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After a long day of hard work up in Liverpool, what better to entertain myself on a long two and a half hour journey than to record the boys sleeping and turning up the bass!

Followed by their reaction.

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What are you concerned about? Everyone has a vast circle of concerns that encompasses their daily lives and if you’re working in a creative industry, a whole other circle. In fact, these encounters are sometimes beyond our control and cause another level of stress and worry.

How do we combat this? What we can do is focus only on our circle of influence. The things that we do have control over, whether you’re a designer, musician or programmer. Focus only on the things that you do have control over.

Easier said than done! As creative professionals, we’re driven by passion. And that passion leads to an over-protective and perfectionist behaviour pattern which, in turn, leads to our demise.

The vision of your product or idea exaggerates the problems  we encounter that we can’t control and in turn, fractures the beautiful image of your masterpiece on it’s pedestal. This is then followed by obsession over details and situations beyond your control and in the end, your project suffers.

Ask yourself: Is This In Your Circle Of Influence?

Recording artists will argue with engineers about the way something should sound and designers will battle with coders over the functionality and design of a website. In most cases, the problem can be fixed or issues can be resolved. But in some cases, whether it’s due to limitations, deadlines or resources, we can’t always work around the error.

Nine times out of ten, obsession with trying to get something to work rather than doing the things that can be done to make the difference. Too much time is spent on worrying about the things outside of our influence and in the larger circle of concerns.

Learn To Cut It Off

If your leg is becoming gangrenous, then the solution is get rid of it. Yes, the ideal perfect project was what you had always imagined, but it’s not worth the expense of forward movement or saving yourself from stress.

Is It Worth It?

You may be focusing on just your circle of influence, but now, is it worth it? Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.

Personally, I’ve had the misfortune of working with, in my opinion, the worst possible clients. The ones that don’t want to pay, have no clue about what they want, are too into their project and overall have a terrible project.

In this case, it was a music video for a recording artist from New York who flew over to get a video done. They had some form of a following and to jump on that bandwagon would’ve been a great opportunity to broaden my reach within the market. Ideally.

The project had absolutely minimal planning, an extremely short deadline and the worst ideas I’ve ever come across. Problems occurred left, right and centre from changes being needed here and there to location issues. On top of that, egomaniac issues from the artist themselves. The fee for the project was relatively high at the time, so technically it was worth it.

Here comes my mistake, not laying down the rules of how much I do for what I get paid for. A specific problem came by which could not be resolved. The footage came out terrible because they, the artist, looked like an idiot.

I was very much focused on getting the best from this project, but it could only go so far. The artist wanted change after change after change. And to this day, well over a year since the project began, it hasn’t been delivered.

In fact, I haven’t spoken to the artist since the beginning of the year and I decided enough was enough and dumped the project. My influence on the project could only go so far and attempting to deal with the concerns about it were futile.

Is it possible to get paid for the work I did and deliver the project? I’m sure it is, but is it worth it? Hell no.

To Conclude

It may seem cold, callous and selfish to only be concerned about the things that concern you and the things only you can control, but you may find that you’re already doing it. You may find that a lot of the people you work with, managers, peers and competitors are doing the exact same thing.

Concern yourself with only the things you have control over. If you’re a musician and your mix isn’t sounding right, re-record, try something else. If you’re a designer getting something printed and it’s not coming out right, change something and adjust till it does work. If you’re a director for film or music videos and that money shot that’ll make your scene work is too expensive, find a solution in pre or post-production to make that scene happen without happening.

Limiting yourself to the circle of influence will spark your innovation and help your creativity. Don’t let perfectionism or anxiety impair your judgement.

“Ultimately… there are no problems. Only situations – to be dealt with now, or to be left alone and accepted as part of the present moment until they change or can be dealt with.”

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Just testing out some cool stuff on YouTube and my site. If all went well, there should be a video of myself with a questionable backing track and it should be posted automatically on Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to ignore it’s awesomeness.

The video was made using the YouTube Editor which lets you cut out clips from your videos and add music and transitions. For something that’s online and let’s you montage clips like this completely online is absolutely amazing.

Obviously it’s not as technologically advanced as a desktop editing program, but for a quick montage or, in my case, some idiocy it does the job well.

Hands up whose ever worked on a project for free, for whatever reason. Whether it’s because you volunteered, charity, belief, experience or favours, everyone’s worked for free at some point. As a creative professional, and especially working freelance it’s something that occurs more than often.

Contrary to popular belief, working for free is not a bad idea. In fact it’s very good for both parties. The problem is finding out where the line is and making sure it’s defined.

There are some that believe that you should always work for a price, even for cheap. I, like many others in the industries I work in, disagree. Working for cheap means you either degrade the work you do, or degrade the work others do. It’s one or the other, there is no middle ground.

If you give out the best work you’ve done yet and you’ve lowered your prices for whatever reason, you’re just degraded the work everyone else does. When others are working to the same level as you and you’re charging upto 90% lower, what value is there of the work you and everyone else are producing?

If you’re producing lower quality work, you’ll be constantly asked to produce that same level of material (or better) at that rate because that’s what you’ll be known for. Especially in graphic design and music videos, potential clients usually want the same kind of thing you’ve done before. It’s what made them come to you in the first place. You’re THAT guy.

Essentially, you should value your work and put a price on the time it takes, the effort you put in and the expenses that occur (and a little profit to make it worthwhile) and that is what you should charge.

So what happens when someone comes by, who can’t afford to pay the full price, like a friend or someone you know that is really looking to get something done?

This is where things get tricky. Do you lose a possibly loyal customer? Do you lower your rates and work for cheap?

An approach is to set-up a payment plan, possibly even royalties or something like that. The other option is to do it for free.

Working for free is not a bad thing

To re-iterate, working for free is not a bad thing. What is bad if you provide the full service for free.

As a designer and a director, I’ve come across too many situations where I’ve worked my arse off on a project that has not been worthwhile. Doing favours, waiting on promises, believing in the project etc. And on occasion I’ve made the big mistake of not making things clear.

If you’re going to work and not get a dime from it, you need to make sure it’s clear that you will be controlling the expectations of the client.

There are boundaries and should they overstep them and piss you off, they and their project are at risk, therefore they should be thankful for what they’re getting.

Should you be doing something for free, you are more than likely going to be under pressure from clients who are paying and are a priority. Make sure that this is clear. Don’t ever feel pressured to do something that isn’t getting you anything in return. You may be receiving ‘props’ and ‘kudos’ but they don’t pay the bills.

Personally, I’ve had the best and worst of the “freebie client.”

An Anecdote

Client A was a young musical group who had just been signed to some form of label, and they required some kind of promotional photography and graphic design to give as part of their portfolio. One of the group knew me from back in the day and liked the work I did and wanted “The Touch of Sid” on his public imagery.

I, of course, agreed. This particular client, was the best client I’ve ever had.

He knew his place, he knew he wasn’t a big shot and that he wasn’t paying for the work, so he had no say in what would come out of it.

I, being a busy person, wasn’t able to get his work done straight away, so it had to be pushed back on my list. He only ever asked about the project once. In a completely polite and understanding manner, never overstepping his boundary and took the final piece as is. No complaints.

I would have no trouble working with them again, for free.

Client B, on the other hand, wasn’t so great of a client. As a recurring client, I’ve been doing their artwork and the like, and they cashes in a lot of freebies and favours. I’m usually happy to oblige because I believe in their mission.

Now, they started getting into a state where they believe that their work should be done to a specific, and (quite frankly) unreasonable deadline that you quite clearly can not make and expecting the best possible work I’ve ever done on an absolute no budget.. But they’re insistent that this NEEDS to be done.

Now, I’m a very busy guy. I have a lot of projects I’m working that are very high priority and require my attention a lot more than this project. Considering the amount of favours (we’re talking a few years worth) that I’ve done or this particular client, I expect a level of respect and appreciation. Especially, if this project is that important to them.

How do you deal with a pushy and arrogant client?

Simply, you have to put them in their place. Regardless of who they are they have to realise that the douchey behaviour is not on. If they are not providing you with anything, then you have no obligation to meet anything that they ask.

If you were in a situation like the one with Client B, you could simply tell them that it’s not happening. If they’re still being pushy, you could just drop them completely. You could just simply wait for the deadline to pass by and still continue with the project. There is nothing wrong in that. They’re not paying you to keep it.

Stress should only come from the clients who are making the job worthwhile and have the right to demand certain things.

The moral of this story is simple, if you do work for free, the client needs to know their place. You are allowed to take on any project that comes by, just don’t be cheap. Be worth something.

My Two Cents

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Jamrock Radio commissioned me to create an epic-style trailer for their website relaunch, which happens in around two weeks time.

They are a community station based in Luton, UK who bring out the best in Dancehall, Rnb, Hip-Hop and Bashment.

Check out the trailer and tell me what you think.

Check out Jamrock Radio and follow them on their Twitter @JamrockRadio for updates on the launch.

Single Cover

As the director of the music video, and the resident art director for RKZ Music, I was given the task of creating the single artwork for RKZ’s Defeat Me.

He wanted to incorporate a quote used throughout the upcoming music video:

“One determined person can make a difference. A small group of determined people can change the course of history.”

I managed to slip that quote in somewhere in the cover, prize for the first person who can see it.

The single for Defeat Me by RKZ featuring Raxstar and Menis, produced by ADP, will release on iTunes 6th September.

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Defeat Me! I’ve just shot the music video for RKZ’s latest joint. He’s performed it live at the Luton and London Mela’s and, as usual, it’s time for me to knuckle down and make the music video for it.

Above, is the vloggity for the shoot. Some behind the scenes footage that may/may not make it into the final cut with a dash of humour, a handful of Antoine Dodson and a sprinkle of sublime.

Overall, the shoot went surprisingly smooth, no real problems, which worries me…

On the other hand, I did actually get electrocuted and quite frankly I haven’t been feeling all that great since.

The video’s looking to launch early September with the single availble from iTunes

Follow RKZ on Twitter @RKZUK
Follow Raxtstar on Twitter @Raxstar
Follow Menis on Twitter @MrMenis

Wow, today was interesting to say the least. I’ve literally walked back into RKZ’s house to upload the photos to the blog.

RKZ called upon an amazing line-up for his set, including DAS Records, Sam Khan, Menis, Swami Baracus, MC Rax, Horizon, Beatboxer Ekko, Chris Guthrie and Hina from Most Wanted.

Featuring some of the classic songs from him and an acoustic set that really went down amazing. Naturally I got a few snaps, not for the whole “Hey look! I’m a photographer” but more of a Summer memories thing.

Oh! And I met Jaya, got a photo with her and was literally at the front of her performance taking snaps. I love my job. I feel I may have an industry crush. Seriously, she is drop dead gorgeous and a lovely person to boot!

Check the pictures out after the jump

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The Doctor decided to fall asleep in the car ride home and Nelson used his new laser toy to flash him in his sleep.

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Now we’re stuck on the motorway in the middle of traffic and there’s Nelson trying to show off to the passers by that he’s cool and has the swagger by stepping out of the vehicle and walking about on the motorway.

J.A from Soul Rhymaz and myself decide to lock him out.