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Charitable Works as Promotion

Cash flow is necessary to building a successful business. You should always offer your products and services in exchange for pay, but there are exceptions to that rule which will benefit you in the long run. One exception is doing work for a visible and well recognized channel with donors who are likely to patronize you to show appreciation. That’s as long as the organization attracts the clientele who can afford to pay for your products or services. Getting money for your business doesn’t have to be your motivation for doing all charity work. But if you can combine your love for an organization and maximize the opportunity to attract clients, it’s a win-win for all. Not to mention, it’s common practice.

How It Works

Charities often need volunteers for events, direct mail campaigns, fundraising and to recruit other volunteers. They partner with businesses to provide goods and services for free or at discount prices. Some businesses sponsor organizations as part of their marketing and promotions strategies. The cost to buy an ad in a booklet or to include your logo on a charity’s promotion items might be cost prohibitive, but doing work “for free” may not be. In exchange for designing a website, creating flyers or doing other design tasks, charities are often willing to recognize you publicly for your contribution. This may include a link to your business on their website, free advertising or publicly thanking you for your work during events and media interviews.

What Services to Offer

If the purpose of doing charitable work is to raise your business profile, then offer services that demonstrate your skills and expertise. This is crucial if the charity is the first company you’ve done work for. Remember, you’ll be displaying your work in your portfolio to share with other clients. It’s your calling card. If you do work that’s unrelated, it won’t make sense to future clients. Typical design services that charities need are:

• Web Design
• Brochures
• Publication Layout
• Logo Design
• Copywriting (link this word to www.elitesmokesignals.com)

Knowing that many charities will need these services will help you as you approach them to offer assistance. They may not know what they need if it’s a new or startup non-profit. If you play the role of a consultant and offer to do it for them, they may accept your offer.

Payment Down the Road

The free advertising, media exposure and getting your name in front of donors should pay dividends. Some charities may grow to the point where they can afford to contract for your goods and services. They will look to you first, if you’ve done a good job. That’s why it’s important to do a good job no matter what. Work as hard as you would for any paying client. Your reputation is on the line.

Research online and local charities to see who to work for. You can assist some remotely, but some charities prefer someone who is local and can walk into their office or attend the event.

Crowdsourcing – Chic for Some, Bad for Designers – Educate Your Clients!

Whether you call it design by democracy or crowdsourcing, it’s bad news to designers.  Crowdsourcing is where a project is turned over to the public, which in turn gives its input on the outcome of the project. Everyone gets to collaborate on it, and that’s anyone, whether they have a design background or not. One philosophy behind the approach is that collective creativity can lead to great things. The problem is that it leads to lower quality work, and you put your clients at risk of lawsuits for copyright and trademark infringement.

Copyright and Trademark Infringement

Copyrights are one of the first properties your clients may own. It is intellectual property that is valuable to someone. When you design a logo for someone, it provides value to them only if it excludes others from using it. For example, the golden arches used by McDonald’s are recognized worldwide, and no other restaurant can use it. If a restaurant owner uses crowdsourcing and the group decides that golden arches are cool and incorporates them in the logo design, that restaurant owner is at risk of a lawsuit. Most restaurant owners will know that the golden arches belong to McDonald’s, but what about lesser known works? What if a crowd member decides to rip an image or two from a website and it gets incorporated in a logo down the road? There’s no incentive for the crowd to do its due diligence, and that owner may find himself in a costly legal battle a few years down the road.

Poor Quality Work

Low quality work that’s produced consistently has a negative impact on the design industry. Prospective clients will expect you to lower your rates, because the alternative is to get work done cheaper or even free. Your argument that the work you produce is high quality and not comparable to what you’ll get with crowdsourcing will fall on more deaf ears as this method of producing work becomes more popular. It will become harder to make your case and narrow your pool of prospective clients.

Not So Cheap After All

The irony of crowdsourcing is that it could end up costing the clients more, even though the perception is that it’s a cheaper way of doing business. Someone has to manage the group giving input, set milestones and ensure that it’s getting done. Clients can expect to redo work or start over with this method. That costs money, and clients who spend too much on crowdsourcing may get stingy about allocating more money to other design projects. It affects the design industry as a whole because designers are competing with the crowd at large, where resources are limited. And with fewer designers getting hired for these jobs, you can expect lower quality work. It’s important to demonstrate to clients that it might cost more to crowdsource when they rebut your sales pitch with that as an option.

Before you get seduced by crowdsourcing, consider the effects it can have on your income. It’s a bad idea for the design industry, and it has a direct impact on your ability to land more sales.

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Protect Yourself with Detailed Records

Getting organized is more than just keeping your area clutter-free or using effective time management. To succeed as an entrepreneur or freelancer, you must excel at project management. Technical projects consists of many pieces coming together to create the end product. If you don’t have a process in place to manage each step and keep detailed records, then you run the risk of missing deadlines and delivering poor products and services.

Keep Detailed Project Files

It’s important to keep track of all of your files in one place. Don’t waste time and energy tracking down files in miscellaneous emails or from subcontractors. If you’re working on your own, then create folders in Dropbox for each client and subfolders for each project. You want to be able to access your folders from anywhere.

A more advanced option is to use project management software like rule.fm or Basecamp. You can upload documents and share them with subcontractors and employees. You will always have your files in one spot and associated with clients and projects.

Keep Detailed Milestones and Deadlines

Disorganization creeps in when you don’t keep track of your progress. You can get away with it with the first couple of clients, but not for long. At some point, you will have to start keeping detailed records in this area. Do yourself a favor and form the habit early on with your first few clients. You can use project management software or to-do lists.  Figure out the milestones for each project, and assign due dates and tasks for each. Be as detailed as possible as you describe tasks in case you plan to use independent contractors for those projects or future projects.

Keep Track of Your Time

Even if you charge a flat fee for your services, you need to track your time. It will help you analyze how which types of projects generate the most profits for your business, as well as whether you need to raise your rates. If you play the guessing game, then you can hinder the growth of your business. Use online timesheets or ones that are included in project management software to keep detailed records of your time. There are many available online for free, such as slimtimer.com.

Track non-billable time as well. That’s all the time you spend on your clients, even if you don’t expect payment. Examples include:

• Responding to emails (although you should probably be billing your time for those)
• Mailing completed works (including travel time to the post office)
• Watching tutorials to learn the client’s software
• Returning quick phone calls

One major advantage of being detail oriented in this area is that billing clients for work will become easier. You could even hand it off to a bookkeeper, since your time will already be logged. Make sure you distinguish between non-billable and billable time.

If the thought of getting so detailed gives you a headache, consider hiring someone to help you in this area. Delegate project management or billing to someone who is competent to manage these tasks for you. This will free you up to concentrate on design and other projects that you enjoy most.

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How to Manage the Micro-Managing Client

How to Manage the Micro-Managing Client

“Our hourly rate is $100 per hour,

If you wish to help or stand and watch, our hourly rate is $500 an hour.”

We can learn something from this sign displayed by an auto repair shop. Some clients want to micro-manage all of the projects they “turn over.” The problem is, it makes you less efficient, less effective and it can be more hassle than it’s worth. The client has a right to expect quality work and you should work hard to achieve customer satisfaction. There’s a fine line though between achieving customer satisfaction and being controlled, and you will lose money often if you don’t make that distinction.

Set Boundaries

Decide how you want to work and don’t stray from that. If you want to work virtually, in your office and without direct client contact, then don’t budge. The rates you set should not be based on the fact that you don’t have to travel to an office space or lease one for clients to see you. If you agree to see clients and allow them to constantly look over your shoulder, then you’re losing money on the deal. You should set boundaries with your clients. Let them know that you charge competitive rates because you work remotely. If they don’t want that, then move on. That’s tough to say when the economy is bad, but if you’re not willing to set boundaries you must be willing to increase your rates.

Set High Rates

The point that the repair shop is making is that you get what you pay for. If a client wants to control what you’re doing or learn what you do, and then go off and do the work on his own, then he should pay a much higher rate. You should double your rate at the very least if you’re not willing to give up that client. One of two things will happen: Your client will not want to pay the higher rate and leave, or will get the point and accept your work style. Each situation is different, so you’ll have to decide whether to accept a client walking away because you take a stand. Like you, most clients will want to save costs and go for the cheaper rate for the same work.

Communicate Often

A client often feels a need to control the situation when there’s a communication breakdown. It’s often a panic reaction, and the client feels more secure if they can dictate the terms and micro-manage you as a contractor. You can prevent that feeling of insecurity and the negative reaction to it by communicating with your clients often.  Decide on the best communication method for your clients and use it. If it’s a phone call, don’t be afraid to pick it up weekly or more often to give updates. If they love emails, send them informative ones and attach samples of your work as needed. Be authentic and transparent in your communications to put them at ease. It will go a long way to diminish any desire they have to take control of the situation.

The best way to handle overbearing clients is to take these preventative measures. It doesn’t guarantee that you’ll never face a client who wants to look over your shoulder, but following these rules will empower you to stay or walk away.

Phone Options for Busy Creative Professionals

The telephone is the most undervalued tool in business, but when used right, it’s a great asset. You can use it to for sales and marketing, client relations, training and even to deliver part of your services. With so many options for phones and phone plans, it can be tough to decide on the right choice. Understanding the pros and cons of some popular options can help you make an informed decision.

Cell Phones

Many startups rely on cell phones for everything, including business. The pros to using cell phones for business are:

• Flexibility – You can use your cell phone anywhere.
• Screen calls – Your caller ID will indicate who is calling.
• Pay as you go – Prepaid cell phones allow you to purchase plans without a monthly requirement.

You’ll experience the same frustrations using cell phones for your business as you may already have for personal use. The notorious cons are:

• Dropped calls – And yes, it will be in the middle of closing a sale.
• Bad connections – It’s hard to hear the other person or vice versa sometimes, which can frustrate clients.
• Health risks – Extensive cell phone usage may have a severe impact on your health.

Buying and selling cell phones is so easy, it seems like a no brainer. However, it may not be your best option for your business.

VoIP, or Voice over IP

Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, allows you to make calls over the internet. Skype is a popular example, where by one click you can call a client overseas or a subcontractor in the same area. You can use a VoIP phone or a computer. You can also attach an adapter to some phones. The technology utilizes the Internet to transmit calls instead of the typical analog phone line used for landlines. The pros of using VoIP are:

• Easy for subcontractors or employees to use when working on your behalf – No need to be at your office (they can use their own Internet connection).
• Save costs – No need to pay for a landline in addition to Internet service.
• Use and record videos – You can even sell those calls or leverage them to increase your prices.
• Lower costs – The cost to use VoIP is much lower in many cases, and sometimes even  free.

Some entrepreneurs love VoIP, but not everyone is sold. The cons to be aware of include:

• Unreliable connections – Like cell phones, you’re going to get error messages during calls stating that there’s a bad Internet connection and the call will be “dropped.”
• It’s dependent on electricity – Unlike your landline, when the power goes out, so does VoIP.

You can always try VoIP for free to see whether it’s the right solution for you. Find an online service like Skype and give it a try.

Second Line

Adding a second line to your landline is another simple phone option.  You can list that line’s number as your business phone and you’ll know when it rings that it’s a business call. The pros of this option are:

• It will work even when there’s a power outage
• The connection is stable and reliable
• You can forward calls

The cons might outweigh the pros in some instances though, such as:

• You double your phone costs
• Additional features such as voicemail and caller ID are expensive
• Limited in functionality when compared to VoIP and some cell phones

Bundling phone service features will help to lower the costs a bit. You can also bundle services with some of your other services with the provider, such as Internet and phone, to lower costs.

Determining what phone option is right for you will depend on how you plan to use it with clients. The expenses may also be tax deductible, which can help to reduce your overall tax liability.

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