We wish you all a prosperous New Year (and decade!) and look forward to being a part of your continued success and growth. Cheers!

The Harkins Creative Team

I have also uploaded my slide deck called Top Ten Reasons Podcasts Fail, so please feel free to download, use and share as you like.

Thanks again, and please let me know if I can help you.

Pardon my reductionist tendencies for a moment while I boil down the whole of humanity to two gross generalizations:

• We are the only species on the planet capable of truly creative thought. Ants and termites and birds have been building homes for billions of years, but they have always instinctively done it the same way. Primates are resourceful, using materials at hand to fashion tools, but I would argue this isn’t true creativity. Feel free to disagree. I have seen elephants who can paint, and this has definitely rattled my cage on my main point, but I am still unwilling to cede any ground here.

• Humans alone have the capacity to act upon creative thought to produce what was conceived. For the astute reader, yes, this covers my bet in the first assertion, in case I might be wrong. I have no idea what the elephant is thinking when he paints, but I know he cannot set up a manufacturing plant to design and make jumbo-sized paintbrushes.

So what counts as creative thought? Is it purely intellectual, or inextricably joined with action? If I have a creative thought but do nothing more about it, have I truly been creative? (I know this line of questioning smacks of old rhetoric about trees dropping in forests, but bear with me, I am creating something here. For some masterpeices, the canvas must first be primed.)

Today, there are more creative tools available to the average human than at any other time in history. Audio and Video production is accesible to nearly anyone with an audiovisual itch to scratch, but this is only a decade after it was still solely in the purview of well-financed movie studios and record labels. Much has changed, but just because the tools are prevalent doesn’t necessarily mean that those using them are creative or inspired. Does it?

And where does creativity leave off, and training and experience take its place? A classically trained pianist can perform masterpeices, but if he has never composed a note of his own, is he creative, or merely well-trained?

These are just a few of the thoughts and questions I have had during a life spent pursuing creativity and experiencing and discovering my own creative processes. And if you will indulge me, I’ll continue this ponderous rant in the weeks to come.

• Math – Just enter your formula (ex. 120*16) hit enter and get the magic result. Note to students: do not try entering things like “A train leaving Boston at 5:30am and  another in New York leaving at 6:59 pass each other outside of Piscataway at 7:38. How many words per minute was each train conductor texting on average during the trip?”
• Definitions – Need to check the definition of a word before you embarrass yourself in a blog post? Just type define: the word or phrase. Google spits out a full page of definition results immediately. (ex. define: video production)
• Weather – You’re about to head out to make that big proposal, and you want to know if you really need to take along a heavy rain coat, because your girlfriend kindly told you last week how dorky you looked in it, and you’d rather not make that kind of impression on the company who stands to make your year, if things go well. Google to the rescue. Just type weather proceeded by the location you want to inquire about, and you’ve got a pretty good chance of getting the answer on the first line, complete with pretty little graphic aids. (ex: weather Nashville) Note: despite Google’s legendary algorithms, it is no better at making accurate weather predictions than that guy on channel 5. Remember, Google only shows you what it thinks you WANT to see…
• Shipment tracking – I just tried this one out by accident, only to find out it’s a real feature! Half-slain by sleep deprivation, but still eager to find out where TigerDirect was in the process of getting me some new toy I’d ordered, I copied and pasted a “onezie” (all UPS ground tracking numbers start with a 1Z) into the google search bar. Two clicks later, I was looking at my package online!  Try it!
• Area Code Lookup - Couldn’t be simpler. Just type the 3-digit area code into the search bar, and you’ll immediately know what part of the country it belongs to. Now you can know where that mysterious number is calling you from before you even send it to voicemail!
  
• Time – I frequently need to talk to people overseas (India, Sweden, France, Spain, Uzbekistan, to name a few) and trying to remember the time differences at any given point in the year is an embarrassing nightmare. Good client relations are not served well by accidental 3am calls. No problem, just enter time followed by the location in question, and you’ll have your answer, including the date, in case the time zone is over the International date line. (ex. time sweden)

So there’s six quick ones, and I have not even touched on the search modifiers like site: or link:, which are incredibly useful as well.  Let me know what other ones you regularly use!

Step one: Manufacture your own minutes.

Seriously, we all feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day sometimes. But since we all get the same set of 24 issued every day, what we do with them and how we make the most of them is entirely up to us. I’ve always marveled at how long-time freelancers have certain tasks down to a science. I’ll get there too, 24 hrs at a time.

After I decided to write this post, I suddenly stumbled across two other, equally worthy posts at The Renegade Writer, and Freelance Switch, and a third was brought to my attention with the author’s permission to borrow his idea (see below). Yeah, I’m not ashamed to admit it. I borrow heavily from those that are getting time management right. And I hope there’s a take away or two here for you as well:

1. Group similar tasks. (Responding to email, returning calls, writing, designing, research, etc.) Henry Ford got it right. Doing a lot of the same thing over and over saves time and makes for better productivity. Your brain takes a few minutes to adjust to a “new hat”, so once you have it on and get in the groove, just knock all the same type items off your list. It takes my production box almost 40 seconds to initialize After Effects. Takes me almost 20 minutes to get in the groove sometimes. Now, I have never needed any additional excuses to stay locked to my mouse when designing motion graphics, but the charade of saving time and being more productive has eased my conscience a bit, I’d say. (I hope my lovely wife is reading this, too!)
2. Set aside a specific time every day for a break. Freelancers can work any time, and for many of us, the flexibility to work at odd hours (me, I love the graveyard shift) means that we don’t always keep to a schedule. But routine (gasp! did he just use the “R” word?!) is central to productivity. Being intentional about having a few hour’s personal time away from the cares of work is a way of recharging your batteries for efficient mental torque. Whatever floats your boat and can be done at roughly the same time every day, do it. Bonus points if you can figure out how to combine Yoga, a fat stogie (I call it aromatherapy), and a pint. Really. Call me.
3. Do simple, short tasks while waiting. While uploading the newest video production proof for clients, I take the time to slash and burn through my inbox, or Google the solution to that pesky cross-browser CSS issue that’s plagued me all week. Nothing big, but it turns an otherwise wasted hour into productive time. Short tasks do not include a call to mother (most mothers, at any rate) or doing your taxes.  If you’re the kind of person who can figure out your deductions on the back of a napkin while waiting for a client to get through the line at Starbucks, then I hate you. And your mother.
4. Do some grunt work first, then reward yourself with a fun creative task. Delayed gratification: the hallmark of maturity.  My mother used to preach this, and it drove me crazy. It works, though, especially if you are a procrastinator like me. Speaking of Mom, I should probably give her a call soon…been meaning to do it for weeks now. Maybe when I have a minute.
5. Spend a little time every night setting an agenda for the following day. I go to bed at night knowing what the plan is for the following day. Yes, it always changes, and no, I haven’t slept well in years, but my point is that this process of prioritizing and revising and doing ensures nothing slips through the cracks that I don’t intentionally stuff, pack and cram into the cracks, and it keeps multiple simultaneous projects moving forward. This exercise can keep multiple simultaneous personalities moving forward as well. No I am NOT schizophrenic (when I take my meds), I just mean we freelancers wear many hats throughout any given day.
6. Have a client that procrastinates? Put choices in concrete terms instead of abstractions as much as possible.  Don’t ask “what color do you like for this?” Ask “Do you like this blue or the green for the logo?”   Don’t ask “What’s your time frame on this?” Instead, ask “Will next Friday be soon enough?” Don’t ask “What would you like for dinner tonight, Sweetie?” Instead, say “We had Chinese last night, remember, and besides it’s MY turn to pick!” (Sorry, my personal life sometimes spills over into work…) Many times helping a client narrow down the creative direction by offering fewer choices makes everyone happier.
7. Exercise. Time away from the computer doing something physical is the best way to get your brain pumping with fresh, clear ideas. Other activities that can get your blood pumping and your heart racing, but do NOT count as healthy exercise: Being retweeted by Guy Kawasaki, and After Effects renders on Vista boxes.
8. Get enough sleep. They say sleep deprivation has the same effects as being drunk. Hopefully you aren’t coding any jQuery on the tail end of a six pack, but what about on two nights totalling three hour’s sleep? I realize “enough” is a relative term, and what might be a barely sufficient 9.5 hours for me is akin to a century’s enchanted slumber to some people. Hey, creativity is an intensely draining process, so lay off. Show me your Mona Lisa and then we’ll talk. (Thanks to DEF Graphics for the inspiration on this one, and for the recent Twitter follow!)
9. Find your “Time Sinks” and eliminate them. Get ninja-like with those clients that eat up 40% of your time, and equate to 10% of your yearly revenue. Set boundaries, or fire them. Look for and work hard to attract the 10/40s , those “ideal” dream clients we have all mind-mapped in the lean years. Vorda_Vasku, a recent Twitter follower of mine, tells me his dream client is “A combo of Lara Croft and WoW Belf chick in need of Front-end redesign paying 1 mil $ in cash – in advance. :D”. I’m betting Croft is high maintenance, though. You can have her, Vorda.
10. Get in the zone. Whatever it is for you, find it, and once you are there, keep yourself focused on the task for an hour before breaking or allowing yourself to get distracted.  For me the zone is 2am, an 80s Hair Band playlist blaring on headphones, coffee and dual 24″ monitors. Give me that, and I can put the hurt on some deadlines. (feel free to describe your own personal zone in the comments, but let’s keep it PG, people. My wife reads this…)
11. Keep a production or code folder with detailed notes on tricks and hacks you plan to use often on other projects. I’ve been using Snippely, and like it a lot. This takes a little time to set up and maintain, but will pay off in the long run. It’s fun to pull off a stellar camera move in 3 minutes for a new client! (The original setup took me 7 hours a year ago, but I use it all the time). I have a folder of “go-to” WordPress plugins I wouldn’t start a new site without. If you have no trick or hacks, you need to go get a coder drunk and steal his laptop while he tries out his binary pickup lines on the bar maid.
12. Create effects presets for After Effects and actions for Photoshop. Not only will it save you time doing repetitive steps in your own work, but you can then make wild claims to godhood in online forums where throngs of eager but less god-like creatives will willingly lick your boots and download your CC-Attrib-NonComs all day long.
13. Set up typical project proposal and invoice templates. Just a text file with items you have to bid or invoice regularly can save time (and save your butt by keeping your details straight and thorough!). Creating standardized proposals and bids is perhaps not as creative as spitballing figures at random, but trust me, the day you network two clients together for business opportunities, and they have the bright idea of pulling out the winning proposals you sent to each of them and seeing how the deck is stacked, you’ll thank me. And nothing hurts worse than an accounting department that calls up to question the vague but accurate line-item description you thought was so brilliant at 3am the week before: “Tuesday. Spoke with B. Made changes per his request. Then spoke with S. and changed it back again. Finally got through to R. who scrapped the whole idea and sent me a new RFP. Billing 7 hours of my life I will never get back.”
14. Use professional services when you can. No one likes to bill clients, keep track of monthly expenses or optimize your web sites for inbound marketing. That’s what small business accountants and SEO people do for a living, so let them. Free up your time and lower your stress. (NOTE: There is a certain liability that often materializes when highly creative people attempt to keep books. Accounting is not a creative task. Becoming creative with numbers is never a good idea. You know who you are…)
15. Don’t read long winded posts from self-styled humorists claiming to save you time! Now, get out there and have a productive weekend!

Did I miss anything?

1. Twitter. If you are still declining to participate in the conversational opportunities that take place every day in 140 characters or less, you are missing out. We regularly get new sales leads and build valuable networks with other talented creatives and entrepreneurs. All at a cost of 30 minutes a day.
2. Create valuable comments. A bright, well placed thought in a blog post comment section (which accompanies your name and web site URL) can be a big booster of not only traffic, but perceived expertise.  You don’t have to spend hours crafting your message in this format. It is said that brevity is the soul of wit. Lucky you, eh?
3. Create accounts in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and any other social networking site halfway related to your market. Then use the services 30 minutes a week or so. Add people to your friends lists, see what others are saying, and participate by adding value where you can. Have fun with it, and know that all the while you are leaving bread crumbs for others to follow back to you.
4. Put the word out. Start adding your various social network IDs to emails, web site profiles, etc, as a way to invite people to connect with you online. You will be amazed how many other people are already using these sites, and just how enthusiastic they can be about connecting there.
5. Blog today. Some say that blogging is experiencing a dip lately.  But nothing is stopping Google from indexing good, relevant content every day, wherever it finds it. If you have content you know people need, get it out there today!  Write two good paragraphs, and hit the publish button.

I am finally understanding the purpose, but in that statement I am acknowledging that the purpose is VERY subjective and perhaps different for everyone reading this. And to talk about the many ways Twitter can be used is outside the scope of this post.

One specific reason I am using it right now is news qualification. While a feed reader aggregates my news, I found it didn’t do a good job of telling me what was worth reading. Twitter, or more specifically, Twitterers, and those few who bother to find the good stuff and Tweet it, are serving the needed qualification I was seeking. Now, if someone I follow on Twitter says I need to see a post, and five others mention it, then rest assured I will be reading it before long. Even if there weren’t other reasons to love Twitter, that alone is reason enough.

Interesting how social media technologies, when used in conjunction with one another, begin to help filter the information noisefloor, making it easier to find the good layers you crave, and rise above the petty ones you don’t have time for.

Since almost ALL of the sites we have designed over the past two years have utilized this increasingly powerful content management system/blogging application, we thought it would be a way to give back to the WordPress community and serve as a quick refresher for our clients. Enjoy!