By jimdiggitydog
I’ve been in business for a long, long time. Well - 10 years for myself and 20 as a professional. That’s long enough that I’ve had ups and downs. I’ve won some, I’ve lost some. Thankfully, I’ve won a lot more than I’ve lost.
And in the losing, I’ve learned a couple of things - and they’re inextricably connected.
1. You can’t please everyone.
and
2. Don’t upset the people you can’t please - no matter how good it would feel.
When I first started freelance design full-time, I had a pretty good string of making my clients very happy. I worked hard, I worked cheap, and I did my square best on every project.
Then, there came the day when I stopped doing one of those. Take a guess which one…
When I worked really cheap, every single client would be thrilled, as they were getting professional design at a cut rate. When everyone started paying me what I was worth, I immediately started getting bellyachers. I had the “no way am I paying that much” crowd.
I’ve also had clients that just would not be pleased by anything I would do. My style wasn’t what they wanted, or I wasn’t going fast enough, or they just couldn’t communicate what they wanted.
And so, when that kind client would come around, I did my best to be cordial and not be condescending, but I steered them away in a gentle, decent way. As good as it would feel to tell them off and use big words and rant and rave, I decided to be kind. Show them the door and gently push, even if I wanted to kick.
Winston Churchill said “When killing a man, it costs nothing to be polite.” And that should go with clients and customers. Be polite, be kind - even while you’re giving them the axe.
I’ve had many clients complain about rates, complain that they’re not getting what they’re looking for or that my style just wasn’t appropriate - and I’ve had a lot of those people come back to me when they couldn’t find anyone cheaper/faster/better. I’ve also had the formerly “disgruntled” recommend me to other people.
If I had burned the bridge, I would have lost the customer, lost their friends, lost their associates.
Word of mouth is one of your best sales tools - and upsetting someone will guarantee bad press. But, a couple of warm fuzzies and kind words will always come back to not haunt you.
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By jimdiggitydog
Recently, on an old post, I got a question:
“Might come off as a silly question, but I need answers. I was formerly employed by a large company as a designer. I have left the company to start my own freelance design business. I still continue to do design work for my former company. Do I need to purchase a set of fonts in order to legally do my work as a freelancer? What is a good set to buy? Or is it better to buy them on an as needed basis? Any recommendations would be appreciated.”
And my response:
Thanks for reading - and no, that’s not a silly question.
As far as the legality - I have to plead a little bit o’ ignorance on that. I will say - it is ALWAYS better to have your own, fully licensed copy of ANYTHING you have on your computer. Fonts included.
As far as having a bunch of fonts, - really, it all kind of depends on your needs. If you work with a lot of fonts, or plan to work with a lot of fonts, then you should go ahead and buy a collection.
BUT - I would suggest buying a font library from a big manufacturer - Adobe, Letraset, ITC, etc. That way, you get the real fonts that you’ll need. They might not be all that exciting or funky, but you’ll get the Avant Gardes, the Garamonds, the Futuras that you need - and they’ll be the full versions that are actually used by printers and service bureaus.
You can always get the funkier fonts too, but you really need to get a good, solid straightforward collection to form the foundation of your whole library.
For some of the more unusual fonts, you can get freebies all over the place. A couple of my favorites are
http://www.1001freefonts.com/
http://www.typenow.net/
http://www.acidfonts.com/
Just Google “free fonts” or “free cool fonts” and you’ll come up with a variety of things for download.
Just thought it bore some more attention, as fonts can be a really sticky subject.
When you buy fonts, you are essentially purchasing a license to use them our your machine and in your design. You can’t really send them to a printer as part of a package legally. I don’t know of anyone that’s been in trouble for packaging everything up (using InDesign’s “Package” or Quark’s “Gather”) but ostensibly, you could. So be careful.
“Borrowing” fonts is common. Keeping fonts used on other jobs or provided by an employer or client is also common - but neither is technically legal. Not sure what sort of trouble you could get in, but you could.
So - purchase a font library and use that. Collect free fonts. But - keep it legal and you’ll be in the right.
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By jimdiggitydog
One word: Sweet!
Another word: Do your homework!
(Yeah, that’s 3 words. Sue me.)
WordPress 2.5 was released a few days ago, and I’ve taken the plunge on a couple of sites. AllAboutFreelance.com is one of them, and my main business site is another. It all went smoothly - with a minor exception.
The Pros:
Much Sexier:
It’s a lot better looking! I’ve grown reasonably accustomed to the old style, so this one will take a wee bit of getting used to - but on first blush, it’s a great improvement. I think it’ll be even more important and more attractive for my end clients. Much more Web 2.0, and a vast improvement in professionalism.
More Organized:
That’s never a bad thing! Some of the tabs are a little more obvious as to their use. No more “blogroll.”
Easier Media:
Supports YouTube embeds directly in posts without any help. Also has multiple file uploads simultaneously - which is great! Makes gallery-making a lot easier. Add music and other media directly - and all with a nice interface. Pretty slick!
Search Pages and Posts:
HELL YEAH! Great for those of us that use WordPress as a CMS for clients. Nice!
Built-in Galleries:
Pretty slick stuff. Not as good as the NextGen gallery plug-in, but pretty sweet. *see note below about 2.5 and NextGen.
Seems Faster:
Could just be me, but it seems zippier - especially in the back end.
A bunch of other stuff - I’d rate this a 7.5 out of 10 as far as updates. Really nice.
The Cons:
It’s Different:
It’s different, and sometimes change can be a bad thing. I don’t really think so, but some hard-core WPers might not dig it all.
It Broke My Business Site:
But that’s really my fault. NextGen Gallery, which I use for my portfolio, needed to be updated. It stopped working on the pages, since it turns out that the calls for the NextGen pages were the same as the calls for the new built-in gallery pages. So, my pages were trying to call galleries that weren’t there.
So - really, the cons are very minimal. I would strongly advise that any plugins that you rely on - CHECK THEM FOR COMPATIBILITY FIRST.
Other than that - I say upgrade. And happy blogging!
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By jimdiggitydog
One of the worst parts of the job could really be one of the best tools you can have.
Client criticism and comments.
In the world of design, it’s really easy to become sort of insular and only see what YOU think is good design. Just because it’s something you dig, and something that other designers will like and appreciate does not necessarily mean that it’s the best solution.
One of the bottom lines that can be overlooked is what the client thinks is the best solution. After all, they understand their customer base better than you do. They know what their base expects and wants to see - and so they need to have some legitimate power and sway in the final piece.
Your job is to present the best finished work to your client, and many times, you have to tell the client what they need. You have to hold their hands, pick their brains, distill everything they say and think and want, and then turn around and give that to them in a package that is attractive, timely, and ultimately - sellable.
The actual design work is up to you, but you can take a lot of what the client says about their end user and use that to your advantage. Not just for that particular job, but for many jobs.
If you design an ad for a car dealership, pick that dealer’s brain for information on their demographic. Listen to any complaints or preferences they have. If they give you examples, save them. Then, when you work with them again, you save time - and thus, make more money. Plus, that information will help you with other clients with the same demographic.
But beyond that, you can get a good feel for what different demographics and types of people are looking for in a design, be it a logo, ad, website, whatever. Taking the criticism and little cues from clients can actually make you a lot of money, save you a lot of time - and it can make you look a lot smarter.
With all that said - you’re the designer, and you know design better than the client. That’s why they’re paying you. They’re not always right (read more on that here.) But ultimately, they have the final say (since they’re paying the bills) and you have to do what they ask - but you’re the professional designer. And part of being a professional designer is the ability to take what they like, don’t like and use their knowledge to create the best design you can. Then, you can take that knowledge and make your future work ever better.
Criticism, comments, likes and dislikes are tools the client gives you - and you can use them any way you like.
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By jimdiggitydog
Well, I suppose it’s finally time that I got off my duff and made a new, custom site, being that I am a designer and all.
New AllAboutFreelance look coming at you - and totally smoothed out by April 1.
Stay tuned!
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By jimdiggitydog
All right, so they’re not all gems, but there’s some really, really good stuff here. Plus, you gotta know these were done without the aid of machines other than a piece of Letraset, a Rapidograph and some good old india ink…
Fun stuff from the 70’s!
Check out the whole 121 page collection here.
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By jimdiggitydog
I’ve spent too much time (not billable hours, mind you) trying to find a slightly weird font that I’ve used in some job. It’s not a typical font - and it’s not a typical foundry.
It’s something specialized that I can’t remember. And, to top it all off, I’ve converted the font to outlines to make it easier to fill and manipulate. So, when I open the file - no font warning telling me what it is…
I’m boned and I have to spend an hour rolling through Suitcase and the 8 billion fonts I have.
But - there are ways.
There are options to find that font (I detailed What the Font here), but they assume you’re using fairly normal fonts from a big-name foundry. The easiest and most time-effective thing to do is to know what the font is at all times.
So - a few simple solutions to remember the fonts:
1. Make a folder. Name that folder the font you used.
2. Make a note document (Word, TextEdit, whatever) that contains a list of the fonts used and keep it in the folder with the files for that job.
3. This is what I normally do - before you convert the font, copy and paste the text outside of the page within the document. That way, you get the ease-of-effects of the converted text, plus you get to have the “Missing font” dialog that will tell you the font used should you need to change it up.
It’s pretty simple stuff - but it’s saved me a bit of time.
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By jimdiggitydog
Well - we’re moving the whole office, and I’ve come to realize a couple of things:
1. I have a lot of stuff.
2. I wish I had less stuff.
So, to that end, I’ve gotten rid of a lot of things I don’t need in the office. Old papers, useless books and instruction manuals. Old documentation from jobs, dry pens, broken pencils and torn up file folders. Heck - I have gigabytes worth of worthless junk on my hard drive that I’m ditching. I stopped playing World of Warcraft a year ago. Do I need to keep the files?
And it got me thinking - I need to do this once a month.
As a freelancer (and as a person in general) I have a tendency to be a bit of a pack rat. I keep far too many physical items around that I say to myself that I might need. I keep a zillion mockups on my hard drive. I keep magazines that I might use as reference.
Too many things piling up in too many places.
So - I’m going to do a sincere, hard-core and ruthless house cleaning once a month, and I think it’s a good thing. That way, I can keep a streamlined workspace and have less distraction.
If I toss something, I’ll be pretty sure I won’t use it again. If it’s something that someone else can use, it’s off to Goodwill.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who holds on to too much. If you’re a pack rat like me, I suggest a real cleaning. It’s good for the soul, which is always good for business.
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By jimdiggitydog
I’ve had tons of clients ask for email newsletters and ads, which can be a little tricky. HTML emails are finicky beasts - and mailing lists are even stranger. I’m not overly “techy” and any tool that can cut off hours and still allow for billing is a good (great) thing.
I found a couple recently - MailBuild and CampaignMonitor. They’re very similar - and they’re made by the same company.
MailBuild allows you to build a brandable sub-site that you sent clients to and allow them to build their own emails. Tons of templates, and a lot of customizability. The cool this is that you set the price, the client pays the bill through MailBuild and you reap the profits. The actual rates are pretty low, so you can mark them up and make a little dough on each recipient and each time they send an email. Your client thinks it’s great because they are “doing the work,” and you’re off the hook - you just sit back and wait for the money to come in.
CampaignMonitor is similar - but you get all the control. You design the email, set the send-to lists and do all the footwork. You bill the client directly, but CampaignMonitor keeps up with the sending and Spam control - all the drudgery stuff. They also give you previews of what the email will look like when you send it - in a variety of different email clients. No more worrying about how it will look with AOL versus how it will look with Firefox or Gmail. Sweet!
I’m leaving out a lot of killer features - but they’re both a free service to designers, and they can really help you make some money on your - and your clients’ - campaigns.
Nice!
(and no, I don’t make a penny on either one of these by referring you.)
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By jimdiggitydog
Well, I’ve finally gotten off my duff and rolled out something I promised a while back…
FreakinFreelance.com
It’s still under construction, but the functionality is there. You can sign up for a free blog and start going nuts.
The vision is to have a community where freelance designers can blog and connect with the other freelancers in the world.
Plus, it’ll offer a few cool features:
- Online portfolio
- Ecommerce built-in (make money!)
- Adsense built-in (make more money!)
- KILLER SEO stuff (really)
- Tons of bells and whistles
- Lots of themes
- True Community Interactivity
- Easy-to-use
- Easy Domain Names (yourblog.freakinfreelance.com)
- Much, much more!
And, of course, it will be all free. I think this can be pretty sweet - and I think we need more of this sort of discourse out there. One thing I’ve found is that a lot of freelance designers are kind of secretive about their businesses and practices - but I’ve also seen a lot of folks open up on blogs and share a LOT of great stuff, so having some of that in one place would be a boon to all of us.
So - GET STARTED! Blog now, blog often!
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