Try Tuts+ Premium, Get Cash Back!
5 Things That Tell Me You’re Not A Professional

5 Things That Tell Me You’re Not A Professional

on Aug 9th 2012 with 93 comments

In today’s post I’m going to do something a little different by just having a nice little sit down chat. I’ve never done this in the 3 years I’ve been running this site, but I thought this might be a nice chance for me to share a few red flags I’ve noticed that tell me that whether or not I would want to work with you more than once.

Full Video

Download Video .mp4

File size: 134 MB

Here is a link to the interview with Aharon Rabinowitz that I mentioned in the video.

Here is a link to the Good, Fast, Cheap principle I mentioned as well.

Adam Everett Miller is everettoptions on Videohive
 
Enjoyed this Post?

Subscribe to our RSS Feed, Follow us on Twitter or simply recommend us to friends and colleagues!

By

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

I am the editor of Aetuts+. I also run Hello Studios as my 9-5 job. I'd love any feedback about Aetuts+ so don't hesitate to drop me a line. ae@tutsplus.com  

Plus Premium
 
 
← Older Comments
  • http://www.bobo.com Bobo Baggins

    Are you Andrew Kramer in disguise???

  • http://info@jonathanportelli.com Jon

    I think you could do a whole episode on handling situations with non-paying and slow paying clients. surely something that every freelancer would find useful.

  • Corey

    Thank you Adam ! Really helpful tips…..
    One more thing, was resetting the DSLR the real reason to pause the video ? :D

    • Ultirodo

      You’re imagining things. I don’t see any of what you’re trying to imply here with your misguided comment. Did you happen to watch it in full-res 720p, or are your opinions based on the poorly compressed (YouTube’s fault) default lower resolution video that plays?

  • http://www.videocopilot.net/ Moses

    What a judgmental piece of crap. A tutorial on how to make you like me????? Look at yourself…..you are the asshole in the room…..

    • Yossun

      Are you serious? Do you honestly not understand the difference between professionalism and “liking” somebody. You’re the type of person that needs this video the most. The self-deluded troll who thinks they’re hot shit when I’d bet an infinite sum of money that you don’t have a single credible project to your name. Take your condescending and childish rant and stick it up your ass as it should fit nicely next to your head.

  • Sam

    It was pretty neat to hear about someone’s own subjective opinions on work etiquette in this industry, especially for myself still in University when it’s always a bit, “Oh crap I don’t really know how I’m meant to treat clients or act on set, what’s normal, what’d drive people crazy?” So many thanks for this little ‘tutorial’ on work etiquette; friendly, informative and definitely to the point!

  • Martin

    your forehead looks weird ! blurred sides and big wrinkle on the center..bad track..professional?

  • http://www.writercomposeyourself.com Heather

    Probably one of the more useful videos I’ve watched in a while; don’t get me wrong, I like tutorials, tips, techniques, etc. But as I’m just starting out, this is the sort of thing I needed to hear.

    Price, your last point, I find tricky as all heck. Probably because I don’t know exactly what I should be charging per hour, or project (yup, that new, I have thought about it but I don’t have anything to base it on as yet). Loved your idea of the friend card though! Can see that saving my neck multiple times in the future.

  • Matt

    Professionalism in any industry usually boils down to “Do a good job and don’t be a nuisance.”

    I’m not sure why you needed to take 15 minutes to say, “Be a grown up.”

    Here are 5 things that tell me that someone is not a professional:

    1) Poor typography
    2) Linear keyframes
    3) Stretched or squashed footage
    4) Blown up, low resolution or compressed images
    5) Fringy keying/ crusty magic wand masking/ no spill suppression

    I hope that list helps all the perfectly positive, confident folks in the crowd to look professional too.

    Matt

  • Dan

    Adam-

    Many thanks for the thought provoking video, but I think you missed something really important: a professional acts and dresses as a professional. We frequently employ freelancers for shoots around Europe and for many of our clients dress, grooming and behaviour is just as important as the skills they possess. We simply will not use someone who is unreliable, does not turn up on time, and dresses inappropriately.

    And I’m afraid your “homeless look” (the long hair and long beard) that you present on video just wouldn’t cut it for most of our professional clients. This does not mean clean shaven, suit and tie (I have a beard and avoid ties like the plaque!) but being clean and tidy in dress in grooming shows something extremely important….it shows you care about presentation. And someone who cares about presentation and their behaviour is not only easier to work with but more likely to generate professional work that arrives on time.

    I have followed your work for some time now and so know you have not always presented yourself this way….so in all honesty think you have done yourself a disfavour by addressing an important aspect of production with such an unprofessional look.

    Regards
    Dan

    • http://www.vimeo.com/everettoptions Adam Everett Miller
      Author

      Hey Dan, thanks man. I can honestly say that almost all of my normal work requires little to no face to face client interaction. I haven’t found it to be a hindrance for myself. I agree with you. Went to a strict private school my whole life where I’d get shot looking like this. :) My wife has agreed to let me “experiment” with my look… and that’s all I’m doing, just having fun. I figured I should try it now so I’m not the creepy guy who looks like this when he’s 50. :)

      • Dan

        Hi Adam, many thanks for the response! And I understand where you’re coming from. Your wife sounds a lot more tolerant than mine! :-)

        But I do think it is an important but often overlooked aspect of production. On one of my first corporate gigs I turned up in ‘trainers’ (ie sneakers) and the client asked me if I could change into flat black shoes (which fortunately I could) I was confused as I thought I needed trainers so as to run around (I was a ENG camera man) but once I arrived on location I realised why. Since then I have also been on jobs where call sheets have stipulated ‘black dress’ (ie a black shirt and black trousers) so as to avoid the ‘jeans with holes and Metallica t-shirt look’ so frequently seen.

        It is an unfortunate fact that people do judge on outward appearances and at that critical moment when you have a first meeting or a client joins you for the edit, part of that professional approach should also include thinking about what you wear and how you present yourself and behave.

        So I think it is definitely worth adding tto any discussion on “Things That Tell Me You’re Not A Professional “

      • Ultirodo

        Since your posts are months and months old, I know you’ll probably never see this, but perhaps… Anyway, what a pompous and misguided a$$ you are… You are obviously not working on any sort of big projects with big studios and such. A clean, well groomed person in a T-shirt, jeans, and SNEAKERS describes about 85% of all video effects artists. You may not realize it, but you are closing yourself off from the top 25% of artists in the field, who dress very casual but keep themselves clean. Adam looks fine in this video. His hair is long, but it is well kept. His beard is styled and shaped, and well kept. I find your comment about his “homeless look” to be unfair, unduly insulting and degrading. It ultimately reflects what a shallow and self-important jackass you must be. YOU are the type of person no one wants to work with, because you clearly spend too much time observing and criticizing others for things not relevant to the quality of their work, and not enough time keeping your inflated ego in check. Step down a peg or two, Danny boy, before someone forcibly knocks you down even further from that pedestal you’ve haphazardly planted your backside upon. There’s nothing wrong at all with the way Adam “presents himself” in this video. The VFX industry is filled with extremely talented and worthwhile artists who look EXACTLY like him. So step off your high horse and come back to reality. As it stands here and now, your entire posts violate all three of Adam’s father’s general rules. They were neither necessary, kind, or true, which means they were, in fact, uncalled-for, hurtful, and dishonest. Don’t you dare treat someone this unfairly again, you miserable bag of disgust.

  • spamuloid

    essentially what you did was list universal human characteristics which ALL people will display at some point to a greater or lesser degree. sorta pointless exercise

  • Ahmed Masud

    This video made me smile :-)

  • GB.Co

    Dude I enjoyed this video and it helped me realize that I am actually sometimes a little too shy when presenting my work to clients.

    And to those who say that axpect is important I wanna ask: will you really miss the chance to work with a skilled person just because of his hair/clothes?

    If you pay so much attention to your personal aspect as a key for working, to me that means that at the end of the day you probably lack of substance.

    Cheers

  • Moez

    Nice advises but are you sure that it could be applicable in this world ?

  • http://uniquefx.net uniquefx

    Great video and a nice change of pace to the tutorials.I think you should turn this into a series where you could offer opinions and advice to the beginners and more seasoned users.

  • Andrej

    For me it was quite useful.
    Thanks a lot!

  • http://www.toddproductions.com Todd Stanton

    Hey,

    I just wanted to say, I appreciated what you said here.

    I am not an AE user (at this point) but very interested in expanding to it (one day). I ran across your video and thought your points were right on!

    Being a self-employed video producer, I find I your comments to be right in line with how I approach business (and people). I especially enjoyed your “communication” part. One of my pet peeves with people I email is that there is always so many excuses why they cannot reply something simple like what you said, “hey I got it. Let me think about it”. Your mind DOES go to the worst place…and I find it rude when people cannot have the curiosity to just give you some kind of simple feedback.

    Anyways… I just wanted to let you know I appreciated your thoughts here.

  • http://www.cadbox.dk Soren Deleuran

    Hey Adam

    Just wanted to give two thumbs up for sticking your neck out and telling it like it is. I totally agree and I would definitely work with you just for making this post.

    I don’t do many comments in forums, but I just had to point out the fact, how horribly sad it is seeing all the people you are trying to give some sane advice (in the most diplomatic take-it-or-leave-it kind of fashion) turn on you and writing hurtfull things about your person and appearance.

    I can tell you already know but I’m gonna go ahead and say it anyway

    Dude you rock! don’t change a thing.

    Cheers

    Soren

  • Leo

    Why have you got no books in the bookshelf? cheers though all the same.

  • http://q-artsmedia.com Q-Arts Media

    Brilliant!!!!! Adam absolutey brilliant! I have to hand it to you and I’m surprised after reading the posts that nobody else caught on to this, but you just discovered an exceptional way to tell the professionals from the nonprofessionals.

    1. Make a video describing professionalism and what is irritating and nonprofessional.
    2. let people post responses to the video
    3. read the responses.
    4. From there you can weed out the good ones and the bad ones as to who you would work with and who you would not work with. Not only that, but you have pointed out to the rest of us those who do and those who do not act professional. Like I said absolutely brilliant. wish I would’ve thought of it myself. My hats off to you sir.

  • http://www.theartistscove.com Jeremy Hochheiser

    “You suck as a human being and I never want to talk to you again.”

    WOW hahahah

  • GABRIEL

    LONG! RAMBLING. THROW THE CHAT ON A DIET.

  • Jamie

    Did someone steal your books?

    I agree with some of what you are saying here, I’m guilty of being a little too patient with certain clients and tend to over-deliver frequently on projects which means longer hours and less time spent with my family.

    I’m looking to address that just now but it’s such a tough industry and working as a freelancer means you want to impress and keep good clients who pay.

  • julianvidil

    Can you just talk about life? Honestly though, great video, very personable, and real. You put your heart in this video and I can learn more from this then most tutorials because you’ve used those core life examples… great job overall. My favorite part… “Is it kind necessary, or true? if it’s not all 3 of those, then you don’t have to say it son!” — I was in class and laughed out loud listening—such a good motto.

    I’m posting this video to my organization page on facebook, The Free Thinkers Collaborative, which brings art & business together. https://www.facebook.com/groups/154298731340875/

    Thanks again,
    Julian Vidal
    @mistevidal

  • Benjamin Kreis

    Insightful. Thanks for the great post.

  • http://www.facebook.com/heatherknoxrocks Heather Knox

    Adam this is constructive input. Sadly, professionalism is lost on those who chose to commiserate and pontificate negativity. Keep on keepin on brother

  • Manie Q

    How a person chooses to appear in no way represents their level of professionalism. The concept of “looking professional” is a cultural meme. I don’t care how you dress or how long or short your hair is or how many tattoos you have or what you look like, as long as we can work together and get the job done, then to me THAT is professional.

← Older Comments