How to Get "Unstuck" in Your Motion Design Career

Stefanie Verhoeyen is a talented motion designer from Belgium – but like many others, she found herself at a point in her motion design career where she was unsure if she was going in the right direction and needed some support and guidance. 

 

This lead her to join our Mograph Mastermind – an 8-week transformative programme to help motion designers to achieve their goals.

 

She wanted to share her experiences of the Mastermind and how it helped her to become “unstuck” in her career. Read on to hear about her experiences below.

As motion designers, we have chosen a path of life-long learning. Whether you are a freelancer, employed staff, a student or a motion design studio owner, life in our industry can be overwhelming at times.

I've noticed that each of us, no matter how experienced or talented we are, has moments of doubt. Small doubts, big doubts, or even a moment in your career where you've lost sight of your direction.

I had this moment myself after one year of freelancing. I started doubting everything – whether I was growing fast enough, or if I was doing actually aligned with my values.

I needed to clear my mind but more than anything, I needed help and direction. It was at that pivotal moment in my career that I decided to join the Mograph Mastermind program from Motion Hatch. It can honestly say, it changed my mindset completely.

Invest in yourself

 

Of course, each course you take, event you attend, or conference you book has its own price tag. For some, this will be a small investment, whilst for others, it's a big one.

When I'm considering whether or not to invest in my personal growth and career, I always read the sales page meticulously and I look for other peoples' experiences and feedback.

But in the first instance, my decision is purely based on gut-feeling – do I feel the course, or event, is truly right for me? If I do, only then do I look at the price.

For me, the main appeal of the Mograph Mastermind was the group mentoring aspect – it helped me to clear my head. I also believed that it was an investment for the long term and that it would to teach me things that I'd find invaluable later on in my career.

When I'm considering whether or not to invest in my personal growth and career, I always read the sales page meticulously and I look for other peoples' experiences and feedback.

But in the first instance, my decision is purely based on gut-feeling – do I feel the course, or event, is truly right for me? If I do, only then do I look at the price.

For me, the main appeal of the Mograph Mastermind was the group mentoring aspect – it helped me to clear my head. I also believed that it was an investment for the long term and that it would to teach me things that I'd find invaluable later on in my career.

The first week

After I signed up to the Mastermind, I received several emails that gave me steps on what was next and what to expect. I got a good idea of what the next 8 weeks were going to look like.

The nice thing about this program is that we were divided into small teams of 5, including our mentor. In the first zoom meeting, I was able to introduce myself and meet my fellow mastermind students. Each of us had our unique story to tell and our struggles were often relatable, so I felt a real connection to them during those sessions. The whole approach felt very personal even though we were in a group.

Within that same week I got to know all participants of the Mograph program during an introduction session. Hayley managed the Breakout rooms in Zoom in which we had smaller conversations. She shuffled every ten minutes so we had the chance to meet many different participants, from all walks of life and from all over the world.

By the end of that week, I had met a lot of new people and heard some very inspiring stories. It showed me that I was not alone and that many of us had similar struggles.

Accountability

One of the biggest strengths of the program is the weekly calls with your team members. Every week you talk about your wins, losses and you get help to keep your goals on track.

These calls keep you accountable. By listening to other experiences and inspiring stories, I felt more confident that what I'm doing will lead to my future success.

Of course, we are only human, and there will be moments where you will get distracted. Having an accountability buddy helps you to stay engaged and keep on track.

By having a mograph mentor or coach you get the confidence to grow towards your goals and you get an outside perspective to help you in your career. It's a good way to discuss your ideas and struggles with others and get constructive advice.

Structuring the chaos in your mind: Yearly planning

Ultimately, we learned how to do a yearly plan that would help us to reach our goals. Because I wanted to do so much at once, I initially didn't know where to start and how to organise my thoughts. What started with a brain dump of dozens of ideas, ended with a structured yearly plan that I feel confident will help me to achieve my goals.

Now I know exactly what I need to do each week to reach my final goals. This year I no longer have to worry about what I want to achieve. I just need to keep my schedule flexible and tweak a bit here and there during the year. And trust me, this gives me such peace of mind, so I can focus on the important stuff – like my clients!

The 8 weeks are over – now what next?

I will really miss the weekly talks and the follow ups, but now that the programme is over I feel I can approach my career with a fresh mind. Everything makes much more sense now and I know exactly what decisions I need to make and why.

After this programme has ended, you get access to a Slack group in which you can stay connected with all the other students. One thing I love about the Slack group is the weekly donut pairings. What this means is you get introduced to a “random” donut buddy by a bot.

You can set up a meeting if you like to get to know each other and discuss your struggles and successes. You can even pause this function, if you don't fancy being sociable that week!

The yearly planning that I've made gives me a great foundation for my further ambitions and I can reuse the planning framework every year. I can keep optimising it, without starting from scratch every single time.

For me, the Mograph Mastermind was a blast. I recommend it to everyone who feels stuck and like they need some help to gain clarity and focus in their career.

My biggest wins from the course

  1. The new relationships that I've built with other people in the industry.
  2. By listening to other motion designers' experiences and inspiring stories, I feel more confident in what I'm doing.
  3. Getting advice from others in regard to how to handle things. For example, I got help with writing an email to a difficult client that didn't respect my time and limits.
  4. I learned how to turn my chaotic ideas into specific goals and how to incorporate them into my yearly planning.
  5. Last but not least, it helped me to improve my public speaking (even though it was only for the 5 people in my group). I got more confidence with speaking in front of others, in another language.

Find out more about Stefanie by visiting her website.

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The Mograph Mastermind

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