038: Getting started as a freelance motion designer w/ Donna McAvoy
04/16/19 • 30 min
As freelancers we often feel like we’re all on our own, that we have to come up with everything ourselves. But there are communities of us, both online and offline, that we can lean on and use to learn from each other. Whether you’re just starting out or have been running your own freelance business for years, the power of community and networking can be a major benefit. Few know this better than today’s guest.
Donna McAvoy is an amazing freelance animator and a member of our recent Mograph Mastermind Program. She studied computer arts at Abertay University and worked on mobile games before moving into animation for television. Now she’s freelancing as a 2D animator based in Glasgow where she creates some truly awesome work.
In this bonus episode, Donna shares the story of her journey into freelance motion design. She has found a way to make a career in her home in Scotland where it may not seem like there are as many opportunities as elsewhere. Donna talks about the realities of looking for and finding jobs as a freelance animator and how she makes it work.
Donna credits much of her success to proper networking. It’s helped her discover how others in her situation are making a living and has connected her to some of her best jobs. By connecting with other freelancers, Donna has been able to learn valuable tips from others like her, including that she could significantly raise the rates she was charging her clients.
In this episode:
- Finding work as a freelancer while living in a place without many big studios
- The power of motion design communities for helping you find direction as a freelancer
- The importance of networking for finding jobs when it may seem like none are available
- Why you should think about significantly raising your rates and the challenges and payoffs of doing so
- Why freelancers should be charging more than employees of a company
- How a mastermind can help build confidence, keep you accountable, and come up with great ideas for your business
Quotes:
“Networking is just the biggest thing to be doing. And it’s also good to just get out from your desk. I guess a lot of people are working from home and you get a bit crazy there.” [10:43]
“Although what you can charge varies from media to media, I think if you’re working remotely, it shouldn’t have such a big impact where you are based.” [12:23]
“The networking part is probably most important I feel. Basically just getting your work out as soon as you can because maybe if you do feel like it’s not good enough, it’s good to get someone to give you perspective and feedback on what you could be doing to make it better.” [24:35]
Links:
Follow Donna on Instagram | Twitter | Vimeo | Linkedin
Sign up for the Mograph Mastermind
Keep up with everything Motion Hatch
Follow Motion Hatch on Twitter | Instagram
If you haven't already, would you mind leaving us a rating and review? It really helps!
As freelancers we often feel like we’re all on our own, that we have to come up with everything ourselves. But there are communities of us, both online and offline, that we can lean on and use to learn from each other. Whether you’re just starting out or have been running your own freelance business for years, the power of community and networking can be a major benefit. Few know this better than today’s guest.
Donna McAvoy is an amazing freelance animator and a member of our recent Mograph Mastermind Program. She studied computer arts at Abertay University and worked on mobile games before moving into animation for television. Now she’s freelancing as a 2D animator based in Glasgow where she creates some truly awesome work.
In this bonus episode, Donna shares the story of her journey into freelance motion design. She has found a way to make a career in her home in Scotland where it may not seem like there are as many opportunities as elsewhere. Donna talks about the realities of looking for and finding jobs as a freelance animator and how she makes it work.
Donna credits much of her success to proper networking. It’s helped her discover how others in her situation are making a living and has connected her to some of her best jobs. By connecting with other freelancers, Donna has been able to learn valuable tips from others like her, including that she could significantly raise the rates she was charging her clients.
In this episode:
- Finding work as a freelancer while living in a place without many big studios
- The power of motion design communities for helping you find direction as a freelancer
- The importance of networking for finding jobs when it may seem like none are available
- Why you should think about significantly raising your rates and the challenges and payoffs of doing so
- Why freelancers should be charging more than employees of a company
- How a mastermind can help build confidence, keep you accountable, and come up with great ideas for your business
Quotes:
“Networking is just the biggest thing to be doing. And it’s also good to just get out from your desk. I guess a lot of people are working from home and you get a bit crazy there.” [10:43]
“Although what you can charge varies from media to media, I think if you’re working remotely, it shouldn’t have such a big impact where you are based.” [12:23]
“The networking part is probably most important I feel. Basically just getting your work out as soon as you can because maybe if you do feel like it’s not good enough, it’s good to get someone to give you perspective and feedback on what you could be doing to make it better.” [24:35]
Links:
Follow Donna on Instagram | Twitter | Vimeo | Linkedin
Sign up for the Mograph Mastermind
Keep up with everything Motion Hatch
Follow Motion Hatch on Twitter | Instagram
If you haven't already, would you mind leaving us a rating and review? It really helps!
Previous Episode
037: Making Money in Mograph Part 6 w/ Hannah Jacobs
This is part six of the mini-series Making Money in Mograph where we talk about some unconventional ways to earn an income in animation. Did you know that as an animator you also have the skills to make money as an illustrator? There are people like my guest today who are using these two sets of skills to showcase their creativity and earn more than they would in just a single field.
Hannah Jacobs is an animator and illustrator with a wonderful and unique style all her own. She has an MA in animation from the Royal College of Art and her work has been featured at international film festivals like SXSW and Tribeca. Some of her clients include The New York Times, VICE, and the BBC.
We sit down to chat about how to make money as both an illustrator and animator. These two fields complement each other as well as open up different revenue streams for you. By approaching animation with an illustrator’s background, Hannah faces some unique challenges but it pays off by setting her apart from the pack.
Hannah also discusses what it’s like being represented by a big production company and its advantages. She shares some great tips on what to do if you’re thinking about finding representation. Hannah talks about all the ways she is branching out to make money from her work, from selling prints to making kids’ books, she is exploring so many ways to earn an income.
In this episode:
- The challenges that approaching animation as an illustrator presents
- How having a unique style can attract clients
- The advantages of being represented by a production company and the support it gives you
- Tips for finding the right production company for you so that you can do what you want to do with the right support
- Selling your personal work as a way to generate passive income
- How the amount of creative control you might have varies depending on whether you’re illustrating or animating
- Valuing the work that you do for yourself and finding the time to work on your own projects
Quotes:
“For me, the first stage of any animation is the design -- it’s the driver for me.“ [4:18]
“I know as creatives we often question absolutely everything we do all the time, so I think it’s so nice just to have a producer or another animator or someone to turn to.” [8:13]
“I think so many animators now are working in an illustrative way. I feel like you can press pause in a lot of films and take a frame out and be like this would be such a nice print for the wall ... I feel like a lot of animators should think about potentially selling prints of frames from their films.” [18:10]
“Something that might seem like a bit of a random thing that you find yourself doing can often lead to something else. I love that opportunities sort of spring up in random unexpected places.” [29:26]
Links:
Follow Hannah on Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Vimeo
The Association of Illustrators
Keep up with everything Motion Hatch
Follow Motion Hatch on Twitter | Instagram
If you haven't already, would you mind leaving us a rating and review? It really helps!
Next Episode
039: How to get better clients and scale your business w/ Greg Hickman
Do you find yourself spending too much time on the phone trying to get potential clients instead of doing the work you’re actually passionate about? Have you thought about automating this process but aren’t sure where to start? It’s not as daunting as many might think and my guest on this episode is an expert at getting it done!
Greg Hickman runs a company called System.ly, where he helps service-based businesses with marketing funnels, scaling, and qualifying leads. In short, he shows you how to get perfect clients without the need for you to spend your time talking with people who won’t end up using your services anyway. His coaching programs are geared to help service providers scale and grow their business through automation systems and productizing.
In this interview we talk about implementing systems to help you save time and get in touch with the right people for your business. There’s a lot of opportunity for automation that all of us can make use of to streamline our marketing and sales process. In the end, automation’s goal is to simplify your business and save you lots of time and energy. Greg shares some of his favorite tips on how to make this happen.
We also chat about productizing your services. To do it right takes focusing on just one service so that you can make your systems streamlined and repeatable. This can be a tricky thing to do if you still want to stay true to your creative pursuits, but Greg shares some great ideas on how to pull it off.
In this episode:
- What Infusionsoft is and how it can be a tool to help your business as in marketing automation
- Automating your marketing and sales processes to save you time and help your potential clients get to know you better
- Why having your customer “apply” to work with you will position yourself as an expert
- Easy tips and tricks to reduce the amount of time you spend on sales calls
- Finding the right niche to make your services easier to market and sell
- Productizing your services to add predictability to your business and allow you to finally take a vacation
- How to stay true to your creativity while still growing and scaling your business
Quotes:
“Ultimately you have to look at what your business model is. As motion designers, or any business, what are you selling and how do you deliver it? Whatever the answer is to those questions, at some point you’re probably doing some sort of marketing that could be streamlined.” [5:59]
“How many times do you get on the phone and say the same thing over and over and over again? If that’s the case, make a video; make it a requirement to watch that video before they get on the phone, and that call can now be twenty minutes or whatever. You’ve saved yourself some time.” [23:23]
“If you want to build a more scalable business that is leveraged, you need to start to leverage these systems to remove yourself from the delivery.” [28:36]
“As service providers we start as technicians and we have a technical business. But that doesn’t mean that you, the owner, need to be the one doing all of the technical work.” [29:48]
“I think the biggest challenge for creatives is you’re doing this because you also love the creative element. So custom is important and that’s totally fine. You just have to make the decision of what’s more important.” [40:56]
Links:
Find Greg Hickman online at System.ly
Join the Scalable Service Provider Facebook group
E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
Built to Sell by John Warrillow
Keep up with everything Motion Hatch
Follow Motion Hatch on Twitter | Instagram
If you haven't already, would you mind leaving us a rating and review? It really helps!
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