Specialist vs. Generalist: Which are You and Which is Better?

[@winstondalida]

I consider myself a generalist finding my way to the area where I can really make myself as an expert into. It’s actually hard and easy at the same time. There are so many areas I can go to but it’s hard to establish yourself once you’ve decided what field you want.

[@PhilipVanDusen]

So true Winston. But good for you man.

[@RalphCifra]

I specialize on being a generalist. I always love variety! ^_^

[@PhilipVanDusen]

🚀😂

[@speterlewis]

This is PERFECT. I asked about this in on the last live show, but you skipped over me (I had to eat chocolate to combat the shame of not being picked). I've been in this creative business for decades and (without formal training) have become somewhat of an advanced autodidactic polymath in a bunch of different mediums. Fast approaching 60, and with a desire to ditch corporate and go on my own, I've been agonizing over the specialist v. generalist thing for months. This video is going to help me greatly to head down that "expert generalist" road: pick the main focus, add on some unique side specialties, get rid of the stuff I'm only good at (but not great), and then go rent that unicorn suit. As always, thanks, Philip!

[@paweex3655]

Good luck on your own Peter. You sound like a decent dude!

[@PhilipVanDusen]

Hey Peter, So sorry to have skipped your question. NOT intentional. It's hard to read, talk and think at the same time...doh! I'm stoked you made it to the LIVE at such short notice (for my email list anyway). But buy, don't rent the unicorn suit. You'll get some real wear out of it.

[@speterlewis]

@@PhilipVanDusen LOL, thanks. No worries on the live show shun; everyone else's questions were great. Always a pleasure!

[@pranaytony]

Wow Sir!💐 Thankyou for putting this video to all of us! I really want to bring myself the business, branding, marketing things to the design skills to add up to the bucket!

[@PhilipVanDusen]

Hey Pranay, Great to see you here again my friend.

[@JanneWolterbeek]

I am an absolute generalist, but I get asked by ambitious small entrepreneurs and companies for my ability to implement outstanding design expertise in different media, it, therefore, feels like a niche to me I feel I should explore more. Thanks, Philip! (and I still have to respond to your email, I just realize!)

[@PhilipVanDusen]

No worries Janne!

[@GraphicMill]

Generalist or Master... It’s been a question in the back of my mind forever. I’ve been a self employed Unicorn in the graphic, design, photography, video environment for 42 years. And that seems to be my niche. I can take a project from a client and design the graphics, photograph the products, shoot the video, write the copy, do the voice over and edit the final promo. But that has taken decades of running a studio, dealing with challenges and constantly constantly constantly learning, while keeping up on not only trends and marketing media, but also technology and the available tools. Am I an ‘expert’? I would say No, definitely not. Am I valuable? Well, I don’t know anyone else in my circle of professionals who can do what I do. There are plenty of really talented people, but I own the ‘wide diversity’ card that keeps me well in demand. Yet, turning 65 next spring, I’m now pondering the journey of narrowing down my focus to only video. To take on the job of story telling to the best of my abilities and dropping many other hats and tricks to become better at one. I’m in a position where I don’t need to work every day, but I do not want to retire. If I retired, I would likely do what I’m already doing, and that is create stuff. So, retirement and doing what you love wears the same suit. (Jeans and a t-shirt!! lol) If I was starting over... I might consider focusing on mastering a skill to an expert level but could you trust that skill to last you a lifetime? I have to admit that I would love to be a true master on one art form. To illustrate, or write, or master an instrument would be remarkable but I have a feeling that my broad level of interests would render me bored to tears. Is it an ADD issue? Hahaha, could be! Yet I have seen monumental change in the graphics, marketing, print, photography and video industries over the past 40 years. Many many experts lost their place in the viability lineup and ended up jobless. And I think this is prevalent in any ‘creative’ ventures. The arts seem to take a lot of damaging hits over time. Technology changes the playing field drastically and to stay valuable, you need to stay up to speed with what the market needs (or demands). I think in my category, I have mastered the art of flexibility. Mastered the art of learning on the fly, of making things happen when often you have no idea how you’re going to do it, but you own the faith that you ‘know’ you’ll hit that deadline with something you’re proud of. That alone is an art! The bottom line is, “show up”! It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned pro or someone starting out, everyone has to face a new challenge everyday and the sooner you jump in and start, the sooner the ideas and solutions start flowing. Just show up with an unstoppable faith! 👍

[@paweex3655]

"Am I an ‘expert’? I would say No, definitely not. Am I valuable? Well, I don’t know anyone else in my circle of professionals who can do what I do." - Love this. First of all, Dave, respect for being relevant for a while (since 1977 I bet you've seen things). I love the tone of what you wrote here. It's important to stay cool, and look around you. I hear about age of disruption, everything changes, and so on, but people still use words, images, video, and lighting, sounddesign. Stay cool. This is what adults do. :D

[@kaneworthington]

Great comment and I feel very similar to your position, be it 40 years younger and a lot less experienced (sorry haha). I have a similar issue given my background with a degree in Film & Television Production yet im a self taught graphic designer since I was 16 as well as someone whos ran a content marketing agency and ran PPC ads for large businesses too. I completely agree with your point about mastering the wide diversity card and being well in demand, I too don't know anyone who can do what I do and looking at my current employers business, especially given my age, I can own the role of 5 other peoples jobs on my own and copy the business alone for less and make more, which is often frustrating. The longest ive ever been out of work for in the last year or two is one week with about 30 calls from recruiters when I am free getting absolutely mithered. I'd love to go back to working for myself soon and learn from what I did running my own agency first time round with a lot more confidence. However, could you impart any advice on how you market your 'expert generalist' nature to clients or perhaps previous employers aside from directly showcasing your work? Do you also have any advice on which areas of a portfolio to start focusing on first with your skills, or if any seem to strengthen your overall employability more than others? Thanks!

[@GraphicMill]

Kane, I’ve been really lucky in never having to market myself too much. I started in 77 with a mailer offering my ‘wall graphic’ services (of which I had only done on my bedroom wall and my aunts bathroom) and I received one reply from the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Yorkville downtown Toronto. They needed display posters and brochures. Something I had never done, nor knew anything about. So I went to a buddy of mine who had just opened his own little print shop and looked to him for some advice. He sent me down the street to a small sign shop and the “old guy” sat me down and explained how this would work. He would produce the posters and bill me, I’m to double that price and bill the Hyatt. Well damn, I got the job and did there work for years. That immediately sent me down the Silkscreening rabbit hole and I learned very fast how to produce the posters myself because the old guy was retiring. That lead me to doing graphic work to create these posters and so much more. Fortunately I have an artistic flair (both my parents were artists) so creating graphic material came quickly. I then positioned myself around similar businesses. There was an area in north Toronto that was saturated with printers, typesetters, screeners, agencies and so forth and that’s where I set up shop. People began to see the work I did and they just kept sending me more projects to do. That pushed me into producing film for printers, acquiring a larger unit to also hold a photography area where I would shoot product shots with my awesome (at the time) Bronica 2-1/4 camera. That lead to agencies asking if I could take over the production of all sorts of marketing agendas, which lead to a double unit, and I put in a second floor, and 4 employees. (One of them is still working for me 30 years later). That grew the business more as agencies needed us to be their workhorse designers and graphic producers since their in-house was too slow. That lead to a 3,000 square foot studio with a 2,000 square foot second floor, graphic department, photography, full kitchen, 3D rendering and more ... it was a blast. But about 10 years ago the industry was changing very quickly and I was faced with reinvesting a boat load of money to retool in an area that I didn’t trust, so, I semi retired. We had huge party with the band I played in and shut the place down, and set up at home. Technology and internet speeds where plenty fast enough to create and send files anywhere, in fact in mid job (redesigning a large retail chain) I packed up on a Friday and drove to Florida, plugged in and was back working on the Monday and the client didn’t know the difference. I spend a good part of the winter there and loved it. Anyway, I’m off track here, the point I was making was I never really advertised our services, we just cranked out great work, stayed up for way too many all nighters, we over delivered, making every single marketing director we worked for look like a King! After all, that’s your job! Helping others look good and make money. That’s all they want from your services. We showed up and delivered a great product on time... and the work just keeps coming. Today, I’ve taken that last couple of years to kick back quite a bit and I have been filming smaller projects. I’ve been hired to travel with a corporate training company to capture the training and the daily hikes or nature endeavours. It’s been a joy to be a part of this (and get paid to have fun!). I have clients waiting for my return so I can produce a corporate video for a large conveyor manufacturer, and when his buddies see the video, I have a feeling more work will follow. Bottom line is “show up”, over deliver, learn everything you can and keep going. And ‘bill’ for your time. The only freebies I do are for a few charities that I respect. I don’t do any spec work, no free jobs, or “if you can give us a deal, we have a lot more work for you”... yeah, I bet you do :-) Your work and a diehard work ethic is what will sell your services. People tell others and you show up. If you already have contacts and you’re doing a kickass job, then approach those people and offer your services. And every job you get, crank out something great. This industry is not immune to stress and juggling creative ideas with crazy clients, but if you can produce good work, then they will trust you to do what is best for them. That’s the clients I do my best work for... the client who hands you the job and the agenda and says “ok, go!” And now you can pour your heart into it. I’m wishing you the best of luck. Just show up and kick ass! 👍. You’ll make it!!

[@kaneworthington]

@@GraphicMill first of all thankyou for such an insightful reply! Really put a smile on my face picturing all those years of hard word and successes and I'm sure you've got so many experiences with clients to share too, good and bad haha! I think from my experiences starting out I kept getting these smaller clients that didn't have a clue what they wanted, wanted it yesterday or were happy to settle for something rubbish. For example, my last client before leaving my full time agency gig to go full-time (for now) in a salaried position, was with a new gym starting up. They wanted a marketing campaign, launch videos etc. The gym opened in a week. It baffles me how business owners could leave it that late, or care so little, and it made me feel like last choice. FYI these were the same guys that were my first ever client that stayed with me the whole time. £500 a month was the deal for 3 hours video shoot time once per month and social management with the acquired content being scheduled. No PPC budget. After a frank chat with them about time frame I agreed to it and turned up on opening day to an empty gym with two personal trainers and one client. Amazing promo to shoot right? 🙄 In the end they were just desperate, asking for anything, stock photos etc to push any content out regardless of image because they lacked any strategy and didn't want to listen or pay for one. Point is, I cut them loose. It was an easy, guaranteed £6k a year for a few hours a month work, but I couldn't let myself churn out shit for the sake of it. Fair play to the next guy who got that gig, their content is awful now and all stock based. My biggest gripe with starting out has been this type of client. Was I right to cut them loose like that? As you said, good quality attracts more work, so shit work because of a shit client would also attract more of the same. Right now I feel that by developing my skills in PPC on big budgets and in different fields (last two roles insurance brokerage and now a recruitment agency - marketing employers rather than jobs, more experiential) that I can see niche opportunities to combine my skills as well as handling larger sums. I hope this attracts better clients in future based off of experience in these roles, however it's something that's hard to showcase or prove, and that's where I feel like I need to go back towards video and design, building those portfolios on the side for the time being. I'll continue to try and do that and I'd considered free spec work, but I'll command my worth as you've pointed out. I'm only 25, still young despite greying hair, but it's shocking how many business owners don't know what they're doing or don't appreciate good marketing. So far I've had a 5 figure a month ad spend account with a previous employer who "didn't believe in branding or marketing" and didn't even give time to set up the basics. Despite reducing CPC and CPA by 60% (literally making them hundreds of thousands) in a matter of a few weeks, I decided to leave as they just didn't get it - sales, sales, sales. I'm learning but I'm getting there haha, it's just finding the right clients next. Thanks again for your reply, I've rambled a bit as it's 1am haha but best of luck to you too! 😄

[@PhilipVanDusen]

You rock GraphicMill-Dave! What an amazing journey -thanks for sharing it with my community. I'm sure there are a LOT of young creative pros and entrepreneurs who will m=take away a boatload of useful info from your story. Cheers my friend. I hope to see you back around agin in the comments. Be sure to subscribe - to my channel and newsletter - so you can be alerted when I go live (if you're into that kinda thing).

[@Okay_nl]

I have been always interested in learning multiple things. For the last over 5 years, I've focused on being a specialist (as data scientist). Now I feel ready to be back as a generalist & add more value in that direction.

[@paweex3655]

I have been trying to figure out the name for my upcoming band for the last week. 'EXPERT GENERALIST'. Boom!!! I promise one of our first songs on a debut album will be called 'VanDusen', or 'Verhaal'. By the way, I officially start using 'expert generalist' term, because I've been always describing myself as... something like that. And I think that EG frame is very natural for creative people. First of all as a creative you need to GRIND. Whether it is writing, illustration, AdobeAfterEffects, or 3d, you need a couple thousands of hours to make a living out of it. After a while, you add other layers, because creatives get easily bored, and they need new stuff to chew on. Great video, as always.

[@PhilipVanDusen]

Pawelex - I HAVE to hear that song when you have it mixed...LOL...👊

[@paweex3655]

@@PhilipVanDusen Sure thing!

[@jannasc]

Always a pleasure to watch your video insights, tips and knowledge!

[@PhilipVanDusen]

Thanks Jana - good to see you here again!

[@mikestuckey]

Good stuff, Philip. Thx for sharing!

[@PhilipVanDusen]

Hey Mike Stuckey! Thanks so much for checking out my video! I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. Keep tuning in!

[@kaneworthington]

Thanks for the Video Philip, I find this a real issue for myself when putting a label to my job title when being recruited or meeting new clients etc. I find myself to be an Expert Generalist. My background is a Bachelors in Film & Television Production, however not only am I a highly skilled film maker, but I have a wide range of skills from graphic design, web design, brand strategy, PPC, SEO, Account Management etc. There is not much I cannot do yet my creative processess such as film and design I would class as being my expertise, whilst im a marketing generalist. I have ran my own content marketing agency for a year on my own in 2018 which was a great experience in those more generalised roles, yet this year my focus had been on refining those generic skills, i.e SEO, PPC and Strategy by coming back in house across various roles. Im only 25 still but I've been fortunate to handle 7 figure ad accounts whilst also having the opportunity to work alone gaining clients and on more creative roles away from the monotony of PPC. I feel that my aim is to keeping raising my level of expertise across all of my more generalised skills, and with my current position being a Digital Strategist I feel this to be working well. It has certainly helped my employability having such a diverse range of skills, and provides a lot of freedom when switching between roles. At least now when someone asks what I do, aside from my current title by my employer, I can say I'm an Expert Generalist haha.

[@kaneworthington]

For anyone reading this I'd also like to add my reasoning as to why I became a generalist rather than a specialist. For me being a generalist is so that I can return to running my own agency, to offer SEO, PPC, Video, Photography, Design and Strategy before then over time employing specialists to replace me in those areas, who are better than me - but then at least I know what good looks like and their work flows, processess etc to make me a great manager. Furthermore, these skillsets allow me to launch pretty much any other business from start to finish at no external expense utilising my own skills or agency. Meaning that when I want to diversify my income streams I can do so with relative ease. My educational background is a Bsc Film & Television Production, with a Diploma in Computer Hardware and Networking and being a CCNA Qualified network engineer also. However I dropped out of college switching from Coding to Hardware for the purpose of gaining a practical skill that wont change in and out of fashion. 6 years after leaving college I can still build a PC blindfolded, yet those who learnt certain programming languages have seen those go out of practical use very quickly. Not to say they couldnt adapt but I have retained a set skill and knowledge that hasnt changed when theirs has. Furthermore, I also dropped out of my first University course which was Digital Film & 3D Animation Tech, for a more practical Film & TV role. If I continued along my first course Id have most likely come out of Uni knowing Maya, Blender and some other great but narrow focused skills that require work in a large company or freelancing with a narrowed scope of clients. However now I can pick up a camera, shoot with a Personal Trainer for example for a few hundred a month for a few hours work, post it online and run a paid campaign with relative ease. That for me is where my choices have proved successful leaving me agile to changes within multiple industries and providing more failsafes too.

[@PhilipVanDusen]

Sounds awesome Doc! Super accomplished already at 25 - damn...you go!

[@ronkohudic]

I am working on my One-man Movement™ to get agencies to stop looking for positions with blanket titles such as "Art Director" or "Graphic Designer." To me those titles are just too broad nowadays. The world has changed, so should these names as neither of those titles tell me what an agency is actually looking for or if I am the right fit for the position in question. I think the industry is really having an identity crisis at the moment. "Oh you are looking for a UX designer? I'm a visual designer." "Your ad said art director but what you are really looking for is digital designer with programming skills." "You're a digital designer...great, give me some logo designs." :/ So much time, money and effort is wasted when the hiring managers don't know what to ask or what the creative team is looking for.

[@PhilipVanDusen]

Ron, job titles these days are a joke. They were a joke 20 years ago, but now it's getting ridiculous.

[@WarrenHenry]

Excellent! Watched it twice👏🏽👏🏽

[@PhilipVanDusen]

Warren Henry, Thanks so much!~ Can you do me a favor as a small thank you? Please share my video with a friend or two! I'm trying to build my subscribers. More to come!

[@YTAldoaz]

Yep!

[@PhilipVanDusen]

Thanks Aldo!

[@204collective6]

This is a great video! Thank you as always sir! What advice can you give me as I could potentially have my first job as a marketing assistant for an art gallery in the area near me?

[@PhilipVanDusen]

Micheal, thanks for watching. Fine art gallery sales assistants generally don't need much experience at all. Just go in and introduce yourself.

[@views-lb4ct]

being a generalist is bad thing ,especially if that is part of you personality ,it feels like your in front of many doors , you don't know which one you can begun with meaning you are confused all the time and this can negatively affect your life in general , I was born myself with different talents that means I can do all kinds of art I'm vocalist,dancer, illustrator and loser . being multi creative is not choice it'part of your yourself ,once you know that ,be sure that things wont go will with you .

[@PhilipVanDusen]

redit, You're very welcome. Be sure to check out the other videos in my catalog. There's tons of great stuff there!

[@rickharold7884]

Thx !

[@PhilipVanDusen]

🕉🚀

[@sambalbidadari]

Brilliant !

[@enoshsubba5875]

Yes Specialize. But make sure those specializations have Diversified applications. Generalist"s Rock.

[@PhilipVanDusen]

absolutely. thx enosh.

[@nullzero821]

Neither, its better to be Adobe, have a monopoly, switch to a subscription model and jack up the prices whenever you please to make some extra free money ;p

[@PhilipVanDusen]

Ouch - so right.

[@JWMCMLXXX]

I wen tot the Academy of Art in SF, early 00s They were 100% team Generalist. I've had a hot / cold relationship with the approach throughout my career.

[@PhilipVanDusen]

I used to be on the portfolio review board for them in 2010. Small world.

[@JWMCMLXXX]

@@PhilipVanDusen :D