Always feel at home

It's funny even after I fight myself to death about picking up a pencil some days, once I pick it up I feel right at home.

Hot Leads

I graduated from Bradford School in December of 2009. I learned many things in school. One main focus that we had that I found highly valuable is the focus on how to deal with clients. I am still starting out as a designer. I have decided that I have what it takes to be a freelance designer. I am working with any lead I can at this point. I have learned, with nurturing and rapid turnaround, business will boom.

When I first got out of school I had trouble gaining and keeping any clientele. Some things that prevented that were due to the fact that all of my design skills seemed to have faded and also to being burnt out from being in school for such a compact and intense program. I went for the Business of Graphic Design, of which we learned the business aspect last. After I graduated, I had a hard time making myself available to anyone. Since then I have reignited my skill set by meticulously going back through all of my design books.

Now I have confidence. I am working hard on figuring out what to charge per project. This is my skill and my job. First and foremost, I have to make potential clientele realize that so as to not get taken advantage of. Right now, even just working on a few jobs and while I gain more confidence, I am working with a relatively low hourly rate per job. This is helping me work out how long it takes me to do certain types of projects without feeling guilty about potentially taking too much time to do them. Mostly clients seem alright with this method of charging. I must admit, without a static price for the project and the not knowing how long it is actually going to take, seems to make clients slightly apprehensive. Eventually I will start charging per project, but for now I am focusing on my timing.

One last thing that I would like to touch on today is hot leads and rapid turnaround. "I need a business card", "I need a website", "you should draw me a tattoo", ha, I get that last one very often. Apparently, so do other artists that I know. After those prior things have been said I have been working on following it with, "I can do that for you. When is a good time for you to meet up and discuss it". I feel that stops the potential client from drilling you with questions right then and there and leaves you to set a date to meet up and perhaps start an agreement for work. I'm finding that the sooner that you are able, as a freelancer, to set something up with that person, the more likely that it gets done and everyone follows through. Too much time left between an initial meeting and the time that you get around to setting up a sit down meeting allows the initial excitement of the project to fade and doubts to pop up in the clients mind as to whether or not they can afford it. So, the faster that a meeting gets set up and obligations to do work are set the most likely it is that your hot lead will turn into a new client with a solid project. Once you meet and get the specs for the project, it is best to jump on the project and get it done as soon as possible. Within a couple of days if that is possible. Don't listen to clients when they say, "take your time". Taking your time also allows the client to rethink whether or not they actually need the project and many times leads to cancellation of the project.

All in all, make sure that with a lead of initial interest a meeting is set to discuss a project as quick as possible, in the meeting a price and a strategy of payment is set. I am now trying a pay as you go method. Every time I meet with a client, I collect the rate of the work that I have already done. But if you're going with a static fee for a whole project, getting paid in thirds is common. Before leaving the meeting, discuss when you will meet or send the client the final design to approve. Meeting is good, because that will lead to more payment ideally. From the initial meeting, once that project is in your hands, DO IT! Just get it done and it will not have to be thought about until the client approves it! That is the best strategy for reeling in clients, getting paid, and getting more clients, and keeping clients.