1. Stay close to the work. If you can't see the pixels and the punctuation, you've drifted.

2. Pick clients you'd grab a coffee with. The rest takes care of itself.

3. Say no often. Saying yes to everything is how studios get blurry.

4. Make weird things alongside the paid work. The weird things are the portfolio of the future.

5. Don't grow because growing is the default. Grow only if the work demands it.