From being seen by potential clients to being seen as an influencer, educator, and performance driver, Tae talks about the importance of visibility as a black creative in entrepreneurship, corporate environments, and in shaping legacy,
From being seen by potential clients to being seen as an influencer, educator, and performance driver, Tae talks about the importance of visibility as a black creative in entrepreneurship, corporate environments, and in shaping legacy,
Welcome to blackxecutive podcast where we share inspiration and actionable advice for black creatives going pro, I'm your host Jas. With each episode, we'll chat with black creatives, thriving in entrepreneurship, corporate careers in the nonprofit sector, all while building a network of black creatives, six head nods apart, enjoyed the show where the dreamers become doers, and the aspiring become inspired. Let's get started. What's up, y'all? Thanks for tuning in to another episode of black secutor. I'm your host Jas. Today we're talking to UI UX designer, influencer educator and one of the dopest, and most passionate creativess I've come across. Tae Ebison Welcome to the show.
Tae Ebison:What's happening, what's happening, thanks for having me.
Jas, the host:I'm so glad that she agreed to do it. Like I'm really hype about it for and I'm like, if you listen to the show, to my listeners, y'all know about all my guests, but I'm really high because I'm not gonna lie. When I came up with this concept, I was like, that's one of the people that I want to interview, I've had the honor of collaborating with you on several projects. Over the past year, I've seen your passion as a creator, your drive as a perfectionist, and I have less respect for you and the standard that you set for high quality work. By
Tae Ebison:forever. I really appreciate that. I'm you setting the bar really high now. Now I have to deliver.
Jas, the host:You will. You will though, like you, I feel like you really fully embody the passion of a designer, you design your work you design at home, like outside of work, you write about design, you educate on design, your work has been featured on prominent design publications. You're like sensei of design. So on top of that you're self taught, so I'm not bragging for no reason I know your work at the end your brand growth will speak for itself in this interview. So let's get to it. Can you tell us a little bit about your career in design, how you got started, and how you became a self taught designer?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, I want to first preface by saying I'm about 25% teacher taught and 75% self taught. And just to sort of give a little bit of background on that and dive into a little bit of my story, it's been a bit of an unorthodox approach to the film for sure. I started out as what I thought was a comic book artists. And if you would have asked me at 13 what I was going to be when I grew up, I would have said comic book artists, or a video game designer. And it didn't hit me until my senior year in high school, when my foods teacher made everyone take an aptitude test. And after taking this aptitude test, I tried to answer the questions as best I could after taking the test. Graphic design was like the number one option for me based off of how I answered the quiz. And I looked into it and I was like, You know what, this seems this seems interesting. So right after she made want to take the test, the next thing we did was start applying the schools that had whatever the recommendation was from that suits us if we were interested in it. So I plots a few schools ended up getting into the Art Institute of Charlotte. And it lasted for about a year until I realized that I could teach myself so that is where the story began and how I got to learn about design.
Jas, the host:Really, I would have never thought who knew that those aptitude tests would be good for anything. You know, like
Tae Ebison:Okay, this has to be this can't be real. I remember like this that my high school made every teacher try to give us those aptitude tests. And I remember like, all of them prior to the one my first teacher gave I answered all of them wrong. Like I was just going through the motions, just trying to get it over with so the teacher wouldn't say anything to me. But something told me to answer my foods aptitude test. as honest as I could and it helped out in the long run.
Jas, the host:So universe was whispering in your ear like stop playing. I'm try to tell you a destiny. You're not listening. Listen to me.
Tae Ebison:I wouldn't doubt it. I wouldn't doubt it.
Jas, the host:Okay, so one thing I guess I want to go back to because you say you actually UI design. Can you talk a little bit about what that is? For those who don't know?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, I think I get this question the most, um, UI design, to me is the aesthetic behind the experience you're looking at. So the look the feel how the buttons the colors, all of that that is going to make up the UI, the user interface of whatever product or website you're looking at. And for UX, to me, that's the function and how things operate. So when you click something, what happens? Whenever the page loads in what do you see first things like that, that is gonna be UX experience that the user experience.
Jas, the host:Okay, I just wanted to clear that up. Because I know, you know, we live in this world, you and I both. So we know what this means, you know, but I have to remember that a lot of listeners are like, What are you talking about? And how is that different from a graphic designer? Yeah. So I know you do freelance work. And you are also a full time corporate, what helps shape your decision to go full time corporate versus just sticking with 100%? freelance?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, I feel like it's started back when I was at the Art Institute of Charlotte, I remember going there initially for graphic design and trying to learn everything I could about it. And something piqued my interest with UI UX design and to make me want to start learning it. And before I shifted, majors or shifted my degree, I wanted to sort of test the waters and work with people first. So I literally would hit students up my classmates, by Hey, look, I'm trying to get into UI UX design, Do you need anything done? Or do you know anybody that could use my help, and it started with me networking on campus, and trying to really get my feet wet with UI UX design. And that led to about two or three different projects, it was very minimal projects, I set up a website for a photography fit, friend. Um, and then I did a few other smaller projects. But from there, I sort of started wanting to learn more about UI UX design. And after I decided this is what I wanted to do. I got my feet wet with working with different companies. And after I started working with companies, I started thinking to myself like, this is cool, but I'm the only person given like, I'm the only designer and I wasn't really working with anyone else. I was the designer, the writer, the SEO strategist, like the
Jas, the host:Yeah, been there.
Tae Ebison:And I was like, I was like, this, this can't be, this can't be it. So I started applying a few different jobs. And I ended up getting in at a few different places, working it like as an intern. And for me, the reason why I chose to, to continue down that path, and stay full time corporate and not do 100%. Freelance is for one, I wanted to learn how other businesses operated, I wanted to understand like their operations and all the ins and outs of how they function. And then I also feel like it's a growth hack, as a designer, getting to work with and collaborate with other people more senior than you whether or even working with people that are just starting out in their careers, I feel like they bring a new perspective and offer insight that you wouldn't have always thought of. And then also, I wanted to use my corporate job as leverage for freelance work. So to me having a corporate job while also working freelance at the moment allows me to be selective with who I work with.
Jas, the host:Very true, because you're not you don't have to just take anything, because gotta pay the bills. I get that.
Tae Ebison:Right. Right. You're not twisting my arm to work with you?
Jas, the host:Yeah, yeah, for sure. So that like that piggybacks on another episode that I had. And we talked about using your skills that you learn at your full time job to kind of, you know, hone your craft and use that to complement your independent client work. So can you talk a little bit about that? Or can you give a specific instance and the time unless you like, learn something at work? And like, immediately or later on, we're able to use that to better your freelance work.
Tae Ebison:Yeah. So just to sort of give background on that as well. I have, I don't think I've shared any of my corporate work publicly.
Jas, the host:Really, not even like in your professional portfolio?
Tae Ebison:not in my professional portfolio. All of the work that I have been able to, to show has been all personal work, or like personal projects, just pet projects, things that I've come up with, that I'm passionate about, and I just work on. But for me at the moment, my corporate job gives me a lot of credibility for prospects. I hear it a lot that once people hear about me, they find me on dribble YouTube medium, or LinkedIn. And they say, you know, we, we really dug into your profile, and we looked at your work, expect your work history, and we think you would be the best fit for us to work with based off of the companies you've worked for. And without seeing any work from them. And just looking at my personal projects, that has opened many doors for me, hmm.
Jas, the host:Okay, so that that's perfect, because I want to know more about how you use these platforms to, like, build your business and like, leverage the following that you have on these platforms to get more clients and get high profile clients.
Tae Ebison:Yeah, I feel like at the moment, I'm not using them as best I can. And I say that because on these platforms, I've just recently started dabbling into like, outbound marketing. And outbound marketing is what you do to attract people to yourself, speaking directly to, to whoever your ideal prospect or client is. But I've been doing a lot of inbound marketing, and that's just me posting things, posting personal projects, and people finding me from that. So if I could make a recommendation to to the listeners or to anyone want to one up me, I would say it. Definitely, um, see if you can build out a persona profile or where your ideal prospect is and tailor your content that way.
Jas, the host:Hmm. Huh. Okay, so can you talk? Can you be more specific about what you mean by prospect? Because we might have some newbies listening who are like, What are you talking about?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, yeah. So when I say prospect, it It refers to companies or individuals that want to collaborate with you on a project. So for me, I get a lot of my prospects are early stage startups or, as of lately, like fortune 500 companies. So it varies, it varies from person to person, depending on like the type of work you do, and the services you provide.
Jas, the host:Okay, okay, so you have people in mind who you want to work with, and you kind of work from there? And do you find that? Has there ever been a particular client that like, he didn't think you would land as you land it, and you're really excited about?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, I would say not because of like, who the client is, but because of me, trying to grow as a freelancer as a designer as a business person. So for example, when I first started out, I was charging, next to nothing for for projects for work. And I slowly started building up the amount I would charge for projects. So I went from being 100%, free, just trying to get my experience up, learn more about how to work with people how to collaborate things like that, to charging, like $400 for a project. And then it kept going up and up. And then I made a bet with myself, every new project, I'm gonna charge more not because I want to be greedy, but because I understand the value I bring to the business or the company I'm going to collaborate with. So every project, I was like, Okay, I know, I have to be higher than this amount. So I got to start thinking of different ways I can pitch value to these different companies. And it would shock me. How many times like people will say yes, or the amount of times they said no. And to me that was very eye opening.
Jas, the host:Yes, absolutely. You have to know your worth. And what is it? What is the thing? Close mouth don't get fed.
Tae Ebison:Closed mouths don't get fed.
Jas, the host:You got to name your prizes. I like this is way this is what it is. So this this dope, how did you like build the confidence to be able to before it before you had to bet? Are you just like, Okay, I see what other designers are doing. And I know what other designers are charging and I need to be on par with that? Are we kind of like this is I'm just choosing the number and going with it?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, so I would be in a lot of different communities, design communities that is and just sort of getting a feel for what other people are charging. And I would think to myself like, Okay, this is what they're charging. And for a project similar, a similar project. This is what I would charge so I started thinking to myself, okay, this is what the market averages, this is what everyone else is charging. And and in order for me to look like I know what I'm doing, I have to be around that same price point anything less. And I look like I don't know what I'm doing so I had to match my competitors or the, the the designers that I was up against. And another thing that helped me build my confidence with sales was the fact that I had four years of sales experience prior to jumping into design. But so I feel like Jamie Foxx said this one time before, but everybody should do it sales for at least one year in that career. Because you're doing, you're doing sales all the time. Whether you're in an interview, you're trying to sell yourself, whether you're trying to convince your spouse on somewhere to eat, you're trying to sell that that restaurant, where you're trying to sell a project, you're always doing sales, and that ability to be able to read people, and to be able to handle objections, and to be able to negotiate is, is is very, very important to someone success as a designer or as an individual in life.
Jas, the host:I see I definitely see that. And I hear that all the time. And I'm always like, because I never did sales, I cannot see myself being a sales person. Like, I'm the kind of person where I'm like, hey, do you want this? No, okay, I don't want to buy, like, whatever is best for your life, like, you know, your personal space, your preferences, I respect you, like, you know, so like that, that will make me like very uncomfortable. But I get that I get the need to step outside of your comfort zone and acquire those skills. So I feel like, as a writer, there have been ways in which I've had to learn how to be persuasive. It's a form, it's a form of writing. And so I've had to use it to sell also. So I kind of get what you're saying on that, too. I get that. So, on these platforms, even though you say you're not using them to the full potential that you could be, you are like a dribble Pro. Right?
Tae Ebison:That I am,
Jas, the host:huh. Okay, so can you talk a little bit about that kind of big deal?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, so it's funny, because when I first started using dribble, I originally went into it with the idea that, Okay, I'm going to use dribble, to practice design publicly, in front of people to hold myself accountable to working on different designs and projects. Because before I was practicing design privately, so I wanted to, to get on dribble. Because dribble is this community of designers where you're supposed to be able to get like feedback on your work, and things like that. So I went Pro, to only be able to look at stats, and to be able to schedule my posts ahead of time. But Pro comes with a lot of different benefits, I wasn't looking at the big features like being able to sell things with the pro account, you can, you can attach like products you're selling like ebooks, merchandise, things like that to your dribble post that comes with a pro account, you can you can add multiple different screenshots to your design to show more of the depth of whatever project you're working on. And there is a ton of different like pro features that I did not even consider in it. And they also came with the with the portfolio, like a free portfolio site. So for dribble, it came with a free portfolio site when you set up a pro account. And I didn't care about any of that I was like, you're not just let me be able to look at the stats on these posts that I make. And then let me be able to schedule things ahead of time. That way, I'm not waking up and in the middle of the night, or like posting at random times I want to be able to schedule, like 10 things ahead of time and be able to work ahead of myself. But yeah, I was not really looking into all the different procedures at first.
Jas, the host:Okay. Okay, so it wasn't like a huge strategy move or anything like that. It was like, I just need convenience. That's okay.
Tae Ebison:I just need convenience. Help me out here.
Jas, the host:I'll take that. I'll take that too. So another one that I'm familiar with a little bit because I attempted to do some design in a former life until I met people like y'all, and I was like nah and I'm a I'm a write because that's what I do. Um, but like Behance is that a tool that you use? Is that a platform that you use? Like, do you feel as though it's not as popular as Dribble? What are your thoughts on it?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, actually, I'm not using Behance at the moment, but Behance is gonna become some I use a lot coming up in the future. And Dribble and Behance have two different use cases. So, with Behance, you want to post like full case studies. And a case study is just a project that you dive deep into and explain their process behind all of your design decisions and why you did certain things. Whereas Dribble you're just posting bite sized snapshots of projects that you worked on. So for me, since I was doing a lot of like pet projects, I wanted to focus mainly on getting out as many ideas as I could. So that meant not diving as deep into all these different concepts, but just putting out all the different ideas I had. But Behance is going to be a place where I sort of start to dive into all the different projects and show more of our process. And my thoughts behind why I did certain things.
Jas, the host:Okay, so thought on that on Behance, because you can use it to flesh out case study. So on my corporate portfolio, which y'all will never see.
Tae Ebison:still got to share that link.
Jas, the host:Yeah, but in my corporate portfolio, I have case studies and I talked to a lot of the content strategy and design choices that I made and work and you're choosing to do that on Behance. So one thing we've talked about a lot on the show is like the importance of ownership and things like that. Question for you on that is what makes you want to go with behance for that, instead of using that to build out like TaeEbision.com and really driving traffic to your site, like you are, obviously have a following you're starting to, you know, really build this big brand. You know, you hear that a lot. Like even with Medium, like, I started writing of a Medium, and I'm trying to pull that content over to my own site, even with this podcast, like you can listen on Apple podcasts, but I want you to Blackxecutive.com, right? So like, what, what made you what's your thought process on that?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, I think that's a very good point in that, at the moment is just a means to an end, the final goal is to have your own site that you're going to point people to at the moment that is in the works in that for right now, just to sort of take advantage of as many eyeballs as I can. Uh huh. I'm gonna post where the people are. And then after I get my own site set up, that's when I'll start to plug that in point people over there. But But yeah, I agree that the final the end goal for sure is to have your own.
Jas, the host:For sure. Is that like an overall goal for you with your entire I don't know what you call your freelance businesses. Hey, ever since super dope design studio business, like, I don't know what you call it. But is that your end goal?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, so I don't know if it's going to be 100%. Freelance at the moment, because what I've really found a passion for is educating and coaching designers. So I feel like my end goal is to have a site set up one day that will allow people to go and find me and book for coaching sessions, or to learn from me from courses that I put out, or videos.
Jas, the host:So you know what, I'm gonna go into next, your YouTube channel. Can you talk a little bit about that point when you decided like, Hey, I'm really good at this. I think I can teach other people how to do this. Did you make a conscious decision to do that? Or was it more something that was like thrust upon you like people were asking, we have asking, how did you kind of walk into that educator role?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, it started with as I became a lot more consistent on Dribble, it got the attention of other designers, of course, as well as entrepreneurs who have small businesses or big businesses. And designers would hit me up and say, yo, like, I really like your design. I like the style. I would literally pay to learn how you do things. And at the moment, I was thinking, like, I guess, I don't know if I'm in a position right now, where I want to teach that yet. But I remember a designer hit me up on LinkedIn. And he a young designer, he was fresh out of college, and he wanted some advice on a project that he was working on. So I ended up just booking like a like a $97 coaching session or just to give him advice. And it got to a point where we were in the middle of that coaching session and we were talking and whenever I said would say certain things, his reaction whenever he would have a light bulb moment, whenever some would click is it really made me fulfilled like it gave me a very fulfilled feeling. And I was like, yo, that I like that I really enjoyed that. Like, I really like seeing, like someone had that moment, I went like pulling two different ideas together and having them be able to help see it clearly. So that was one of the biggest turning points for me. And then I started thinking to myself, like, how can I do this for more people? And at first, you know, I had a lot of self doubt, like, Am Am I qualified for this? Like, who am I that imposter syndrome, who am I to be teaching this stuff. So I shut that down with myself, I was thinking of myself, like I just through like previous work experience, like if you, if you think about your previous work experience, I'm sure everybody has had a manager at some point, who was really good at something, but not the greatest at teaching it. Mm hmm. And, for me, that brings back memories. When I was back in sales, I had a manager who could literally sell water to a well, like, he was nice, nice. Like, he had all these accolades and different awards, like he went on all these trips on the company's expense, because he was the number one salesperson in the district, like, across all these different cities and things like that. And it was built that he was the manager and I started like, okay, I can get a lot of insight for him, I can learn, like, all the little little things, he would do the things he would say. But when I asked him for help on things, he would explain it in a way that was hard for me to wrap my head around. And what I quickly came to realize is that, if I went to my coworker that was around like the same skill level that I was, she was able to put things in a way that I could easily understand. Like, she she knew a lot of the pain points that I had. And she was able to pick up on all the little mistakes that I would make. And she was using words and things that I could relate to. So whenever I thought about that, I was like, right now I'm not perfect by any means. But where I'm at in my career now, I feel like I can provide a lot of value to designers around my skill level or around levels higher to me because I bring a unique perspective. And I can offer learnings in a unique way. So Hmm. That is that is how that came about.
Jas, the host:Okay, that that's good to hear as someone who is also an educator is very passionate about educating people on writing in anything but especially writing. I feel that I feel that so much and I respect that. And you also don't sleep on yourself because you also educate non designers, because I have received many pays tips at work. And you always know all the hotkeys, hot key man. So I can count on you for that.
Tae Ebison:Hot key Tae. Yeah. Big, big, big believer in shortcuts. Anything I could do to press a key and save time?
Jas, the host:Yes. And that's efficient design, right? Like especially having to be in a fast paced work environment. And you don't have time to like go through all these long processes, especially when you're repeating the same task over and over and over.
Tae Ebison:Yeah, yeah, you're not doing your job good enough. If you're not looking for shortcuts.
Jas, the host:Yeah. That's a word now. That's a word. So speaking of shortcuts, what tools are your favorite? What tools do you prefer?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, my design tool of the moment is Sketch. And to me, there's a there's a big debate in the design community between Sketch, Adobe, XD and Figma. And Figma to me has the most potential behind Sketch but Sketch at the moment. It's my preferred design tool. I know all the shortcuts, I can work really fast and sketch I'm able to go from idea to design and out shortly short period of time with sketch so that is my preferred tool. Another tool that people aren't familiar with is Sticker Mule. So sticker mule is used to like I use it. If you aren't familiar Sticker Mule. It's a site where you can go and get stickers printed and you can get them made for like your business, your company, your brand and They come in all different shapes and sizes. But with their site, they have a tool that have a background removal tool. And with this background removal tool, you put an image in, and it takes the background out in two seconds. And that tool has come in handy so many different times, I can't explain, like how much time that's always saved me. And not too many people are aware of that tool for background removal. Because prior to sticker mule or these other background removal software's you had to do it by hand in Photoshop, and yeah, for ever 45 minutes to an hour, at minimum, depending on the project for the panel on what image you were trying to manipulate. It took so much time, but now two seconds, you can you could get like the background taken out, and it's a very crisp image at the end. Um, let's see another tool, Pinterest, Pinterest, using Pinterest a lot for finding and saving inspiration. Of course, that's the whole reason behind that that site. But Pinterest, I set it up to where I have all of my different inspirations saved into different groups. And whenever I need some extra juice on a project, or if I'm feeling like I need to see how other people are approaching a creative problem, then I go to Pinterest. Same thing with with dribble. Job was another tool I use for inspiration. Again, gibble to me is used for finding like modern concepts that push the boundaries for what the what the current state of the industry is. So to me, that's a good place to go find new creative ideas that aren't really out in the market yet.
Jas, the host:Hmm.
Tae Ebison:Let me think, Flat Icon. Another tool, Flat Icon has every icon under the sun. Yeah, anything. Every icon we could think of for your project, you can find it on Flat Icon. That one is also timesaver not having to create icons from scratch by hand in Illustrator saves so much time on unsplash using unsplash for images and free. Yep, royalty free photography is where I go now splashes where I go for royalty free photography. But yeah, that that is those are like the tools I use on a regular basis to speed up my design process.
Jas, the host:Okay, now notice you you mentioned quite a few inspiration tools. And I know, this is a topic that we've discussed before, like at work a long time ago. How do you what is the balance, I guess, of seeing someone's work and being inspired by and creating your own new version of it with just like people who flat out plagiarize other people's designs?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, I this comes up a lot in the design community. There is a saying that there is nothing earth like there's nothing original, everything is just a remix of something else. So true. And so nobody has this original idea or some something that they come up with. That is completely new. The the thinking is, whenever you're working on a project, you don't want to look at one source for inspiration, because you will literally completely rip somebody's design and like or whatever you're working on, if you're looking at for inspiration, you will completely steal what they have, if they're the only source you're looking at for inspiration. But I felt like the the key is you have to find several sources of inspiration and pull the best ideas from those sources, and then blend those into one design. And that's where it becomes yours. And it's not a rip of anyone else's work. It's a blend of the best ideas from other projects.
Jas, the host:That's a good idea. So I ran into that too with having to write copy. And one of the pet peeves of mine is like when people try to plug in their own copy, like beforehand and I'm just I you know, then I see those words and then my brain can't think outside of those words. And so like one strategy that I'm using now with the writers That I have working on my team now is having a cheat sheet. For other words, that is like a bank of words, you just like, look at the words and they come back with something else because you rewrite what someone else wrote. And you can't get added that. So yeah, I can definitely see that for design. And I'm sure that comes up a whole lot, especially like with dribble being so popular, like you literally are just looking at all these awesome designs all the time. And I would imagine it would be so easy to just like, pretty much duplicate exactly what someone else.
Tae Ebison:Yeah, another another trick that I that I use, sometimes you're going to work on projects to where there's a, you're working on a creative problem that's so new, that you can't find a lot of references for it. So you maybe can find like one, maybe two, if you're lucky, have companies that are examples that do it really well or solve that problem really well. Another trick I like to do is to look at that design, and you stare at it, you analyze it, you pick apart, why it's so good. And then you close the design and you don't look at it again. And then you go to your project, and you work from memory. And the thing with that is, anytime you're working from memory, you're going to recreate it slightly differently than it was in the original example that you looked at, you're never going to recreate it exactly how you saw it in the example. So as you start to, like sort of recreate what you think you saw, you're going to start injecting your own solution in there. So that's another approach slash technique I use whenever there are limited resources for
Jas, the host:Yeah, I like that. That's a good one to this, this kind of taken advantage of how flawed your memory is. Humans have such like poor memory. So that really like takes advantage of that for design purposes. Yeah, yeah.
Tae Ebison:Yeah, definitely.
Jas, the host:So what is your pattern of error? So every creative has a particular thing that they always like, no matter what, they just do it over and over. And you just have to check that and I know, we talk about that a lot on the writing side, like, you know, I know that I am bad about using a lot of comments, I will sprinkle comments like the sprinkle salt Bay, like, everywhere, you know, I know I have to go back in like, like, to me common sense. Is that correct? I have to throw it in Grammarly or something to check myself. So what is your pattern of error? And how do you solve for it?
Tae Ebison:That's a good, that's a good question. Um, I would say one of my pattern of error is only designing one iteration for a project that I'm working on. Hmm. So it's usually best practice that you design, at least two to three different iterations, right project. So some sort of show options. And I remember very early on in my career, I would like work on one design, I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna get this to be exactly how it's supposed to be, I'm gonna get it to be perfect. And then I would put it in front of like the client, the team, or like the stakeholder, and they would rip it to shreds talk about like, all the things they don't like about it. I'd be like, yo, why are they ripping me like this, but
Jas, the host:I'm an artist, and I'm sensitive about my stuff.
Tae Ebison:I'm an artist, and I'm sensitive, don't do. But I remember, like, coming to the realization that, okay, if I do different options, and share with them two to three different iterations of the same problem, then they would pick one of those and they would either go with that idea 100% or one a blend the three different ideas together. So that is one of them. Another one I have is using the same fonts. In a lot of my design. I find a lot of good fonts. And they work really well in a lot of different situations. And I get in a really bad habit of using them everywhere. So like every project, or every concept or every piece of client work, I'm working on my Okay, we're gonna use this fine, because I know it's gonna work. But just trying to open up and learn more about other fonts that that are out there in the market. But that's those are just a few of the design patterns of error that I have.
Jas, the host:Okay, I know someone needs to hear that. I know someone is like, Yeah, I did it too. So I need that solution. We all have them. And like you're never going to be like this perfect creative, it's always going to be something so you just have to have like a checklist of like, I know I do this. I need to make sure I don't do that for everyone. Every single project Oh, yeah, thank you for sharing it because some people I like I am the pristine, perfect designer and I have no flaws.
Tae Ebison:No mistakes, no flaws. Ask somebody else.
Jas, the host:Exactly. Right, right. Like, what do you mean? like mistake and never know.
Tae Ebison:What's mistake me, no?
Jas, the host:Exactly, yeah. But you do i do way too many things for me to keep track of what are your time management skills? Like how do you balance all of that, you know life yeah, family, work, you have independent clients. It's a lot.
Tae Ebison:It is a lot, it is a lot. It's something that I constantly try to balance as best I can. But the very first thing I did was I took stock of how I was using my time. So I took maybe a day or two. And literally, would try to be conscious about everything I was doing in the day. And I found a bunch of different gaps where I could have been filling that time with more productive things. So for example, for one, I found that I was using social media a lot, I had spent hours and hours and hours on social media. So if you're looking at the screentime app on an iPhone, it tells you how often you use certain apps. And I would look at like Twitter and IG all the time, like non stop. And I had like hours and hours and hours in on them. And I was like okay. Social media got to go. So deleted social media. Second thing I noticed I did a lot was play video games. I was really I would get on it, I would get on 2k. And before I knew it, I was on there for like six hours. And I was I was like okay. Alright, Xbox, you gotta go. Yeah, so
Jas, the host:Wow, boy look. I need I need to repeat that loudly. And I need I need a lot of people to hear that including somebody who live in my house. But yeah, like that's, that's a big one, especially for like hardcore gamers. That's, that's the big deal. must respect like that's super disciplined.
Tae Ebison:I was, I was bad, like, in high school, and very little social life. Because I was on the game, like, non stop like, six, seven hours a day. My mom was saying, I'm gonna drive myself crazy banging on a game all the time. She said, you're gonna go crazy banging on that game. I wish she would say that all the time. But yeah I was like, Okay, if I want to, if I want to do this, this and that, I have to cut these things out of my day in order to free up more time. So after I took stock of everything, and I thought, okay, now that I have all this extra time, how am I going to use it. So the next thing I did was started to plan out my calendars on like, setting what I was going to do on certain days, and sticking to that, um, because I felt like, a lot of the time I would show up to do work for other people, but I wouldn't show up to do work for myself. So if I put it on schedule, I said, Okay, I'm gonna have to live by this. I'm going to have to show up like I would if I was going to work for someone else. Yeah, so there's this. There's a saying that I read in a business book A while ago, it says that you could tell a lot, you could tell the success of an entrepreneur by looking at their calendar. And reading after reading hours, okay, I take myself more seriously and started going on my calendar. And I'm a way that has allowed me to balance work. And my personal life is setting days for personal and setting days for work and not blending the two, because I found that when I was trying to blend them and like do work and personal in the same day, if I was working, I would feel guilty that I was away from my family. And if I was with my family, I feel guilty that I wasn't getting some sort of work done. So I found that whenever I completely disconnected them and it's like okay, for this day, I'm going to focus solely on work between these time periods and after that, specifically for weekends. So let's say like Saturday would be a work day Sunday would be completely personal doing everything like the kids the fam, you know, making sure I'm not a ghost in my own household. So
Jas, the host:I get that. I get that I need to apply that to my life. So because I'm with you on that I'll sit down and I'll start working and next thing I know Saturday is over, and I worked all day. And it's like, you know that that's all that I've done. So, and I know this especially hard to balance, when you are like us and you work full time, and you have like things that you're doing freelance or your side hustle or whatever, you know, building a business on the side, you know, for you to eventually one day leave that full time job. You know, you have to you have to figure out that balance. And and I feel like it's easy, especially when you have that go getter mentality to get caught up in like, I'm not doing this, I'm not going hard enough. I'm not working hard enough. Like I need to do more, do more, do more just keep like pressing on the gas. Until you like burning yourself out, or your family is like about to have an intervention.
Tae Ebison:Yep.
Jas, the host:Look I never do ever, your kids don't know you. And you live in the house.
Tae Ebison:You're in the house and we don't see you. I felt like that was one of my biggest fears, like becoming a stranger in my own house, like, kids not knowing like, or not knowing who I am not having memories with me. So I was like, I got to figure out a way to balance it too without sacrificing as much.
Jas, the host:Yes, I respect that you always have to think about because at the end of the day, like, especially as a parent you have think about the legacy that you're leaving for your children, right. So I know, I think about that a lot. And at the end of it for me, I know everything I'm doing is for them, I want to leave them something I want them to aspire to something. So while I'm doing that, I don't need to forget to raise them in the process. You know, the focus on their future selves when they're in their 40s. And I want to have things for them. And you know, but I need to think about right now too and that time we need to be spending so respect I get that.
Tae Ebison:Yeah.
Jas, the host:So thinking about legacy. The question I asked every single episode to all of my guests, because y'all all black. What impact do you think your representation because I community your work has on the black community? Or what impact would you like to have?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, that's a, that's a good question. Um, I would say, There's a saying from that Jim quick has he's a memory coach, brain builder. And he has a lot of performance hacks if you want to increase your productivity. But he has this one saying that he says, I don't do what I do to impress you. I do it to express to you what is possible. So I feel like that is how I impact the black community because I want to show others, specifically, people in the black community that hey, look, after seeing and hear my story, that you they will get inspired or want to do something similar in their own beat. So my hope is that after hearing my story, they see a door that they didn't want to know is there.
Jas, the host:Okay, I feel that Yeah. And I feel like our representation in space sometimes is that's it, like, That's enough, just to be there just to be there and be like, I'm a black person doing x. So one thing I have on the show is like, no more, I am the only black x because so much of the time, we feel like we're the only ones especially if you're in a work environment, where you really are the only one, which I've been there several times before, you feel like that. But we're out here and more of us are coming. And if you continue to lead your path and set this example more will come after you like you because they saw you take that path. So yeah, definitely just like being black and living your life. It is an example.
Tae Ebison:Exactly, spreading awareness.
Jas, the host:Yes. Yes, and to know that design is a viable option and a good career for us. And we can work in tech roles and be creative, which I don't think is highlighted enough. It's like if you're a tech you have to be crunching numbers and writing code. But our work is very important because all that code don't mean nothing it you can't interact with the interface like nothing.
Tae Ebison:Exactly. We are very important.
Jas, the host:Okay, so you've already dropped a million things. Can you drop a few more for tips and advice to other black creators who may be looking to get into design or they may be into design and looking to pop off their freelance career into my work?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, I would say advice to black creatives is to make sure you remember that as a designer of color. That visibility is invaluable. Visibility is invaluable. There's an author named Harvey J. Coleman. He says that visibility to the best way to improve your visibility is as easy as pie. And with pie meaning performance, image and exposure. So performance being the work you do image being the first thing that comes to mind when people think of you, so what it's like to work with you. And then exposure, of course, how many people know you for your performance and image. And in his book, empowering yourself, he talks a lot about how to use pie. And something I want to make sure that black creators understand is that with this pie method, you want 60% of your time to be focused on building exposure, getting your visibility up as wide and far as possible. And then you won't 30% of your time to be focused on building your image. So your brand, your personal brand, not just about the colors, or your personal logo, but the like the experience, we will have working and collaborating with you on projects, then 10% is going to be on performance. And to me, this makes the most sense. Because performance is a given you can't have image or exposure without performance, you gotta you got to work hard, you got to put the hours in. And you got to grind it out. And you got to create your own opportunities, and build your own luck. There's a there's another saying that I heard luck is like a bus. And another bus is always coming. But the only way to get on that bus is if you have a ticket. And that ticket is your pie. So that is what I would advise to black creators focus on your performance, your image and your exposure, though that visibility, make yourself known because as many people of color know, we're often overlooked. And the more you can, you can build your visibility, the harder is going to be for them not to see you.
Jas, the host:Yeah, for that that is so true. I think there are a lot of conversations going on right now about visibility. And that's being seen in these spaces who may hurt in the climate of just to say to the world right now is even more important. Like I heard something not too long ago, I think it was another podcast that I was listening to them a big Lovecraft Country fan. And they talked about how a lot of times as black folk, we are hyper visible and invisible a the same time. You know, we're hyper visible when we're out walking late at night, or we're dressed a certain way or, you know, being talking to loud on the phone and Walmart or whatever. But, you know, we're invisible when we're in meetings. And when we need you know, we're asking for promotions, when we're trying to strive to do something, and we're not being heard. So yeah, I think visibility is huge. And that's like, that's a great gem to drop to folks, like, focus on that and focus on your impact. So, last thing, before you go, you mentioned so many books, and I know you're an avid reader. I'm also an avid reader. I'm sure some of our listeners are avid readers, what is your current read?
Tae Ebison:My current read? Hmm, I read like several books at a time. That's how I that's how I maintain my interest. So if I read like two to three books at a time, I'm,
Jas, the host:I'm with you on that.
Tae Ebison:So if I'm reading a book, and it gets a little dry, and I hit like a patch in the book, where it's like, kind of hard to like flip through the pages. I like jump to the next book. And I started reading that and then
Jas, the host:do you go back though, cuz I do that. Yeah, yeah, I have so many books where I got like two chapters left that I was reading like a year ago.
Tae Ebison:Yes, yeah. So I'm always like going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Like this keeps me motivated, and keeps me intrigued to want to, like keep reading. But yeah, so always bouncing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Being active, taking notes, trying to be engaged while I read to retain a lot of it, because knowledge is not power if you don't use it. So I want to make sure that I use it as best I can or a member as much as possible. But I'm reading a book right now called How to negotiate and blanking on the artist on the author's name, but very good read about how you can negotiate anything no matter what it is. Okay, salary Your purchase at best buy anything. So knowing when and how to negotiate things to save yourself time and get more money.
Jas, the host:Yeah, that sounds like a really efficiently I need that I'm a horrible negotiator. Like I don't even negotiate when I buy things on Facebook marketplace. I'm like you said$20. Here's $20
Tae Ebison:I am the biggest. I negotiate everything. I think people hate me. Because I negotiate. So like, I would go on eBay negotiate stuff, Craigslist, negotiating things like, like, um, I got $100 right now, and they want $400 for low balling
Jas, the host:No, you're not lowballing folks like that.
Tae Ebison:This technique, though, the part of the technique. It's it's an anchoring technique that he mentioned in the book where you lowball them, just to sort of get them to come play in your court. So you tell them 100 they're gonna say, No, I'm not I won't do 100. But I'll do 250 or I'll do 300. And just like that, you got $100 off the bill. So,
Jas, the host:ah, you have to have so much gall do that though. But I feel like I have FOMO too bad. I'm like, Nah, somebody else is gonna just pay full price. And I'm gonna miss it. Like,
Tae Ebison:that's the other thing you got to be willing to. You can't get too emotionally involved in it. You got to be willing to let it go.
Jas, the host:Mm hmm. Yeah,
Tae Ebison:It'll come back.
Jas, the host:Yeah, I don't know. I guess once I, by the time I made it, my mind that I want something like I want it. Like if I say this, I want this, like, I want this, I'm going to get this. So like, if, if someone else gets it in, my feelings are hurt. Because I'm like, I wanted that particular one at that particular price. But I was slow, or negotiated according to you, and like, maybe
Tae Ebison:So I feel like, um, another thing that helps to with me is that if if I negotiate it, and it doesn't go according to plan, it, it stays on me whether like I really want to buy that again or not. If I really want to go out and try to find it somewhere else. Because the thing that I read once was that people buy off of emotion and use logic to justify it later. So by not being able to get it in that moment, I'm having to really sit back and think okay, well, did I really want it was I really going to use it? And if so then I can go out and buy it again. But if not, I just let it go.
Jas, the host:Yeah, yeah, I get that too. And I've tried I've tried to tap into like, my spirituality and and my dedication to not being like attached to materials. And I'm like it wasn't meant for me it'll come back if it's meant to be exactly. Okay, so you you've like dropped all this stuff. And then on top of that you just hit us without this book knowledge which makes me feel like I need to get you back on just talk about books and your analyses of these books. Um, that might be another episode. So where can people find you online if they want to follow your creative journey?
Tae Ebison:Yeah, yeah, I would say right now my biggest platform is dribble. You can find me on there Dribble.com/DevantaEbison. That's where and that's Delta EQ echo Victor. Alpha. November Tango alpha Echo, bravo. India, Sierra Oscar November. That was That is how you spell my name. That is I was not a military. That is just how I remember the alphabet. Being in ROTC in high school.
Jas, the host:I'm like, what it? What is he like saying right now? Like?
Tae Ebison:He's just saying all these random words.
Jas, the host:I was like you can tell I don't have any type of miliatry background and I'm not associated with the military. I was like, okay, yes. So Devanta and that is your government name. As we say. Find him, aka Tae. But thank you so much for being on the show. Like I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me and I know that there are a lot of young designers that are listening, young taes out there. Y'all listening. I like hey, I think I want to get into design or I'm in design. I think I want to enhance my skills. And they'll find value in this.
Tae Ebison:Yeah, definitely definitely. Hopefully, this episode was able to tell you inspire a young creative to be able to step out and become more visible.
Jas, the host:Yo I really hope that y'all enjoyed that episode with Tae. Tae came through and hit us with the Dexter Okay, he came in with his library card and schooled us real quick with all the quotes and all the authors y'all need to go look up but already did it for you go to black second of comm check out today's episode and link in the show notes. But I'm going to hit you with five key takeaways that I got from today's taste tips. Number one, take advantage of real life practice scenarios to hone your craft. From using your job to opportunities creating those opportunities. Tay really emphasize the importance of practicing Practice, practice practice, he used his freelance work before he even finished his program and his job to build his independent client skills and thus his independent client work and grew his business. Number two, don't be afraid to price your work for what your worth is, again, price your work for your worth. Do not focus on trying to undercut the next designer or the next, creative and cheeping your brand. Don't do that. You know the time and effort you put into your work, you know the research you did. So price yourself accordingly. Number three, start on a popular platform to gain a following and then migrate over to your own site to own your content, and more strategically guide users into your deep pool of products and services. We know ownership is key ownership is everything especially in the black community where so many times we have been denied ownership and in some cases still are denied ownership. But sometimes you have to go where the crowd is and you have to pull people over. So a lot of popular creative start off producing content on other platforms and then pull them over to their own site. Because your loyal followers, they will follow you. Number four, be a design originator instead of a player hater. Shout out to the 1990s kid everything is a recreation of something new right? stop yourself from plagiarizing another designers design by finding inspiration from those previously created things from multiple sources, and distance yourself from the design to make sure that you're creating an original work. You don't want to plagiarize, don't buy somebody swear you don't want them to bite your work because you'd be ready for them square it right. Number five, share multiple solutions to the same problem to increase the likelihood of your solution being accepted. Everyone, I don't care where your business is, all of us. We are all in the business of solving a problem. If you sell t shirts, you are in the business of solving a problem, be it putting clothes on somebody's naked body. And also whatever your shirts purpose or goal is whatever brand identity any identity that they identify with, you're solving a problem. So make sure when you're presenting solutions to stakeholders clients that you are presenting multiple solutions you don't want to seem like you're a one trick pony show that there are several ways to solve a problem. What's the country saying several ways to skin a cat yet, so I have a bonus because take came through with so many things. This is a productivity hack. dissect your time and find gaps where you can be filling it with more productive things. As he said in the episode, you can tell the success of an entrepreneur by looking at their calendar. What does your calendar look like? Do you have hours and hours of dead time? Are you scrolling social constantly? What are you doing right now or listen to this podcast? Are you doing something productive? Are you working out? Are you driving? Are you just planning you just relax and listen to my voice? I know it can be relaxing. But think of other things that you can also be doing. Where are you wasting time? Where are you spending too much time. That doesn't mean you can't relax it doesn't mean you can't have recreation time you all you need that. You know I'm all about self care. Y'all have heard me champion so many times on different episodes, therapy, self care, meditation, whatever you need for your space in your peace and your sanity. But you know, just make sure that you're using your time wisely. That's all that I have for today. Thanks for tuning in to another episode as usual. If you like this episode, make sure you leave a review on Apple podcasts, go to black socrative.com get your gear until a friend. Until next time, keep aspiring to inspire. Thanks for listening to another episode of black executive. If you enjoyed listening in on this combo, leave a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you found us. Follow us on facebook instagram and twitter at Black executive have something to add to the conversation. Is it black executive calm to leave feedback and your thoughts could be featured on a later episode. While you're there, pick up your exclusive black sec gear and wrap the culture and spread the knowledge if you know a black creator trying to go pro, a corporate mogul looking to advance or a cousin has always loved one but never gets an idea going. Drop them a link to the show. Until next time. Keep aspiring to inspire