Being a Starving Graphic Artist Sucks

Kungfu Panda 2 - checked it out earlier today. It always amazes me how animation artists put so much additional time and effort into subtleties that most viewers won't even notice (textures, facial expressions, color grading, etc). When you design artwork for your clients do you have the same passion and attention to detail? Do you sometimes feel that clients don't notice or appreciate these extra steps you take in your design process? PS - If you enjoyed the first KFP movie, you'll enjoy the ride in the second one.

Freelance Graphic Designer / Web Designer - Do Clients Really Enjoy Talking with You?

Remember Eeyore when you were a kid?

Eeyore always walked around with a figurative if not literal cloud above his head – always looking on the dark side of things (rather than bright side) and always feeling sorry for himself. At times must of sucked being Eeyore’s friend, or even being around him for a long period of time – he’s a killjoy. I thought about Eeyore in the context of speaking with my mortgage broker, Bryan. Bryan, thankfully is not Eeyore, in fact, I look forward to speaking with him about mortgages and financing.

While a fictional, pessimistic donkey and a mortgage broker don’t seem like they’d have to do much with your freelancing design business; they do.

Take a moment to reflect on how your clients feel about working and communicating with you – be honest. Do they see you as my mortgage broker or like Eeyore? Do you think they look forward to communicating with you? Once you’ve answered those, think about why clients may feel that way about you (good or bad); furthermore, what you can do to improve on it.

Remember, clients always do business with those they know, like and trust. Of course clients will like you a heck of a lot better if they enjoy communicating and working with you – this means you have to have a pleasant, amiable disposition.

To give you some real world examples of what that disposition looks like, here are a few reasons why I enjoy communicating and working with my mortgage broker:

• He has a claming demeanor, even when the news isn’t wonderful. This guy doesn’t easily get rattled – a person to have in your corner.
• He always focuses on what he can do and what our options are, rather than dwelling on negative aspects of the situation (he does this in a genuine, no patronizing way).
• He makes you feel like both of you are going through the process together. Rather than using phrases like, “Here’s what you need to do,” he’ll say, “Here’s what we’ll need to do now.”
• No matter what’s going on in his life, no matter who else he’s working with, when I contact him, I know he’ll be 100% devoted to helping me with my situation.

Would you want to work with someone like this? Darn right you would. Now ask yourself, do you treat your clients with the same service?

Another Client Trying to Screw-Over a Freelance Graphic Designer

Check this out - as a personal favor to a long-standing client who just caught a big break and needed some design work done in a hurry (without a lot of cash on hand), I agreed to help them out by allowing them not to pay me for 90 days. I wouldn't have made this deal with any of my other clients, but I genuinely liked and trusted these people, I'd worked with them for a few years and they've always paid me on time.

The project (which turned out to be several smaller projects combined) went smoothly, and they were extremely pleased with the work I'd done. In fact, on several occasions told me how "fortunate and blessed" they were to have me onboard helping them.

Ahhh, everyone's happy when they're getting work/support without having to pay for it when they get it.

When the 90 day mark started to approach I sent the client a summary of my invested hours for the project (about 15 days before the actual 90 days). I didn't hear back from the guy - no email, no phone call, nothin'.

Several days later and just a couple of days before the 90 day mark I sent a follow up email to both him and his partner indicating that I hadn't heard back but I would be sending a Paypal invoice in a few days.

Silence still...

Finally, a few days after they'd actually received my Paypal invoice I received the following email (and yes, this is almost EXACTLY what I received):

Hi Jeremy!
Just wanted to let you know that I’ve received your invoice and will start whittling away at it as fast as I’m able. If you could break your invoice down into smaller payment amounts then I can start chunking away at it . (I tried just now to do a couple hundred towards it and it wouldn’t let me make a partial payment.) Or if there’s a physical address I can send payments to then I can try that as well. In fact let's do that. That way whenever I do a check run (at least weekly), I can have you at the top of the list and send you money as often as possible till we’re all caught up.

One of our partners is already out of biz cards (!) and we’ll need to get her some more asap. We’ll need at least 500 again or if there’s a good price break on 1,000, maybe we should go that direction. Wish the money flowing in was overwhelming us but it’s not quite there yet! People are loving our products and training events. Traction is happening slowly but surely."

What the heck is this garbage? Instead of paying me when and what they agreed they're trying to pull some "We'll kick you some money when we can" stunt.

Let's take a moment and analyze what's REALLY being said in this email:

• "...start whittling away at it as fast as I’m able..."
  - Hey, I'll get the money to you as fast as possible, so don't rush or pressure me.
   
• "If you could break your invoice down into smaller payment amounts then I can start chunking away at it "
  - Even though this wasn't part of the deal, you getting paid is now contingent on you taking time out of your day to behave like a financial institution.
   
• "That way whenever I do a check run (at least weekly), I can have you at the top of the list and send you money as often as possible"
  - No, I am not going to commit to an actual time or amount, but I am definitely going to hook you up by having you at the top of the list - am I a great client or what?
   
• "One of our partners is already out of biz cards..."
  - The client trying to distract me from the real issue.
   
• "Wish the money flowing in was overwhelming us but it’s not quite there yet!"
  - Money's not coming in for us, soooooooo I am going to make my problems your problems as well.
   
• "People are loving our products and training events."
  - Another distraction ploy.
   
• "Traction is happening slowly but surely."
  - We'll pay you...someday.

So what do you think, did I analyze this email correctly?
Did I get the REAL meaning of what this guy was saying?

The sad thing here, guys, is that I not only liked but trusted these guys - they're "good people" at least I thought. While they relied to me to hold up my end of the deal, and even praised me for the work that I did, they did not hold up theirs. If you don't think it can happen to you, you're wrong.

So what did I say back to these guys? How did I handle this?
Well, that goes beyond the scope of this post, but if you're struggling with stuff like this, or you feel clients try to take advantage of you, check out my Verbal Kung Fu for Freelancers book, I think you'll really find it helpful.

PS - If you've purchased the Verbal Kung Fu for Freelancers book and would like to know specifically what I did to handle this situation just email me and I'll be happy to hook you up with the goods. In the end, the client did pay me all of the money, but it took them abuot two years to do it!

No freelancing tips today, guys, I just wanted to link to a nice story ESPN has on Hall of Fame baseball player, Harmon KIllebrew. I had the pleasure in working with Harmon in my first corporate job out of college. He was a hell of a baseball player and an even better human being. He will be missed. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6559023

Graphic Design Advice You Won't Learn Elsewhere: What to Do When Your Client Goes Jekyll Then Hyde On You

...got the email below from a client a few days ago, she knew I had just taken on other responsibilities and that her relationship of me working for her was coming to a close. She started out being supportive as I transitioned out of my role of being her "go to" designer and marketer, unfortunately it doesn't end that way. Here's what she emailed me:

"I just wanted to know if you would consider one last project that I forgot about. We need an ad designed for a monthly publication - of course the girl walked in today and asked if we could have it to them next week! It's just a 1/2 page, and all I have to do is get something to them and they take it from there. Just say no and it's totally fine, but if you can, great - I'll pay you for it of course. Let me know what you think. Thank you."

I respectfully told the client that regrettably wouldn't be able to pick up her project, in fact I wouldn’t be able to pick up any of her future projects either because of other commitments that I'd told her about; however, I gave her some other suggestions that might work out for her. Within a few hours I received another email from her...this one was much less cordial than the one you see above - she sent me a "nasty gram"

She was miffed that I "left her out in the cold" and wouldn't do the project with her, she furthermore expressed frustration that it seems like I didn't want to work with her anymore and that she was owed an explanation. She goes on further to tell me that she needs to be honest with me and that she's telling me all of this for my benefit. Nice - she's both reprimanding and self righteous.

I guess when I look back at her first email I wonder if it was really true when she said, “Just say no and its totally fine...”, I guess not, was it?

How did this Dr. Jekyll turn into Mrs. Hyde?
Plain and simple, this client got ticked off that I wouldn't help her and she's frustrated now that she has to go out and find someone else. This of course is going to take time, patience and effort - it would of course been much easier to work with me (the guy who'd done her design I the past). She's flailing, and to be honest, we all "flail" at times when we get frustrated at a situation rather than a specific person - we're not sure who to be mad at, we just know we're mad. People will often exhibit this type of behavior (nice then nasty) when they realize they aren't going to get what they want - it's like a grown up temper tantrum (and in being perfectly honest, I've done it as well, although I am far from proud of it).

So what Verbal Kung Fu did I use on her?
You guys that picked up my Verbal Kung Fu for Freelancers book got to be thinking "He's going to drop some verbal bombs on her!"

Actually I didn't, there's no need to. She's going to end up going her direction and I'll go mine, I'll never work for her again. She felt it necessary to get in a few parting shots at me (for my benefit...LMAO). If that's all she's going to do - fine, it's not worth getting into a pissing contest with her. It's not worth making the situation worse if I am never going to work with or maybe even see this person again.

When clients do this to you (and yes the occasionally will), it's best that you just let them go. Yes, you read that right, "LET THEM GO". It's going to take too much of your time and energy to squabble with them, and if they are so petty that they need to give you a verbal tongue lashing in a nasty gram, let them have it. Your goal should be to move on to bigger and better things, that's what I did...not sure what happened to her. 

Sure, there was a part of me that wanted to put this woman in her place, but I realized nothing good could really come of it since I wasn't going to work with her in the future (and it trying to reconcile might only make her more angry). I just let it and her go. It just doesn't make sense to poke a hornet's nest - it just isn't worth it. 

Graphic Designer/Freelancing Tip: Nickeling and Diming Your Clients

Every now and again I have packages couriered here in Phoenix. If you've ever been to "the Valley" you know that even though traffic moves fast (too fast actually), the city is fricken' huge. With the price of gas and the time lost with me on the road I decided a long time ago that I'd just use a delivery service. In fact, I've been using the same service for years.

A few days ago I called them up at about 2:00 PM and informed them I needed some Verbal Kung Fu for Freelancers books taken over to the Art Institute of Phoenix the next day (sometime before 5:00 PM). By coincidence, later that night a client asked me to meet her over in that area the next day. It turns out that I would be able to take the books to the school myself, and it wouldn’t be out of my way.

I called the courier first thing in the morning and left them a message apologizing for the change of plans (they didn't answer and didn't end up calling back, which was kind of unprofessional). I did indicate that if they did want to charge me for setting up the order I told them that was okay.

In fairness to them, I offered and they took me up on the offer - the next day I received this email and an invoice for $8:

"Hi Jeremy, This is for the job that you cancelled. Unfortunately, our driver was already on his way to your place when you cancelled.* Please let me know if you have any questions."

Hmmm, actually yes I do have a question, is it worth it to charge a client who's been with you for years an $8 penalty for a first-time cancellation fee when the driver had not even arrived?

Keep in mind that I didn’t say, "Is it right?" Instead I said, "Is it worth it?" There's a big difference there, I hope you can see it.

As freelancers we have to make similar decisions in whether or not we charge clients for small stuff / expenses as well. The challenge is that each individual situation is different (sorry, there are no concrete rules to follow), but what I've found helpful is asking myself the following questions to help me decide whether to charge or not: 

• Do I expect to get more business from this person?
• Am I trying to send a message (don't cancel on me) by charging them even a little amount?
• How will they most likely react in having to pay this?
• Is there a chance I'll really up set them and perhaps lose the account by doing this?
• Do I need the money that badly?
• What is the best outcome I can expect from doing this? What is the worst outcome I can expect from doing this?
• Compared to how much business this client has given me, is this a small amount or large amount?
• Is this a first time thing or does this client repeatedly abuse my generosity? Have I told the client about this before?

In this example, sure I'll probably use these guys again but even though I did offer to pay them for the inconvenience I was surprised (not in a good way) that they actually went to the bother of charging me eight bucks for a first time offense. In this case the vendor risked losing an account for $8...and it actually worked out in their favor.

I'd just advise you to really think about those questions I have above before you send out invoices for small things (office supplies, 15 minutes of work, canceling, etc), you may find it's not worth ticking the client off and losing the business. If the amount isn't too much, I'd suggest giving the client a "free pass" the first time it happens, just casually mention it to them so they're aware of it. If the situation comes up again, then you might consider charging them.

* - Don't you also find it a little suspicious that by "mere coincidence" the driver (even though she/he has several pickups in a day) was on their way to my place exactly when I called? Hmmm, makes me wonder...