Project & Career Planning

For Creative Professionals

Audience for this Course

Review• Resume (Professional or other)• Writer: 2x samples of your work• Actors: 1x head shot• Artist: 3x examples of work• If you have a current website: screen shot of

homepage + URL• 5x challenges you are facing• 2x creative blocks you are faced with• Your creative career goal

*ANYTHING YOU FEEL YOU NEED HELP WORKING ON

‘Imagination is more important than knowledge.’

Albert Einstein

Agenda1. Review: Purpose2. Introductions3. Introvert vs. Extrovert4. Competition & Motivation5. Creative & Career Goals6. Wishing7. Mind Mapping8. Grow9. Time10.Networking11. Market12.The Magic of ‘If’

Allyson – Who am I. What I do.

Participants – Who are you?

?

INTROVERT OR EXTROVERTLife of the party…

…or solitary figure.

What happens when you are a little bit of both?

Extrovert

• I am the life of the party• I don't mind being the center of attention• I feel comfortable around people• I start conversations• I talk to a lot of different people at parties

*Wikipedia

Introvert

• I am quiet around strangers• I don't like to draw attention to myself• I don't talk a lot• I have little to say

Ambiversion?

*Wikipedia

What am I & Why it Matters

Signal Patterns

Personality Patterns survey can help you pinpoint and explore the unique characteristics of your personality.

COMPETITIONYou are not in competition with me…

…or anyone else for that matter.

This is a safe environment to free yourself to take creative risks.

‘In my experience... achievement depends on willingness to accept a challenge, take risks, make errors and the belief that one has the control over the outcomes. 

Achievement is hindered by perfectionism, fear of failure, and the belief that control, credit and/or blame belong to someone else.’

P. Theroux 

Personal Competition

• It's about self improvement, about being better than you were the day before

‘Competing with others is arrogance; competing with yourself is confidence!’

Unknown

How can anyone compete against uniqueness?

You are unique!

MOTIVATIONI challenge you to engage in activities that you desire most…

… versus what you think is possible.

Motivation is defined as a motive to act. If there is a motive, there is action.

No motive, no action.

‘At 211˚ water is hot.

At 212 ˚ it boils and with boiling water comes steam and steam can power a locomotive. 

It’s that one extra degree that makes all the difference.’

Unknown

Internal vs. External Motivation

• At times there are tasks that you do because you want to do them

• At other times there are tasks that you do because someone else wants you to do them or rewards you for doing them

• Recognizing the differences between those two types of tasks will help you understand your motivations

Personal Factors of Motivation

COMPENSATORY EFFORT

COMPETITIVENESS

CONFIDENCE IN SUCCESS

EAGERNESS TO LEARN

FEARLESSNESS

FLEXIBILITY

INDEPENDENCE

INTERNALITY

PERSISTENCE

PRIDE IN PRODUCTIVIT

Y

SELF-CONTROL

STATUS ORIENTATION

WISHINGA wish is a hope or desire for something…

…which gives you an action towards your objective.

The objective is what you want, the action is what you do.

ID Creative & Career Goals (Objective)

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

TimeGoal Setting & Common Mistakes

‘I WISH’ + Action Words = Goals/Objectives!

Star in a Feature film

Write a Feature

film

Complete my Life’s work

Brainstorming

Motivations for Goals/Objectives!

Brainstorming

• Generate as many ideas as possible

• Differ Judgment• Quantity of ideas is

more important than quality

• include wild ideas new & different

approaches ideas that build

on previous suggestions

suggestions that have worked in the past

Star in a Feature film

Write a Feature

film

Complete my Life’s work

MONEY

FAME

FULFILLMENT

ENJOYMENT

Building a Map to Success

• Prioritize your Goals (Objective)

• Map Goals (Objective) to Motivation

• Mind Map it!

Selection

Mind Maps – A Graphical Organizer

WHY MIND MAPS WORK• Avoid thinking linearly• Creative and new way of

thinking

*MindMapping.org

• More realistic • Help get the big picture • Right brain

Making a Mind MapStep 1: Start at the center of the page

Step 2: Don´t be serious!

Step 3: Free associate

Step 4: Think as fast as you can

Step 5: There are no boundaries

Step 6: Don´t judge too fast

Step 7: Go, go, go....

Step 8: Add relationships and connections

Mind Map Rules

DEMO – Mapping Creative Goal

The ONE True Barrier

• Fear– of the unknown– of looking foolish– of failure– of success– of being dumb– of being bad– of people not liking my work

DEMO - Examining Barriers

GROW‘The question is not what we look at…

…but what we see.’ Thoreau

Expand your horizons and all the world will be your stage.

PerspectiveThe Doodle Exercise

Doodles

Expand Your Horizons

Get a Mentor Play!

Ask Questions Find Learning in unusual places

Examining Growth

TIMEThe surest way to be late…

…is to have plenty of time.Leo Kennedy

A year from now you will wish you had started today.

‘There is a limit to the work that can be got out of a human body or a human brain, and he is a wise man who wastes no energy on pursuits for which he is not fitted; and he is still wiser who, from among the things that he can do well, chooses and resolutely follows the best.’

John Hall Gladstone

Managing Time

• Get Organized• Write it Down!• Review Your Tasks• Create Realistic Deadlines• Finish before Starting Something New• Be Active, Not Reactive• Stay Focused• Prioritize

Prioritize

URGENT NOT URGENT

IMPORTAN

TUrgent & Important Important but NOT Urgent

NOT IMPORTAN

T

Urgent but NOT Important Not Important & Not Urgent

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Steven Covey

Critical Success Factors

1. Establish the Goal (Objective)2. Ask Yourself ‘What is essential to

achieving this goal?’3. Identify the measure of success4. Identify Time Line5. Monitor and Evaluate

$$

If you had to pay someone to do your work, what would it cost?

If you paid $200 for a class that lasted 4 weeks for 2 hours, what is the actually cost of the class?

If you get an opportunity, can you afford to take it?

Wants vs. Needs

NETWORKINGIt takes time and effort to develop a relationship…

…and no time or effort to destroy one.

When will you realize the world is a small place?

‘Rolodex power.

Your power is almost directly proportional to the thickness of your Rolodex, and the time you spend maintaining it. Put bluntly the most potent people I've known have been the best networkers -- they "know everybody from everywhere" and have just been out to lunch with most of them.’

Tom PetersThe Pursuit of Wow

The World is a Small Place

‘…successful networking is all about building intimate, sincere relationships based on mutual generosity, not duplicity…’

Keith FarrazziNever Eat Alone

How to Win Friends & Influence People

1. Smile!2. Ask a Question3. Listen4. Business Cards5. Say the Person’s Name

Work smarter, not harder. Ask for help.

Who Do I Know?

• Make a List!• What can you do for them?• What can they do for you?

Examining Networking

MARKETIf you don’t get noticed…

…you don’t have anything.

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?

‘If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying "Circus Coming to the Fairground Saturday," that's advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that's promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor's flower bed, that's publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that's public relations. If the town's citizens go the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they'll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that's sales.’

Unknown

Reach out and touch others

• Call• Email• Submit Online• Snail Mail

– Printed Materials

Create ways for people to connect with you• Websites

– Vanity Domain Names– Hosting & CMS– Email Address Do’s & Don’ts– Social Network Sites– Industry Specific Sites

Tips

1.Focus on Your Core Competencies 2.Develop a Clear and Concise Message 3.Create Collateral Materials 4. Join Networking Groups 5.Network Every Day 6.Develop Alliance Partners 7.Don't be Afraid to Try 8.Brainstorm with Others

30 Circles – more or less

Examining Marketing

THE MAGIC OF ‘IF’You are not _____________ …

…but if you were, what would it be like?

‘If you cannot find what you are looking for, create it.’

Allyson Ingerman

www.theexchangegroup.org

Supporters

• State Theatre School of Acting – Location• SPEC – Use of Equipment• Skills to Success – Use of Equipment• La Madeleine’s – Breakfast

– 9828 Great Hills Trail #650, Austin (512.502.2474)

Visual Thinking

• Over 70% of our nuerons deal with vision.

• Solving Problems with Pictures

Free Tools• Mind Mapping Software

– FreeMind - http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page• Personality Traits Mapping

– http://www.signalpatterns.com/• Online Graphic Editing Software

– Aviary - http://aviary.com/tools/peacock– Adobe Photoshop - https://www.photoshop.com/

• Free Collaboration Tools– Google (Docs, Calendar) – http://www.google.com

• Free Microsoft Templates– Microsoft Online -

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/FX100595491033.aspx• Free Content Management Systems

– Wordpress – http://www.wordpress.org– Joomla – http://www.joomla.org

• Buying Domain Names– Go Daddy – http://www.godaddy.com

References• Mind Map References

– http://mindmapinspiration.co.uk/• Career Solutions for Creative People: How to Balance Artistic

Goals with Career Security– By Ronda Ormont, ISBN 1581150911, 9781581150919

• Doodle Exercise– Jenni Idea Management: http://www.jpb.com/doodles/exercises.php

• How to Win Friends and Influence People– Dale Carnegie, ISBN 0613918444, 9780613918442

• Seven Habits of Highly Effective People– Stephen Covey, ISBN 0671708635

• 10 Tips for Marketing Your Business– Rob Engleman, 2002

• Ted.com– Talks Tim Brown: The powerful link between creativity and play

AppendixI. Summary of Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats

– http://www.mind-mapping.co.uk/mind-maps-examples.htm