Be sure and read part 1 for some helpful context on why I'm interested in mentoring and building out this program. This entry gets into the logistics of building a program prior to interviewing (which will be covered in part 3).
In early 2020, I accepted a job offer to join a large advertising agency in Kansas City, close to home and a logical choice on my journey from web to brand identity design. It only took a few weeks for me to realize my landing place was a little off-target.
In spite of landing a decent job, I still wanted to work at one of those smaller brand studios I admired, whose clientele had smaller budgets but took bigger risks. I still wanted the experience of working on a team and learning from others (the agency where I worked was 400+ and extremely hands-off as we transitioned to working from home). I still would have taken way less money in exchange for any of these things.
I quit after 6 months and started my own business. I quickly became overwhelmed with the workload and sought advice from my peers — many of whom had encouraged me to quit in the first place. I picked up a few good tips, but the work was still pouring in and I hated telling potential clients, "no."
I couldn't afford an employee, even part-time. I wasn't too interested in bringing in a paid intern. I had to start considering some alternative methods for receiving help. I had plenty of friends who I could reliably contract out for 10 hours here or there, but I was really interested in finding someone willing to commit to larger projects.
<aside> 🚸 I don't have anything against interns, but what I've found to be true (as described in Eli Altman's Run Studio Run) is that interns (and often junior designers) require a lot of extra effort. You bring in someone hoping to hand off work and end up doubling your commitment because you're educating and art directing (ie: re-doing the work yourself). I'm just not willing to do that with someone whose main priority is college credit.
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Maybe there were even more ways of collaborating I hadn't thought of. Would anyone be willing to work at a discounted rate, in exchange for education? Surely, if I was willing to do it, others were too, I thought. It felt strange, yet familiar, to be on the other side of my earlier position.
Back when I was trying to find a job, I'd been willing to do just about anything for the experience. I definitely had an abundance of work and just enough knowledge to teach a junior designer what I'd learned about branding so far, however limited it may be.
This led me to ask myself the obvious question: what if I created some of those opportunities I'd been so interested in just a few months earlier?
Apparently, I've been thinking about this for a long time. While reminiscing about the apprenticeship program's origins, I dug up this tweet from when I first started applying for new jobs nearly two years ago (while still working at ESPN):
https://twitter.com/titusmith/status/1156713179445125122?s=20
Similar to how I spoke my ESPN job into existence, this felt like a sign.
I've had more than one conversation with design friends over the past few years about the value of apprenticeships, residencies and internships. Usually those talks turned into a form of, "Here's how I would do it if I were in charge." Well, as the work mounted up within my first few months of running The Hideout, it just kind of hit me: I was in charge. So, during a "slow period" (in which I'd turned away work and suddenly found myself available for projects) I made recruiting, interviewing and hiring an apprentice a top priority.
Here's another (more recent) tweet, from when the dream was morphing into reality:
https://twitter.com/titusmith/status/1366567813234712581?s=20
I didn't get much help on Twitter so I hit up my business attorney and he pulled through with some legal advice and a contract. Specifically, I was advised to change my initial approach from a measurable period of time to a specific project. The logic is similar to why designers often have a flat fee (or rate-based fee) instead of an hourly fee; in a nutshell, by offering compensation in a real USD amount (yes, the position is paid), as well as "educational opportunities," I can make it very clear that this a work for hire position and not a long-term commitment void of reasonable benefits (I really don't want the IRS coming after me).
<aside> ⚖️ Seriously, y'all need to hire a business attorney. If you're looking, I can refer you to mine who specializes in creative services. I can't overstate how integral he's been in helping me with contracts — both for clients and contractors.
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