Chamber of Commerce Networking

I recently joined the chamber of commerce a few months ago and have been planning on networking with local businesses in my area. I have put it off and put it off, but I finally went to my first networking meeting last week. It was an early morning 7:30am meeting, so it was hard for me to get up and get motivated, but I did it anyway (plus I was very nervous too). I figured if I don’t give it a try at least once, not only did I waste money for my chamber membership, I would also never find out if joining the chamber was even worth it.

With that said, the meeting was quite fun and beneficial and the first 5 minutes I was there, I landed a blog design prospect. Then throughout the meeting, we introduced our businesses and got an opportunity to chat with one another. Surprisingly, it went really well and I landed 5 leads just that morning. Now with that said, I have not landed any work, but the entire purpose of going to these network meetings is to get to know local business leaders and get your face out there. Leads should always be followed up on, you never know which one will decide to hire you.

What is really strange about all this to me, is for the last 10 years of my business, I really never networked like this or at all. Basically, 70% of my business came from online searches while the remainder came from referrals. So, I was not really used to getting back in the game of networking, but being stuck in my home office, this has given me an opportunity to get out of the box and go see some new faces. Even if I don’t land business right away, I am at least getting out of the office, making new friends and working on the prospect of getting new business.

Even if you don’t want to join your local chamber or don’t have the budget, many times, you can still attend these network meetings for a small fee. For now, it seems like a good way for me to get in touch with local business in my area. I hope it works out the same for your business.

Marketing Secrets of 6-Figure Freelance Design Business

By Jeanna Pool
Founder & President of the Freelance Design Marketing Association

Would you like to hit the 6-figure, $100,000 mark in your freelance design business?

Doing so gives you a lot more income (obviously) and a lot more freedom (a huge bonus). But, the most successful freelance designers don’t soar to the top magically overnight and it doesn’t happen by luck or some magic pill (although that would be nice). It does take work. Anyone who tells you otherwise is “pulling your leg” (as we say in Texas).

A designer becomes a 6-figure designer because they apply marketing strategies that work. Unfortunately most freelance designers don’t come anywhere near the $100,000 mark because they focus on the wrong things or try to copy what every one else in the design industry is doing for marketing — which is usually wrong and just creates a lot of “me too”, “copy cat” marketing.

If you want to reach the magic 6-figure income level, here are the secrets you must put into practice in order to maximize your earning potential and set your business up for success.

How do I know these are the secrets and they work?

Read the rest of this entry »

Your Competition Is NOT Who You Think It Is

By Jeanna Pool
Founder & President of the Freelance Design Marketing Association

As freelance graphic designers or web designers, competition seems to be all around us.

If others “do what we do” and “offer what we offer.” How do you compete? How do you get more clients? How do you leave your competition in the dust. Yes, competing with other designers in your industry can be a challenge at times.

But…

This is not the competition I am speaking of. In fact, your competition is NOT who you think it is. Your competition is NOT the thousands of others in your industry or the hundreds of others located in the same area of town in which you work. Nope.

Your competition is something you may not have even thought of. In fact, your competition may be eating your lunch and costing you thousands of dollars and you don’t even realize it!

Who is this competition you say…your competition is YOU.

Surprised?

There are way too many designers out there who would be so much more successful if they would just get out of their own way. They’re holding themselves back and they’re hindering their business from growing. They blame the economy, they blame clients, they blame competition, when really they should blamed themselves.

How about you? Are you your own worse competition?

Here are some things to think about…

Read the rest of this entry »

New Business Videos

Checkout some of the new business videos on CreativePublic.com

http://www.creativepublic.com/business-videos.php

Are You Making It Easy For Your Design Clients To Buy From You?

When you ask yourself this question on a regular basis you have a major opportunity to immediately increase your graphic design profits. Now, let’s see how this might apply to your design business.

A lot of design firms accept checks only. I know my firm did for years. However, I was surprised when a noticable percentage of people asked if they could pay via credit card or even Paypal, and these were often for significant amounts. So, we changed our systems to accomodate accepting credit cards and Paypal. Interestingly they were often paid after normal business hours so it was nice to come into the office and find an email saying funds have been received.

Another example is in your communications. Can they reach you when and how THEY want to? What about after hours? or on weekends?

So think about at least 2 ways you can make it easier for your customers to buy from you.

– by Doug Farrick

Top 7 Reasons to Turn Down New Business

It amazes me how many times I have to deal with bad prospective clients. I get these calls all the time where the client wants to meet but does not want to discuss budget or what they want designed first. They insist on meeting and then you get there and it was a total waste of your time. Other times, I get these same types of people promising me more future work if I cut them a break on pricing now for their current project, and then there are those that want to rewrite my contract, which is a big NO WAY IN HELL rule I stick by strongly! So, I have put together my top-7 list of reasons to turn down new business from bad prospective clients. I suggest you follow these simple rules or you will regret it when the client screws you around.

Top-7 List (not in any particular order, they are all equally important):

1. If the client is not willing to discuss their project by phone first and insist on meeting first, that is a red flag to not do business with them. What normally happens is you get to their office and they want to discuss a one page Web site with a budge of $100. I suggest you drill all your customers first by phone before you waste time driving across town when you could be at your office making money.

2. Always get a 50% deposit. If the client is not willing to put down a deposit, chances of them actually paying for the work they hired you to do is slim. A deposit puts the client in check and forces them to get the project done since now they have something invested in it. If you don’t get a deposit, the client is usually not that concerned since it is only your time they are waisting and not theirs.

3. The promise of future work if you provide a discount for the current project they are wanting done. Well, that is a load of garbage, in my 19+ years as a designer, I have never once had a client like this fulfill their promise of future work. In my early years as a designer, I was hungry and looking for work and fell for this several times and never once did I get a second job from that client who made these promises.

4. The client does not want to sign your contact or wants to change your contract. Well, that is the first sign of a client not willing to pay you for the work you do and that type of client is the one who will try to find a way out of paying you for your efforts. As for your contact, you should never change your contract for a client unless you feel it is in your best interest. With that said, you have to protect your business and yourself, not the client. They are hiring you! Look at it this way, when was the last time you went to your bank to get a loan and tried to change the loan contract? You can’t, they have their binding terms and you must agree to those terms or you don’t get the loan. That is that simple! So, if the client does not want to sign your contact or  tries to make you change it, fire them and give them the boot right out the door!

5. The client wants to play art director and tell you how to position things on the design. Okay, that is on of my biggest complaints with clients and happens all the time. They think that they have an eye for design, but they hired you to basically become their mouse so they can navigate you to create the garbage they have in their head on your screen. They will go to such efforts to move one pixel at a time which does absolutely nothing visually. How I handle these clients is I put revision charges into place before the work begins and if they keep making stupid changes, then they have to pay for it. If they don’t want to pay for it or beg for a discount, that is too freaking bad. It is all about business and my time and I do not work for fee and if they want to play that game, then they have to pay for it or I will just turn down the work. It is funny, sometimes I tell the client I made the change and did not and half the time they tell me it looks better. Makes you wonder if they just do this out of some obsessive compulsive behavior they have.

6. I don’t know what I want, but when I see it I will know. Okay, that is not a great way to start off on a project. What the heck do they think you are, a freaking mind reader? If the client tells me this, I right away tell them they must provide me details of what they are trying to achieve and I also have them do some research online to provide me samples of designs they like along with color and other information such as from their competitors. If they are not willing to do this, I decline the job and send them on their way. It is so important that the client works with you on what they are wanting to have designed, otherwise, it is like driving a car without a steering wheel, it is a combined effort by both the client and the designer!

7. The client wants to be able to update the design on their own. Well, that is a touchy issue. With Web design, you have tools that enable the client to make content changes and some basic design changes. Most of the time when you show them what to do, they are so over whelmed with the complexity of Web design, they just hire you to do the changes they need unless it is basic content changes they can do on their own. With that said, I have ran into instances where the customer whats a business card designed professionally, but cannot understand why they cannot open the file in Microsoft Word and edit it on their own. Of course I explain to them they must have the proper professional design software in order to do this, but many times they get mad. They insist they want to be able to edit the design on their own and cannot understand why it was not designed in Word. The way I explain this is if they wanted to do this in Word, they should have done it on their own and not hired a professional designer. I also send them a link to the Adobe Web site and tell them to purchase the software I use and then they can edit it on their own. I also send them some video tutorials on how to use the Adobe tools. Most of the time it shuts them up or they just go their way and never come back. To help solve this issue before it happens in the first place is tell the client up front that they cannot update things on their own unless they have the proper tools and training.

That covers my biggest issues in doing business with clients. Stick to these rules and it will save you some sanity.

Are You Using Google Maps & Local Search to Reach New Customers?

Local customers are already searching online (bypassing the now dated Yellow Pages) for the design services you offer. Why not make it easy for them to find you on Google search and on Google Maps?

Online Local Search is now THE preferred way to find local businesses like yours so let’s make sure we have our business listed. It just takes a few steps to set up in Google and best of all it’s FREE.

Whether you are a solo freelancer or oversee a large firm Google Maps works great and you can manage all your listings from a single account (even if you have multiple locations)

You just need to do a few simple steps to add your business(s) to Google Local Search.

1. Set up a Google account if you do not have one at:

www.google.com/local/add

2. Fill out the necessary sections (under the navigational tabs) including required information, category, hours & payment, add photo(s) if you prefer, add custom info.

3. Update your listing at any time

A new addition to your maps page is that you can add coupons to your page to attract even more customers. Clients can then print them out and reference your coupon code number or print them and bring them directly to your business.

Remember to create an enticing offer with a strong headline and firm deadline to elicit direct response from your potential customers.

Here are a few more interesting facts from Nielsen/NetRatings and WebVisible study:

• 70% of internet users reported using search engines to find a local service

• Nearly 90% are happy with the results they get when the search for a local service

• 68% use the phone number on the local listing to contact

• 54% of those who searched for a local service in the past 90 days had referred
a friend to that business

• 59% of people verbally recommend the service to a friend (or family member)
and 38% e-mailed a link

Local search is going to continue to become more and more important as more people “research online and buy offline” so make sure you and your company are listed online. It has really helped my business greatly by utilizing this tool — www.artspacedesign.biz.

Note: please check your listing(s) from time to time to make sure they (including coupons) are accurate and up-to-date.

Improve Your Communication Skills by Joining Toastmasters!

Toastmasters International is a world leader in helping people become more competent and comfortable in speaking before an audience.

Now with over 250,000 members, 11,300 clubs in 90 countries Toastmasters provides a proven, effective program to practice and hone your communication and leadership skills.

I first came upon Toastmasters years ago and decided to attend a meeting. It was a wonderful and supportive group of people who were at all skills levels but dedicated to learning and improving their speaking skills.

The program consists of 10 self-paced speaking assignments – each one building upon the other. You learn skills relating to humor, eye contact, gestures, speech organization, vocal quality (including an ahhhhh and ummmmm counter that often accompany the spaces between words) and overall delivery.

Also, there is no instructor at toastmasters meetings. All speeches are evaluated by your group members. This group feedback is a major part of the learning process. However, I am not saying this is easy. I remember quite clearly wanting to take every other exit on the road to where my first Toastmaster speech was being held. But I went and I completed that first speech (after much perspiration!) and found the program extremely valuable and a lot of fun.

For approximately $54 a year it is by far one of the best (in my opinion, the best) communication programs available.

As designers and freelancers we are always verbally communicating with our clients (either in person or on the phone) – so I can think of no better skill to improve.

Check it out:

http://www.toastmasters.org/default.aspx

– By Doug Farrick

A Sad Day for Magazine Designers, Writers, Photographers and Printers

I just read yesterday on CNN Money that Gourmet magazine closes its doors after being in business for 70 years. Now I do not subscribe to the magazine myself, but many do, but my point in posting this to show who all is effected by this closure. Not only are the employees effected such as the writers, designers and photographers, but also the printer, the paper company and mail houses too. So a closure of such a long standing business really hurts the economy all the way down the line.

Now there will probably not be a bailout for these folks, but you have to wonder about the state of magazines and newspapers these days with so many closing around the country. Of course many are moving online to save costs, but it still comes down to companies not advertising in these publications, that has been the major downfall for most of these magazines and newspapers. Basically, it goes to show that companies are having a hard time paying those high advertising rates to be in a printed publication. Inflation has driven costs up so high that magazines and newspapers have to charge high fees in order to cover the production costs involved in producing the publication.

Now that is not to say they will not have trouble selling online advertising too. Businesses all over are cutting back on advertising, including my own business. Folks are looking at cheaper alternatives now days to promote their business, for better or worse, it breaks down to how the economy has effected their business too.

I hate to see any business shut down and I wish all the staff and vendors of Gourmet magazine well and hope they all find jobs after this company closing.

For more details, checkout the CNN Money article — View Article

The Trend is Your Friend

An important part of any business is understanding and anticipating trends. What will be the next big digital trend? What are some of the latest design trends that can give you competitive advantage. Read the article to find out more and check out some resources you can you in your trend research.

“The Trend is Your Friend” is originally a phrase from the financial markets where you can SEE in graph form which way certain markets are trending. It makes trends very evident.

And a large part of any business (including design) is being aware of and anticipating trends in your particular marketplace.

Being aware of trends can really give your business competitive advantage by positioning your company (and yourself) in line with the trend and not against it.

As in the financial markets, the most important thing is not really to get in on the very beginning of trends (as that is just sheer timing) but to capture the “meat” of a market trending upwards.

For example, if you notice in your trend research that web designers are using Adobe Flex to develop and build apps it might be a good idea to schedule time to research and possibly implement it in your design business.

Here are a few resources that can help you in your trend research:

Trendwatching - http://www.trendwatching.com/

Colorlovers - http://www.colourlovers.com/trends

Springwise - http://www.springwise.com/

The Hottest Marketing Trends for 2008 - http://tinyurl.com/3rolj2

Trendspotting - http://www.trendsspotting.com/blog/

Any books/products by Harry Dent - http://www.hsdent.com/

Any books/products by Faith Popcorn - http://www.faithpopcorn.com/

Happy trending!