Blended Sense has a mission of servicing millions of creative professionals around the world, matching them with our Creative Intelligence™ to provide digital assets for small businesses. For every $1 paid out to creatives in a local market, .77 cents stays in that community. While based in Austin, we’re quickly expanding to grow our creative network with a hyper-local focus one city at a time, with immediate development in Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston, New York City, and Miami.
Two of our internal creative professionals came to Blended Sense through our creative network, and enjoyed their work so much that they were incorporated into our team. Take a look at an interview we conducted with some of our network-turned-full-time-employees, and learn why Blended Sense is such a powerful connector for creatives and small businesses.
One of the big draws for our creative network is the collaborative nature of creativity. We find that creatives thrive when they meet people who do what they do, talk about ideas, and share knowledge.
Creative professionals also evolve when introduced to other creatives who don’t necessarily have the same skill set, but can expand and enrich their own gifts through the cross-pollination of creative ideas. A photographer might have some really great ideas to share with a voice-over artist, or a videographer might have some interesting ideas to share with a copywriter. True creativity knows no bounds, and thrives within a culture of collaboration.
This is a premise of our growing creative network. It’s no surprise that Nick was drawn to Blended Sense, in part, because he was able to connect with others. Nick’s background is in photography, storyboarding, directing, film, and editing.
Blended Sense: What drew you to Blended Sense as a creative professional in the network?
Nick: At the time I had just left my full time job a month or two prior and was freelancing in a new city. I had gotten a few nicely paying jobs in those few months, but I was bored in my down time. The income wasn't steady enough for me and I didn’t really have any friends in Austin yet, so I went ahead and joined Blended Sense with the hopes of networking and meeting other freelancers while also making some added income. As a creative introvert, I really don’t love talking to people too, so the fact that they found clients for me was a huge plus and made me want to find out more about what they were up to.
Another big draw for creative professionals is actually being able to be creative. Our media tech platform aims to automate many of the redundant processes required in workflows, so that creative professionals can be in their primary joy – creativity – and use it before they’re worn out by uninteresting, repetitive tasks.
Blended Sense: How did your role expand from being on a few gigs to becoming more intimately involved in the brand?
Nick: In all honesty, it happened pretty quickly. I met with the Blended Sense team in August of 2019 when I was freelancing just a few months after leaving my editing gig at a big company. At my prior job, the money was good, and I was working with a lot of big names on some really cool projects, but at the end of the day I felt like I was just part of an assembly line and had zero say in the creative side of things, which is what I love.
I liked working with Blended Sense because it offered me the ability to shoot and edit for a brand and gave me the opportunity to play a major part in how the final product looked. After pulling a few all-nighters to make sure some of my first projects were delivered on time, I guess the founders saw that I was reliable, enjoyed the hustle, and kept my cool in the middle of chaos, so they offered me a full time job editing for them. (I’m not sure if that last part is true, but that’s what I tell myself.)
Blended Sense: What would you like to be doing at Blended in the future that you're not doing now?
Nick: Video editing as a whole is pretty new to me and especially in the CPG and small business marketing world. Like I said earlier, my main creative outlet is photography and I’ve been doing that for almost 10 years, with most of that time spent in the action sports industry – specifically surfing. It wasn't until probably late 2017, or 2018 that I got into filming and editing, and up until working with Blended Sense I really had no experience in the world of advertising and working with small businesses, like Everything Austin Apartments. I’d like to stay where I’m at for now and continue to build out my skill set in the advertising and marketing world.
I’d also really like to get better at doing things in After Effects and making my text animations render more professionally. I heard that maybe in the future Blended Sense will have more music related customers in their network, and since most of my side projects now involve musicians, maybe being the head creative of a department like that would be kinda cool. Based on how much I've seen the company grow in the past few years, I think Blended Sense as a company is here to stay, so I’m open to numerous opportunities.
Savannah Power is a producer and videographer by trade, but since working with Blended Sense she’s expanded into graphic design and animation. A true creative with skills to sew, paint, write, photograph, edit, direct, design, and more, Savannah represents many of the people in our creative network, with myriad creative skills.
Blended Sense: What drew you to Blended Sense as a creative professional in the network?
Savannah: When I realized that Blended Sense wasn't a candle or incense company (lol), I was immediately drawn to the exciting idea of getting matched to work without having to pay any fees or deal with the normal “business” of finding customers, invoicing them once work was complete, etc. The customers I was matched to were always way cooler and more exciting than most leads I'd picked up on my own, so I was always stoked to show up to a Sweep.
While working in a start-up is never easy or predictable, Savannah found that the rewards outweigh the challenges. She also became interested in the technology on the platform, and has watched it advance over the past two years. Like Nick, Savannah appreciates the collaborative aspect of her creative work.
Blended Sense: How did your role expand from being on a few gigs to becoming more intimately involved in the brand?
Savannah: After a few gigs with Blended Sense I was enjoying it so much I spoke up about being interested in other opportunities. A few months later Albert, one of our founders, approached me about the Associate Producer role. I started part-time in Q1 of 2020 and was promoted to Content Producer in Q2, and later Sr. Content Producer. It's been a great fit creatively and culturally. I love everyone I work with.
I also didn't know I would be so interested in the technology side of things but it is so cool to be a part of building something that didn't exist before. The startup grind isn't easy but I find it really rewarding when you begin to see things working and compounding over time. The mar-tech industry is also blowing up, so I like being part of that innovative edge we’re involved in.
Blended Sense: What would you like to be doing at Blended in the future that you're not doing now?
Savannah: I would love to start getting matched to gigs again once things open-up Covid-wise. I miss getting my hands on my camera and shooting. I want to expand my commercial photography portfolio, and I think Blended Sense will be the perfect way to facilitate that goal.
I'm also looking forward to creating internal content down the road that highlights our creative network and producing community sweep events where creatives can come together, eat tasty snacks and shoot content!
Looking forward to more consistent, collaborative, creative work? Join our creative network.
