Today’s speaker is Jason Bouwman who was also an alumnus from Sheridan College who graduated from the Illustration Program. We were really happy to see Jason today.
He gave us a really insightful personal approach to his presentation, which is totally different from all speakers, came in the past. Even though it wasn’t easy for Jason to start up his own companies, compass creative after he graduated from school; with passion and dedication, Jason eventually established his own company in Burlington with six people working closely with him.
I was quite touched and impressed by all the detail he talked about in class about the different stories he went through his life, things he did and all the little moral stories he learned from readings. I really like his presentation because he is a good role model that shows somebody who has passion and goals in life, even there are obstacles from time to time, but as long as you never give up and keep trying, there’s always light at the end.
BACKGROUND
- He started as an Illustration student (Take the Technical Illustration class at Sheridan College)
- He sees himself have the talent that can do illustration in his life.
- Lots of try and errors to find his own path of careers for thing he loves
- While at college studying technical illustration, he looked in courses for opportunities to do a strong portfolio and starting self-promoting, then get the first job in a marketing company (Power Communication)
WHY WOULD START HIS OWN COMPANY?
He was working as a freelancer in his first job. He realized that he needed to learn a lot of computer skills though he didn’t have much experience on them. He felt pressured and stressful. He found out that he didn’t want to stay there after and figured that he wanted to study his own business, just like what his family does. Part of it is due to the fact that he has a strong vision for his own life: his talent will lead him to where he belongs.
THE NEW COMPANY…
The operation of the new established company was not as smooth as he was anticipating as he didn’t have enough clients and a stable workload as time passed. On the other hand, while he is looking forward to the next 20 years, he is also thinking how he would be able to make the business more sustainable and make more income?
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY?
1. To charge more per hour for what he does
2. Hire more people and earn some extra from them as they pay less.
AT THE END…
He ended up sharing an office space with another company that is specializing in a different area than his own. He started to ask a lot of questions while working with the company partner. He learned a lot from that.
WHAT HIS STRATEGIES ARE IN BUSINESS?
While clients ask for a website, he will tell them that: they don’t. What they really want is to make money and to increase the sales of the companies.
His advice is to tell a story first; use the story to be differentiating from its competitors and what consumers are looking for. The Company should show the value of why it exists. All the marketing materials are to support the core idea of the company. A successful business is to tell a story that based on insights and communication of the company.
HOW TO GENERATE MORE CLIENTS?
- Get clients from word of mouth.
- Now narrow it down to its specialty for what the company is doing. Now it’s all selective.
PERCEPTION CHANGES IN HIS CAREER
The perception of the why he does business now is different from at the beginning. Initially he only wanted money, fulfilling certain things, but later on, is more like fulfilling the needs of the customers and challenging yourself and do what you love.
WHAT DO YOU NEED FOR YOUR CAREER?
- Passion. There’s pain associated with passion. It takes you there.
- Skills. You have to develop the skills you need to accomplish your passion.
- A Market. Create expertise that’s the niche in the market, applying the thinking into it.
A BOOK ABOUT TIME MANAGEMENT
- Don’t rely on the clock, and break your life into priority.
- Getting real with your life.
- Direct your life based on compass vs.clock
HOW DOES HE START HIS COMPANY
- Get to see a consultant for a starting up business. (Get a proximate time for certain portion of work.)
- In his company, there are 6 of them, including 2 designers, 1 project manager, 1 developer, himself, and an administrator.
SOME OF HIS WORK
WHAT IS THE ROLE FOR EVERYBODY IN THE COMPANY?
- He has a multi-roles in the company: Sales, business, marketing, chief creative director.
- Each position has multi-roles. They can do multi-disciplinary work. For example, a graphic designer can do photography and graphic design and web design at the same time.
- Biggest things for hiring whether is the person will fit into the cultures, personality.
HOW DO THEY DO PROJECTS?
- Everybody will have brainstorm sections to get the message across then assigned different tasks to different people.
- Project manager: will make sure all the work get done on time.
- Administrative assistant: get all the paper work done. Banking, bills, recording the holiday. Grammar/Copy Editing. Shopping for groceries.
5 LOVE IN LANGUAGES
Gifts, saying it, proximity (getting close to each other), touch, by doing things to each other.
CONTACT
Compasscreative.com
