Trying to Get Things Done

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I have always had a knack for helping people get things done.  Not because I did it for them or had some specialized knowledge or insight, but by helping them figure out how to accomplish the goal.  The organization, planning and action steps to execute.  For example, my youngest sibling talked for years about a desire to move to Seattle, WA.  A move in general can be daunting, but moving to a city you have never visited before on the complete opposite coast from where you currently reside is especially daunting.

We were talking one day and his desire to move to Seattle came up again and I asked him what was stopping him from making that a reality.  He told me that he didn’t really know where to start and how to make it happen.  It just was something he had always wanted to do and dreamed of, but it was also something he wasn’t sure could ever happen.  I told him that if he was serious about making the move, I would help him make it happen.  I could help him get this thing done.

I started by figuring out what all the needs were to make a move happen, and I created a six-month plan of execution.  For six months I gave him weekly “homework” assignments that included research, action steps to complete and a savings goals for the week.  By the end of the six months, he would be living in Seattle and would have a small cushion of savings to get him started.

It worked. He moved to Seattle and has been there now for about two years.

He’s not the only one that I have done something like this for.  I have a friend that told me I should start another business to help people get things done.  Actually his exact words were to help people do sh*t and get their life together. 🙂

So what’s the problem?

My problem is that while I seem to be able to help everyone else, I can’t seem to help myself.  Yup, Colleen the supreme planner, organizer and person with the laser focus, can’t help herself.  I know what I want.  I know what I want to do.  I know where I want to go.  I also know that I have been approaching it all with an ADD, unfocused and frenetic methodology.  I need to take the same steps that I use with everyone else and apply it to myself.

Step One:: Focus

I am easily distracted, primarily because I am ADD.  Although people with ADD have a difficult time focusing, we also have an amazing ability to laser focus in on something.  When we are laser focused, everything around us gets drowned out.  We actually can come across as rude, because if you try to distract an ADD person that is laser focused on something, they may be dismissive or scowl at you.  I’m the scowling type.  I’m not mad, it just can take me a few seconds to come out of the place I was in and refocus on you.  I am literally in a different world or space when I am laser focused on something.

In order to attempt to do any task, I have to be focused.  I had to learn how to trigger my laser focusing ability.  I call it one of my “super powers.”  If it’s easy for you to focus on a task, then you can skip on to the next step.  If focusing is difficult for you, but you are not ADD try a few of these tips:

  • Turn your devices on “do not disturb” or silent, but without vibrate. It is easy to be distracted by dings, beeps and other chimes and it can be difficult to ignore or resist the urge to check your device (phone, tablet, etc) every time you hear it.
  • Set specific interval times to check and respond to emails.  If you are running a digitally based business like I am, you get a lot of emails.  Checking and responding to emails takes time away from other tasks.  It can be tempting to stop what you are doing, read and respond every time you receive a notification that you have new mail.  I keep my notifications on, but you may want to turn them off and set a schedule to check your email.  It could be every other hour, at three specific points during the work day, or whatever works best for your needs.
  • Set your environment up for success by removing distractions.  If you need a quiet room, take out anything that makes noise.  If you need a specific temperature in the room, change the thermostat.  You get the picture.

If like me, you are ADD or ADHD, then you have the ability to laser focus.  Think about things that you do or activities that you engage in that you can be so focused on that when someone calls your name, you don’t hear them at first.  Also think about times that you were focused on something and felt confused, annoyed or frustrated when someone distracted you in some way.  See if you can find a correlation between the type of activity, actions or even environment (sounds, temperature, place, etc) when you were laser focused.  Finding the commonalities in those situations will help you find a “trigger.”  A trigger for me, is music.  I can laser focus on my work, when I play music.  I focus even more when that music matches my mood.  I have a friend that uses music to trigger her laser focus, but it has to be music without words.

Experiment and find what works best for you.

Step Two:: Work Backwards & Reverse Engineer the Goal

The way I approach a big project, goal or idea is to look at the overall picture and then break it down into pieces.  I think of it like building blocks or legos’ pieces.  You can put many pieces together to form an overall shape.  I look at my goal and try to figure out what pieces are needed to compose the shape (goal).  For me, the easiest way to do that is by just taking one step backward at a time.

For instance, with my brother I knew that to move, you have to have somewhere to go or move to.  I knew that he was moving to Seattle, but that was a bit too general.  He would need a place to stay once he made it to Seattle.  Figuring out lodging became the first step backward from the goal of moving to Seattle.  I wrote lodging down as a piece and then continued to work backwards.  Once I had worked all the way backwards down to his current living situation and location, I went back through the list of pieces and broke them down into smaller pieces.

With lodging, I determined that there were several other pieces that made up that one piece.  Location; where in Seattle would be ideal for him to live?  Cost; how much would it cost and what could he afford?

I continued to break the pieces down into smaller ones until I could not break them down any further.

Step Three:: Organize & Set a Timeline

The next step to get things done, was to take all of the pieces of the puzzle and organize them and set a timeline.  To a certain degree, the process of working backwards and figuring out those pieces had created umbrella categories that I could use to group pieces together under.  Lodging became an overall category that encompassed several pieces.  Transportation and Employment were a couple other categories that I organized pieces under.

For the timeline, I had to do a bit of which comes first, the chicken or the egg?  Elements of one category needed to be in place in order to accomplish goals in another category.  Based on this, I organized the categories in a sequential order and then applied it against my 6-month timeline.  I started with what needed to happen each month and then broke that down further into each week of that month.

Step Four:: Get Things Done

Once I had the timeline, creating the action steps to take was easy.  Because the pieces of the puzzle had been broken down into really small specific pieces, all I had to do was list out what needed to be done (the steps to take) for each week.

With my brother and his goal, I was the keeper of the complete plan and I only gave him pieces of it one week at a time to keep from overwhelming him.  I think that when it comes to myself and the goals I want to accomplish, I may be overwhelmed by having the complete picture.  I am creator, keeper, overseer and executer of the plan.  With my brother and others that I have helped, I am only the creator, keeper and overseer or; I am just the creator of the plan.

To be honest, maybe I need to use all of these steps to create a plan for me to better execute my goals.  As I was writing this post, I had an idea that I should probably take my plans and break them up into weekly or monthly homework assignments like I did for my brother.  I’m also thinking that I could probably separate them into Word documents and keep them in separate folders.  Then, maybe if I only look at one assignment at a time, I will not get overwhelmed by the full plan itself.  Yeah…who said writing wasn’t therapeutic?

I think I may have just solved or found a solution to my own problem!

Burnout Made Me Lazy

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Burnout made me lazy.  Here’s another admission; I suffered a bit of burnout at the end of 2014.  After things picked up and I started to make it out of the hard time I had been having with my business, I burned myself out.  I was juggling freelance work with an onsite contract assignment and when I ended that year on a bang, I was mentally and creatively pooped.

Financially, things were looking pretty good.  The contract assignment paid well and freelance work had picked up.  The two together were bringing in an income stream that I was pleased with.  Because I am pretty frugal and pretty particular on what I spend my money on, I was also able to save more money.  However, I had to be very rigid and disciplined with how I spent my time.  Time is something that we cannot make more of.  There are only 24 hours in a day and I had to maximize every waking hour in order to maintain both income streams.

As a creative, I need down moments to regenerate and dream new ideas.  It started to get a bit difficult to get inspired when inspiration time was scheduled and not something that happened organically.  Ready…set…go!  Brainstorm an awesome, creative idea now!  Yeah, no…not happening.

I thought I would be ready to return back to my blog by the end of that year, but no.  I was burned out and I decided to ease back on trying to get back to my writing and also to take on less freelance projects during the beginning of 2015.  January is usually pretty slow anyway so I figured it wouldn’t be a hard thing to do.  I once again stopped my marketing efforts and I allowed my burnout to make me super lazy.

Burnout made me lazy.  Because I had two income streams I severely slacked on one, my freelance design business, because I could fall back on the other.  I was still able to do the things I wanted, like travel, so I didn’t think it was too bad of a thing.  In fact I told myself that the rest and relaxation from going on vacation would rejuvenate me and I would return ready to dive in and jumpstart things.  Really, burnout made me lazy.  My return from each trip, never jumpstarted any serious motivation to “go hard” with my business.

Burnout made me lazy.  In previous years, I actively sought out freelance work.  I spent a considerable amount of time marketing myself, building connections and staying abreast on the latest marketing trends.  After the burnout, I stopped actively marketing, building and learning.  I still took on freelance work, but I didn’t actively seek it out.  Burnout made me too lazy to do so.

Now, I am trying to kick my laziness off of a cliff.  I have returned back to writing and actively marketing myself again.  I still do contract assignments, but I am only taking on short-term, part-time and remote work.  That’s giving me more time to focus on my freelance work and have those organic, inspiration periods of time.

Jumping back into things has shown me just how lazy I have become.  I am constantly trying to figure out how I was getting so much done/accomplished previously.  I didn’t even realize just how much I was doing until now.  I am not currently getting a quarter of the things I used to get done, done.  However, I know I will get there if I keep pushing and kicking lazy’s…fill in the blank.

Have you ever struggled with periods of laziness as an entrepreneur/business owner?  Has burnout ever made you lazy?

 

 

Cheap Graphic Designers vs. Expensive Graphic Designers

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Have you searched for a graphic designer, noticed a wide range in pricing and wondered why?  If you haven’t had much experience working with or a firm understanding of graphic design, you may feel that some designers are charging exorbitant fees.  Especially when you can find cheap graphic designers doing what seems to be the same type of work for a lot less.  I promise the vast majority of designers are not trying get over on you with what may seem to be “high” prices.

Today, I am going to attempt to explain why there is such a variance in pricing and few pros and cons to using graphic designers from each end of that spectrum.

What does it take to become a graphic designer?

To start off, what does it take to become a graphic designer?  I am often asked how I got into this field and if I went to school for it.  For me, the answer is yes.  I did go to school to become a graphic designer and I didn’t go to an “art school.”  My journey to becoming a graphic designer took me through a graphic design bachelor’s degree program at the University of Alabama, in Huntsville.  However higher ed, or “college” is not the only route one can take to becoming a graphic designer.  It  may be an easier route of entry into the field, but by no means the only way.

There are a host of very talented and successful graphic designers that are self-taught.  Some took classes in high school that gave them an introduction into the field, and others dabbled in it on the side and turned it into a full-fledged second career.

When it comes to pricing, experience is the biggest determiner.

The more experience a graphic designer has, the higher the cost to hire them.  This is because you are literally paying for access to their knowledge base, skill level and expertise.  On a corporate level or ad agency level, the same can be seen in graphic design salaries.  School is great, but seeing and learning how what I learned in school translates to the real world is an experience of its own.

There is no way that everything I know now, could have been learned in those 4 years of college.  From paper stocks; printing methods; translating print to digital applications; how marketing principles and advertising factor into design; down to the nitty gritty nuances of local, federal and international regulations for things like packaging design.  Add to that the fast and changing pace of technology, and you have to be living and breathing this field all the time to keep up.

I’ve seen a lot of great work come from newer and less experienced designers and there are some that I think are on track to have excellent careers.  I would recommend them in a heart beat to someone that may have a budget that’s smaller and I have referred work over to them.  However, I also have seen more rookie-type mistakes made that can completely be attributed to experience level. It doesn’t make them a bad designer, they’re just less experienced and the likelihood that they will continue to make mistakes of that nature are slim.  You learn from experience.

This is why salaries for graphic designers range in the same way you see pricing models and rates range with freelancers.

Full-time freelancer vs. A part-time freelancer

You will also see a variance in pricing in regards to whether or not the graphic designer you choose is a full-time freelancer or a part-time freelancer with a day job.  Let’s be honest, the financial revenue needs of the full-timer are probably going to be higher than that of the part-timer.  The part-timer with a day job has another source of income, the day job.  The full-timer has a day job as well…their full-time freelance business.

The part-timer can afford to charge below market prices because they can make up their income needs with their day job.  The full-timer has to charge at least average market prices (in relation to their skill level), because this is how they eat and earn a living.  It is their day job.

There are pros and cons to hiring each.  With the part-timer, you can potentially hire a more experienced designer at a lower rate.  However because they have to work around their full-time day job, they may have less time available to work on projects.  Their turn around times may be slower than that of a full-timer and because they have to be mindful of how much work they can actually take on and do, there may be a waiting period to start your project.

The full-timer may be more expensive, but you may also get quicker turn arounds and have better access to them for questions and concerns.

The proof is in the portfolio

Whether you choose a “cheap” graphic designer or an “expensive” graphic designer, make sure to really sift through their portfolio and don’t be afraid to ask them questions about it.  Unfortunately there are some not so great designers that lift the work of others and place it in their portfolio as their own. If you see a difference in the quality of work through out a graphic designer’s portfolio, it could be an indicator that this is the case.  Ask them to tell you more about that particular project.  If they cannot tell you why they went in the direction that they did and background about the project, it’s probably not a project they actually did.

If you are looking at the portfolio of a designer that is less experienced and you are seeing work done for large brands, don’t dismiss this work as being something they lifted from another designer.  It may be conceptual work done in school or as an exercise to build and broaden their portfolio; they are showcasing what they are capable of doing.  If you ask them about it, they should be able to defend the piece and tell you about the project’s background and why they went in the design direction that they did.  It is a good indicator of what kind of work they could do for you.

A more experienced designer may also have more recognizable brand’s in their portfolio and some may not.  However the majority of the portfolio, if not all of it, will contain real produced pieces.  These portfolio pieces will give you an idea of the type of experience they have and industries, methodologies and constraints they have worked within.

Choose what’s best for you and your budget.

At the end of the day, you have to choose the right designer for your needs and budget.  If your budget is small and your need is immediate, your choices are going to be a bit limited.  However, it doesn’t mean that you cannot still end up with a quality design product.  You may just have to make a few sacrifices with the amount of time it may take to achieve it, the number of revisions necessary and you may need to exercise a little more patience.  Almost every designer wants to please and make the client happy (within reason).  No designer wants to make a crappy design and less experienced designers want portfolio worthy work to showcase their skills.

If you want a more experienced graphic designer and have a medium-sized budget, someone that freelances on the side may be a good fit for you.  They will be more expensive than their less experienced counterparts, but they may be cheaper than someone of the same skill-level or higher that freelances on a full-time basis.  It may be a little harder to get on their docket and for them to take your project on though.  If you have a quick turn-around need, they may not be able to fit the bill.  Because they have a “day job,” they have less available time than someone that does it full-time.  If you can be flexible with your timeline and turn-around expectations, this may be a good fit for you.

For the more experienced graphic designers, you are going to need a reasonable budget because they are going to be more “expensive.”  Think of it in terms of hiring a lawyer.  You can get a “cheap” lawyer, fresh out of school and eager to please, to handle your case and they may do a good job.  However, the more experienced lawyer that has handled hundreds of cases like yours may get you a better result.  There is a lot of knowledge gained with years of experience.  They have been tested and proven by every client before you.  The same is true for graphic designers.  If funding is an issue for you, ask if there are payment options available.  If the designer accepts online payments and credit/debit cards through Paypal, you can apply for a line of credit with Paypal.  It will pay the designer and allow you to make payments.

For all three:  the entry-level designer; mid-level designer; and senior-level designer, you can get good work.  Use your budget needs, their portfolio credit and client testimonies to make a decision on the best fit for you.  Hopefully, after reading this super long (sorry) post you have a better understanding on why some graphic designers are cheaper than others and what this can mean for you.

looking for a small business loan

Looking for a Small Business Loan?

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So it seems I may have inadvertently started a series (of posts) centering around what was going on when I went missing from my blog for a year.  I promise there are happy endings and learning lessons wrapped up in all of these posts. 🙂

When things got tough with my business, I started to pour more effort into some side projects that were still in the construction phase.  One of my side projects was an online store.  I have always wanted to create products based on my illustrations, artwork, photography and quirky sayings, but I hit a bit of a funding snag when things got super slow with my design business.  This lead me to start looking for a small business loan.

My original plan was to bootstrap the online store concept with funds from my design business.  To be completely honest, the idea for the store and for different product designs came about long before I actually tried to launch the concept.  The tough times that I was experiencing with my business served as a catalyst to try to bring the ideas to fruition.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.

While I would have preferred to self-fund the store myself, I just didn’t have the cash flow needed to launch in a short period of time.  Instead, I decided to try financing with a small business loan.

The biggest expense I faced with launching the store was trying out different print vendors with my designs.  I needed to purchase samples.  I needed to see who had the best quality and which designs worked best for printing.  This required money.

Looking for a Small Business Loan

The first thing I did was to turn to “the Google.”  I did a search for small business loans and a familiar name popped up…Kabbage.

A friend of mine that is an eBay and etsy store owner had told me about Kabbage a year earlier.  He had used their site to get a small business loan to purchase inventory and supplies for his business.  The way he explained it was that it was an easy process to qualify for funds and easy to pay back.

Before I clicked on the link to check out Kabbage, I called my friend to make sure they were still a legit source for him.  I also wanted to make sure that in the year since he had first told me about them, his experience was still favorable.  He told me he did still occasionally use the site and that he still felt it to be a good alternative to going to the bank.

So I went back to “the Google” and I clicked the link.

The process to sign-up was pretty easy and because my design business uses Paypal as a payment processor, it was easy for Kabbage to analyze my revenue.  I honestly can’t remember if it took a few minutes or a few days to determine how much I qualified for and I don’t want to lie by trying to venture a guess.  I do remember that it was a very easy process and once I knew how much I qualified for, gaining access to funds was immediate.

I ended up qualifying for more than I actually needed and I liked that Kabbage did not force me to take that entire amount.  I submitted the amount that I wanted to “withdraw” from the approved amount, and they gave me a list of terms and a time period to repay the funds.  I was given specific dates and amounts that would be withdrawn from the Paypal account that I had linked to Kabbage.  Once I gave my agreement/acceptance, the funds were immediately made available within that Paypal account.  This allowed me to use those funds right away.

Another bonus or thing that I really liked about Kabbage was that there was no penalty for repaying the loan early.  At any time, I could go in and submit a payment for any amount.  It would post to the principal and reduce the amount I owed on the next payment.  I paid my loan off prior to the term limit (6 months) for the original amount.  I did go back about a month later to withdraw some more money to cover advertising for the new store.

It has been a little less than a year since I last used Kabbage, but if I needed funding for my business again, I would definitely use them.  Since that time, I received a notification that the amount I qualify for has increased.  Although I don’t need it now, it’s good to know! 😉

If you are a digital or online business and you are looking for a small business loan, I would definitely recommend Kabbage.  Like with any loan, you do have to pay it back and in a timely fashion.  So if this is something you struggle with, I think you should put your idea on hold.  If you can handle making payments, or just need an advance on funds, Kabbage may be what you are looking for in a small business loan.

I would like to note, that my experience with Kabbage is my experience and was favorable to me.  I also would like to note, that I am not being paid to write about my experience, although I was encouraged to do so by a Kabbage rep for a campaign they are doing to get the word out about their services.  With that said, no compensation has been given, no promises of exposure and no affiliate links appear in this post.  Just my two cents. 🙂

How I made it through a tough time with my business

How I Made it Through a Tough Time with My Business

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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!