Posts from — October 2009
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween everyone!
October 31, 2009 Comments Off
A Vintage Ad Friday DOUBLE WHAMMY
Boosts personality!
Writing too small to read?
“How soon it too soon?
Not soon enough. Laboratory tests over the last few years have proven that babies who start drinking soda during that early formative period have a much higher chance of gaining acceptance and “fitting in” during those awkward pre-teen and teen years. So, do yourself a favor. Do your child a favor. Start them on a strict regiment of sodas and other sugary carbonated beverages right now, for a lifetime of guaranteed happiness”
I love that there is a Soda Pop Board of America.
Also, I love that they did lab tests over the last several years.
That’s swell. Now I know it’s true. But I do have a couple of questions, if I may: firstly…you raised babies in a lab, giving them ‘sugary carbonated’ drinks? Well done on your commitment to science. But how does one raise a sugar filled baby to a well adjusted teenager (yes, they breed well adjusted teenagers in labs) in a ‘few years’?
Genius, I assume. And the miracle of science.
I know I’m sold. I’m even going to give soda to the cat!
And for those of you reading this who WERE raised on soda from an early age, it does say “Start them on a strict regiment of sodas and other sugary carbonated beverages right now, for a lifetime of guaranteed happiness“.
So if you feel this written guarantee falls short, print this image and go see a lawyer.
Then email me and let me know how you go.
October 30, 2009 Comments Off
The Important Bit – KEEPING Clients
So! As a follow up to my previous post about finding clients, this is an explanation of how I go about keeping them.
Something I’m much better at than actually finding them in the first place – of all the clients I’ve finished a project for, I’d guess maybe 80%…more?…have come back again a second time. Or a third. Or even more in some cases.
This is good. You want that. Finding clients can be hard.
Having people who know what you do, like the way you do it, and want you to do it over and over is much, much easier.
1. Hook them at the start
For me, my usual first point of contact with a potential client is an email asking about what I do, can I do this, how much does it cost.
First point of contact is when you win or lose them. I almost always win them. It’s ridiculously easy but somehow most people and companies still don’t do this:Answer their questions.
Quickly, accurately and personally.
Here’s what I mean – let’s say I get an email from somebody wanting to know if I can paint a picture for them to use on a business card for their garden business. They want to know how much it’d cost, and if I do the printing of if they have to take it elsewhere or what and can I help explain it all to them? They’ve never done this before but they like my work.
There are a few steps I then take to do my best to turn these people from potential clients into actual clients.
Firstly, I check my email and answer any emails from clients RIGHT AWAY when possible. If I can’t (say I need to research something), I do that right away and answer the email ASAP.Think of times you’ve sent emails to companies and had a person answer right away, and compare the was you felt about that to how you feel about places that never got back to you.
The great failing on the internet in things like this is that conversation happens too slowly, where as if they were to approach you in a shop or studio, you could sit and chat for half an hour and deal with everything in one go.Also, you can bet with a lot of clients that they’ve sent a few emails to a few people to compare prices and service.
Since my prices aren’t the cheapest prices, I make damned sure I give the BEST service. Right from the start. I want them to see right from the first email what they’re paying for – somebody who’ll communicate well, give great service and satisfaction and do the job they want.In practical terms, this translates to sending a friendly email back (as soon as possible, as we’ve mentioned) written directly to the client – NOT a form letter.
They’re real people who have taken the time to possibly offer me work, and that deserves my time and respect.I say hello, use their name, thank them for contacting me. I explain my prices, my terms and that I offer payment plans.
Usually I offer one or two options here (for instance, I keep copyright and it’s this amount, you keep it and it’s this amount, blah blah blah) that I feel would be best for their situation, and explain each.Then I explain what I would intend to do for their individual project, to show I understand where they’re coming from.
Let’s say for instance here that they want one of my paintings for their business card, but they don’t know what they want me to paint.
I’d make some suggestions, given what they’ve told me about their business in conjunction with my personal style.For instance: You mention your business is a garden shop – perhaps we could do something in lush, rich greens with some foliage in the background. How about a greenman? Or a cluster of mushrooms? Or a frog? Or some celtic knotwork?
Something that we can make punchy and eye-catching at a small size on a card, but could scale up if you want to hang the image in the shop.
I also explain that I can have them all printed and shipped to their doorstep in a tidy little box and that they need not worry about it – I take care of it all.My goal here: have them get my email, have me answer all the questions they asked, have me answer some that they forgot to ask but now that they think of it is a good point, make them feel that their project is in good hands (that I know what I’m talking about, that I’m reassuring and inspire confidence), that I get that they’re individuals and I’m listening to them and that they get my email before anybody else’s, thus setting a benchmark that the other responses will be measured against.
Then, while they’re still waiting on other emails, they’re turning everything I said over in their head, considering working with me.Usually they come back because I’ve made them feel confident in my ability to handle their project. I’ve hooked them with one email.
2. Live up to everything. Go above and beyond.
After this project, you want these clients to come back time and time again. You also want them to tell their friends how great you were.
The only way to do this is to make them very, very happy.This means going above and beyond their expectations. Often without extra pay, often in your own time.
I’m not talking about selling yourself short here – I charge a higher rate for my better service. I can’t afford to do a week of unpaid extras, and I wouldn’t suggest anybody do so, unless they want to wind up poor and hungry and making a stew from the innersoles of their shoes to stave off starvation.
I’m talking only little extras from you, but things that really matter to a client.Here’s what I mean:
Let’s say I did the painting that the hypothetical company above wanted for their business cards. I wasn’t the cheapest quote they got, but I won them over with my good service on top of my painting skills. They tell me the text they want over the top of the image (business details), and I have them printed as promised.
Then, instead of that being the end of it, I might do something extra – maybe a larger print of the same (minus the text) to hang in their shop.
Costs me little, since I’ve already painting the thing, but it’s a nice touch that they probably weren’t expecting, and it’s the sort of thing that has them tell their friends how happy they were.I have gotten new work from this kind of word of mouth, on top of the original client becoming a repeat customer.
Things I’ve personally done in the past include sending a matching greeting card of paintings done as gifts, gift wrapping something beautifully, throwing in some extra little prints and odds and ends, as well as bigger extras like doing serious touching up on all the product images for a site because a photographer fluffed the job and my client was unhappy, re-shooting photos, staying up super late to rush pictures to have them arrive before birthdays, delivering stuff in person (a fair way out of my way) to save my client expensive shipping.
Gift wrap, tie a bow around it, use hand-written thankyous, throw in discount vouchers.Essentially, do everything within your power to leave your client feeling inspired and empowered at the end of a project. They will come back.
And don’t be stingy – if you’re the type who likes everything budgeted to three decimal places written down on paper, figure extras in as an advertising cost. That’s what it is. Only more effective than most other types of advertisement.
3. Be available to help in future and have a long memory.
I’ve had some clients return after a long time not hearing from them. Don’t forget them in this time.
Welcome them back, tell them it’s great to hear from them, ask them how stuff is going, are they still enjoying the painting/website/business cards you did for them? How was the holiday they were talking about going on all that time ago? How is their business going these days?Do your best to maintain a good relationship with these people. They matter. They’re extremely, extremely important to you.
Essentially, don’t stop the good service when the final balance is paid.If a client is emailing because the accidentally turned website text green instead of brown and it can take me less than 10 seconds to re-upload the original file I have? No charge.
Client needs another run of the business cards I designed for them? Discounted charge.
You still need to make money (rent and food is expensive, I know!), but reward loyalty with generosity.
Even if it’s only by knocking $5 off a price, or throwing in a few extra cards, or just being a bit more generous with your time.
4. Don’t get pushed around and learn to cut losses.
Yes, clients are very important to you, as I just said, but sometimes you’ll get a client from hell who has NO respect for you, your work or your time.
You’ll never be able to figure out why they even hired you, since nothing you do makes them happy.In cases like this, I’ve learnt that there’s a time to politely and respectfully say that the working relationship is obviously not working for either of you, and recommend they go elsewhere.
What amount of fees you keep is up to you, and dependent on how much work you’ve already done, etc.It sounds bad, but honestly, it’s better to cut your losses. They’re never going to be happy with what you do, so you’ll never earn good word of mouth from them. In fact, they’ll probably bad-mouth you and take advantage of you any way they can. You’re better off just being professional and polite, but pulling the plug.
Remember you’re not a puppet, but a skilled worker.
Be fiercely loyal to clients who respect this, and don’t let yourself be dragged down by people who want to take advantage of you.You want a reputation as a great person to hire, not a great person to take advantage of.
There are times when you’ll have to both stand up for yourself AND for your good clients (some people will take advantage and rip-off whenever they can), that’s just the nature of working for yourself.
Just remember to respect your clients and yourself.
That all said, luckily that type of customer doesn’t come along too often, but, by god, you’ll know when they do!
And that’s pretty much it in terms of how I go about keeping my clients. I really can’t stress how much this has gotten me by – I’ve worked for very few clients over all, really, but most of them have come back and come back and really kept me afloat when I needed it most.
October 28, 2009 Comments Off
On finding clients as a freelancer
I wouldn’t have written about how to find clients, because I feel myself not expert enough to have anything to say.
But when a friend asked me how I find my clients, I realised that I currently have enough work to turn some I’m not especially interested in away.
So I guess I must be doing reasonably ok.
Not great, since I’m kinda poor still, but in a time of ‘economic crisis’, when supposedly there’s less work about for artists, I’m getting more and more work. I must be doing something right.
So I’ll share what I know, which applies to freelance illustration and website and design work in my life, and may be the same across other areas of freelancing too.
1. Be Findable
It’s all well and good deciding you’re going to be a freelance whatever, but potential clients need to be able to find you. There’s work there to be had, but if you’re out of reach of a client, you’ll never get it.
For me, this involves several things. I have my own website, but to be honest that doesn’t draw that many people. I get a lot of traffic to my website by people searching for my name, which obviously means they already know who I am; they’ve already found me previously.
What has worked best for me is having a web presence generally.
What this actually means is spending time on forums relevant to what you do, maybe having a journal or blog, hanging out in chat rooms where people in your line of work hang out.
Join facebook, join twitter, join as many free galleries as you can. Pop into the forums daily.In fact, at the start, set aside a couple of hours a day just for your social networking.
Not only do you learn from other people, but you hear things like “oh, this company is looking for artists”, as well as having people in the business (fellow artists, fellow designers) get to know you as an artist (or writer, or whatever it is you’re doing).
Perhaps they’ll mention you later. Perhaps they’ll send work your way.
A huge project I’m currently working on was sent my way by a fellow artist who thought it was a decent project, but turned it down as it didn’t suit them. They thought of me as a good artist for it, let the client know, and now I’m working on a pretty good job thanks to them.It might seem a bit hypocritical, me talking about community activity in forums and chats and the like since I’m a bit of a hermit with that kind of thing these days, but I first had my work published in 2004 through a project I got involved with through a community forum back when I was very active in online art communities.
Once you get going a bit, you can afford to drop off some forums and devote your time to other things.That said, I am a chronic lurker. I read forums (some daily) that people don’t even know I still visit – that way I still keep myself reasonably up to date with some things, but don’t waste too much time chit-chatting about what I ate for breakfast or who’s cat looks funniest in a Santa hat.
There are still some places where I try to be active, as it’s how you maintain friendships and relationships with your freelancing peers.
And you need them.
Sure they send clients your way, which we’ve already covered, but they are also a great source of advice, strength and motivation.Maintain those relationships!
Simply put, it’s so much easier for clients to find you when you’re out and about.
To give you an idea, I think almost all my clients have found me though a public community gallery like Deviant Art or Epilogue, or been referred to me through a friend I made through a forum, often on the same sites. Off the top of my head, I can think only of ONE who found me through google.
Google won’t get your clients to you. Being visible generally will.2. Be worth seeking out.
A potential client might look at 50 artists before deciding who to email. My approach is to try to make sure my stuff sticks out enough that clients find it hard to just pass me by.
It’s not enough for potential clients to find me – they have to want to employ me.
This part is simple enough in theory, and very hard in reality.
You have to keep improving.
Make your stuff stand out from what is around it. Be the best you can possibly be in the hopes that when a client looks at your work, they say “Wow, that’s amazing and I love it, I’d LOVE to have this artist do something for me!” as opposed to “Eh, it looks cheap, I guess maybe I could afford it.” You want them to REALLY want to work with you.This happens with time, but don’t skimp on trying to improve yourself. In the end, you can have a million people seeing your stuff a day, and if it’s rubbish, not a single person will contact you for work.
Of course, sometimes you find a great artist who can’t get work, and that’s often the opposite problem – all skill and no marketing or networking, and you want to avoid that too.Bottom line is, put time and effort into becoming a better artist (designer, writer, whatever you’re doing) and you become more employable. It pays off enormously.
3. Seek out jobs you want.
Clients don’t always come looking for you. Especially at the start of your career.
I landed my first jobs by hunting them down.
I approached companies and publishers, usually by email, and picking out a few of my best images relevant to their interests to link to in the email, as well as including a link to my bigger portfolio.
(It should be noted that I wrote each email to them specifically too – sending out “Hai I want to work for uz guyz” form letters is a huge mistake. Be professional right from the start.)The next question I get asked whenever I mention this is “who can I email?”.
There is no ‘email these people’ answer.
Do research. Find the people you can email.For me, I wanted to do some book covers, but big companies weren’t going to take a little fish like me, so I googled small e-book publications and send messages to companies there. With success too, I might add.
You could do the same for all sorts of companies – be inventive, and send as many as you like.Emails cost nothing, and although there may be nothing suitable for you at the time, often these places will hold onto your details and contact you for work at a later date. I’ve had that happen more than once with places I’d given up hope on.
And there you are.
Only three things, but these are the things I’ve done and had work for me when seeking out work.
KEEPING clients, though, is another thing entirely, and is something I’ll write about in another post at a later date.
October 27, 2009 Comments Off
And repeat
sad Feeling by ~Auu on deviantART
Well, I don’t feel any better today. If anything, I probably feel worse.
I feel small and ineffectual. I want to go to bed and think about what a useless person I am, and how I can never climb the mountain of work I have in front of me.
Like emptying the dishes from the dishwasher…it’s such a daunting idea. How did I ever manage such a complex task in the past? How does one even start?
But it doesn’t take a genius to realise that going back to bed to ponder all the millions of ways I fail as a human being probably isn’t the ideal way to get through a day of depression, and luckily I’m the very not a genius to make that realisation!
So, after a little bit of computer work, I headed out to the garden for fresh air and exercise.
To be honest, it was the very last thing I felt like doing, but I’m glad I did. I feel like I actually got something done, which is always a good thing. Did some weeding, planted some more plants, mulched and added compost. There’s still SO MUCH to do out there, but hopefully once more seedlings start popping up it’ll look more like a nice garden and less like a wasteland.
Annoyingly, the months of bad weather we’ve had (gale force winds, hot dry days, sudden cold snaps, sudden downpours that don’t provide enough water and more gale force winds) has seen me lose a few things.
The basil, for instance. It didn’t just shrivel and die – the poor little seedlings were actually uprooted and blown away. And my ‘Jack-be-little’ pumpkin seedlings just withered and died after the wind shredded them and then a branch fell on them, really finishing them off for me.
But! It’s not all bad.
My normal pumpkins have started sprouting. And after picking peas and snow peas last night, there are a bunch more out there ready to pick today.
And the passion fruit vine (which was starting to grow in a ‘Z’ shape from being ripped down by the wind, tied up again by me, ripped down by the wind, etc) is finally recovering.
In other, and entirely unrelated, good news, the rock melon paddle-pops I made yesterday taste FANTASTIC.
It’s goddamned cold in the house today, but after work in the garden had warmed me up a bit I braved the cold just to try one.
Now I’m keen to try all sorts of other fruit. Especially strawberries, since we’ll have some of our own before too long. I think I need more paddle-pop molds…
Anyway, after all that work, I do feel a little better. I feel less like going to bed for the rest of the day and more like sitting and staring blankly at a wall for the rest of the day instead.
Uh…which is an improvement. Of about 90°, geometrically speaking. Or of jack bloody all, in real terms.
Still, it kept my occupied for a bit, and I’d have felt worse by now without it.
Time to find another (easy) task. Something less scary than emptying a dishwasher.
October 27, 2009 Comments Off
God thinking up a title is a lot of pressure…
Having a bit of a down day today. Which is funny – I had a really great day out yesterday, then started today all warm and toasty while it rained outside.
I guess maybe the gloomy weather got to me a bit though, I don’t know, but suddenly I’m finding myself feeling pretty depressed.
Still, as we all know, depression has up and down days.
I met my deadline of having an artwork finished on Friday, and though I have plenty of other work to do, I took today off from computer work and tried to distract myself from feeling crap by getting other stuff done.
And – lo and behold – I actually DID get stuff done!
I tidied my room, which was a MONSTER task. My drawers had stopped functioning, so all my clothes were all over the floor in a sprawl several layers deep. I got a cheap and nasty mini wardrobe from IKEA to help fix that problem, but hadn’t had the time to actually pack my stuff into it properly until today.
Then, once my drawers weren’t so over full, a bit of sanding and then running wax over all the timber saw it working again. Just got to make sure I don’t cram too much into it or I’ll have the same problem.
So now, at least my room feels nice to be in. Well, It doesn’t today, because I feel crap, but tomorrow, or the next day, or whatever day it is that I feel better again, I’ll be really pleased.
And for now, at least it’s one less job weighing on me.
I also cooked pears and apples with some of the maple syrup my dad bought back from Canada for me, which turned out to be thoroughly delicious.
I made crepes and we wrapped up the mix in the middle of them then ate them for breakfast. Maybe not the MOST healthy breakfast ever, but certainly the tastiest. And, I mean, it’s fruit isn’t it? A shirtload of sugar, but at least fruit sugar. NATURE WOULDN’T MAKE IT IF IT DIDN’T WANT ME TO EAT IT!
Other good news on the food front is also good news on the garden front:
Firstly, the ruby chard patch is going so well that we can eat a bit of it daily, and the patch still keeps getting bigger, not smaller.
Additionally, today also saw us eat our first peas, snow peas and our first (very) baby carrot from the garden.
Snow peas and peas were soft and juicy and sweet, carrot was fail. But that’s because I really hate carrots. I don’t know why I thought this one would be any different. It wasn’t. It was disgusting.
And, even if it is currently depriving me of my vitamin D, the rainy weather should see stuff grow like mad. I hope.
I’m also hoping I’ll feel a bit more excited about garden things later in the week, and that I’ll get out there and plant more seeds and transplant seedlings. Right now I feel very ‘meh’ about the whole thing, but hopefully that’s just short lived.
Then, keeping myself busy this afternoon, I pureed some really delicious rock melon (cantaloupe) with a dash of milk, and poured the mix into paddle-pop molds to pop into the freezer to eat on a hot day. I’ve got my fingers crossed that it tastes as good as it smelled – I’ve still got the dried juice all over fingers, which I keep sniffing just because it smells so tasty, which makes me look like finger-sniffing creep. Probably because I am.
Anyway, I’ve made it through a ‘down’ day again by swinging from task to task. A good thing, I think.
Even if I did wear my pajamas the whole day. But you can do that on rainy days, so long as you get stuff done, right?
And tonight, after watching a show about Ed Wood’s ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’ with Seth, I’ll go to bed early and relax and listen to the rain on my window, and hopefully tomorrow will be better.
October 26, 2009 Comments Off
*~HaNdY hInt$ $uNd@y! *~¿
Hello there my dearest little dingleberries!
Yes, it’s Sunday again, and much like a neighbourhood dog never fails to pinch one off on a freshly mowed lawn, I am here to deposit yet another nugget of my wisdom upon your internet greenery.
Or something.
What you need to know today?
*~*
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+yPinG lEiK ThI$ m@kEs PpLe wAnT tO pUnCh U iN tHa F@Ce!!
!!!LoLOlolOlZoR!!!
*~*~?¿?¿
*~*
So bloody well don’t do it.
Amen.
October 25, 2009 Comments Off
