Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shannon Kohlitz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Shannon, appreciate you joining us today. Do you take vacations? How do you keep things going – any advice for entrepreneurs who feel like they can’t step away from their business for a short vacation?
I do take a vacations in the sense that I travel, but do I completely unplug? Rarely.
If I’m traveling longer than a weekend, I will take my laptop and still get a few hours of work in most days.
As a self employed contractor who works independently, I have always found it difficult, if not impossible, to completely stop working for more than a few days. However, I have learned to work less. Earlier in my career I worked far more, on the weekends, in the evenings and on “vacation.” After becoming burnt out from this lifestyle, I started purposely fencing off my weekends for no work. I could have probably always been doing that, but I had to make that mental switch, to not feel guilty that I wasn’t working, and to not worry so much if a project wasn’t completed quickly. Like I said, I still work on vacations, but it’s really the bare minimum, keeping up with emails, having the occasional meeting and doing just enough work so that when I return home, I’m not behind on projects. Fortunately, my self employed work allows me this flexibility, it just had always been up to me to allow myself relaxation and time to myself.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a freelance 2D animator and videographer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I have being professionally creating animations and videos under my own business since 2011. My work can be seen on my website, https://www.Kohlitz.com.
I contract with small to medium size companies mostly in Southeast Michigan, but have done projects for businesses across the country. My projects typically consist of 1-3 minute animated videos, or 1-5 minute long videos, destined to be used on client’s websites, social media, trade shows and for internal use. Most of my clients are businesses in the industries of technology, education, manufacturing or marketing. My services include scripting, storyboading, concept art, illustration, 2D animation, video shooting, video editing, and project management. I’m typically hired to work on a short video or animation project taking the client from script or idea, to final delivery of a video that meets their needs. Although I can work as part of team in a dedicated role, as well. As the solo owner of my business, I am the person doing most of work and the person whom the client will interface with. I hire other people as needed, such as voice artists, sound designers and extra crew for video shoots.
There are a lot of self employed videographers like myself, but what I like to say I bring to the table is my creativity. Unlike most videographers, I graduated from an art school, the University of Michigan Penny Stamps School of Art & Design. Also, my speciality is animation. While I can shoot and edit video, I can also create custom animated lower thirds, titles and any other animated graphics that may help enhance a client’s video. Everything I create is customized for my client, making it unique for their use.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I started my business in 2011 with two other co-founders. For two years we worked hard for little pay but we were a team. Unfortunately that team unity started to feel not very equal overtime. We were splitting our meager profits equally three ways but while two of us were dedicating ourselves full time to our start-up, the third was maintaining his full time job. My co-founder who was working full time alongside me was getting fed up and wanted to push the third out. However, he also abruptly decided he wanted to leave the company too. So I ended up having one co-founder who wanted to leave, and another one who was very angry about being pushed out and was asking for an extraordinary amount of money for his “portion” of the company. If I wanted to keep the business and keep doing animation and video production, I had to not only buy out my two partners, including one how was hostile, but then proceed on the path of owning and running a business all on my own. Something I had no experience with. This was in 2013 and I would have been 25 years old at the time. I used most of savings to buy out my partners’ shares to keep the business, and most importantly, the video and computer equipment it came with. I have been sole entrepreneur ever since.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
I like leaning about a client and their particular niche. One perk of being a contractor is that I end up working with so many different types of businesses, many of which I never knew even existed. As a videographer I get to go to interesting places, like the rooftop of a water treatment center, a pet food manufacturing and packaging floor, and the head quarters of some of the world’s biggest companies.
And I enjoy helping my clients solve a problem. I have had many clients tell me that they have had such a hard time describing their service or product, but after I produce an explainer animation for them, people finally “understand” what it is that they do. Or another problem may be that they are struggling to convey a particular story and I have the opportunity help them with a creative solution.
Lastly, I get to be creative by being involved from the beginning to end. I am not a cog in a machine. I get to be part of the brainstorming, art generation and bringing the final product to life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.Kohlitz.com
- Instagram: @KohlitzMedia
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kohlitz
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/Kohlitz
- Twitter: @KohlitzMedia
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsxtuMcDCILN7A108KC5vXw
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kohlitz-animation-and-video-production-ann-arbor
- Other: https://vimeo.com/kohlitz
