Over the course of our 13-year history, we’ve had dozens and dozens of clients. And I’ll be honest; some client relationships have been better than others. There’s no one to blame for that, of course. That’s often just the way human relationships work. Sometimes you click from the get-go. Other times… not so much.

But my experience has shown me that no matter how your relationship starts, whether you “click” or not, it can evolve into a lasting, productive partnership, so long as you keep a few things in mind.

Listen (No, really listen)

When I was younger (much younger, I promise!), I thought I knew everything. Of course, this bravado was really masking the insecurity that I didn’t know anything at all. But over time, I’ve been able to let go of that fear and really delight in the interesting things others have to share, particuarly when their thinking is so different from my own.

I know it probably sounds trite, but it’s true: Listening is vital to a good client relationship. When I talk with clients, I always start by listening without judgement. I listen not only for what they want, but how they want people to feel and what they want them to think about. That’s the first ingredient to arriving at a good result.

So what does listening look like? It means quieting your own impulses to impress, seek validation, and convince people you know what you’re doing. Remember, you’ve already got the job. So quiet your ego and open your ears.

Know Your Strengths

Now, you might be thinking, this guy sounds like a bit of a doormat. Well, maybe that’s true… sometimes. And it was even more true when I was first starting out in this business. I wanted to please everyone, because giving people what they want feels like a pathway to success.

With experience, though, comes the realization that collaboration requires confidence. I’ll tell you straight up that the stereotype about artists lacking confidence applies to me more than anyone I know.

For me, projecting confidence, even after years of doing this job, is still the most difficult part of the client relationship dynamic. To get over that, I remind myself that clients hire us for a reason: Because they felt our particular expertise could help them achieve their goals.

Recently, a client said to me, “We hired you because you are good at telling stories.” That stuck with me because I believe it, too. We’re never going to be the absolute best at every aspect of animation. This is an impossible fantasy. However, we can strive to be the best at storytelling, and to speak from authority on that skill. When a client comes to us with an expectation to “do something great,” we feel empowered to push the client and say, if you want to do something great, then you need to tell a good story.

I would ask, then, what is your gift? How can you honor and nurture it into something that feeds your confidence and authority?

Establish Boundaries

It’s important to know what you can do really well. But it’s also important to know, define, and be clear about what you can’t do to help set client expectations.

One way we do this at Planet Nutshell is by having a clearly defined revisions policy. We offer two rounds of revision on each phase of production. This helps us define expectations for the scope of the project, and it also helps us plan a detailed schedule. An open-ended revisions policy can lead to delays at best and at worst, it can cause resentment on both sides.

Having the policy is easy, but enforcing it? That’s always difficult. At times, though, it simply must be done, for the benefit of both parties. A client needs to know what is in and out of scope so you can both work together to stay on budget and hit deadlines.

Build Trust

Speaking of deadlines, take them seriously, and don’t miss deadlines you’ve committed to. Follow-through builds trust. And trust is the currency of enduring, long-term relationships. When you accept a job, you are promising to show up for the client and deliver.

And when you are planning your schedule, you can even plan for trust, and leave yourself time to exceed expectations before a deadline. I’ve said before that the most important part of a project is the last ten percent of effort and polish that elevates a project from good to great. Build time into your project schedule for the final push.

That’s just a start. Relationships are complicated, and there are million ways to nurture and maintain them. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

After a tumultuous year, we here at Planet Nutshell took a moment to reflect and wanted to share our takeaways from 2020 and our hopes for 2021.

Josh

When unexpected or scary things happen (if you were alive in 2020, you know what I’m talking about), don’t turn inward. Turn to those you trust, believe in that trust, and build a community of people who will support each other. That’s what I worked hard at doing at Planet Nutshell this year.

I have high hopes for our narrative project, Azucar (azucarfilm.com). We plan to submit it to the festival circuit in early 2021. Even if no one likes it, we will have learned so much and pushed ourselves in new creative directions. I’m excited to tell a story that is all our own. That’s a true gift. I’m also looking forward to supporting the creative goals of the team and helping folks realize the things they want to accomplish in animation and storytelling. With a great team, anything is possible!

Jen

2020 was an incredibly difficult year for all of us and really it took a toll on me, both mentally and emotionally. One of the most important lessons that I learned this year was to be kinder to myself and learn when to give myself, and others, a break. If not, there was a very real chance of everyone burning out. It was difficult at first, trying to find a balance between my work-a-holic tendencies and something a bit more sustainable for the current situation, but I’d like to think that I’ve finally struck a good balance between the two. While I still put my all into everything I do, I also know that once I finish a task (or two, or three) I can take a moment to breathe before jumping head long into the next thing on my to-do list.

One of my goals for 2021 is to really build up my personal website with recent work that I’ve done, both professionally and personally. I had originally planned on doing that this year, but with everything that happened I didn’t have the creative energy or motivation to do so. Fingers crossed I’ll finally have more of an online presence next year!

Mollie

Apart from the clear difficulties this year has brought, I was very excited to transition into being the lead for our internship program! I supervised two of our first fully remote interns, Audrey in the summer and Sean in the fall/winter. Sam and I collaborated, with input from the team, on how to recreate the studio experience from home and I was able to work on my leadership and communication skills. With encouragement and mentorship from Jen and Josh, I’ve been able to develop a more constructively critical eye that allows me to mentor in turn. It brings me great joy to try to give our interns the same valuable and fun experience that I had in my own internships during college (as well as try to live up to my mentors, eek!). I’m looking forward to continuing to improve and grow in this area professionally and personally in the coming year.

A goal of mine, professionally, in the next year is to continue to push my animation skills, especially with character animation. I’m hoping to become even more of a generalist as my career progresses and character animation is an area where I would like to improve. I’m very grateful to have the opportunity here at PN to push those skills under Jen’s careful eye. It’s a little scary, as character animation can often feel very personal, but a growing edge is never comfortable! Personally, I’m hoping in-person singing will return in late 2021. I’ve been missing sweet harmonies!

Sam

Professionally I learned that it is 100,000% possible for Planet Nutshell to excel when working remotely! We’ve been working from home since March of 2020 and it has been going really well. I’m proud of the team for adjusting to this new normal and being creative with fun ways to still interact like our Afternoon Hellos, socially-distanced picnics and a Team Building Slack channel!

A massive goal for me personally for 2021 is to fully launch Queer Scouts Boston! It is a monthly peer-led skill share for queer and trans adults and allies to build community, learn new skills and get outside. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram!

2020 has indeed been a challenging year. At Planet Nutshell we are grateful for our little corner of the universe that has continued to thrive and we hope that in 2021 more and more of the world can heal and begin to thrive once more.

What are your reflections?

As you may now, 2020 was a… unique year, to say the least. But despite all the uncertainty and change, the Planet Nutshell team kept working away and completing projects for some stellar clients. So before we depart for our much-deserved holiday break, we wanted to share some personal highlights (ordered by production date) to commemorate this particularly wild ride around the sun.

LightForce Orthodontics

You can 3D print all kinds of things, but can you 3D print custom orthodontia? LightForce sure can. Check out this short video about LightForce Orthodontics and their quest to revolutionize braces.

Gentle Giant

What’s this? Live action from an animation studio?! You better believe it. Our neighbors Gentle Giant wanted a video that tells the story of a successful move, which was easy enough, considering they complete them every single day.

Artsville Season Two

Artsville is an arts and humanities educational webseries we created and produced along with our good friends and PBS affiliate KET. And 2020, we brought it back for a second season. While we love all the episodes from this year, we particularly the Vocal Parts episode, which contains an original bluegrass ditty (a collaboration between ourselves, and amazing composer, and some wonderful performers). Look for even more Artsville in 2021!

Shriners Hospitals for Children: Christmas in July

We love how our friends at Shriners challenge us to try new things with each project, and the Christmas in July video was no different. We loved giving their beloved spokesperson an (animated) cameo.

UETN: We’re Here for You

While this year was filled with requests for content related to the COVID-19 crisis, we gotta say, this spot for our friends for UETN was among the very best.

Azúcar

Wait… have you not heard about Azúcar yet? Where have you been?! Azúcar is Planet Nutshell’s first original short film, and while it actually won’t be premiering until Spring 2021, 2020 was the year we all decided it was time to make this dream a reality.

UETN: Holiday Broadcast Spot

All right… I will admit that I think I saved the best for last. This spot from UETN wishes everyone hope and connection this holiday season, which is exactly what I wish for all of you reading.

---

And I know, I say this every year, but that’s because it’s true: None of these projects could have been done without the incredible talent of our in-house production team, as well as our freelancers. Here are all the people and production houses who helped make our biggest year yet possible:

Jen Sanchez, Mollie Davis, Sam Berliner, Liz Breen, Jody Snider, Nati Brondani, Renee Kurilla, Ana Hill, Hannah O’Neal, Camille Vincent, Jessica Mao, Rachel Howell, Chris Zuppa, Jake Williams, Zara Magumyan, Ethan Barnowsky, Taiko Sound, Joy Lamberton-Arcolano, Brian and Rosi Amador, Robert X. Newman, Kate Liebl, Ellie van Amerongen, Paul Lutty, Audrey Ruano, GoLocalise, Angie Natale, Bagamor Media, and lots of voiceover talents (you know who you are!).

And of course, a huge thanks to our 2020 clients:

• Adaptive Biotechnologies
• Bagamor Media/Foghorn Therapeutics
• Gentle Giant Moving Company
• George Bard
• Kentucky Educational Television
• Latino Victory
• LightForce Orthodontics
• Shriners Hospitals for Children
• Utah Education & Telehealth Network
• WGBH Boston