want to work with
• What to look for in a great producer
• How to utilize social media to grow your business
• Top tips on budgeting for a project

Links:

• Oddfellows 
• Instrument 
• Follow TJ Kearney on Twitter | Instagram 
• The One Thing on Amazon & Audible 

Find the full show notes at https://motionhatch.com/11

Keep up with everything Motion Hatch at https://motionhatch.com 

One of the things so many of us creatives struggle with is how to charge what we’re worth. Many of us are in the habit of thinking of ourselves as freelancers, but Chris Do joins us today to talk us through how to change our mindset to think of ourselves as independent business owners instead, and why we should be viewing our careers through that lens.

Find the full show notes at https://motionhatch.com/10 

Keep up with everything Motion Hatch at https://motionhatch.com 

What's the one thing that many of us artists and creatives dread more than all else every year? That’s right, it’s tax time! As creatives we would rather put all our energy towards our work instead of stressing out about our accounting (or lack thereof). Luckily for us, today’s guest cuts right through the jargon and gives us some accounting tips in plain English.*

*That’s kind of an awesome (if unintentional) pun, as this week we’re focussing on the accounting specifics for UK based freelancers. If you’re from the US or anywhere else, most of the general practices cross over, and we’re going to be having a US accountant of the show coming up soon!

Emily Coltman works with online accounting company, FreeAgent and she generously takes us through a variety of topics including what the differences are between a sole trader and a limited company in the UK, what receipts you need to keep and how to best do that, and the ins and outs of V.A.T. It is a jammed pack episode so make sure you have some paper and a pen ready because the information will be coming at you fast.

She also gave a ton of tips and tricks for the freelancers who are just starting out and have no clue as to how to set up their business for legal and tax purposes, plus gave us some great guides and tools to use to make this time of year a little bit less scary.

Do you use an accountant for your business or do you do it all yourself? Have you ever tried an online accounting company? What did you find to be the pros and cons? Leave us a comment below!

• The differences between operating as a sole trader or a limited company including some specifics regarding tax time
• The importance of separating your banking between personal and business
• Top three expenses you can claim
• The ins and outs of V.A.T.
• Some clarification on the legalities of working with overseas clients in terms of your accounting

• Free Agent 
• VAT Calculator (FRS) 
• Guide to Claiming Expenses 
• TransferWise

Check out the full show notes here

Keep up with everything Motion Hatch and join the community here!

This week on Motion Hatch we’re getting festive and reflective with Austin Saylor, as we reflect on our top 3 lessons learned in 2017 and our top 3 things we want to achieve in our motion design careers in 2018. We also have a bit of fun with a motion design gift exchange!

Austin Saylor is a freelance motion designer, and creator of The Lettering Animation Course which will be launching in 2018. He’s also an active member of the Motion Hatch Community and a good friend, meaning this is a super fun episode with a lot of laughs and some great insight.

While listing off our selections, we dove into the importance of community, not being scared to put yourself out there, and how accountability can make one of the most significant differences in your career. We had a lot of fun recording today’s episode and even made each other holiday short animations which you will find a link to below.

What lessons did you learn in 2017? What are your goals for 2018? Share with us by leaving a comment on the episode page!

In this episode:

• Tips and tricks on experimenting with different ways of finding clients
• Why community matters and where to find the perfect fit for you
• Why you shouldn’t be afraid to raise your prices
• The importance of increasing your skill set with courses or classes and the concept of striving to become someone’s  #1 student
• Why having accountability can make or break your goals

Links:

• Austin Saylor 
• Austin’s Podcast
• Follow Austin on Instagram | Vimeo | Twitter | Dribble  
• Austin’s Lettering Animation Course
• Bingomation 
• The Podcast Dude
• The Sweet Ass Journal
• The Freelance Manifesto 
• Follow Motion Hatch on Facebook | Twitter

Find the full episode page and all the links here 

If you’ve ever thought about going into business with a friend or business partner, you’re probably aware that it’s not always as rosy as it might seem at first. Competing goals, styles and personalities can make it hard to go into business with even close friends, and we’ve all heard stories of friendships ruined by bad business partnerships. In today’s episode, we talk with London-based Wednesday Studio who dive into some of the challenges and benefits of partnering up to form a studio.

Daniela and Iria from Wednesday Studio specialize in short-form 2D content and have worked with some big names such as Microsoft, Airbnb, and the Huffington Post. They offer insights into how to put together a freelance team, the logistics behind managing remote staff, and why having a group of freelancers based all over the world can actually help you get things done quicker. If you’re organized that is.

We also got the opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of having representation versus being a solo freelancer. How one over the other can actually give you more opportunities, and it might not be the one you are thinking.

• Why having a contract is absolutely necessary to begin a project, and what you should include in one
• The pros and cons of having representation vs going it alone
• How important is social media when it comes to finding clients
• Advice and tips for starting a studio
• How to find and hire quality freelancers to work with on larger projects
• A handy list of tools for working remotely

• Wednesday Studio 
• Follow Wednesday Studio on Facebook | Twitter  | Instagram | Vimeo | Dribble | Tumbler 
• Email Wednesday Studio at [email protected]

Are you brand new and figuring out how to start your freelance career? Maybe you’re at the point where you’re trying to decide if you should attempt to scale your business to become a studio as opposed to an individual freelancer? Wherever you’re at, we cover it all with one of the top motion design educators in our industry!

Joey Korenman is the founder and head instructor at School of Motion, author of the Freelance Manifesto, husband and father to three cute kids, and all around awesome human-being. After taking his freelance motion career from freelancer to studio he realized that his true passion lay in education, and he shared enough of that knowledge with us today that you’ll leave with your head spinning.

We dive into how to set the course for your life and career with an exercise called The Perfect Day and how to adjust and reevaluate your actions based on that ideal day. Joey also shares his take on the best way to make yourself stand out as a freelancer, and why you shouldn’t let the idea of lack of work scare you from freelancing. We also spend some time gushing over one of our favourite business educators and podcasters.

Are you currently working a corporate job but considering freelancing? What scares you most about making that leap? Please leave a comment below!

In this episode:

• The importance of systems and having great help
• “The Perfect Day” exercise and how can it help you determine the career (and life) choices you make
• The importance of validating your ideas before diving in fully
• How to get your foot in the door with big clients as a new freelancer
• How should you best handle revisions with your clients?
• The pros and cons to branding yourself as a studio vs an individual freelancer
• How to deal with pushback on your pricing

Related Links:

School Of Motion  School of Motion Podcast Follow School of Motion on social media: Facebook & Twitter 

The Freelance Manifesto (Book)

Remote (Book)

Will It Fly (Book) 

Joey’s Motionographer article, Too Old For Mograph

Some of the links above are affiliate links. Basically, this means that if you decide to make a purchase through one of these links, we will earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. You can be sure that we would recommend these products whether or not we made any commission on them. Please don’t spend your money on them if you don’t think that they will truly help you improve your business, although, in our experience, they will.

When we first get started in the world of motion graphics, we often have dreams of working on endlessly fulfilling creative projects, always working in our preferred style. Needless to say, it doesn’t take most of us long to realize that this isn’t the way the industry works. This, however, is all the more reason to continue refining and experimenting with our own style, to keep inspired, and eventually attract new clients.

Irene Feleo is originally from Australia, but now lives in New York, and has a history of balancing freelance and full-time work along with her own personal projects. We speak about how having a full-time gig not only helps you pay your bills but also helps you gain skills that you need to succeed, but how at one point, her job lead her to what she calls her quarter-life crisis.

Irene shares the importance of having a community and how participating actively within the community can help you gain insight, make friends, and get referrals. She also speaks about the need to create on your own terms and how those passion projects can ultimately lead you to some amazing clients. Plus, we explore the use of social media to put your work out into the world so that branding agencies can fall in love with your esthetic and pursue you.

How do you balance personal projects and paid work? Have you ever had a personal project lead to a paid gig? Leave a comment below!

In This Episode:

• The importance of having your own style and aesthetic
• How your personal projects can lead you to a lot of great clients
• Why community and social media is such a powerful thing and how to use it to grow your relationships
• Do you need a contract when you're just starting out?

Related Links:

• Find Irene Online
• Follow Irene on Tumblr | Instagram | Vimeo
• Irene’s Berlin-themed personal project
• Project: Girl series
• Loop de Loop Competition