You look like an idiot — It’s inevitable. Go check out a few posts on LinkedIn from a major company. Where everyone wants to work. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Pick your favorites. Without fail, you will find enterprising job hunters and content creators alike making game-changing comments such as: “I have a great proposal for you, please contact me right away” “I’d love to work at your company, can you tell me how?”

Bonus: With real numbers! In a masterstroke only fully appreciated many years later, I made a magical six-figure salary at a young age. It caused me to spend far too long thinking I was paid too much, and sticking around because of it. We’ll look at the real numbers not for points, but transparency. (Keep in mind this is from 2005–2012 or so, whatever that means economically). Starting out I came in the designer-door at $37,000. First job, small studio. A couple reviews and raises along the way up to 40, then $42,000. Killing it. A few years in, my largest bump to date was a clean $50,000.

What are you really? — I struggled with this for years. When I struck out on my own, first I was Andy Sheffield, then I was Cure for the Common, then CFTC, then I put ‘Studios’ on the end of it to sound cooler and boutiquey-er, I guess. My rationale at the time: I wanted to appear more like an entity than an individual. And based on how often I see it, a lot of designers struggle with this too. What are you really?

Come in through the side door — Let’s get right to it: Freelancing or Contract can be a much easier and faster way into a job. Be good at what you do, willing to learn and don’t be an asshole. The end. Through the thorny garden of career advice, resume hacks and bootstrap-success stories is an overlooked technique: Get in without getting hired. This can take a lot of pressure off the company and yourself, and if you play it right can lead to exactly what you wanted — that job.

You make money being creative, is that enough? — Have a decent job in Design? Advertising? Marketing? Do you ever say to yourself “well at least I’m not working as a (fill in your own version of something not creative that would make you sad)”? It’s a common refrain amongst creative workers of all stripes and levels. You could do more satisfying work, but hey, things could be worse right? My career has moved through several creative industries, and during those transitions I discovered a singular, albeit personal metric of when to move on. No lists, no pros and cons, nothing existential. If the answer to this question is “Yes”, it’s time to go:

Adding credit is always a good idea. — Go to any designer’s portfolio and you’re bound to find some beautiful images — and little to no credit. We’re all guilty of this to some degree. This is MINE. The client was stupid, my boss is still stupid, and I am brilliant. Maybe, but still: The Case for Credit If you’re like most designers, you have a mixture of projects. Obvious cases where you alone did the work: some album artwork, poster, a little branding project. You may have done it all. But if you ever worked anywhere, or for anyone, you didn’t. Let’s look at that part:

Forget the Portfolio, make a Presentation (and make it fast) — Some years ago I got invited to a speed dating event — at a design firm. For them it was a fun way of saying “come to the studio on a Saturday, meet some people and drink free champagne and/or kombucha.” For me, it became a good frame of mind for presenting work in general. I ended up making a speed-dating deck to talk about my work and it’s one of the best presentation tools I ever made. This is what it looked like:

Lionel Pickens, aka the rapper Chinx (formerly Chinx Drugz) was murdered on May 17, 2015, weeks before the release of his first studio album. Beginning in 2013, I worked with Chinx and his team on several projects. In his memory, below are some thoughts, photos and artwork from that time…