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Lesson Info
13. How To Meet Artists You Love
Lessons
Meet Isaac Johnston
03:53 2Problems Becoming A Fulltime Freelancer
02:45 3The Tool I Use To Create
21:22 4How To Know If Your Hobby Should Be Your Profession
05:10 5Showing Your Work Daily
02:55 6Getting Support
03:05 7Handling Fear of Failure
03:08 8Creating Your Own Unique Value
08:39My Workflow
19:24 10How I Approach A Brand
07:07 11How To Build A Proposal
08:46 123 Strategies on Increasing Exposure
04:47 13How To Meet Artists You Love
06:19 14How To Find Ideas
07:53 15My Techniques To Shoot Photos
05:45 16My strategies to make better stories’
08:48 17Writing Videos For The Internet
07:56 18How To Be Comfortable In Front Of The Camera
06:08 19Final Thoughts & A Note On Obsession
01:55 20Getting Work and the Post Covid Goldrush
27:20 21Live Lesson: The Covid Goldrush
1:05:34Lesson Info
How To Meet Artists You Love
I'm gonna teach you how I meet other artists, and how I network in 2020. One of my favorite parts about being a creative is meeting, and getting to know, and being peers with other creators. It's a great way to kind of find your creative community when you can meet people through social or in other ways. But one of my favorite ways to connect with people is through social. And I find it super effective to learn new techniques when you have people who do what you do. Super effective to hear of opportunities that maybe they're passing on to you. And it's really effective to build a support group of people who know and understand the struggle that you're going through. So I wanna touch on a couple of the techniques that I use to be able to reach out to those people in a non-creepy, and hopefully, a very supportive way, so that they want to actually hang out with you. The first thing is, and I know I've said this before and I'm definitely gonna say it again, is to use social like it's soci...
al. I want you to go out and DM people when they do something great on their IG story, or comment on their posts, and just really be a nice person. So that they, and it's not an angle, you don't wanna use it as an angle, 'cause it definitely comes off as an angle when you use it as an angle. But if you respect somebody, let 'em know that. And they may never notice you. You may be reaching out to somebody who has multiple millions of followers, and they get this all the time. But it's possible that they'd like look at your stuff and go, "This guy's really nice. "And he's always engaged. "And I kind of wanna know who this guy is, "'cause he really is thoughtful with his responses." Or, "I wanna know who this lady is, "because she really understands and gets my IG stories, "and maybe gets my brand of humor", or whatever it is. But if you've actually got something thoughtful to say, and you say it, generally, people will look up like, "Who is this person?" And they'll kind of put a face to the name, and that's kind of the first step. The next thing that I do, is I like to invite them on either an adventure, or maybe something that is unique that I'm doing in their neck of the woods that they couldn't do if I hadn't invited them. So, for instance, asking somebody to go grab coffee, guys, this is just not gonna work. Like if somebody is busy, and they're busy creative, and they're somebody that you look up to and respect, they probably would like to get coffee with their friends or themselves, not somebody new. It's possible they wanna meet somebody new, but it's also possible they don't. But kind of like that kid in high school whose dad had a boat, and he'd take you out on the river or the lake, and you'd get to go do something awesome that you wouldn't have been able to do without him inviting you. That's what you're kind of looking for, is, you know, for instance, I had somebody in Arizona say, "Hey, next time you're down in Arizona. "I'd like to take you canyoneering." For sure I'm gonna hit them up, 'cause I wanna go canyoneering. And they seem pretty cool to invite me too. So think of your unique value there. It doesn't have to be canyoneering. It can just be like, "Hey, I'm going to this really neat spot "that not many people know about. "Would you like to join?" Maybe it'll work. That's the first step. If nobody's biting on your invite, then that brings me to my next tip. Be persistent, but not annoying. Don't get your feelings hurt if they don't respond right away, 'cause they're probably busy, or maybe they didn't see your message. So be enthusiastic about the invite, and maybe mention it a couple times, but I'm not talking like 10 times in a row, but just if it's pertinent reach out with a different invite, or maybe the next adventure you can invite again. But don't stop just because you feel like "they don't want to do this with me." They probably just didn't see it. And then another tip here is that I want you to be flexible. Maybe the timing isn't gonna work out, it's probably not gonna work out. They've got other things to do. They're a busy creative, that's why you like their work. So it's possible that you may get like a, "Yeah, I'd love to do that with you, "but this time isn't gonna work." And then be like, "Okay, great, well maybe we could adjust to here." Don't sound thirsty, but you can figure out a different way to work within their schedule or maybe their location. So just be flexible and be willing to maybe drive two hours to meet them or shoot stars instead of sunset. Okay, my final point is to put your money where your mouth is. And what I mean by that, is that when you finally do make digital friends with your favorite creator, that if they invite you to go camping in Zion, and you live in Iowa, spend the money to go on a road trip out there. To give you an example of what I did, I get to know my friend, Jesse Driftwood, on the internet. We both liked each other's work. He did video. I did photos. I lived in Montana. He lived in Toronto. I wasn't gonna go out to Toronto, probably to shoot photos, that wouldn't have been super helpful for me, and it probably wouldn't have helped him do some videos. But I was like, "Hey, would you be interested in coming out to Montana? "I'll help you shoot some videos out here, "show you the locale, "help you get to know a location "that you've never been to before. "And I can learn a little bit about video." And of course he was into that, but like, who has extra cash to spend on a road trip just to hang out with friends. So I just decided, "Hey, man, what if I just paid for your plane ticket? "Are you into that?" I did it in like the least creepy way. 'Cause if you just go ahead and say, "Hey, you know what, you're my digital friend, "I'm gonna pay for you to have a plane ticket out here." It can come off wrong. But him and I actually knew each other, had a relationship, and I was clear about like I wanna learn video, I'm willing to pay for you to come out here. So it was like, "I wanna be your friend, "but I also am paying because I wanna learn video." He came out, we had a great time, we got to know each other better. And now he's one of my good friends. And he is somebody that I bounce video ideas off often. Now, on the other side of the coin, I've had people that were my friends that I had met, want to hang out more and learn how I do photos. And they've paid for my gas money to go down to Moab, and hang out with them and go mountain biking. So it goes both ways. And it's definitely something that is the next step if you really want to build a support group with other creators. These are the techniques that have worked really well for me. And I want to leave you with a little parting note here that this is not going to work with an A-list movie star. If you're trying to reach out to Quentin Tarantino or JK Rowling, like you're not going to get through the high wall that they have around them. And that's not like they're trying to be rude, it's just that everybody is wanting to connect with them, every company, every person. So they're just getting deluged with these requests. So offering to fly them to Montana is not gonna work. I don't know Quentin Tarantino or JK Rowling. So that's not gonna work. You might not wanna try somebody that's a huge star first, but just people that you admire their skill, and that you can offer them some value by something that they couldn't get on their own. For most people, this strategy is going to work. So give it a shot, and see what connections you can make.
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Ratings and Reviews
Ken Neubecker
A great course/workshop, one of the best I've seen with CreativeLive. While at 71 I'm not looking at starting a full new carrier in freelance photography or video work, doing the work helps keep me off the street. It has given me inspiration to do a stoty about what I am going through now as a full time caretaker for my wife, who has been suffering the declining pains of Alzheimer's for a few years now. No one with Alzheimer's travels that final journey alone. In a sence it is an adventure, mostly for those close to the one with the disease. While it's not like the travels I did 50 years ago when what today is called "adventure" (canyoneering, something we used to simply call a hike in the desert...). I spent a lot of my life running rivers and working as a wilderness wanderer and guide/instructor. Now my travels are pretty well limited to long walk with the dog and occasional fishing outings with my wife who used to be a guide herself. Maybe thats not all that interesting or exciting as say going over a cliff with a bike and a parachute, but for many older folks it is the new story, the new adventure as their later years unfold. This in itself will be an adventure, at least for me.
Ryan David
Practical yet fun Great workshop and worth the time/money. Isaac is an easy to watch presenter and the various modules were each concise and practical. Time well spent!
asieh harati
honest advice from an adventure photographer who went through career transition I think a lot of us are mulling over the idea of transitioning to become a photographer. It's not easy. There are lots of fears and hesitations. It's a change that could affect our life. I'm at this decision branch for the second time in my life, and I still fear. Isaac shares with us how he overcame those very same hurdles and fears. He is genuine, practical and proves that you don't need expensive gear to start or even continue to become good enough. The pitch deck example, the starting up a conversation with a prospective client, the way to deal with blockers, all are real. I cannot wait to put them in place and start my first pitch. Thanks Isaac for sharing your journey!
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