LinkArtist Multimedia - The Blog

3 years ago this week, I left my government job. I didn’t leave willingly - I was 7 months pregnant with my son and had developed complications that meant I had to resign. I was terrified of the prospect of ruining my career in Policy, and wanted nothing more than to get back to it as soon as Jules was old enough.

It turns out that it was the best thing that could have happened to me, because it freed up enough time to take on some small graphic design projects, which became more small projects, which tuned into some larger projects, until all of a sudden, here I sit 3 years later, running a business that was literally formed from the ground up with nothing, with no formal training in graphic design or programming, that is growing more every week.

I have learned so much in a small amount of time, that to look back on my old bad habits of business make me cringe. In fact, the list became 10, but I will spread it over 2 posts :). So, here are the FIRST 5 Things I have learned, that I wish I knew 3 years ago:

1. Do NOT negotiate on prices (unless there is a substantial benefit. And yes, I mean substantial.)

Many of the freelancing and career sites will be very cut and dry in their advice about setting rates and sticking to them. In my case, having a degree of flexibility, and seizing opportunities for exposure, actually allowed me to build credibility in an industry where I was a hobbyist, with lots to learn, and I had no idea what my hourly rate was or should be. I had a fair amount of ability and unrefined skill (it’s still not fully there!), but not a whole lot of formal training. So, I offered to do work that other designers would snort at, eg $400 websites, just to get my portfolio up and improve my skills. It was awesome just to make some cash with a small baby at home, doing what I love!

It worked. Really well in fact.

But working for cheap for a good reason is not what I am talking about here. I had already made a conscious decision to do a certain number of cheap projects for the exposure, and I had already built that in to my strategy. Some of those lower priced websites still bring me new clients. That is just plain smart, because for my discounted work, I was getting, and continue to get, something in return.

But, there will come a point where someone contacts you and demands that you lower your rates, but will offer absolutely nothing in return. This is a mistake I had to make at least 3 times before realising that you do not want those people as clients. I was afraid that there would be "no more work" and that any client was better than none. Neither of those fears are grounded.

In hindsight, I still felt that I was winging it, and it affected my ability to stand my ground when people tried to set the price based on what they could afford. So I accepted those projects. And, guess what? They went nowhere. I will tell you that just about every single time I was pressured into discounting, the relationship went sour down the track. I don’t do it anymore.

When it comes down to it, if I have a slow month (which I haven’t had in a year and a half), ultimately, I would rather be spending time with my kids, or learning something new, or developing my own projects, than working for less than minimum wage for someone who doesn’t respect you. There are any number of jobs where you can do that!

2. Use contracts and clear specifications

If there is one thing that I will tell you to repeat, over and over and over again, it is touse contracts and have clear specifications.  Use contracts and have clear specifications. Use contracts and have clear specifications.

Spec creep and chasing money are two of the biggest minefields in this business. I once had a 1 month project drag on for 9 months because I did not enforce the original spec and kept allowing changes to be made (and revision after revision) without reviewing the contract and the spec, or charging the client for my time. It was a complete disaster from start to finish, and needless to say, it was the catalyst for me not only upping my rates, but setting limits on what I will and won’t do as part of the payment.

There are lots of people out there who don’t understand the difference between a Flash site and a non-Flash site, and the substantial differences in costs between them. Never, ever assume that clients understand what they are getting for their money. Put it in writing.

And don’t be afraid to say "we are wandering off quote here" as soon as it starts to happen.

3. Be open and honest, but not too open or too honest

When I first started in this business, I was on a high. Everyone was my buddy, everyone was on the same page as me, and I didn’t care what people thought. I said what I wanted, when I wanted, and I made no apologies. I brought people into the fold, befriended them, confided in them, and occasionally even complained about clients on IM. People asked my opinion, and I told them honestly. I made small talk, I had even deeper conversations.

Oh, how naive I was!

Being an open book is great if you are the right kind of open book. If you use honesty and transparency well, it can benefit your business tremendously. But, there are limits.

Here are some things you don’t talk to clients about:

• Other clients
• Your Health
• Your children, beyond the basics
• Your marital problems
• Your financial situation
• Anything that can be used against you later on.

Try to keep some distance between your personal life and your work life, and definitely do not complain about other clients, no matter how tempting it is, and ESPECIALLY if they are in the same industry.

4. Be (emotionally) prepared for the hard times

There was a turning point for me where this business stopped being just "extra" cash, and started being, well, an actual business. There came a point in 2007 where I was being offered policy jobs, and was thinking of going back to the public service, when I suddenly realised that I was actually not that person anymore. I was a designer with my own little business. That was a massive shift in focus for me, and then I started thinking about it like a business.

When this mind shift occured, naturally, I started to wonder about the work, where the next job was coming from, and living invoice to invoice (something which I am still not entirely great at!). It is pretty common knowledge in all business literature that the first 2-5 years are very hard financially. The business books offer up a lot of advice on how to deal with ebbs and flows, and how to deal with cashflow (my single biggest problem and a common one for self employed folks), and how to avoid failing in those formative first few years.

What I wasn’t prepared for, however, is the massive emotional strain that business can put on you. I always knew it would be hard financially, but the emotional rollercoaster came as a huge shock to me. When the sale of a website was not just about keeping the business afloat financially, but it also determined my worth as a designer and a human being. That every success was met with extreme happiness, but every rejection being hurtful.

I used to let the mood of my day be dictated by the moods of my clients. I don’t do that anymore - well, at least I try not to. I have learned to distance "myself" the business-person and "me" the human being in a way that my mental and emotional well-being is not so entreched in the success or failure, or ups and downs, of the business. That takes practice, and I am still learning, but, be prepared for a wild ride!

5. Know when to end it

It’s easy to sell a website. I have skills that not many people can do (or at least, do well!), and eventually, even the people that suck at web design get some clients.

It is not so easy, however, to end a client relationship. I have been going through a process in the past 6 months of assessing clients that cost me the most time for the least pay, or don’t fit my future goals with the business and have been trying to gradually move away. The vast bulk of these have been US clients, who for varying reasons, can’t (or won’t) pay competitive rates with local people and even the UK. I have been taking on less and less US clients, who seem to want far too much for far too little.

It was a very hard decision to make, but it has been the right one. Knowing when to get out is as important a skill as knowing how to sell to a client in the first place. Some of the reasons I may choose to end a relationship:

Clients that:

• refuse to pay market rates
• want work-for-hire, or otherwise try to set the agenda or micromanage
• don’t respect that your time = money
• view you as replaceable
• constantly pay late
• often ask for free "5 minute" jobs, or expect anything for free.
• threaten to use their cousin’s friend’s brother, or refer to said cousin’s friend’s brother who can do it "cheaper", or threaten to go to India or find some other impressionable young guy…

……are NOT worth your time.

How you actually end it is up to you, but being able to look at your situation and realise that there are always better clients than that out there, is the single biggest leap I have made in the past year.

I enjoyed writing this list, and I actually thought of 5 more things whilst I was writing, so I might write a sequel to this! I am starting to see things growing, and getting better, and it DOES get better. But knowing some of these little things can maybe make it easier.

Those of you read this blog with regularity may have realised that I have gotten rid of all of the personal blog content and archives. You may also have noticed that I have been a little quiet lately on the blog front, because I have been learning some hard lessons this last month!

I have decided to separate my blog into 2 blogs. One business, one personal. Primarily because I found myself worrying about the implications of posting one or the other most of the time: not wanting to post too much personal stuff for fear of alienating prospective clients - and not wanting to post too much business stuff for my friends. So, I have moved all the personal blog content over to teabrennan.com, and will keep this as more of a design/business/freelance etc blog.

I have not yet skinned the new blog or really done much to it at all (I have been really busy this month), but I will relaunch with a new theme as soon as I find the time

Ok, so from here on in, business as usual.

Well, WordPress 2.5 is out, and I must say, this is a very, very nice upgrade.

I just upgraded this blog to use 2.5 before unleashing it on my unsuspecting clients, and from my very brief look through the dashboard and admin interface, my immediate impression is that this could well and truly take WordPress into the full-blown-CMS realm once and for all. A few designers (like me) have already been doing it for some time, obviously, but the UI of the admin panel has improved, there is an integrated image gallery, and the promise of a better WYSIWYG editor (Can we post youtube yet without hacks??)…well… what a great development this is.

As I move into the premium theme development market, I am hoping to create templates that will fully harness the power of Wordpress as a CMS, and cater for specific industries.

First up is a photography blog that utilises the built in media gallery. I am excited about this

I have found that people can be surprised when quoted our price for web design, but the simple matter is that our services are worked out at $100.00 an hour which is, more or less, an industry standard. Web design, and then redesign, can greatly increase the price when you take in the fact that a page design, by itself, can take eight hours or more to create. Add together coding and all the other bells and whistles that make up a unique site and you have your price.

In the end you get a site, tailored to you and your business, which is unique. Your site becomes your front line in marketing your business and can generate you thousands upon thousand of dollars over the life of the site. Is that not worth paying for?

Two web sites, both belonging to design companies, were sent to me this morning that really show that you get what you pay for. One is in English and the other is German but both could be one and the same. The both want your business and both are cheaper than LinkArtist Multimedia, way cheaper.

I’ll talk mostly about the one in English as I can read their site but it’s not that hard to navigate the German site for reasons I will point out.

OK, example 1. Joyvill Inc.

On first impressions, Joyvill’s site is nice and clean. It’s jam packed full of all those buzz word that you expect to find from some of our competitors. Straight away you know where they are located and that they know what Search Engine Optimizations is.

The front page then goes on to things you should already expect, like a site that will impress your competition and your clients will be able to use. Would you expect anything else?

OK so sounds pretty good huh? A cheap easy to use, pretty site from a ‘Web Design’ company! Where do I sign? Not so fast!

Example 2 Design Bits

Have you clicked on the link yet? Notice anything? I’ll make it easier.

Kinda similar huh! There is a reason for this. They use templates for their ‘design’. Both sites come from the same template then are populated with content specific to their own site. If I had a template to use, I’m pretty sure that I could knock up that site in five hours or so. Five times $100.00 equals $500.00 not ‘from $1600.00′! So it’s easy to see where the profit is.

But what if both businesses are connected and or owned by the same group? I did consider that and it could be true. Instead I took a look at their previous work. Now using what you know about internet templates, do you see any similarities?

Basically it comes down to this. You get what you pay for. If you like what these guys are selling then how about this.

1. Go to Template Monster , Free Site Templates or one of the many other thousands of template sites on the net.

2. Pay between $25 and $65 for a basic template.

3. Using Google or any other search engine to hunt out step by step information you need to upload and populate your very own site!

4. Enjoy. Just don’t worry when you see a copy of your site somewhere else.

I committed to posting for Blog Action Day, so here goes!

I actually had quite a hard time thinking about something to write. So instead I will write a few paragraphs on a couple of things.

Observation 1. The Greens.

As many of my long time readers will know, I have spent a good part of my formative years as an activist, as a policy officer, and have tried to find a way to use my life to make an impact on other people. I have to admit, though, that in the past 2 years, I have become so jaded and unmoved by anything remotely political, that I am embarrassed to say, has turned into apathy.

There were a couple of reasons for this, but the main reason I became disinterested in Politics and activism was because I got burned out by political parties. I would love to sit here, all airy fairy and say “VOTE GREEN” ( I happen to know the Greens’ Senate Candidate and he is a wonderful, committed and intelligent guy who deserves to win), but I cannot in good conscience encourage anyone to elect a party that never actually gets anything done.

I joined the Greens in the wave of the “NO WAR!” Campaign. I never thought I would join another political party, but somehow I found myself inspired by the movement and became active in the party pretty quickly. I even had a stint as Policy Convenor. I made some amazing friends, too. But the party itself is dysfunctional, allowing for continual meeting hijacking, backbiting, temper tantrums and gossip. What I found intolerable about the party was that the party’s dysfunction was the elephant in the room — that stood there whilst people grinned through their teeth at each other, then went off and did their own thing (like the very immature dumping of manure outside a Minister’s pavement).

I guess with a pending election, I have a dilemma about how to vote. I genuinely adore the candidate, but the candidate represents the party. When I resigned from the Greens, I swore that I could not in good conscience vote for a party that would wilfully ignore such dysfunction and allow hissy fits and other toddler-like behaviour to continue… but… the candidate is someone I respect. What would you do?

Observation 2. A White American man says it, and everyone listens

Has David Suzuki ever won a Nobel Peace Prize? I ask this question not because I necessarily dislike Al Gore, but because I did find it surprising that he took a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts against global warming.

David Suzuki has been a tireless campaigner for environmental activism, and has been seen at the forefront of just about every climate change campaign there is. Yet, he has not been honoured with a Nobel Prize (it’s worth noting that in some years, they don’t even give them out!).

I understand that its not about who said it first and often, who said it the loudest, but I certainly find it interesting that Al Gore, with the backing of Hollywood, speaks, and everyone is suddenly listening. He’s not to blame, but I think it is symptomatic of a society that accepts the opinions of a rich white man, and a handful of Hollywood celebrities, over a distinguished and widely respected environmental scientist who has been talking about global warming since the 70’s.

It is great to see people becoming more globally aware, but I do wonder if it is out of a sense of fashion, rather than a genuine concern for the world around us, that motivates people. I just hope it doesn’t go out of fashion before it’s too late.

3. Environmentally friendly design

Not long ago Justine Ungaro shared a link with me called Blackle and I have been using it as my Google homepage. I have been thinking about carbon-neitralising my business — after all, as a self employed person I am in a unique position to actually enforce changes.

Freelance Switch has a great post on how Designers can be more environmentally friendly, and I plan on implementing quite a few of those. I also plan on riding with Mina to school in the mornings rather than drive. I am also going to go from eating less meat to cutting it out altogether (I eat meat once a fortnight at the moment max, but I see no reason why I can’t just cut it out).

So, there you have it. I cobbled together soething for Blog Action Day. Not brilliant, but hey… I did it.

This is a classic. Check it out:

What if you spoke like you commented? — Young Go Getter

This is how working at home can fuck you up. I have projects going, but I’m having a procrastination day. They suck.

This is my last hour of what I have accomplished:

1. Played Guitar for the first time in 4 months. Hurty fingers. Ow. Resolved to play guitar more so fingers no longer hurty.

2. Chewed on my guitar pick and thought about playing the piano in the other room (that I have also neglected), but then resolve that I really SHOULD be at my desk.

3. Had my 3rd cup of coffee.

4. Watched the Doodlebops on Disney, even though Jules is having a nap (those are some freaky lookin’ characters).

5. Played with my mobile phone.

6. Hit refresh on my emails, hoping that someone has emailed me in the last 30 seconds (my email is set to check every 5 minutes - thats TOO LONG WHEN I AM PROCRASTINATING! But too distracting if I am working, so I leave it at that.)

7. Made sure that I am ONLINE on all my IM software so that someone will rescue me, even though I really should be working.

Ugh, I hate days like this.

I have had a few exciting projects this week, but the main one that I want to tell people about is the new website for Justine Ungaro, an awesome photographer based in Los Angeles. She has been really sweet throughout the whole process, and it is clients like her that remind me why I gave up that public service career.

click above to visit the site

I have also done a little bit of tweaking of the main part of this site. Yes, I know, the purists and pedants among you will gasp at the thought of a different design for every page, but for me, it seemed like a nice way to showcase my design ability. Yes, its a little lazy with tables and such, but hey, sometimes, tables just work. So meh

Also, because I tend to get all creative with designs all the time, if I feel the urge to redesign something or try a new colour scheme, instead of doing my whole website now I can do a page. Yeah, it breaks rules, yeah, I know, blah blah, but hey…it’s fun, right?

ummm, not much else that I can divulge at this very second, have been doing a fair bit of Lisa stuff and some other things that I hope to announce shortly, but it’s all loads of fun!

I have also been trying to fit in time to practise the piano and learn some new songs… but there just never seems to be enough time.

Oh, and Jules got a toddler bed. I am sad because my baby, right now, is sleeping in a big boy’s bed.

I got an email from my friend, Former President James Taylor this morning that said:

Hey Téa, just had to share…

I’m disappointed that Trevor didn’t include the screen cap in the lecture notes (I think he respects your IP ;P), but go to page 11 of this PDF and check the references.

We had a look at online writing in Journalism class the other night and, for an example of a personal blog, what came up on the big screen in the lecture theatre but ‘Trash Talk with Tealou’.

I laughed heartily

Just letting you know that your inner most rantings now have even more academic merit

JT

The attached PDF, sure enough, referred to my website as an example. Holy Shit. It is so funny, and also weird, because I have also been copping some flak from my sister and her mates because I called her suburb shitholesville on my blog and they only just found out about it. Heh.

Its funny how you can go on a journey with a blog. It has chronicled some ups and downs, from moving house to having children, to being in the public service and wanting to glass the Town of Esperance in the face with the nearest bottle, to writing about Politics and world affairs, and the odd random quip between me and my equally insane soulmate.

I know it may sound strange, but its not often that my web life and my real life collide. I know it may sound funny when I make my living on the web, but really, it was always just this thing I do, representing my thoughts at the time, random observations about various things, and I have never actually thought that anyone read it, let alone putting it in a Journalism class.

I can think of maybe once or twice where something I have written in the heat of the moment has gotten me in hot water in the “real world”, like the time I upset the in-laws, and I think my mother reads occasionally… and a previous employer called it “Undergraduate but well written” (thanks Jeff!)… but its always just been a place where I let off steam, and a place where I attempt to log what life was like in my 20s. When my grandchildren google me one day, they will see that I was not always reliant on other people to wipe my arse (with the exception of this brief time), and was actually an ok human being.

I actually quite like that little bit of acknowledgment, particularly from a lecturer at my old University. And its not an ego thing, its not even out of a desire to share my stories, but just to have someone that is outside my immediate group in the blogosphere and circle of friends say “hey, look at this” - well, thats pretty cool.

It makes me think that I am kinda on the right track.

Even if my sister’s friends from Leda want to smash my face in for expressing myself, so what? Nothing they write will ever be used in a University classroom. So there.

And Leda IS a shithole.

I am in 2 minds at the moment. Part of me realises that I have been blogging for 5 years, and that it would be a shame to get rid of it. The other part of me thinks that unless I devote some decent time to it, I can’t see why I should keep this blog going.

As many of you may know, I have taken over The Spin Starts Here and turned it into a forum. I have also created a site called The Mother Load and am writing there pretty frequently. Then, I have my business, LinkArtist, which is in desperate need of a redesign.

And it makes me wonder what the future of this site is. Between all three areas, I have a pretty decent amount of web space to vent my spleen, and I am thinking that I might retire this blog. I will keep the domain and will redirect it to LinkArtist (which I hope to incorporate more into) and, I don’t know — I guess I am just a bit over committed.

I think that maybe I should move onward and upward — and if you want to follow, you are more than welcome to!

I am going to think about it for a little while longer — things are just so hectic that I cannot maintain my own blog (which is likely to just become copy & paste jobs from my other sites anyway).

Thoughts?