Getting older and working in design
Out of context: Reply #88
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- shellie2
I'm still in my early 30s but I started working as an animator and designer at a very young age. My first big corporate job came at 19 years old and it wasn't my first in design. Worked 5 years on staff and the rest as a roaming agency freelancer, eventually working entirely at home. I became a hybrid producer/developer near the end of my run. The last 3 years I've transitioned out of it completely.
Now I am an entertainment talent manager and tour manager. I still work with agencies now and then but in a much different capacity. I'm greatful i spent all these years growing those relationships. I've found it much easier to pull in a nice big advertising jobs for my clients than other talent managers because I'm much more familiar with what is going on and how to pitch an agency to work with this painter or that musician. Most recently one of my music clients did an online series for national geographic that I was able to produce on the talent side with no sweat and that funded all our other projects for a year. A lot of my peers in the talent managrment industry have to grind a lot harder to find traditional ways to work their clients.
A lot of my ideas are grounded in completing the online/offline loop which had increased my clients earning power. I've found my peers to be left scratching their heads when it comes to doing that. But now I can also be creative in ways I couldn't behind an agency desk. A client of mine is an endless well of merchandising opportunities which I've been able to design, help manufacture and launch. I find a lot of what I learned over the years has been useful if applied in a different way.
I may join a management group sometime this year. I found some other managers that have a more traditional experience in that field that really value what I can do. I'm a bit lonely working solo for such a long time and this new career path allows for work in groups and freedom to move around and do what you want as long as you're brining in the dough. It's kinda nice.