How I Made it Through a Tough Time with My Business

So last week I announced that I was back from my hiatus and that there had been a myriad of reasons for my absence.  Over the next few weeks or so, I plan to write about some of those reasons that held me back and caused me to take a break from writing.  One reason wasn’t so much a cause, rather a hindrance and stressor that prevented me from writing.  I was experiencing a bit of a tough time with my business.

Prior to my return, my last posting was back in the fall of 2014, September to be precise.  2014 overall for me was a funky year from a business perspective.  I came off of 2013 on a bit of a high.  I saw a significant increase in revenue compared to the previous year and I was on track with my 5-year goal with my business.  I had high hopes and projections for 2014 and I was eager to start the year off.

That year sucked.

The year started off slowly, but that was expected.  I had gotten used to knowing when my high and low seasons were.  Typically the latter part of fall, through the beginning of winter is slow for me.  My busy periods typically are in the spring, the latter part of summer and the very beginning of fall.  My goals have always centered around capitalizing on those periods of time.

So when spring rolled in and rolled right back out without even half of the revenue that I normally would see, I got a bit concerned.  By the time I limped through summer, I was almost in a panic.  Fall was right around the corner and I saw it as my last opportunity and hoorah for the year, but the landscape was bleak.

No new clients, no new projects, and very few inquiries.  It was a tough time.

Prospecting for New Clients

I knew I needed to be more proactive than I had been to get some work to come in.  I had so much work come in during my busy seasons the previous year, that I think I got comfortable.  I stopped working to get work.  I had apparently subscribed to the thought that if I do nothing, they will come.  They, meaning projects and new clients.

So the first thing I did was try to figure out how to get new clients and work.  I turned to a fellow designer friend/mentor and asked the age old question: “How do you get new clients?”  He told me that he targets warm leads, instead of cold calls and pitches.  Basically he looks around locally and identifies businesses that are advertising in some capacity, but may not have very attractive ads/graphics.

He then calls or drops in to see if he can briefly speak with the business owner about their marketing and graphic design needs.  They are a warm lead because they have advertising dollars to spend and are spending it.  The pitch is to get them to stretch those dollars further with better concepts and designs, by spending it with him.  They are going to spend those dollars anyway, why not spend it on better visuals?

Because I am such an introvert, this was a little bit harder for me to do.  So I adapted his method to work for my introversion.  I had a bit more success by targeting businesses that were advertising or targeting digital channels like social media and blogs.

Another thing he suggested that I do was to pitch local agencies for overflow work.  When agencies are busy and don’t have the manpower to cover all of their project needs, they turn to freelancers.

For this, I used LinkedIn.  I signed up for a 30-day trial pro account and used it to identify art directors, creative directors, and principals at local agencies.  I made connection requests and drafted my pitch letter.  I pitched myself for their overflow work needs via the InMail feature and directly through email.

While I didn’t get any immediate work from doing this, I did receive quite a few responses and promises to be put in their databases for those times.

Gigging

A lot of agencies and corporate in-house creative departments turn to creative staffing agencies to staff their immediate short-term and long-term needs.  There are several local to me and contract gigs are something that I have done in the past.  My next step was to sign-up online for all of them.

Gigging would provide me with immediate revenue and I knew that if I could do short-term or part-time gigs, I would still be able to handle my freelance projects and clients.  It would also give me an opportunity to work with more recognizable agencies and brands.

Within about a month of signing up with every creative staffing agency in town, I landed a short-term gig at a large, reputable PR firm in a posh part of town (Porter-Novelli) and then an open-ended gig as a Jr. Art Director at a well established, Fortune 500 company (NCR Corporation).

Tough Time Take-Away

While tough times lead to immense stress and financial strain, I am actually glad that those tough times happened.  I learned a lot of things.  For one, never get lazy or too comfortable.  I always need to be marketing myself in some capacity, even when the work is rolling in endless streams.

I learned adaptability in taking something that worked well for someone else and adapting it in a way to work for me.  I also learned some new sales skills, copywriting for conversions and sales, and a better way to use LinkedIn for my business.

I also learned how isolating my freelance life, coupled with my introversion had made me.  It was kind of nice to see something other than my four walls in my home office and to have actual human coworkers and not just my dog.

By the time the winter of 2015 rolled in, I was back on top.  I was no longer panicked about revenue or watching my savings deplete.  I was actually seeing them increase.  I was also no longer scrambling for clients and projects.  I actually ended up turning a few down that I was really interested in and referring them to some of my freelancer friends, because I didn’t have the bandwidth to take them on.

About two thirds of 2014 sucked, but that last third turned out pretty awesome and it has continued to be awesome through this year, 2015.

Have you had to take measures to get through a tough time with your business?   What were some strategies you used to get through them?  Share your experiences below!