{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business","title":"082: How to find direction and focus as a motion designer w/ Ross Plaskow","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/2f2fbc4d\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2920,"description":"As a motion designer, it’s likely you have a lot of different skills. But knowing which projects to invest your time and energy in can be overwhelming. This week’s guest has a successful YouTube channel and Patreon account. But he wants to spend more of his time creating games as that’s what he really enjoys. Join Hayley as she helps Ross Plaskow to find his direction and focus as a designer. About Ross Plaskow Ross started out his motion design career by doing an animation degree at the University of Portsmouth before getting a job working for an agency - the first one he ever contacted! He worked there for a number of years before leaving that job to go freelance full-time. How to land that first job once you go freelance In typical freelance fashion, the road to freelancing success wasn’t straight-forward for Ross. It took him 6 months to get his first freelance gig. Ross attributes this to not tailoring his approach when it came to approaching clients - his portfolio was very diverse and he feels he should have been more selective in the examples of work he sent over to potential clients.  It took him 6 months to really perfect his showreel and once he did, he found that getting work became a lot easier. Therefore you shouldn’t be afraid to niche down, even at the beginning of your career. How to diversify your revenue streams as a motion designer Ross started his YouTube channel in 2016 making cartoons and tutorials. Things started out positively but he hit a wall with creating content when he got too busy with his freelancing.  He almost gave up entirely, but then he hit a quiet spot in his freelance career and made the decision to create very niche tutorials and put them on the paid content subscription site, Patreon.  He now has over 200 paid members on the platform and his YouTube boasts an impressive 105k subscribers.  Ross says that the reason his YouTube videos have done so well is because of good SEO - using common sense and researching what kinds of...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/6xsBYKnILeAtccYypWeYL_O2NEWlJf8222gnA24qdKQ/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzUwODIxLzE3MTA3/ODEzMDYtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}