Nik Hill has built a company on his own terms. At only 33, he’s already mastered the elusive work-life balance - landing big budget projects while remaining totally hands-on (and actually enjoying his free time). How did he get there?
We sat down with him to find out.
Interview by Bernard / Blog written by Teri
September 28, 2021
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I was studying motion graphics when I entered and won a competition. The prize was a workstation Computer beefed up for 3D Modeling and Rendering, so I started working on the side while I finished my studies. When I graduated, I just jumped straight into freelancing - calling up studios and working with them. I did that for a year before I got a job at a studio called Territory, where I was part of some really cool projects.
Over three and a half years I worked my way up to Art Director, at which point I felt that I hit my ceiling. I could have worked on the next step up to Creative Director if I wanted it - but the company was heading in a direction that needed me to take on a more managerial role. I wasn’t ready for that. I guess a part of me felt that if I’m going to be managing anything, I’d want it to be my own thing.
Oh, loads! I had a good job at a really cool studio. I had friends that I consider family there. It wasn’t an easy decision at all, but I knew that I wasn’t fundamentally happy. I was burnt out. Plus, a part of me wanted to see whether I could make something happen on my own. I felt I owed it to myself to at least give it a shot.
The brotherhood vibes were amazing, so I do miss that. I consider it a really good moment in time, and then it was time to move forward.
The best part is that there’s no animosity or bad blood. I get on with the team at Territory really well, and have a lot of respect for them. They’ve actually sent projects my way. The founders are entrepreneurs themselves, so they understood where I was coming from. They were in my position too at some point.
I started exploring 3D printing and creating physical objects. That’s where my company TwentyThirdC actually started - as a jewellery shop. After a while though, what had started off as an exciting creative exploration turned into the reality of growing a retail brand and dealing with orders (lots of which were fraudulent). I wasn’t really into that.
I always wanted there to be a motion graphics element to my work - that’s my trade, that’s what I do. So I kept freelancing on the side. By that point I’d recovered from my burnout, found my motivation and fallen back in love with the work.
So I rebranded the company and created a digital/physical setup, where I still created custom jewellery but also worked on motion design projects that I put out as my own studio. I worked on the music video for MJ Cole and some BBC idents, for example. They were projects that weren’t associated with other studios. I either owned them myself or collaborated with other artists.
Eventually it became clear that motion graphics is where it’s at, so I completely sacked off the jewellery and focused on motion that still allowed an element of hands-on creativity. It’s been that way ever since.
I worked on day rates at first. At one point I was working days with UK studios and evenings with US studios. It was hard, but I was quite lucky. I put out one tweet, and because the motion graphics community is so supportive, that was retweeted loads and I started getting bookings off of that.
I had used recruiters during my first freelance year before joining Territory, but this time I had built up enough contacts in the industry to get going by myself. I have Territory to thank for that too - I built up a solid network through speaking events they sent me to, which was a big help.
Absolutely. If you have a model like ours, where you scale up and down, you need a tight network. I don’t hide the freelancers I work with - I celebrate them. They’re artists too and they have their own career. As a result, they can get approached directly and I could lose them, which means that I’m constantly on the lookout for talent to work with.
I have been curious to see how far it could grow - going down the design studio agency route, scaling up and employing people… but then it becomes this beast you have to feed. So I remind myself that I actually like having a life. I’ve settled into a nice middle ground where I can get high budget stuff, but also have the capacity to do some low budget work if I’m feeling it.
At the moment I’ve got 3 employees and a permalancer. It’s the five of us, and we scale up and down depending on the need. The project for XBox is a good example: it came in with quite a quick turnaround, so we just scaled up a team and got the job done before going lean again.
I’ve tried different routes, but this is what’s working for me right now. I’ve had phases where I’m working constantly, but at the moment I’m pretty happy not working all the time. This setup allows me to have that flexibility, which is nice.
As a student it was all about taking pictures, visiting art galleries and so on. But when you’re doing this stuff every day, for different outcomes, the process becomes a lot more cerebral. Rather than seeking external inspiration, I find the spark comes from the problem set to you in the brief.
That’s where it gets interesting - getting into the mind of the client, trying to solve the problem and finding the right combination in an ever-changing puzzle of time, budget, talent and expectation. I find that collaborative process quite inspiring.
I always show visual references to encapsulate an idea. I feel that’s where I bring value to the project, as a mediator or a middle party. There’s value in extracting the vision from the client’s mind, finding the idea that works, and bringing that to life with the right team.
I started off by calculating my daily costs, and then created a day rate based on that. Now that the model has changed, I figure out the market rate for XYZ, and set a rate that will allow some room on top of that. That allows me to factor in everyone’s day rates for the duration and scope of the project.
I used to aim to hit a target that grew every year, but after a while I loosened up. In the early years I would save as much as I could, so I’d always have a buffer. Once I started employing people, I calculated my burn rate and always kept a buffer on top of that. Now I just go with the flow, because I’m not aiming for aggressive growth. As long as I’m making some money and everyone else is making money, I’m happy.
I operate on a longer wavelength, instead of worrying about hitting targets every month. Some months are ridiculously good because you’re getting paid for big projects, and then other months are crap. But as long as I have that buffer, I don’t really care. As long as I can pay my team, my bills and studio rent, I’m fine. You get freaked out when you have your first few quiet months, but then you learn that it’ll turn around at some point.
The first thing to do, before you even start out, is to save a few months’ worth of rent. Remember that if you go freelance and get a gig straight away, you’ll have to work for a month before invoicing. You then wait a month until the payment comes through. That’s already two months. If you allow for the potential for payment to be late, that’s three months. Assuming you don’t find work immediately, you’d want to allow for a month to find work. So that’s four months that you need to have covered before you start.
Then even once you get going, I would never let go of that mindset. The buffer helps with seasonality and quieter months as well. Whether you’re a freelancer or running a studio, the more you save, the more you can relax and do your best work. In the creative space, being worried about money will change the way you approach your work.
Only on the bigger projects - 30% or 50%, depending on how the client feels. I don’t really bother with deposits for anything below £20k.
Most of the time you deal with a few late payments, but nothing major. I’ve only ever had two situations to deal with. The first was a risk I was willing to take - I knew they would probably pay late, but decided to do the work anyway. Sure enough, they paid over a year late, but I had expected it.
The second situation was one where they kept changing the fundamental idea of the project. This had knock on effects, and they decided not to pay for part of the project. I could have fought it, arguing that they’d signed a contract, but I knew the amount of energy I’d need to invest in chasing and dealing with them. I decided that it wasn’t worth the opportunity cost of the work I could be doing with that energy.
I was looking for that personal touch, someone who I can trust to take care of my finances. Anyone who’s a sole trader freaks out around January because of the tax return, and I was no different. So I started working with them for my tax returns, but over time it was really easy to add on services as my business grew. They guided me on becoming VAT registered, on how to employ someone and manage payroll, and so on. They’re good guys. It’s quite nice to have that level of personability, as opposed to a big company.
Check out Nik’s personal website and find him on Instagram and Twitter.
You can also follow his studio’s work - TwentyThirdC - on Instagram and Behance.
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