Ideas Are Everywhere.
Ideas are everywhere. Around every corner we turn. We just need to be in place for them when they arrive. And be prepared to do something about them.
What’s More Important Than Your Logo?
One of the reasons small business owners have so much hesitation with paying for branding and business development services, is they don’t know that the cost for these services should be part of their budget and other business expenses. They look at marketing as separate and not a priority to keeping customers, not just coming back, but coming to you first.
I learned that in order to make that sale and get them to add you to their budgets, they first have to feel as though they know you. And the way you handle that relationship from the start is very important. Are you addressing their needs or are you just selling them on ideas they don’t want or need right now? It’s taken me some time to understand the difference between the two.
I believed that I was not doing my job or adding value if I was not literally sitting behind my computer physically producing work. I did not understand how talking to clients about budgets and planning for their business was still work. And how jumping into business before you understand what your business will bring to the world, and how you will tell people the ways it will affect their lives, is more important than a dope logo.
Shit, I think it’s more important than your logo. Knowing who you are and what your business is will be the lifeline of how you do biz. But like I said, I did not address these issues with my clients upfront. So I never thought to get paid for that part of my process. Always giving that part away, leading them to believe that I’m just the worker bee and did not need to be budgeted for because workers are a dime a dozen, and they will set money aside for the guy who they think is using his brain. Even though I was playing both roles and giving them my thoughts while doing the work. They only saw me as the guy they will pay something to get the work done. I’m more than that and that’s why they are going to pay for it.
Get A Contract. From Everyone.
If you ever find yourself thinking about working with another person. Get a contract. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dropped the ball on this one and have been left holding the bag.
So the story goes: You get a referral for a potential client from a friend of yours. The lead calls-needs a rebrand. After selling them on your company and services, you land the job. You talk prices, sign a contract and start the work.
You get halfway through the project before it dawns on you. Who the hell is going to pay the web developer? Then you realize that you are about to be screwed. You see, you did not think to get a contract from the developer because they were already in a working relationship with the client and you assumed they would have their end covered, right?! Nope! Hell no! It’s on you. It’s fucking all on you.
After kicking yourself and questioning if you are even cut out for this line of work – one of two things can happen next:
1. You get into a pissing match with your client and the developer over who’s gonna pay the man. Oh, did I mention that the 3 of you are friends? So the option of killing a friendship is now on the table.
OR
2. You get him paid. Learn from the mess up and move on. And you don’t touch another thing between you without a specific agreement that outlines who’s doing what and who’s paying who.
This may be the most important lesson of the business because losing money you don’t have, that’s lame as fuck.
Doing Vs Thinking
Yesterday, I almost fell back into my freelance mind. I almost allowed a client’s response to a second round of logos push me into a corner instead of insisting (to both him and myself) that he hired me for a specific reason. I felt myself slipping into “the client must be right, and I’m just here to make them happy” mode. I even considered not invoicing for the work I’d submitted, as though it was that work that was not good enough to get paid for.
And it was really good work. A few deep breaths and a “big fuuuck that shit” later, I was back! I remembered why I’d started this in the first place. My business is to help them in theirs. Not just to push pixels around on a screen to their satisfaction.
They hired me to work with them to help them think through bigger problems. Not to be their personal Photoshop monkey. They hired me because my skills go beyond the actual work of being a designer. It’s because of how I think about design and how those thoughts inform the choices you make for your business. That’s why they hire me, and not the other way ’round.
It’s pretty normal to squirrel about and second-guess ourselves at times. But the faster you get back to realizing why you’re the person who is capable to provide the type of service you do for your clients, the more productive and valuable you will be for them.
Are We All Creative?
Are we all creative? Deep down inside everyone, is there a problem-solver waiting for permission to come out and contribute? Why are there still so few of us who step forward and accept the responsibility and the risk of being called “creative”? We all have the capability to be magical. To be visionary. And the only thing that separates us from the non-creatives is the tenacity to keep creating, no matter what.
Recent Comments