Being a Starving Graphic Artist Sucks

Killer Creative Freelancer Advice: Making a Clean Break after Telling a Client or Boss, "See Ya Wouldn't Wanna Be Ya"

Okay, so either you or your boss/client's decided it's time to part ways. Hopefully they didn't blurt out, "You're fired" ala Donald Trump, and if you decided their time was up, you didn't righteously yell out, "You don't have to do your own design, but you can't have it done here anymore!"

You're not breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, but you have established a rapport and a relationship with your client/employer and transitioning away from each other can be a tricky if you're not prepared. Emotions can run high during these times - people can get pretty ticked off about the situation.

To ensure you make a clean and clear break (which is what you want) you've got to have a plan. If you just wing it, it's so easy to say/do something that will cost you later (even for freelancing veterans).

Below I've got some great little nuggets of wisdom (many of which I learned the HARD way) that will allow you to sail through the process of moving away from a client/employer and allow you to head towards bigger and better things:

• Clearly define for yourself and your client the role you'll be playing/or not be playing in the future. Make sure this is clearly spelled out in an agreement. I've developed a specific contract for this (as well as selling artwork) in my Work Smarter NOT Harder Contracts and More Package. You may wish to develop your own termination agreement, but make sure you have one. If you don't define your roles and responsibilities IN WRITING, I promise you it's going to cost you down the line.
• Once the client knows you'll be moving on they'll most likely try to get everything they can from you in terms of free support, etc. Be on guard for this, and don't be surprised when it happens.
• Avoid transferring files until you've been paid. From first-hand experience I can tell you with certainty that clients become much LESS motivated to pay you if they've already received what they wanted. You get the money, AND THEN they get the files. If you aren't sure how to say this confidently (even to a demanding client), check out my Verbal Kung Fu for Freelancers book for help.
• Thoroughly go through ALL of the subdirectories and files; make sure there aren't any sensitive, offensive or critical files that the client shouldn't be getting. This step may seem like a waste of time but skipping it could get you royally screwed if you accidentally burn/transfer files that contain financial information, proprietary information, etc. The point is, once you give these files over to the client (whatever types of files they are), they're gone and they can easily be made public, so be careful.
• In building on the pervious point. There's no need to delete these files from your archive, just make sure you don't transfer them. I came up with adding DO_NOT_TRANSFER to files and subdirectories I didn't want to accidentally burn on to a client CD/DVD.
• Keep same sub directory configuration as you have on your hard drive. You may not need to do this, but you may run into a situation in the future where you're trying to explain to a client where a file is - if they have the same subdirectory configuration as you have in your archive it will make life much easier on both of you.

It's 12:38 AM, Why Is My Client Emailing Me Over and Over?

I woke up this morning to find that I received 5 emails last night from a client on the East Coast between midnight and 2:00 AM. I thought, "That's kind of odd..."

 Far be it for me to criticize when people do their emailing or their best business, if you want to work the night shift - that's cool with me. But this does send up a few warning flags that I'll keep an eye out for...if one of your clients sends multiple emails like this (especially late at night), it may indicate you're dealing with someone who:

• Has difficulty organizing her/his thoughts
• Gets off track easily
• Obsesses about her/his business, or even this project
• Doesn't understand business and email etiquette
• Has not worked with a freelancer before
• Has insomnia or ate something that's keeping her/him up

I'm not advocating that there's a problem here that needs addressing, just something to keep your eye on. If you receive frequent bursts of emails from clients (that eventually frustrate you) it may indicate you may want to suggest a more effective way to communicate back and forth.

Creative Freelancer Advice: Getting Others In the Industry to Respect You and Even Help You Via Email

I received the email below from a web developer that was working with a client of mine that I amicably parted with (I was actually still doing work for the client, just design work but not web stuff). I'd initially sent an email to the client offering to transfer the domains and hosting from my account to a new account he'll create (so he'll have ownership rather than relying on me). Instead of replying directly, his web guy (who I'd never met or communicated with) sent me this email:

"Jeremy, I will need you to:

• Unlock the domain(s)
• Provide the EPP/ Authorization Code
• Either change the admin contact e-mail to this email address or forward on the Admin Verification email which will be sent once the process starts.

Also, I will need you to package up the current site, so it can be placed on my server during final development of the client's new site. This will prevent down time of the client's current site. Thank you. - Cam"

That wasn't so bad...or was it?

 Truthfully, I found this email presumptuous, demanding and bossy, so I did what most freelancers would do - I flat out ignored him. I know this won't earn me a Good Conduct medal, but this ignoring email approach happens a lot in the industry. Maybe this guy had a bad day, I don't know - what I do know is that he comes across arrogant and demanding...and HE's asking ME for help (not very smart).

Not than I am any better than the next guy, but most of the communications I sent to others in the field are almost always answered - and usually in a timely manner.

Here are some easy ways I've found that you can ensure that your emails don't get ignored by other creative professionals:

• Assume the person is busy; even recognize it in the email. For example, "I know you must have a lot going on..." Recognize that when you're asking for someone else to help, you are at the mercy of their schedule. Avoid rushing or bullying people, instead mention politely that you'd really appreciate it if they could help you as soon as they have a free moment.
• Remember the golden rule, "Do on to others as you'd have done to you" - if you wouldn't like receiving the email that you wrote, don't send it.
• Ask yourself, "Was I respectful of this person's time and talents?", and, "Am I being bossy?"
• Avoid assuming the person receiving the email will immediately know what you are talking about.
• Show that you're sincerely grateful for their help (if you are asking them to help you)...and no, just putting "Thank you" in there does not constitute gratitude.
• Remember what your parents taught you - say, "Please". For goodness sake, ask politely, you'll be amazed at how well it works. The guy in the example above wrote, "I will need you to..." My thought back was, "Oh no dude, that's not going to work for me, you're going straight into the Junk Mail folder." 
• Keep your email short and to the point.
• Tactfully bold or highlight any points that are important.
• Make sure you include your contact information. Invite the person to contact you if she/he has questions (the idiot in the example above did neither).
• Wish them a good day...even if you don't mean it.

Bad Photoshop, Bad Design Strikes Again, This Time in an Advertisement

 I’ll start off with, “I like Consumer Reports. For the most part, the publication is concise, clean and professional.” That said, I am not sure what happened with this particular ad – it’s a train wreck. In fact, I can’t help but wonder if the ad was thrown together by someone at the office that, “kinda knows Adobe.”

Houston, We have a Font Problem:
Ah the old rule, “If a few a good, then more must be better, right?” No, not when it comes to typefaces. On the conservative side, I can pick out 4 different typefaces in this ad; however, there maybe more. I wonder how many you see. However many you’re seeing, I’d suggest more than two is too much. You can express contrast in better ways than switching to a new font every other sentence.

Odd Layering:
Maybe it’s just me, but the car sitting over the yellow bar looks odd to me. I am cool with the car overlapping the bar – nice effect – what gets me is the car over the bar, which is then overlapped by the red numbers.

Inconsistent Leading:
Some of the leading in this ad isn’t bad, other part of it (like the, “Get Base Pricing…” title) is really spaced out.

Weak Titles at the Top:
The main title at the top gets wedged into the upper left hand corner, so much so that it ends up having as much bite as a toothless cat. Suggestion: They could have made that top section red and used reverse type that stretched across the ad, “TRADING-IN? BUYING? SELLING?” on three separate lines. Drop the car into the content area…there was plenty of white space there for it.

Weird White Space:
Speaking of that white space, check out the empty space on the left in the, “How much is that used…” section. Now go down a section and you’ll see the same weird application of white space, but this time it’s on the right. What gives?

Drunk Checkmarks:
Did you notice the checkmarks couldn’t find their way into the center of the checkboxes? Come on guys…some of the other miscues can be attributed to perhaps someone who just doesn’t have a good eye for design, this one is just sloppy.

I won’t lie to you, that was pretty rough; I thoroughly hate the ad, but not the publication. What do you guys think?

Freelance Graphic Designers - Wanting the Rainbow but Not Wanting the Rain

 I've been boxing for over ten years now, just bag work and occasionally sparring - nothing big. Once I had a guy tell me, "I love boxing but I am just not real excited about being hit." This reminds me an awful lot of aspiring freelancers saying, "I definitely want to run my own company but I really don't want to get out there and sell."

Hmm, is it possible to box and never get hit back?
Is it possible to be a freelancer and never have to sell?
No...to both questions.

Like boxing and being hit, freelancing and selling are tied at the hip - you can't have the first thing without the second - a cruel reality that many freelance designers are not prepared for, or aware of until they get into the field.

I admit, doing sales can be scary (at first it was for me) but if you're a freelancer you don't have much of a choice. Well, I suppose there is a choice - you can have someone else find the clients for you, like eLance, CrowdSpring or some other online site that brings the clients to your doorstep. The challenge in going with this option is that the company takes a cut of the money - a BIG chunk of the money (as they should).

More importantly, there's a tremendous amount of supply of freelancers flocking to these sites and yet a very low supply of projects to go around - it's a buyer's market. And of course buyers (a.ka.clients who use the online sites, or the online sites themselves) aren't fools, they know that with loads of freelancers falling over themselves just to make a buck, they're going to be able to pay the cheapest rate possible.

Freelancers that are trying to survive using these online sites won't thrive...in fact I doubt very highly they'll survive past 1-2 years, probably less. So succeeding as a freelancer is hopeless, isn't it? No, it's not.

 This brings us back to sales, and bringing in your own clients - that's where success happens. Designers don't get rich when they rely on others to bring in their business. 

Here's the naked truth: if you can't or won't sell/market/promote your design business and develop your own client base, you might want to consider taking up farming or work for someone else and forget about freelancing.

So should you bury your head in the sand, close your doors and sit in the corner in a fetal position - convinced that you've failed? Hell no, this is a terrific opportunity for you guys out there that are willing to take that step (it's a scary step) and learn sales/marketing and promotion.

For you guys that would rather succeed and live your dream rather than Twitter, IM and do Photoshop tutorials and enter design contests (hoping that someday you'll win), there's still A LOT of opportunity out there.

Will you go out there and get it?

Your move...