Being a Starving Graphic Artist Sucks

Sending Freelancing Clients a Surprise Invoice or Wrestling with a Grizzly - Two Ideas that Aren't Going to Go Over Well for You

Sorry I've been a little slow in posting this week, I am heading in for surgery which has got me busy running around a lot - I am paying them yet I have to do all of this running around.

I received a call from the hospital yesterday, the woman left a professional yet brusque message on my voice mail, "This is Kathy from the hospital, I've run your benefits and you'll need to bring in $2000 to handle your deducible before we operate tomorrow, if you have any questions please call me at..."

Wow, in addition to the toiletries they told me to bring over 2 months ago, I now want to bring an extra $2000 in my carry bag - no problem.

Look, I don't have any problem paying the deductible - that's cool; I guess I was a little put off that they informed me less than 24 hours before the surgery - almost like it wasn't a big deal. I suppose it could have been worse, they could have hit me for it while I was on the operating table. My point in sharing this with you is that while the hospital can get away with this shotgun billing approach - we as freelancers shouldn't.

Even if your clients owe you money, if you spring a bill on them unexpectedly they probably won't respond well. People...clients like to clearly know in advance what is expected of them, that especially includes invoices. When you're handling your billing, make sure you are clear with your clients, and give them plenty of notice that a bill will be do.

PS - Hey thanks for continuing to pass this blog along to other freelancers - readership is going up, which means we're helping more people - especially during a slower economy (especially here in the States). If you're digging the info on this blog, consider letting other creatives know about it, or recommend it on another design blog or message board.

The Truth About How Freelance Graphic Designers Should Price Their Services

I meandered into the Art/Design section of a Barnes and Noble out here and I looked at some of the other business graphic design books that were available. As I went through a few of these books, I couldn’t escape the nagging feeling that these “business design” books just seemed to provide a lot of theory and not much else. Here are a few direct quotes I took from what I read:

• Learn to negotiate effective with clients to create a win-win situation...
• The most important thing about taking time away from your freelance business is just that – taking time AWAY.
• If you decide to embark on a freelance career, the most important person to make a complete commitment to is yourself.

In all fairness, I’ve taken these out of context, but I read these and thought, “Duh, thank you for telling me things I already know. How in the heck will these things help me bring in clients or make more money?!?!”

Putting aside my frustration that most of these books just tell me things I already knew, one of my major gripes I had with these books is how they advised designers on how to price their services.

Designers often find it hard to price their services - perhaps you might be in that boat as well. Well, these “design/business experts” have come up with complicated algebraic formulas, voodoo chants, long forms that you enter in a bunch of variables and other odd methods for calculating how to price design services. But all of the books I'd checked out they failed to look at reality of how a free market economy works, and how freelancers ultimately price their services.

Here’s the reality about pricing your design services: you can do all of these algebraic formulas you want, or key in calculations to find how much you should charge per hour until your fingers to raw, but in the end your clients and the marketplace decide how much you will get paid. For example, if clients feel that your price is reasonable and that they are getting value out of working with you, you'll get more clients. If your price is too high for the value you provide, you'll start to see you have less clients. Price isn't something that should be created in a vacuum or by some silly formula. Price/cost is how 2 people compare the value of an item or service, if your clients feel that the value of your services is at or below the level your charging, they'll buy. Conversely, if clients feel the value of your services is less than the amount you charge, they won't buy unless you can convince them otherwise. Does that make sense?

Bottom line is that I walked away befuddled and disappointed at some of the advice these experts were giving new designers on how to price services. You can price your services without considering the market and your clients - formulas may serve as a crude guide but just because your formula points out that you should charge $250/hr. doesn't mean you could or should do it. Ultimately, we as freelance designers do not set our prices, our clients do.

Pricing your services has much more to do with what your clients perceive your value is rather than punching in arbitrary numbers your calculator. You’ll find it’s covered in-depth in my Being a Starving Artist Sucks book from pages 483-494.

PS - You'll want to check back next week for some ground-breaking announcements: a new audio cd will be available for purchase on the web site (there's over 2 hours of content on there!), you'll find out how you can apply for a free copy of my second book called, "Verbal Kung Fu for Freelancers".

Freelance Graphic Designers: Collaborate or Compete on Price?

I know this is a hot-button issue with freelancers; like owing a MAC or a PC, if you're a freelance designer, you probably have a strong opinion either way. That's cool, even if you see things different than I do in this article, I'll respect your position.

That being said - no, creative freelancers should not, and in many cases can not collaborate over pricing services.

Before getting into the reasons why price collaboration isn't a good idea, it's important to point out that I do believe in design colleagues cooperating and helping each other out - when possible. But there's a significant difference between helping others and carrying them. I had a freelancing friend once tell me that I was "cheapening the industry" because I was charging a more competitive rate than she was - rubbish.

It's true that there are thousands of designers out that aren't getting paid what they are worth, but it's no one else's fault but their own. I know - I was in their position for a long time. It's upsetting and frustrating not getting paid what you feel you're worth, and if you're in that position - I feel your pain.
The playing field is level when it comes to pricing (at least here in the States), but this doesn't mean that everyone will get paid what she/he feels they are worth.

It should be up to each individual freelancer to ensure she/he gets paid what they're worth, shouldn't it?

Let's look at some of the reasons why collaboration among designers to keep prices higher isn't such a practical idea.

Reason 1: Who gets to establish what is fair price for freelancing services?
Reason 2: Ultimately clients decide what you get paid
Reason 3: It's Illegal, at least here in the States (see price fixing or price collusion)
Reason 4: It's impractical and impossible to police

Bottom Line:

• If you're a freelancer that has a higher rate, don't worry about the cheaper options, if you can show your clients that you're worth more, you will get the business.
• If you're a freelancer that intentionally drops your rate in order to get business, don't feel badly about it, just know that you might not be able to keep it at such a low level and stay in business.
• If you're a freelancer that's concerned about others charging more or less than you do - don't sweat it, the best way you can ensure your own profitability and success is to worry about yourself (your value and your price) rather than everyone else's. 

I am sure you've got comments on this, if you do, feel free to email me or drop one in - I'd love to hear from you. If you shoot over to the products page, you'll notice a Mini Sampler Package was introduced. I had a number of designers write in and ask if they could check out some of the materials at an inexpensive price - voila, best thing you can do for your freelancing business under five bucks.

How Freelance Designers Can Compete with the Online Bland Brand Crap Factories

In his blog, Seth Godin talks about making a caricature of your brand, "...Worse than avoiding the negative, though, is the tendency for most organizations to resist creating a brand that can be caricatured. It doesn't feel safe or responsible or prudent. Coloring inside the lines and pleasing most of your customers most of the time almost guarantees you'll be bland."

I started thinking about this and Seth's post begs an interesting question that designers need to answer for themselves when creating a business identity for themselves or their clients: is it more risky to play it safe than to be different?

Yes, it is.
Bland and safe brands = not standing out from the crowd and being invisible to customers, which leads to starving.

There are two types of businesses out there: remarkable and invisible (that's Seth's not mine), hopefully the brands you're creating are helping to make companies remarkable. Creating bland, safe brands is a quick way to ensure you don't make a lot of money and don't bring in a lot of business.

Competing with the Brand Factories
There are thousands of design firms out there, pumping out even more logos and brands. Most of them have the same boring, "color within the lines" look and feel. You've seen it before, brands with: the obligatory swoosh, the abstract icon that no one really knows what it is, or worse yet - the globe that everyone seems to use.

Creating brands has slowly become one giant crap factory where graphic designers pump out inexpensive, generic and meaningless icons that some business people mistake as an effective brand. Business owners can now purchase hundreds of predesigned brands on the Internet in minutes. As a result, many of these people have been fooled into thinking, or have convinced themselves that's all they need to look professional and stand out from their competition. They're wrong.

Instead of seeing a brand as an asset that can help them build their business, some business owners see it as an expense. They see brands and the design professionals that create them as commodities. This has caused freelance professionals to become frustrated that potential clients entertain the idea of paying someone a cheap 100 bucks to create a "quick and dirty" brand instead of having a true professional customize one. They are often left feeling, "How can I compete with that?"

Actually you can compete, I've been doing it for years and charging a heck of a lot more than a few hundred bucks for a brand. If you want to start getting paid the money you really want to earn for designing brands and bring in more clients, keep these things in mind:

1. Help your client understand that if they, like everyone else has the opportunity to purchase an inexpensive, generic-template brand from an internet site or quick copy place, they're going to look like everyone else. A bland brand = blending in with the crowd and becoming invisible to potential customers. Help your client see that a strong, unique brand can bring in more business, customers and revenue. Having a brand designed should be seen as an asset rather than an expense.
2. Avoid playing it safe and designing brands that look like everyone else's. Develop your own unique style of how you design brands (people will start to recognize them). Look to push your creative boundaries.
3. Recognize that there is a small segment of business owners that see branding as a no-value expense, so they get the most inexpensive one possible. Ultimately, there's nothing you can do or say to them that will change their mind - these people are lost. The best thing you can do is let them hire someone cheap and avoid wasting time with them.
4. Avoid designing in a vacuum. Instead of locking yourself in your studio, invest the time to really learn about your client and his/her customers - design something that your client's customers will respond to rather than what you think is cool.
5. Embrace the idea of creating brands that are distinctive to the client and they're meaningful. As clients go through my branding portfolio they often make the same comment about the work, "Each one of these brands is different. They are all unique to the business you've created them for..." I reply back, "It's almost like each one of them has a spirit or a soul doesn't it?" They finish with, "Yes! That's it! I want you to do something like that for me!"

Self Assessment for Successful Designers

• Do your brand designs stand out compared to the competition?
• When you're designing brand images for your clients, are you playing it safe and designing pretty much what everyone else is?
• Do you design brands based on what you like or what you've researched and believe will work best for your client?
• Did you pattern your own look and feel off of other design firms?

Why Clients Delay or Avoid Providing a Freelance Graphic Designer a Response to Their Contract

Designers have often asked me, "I sent a proposed contract to a potential client but I haven’t heard back from them, what the heck can be going on?" Truth is, it can be any number of things, maybe even a combination of things as to why the client hasn’t gotten back to you.

I've identified 3 main categories as to why clients may not have given you an answer if they want to move forward with their project and hire you:

Not Interested in Working with You

• You're too expensive and they went looking for cheaper options
• They didn’t feel comfortable working with you
• They didn’t feel you were the right fit for the project
• Someone in the company has a cousin who has a brother who has a daughter that's going to do the project instead
• They wanted the project to be done immediately, and you weren't able to do it in the time frame they wanted
• They were interviewing several design options and just went in another direction
• They were just pumping you for information. They were just using you as a benchmark so they should know how much they should expect to pay.

No Longer Interested in Moving Project Forward

• Something has changed with the business and they aren’t interested in moving forward at this time
• They have more pressing things to get to, and they've decided to put the project on hold
• Through interviewing a number of design options, they've realized that their expectations have far exceeded their budget
• They aren't sure they want to move forward with the project or business
• They were never that sure they wanted to move forward with the project, they figured they'd get some information and just see if they could or wanted to hire someone on

Haven’t Gotten to it Yet

• It's on the radar screen, but it's not a priority
• They've had to deal with personal issues
• They have other "fires to put out"
• They are confused by the contract or the contact looks too intimidating and they are putting it off. You’re contract/process is making it too hard for clients to want to work with you
• They are waiting for, or hoping for money to come in before contacting you (this could also include some sort of event or meeting)

Sure, there might be other reasons you could add to the list I have here. If you have some good ones that you feel other designers have heard as well, be sure to submit a comment.

The bottom line on this is that being in limbo, waiting for a client to get back to you is a difficult position to be in. At least with "yes" or "no", you know where you stand. There are easy ways to ensure you don’t find yourself in this position where you’re sitting by the phone waiting for the client to call. I address many of these points in both the Being a Starving Artist Sucks book and Verbal Judo for Designers.

My advice to colleagues and friends is to avoid speculating why the client hasn't gotten back. Forget about worrying – it doesn't help, and certainly don’t to jump to conclusions. Try not take it personally, just because a client decided to go in another direction or pull the plug on the project doesn't mean you're not great fit for someone else.

PS - Want to know what all the buzz is about Verbal Judo for Designers? If you'd like to receive a free introductory chapter in what some designers have felt is a must have book for every creative professional who've felt like they've been taken advantage of by a demanding client, drop me an email.

Freelance Graphic Designers: Who Owns Your Master Files - Follow Up Post

Earlier this month I posted some information about this. If you've been confused by who really owns your master files, don't feel badly - you're not alone.

Seems that most clients...and a lot of designers out there don't know who really owns the files. If you are an employee, chances are the files belong to your employer. However, if you're being hired as an independent contract (freelance designer), the projects you do are generally considered "works for hire." Here's what copyright.com says about it:

Although the general rule is that the person who creates a work is the author of that work, there is an exception to that principle: the copyright law defines a category of works called “works made for hire.” If a work is “made for hire,” the employer, and not the employee, is considered the author. The employer may be a firm, an organization, or an individual. - Click here for the link.

I wrote a follow up to this because it not only causes a lot of confusion, it's a volatile subject that can easily upset both client and designer. Check out an email I received a while back from a client, "Where in my agreement with you was it stated that my payment was not for the rights to the Native File? I’m not interested in extracting your DNA for an additional charge. My God, I simply want to keep a cohesive theme in advertising." ----Nice, huh?

My advice to you:
Make sure you have verbiage in your contract that addresses this. ALSO I would strongly recommend you speak to your clients about this before you bring them on board. If this has happened to you, feel free to drop me an email or a comment. 

Freelance Graphic Designers: Who Really Owns Your Digital Master Artwork?

This topic has come up a few of times recently so I decided to devote a quick post to addressing some of the fundamentals. Handling this seems to be a huge problem for all designers, so I made sure I covered this in-depth in the Being a Starving Artist Sucks book and in my Work Smarter NOT Harder Contracts and More Package. However, the following material was taken directly from The Graphic Artists Guild Handbook – Pricing and Ethical Guidelines, 9th ed. I thought it was helpful, and I am hoping it will get you started. 

“Graphic artists, like photographers, writers and other creators, customarily sell only specific rights to the use of their creative work…Some inexperienced art buyers assume that they are buying a product for a flat fee, with the right to reuse or manipulate the art however they wish. But such purchases historically have been more like licensing agreements in that only the exclusive or non-exclusive right to use the art in a specific media (e.g., billboard, magazine cover), for a limited time period, over a specific geographic area, is sold or granted.

The basic standard of sale for a commissioned work of art is ‘first reproduction rights’ or ‘one-time reproduction rights.’ While there has been a push by major clients to obtain an overly broad grant of rights, current data indicate that reuse, more extensive use, use in additional markets, foreign use, etc.., receive additional compensations…Sale of the original, physical art (including digital media) is, under copyright law, not included in the sale of reproduction rights and is normally a separate transaction…

Recent surveys report that buyers and sellers both consider additional fees for such extensive grants of rights to be usual and customary…One risk for artists to consider is that selling extensive rights at prices usually paid for limited rights provides the buyer with an unpaid inventory of stock art, depriving the artist (and other artists) of income from additional uses and future assignments.” – The Graphic Artists Guild Handbook – Pricing and Ethical Guidelines, 9th ed.

I found myself having difficulty finding the right words to tell the client, “No, you don’t receive the master artwork, and here’s why...” Afterwards I found that most designers run into this so I’ve created a specific resource that I’ve released for you to use, you’ll find this in my contract package called Work Smarter NOT Harder.

Shameless Book Promotion:
Thank you Amber for your testimonial...
"Being a Starving Artist Sucks hits the nail on the head when it comes to freelance situations. I've been a designer for a long time now, but reading through this book I still found areas I knew I should improve upon, and the book helped me realize I could. From something as simple as a reminder to have empathy when talking to clients, to reminding us that it's OK to say no to jobs that don't fit, this book is full of handy information for freelancers new and old."

Freelance Graphic Artists: How Many Pages is Your Contract? What is the One Page Your Client’s Secretly Want You to Include?

Effective contracts are a happy medium between finding the right level of protection for you and not freaking your clients out whereby they think your contract was written by a team of high-powered lawyers (all out to screw them). Your contract should walk the line between stern yet friendly and comprehensive yet succinct. You’ll find that if you can keep the contract to 7 pages or under, you’ll be in good shape. The size of your contract should be in proportion to the size and complexity of your project.

For example, if you were designing a stationery package for a client, you might only need a 3-5 page contract; however, an e-commerce site might require a 15 page contract. In either case, a 1-size-fits-all contract probably isn’t your best bet.

Whether you’re using a 5 page or 15 page contract, what’s the one page your client’s secretly want you to include?

A Summary Page

Business people are...well...busy. I know this isn’t news to you, but it’s funny how easily we forget this. My clients don’t often have time to sift through a 15 page contract. I’ll bet yours don’t either. To help them hit the high points, include a summary page at the beginning of the contract. Doing this allows you to include enough information in your contract that you feel protected, it also allows your clients to zero in on what they’re looking for.

Clients want to know their 3 big questions answered by your contract:

1. What do I get?
2. When do I get it?
3. How much does it cost?

The quicker you can help them find these 3 things, the happier they will be.

Some additional attention-grabbing points I’ve learned about contracts over the years:

• Many clients don’t even read the contract
• If you are not persistent that your client sign your contract, she/he won’t
• On rare occasions, a client will read the contract from cover to cover – these are your Type A personalities
• The longer the contract, the less likely the client may read it, in some cases – the less likely the client will hire me (be careful not to make it hard for people to hire you)

If you liked this post, you'll want to check out page 197 in the Being a Starving Artist Sucks book where you'll find an in-depth look at exactly how to write a damn good contract...and what you should actually be calling it rather than a "contract".

Why Freelance Graphic Designers Must Consider Offering a Guarantee

1. One of the biggest fears business owners have is wasting money on a bad designer.     
   Could you imagine how much easier it would be to hire you if you offered a guarantee?
   
2. Clients often won’t hire designers or a new designer because of their past experience in hiring a designer who did poor work or even cheated them. This is a powerful demotivator that keeps a lot of business owners from hiring designers. Talk to 10 random business people and at least 2-3 of them will say they’ve been screwed by a web or graphic designer. It’s a real challenge to getting clients to get over their past bad experiences – that’s why the guarantee is so valuable.      Bottom Line: You will attract more business and more clients.
   
   
3. It shows that you stand behind your work and that quality is important to you.
   
4. It gives you a huge amount of credibility. Imagine being able to tell a potential client, “I only get paid when you like what I’ve done for you. Does that sound like someone you’d like to have on your team? Are other designers going to give you this promise?”
   
5. If you’re having difficulty separating your design company from the competition, this is a great way to do it.

Final note: Carrying a guarantee is an incredible selling tool, if you have one make sure EVERYONE knows about it. Let your prospects know up front, “Hey there’s no risk working with me; I am going to ensure you’re happy with my work.” This is going to make it a lot easier for them to think, “Yeah, hiring this designer is a smart risk.”

Freelancers - How Much Should You Raise Your Rates?

There are no hard and fast rules as to how much you can increase your rates. You do want to avoid sudden jumps in raising your rates. Instead, a 5-15% increase is a fair increase that shouldn’t cause too many complaints from clients. If you were charging $50/hr, you could most likely move up to $52.50 - $57.50...perhaps as much as $60 without issue.

You can raise your rates higher than 15% as well (you can raise your rates as high as you would like), just be aware that your clients may want a good explanation why your rate jumped up so high. If you want to keep the math easy, a $5 or $10 increase in your hourly rate will probably be acceptable.

Your clients and prospects ultimately determine if your raise increase is warranted or not. If clients start complaining and taking their businesses elsewhere - you probably raised your rate too high, and you might consider lowering it back down just a bit.

I cover setting your initial prices as well as raising your rates in detail in the BASAS book. You'll also see 30 specific indicators (some of which you may already have) that suggest you may want to increase your rate. If you're agonizing when and by what standard you should raise your rates, you'll want to check it out.

For now, just remember that your clients will pay for just about anything as long as you can help them see the value in it. If you can help your clients see that you are a good investment that will pay off for them, they’ll be more than happy to pay your rate – no matter how expensive it is.