Motivation is in Full Throttle

So yesterday I was chatting with a former student who was pursuing another degree because she did not feel confident in her design skills. She had an opportunity to do some layout work for a local business but was about to let the opportunity pass because she was "afraid of looking stupid".

Here ia a transcript of the text string that transpired 18 hours later:

---

"Just fyi... I gave him the first draft last night and he loves it. Said its the best anyone has ever done on the first draft and I haven’t even worked with him before. He has people that have been doing stuff for him for a while that don’t give him a first draft that is laid out so well. Made me excited.

I found my love for InDesign again. He is paying me $20/hr. Woohoo"

"Awesome!!!"

"YES I AGREE!

This was the test job... he said if I did a good job that he would continue sending me all his print work for me to setup. He sends me the text and pictures and I lay everything out in InDesign

Easy Money!"

"And I thought you gave up on design"

"Heck no. Just very self conscious. I am my worst critic."

"Aren't we all?"

"But he gave me a crud load of compliments and he said he really likes that I adapted to the style he asked me to. He asked me to use the cover he made for it and incorporate it somehow throughout the brochure and still give it a newish style but he loved it! YAY!

I AM SOOOOO EXCITED that I can work from home doing design work.

He was most excited that I beat the deadline ... he wanted something by this morning and I got him his first proof last night."

"So happy for you. Now will you enter the Festival of Design and finish this month's course?"

"Yes sir.

I am excited

Motivation is back in full throttle."

---

Plenty of Work, if you're willing

Sometimes it's easier to quit than to make the effort. What amazes me is how many people quit without ever making an honest effort. If you want it, pursue it with everything you have...not for a few hours, or a few weeks, or a few months. Give it 100% of your effort, pursue it like it is the most important thing in your world. There are plenty of opportunities, just not enough people willing to work at making them into realities.

Finding what you want to know - useful links

The Web is full of information and beyond Google and general search sites there is a great amount of public information available if you only know where to look. So here are a few of my favorite searches. No its not stalking...its just properly researching.

1) Is the domain available: http://icdsoft.com/domain.php

2) Who owns the domain : http://www.alwhois.com (sometimes you might have to follow a link to another site (http://who.godaddy.com/whoischeck.aspx?Domain=domain_name_here) or you might need to run a “whois” search on the Name server listed.

---

3) Find out who owns a Florida corporation, LLC’s, fictitious name,. etc.: http://www.sunbiz.org.

4) For Florida Professional Licenses and Vital Statistics: http://www.myflorida.com/taxonomy/floridian/licenses,%20permits%20&%20vital%20records/

5) To check out a broker or brokerage firm - FINRA Broker Search: http://www.finra.org/Investors/ToolsCalculators/BrokerCheck/

---

6) Polk County (FL) Public Records Search : http://ori2.polk-county.net/wb_or1/default.asp

7) Polk County Property Search: http://www.polkpa.org/CamaDisplay.aspx

8) Polk County Jail Inquiry: http://www.polksheriff.org/inq/Pages/Jail.aspx

9) Polk County Active Warrant Search: http://www.polksheriff.org/FugitivesOffenders/Pages/WarrantsInquiry.aspx

10) Florida Sexual Predators: http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/homepage.do

11) Electronic Access to Federal Court Cases : http://www.pacer.gov/

---

12) Lakeland (FL) Chamber of Commerce Member Directory: http://www.lakelandchamber.com/PreferredBusinessDirectory/tabid/54/Default.aspx

13) Imperial Polk Advertising Federation Member Directory: http://www.polkadfed.com/members.asp

14) The Congressional Record : http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/d_three_sections_with_teasers/congrecord.htm

15) Southern Association of Colleges and Schools – Commission on Colleges, Colleges that are SACS accredited, level of accreditation, public sanctions…: http://sacscoc.org/searchResults.asp

Experience

Lakeland Club for Models and Photographers

Last year, I joined a group on Meetup.com called Central Florida Models and Photography. It is a group of amateur and professional models, make-up artists and Photographers who get together and do some pretty cool photo shoots. It gives the Photographers a chance to work with local talent and it give local models and make-up artists lots of new shots for their portfolios. The only problems with the group are 1) most of the shoots are 1-2 hours away and 2) the group has become so popular the shoots (limited to 40) often fill up before you have a chance to be included.

I have seen several other photography groups ranging from Nature photography to Nude Photography, but most of them are either in Tampa/Clearwater or in Orlando. There just doesn't seem to be a good Polk County alternative.

After talking to Kerri and a few students, we realized we could continue waiting for someone else to give us what we wanted, or we could go ahead and created a Lakeland Photography and Models club that met our needs. So last week, we created The Lakeland Shooters. It is a club open to both professional and amateurs who have an interest in learning more and interacting with others who share their passion.

10 Books for Graphic Designers

Each year I have the privilege of evaluating close to a hundred design and software books. Many are good and several are outstanding. Here are a few of those.

	Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies
	Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Colorspace
	Pantone's Guide to Communicating With Color
	Robin Williams Design Workshop
	Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion and Composition
	A Smile in the Mind
	Grid Systems: Principles of Organizing Type
	Forms, Folds and Sizes: All the Details Graphic Designers Need to Know but Can Never Find
	Talent Is Not Enough: Business Secrets For Designers
	No Plastic Sleeves: The Complete Portfolio Guide for Photographers and Designers

For tutorials - check out AGAINST THE CLOCK. I love these project-based books for getting up to speed on new software.

Advice to a College Freshman

Congratulations! You have decided to pursue a college degree. Chances are you did this a) because you want a better life, b) because you love to learn, or c) because your parents said you will have to get a job if you don’t go to college. Regardless, you’ve made the decision to attend and now you it’s up to you to decide what you get out of this part of your education. So here are a few observations I’ve made over the past ten years…

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

1) What you get out of your education is your responsibility. If you show up and only work hard enough to pass, you will get some pretty letters that make your parents proud of you but are relatively useless to any future employer or client. The real world is a very competitive place, the more you work, the more you’ll have to offer the world, and the better your prospects will be when you graduate. Students who work hard separate themselves from their peers within a few weeks and those are the ones who get the cool jobs 99% of the time. If you want to be successful, plan on spending at least as many hours a week working out of the classroom as you do in the classroom.

2) Show up to school every day and on time. Attendance and punctuality are habits that can be developed. There is a strong correlation between a student’s attendance, his or her grades, and the probability that a student will graduate. Students who miss class very seldom graduate. And by the way, potential employers ask me more about a student’s reliability than about his or her grades. For some reason employers prefer average employees who are dependable over exceptional people who aren’t.

"We first make our habits, and then our habits make us." -John Dryden

3) Leave the excuses and drama at home. We all have lives and we all have the choice as to where we place our priorities. Knowing that you had a relationship breakup isn’t going to help you or your family 15 years from now when you don’t even remember that other person’s name. Getting the most out of your education will.

4) Choose your friends wisely, you will become exactly like them. Those friends who are more concerned about a good time, being popular, or going out probably don’t really care about you or your success. Those people just don’t want you to make them accept their shortcomings and will work as hard as possible to keep you at their level instead of encouraging you to reach for your potential. Ultimately you will have to accept responsibility for the results of your efforts and blaming your "party-hearty" friends will not put more food on the table.

5) Keep your legs crossed and your fly zipped. No means of birth control is 100% effective and the chances of you graduating if you or your partner becomes pregnant are slim. Every year I have two to three students who weren’t adult enough to be smart. Then these same students quit school instead of finding a way to work and complete college. What they end up with is huge student loans due at the same time as their child, no degree, and therefore a more limited means of supporting the family they quit school to support. Funny, the children of quitters usually grow up to be quitters. You have a choice and it’s no longer just about you. Accept it and step up.

"Argue for your Limitations and they become yours." - Richard Bach

6) Nobody cares about what your past challenges may have been. If you are using them as an excuse to stay limited, accept that you are making a personal choice. If you have difficulty writing, you can change that. If you were challenged in math, now’s the time to do the work you avoided. Your excuses are yours and neither your instructors, your future employers, nor your fellow students will expect less of you just because you accept less from yourself. It may not be easy, but choosing to remain the same defeats the concepts of growth and learning.

7) Doing and learning the things that are most challenging are often the most rewarding. It amazes me that people who do not interview, listen, or speak well avoid joining Toastmasters and other clubs that will help them advance in their careers and in life. If it was easy or fun, you would have already done it. If you want to have fiscal, personal, and professional success in the future you need to do what makes you better. I promise video games may be an easy, entertaining escape but nobody is going to hire you because of your World of Warcraft skills. Get over it, grow up, and move on.

"Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" - Albert Einstein

8) Do not ask your professors or peers to write you letters of recommendation or to give you additional assistance if don’t make the effort first. I will do anything for a student who works hard, but if a student doesn’t care enough to push him or herself, I have a standing tee time. Besides, you really don’t want me to be honest with someone else about how you preformed in class, now do you?