Wednesday 22 June 2016

What do we need for Entrepreneurship in Animation by David Kwok

Besides running an animation studio and an animation school, I also provide a consultation for companies in Entrepreneurship in Animation. Something I shared in class the other day that I have learnt in my journey. There is a Chinese saying.
"养兵千日 用在一朝: Soldiers are to be maintained in the course of long years, but to be used in the nick of time."


Application: Establish healthy relationship with good talents that you are not ready to hire.

1) Having a strong team is more important than having lots of money. With a strong team, you can overcome anything in future.

Good and loyal people are hard to find. Money cannot buy loyalty. Some times you meet good people but you do not have the capacity to hire them. Put in effort to maintain this relationship. Be sincere. Even though it might take years. Don't go to others only when you need them.
Identify what role they can play in your team ahead of time. Map out a rough plan. It's like an assembling plan your best soccer team. Prepare for the backups as well. Only when you have a plan, you can identify your missing jigsaw pieces. This will take time. It's ok if you are not sure when will you hire them. Don't do this only when you have urgent needs. When the time comes, you know that you are ready.
Overnight, you are unable to bring a good team together.
(That is why when other companies asked me to recommend talents, we always have someone in mind)
Maintain relationship with good talents who has left you.

2) When I was in Indonesia giving a talk in Entrepreneurship in Animation, several founders of companies told me this. We always have manpower problems. We lose our talents after training them. It's frustrating.

I don't believe a company can be successful with only mercenaries. Money cannot buy Honour and Loyalty. Use your heart. Not money. Trust and Loyalty takes time to build.
I want to share another approach of ours to manpower.
Make an effort to maintain the relationship with those you value but has left you for whatever reasons. (Could be contract is up) Especially those who are loyal and has contributed to the company in the past.

At times, when we identify a new skill needed for the industry, we will engage foreign expertise to conduct internal training to upgrade our staff. Besides training our internal staff, we also invite those who has left us to join the training at our cost. This is a little effort to show appreciation to those who has contributed to the company in the past. This includes the freelancers and those who are currently working for other companies.
When those who have left us have finished their contract with other companies. When we have new projects and money, we welcome them back to rejoin the crew. From our own experience, these talents will become more dedicated than before.

Hope it helps.

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