081: Should you start your own motion design studio? w/ Mack Garrison
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Release Date: 02/02/2021
101: How to niche down as a motion designer w/ Giuseppe Forestieri
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Should you niche down as a designer? We’ve all heard this advice! So, does niching down help you to win more clients or empower you to be seen as an expert? In this podcast, Hayley speaks with one of our students, Giuseppe about how he niched down his animation studio to work on projects he loves. About Giuseppe Forestieri Giuseppe Forestieri is the Animation Director of his own studio, and has a background in visual communication, specialising in animation and Illustration. Motion Aptitude is the fusion of two of Giuseppe’s biggest passions in life: creativity, and the great outdoors....
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100: Lessons learnt from making 100 podcast episodes w/ Hayley Akins
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Hayley Akins is a motion designer, animator and the founder of Motion Hatch. Hayley launched this podcast in November 2017! In this episode, Hayley explains how and why she started this motion design podcast and what she’s learnt along the way. She hopes these
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99: How to create motion design side projects that complement your day job w/ Charli Marie
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
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98: How Giant Ant became a leading motion design studio w/ Jay Grandin
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Jay is Co-Founder of Giant Ant, an animation studio in Vancouver. As Creative Director, Jay oversees nearly every project in the studio—leading the concept development and script writing processes as well as being actively involved in design and animation. In this episode, Jay unpacks how Giant Ant became a leading motion design studio.
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097: How to make six figures as a motion designer w/ John Filipkowski
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
John Filipkowski is a freelance motion designer from Chicagoland, with over ten years of experience. He’s worked with some huge brands on projects such as Dr Strange and Ant Man! In this episode we discuss how to earn six figures as a motion designer, the importance of outreach and how to build trust with clients.
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096: How to scale your income through productized services w/ Brad Hussey
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Brad Hussey is a web designer, online educator and digital marketing consultant based out of Canada. Brad has taught more than 600,000 indie designers, developers and professionals how to get better at their craft and make a living doing work they love. In this episode we explore how you can use a productized service model to scale your motion design business.
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095: How to make passive income as a motion designer w/ Justin Archer
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Justin Archer is a freelance motion designer who also makes passive income selling templates for final cut pro editors. He has almost 22k sales from Envato alone! In this episode we explore how he started making money through After Effects templates and how you can still be successful even if a market is saturated.
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094: How to get signed by a motion graphic design agent w/ Drew Melton
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
For some people, the idea of having an agent seems like a dream come true. But how do you actually get signed by a motion graphic design agent? What are the benefits? And once you’ve been signed, how do you make sure you get the most out of the relationship? Find out in our latest episode!
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093: How to work effectively with difficult clients w/ Ryan Koral
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Ryan Koral has spent the past 13 years telling brand stories through video storytelling. In that time, he’s learned a thing or two about working with all different kinds of clients. Join us as he shares his top takeaways on how to build a great working relationship, no matter the brief or project.
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092: How to use brand strategy to grow your motion design business w/ Melinda Livsey
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Melinda Livsey is a former graphic designer turned brand strategist. In this episode, she’ll teach you how you can use brand strategy to grow your motion design business and how to price your projects based on the value they’ll provide.
info_outlineMany motion designers dream of starting an animation studio one day - but how do you know if it’s really the right decision for you?
Are you willing to give up the creativity of actually doing motion design work to become a strategist, manager and entrepreneur?
Our latest guest will help you to decide if aspiring to own a studio is right for you and how to make it a success.
About Mack Garrison
Mack started Dash Studio in 2015 from a desire to create beautiful, bespoke work for clients and champion the creative talent of motion designers in the process.
Before starting Dash he had a diverse and varied career in different specialisms of design, before settling on motion design and in time, co-founding his own studio.
Making the move from freelancer to motion design studio owner
Mack started freelancing after he graduated as, like many new graduates, he struggled to find a job. This led him to try lots of different design specialisms, eventually niching down into motion design.
He then joined a local agency where he worked his way up to become an Art Director but ultimately, he knew he wanted more creative control over his day-to-day and the freedom to be able to create really bespoke, personalised work for his clients.
The pivotal moment for Mack was when he and his colleague (and now business partner) Corey were offered a huge, 15 video project. To take on the project they would need to quit their jobs at the agency.
Hiring a great team is vital to your success
A large factor in the success of Dash Studio are Mack and Corey’s complementary skill sets - where Mack struggles, Corey is able to help and vice versa.
Many people believe that you can’t succeed in certain areas if you lack certain skills, but by hiring people in-house or remotely you can build a multi-skilled, talented workforce.
Dash now has a team of 8 members of in-house staff and 20-25 contractors working on anything from 8-16 projects at any one given time.
The combination of full-time employed staff and freelancers allows Mack to be flexible to the needs of different clients and projects.
Everyone has different skills and one of the best things you can do for yourself is to work out what your individual strengths are and your weaknesses - that way you can recruit the skills that you don’t have into your team.
You can then collectively use everyone’s talents to make amazing work that is beyond what you’d be able to make on your own.
They created a pitch deck, won the work, and planned to start freelancing full-time once they finished. But a bigger conversation arose, they decided to pool their talent, skills and resources and that’s how Dash Studio was born.
Understanding what you want your career path to be
Mack suggests that if you like the idea of creating something special yourself, growing a business and managing people, then starting a studio could be incredibly rewarding for you.
However, if your passion lies in actually doing the motion design work yourself, then becoming a studio owner may not be the most satisfying career path for you because as your studio grows, you’ll find yourself doing the work less and less.
It’s important that you don’t try to do it all and that you work out a defined role within your studio.
If you want to start a studio with a business partner but you have no idea how to find one, it’s important to look to your community and network to find someone who has a similar mindset, outlook and work ethic as yourself.
Do you dream of starting your own studio? Is it something you would tackle alone, or with a partner? Has this podcast made you think differently about your goals? Leave a comment on the episode page and let us know!
Links & resources
Download the Portfolio Checklist
The E-Myth: Why most small businesses don’t work and what to do about it by Michael E. Gerber
Rocket Fuel: The one essential combination that will get you more of what you want by Gino Wickman
Check out Dash Studio
Check out the Dash Bash festival
Follow Dash Studio Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Vimeo
Podcast music licensed by Big Waves
Podcast production by the team at BE MORE Media