Being a Starving Graphic Artist Sucks

Getting Freelance Design Jobs: First the Money, Then We Talk

I had a client contact me a few days ago about an ad she wanted to have designed. She wanted me to do "some thinking" for her and get back with some initial ideas. So I listed out and emailed her some basic questions that would help us develop a more effective ad (keep in mind these are helpful but not mind-blowing, invaluable ideas that no one has ever thought of).

Anyway, the email took me about 10 minutes to create so it wasn't a big deal but the client never did decide to move forward on the ad. In my case the amount of time and energy that I put into this project, only to not get it was pretty limited, still it pisses me off when clients do this - perhaps it's happened to you before as well. In fact, if you've been freelancing for longer than 6 months, I am sure this has happened to you - and you might have invested much more time and energy than I did.

While I don't think "most" clients set out to pump freelancers for information and then take it to the cheap quick copy place down the street, it happens. It happens a lot...

Clients are always going to be focused on what's in it for them...what they can get, and that's fine but as a professional freelancer you have to know how to guard your time and your expertise. Make sure you help your clients out, provide them with good information, but work on getting a signed contract before you put in a lot of time and energy into a project that might not even exist.

"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces."I don't know if clients are dogs or pigs, but this wisdom does seem to apply to this post, do you agree or disagree? Drop me a line or send me an email.

PS - The Bigger Risk: Doing Nothing Rather than Something
I received an email a few weeks back from Sara she wrote, "I really want to get a copy of your book, but being a starving artist I need to save money any way I can..." She knew she needed the Being a Starving Artist Sucks book but didn't feel like she could afford it. In the end, she wisely thought, "I've got to do something to get my business going", and she bought the book.

Here is just a portion of her feedback after she bought the book, "...When my husband learned I had spent $29 on a book – and not even a physical one – he thought that was really expensive, but I know it will save me hours of wasted time and frustration, help me earn more money for my efforts, and get my business going strong..."

In running your business, you'll often find that the biggest risk you take isn't investing money in your education and success but feeling that you'll just learn it on your own or you can't afford it - it's like driving clear to the other side of town to save just 10 cents on gas. What's holding you back from being the successful freelancer you know you can be? What are you doing about it?

Making Sales and Getting the Word Out on Your Freelancing Graphic Design Business

I often hear new freelancers to the industry talk about "getting their name out there"...that things will start rolling when people start hearing about them. The idea here is that they'll be able to start becoming successful once people know who they are (freelancers usually resort to getting their name out there in as many places as they can: direct mail, advertising, pay per click, promotions, etc...)

Well, it's not quite that easy, in fact, using that logic you could say, "Well, I have a car so I can now drive to Canada". The truth is, yes it is possible to drive to Canada, but there's a lot more to getting there than just having a vehicle: gas, insurance, a map, lodging...you get the point.

This is an all too common misconception with freelancers though: just because people know you doesn't mean you're going create clients and make money. It's true that if no one knows about you, making money is going to be a chore, but people knowing about your business name doesn't mean they'll hire you. Make sure you don't miss that point - it's important.

Here are some of the pros and cons of doing a "big splash", get your name out there approach to getting clients:

Pros

• Easy to get started,
• Makes you feel hopeful, people (ad reps) paying attention to you, encouraging you - because happy to take your money :(
• If you can commit to this strategy for a long time it can start to work for you
• You might get lucky and hit the right group of people at the right time and bring in some sales but it's unlikely

Cons

1. Often not targeted ineffective
2. Need repetition - at least 7 touches for it to work
3. Can be costly
4. Getting your name out there and getting people to hire you can be very different things
5. Word of mouth, getting your name out there fades away if you don't keep it up

Bottom line guys, advertising, PPC, direct mail, etc. can work but there's a lot more too it than just getting your name out there - be careful to know the difference between promotion and sales.

PS - Hey I wanted to share with you that I've just made The Creative Freelance Designer's Audio Success Series available on the Being a Starving Artist Sucks web site. These 8 tracks were created to help address the tricky situations that cause designers the most stress and difficulties. The tracks are under $30 and contain over 2 hours of no-nonsense, insider information and a butt-load of bonuses, check out the details by clicking here.

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".

Are Traditional Graphic Designers and Graphic Design Jobs Disappearing?

A young lady that attended my creative freelance designer workshop at the Art Institute of Phoenix recently asked, "What if I don't have any interest or knowledge of doing marketing for a company? I just don't get into writing content, creating tag lines and stuff like that..."

Hmm, the prognosis for her business doesn't look good - at least to me it doesn't. It'll be on life-support before too long. Things weren't always like this but the industry is changing because of technology; and many clients are finding they don't need traditional designers. This is pretty scary, but it's true - look at what's come on the scene within the last 5 years:

• Web site templates
• Easy to use graphic software packages
• Collateral material templates
• Stock photography
• Stock logos

The bottom line is this guys, if you want to be a traditional graphic designer that focuses on creating cool imagery and working with clients that know exactly what they want when it comes to their marketing you can do it...it's just going to be really hard to make a living at it, and it's getting harder everyday. The good news is that you can compete if you have skills in marketing and sales - talent beyond just graphic design. If you can help a company attract more customers and money, they'll always be a place for you.

Agree, disagree or think I am crazy? Drop me an email or leave a comment. This is a tough issue, but one thing we can all agree on is that it's not going away.

PS - I'll be recruiting volunteer freelancers that are interested in reviewing my new book called, Verbal Kung Fu for Freelancers (this was Verbal Judo for Designers, but I changed it).

If you've ever felt that a client took advantage of you or that you just didn't have the confidence or words to tell a client they were being unfair - this book was written for you. Check back over the next couple of weeks and I'll have more details for you.

If I Could Go Back in Time and Advise Myself, How I Would Prepare to be a Freelance Graphic Designer

I had the opportunity to speak to a group of students and alumni at the Art Institute of Phoenix yesterday - good group of people with some great questions. With the material I had I thought we'd spend about 1/2 talking, instead 2.5 hours later I was still going!

Like any group there are some designers that are just starting out and some who have been in it for a while, but the common thread is that they're looking to learn the secrets to successfully running a design firm, and they all want to improve on where they are today. I applaud and congratulate these guys, their taking some initial steps to becoming successful rather than hoping it will happen or thinking they'll just get lucky.

Success isn't going to happen like a bolt of lightning from the sky, it happens by taking tiny but consistent action steps each day to get closer to your dreams.

In seeing a lot of new designers to the field, fresh out of school and ready to take on the freelancing world, it got me thinking...I've been designing for about ten years now and if I could go back and tell a younger version of myself what to do (sort of like Back to the Future), I would tell myself:

1. Don't try to figure it all out yourself, even if you do it will take you a few years.
2. Find someone who's been down the same road you're going down - learn from them rather than reinvent the wheel. Find successful people in your field and learn from them.
3. Learn to communicate with people, learn to market and learn to sell.
4. Get over being reserved or shy - those two words and freelancing don't mix well.
5. If you focus on helping others get what they want, ultimately you'll probably get what you want.

PS - Thanks again to the Art Institute of Phoenix, Ginny Lopez, Keith Bennett and all of the attendees, I really enjoyed our time. I wondered if I had 30 minutes of material - we ended up going for 2 hours!

Getting Organized: Spend Less Time Filing and More Time Creating

Okay you’ve landed the client, got the contract signed and received your deposit, all of the hard work is done – right?

Ah, you know better than that! Your work has just started, now you have to do a number of administrative tasks, which of course are at best boring, at worst mind-numbing. The good news is that if you’re organized and you create standardized shortcuts and processes you can save a load of time and aggravation.

Creating and then using processes that allow you to move quickly though your administrative tasks is not only critical to success it's also critical to your sanity. After all, who can afford or wants to blow 1-2 hours on administrative tasks per day?

Below is a partial list of the activities I do every time I bring on a new client. Having these down in order and available for you to look at should help you stay organized and on top of what you need do. You of course don’t have to use this exact system, but having something in place like this should help you become more efficient:

• Send a separate communication that thanks the client for their business and trust in me. This reaffirms that I am going to be working hard on their project and that I am looking forward to working with them. This is a great tool in helping your client avoid feeling like they might have made the wrong decision in moving forward – this is called buyer’s remorse.
• Assuming you aren’t starting your project immediately, you’ll want to give your client some things to be thinking about before you “officially” start the project. For example, if you were designing a logo, you’ll want to ask your client to think about fonts, colors, examples that they like/dislike.    I actually provide you with sheets you can customize for your business in my Work Smarter NOT Harder Contracts and More Package.     
• Make certain I have the correct spelling of their name, their title, address, phone numbers, email addresses, etc.
• Make sure I put their credit card information in a safe place if they place on file.
• Enter contact information in Outlook or client management program.
• Enter the client's information in Quickbooks
• Create client subdirectory on computer.
• Create a physical file folder to keep papers etc., all of my notes.

Just a quick FYI about my "Creative Freelance Designer's Audio Success Series" for freelancers who would rather listen than read - the first disks have been recorded and will be available at the beginning of April - it's just over 2 hours long and covers: getting referrals, meeting clients, networking, avoiding the revision merry go round, how to fire a client, getting referrals and price negotiations. If you're interested in a sneak peek at these and providing a review on them, drop me an email.

Giving Yourself a Better Chance of Being Hired, Quick Advice for Creative Freelance Designers

A few years back I'd listed an ad in several publications for a contract freelancer. I've included below one of the actual responses that came in (of course the names around to protect privacy). The intent here is to provide you with a greater understanding in how best to approach a client or employer via email or letter, rather than to single someone out...after all, if you counted the number of silly mistakes I made in communicating with clients over the years, you'd certainly need more than 1 blog post to cover them.

Anyway, let's see what was written:

"Hi, my name is Sue and I am responding to the ad you placed a while back regarding the freelance work you have available. I am sending my resume which will show you the software knowledge and work experience I have. I currently work part-time at Design Company XYZ.

I consider myself to be very versatile; however, my specialty is in logo/brand development, print design and Flash animation. I have enjoyed freelancing from time to time and would like to pursue that on a more regular basis. I usually was paid on a per project basis. I would prefer working from home and would hope to work consistently 20-30 hours a week."

Quick Advice:
While there aren't any huge spelling or grammatical mistakes, this letter does need a bit of improvement, let's look at one specific area: focus.

Did you notice that the freelancers focus is on herself rather than me as the client/employer?
1. Count the number of I's, me's or my's in the letter - I got 12 total
2. Conversely, count the number of you's or your's - you'll probably find just 3

The point is, this freelancer focused her attention on herself, rather than what she can do for her client or employer. While your clients/employers will never tell it to your face, it's important to understand that they are far less concerned about you and much more concerned on what you can do for them. If you can remember that when approaching potential clients and employers, you'll increase your chances of being called back immensely.

Going International:
Look for Being a Starving Artist Sucks in the "Mad about Design" book (released later this year). This book is being created in Spain and will be available in Spanish as well as English. The editor of the project, Macarena, contacted me a few days ago and indicated she wanted to feature the book and this blog in the publication, she'd indicated, "I believe it is interesting because it shows “the dark side of the moon”, and if you are someone that is starting, or already works in this, it is good to learn how does this industry works and how can you survive in it."

We also sold our first book to a freelancer in the Philippines - thanks Amiel, looking forward to hearing you feedback!

The Truth About People Criticizing Your Freelance Design Projects

A while back I had someone take a swipe at me on a message board. Within the context of a completely different subject this person wrote, “I don’t like your book title, I find it offensive and I would guess I am not the only one that feels this way...” - more on this comment at the end (see note at end).

Initially this bothered me...I think it would bother just about anyone. This was an unprovoked and unsolicited attempt to take a shot at me in front of an audience. In fact, this person had previously sent me a number of emails thanking me for providing them with some valuable advice.

The more I thought about it though I realized that whether you’ve written a book, designed a logo or created a web site, if you show it to enough people, someone’s not going to like it. That’s the bad news...the good news is that not everyone has to like your work. If you’re in the creative field you’re going to need to come to grips with the concept that not everyone is going to like your work – opinion’s are like...well you know the rest of the phrase (if you don’t, punch this into Google and see what comes up). In fact, Keith Bennett, the Academic Director for Graphic Design at the Art Institute of Phoenix told me that this is what he imparts to his students, "...not everyone is going to like your work, they aren't supposed to...and if you've created something that causes no reaction, have you really created something worthwhile?"

If you’ve been freelancing for any great length of time, you know what it’s like to pour heart and soul into a project and have someone figuratively rip it to shreds, it’s heartbreaking. If this has not happened to you yet consider yourself lucky, but I’ll bet someday it will. When/if that day does come; here are a few questions you’ll want to ask yourself in helping you to deal with the critics of your work:

1. What was said? What exactly did the critic say, and did you interpret it correctly?
2. Who was the critic? Was this person someone that has expertise, clout or an audience or someone just spouting off? Was this person part of your target audience? Should you even be taking this person seriously?
3. Is anyone else there saying the same thing? Keep this in mind: if one person says something needs changed - let it go, don’t worry about it; two people say it - make a mental note; if three say it you’ll probably want to take action. If only one person has spouted off about something they don’t like about your work, I wouldn’t worry about it.
4. Is there any validity to what they’ve said? Try to remove your emotion from what they’ve said and try to look at things as objectively as you can. Is there any truth to what the critic said?
5. Why would this person say this? This involves motive(s) – would this person have anything to gain by belittling your work or putting you down? If the critic has an ulterior motive, why would you even take her/his opinion seriously?

Receiving negative or even nasty feedback on your creative work is a tough thing to deal with, you may experience: anxiety, panic, anger, self doubt, frustration or a combination of the group. I would advise you to cut yourself a little slack, go through the questions I have above and try to determine, “Is this critic someone I should even be listening to?”

If the answer is “No”, I suggest rather than firing back at the person, just let it go. Focus your attention on anything else if you tend to dwell on things – even go as far as to take a break from work all together. You’ll find that often the worst thing you can do to a critic is not to respond to them.

Here's an interesting note about the Being a Starving Artist Sucks' title - there have only been 2 freelancers that told me they really hated it - it turns out both of those freelancers were starving...and I'll bet they still are starving because they didn't do much to change it other than visit social message boards and complain...I guess they feel they can figure it out on their own.

PS - Conversely, it turns out Keith Bennett, the Academic Director for Graphic Design at the Art Institute of Phoenix DOES like the book, I will be speaking there to his students and alumni next week.