Why you should hire out creative work

A lot of you are walking around designing your own logos and it shows.

I have always been an idea person.  I struggle with the follow through like a lot of folks and I REALLY struggle with details.  In my years of running my band I have found that there are things that are WORTH paying others to do for you.  We all have weaknesses/blindspots and knowing yours is just as important as knowing your strengths.

Some time last year I was on facebook and an amazing brewery that my bands have played events for posted a t-shirt that looked like this:

This of course is a tribute to the original MTV Logo:

Immediately I thought this would be an amazing merch idea for Members Only.  So I immediately opened up pages and mocked up a version of my idea for the band.  The results were.... not great.

At this point I realized I was WAY out of my league.  If I wanted to realize my initial vision, I would need an expert to get it over the finish line.

In my case my good friend and bandmate Matt Chenoweth was a graphic designer.  I sent him my (terrible) concept image and he took it and ran with it.  

A week or so later he sent me this:

This was obviously the exact thing I saw in my head but lacked the technical skills to execute.  I'm sure if I had taken hours to learn illustrator/photoshop to do it myself I could crank this out after months of trying.  Instead, my friend who is a Jedi at this kind of stuff cranked it out in his spare time and gave me a slick, professional product in no time. 

I have espoused the DIY mindset in a lot of episodes and articles, and learning new skills is a must for an entrepreneur to grow and adapt, but you should also know when it's time to farm out work to others with more expertise than you.  Doing so will get you further faster.  

Today in the mail I got my first shirt with this logo on it. 

We've also ordered stickers and buttons with this artwork.  I'm super excited for this new branding for my band and how it will grow our awareness in our market.  If you have a great idea don't let it fester in your head, find someone to help you realize it.

If you think this merch looks dope (which you should), check it out here.