Communicating Long-Form

I make stuff: illustrations, design and occasionally kids.A few projects: Be Creative Be Kind • VeronicaMakes

[vdomeier]

LEARNING: Do Designers Need A Degree?

We are all aware, we don’t need to attend school to learn. Learning can take place anywhere and we should be learning all the time, it simply takes form as an interest in something. The act of creating with your hands, learning VR or honing your skills in the kitchen. None of these requires a formal education.

The idea of our education system is shifting and has for some time now. I think education in general, exist in an extremely broken system, in order to earn your degree from a University, you literally have to mortgage your life. Many rake up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, all for what? A piece of paper that doesn’t guarantee you a job of any kind, much less one in your chosen field. I’m reminded of the word of Good Will Hunting “you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a fuckin’ education you coulda' got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the Public Library.”

There is so much truth to that, especially in today’s technology-driven world. A world were kids anywhere are learning viable skills by simply “tinkering” with their gadgets at home, for fun. Of course, I am very aware this does not apply to every field, and for good reason; I want my doctors to have the required education to practice medicine. If I ever need a lawyer, I want them to know the actual law and I want licensed engineers to build all the buildings, air crafts and bridges we use daily without giving a second thought to whether or not they will hold. And while all this is true, I still don’t think one should have mortgage their lives to do it.

Dropping Out Of College

I grew up in a middle-class family and like most middle-class families, it was super important for my parents that I go to college. Neither one of them ever earned one, my mom was a stay at home wife/mom who graduated high school with a GED and my dad  had only one semester of college under his belt before he landed a job as a deckhand in the oil field when I was three. He made good money, but it was hard manual labor and he had to spend the equivalent of half the year away from us in order to do so.

Like most parents, they wanted more for me. The problem was I never saw myself needing to go to college. I wanted to be an artist. That was my passion, my calling. Then when I was a junior in high school I discovered an occupation that changed my life forever. Tucked away from the main buildings of campus were some larger more studio like buildings with classes that I had no idea the school even offered as electives.

The field of Communication Design was introduced to me and I was in love. I was introduced to a Mac for the first time: an Apple II in all its beige, boxy glory, loaded with photoshop 2.0 and it was magical. I spent the next two years immersing myself in the world of intellectual conceptualization. I was introduced to a very gestalt way of thinking, it wasn’t about making things look pretty at all it was about the meaning behind it. The creation of visual elements and the principles that shape them.

After graduation, I attended a local community college.  As a middle-class family, we didn’t have money laying around for college and my parents were never in a position to save up for my college education. Community college was the smart option and as it later turned out the best choice I could have made.  

The classes were small enough that we had lectures and lab in the same room; something I would learn later would make all the difference, and our instructors were actual working designers some freelance and some who worked for agencies.

I was a part of a program called the two for two program. You spend your first two years at a local community college before moving on to a university for your remaining two years and finally a degree. What I didn’t realize about the smaller classes in community college is that we were getting a hands-on first-rate learning experience. We all had computers in front of us, even the instructor had a Mac attached to one of those projection systems. So that what every they did on their computers we could actually see and follow along on our computers. This was more invaluable than I realized at the time.   We were also taught the fine art of ‘constructive’ critique.

I remember thinking man, if I can’t wait to get to university I can only image how much more I’ll be learning.

I could not have been more wrong.

While the classes were surprisingly not much larger the only real difference was lecture and critique happened outside of the computer lab. Which also meant there was no instructor showing you how the software worked. Instead, that was left up to whichever student aid happened to be in the lab at the time and they were usually too immersed in their own projects to bother to look up from their screens.  

After the first critique, I knew I was left feeling both advanced  in my knowledge of Photoshop and disappointed that at a Junior level they knew so little. The project was to create a composite image using three separate items to convey a story within a single image.

Of a list that was handed around, I chose alcoholism. I took three separate images, one of a bottle, one of a person and one of water in motion. I developed them and scanned them into photoshop where I proceeded to mask, skew, resize and weld the opacity slider like a boss. The following week I present my project for critique and I was stunned.

The majority of my critique wasn’t about my work at all, but rather ‘How’ I had achieved such a realistic piece. Most didn’t understand masking and even fewer had ever heard of the opacity tool. Here I was in a University level Communication Design class imagining visual serendipitous knowledge of epic proportions being dropped on me and instead I was explaining things to my classmates I learned at a junior college.

The knowledge I gained in community college also allowed me to land a job working full time for print/design shop while attending my classes after work in the evenings. After the start of my second semester and seeing much of the same, to my extreme disappointment, I dropped out.

I saw no point in attending classes I could teach rather than learn anything new in craft, and I certainly didn’t want to pay university prices for a ‘top notch’ education I wasn’t receiving. My only regret was feeling like I had let down my parents.  

So was a college degree necessary for me? Not at all, I still don’t have one and no one has ever asked if I do. I certainly didn’t stop me from going freelance and running my own business. I walked away with $12,000 in debt a tiny number when you look at the average. I’m glad I attended community college, I learned much more in two years that would have been possible on my own. It also taught me how to communicate and explain my thought process behind my designs, that was invaluable and it afforded me the confidence in my abilities to land my first design job while still attending classes.

So while I believe as a designer/developer it is by no means critical that you attend college or earn a degree to be a good designer, I wouldn’t overlook the benefits of taking a few classes at your local community college just to get your feet wet, learn the in’s and out’s of the programs you will use most, and learn how to think about your design and discuss you thoughts on why that was the right choice for that project.

I believe the only reason people hiring designers or creatives, in general, ask for a degree is simply because they don’t understand the craft or the skills they should be looking for in designers. They don’t understand what makes a “good” designer or the questions they should be asking in an interview. So they follow the hiring practices of every other field and look for the achievement of a degree, unwittingly thinking this is what makes for a good designer.

But if any of them graduated from a University similar to the one I attended, even just briefly, I can tell you that will not be the case. That piece of paper does not make you a good designer; knowing every aspect of your craft, always learning and honing your skills, being able to communicate your thoughts to your clients and colleagues and being willing to take risks with your designs, that’s what starts to make you good.

[vdomeier]

My Biggest Freelance Client Mistakes

If you are a freelancer, contract designer or design consultant, I think it's safe to say that when most of us are starting out, we have no clue what were doing when it comes to dealing with clients on a one on one capacity. If you worked at an agency or in-house design team like I did you had an AE (account executive) or project manager to handle the one on one client meetings. They provided a buffer for all us designers to focus on the design rather than fielding clients emails and phone calls. However, once you become a one man/women design studio–client relations now falls on you.

The luxury of staying in your design bubble is gone and you are now entering the world of running a small business and directly handling clients needs yourself. It's not hard to learn how to read and navigate your client interactions, it's a learnt skill that you simply have not mastered, yet. It can be confusing and even frustrating in the beginning but I'm hoping that by sharing some of my biggest client mistakes with you, you will learn how to avoid the same mistakes. So here go...

Working without a contract

This is one you have probably heard a lot, and there are many different philosophies's on the subject but in my early days, when I hadn't yet learned to trust my gut about a shady client, using a contract would have saved me a lot of time, haggling and put more cash in my pocket. When you are just starting out learning how to navigate the tricky landscape that is the land of clients it can be overwhelming, which causes you to overlook a lot of little details.

The beauty of a contract is you can shape it any way you like, carefully laying out what the client can expect from you, the timeline of deliverables and the terms. This helps avoid any confusion later on as to what is to be handed over and what is not. It can also help to ensure your client adheres to the agreed upon a number of revisions (if this is not specified, it can be never ending), as well as keeping the client honest. It doesn't happen often, but occasionally a client will try to slip something in without paying the extra cost for it, then argue with you about why it should have been included.

As you learn to navigate this new world of client relations you will learn to trust your instincts about people and may be more comfortable and confident dealing with new clients without the need of a contract. I have my regular clients that I no long need to worry about contracts with, we have a long-standing relationship built on our trust of one another. Today I tend to use contracts less and less as the majority of my new clients come to me from existing clients who can vouch for them. I have learned to listen my gut, and to trust it more regularly and I can usually tell from our first meeting whether or not a contract needs to be put in place with a new client or not. Don't be afraid to a contract for your first year or two of freelancing. I wish I had implemented them from the beginning when I was just starting out.

Learn to screen your clients

Working with people can be tricky, working with people you don't know can be even trickier. While learning to read people takes practice and you will become better at it over time, there are a few things you can do early on to help you avoid working with that over demanding client that thinks you only work for them. Or that client who has no idea what they want, but they'll know it when they see it (4 months and hundreds of ideas later).

While it’s important to figure out what kinds of clients you want to work with, it’s more important to figure out what kind you don't want to work with. You can do this coming up with a few questions to ask them in your initial meeting. Here are a few of the questions I use and why:

 Do you hire freelancers regularly?

It's good to know if they have worked with freelancers in the past this tells me that they understand the process and require less hand-holding during the process. If they are new to the experience they will more than likely require a bit of design education in the process. How closely have you worked with your designers in the past?

This tells me if they are an overbearing client who will likely want to tell me how to design the project from start to finish without considering my suggestions or if they will be more trusting of my expertise. If you had to pick one, which is most important to you quality, price or speed?

This question is telling for many reasons if they are seeking quality (which I prefer) they are usually open to out of the box thinking and discovery. Price conscious clients usually mean they want the best design they can get for their price cap, and a client who just wants it done as fast as possible doesn't care much about the design at all, they are just looking for a filler design to have “something” to show and want it as cheap as possible. How often you need updates on project status?

If a client has been through the process before and understands the process takes time and the computer doesn’t just magically spit out a stellar design in a day. This helps me gauge whether or not they trust my skills and professionalism or if they think I'm just biding my time with freelance work until I can get a "real" job. Yes, I actually had someone say that to me.

What is the main purpose/goal of the project?

If the client can't tell you what the goal of their own project is and what they are trying to achieve, how are they going to tell you important information you need to know to give them the best design possible? If their main focus is targeting women who are new mothers, you need to know that or the design will be absolutely useless to your client. What does design mean to you? 

If they say something like "we just need to pretty it up" they have no business being in charge of a company design project, It happens; a lot. If they say something like, "we really want our customers to understand how to do XYZ or how our process works..." they have a much better understanding and I will have no trouble communicating with them about the decisions I've made with the design.

These are questions that I use in our initial conversation and it helps me decide if this is a client is a good fit for me to work with. Trust me when I tell you, there is nothing worst than working with a client who makes your job more difficult every step of the way, fight you on every decision. This will only make for a very long process that will more than likely result in the client ending up with a half-assed design that neither of you will be happy with.

Not Finding out the clients budget up front

You finally landed a meeting with that great client/company you’ve been looking for. Your excitement level is through the roof. In all the excitement at the possibilities, this may hold for you, you leave the meeting without knowing that all-important answer. What is the budget for this client/project and is it worth your time and effort? 

Budgets can be a tricky thing sometimes. I've had clients I really wanted to work with who had virtually no budget for what they needed. I've also had clients who have budgets for days but only want to spend a percentage of it. And then you have the clients I couldn’t get away from, in the beginning, the kind who were simply shopping around looking a bargain.

I know what your thinking, “But I hate talking about money”. I hated discussing money to, but here’s the thing –– if you want to be profitable and make a living from freelance work, money is a necessity and the quicker you get comfortable with discussing it the better off you will be. I always felt awkward about it and very unsure of what I should be charging, am I charging too little, or not enough? It was a conversation I was never comfortable with so if the client didn't mention a budget, I didn't ask.

I would go home excited about the prospect pour hours into my proposal to send back the client the next morning, only to receive an almost immediate response that said something like "That much?" After a few of these, it was clear the client wasn’t actually reading the proposal at all, they were just looking for that bottom line cost and it was more than they were willing to pay. 

I had to learn the hard way, some potential clients just don’t see the value in design no matter how much experience is behind it. They view it as a necessity to their business, because everyone else is doing it, rather than as an asset that can help shape their company or product.

While design, in general, is more appreciated today that it was a decade ago, thank in part to companies like Apple. Many people still don't see the true value in good design and will always expect to pay less than they should. Do yourself a favor, once the scope of the project is discussed, immediately follow up with a question about the budget. You will save yourself a lot of time and work if they are not willing to pay for what they are asking for.

Not discussing that the price is subject to change if the scope of work changes

This may seem like common sense, I know it did for me. If the client adds to the scope of work in the middle of an ongoing project; it seems natural that the cost of the project would also go up. But I can't tell you how many times a client, typical a new client, shoots me an email halfway through the project to add in one more set of icons, a banner ad, a flyer or whatever thing they just realized they were going to need and expecting the price to remain the same. They figure, well since you’re already doing the work, just add this in real quick, it’s no biggy. 

Only to get a phone call upon receiving the final invoice with a higher price than expected due to the extra work with a confused client as to why I am charging more, even though it’s listed in detail on the invoice. I've even been scrolled by a client for not making it clear that they would be charged "extra" for the extra work. I’ve lost out on a several hundred dollars for not making this clear up front and not wanting to get into a “thing” with the client about it. In the end, I sucked it up and took the loss because I felt like it was my responsibility for not communicating this to the client in the beginning or at the very least before I did the extra work.

After a few of these mishaps, I built this into my contracts making sure that the client knew, if the scope of work changed, they should also expect the price to change along with it. I don't think all these clients were ignorant about adding to the agreed upon workload resulting in a new price point. A few were just being sneaky and hoping to get some extra work done for free. Some just honestly didn’t understand the process, and some just understood and had no problem paying for the extra work. But you never know which kind of client you will end up with, so it’s best to cover your bases up front.

Don't become too available to your clients

I know this sounds like the opposite advice you should be hearing, but Being too available for your clients can cause a lot of unnecessary problems. You should absolutely take care of your clients and communicate with them throughout the project. What I’m talking about goes beyond the normal client communications. Let me explain...

In the beginning, I wanted my clients to know they could reach me at any time, and while most didn't abuse this rule a few did. I would get sent an email at 10 o'clock at night and because I wasn't at my computer or had my email shut off so I so focus on work I didn't answer it. This would be followed by a panicked text saying something like "Are you there?????" followed by "I sent you an email, can you check it and get back me!!!!!" and god forbid I was sleeping because the unanswered texts were quickly followed by a phone call with the client upset that I didn't respond to their prior attempts. If it was actually a project emergency that was time sensitive I understand, but a client feeling the need to bombard me with their "ideas" at all hours of the night is not ok.

I have a family and other responsibilities that require my attention outside of work. In this case, the client just didn't get it. I had several conversations with them about appropriate hours to contact me regarding the project, sent several emails of a schedule and nothing phased them. I finally had to flat out tell them, if they wanted my undivided attention day and night 24/7 I would require a retainer fee of five-thousand dollars a month and sent them a contract. The ridiculous around the clock communication stopped promptly after that.

It's important to set times and guidelines for client communication from the very beginning. Do wait until you get the client that thinks you work solely for them and they have the right to bother you whenever they want to.

Not discussing how important it is for the client to stick to the schedule

We all know how important it is to stick to the schedule agreed upon my the client, in order for the client to launch their product or service on time. It's also something clients worry about a lot when hiring you. "Can you make it happen by this deadline?" But just as important, maybe even more important is discussing with the client the importance of their timeliness on delivering copy, revisions, images or any other elements needed for you to hit your deadline.

I once had a client I worked with regularly, however, my usual contact was out on vacation at the start of the project.  I was assured the person stepping in was up to the task to get the project started in order to meet the required deadline. I had designed this companies annual report for the past two years with no problems what so ever, always hitting my deadline early. I left my initial meeting with my new point of contact who would be looking over the first draft, with all the copy and photos I need to start the project. A week later I sent over the first rough draft to make sure we were heading in the right direction and for them to go over the copy once again. My contact was supposed to get me the revisions one week later. The week came and went. The following Monday I sent an email asking if the revisions were ready for me. Nothing. The following day, I called and was forced to leave a voice mail. Again, nothing. That Friday I sent another email explaining the importance of her sticking to the deadlines we discussed to keep the project on schedule.

The second week, I finally received the revisions and I was now a week behind schedule. The burden of making up time feel on me. I made the deadline but just barely as that same scenario played out a couple more times over the duration of the project, all falling on me to make up the lost time. This resulted in me handing in work, that was not my best effort. Looking back at that report, all the things I could have done better immediately pop out at me.

You don’t have to go about these process the way I did, but the questions are important to ask. Find your own way to work them into client meetings or questionnaires. In the beginning, I felt like I was being too picky by asking such specific questions, but during the process, I realized it helps me to better understand my client's individual needs and wants without guessing and getting it wrong. And at the end of the day, it’s about doing what’s best for your client and the project.

I hope these were helpful to you and if you have any questions get in touch with me on Twitter @hellodomeier

[vdomeier]

LISTEN. Finding New Clients Is Really Not That Hard.

I get asked this question a lot from designers, freelancers and just people in general when the topic of ‘work’ comes up; “How do you find your clients?”.

Yes, starting out in the world of freelancing is hard. But the truth is; clients really aren’t that hard to come by once you have a few in your arsenal. I started freelancing while I still had a full-time in-house design job. When I decided to quit that job and make the leap into freelancing full-time I had a handful of clients I was already doing work for from time to time on the side.

I reached out and asked if any of them could us me on a full-time basis and most said yes. One of which became my bread and butter client; I wrote a bit about this here, you should read it if you’re just starting out in freelance. In my decade of freelancing I have never paid for marketing or advertising of any kind. 98% of my clients have come to me through word of mouth and the other 2% has been through Dribbble.

There really is no better marketing method than word of mouth. If people trust you enough to recommend you to their colleagues and friends, it’s the biggest stamp of approval you can ask for. Think about it, when we need to find someone to fix our A/C or plumbing, what’s the first thing we tend to do? Ask our family, friends and even social media channels if they have any recommendations.

Why word of mouth is so effective.

It’s coming from a real person who has more than likely had an interaction with you.

They can share how you helped them solve their design problems/needs

They can vouch for your work ethic. How you meet the deadline and went above and beyond to make sure something happened.

People are more willing to trust the recommendation of a friend or colleague over an ad.

So How does it work? I’m going to share my secret with you, are you ready? Take care of your clients. That’s it, super simple.

Once you have a client or two you’re in the club. It doesn’t matter how big or small they are, every client counts from here on, so take good care of them. As a freelancer just starting out, you will make mistakes. You will undercharge and over promise way more than you can deliver on your own. You might even spread yourself too thin by taking on way to many jobs than you have the time for. Here are a few basic rules to follow when it comes to taking care of your client:

Always deliver what you promised

Whether you over promised or undercharged, it is Never The Clients Faults. Never, ever punish a client for your mistakes. Always deliver what was promised no matter what. Even if you only end up getting paid half of what you should have, you made an agreement so stick to it and chalk it up as a learning lesson. I promise you won’t make it again.

Be Honest

I get it, when it comes to discussions about money, you would rather be doing anything else. But being honest up front is best for both you and your client. Know why you are charging what you are and explain it to them when they ask. And if you undercharged because you didn’t realize the amount of work that would go into it, let them know once the project is over. Own your mistake, they’ll appreciate it and it makes you look good for honoring the original deal.

Communicate

If you are going to be late to meet a deadline because it was a bigger project than you were anticipating; or you overbooked yourself, let them know immediately. Apologize and do your best to hit the deadline. This is never fun and a bit embarrassing, but it happens. Being honest and upfront about it is always better than just vanishing into the ethos. Nothing is more frustrating for a client to be left hanging not knowing what’s going on with their project. This is the best way to ruin your reputation.

The biggest lesson I have learned about working with clients is if you take care of them, they will take care of you. They need you just as much as you need them so take the time to build the relationship.

And don’t worry about landing a fortune 500 client right out of the gate, work your way up, build your reputation and they might just be coming to you. Remember you are running a business, no one is more accountable to your clients than you are.

I would love to hear any questions or comments you have on this, so hit me up on Twitter @hellodomeier anytime.

NEXT Week: Picking The Right Clients To Work With.

[vdomeier]

On Freelancing Guidelines

There is no doubt there are many perks to being a freelancer, one of the best is the ability to set a flexible schedule. And, yet one of the hardest things about freelancing is setting a schedule that works for you. Making this new found freedom both a blessing and a curse.

There is no right or wrong way to freelance, but you have to be willing to find a schedule that works for you and a reasonable one that works for your clients as well. So while sleeping all day and not being available until 9pm probably isn’t the best strategy, you can definitely build in some guidelines. A set of rules that keep you working at your peak performance while also keeping you available to the client. After a decade of freelancing and working closely with clients, I have slowly built up a set of my own guidelines which allow me to be my most productive. This is great not only for me but for my client as well.

When I started freelancing I didn’t give much thought to the many, many hats I would have to wear or the endless amounts of administrative work I would have to find time for, but over the years I have put together a list of parameters that help me make the most of my time.

This is Not meant to be a “How To” be more productive, find your flow or any other jargon-filled post. It’s simply a small peek into how I work and to hopefully help you find what works best for you. With that in mind, here are my guidelines.

1. Only Check Email Twice A Day

Let’s face it, email is a time suck. It shifts our focus and distracts us from our more important tasks. If a client is emailing you, it’s honestly Not that important and can usually wait. The thing I like to tell my clients is, “if I’m spending my day checking email to see if you sent me any thoughts or questions about the project, I’m not 100% focused on the work you’re paying me to do.” This always gets their attention and puts focus on the most important part, the work.

I believe the bulk of project discussion should take place at the beginning of the project and always in person.

I also explain that this does not mean they can’t email me or that I don’t respond to my email, it just means don’t expect a response in five minutes. I let them know that I typically check my email around 11am (so if they need an answer by lunch, they get it) and between 3-4pm. So if they send me an email at 5pm before they leave for the night, they know not to expect a response until the next day before lunch. This makes things so much easier, they aren’t worried that I didn’t get it and I’m not fielding panicked text messages all evening long. (I treat client text the same way)

2. Have An Emergency Protocol In Place

This is set for actual client/project emergencies. Let’s say you send the final files over to the printer, the press is inked up and ready to go but the file is corrupt. That is an emergency. For these types of things I have instructed the client call me immediately.

This does two things. Thing one; it keeps the client from wanting to call me to run every thought and idea past me. While I love client discussions, some clients can be overly excited and want to share every thought they have on a project. This is very distracting when you’re actually trying to get work done. Plus they can sometimes muck up the process, by putting too much thought into it and end up derailing the direction of the project altogether.

Email and text messages usual help to add a buffer in this area. If a client emails me with an idea (not previously discussed), by the time I get around to reading it, I usually have another email already waiting for me to say Disregard the previous email. Great! Moving on.

Thing two; it ensures that I know, if a client is calling me, it’s important and I need to stop what I'm doing and take the call.

3. My Mornings Are Sacred

After several years of full-time freelancing, I have learned that I get my most focused work done in the mornings. On a really good morning, I can accomplish everything I need to for that day.  But over all my writing is more focus, my sketches are more complete and I am able to tackle problems much easier. I struggle to find that same flow in after lunch.

For me this means, I don’t schedule any morning meetings that are necessary and can very easily wait until the afternoon. The same goes for conference calls or Skype calls. And absolutely no morning deadlines, if a client needs a project ready to ship on a particular morning my self-imposed deadline is the night before.

4. Block Time For Clients

I love working with clients, and I’m always happy to help or meet with them to discuss any questions or concerns they may have. But unless it’s an absolute emergency it must be scheduled. The same goes for phone calls to discuss how a project is going or go over any ideas or changes.

5. Mondays Are Admin Days

Over the years I have tried tackling the daunting task of weekly admin, making sure billing is done, miles are logged, contracts are signed and on and on. I have found Mondays just work best for me personally. After trying every other day of week (several times), Mondays seemed to be a more natural fit with my rhythm of working. Here’s why; first of all, I’m fresh off the weekend and ready to get back to work. Second, I’m never too far into design-mood to have to stop and lose my momentum to deal with paperwork.

This also means I only handle billing and contracts on Mondays as well, I picked up this tip from Jessica Hische on her ruthlessness on handling admin work only on Mondays as well, which you should totally check out here.

By Tuesdays, I’m ready to hit the ground running with design and I love knowing that I don’t have to worry about squeezing in my weekly admin work into the cracks and crevasse of the week to get it done. This helps make the rest of my week much more relaxing.

The last thing is communication. I communicate all these points with my clients upfront, I even have it in writing. I am very honest about why I work the way I do and 98% of them are completely understanding and have no problem with it. I have found that the 2% that do have a problem with it fall in the control freak column and need to know I will be at their beck-and-call, day or night. These are clients I’m ok with leaving on the table for someone else to help. In my experience, these clients are never worth the money, you will always give much more than you will receive and they tend to be the hardest, please.

Don’t be afraid to set some guidelines of your own in place, it’s your business, you are allowed to run it the best way that works for you while still taking care of your clients. Remember there are no set rules and wasn’t that part of the draw to becoming a freelancer, to begin with?

Now go, don’t be afraid to set up your own guidelines. I’d love to hear what you come with. Reach out to me on Twitter @hellodomeier.

[vdomeier]

I’m Scared, I’m Struggling And I Don’t Know What I’m Doing

We are rarely so honest about the struggles we face when pursuing our projects. The road blocks, the self-inflicted distractions, those difficult moments that we don’t put out there for all the world to see because we’re afraid to look like failures, like imposters, or like fools. Perhaps part of the reason we don’t talk about it is because we don’t always recognize those moments while were deep in them.

We are quick to share our triumphs and successes, once all the hard work is done and we are quick to forget the multitude of hurdles we had to overcome to get there. Once we’ve crossed that finish line we tweet about it, post curated Instagram photos about the final product. But we only show the polished, finished product without ever mentioning the struggle it took to get there. The days of feeling like we have no idea what we are doing, the days of not getting out of your pajamas and binge watching House of Cards instead of doing actual work. The hours and days of procrastination between the real work. Those ugly, non-glamorous days no one post photos of.

The reality is we run into obstacles in pursuit of dreams all the time. Humps that we have to build up the momentum to get over them and move on to the next phase of actually getting work done. I have become a master at tricking myself into thinking I am actually “working” on the project, when instead I spend hours reading blog post about podcasting, wondering down the internet rabbit hole about podcasting equipment, how to start a podcast, how to edit a podcast and even the best times to publish a podcast. Don’t even get me started on the into music. I have spent an entire day listening to intro music, why?. Is the right intro music going to make or break my podcast? No.

Only the content and relatability of my subject will make or break it. But instead of focusing all my energy on the most important part of the entire project, I spend my day on something easy, something inconsequential, something that requires little of my focus but still “feels” like work and because it is related to what I'm supposed to be working on. Starting is easy, we are firing on all cylinders the ideas are flowing and we are more than eager to get going on our grand plan. It’s the middle no one every really discusses. The middle is when we start to doubt ourselves. Where we begin to question if our genius idea is really genius at all. The middle is where we run into the fear and doubt, that thing that keeps us from moving forward and making progress and we begin to question everything we were so sure about in the beginning. A huge part of my fear is speaking to an audience; not that I have any expectations that many will listen, but it will be out there and at some point someone will stumble across it and hear my words, my voice, and my personal thoughts.

Don’t get me wrong, talking is easy, we can talk for hours with our peers. We can sit around sipping on coffee or enjoying beers just chatting away. I can sit down with you face to face and talk about design, family, the world, this sorry excuse for a presidential election we’re currently in, and I can listen eagerly about your thoughts and ambitions without giving it a second thought and yet – sitting in front of a microphone I struggle to find my words. The moment the record button is pushed I become paralyzed, my mind that was just moments ago filled with thoughts, is now void. I feel foolish and not at all like myself, and that is exactly what I hear when I play it back. I hear the unnatural sputters; my voice tripping over my words trying to get them right. I am smacked in the face by all the Ums’, and awkward silences and I want to immediately delete it.

But I push on, I push myself over the hump of self-doubt and uncertainty and hope it all starts to come together on the other side. So yes, I am scared it won’t work out and the fruits of my labor will go unappreciated. I struggle to get to the finish line without veering too far off course for fear I will come out looking foolish and I still have no idea what I’m doing. But this is the hard part and if I can make it past the middle the end result might just surprise me.

So what are you struggling with? Tweet me @ronicadesign and let me know, seriously - I would love to hear from you.

[vdomeier]

Freelancers; Most Of Your Clients And Projects Won’t Be Cool Or Cutting Edge.

No one ever tells you when you’re starting out in freelancing that for the majority of freelancers, most of your clients won’t be the “cool” clients. You know the new high-profile start-ups, with the million dollar budgets, sexy products, and services. Nope. Your clients are more likely to be mom and pop business, or even well-known local companies, but national brands like Nike, FaceBook, or Canon - not likely.

Here’s the thing, the big fancy, cool clients are hard to come by and if you do end up on projects with a big client, it most likely won’t pay the bills forever. Once that project you were hired to help on is over, so is your contract. In other words, they will never be your bread and butter client. You know, the one that sends you work on regular basis, be it weekly or monthly. Your bread and butter client is that client you can rely on to keep you afloat. And the work these clients send your way may not be sexy. Sexy? Yes, you know the sleek, cool, cutting-edge client and projects we all want to work on. There’s nothing wrong with wanting the big shiny client, it’s certainly something to strive for, but so many fresh out of the gate freelancers get really disappointed when they haven’t landed that high profile client or project within the first year. The truth is, you may never get that client but that doesn’t make your other clients any less important, especially if their work is paying your bills and allowing you to work for yourself.

My first year freelancing my biggest client was an auctioneer company. The work was nothing fancy, and certainly nothing that ever went into my portfolio. But it was reliable and steady, they were actually the client that allowed me to take the leap into freelancing full-time. The work was far from sexy, but they were my most important client. Aside from steady work, they paid on time and paid very well, and when you're freelancing those are very important things. They checked a lot of boxes for me starting out and knowing I would have steady work coming in monthly, sometimes weekly; allowed me to focus my time on finding other clients and projects that were better suited to what I want to be working on. They allowed me the freedom to be pickier about the other projects I took on and to find the clients I really wanted to be working with.

Honestly, it was work that I could have done in my sleep and once I had my templates set up after the first couple of months the work went even faster. It was flowing text and placing images, there were even (brace yourself) bursts with things in them like; “sale” “closeout” “50% OFF”. The work was more desktop publishing than design but it paid the bills and accounted for 60% of my first years’ income and 30% of my second years’ income. These are the clients most designers don’t talk about. I will admit I didn’t talk about them on-line, I never mentioned them on twitter because I thought it would make me seem unworthy in the eyes of “other” designers, that I would somehow be seen as less or even unskilled for even having such a client. But because they were my bread and butter client, I was able to work with other clients I was really excited about as well as on projects that really put my skills to the test and gave me the opportunity to learn new skills. Having this freedom also allowed me to figure out what clients and projects I really enjoyed working with like; SAWS (San Antonio Water Systems), HoltCat, and LionForce just to name a few. 

So before you turn up your nose at simple design work that seems beneath your skill level, look at the bigger picture, what will that client truly allow you to do? What will that client afford you to do? Especially when you’re starting out, having that client you know will keep you going is huge. Not every client or project you take on has to go into your portfolio, I bet if you ask all the big names in design today if they include every project in their body of work, they will all tell you the same thing. No. 

[vdomeier]

I’m Starting A Podcast!

Crazy, I know. While I love listening to them I, myself have always been podcast averse, when it comes to starting one of my own. Not because I don’t have anything to say, but for many other reasons.

I really dislike the sound of my own voice on audio, I think it sounds weird.

I have no idea if this will even work or if anyone will tune in to listen.

It’s a commitment to add into an already packed schedule.

But I have to push through my own personal hang-ups. I’m doing this partially because this is way out of my comfort zone and I want to see if I can do it. Secondly, this is an idea I have been bouncing around in my head for quite some time now and it’s time to put up or shut up, so to speak. 

What On Earth Will The Podcast Be About?

The podcast is called: This Crazy-Awesome Journey and it will revolve around my challenges of being a freelance designer, working from home while simultaneously caring for my two young girls who are very active and both under five.    

This will be a solo podcast with no interviews or guest (similar to @pjvrs’s The Freelancer and @shawnblanc’s ShawnToday). It will be a short, weekly podcast of me exploring and sharing my honest thoughts, struggles, and triumphs from week to week on anything and everything related to this topic. I may also be asking questions as well as well as possible answering questions and thoughts from listeners.

Anyone with young kids knows how demanding they can be, and when you’re a stay-at-home-parent it’s 24/7. You need to get them dressed, feed, diapers checked regularly and even when they are a bit bigger and able to play on their own, they still want your undivided attention for every picture they draw, every jump, every twirl, and their needs are never ending. How in the world is one suppose to get anything that resembles work done?

It is a subject I have wanted to explore on deeper, level than just one or two blog posts that I have thought about writing. It’s a subject that not enough freelancing women with families talk about. The struggles, the crazy days, the days that actually go according to plan and the unexpended moments of pure joy. It was a subject I searched for tirelessly nearly four years ago as I was just starting down this road as a first-time mom.

All the full-time freelancers I knew of working from home while having a family under the same roof have all been men. And that's an amazing thing! I love hearing about dads who work from home to be more present and engaged with their families. But their situation wasn’t my situation, they had an advantage I didn't — they all have/had a full time stay at home wives taking care of their kids, keeping them occupied and making sure they are well cared for. Or they young, but school-aged kids who were out of the house learning for a good chunk of the day.

Who Is This Podcast For?

As you may have guessed by now, this podcast is for any freelancing/work from home parent just trying to figure it all out. While there are dozens upon dozen of parenting podcast out there offering tips and tricks on how to discipline, traveling with children, the best advice for new moms, old moms and mom and dad. This is none of those. I’m no expert and I don't have all the answers, but what I do have is actually being neck deep in it. I want to have an honest conversation with you about the realities of my situation because although now one is really talking about it, I know I can’t be alone in it. So my hope is that this will help you in some way and at the very least just to know that you are not alone in this journey and maybe it will just give you a good laugh or prepare you for your future family.

As with most families, there are no one-size fits all scenario, it’s all about helping each other to find what works for you and your unique family. Raising kids is never an easy “job” and we all have our own challenges.

If you are in this boat (or will be soon), I would love to hear from you! Tell me what you struggle with, what questions you have, or what topics in this realm you would like to hear about.

[vdomeier]

Why I Went To Epicurrence (But Almost Didn’t) And Why You Should Go Too...

I was lucky enough to attend the first Epicurrence - The Montues in March of this year, and to be honest, it’s just now settled in. This idea of a non-conference of like-minded creatives gathered to hang out, share stories and experiences, failures, success and our unencumbered personalities was like nothing else I have ever experienced in all my years as a designer.

But this article is not about that, mostly because I still can’t find the words to truly, completely convey the experience and also because so many others have already done a far better job at writing about the experience than I could, really you should read them here.

After experiencing Epicurrence for myself, this is the article I was hoping to write and with the announcement of Epicurrence No.4, in Moab, Utah - I’m so glad I get the opportunity! I don’t just want to discuss the financial aspect of the cost but the true cost of attending this Epic event. Because if we’re being honest, it’s not cheap by any means. The cost of Moab is $3,000 just to attend, which does not include the cost of travel or any  other expenses you may need; weather appropriate clothing, shoes or gear and that can add up quickly.  

I want to share with you why I almost passed up the event and why I’m so thankful that I didn’t.

THE INVITE

On the morning of February 6th I woke up to find my very own invite from Dann himself to attend his next big event, a new event called - The Montues. It would take place in Tahoe, CA in early March for three days of skiing, snowboarding, fireside chats and one of a kind, authentic talks. Not to mention the opportunity to meet some epic design heroes of mine up close and in person. Seeing the invite beaconing me to open it, my heart literally skipped a few beats - You see I had applied to the previous event in Park City, Utah and didn't make the cut. I would be totally lying if I said I wasn't bummed, so get this invite, I was beyond stoked.

Starring at that giant, blue link to accept my spot was like I was an overexcited 6-year-old on Christmas morning in awe of the “big” box under the tree that wasn’t there last night. Then I clicked and I felt like the wind had been taking out of my sails once I saw the cost. It would cost $2,000 to be a part of this epic adventure, and while it did include lodging at an Airbnb, it did not include travel, rental equipment or any winter gear I would need and since I live in Texas, I would need some gear. As much as I wanted to go it was not a decision that was made lightly. I would certainly have to discuss this with my husband before I could make any decisions. I knew the cost was high and I was already preparing myself to pass it up.

WHY I WANTED TO GO

If you have ever been to a conference, then you know most are talks from well know and influential leaders in our industry delivered to us from a stage where the speakers are just out of reach, while we sit behind our laptops and listen eagerly for any nuggets of knowledge, tips or anything that resonates with us personally. Conferences are set up to move at rabbit speed to keep things on track, leaving little room for fluid and natural conversation to happen. If you want to talk to someone, you have to seek them out, and they usually never alone which means if you don’t already know them, then your standing awkwardly behind them waiting for your chance to jump in and say ‘hi’, which is downright frighting and unnatural for an introvert like myself.

This event was the complete opposite, it revolved around adventure; getting outdoors and participating in activities together. A setting that not only allowed, but encouraged natural and meaningful conversations to happen. And there would lots of them, imagine having breakfast at the same table as Dan Mall (and his lovely wife) talking about the amazing snowfall happening outside and then some thoughts on design. Or heading out for some adventuring and having Marc Hemeon randomly cracking you up with some jokes along the way. It was a real opportunity to not only learn and get some real insight on design and working in design today, but also to really get to hang out with like-minded individuals. It all sounded so amazing (and it was).

THERE IS ALWAYS A REASON TO SAY NO

I think the biggest and easiest reason to say no to an event like this is the upfront cost. I remember seeing several tweets on during the Montues announcement about how expensive it is and how only certain people get in, and from the outside it’s easy to point out the obvious and what our own perception of the process is, but from the inside, it is very different. Here is a great podcast from Dann about the difficulties of planning these events, from the cost to the attendees and so much more on the Design Details Podcast. More recently, he also discusses it in his latest vlog. Check them out, they really help to give context to the cost and more.

Don’t get me wrong, money is a very important issue in any venture you take on. And if I’m being honest this was the first time we had a healthy savings account. But the Idea of using our family saving for something personal, that isn’t a necessity. It is a luxury for sure. And the cost was honestly my only real hesitation. While my husband and I make a good living, we aren’t extremely wealthy. There were plenty of more “reasonable” things for us to use that money for. We own house and, have a mortgage. What if something breaks down? What if something huge needs to be repaired? We also have two young girls under the age of five (cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching)! We also happen to be in the middle of replacing all the flooring in our home, knocking down a partial wall. Then there was timing to consider, my husband and I had also taken on the task of coaching our daughter's U4 soccer team and their practices and games to think about.

The more I thought about it, the more reasons I found to say No. It was becoming more and more obvious to me that I was going to have to pass on this amazing opportunity and I was seriously bummed about it. My husband, on the other hand, thought it was a no-brainer that I should go, he knew how excited I was just to get the invitation. And while I kept saying “what about the money! We’re in the middle of renovations.” “What about the girls, what about this, what about that?” The truth is, I had a hard time spending that money on myself. While spending a few thousand dollars on a family vacation is still painful, I have no problem spending it on my family. To show my girls the world and have fun family adventures to remember. Two grand to replace the nasty carpet and cheap laminate flooring for something nicer (and healthier) to improve our home - absolutely! Let’s do it!

Then he said something I didn’t expect or take into account, he said “yes, but this is an investment in YOU! Take it, I can't think of a better way to spend that money than investing it in my wife!" Whaaaa? I was speechless and the wind once again knocked out of my sails. He said it long overdue when I decided to take on staying at home with both girls and still trying to work when I can. Yes, I cried a little (ok, maybe a lot). But he was right while I love being a stay-at-home-work-from-home mom, it takes everything I have. I sacrifice my time, my work, my sleep, my hobbies, everything that makes me; as an individual. There are no sick days or days off. It’s 24/7 for rest of my life because you never stop being a parent. And while that is the job I willing signed up for, and on most days I’m happy to do - it’s still important to take time for yourself. Something I (and most moms I know) have a very hard time doing. And honestly, I genuinely needed some “me” time. I was feeling very stagnate and stuck creatively.

This was also going to push me very far out of my comfort-zone. I am without a doubt an honest to god introvert. it’s hard, even terrifying to have to walk up to a perfect stranger and start up a conversation. I can “fake” an outgoing personality for a little while, but how on earth was I going to willing put myself in the middle of 299 absolute strangers and mingle for three days? Again I was ready to say No to the event.

Once the money issue was no longer an obstacle, this started becoming my reason not to go. But I knew I would hate myself for chickening out so that became my whole reason for going. I wanted to push myself, I wanted to push my comfort level and not run away from an opportunity because I was to scared to take it. And it was the best decision I have made. If we aren’t pushing ourselves into trying the things that make us uncomfortable then we will never meet our true potentials.

IN THE END - IT JUST MADE SENSE

When you start to look a what you are willing to spend your hard earned money on throughout the year. You start to realize how quickly it adds up and if you saved for it or opted not by certain things the cost will balance out. For instance, I was considering attending another regular conference that was closer to home. So the fact that air travel wasn’t part of the equation I thought somehow it meant it was more affordable. But the closer I looked at the numbers it was still going to cost me a pretty penny. Once you start to factor in the cost of gas, parking, meals, and lodging - plus the cost of merely attending the conference itself, which was $1,500. You start to realize that for $500 more you will be in Tahoe. Snowboarding. Interacting will fellow designers face-to-face.

Once I started actually planning for the event, things started coming together much better than I thought. I was able to pull together enough miles to cover my flights (Thanks, Dad!) and got some great deals on skis pants and a pair of thermals. I was also able to borrow a ski jacket, goggles, and gloves. It became much more affordable. While the cost is a bit more than a regular conference - you also get so much more out of it (plus and epic swag bag to boot).

FINAL THOUGHTS

In the end, it was without a doubt the best decision and I will never regret going. The money I spent to attend can easily be rebuild into our savings, and most of it has. So,whatever your reason for not requesting/accepting an invite - I hope you will reconsider, I promise you will not regret it. It has fueled me to push myself into doing the things I was too afraid to even try before. It has given me the mental recharge I didn’t realize I needed. And I left having met and made some incredible new friends I would never have met otherwise. I left encouraged by hearing others struggles and knowing that I wasn’t alone, I left feeling hopeful for future of design and the design community. I left feeling inspired to do the things even if they fail.

There were so many highlights to this event I could probably write a book about the people, the adventures, and the conversations; but I won’t because what happens at Epicurrence, stays at Epicurrence safely tucked away in the Trust Tree. ;)  But one I can share was finally getting too meet and talk with Dann Petty who’s work I have admired for years. He has been an unofficial mentor for me during our interactions on Twitter for several years now. And sit down and talk like we were old friends was crazy-cool. We had a wonderful conversation about our families, work, trying to balance it all and how amazing the event was and the show The Big Bang Theory.

Dann has a unique vision for these events, to share his passions and inspire others creatively, mentally and emotionally. He has done just that, ten-fold. I will forever be grateful to him for pursuing this dream, and allowing me to become a part of this amazing family that is Epicurrence.

Side note: I ended up completely losing my voice the day before the event and I was once again ready to pass on putting myself in an uncomfortable situation. How was I going to communicate? How was I going to get to know anyone? I went anyway and it worked out great. Everyone was so kind to my situation and still went out of their way to include me in conversations and activities. Thank you Epicurrence family! So don’t be afraid or think you it would be impossible for you to attend no matter what your challenge might be, you will never be excluded from anything. 

[vdomeier]

Time Off Is Essential

Stepping away and taking time off, especially as you are gaining momentum is never easy and depending on who you talk too it’s downright foolish.

Yet, taking time off is also essential for new ideas, focus, and a little perspective. All the things I was looking for. You may or may not have noticed I have taken time off from posting to this blog, however, that does not mean I have been sitting around binge watching Hulu or Netflix shows; even if I wanted to I still have two kids to keep an eye on.

While I have still been writing daily, I’ve been writing more for me. The problem was I had lost my focus on the direction of my writing, and believe it or not I had too many ideas and thoughts I wanted to write about; from freelancing lessons and tips, design exploration, working from home with kids, my home life, education, productivity, habits and on and on. There was becoming no rhyme or reason for the topics of my writing - while some were very practical others were very personal. I wrote about whatever was on my mind that morning.

And while part of it was poor planning on my part, the other problem was I needed to figure out what I wanted the focus and direction of this blog to be. While Freelancing does consist of productivity, business, design, habits and working from home with kids; many of my pieces were getting way off track and veering towards non-related to freelancing at all and came across more as random thoughts or rants.

Yet I was feeling the pressure to post consistently; weekly, and I was finding it more and more difficult to find pieces I felt were consistent with what already existed on the site. Then I decided the best move was to take some time off. Step away and regain my bearings and write only for me.

This was a difficult thing to do, but it was the best discussion I could have made. It really took the pressure off “posting” and allowed me to find my direction in my own time while enjoying the every day of taking my kids for a walk, playing on the swings, reading lots of books or an impromptu road trip. 

Taking breaks is often necessary to help us focus and make room for new ideas. To get re-inspired without the added pressures to hustle at all cost, even if you don’t know what you are hustling towards. We are so afraid to take the time to let new and exciting ideas emerge on their own in quite and reflective moments that we try to fill every unused second with information, be it the internet, social media or video in order to force ideas to happen.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself if to step back and make sure you are heading in the direction you want to be going in; rather than pushing along until you end up at an unexpected cliff with no idea how you got there.  

[vdomeier]

Issue #013 of...

Welcome to a curation of links I enjoyed this week, and things I found Interesting or helpful. Ranging from design to anything I found worthy of a read.

Here we go, enjoy!

First we start off with a podcast on, Regaining the Momentum You Started Out With. Great podcast on remembering why you started doing what you had a passion for and how to get the momentum back. Inspiriting listen.

Second,“Make the Logo Bigger”: The Branding Sequel from Hell - As designers hearing this phrase is like nails on a chalkboard and it happens regularly. See how David Brier found the solution.

This next post really resonated with me; How I quit my smartphone addiction and really started living - As someone who tries to be conscious of my phone usage, especially around my kids this was an interesting piece to read on what it’s like to give up the mobile phone altogether.

Lastly, wondering what I’m up too? What I’m working on or listening to? Check out my Now page for low-down. What are you working on?

Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful, long weekend!

-Veronica

[vdomeier]

Bringing Back The Weekend Edition #012

We’re Back! It’s a New Year and a lot has been going on. I have also decided to revive The Weekend Edition; a curation of links I enjoyed this week, and things I found Interesting or helpful. Ranging from design to anything I found worthy of a read.

Here we go, enjoy!

First we start off with a very inspiring podcast interview with Havilah Cunnington by Shawn Blanc on a topic near and dear to my heart at the moment “On the show, we talk about how to do your best creative work when you’re also raising kids, how to build an audience, how to keep a healthy work and personal life, and more.” Listen to it here.

Second, this was a favorite for me this week as well; The Horrible Moment When We Stop - A great read on the importance of showing up every day, complacency and enjoying the little wins.

I started reading this four-part series on Elon Musk and his companies and it is fascinating! It’s a very well written piece and Elon Musk is such a fascinating person, seriously, give it a read. Part 1: Elon Musk: The World’s Raddest Man 

Lastly, since we last posted, my ‘Year of Less’ project had not yet launched. I am happy to say we are now several months into and it has been going pretty well. Feel free to catch up on what’s going on or just take a peek to see what it’s about here.

Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful (Super Bowl) weekend!

-Veronica

[vdomeier]

The Lure of Medium

Medium is a great platform. It’s beautiful in it’s simplicity, it’s ease of use and it’s design. It’s focus is on one thing and it does that thing extremely well. If you happen to live under a rock and don't know what Medium is, it’s a writing platform. It allows anyone, anywhere (with an internet connection) to share their writing. Every thing about this platform is simply, even the signing up, there is nothing to install and zero coding required. You don’t even have to have a domain or hosting provider.

There is no barrier to entry, you sign up using your existing Facebook or Twitter account and you’re in. It's that simple. I was lucky enough to get in early when you had to request an invite. And while I loved the idea of it then, I just didn’t use it. As great as the platform is, even then I was a bit skeptical, and I’ll explain why.

But for now, let’s talk about why it's so good. Over the last year, I have noticed Medium has gained quite a bit of traction in its users and reach. I have noticed more and more Medium links shoeing up in my twitter feed. Some really great content is being produced and shared on the platform.

Medium gives anyone who has something to say a platform to do it from, with zero start up cost and minimal investment in the time it takes to set up. However, there are no options for layout, color schemes or themes. You get what you get, and honestly it looks great. Clean, simple and easy to read across all devices. When you are reading an article on Medium, you know you’re on Medium. All of this Allows the user to spend the bulk of they’re time on the actually writing and crafting of their words without worrying about format.

Instant Audience

Aside from the easy to use editor, I the biggest draw to this platform is the audience reach. If you have never used Medium you may not realize that Medium has been crafted in a way that leverages your existing audience or followers from Facebook or Twitter, which ever you use to sign up.

It works like this, let's say you sign up with Twitter like I did. I choose Twitter because that is my social network of choice and I spend the bulk of my social media time there. I have 6,000+ followers on Twitter and because I signed up with my twitter handle it automatically populated followers for me.

Basically, anyone who is following me on Twitter and has a Medium account is automatically added as a follower to my Medium blog. No friend request or searching for people to follow, they completely take care of that for you and that is huge.

This was something that I had forgotten about until late last year when I decided to start re-sharing my original blog post on my Medium blog. I logged in to find that I already had 1.3K followers on my very dormant account.

No doubt posting to Medium gives you instant exposure to it’s millions of users and you are far more likely to get some interaction through Medium than you are on your own blog if you are not already a well established writer or blogger.

Medium was smart in doing this, they understand the power of instant gradifiaction it’s users get when publishing an article. They also facilitate this by helping distribute your post for you in a few ways. Your article could end up in the hand picked ‘Stories for you’ page of your site as well as in the ‘Top Stories’ section

The Argument for Publishing On YOUR Own BLOG

We’ve heard this argument over and over, “if you’re going to publish writing regular why wouldn’t you do it on your own blog?” And it’s a good argument. You give up a lot for the convince of a platform like Medium. When you build your own blog, you craft the expeirence. The look and feel of the site is a reflection of you, and of your style. You have control of the layout, the colors, and the branding. When someone visits your personal or business site there is no doubt that is your own site.  

And if you are spending all your time and effort into the craft of writing, whether you are a beginner or a professional, why wouldn’t you want them to do it while visiting your site? Maybe you offer a newsletter with better articles that they have to sign up for on your site. Maybe you sell an ebook or other products they might find interesting but it’s not translating on Medium and therefor they go un-noticed.

Last year, I started blogging regularly here, posting at least one article weekly now for the last six to seven months. While the process of writing regularly has been a great exercise and experience, it has also been a slow, cumbersome process of growing an audience, which is expected. And while I have gotten some interaction, comments, tweets and re-tweets all happening mostly through twitter, they have been few and far between.

Then back in October 2015, I decided to share my growing body of written work on Medium and BOOM! Instant interaction. I was quite honestly taken a back by it and couldn’t figure out what was happening.

Not only that but Why? Here I was, like most who start a blog toiling away posting regularly not getting much traction, which if you talk to or listen to anyone who has been blogging for a while and has to build up a pretty decent audience, will tell you; you have to show up for yourself first and put in, at least, two years of hard work before anyone is really going to care.

So why was sharing my work on another platform that wasn’t my own getting so much more traction in three days on Medium did than it did in over three months on my own blog.

A New Trend

I wasn't alone in noticing this trend either, Jonnie Hallman @destroytody  tweeted about this exact thing a few days later...

“Forever frustrated by how much exposure my @cushionapp posts get on Medium compared to my own blog.”

This peaked my interest. I wasn’t the only one this was happening to and it had nothing to do with me being a newbie into the blogging realm. I started to take note of who was sharing their work and where they were doing.

More and more of the design communities respectable authorities were also publishing their work on Medium. Smart, knowledgable people that I followed on twitter and subscribed to their personal blogs and newsletters, people like Dan Mall, Cameron Moll, Jacob Cass and Tobias van Schneider just to name a few off the top of my head.

Some either have really well-established blogs that they have been writing and sharing from for years or newsletters that they write and share to their email lists. But more and more well-established bloggers/designers/creatives have begun to re-posting their articles to Medium.

Then there are even a few like Signal v. Noise who have completely moved their very well established blog of like 15 years over to Medium entirely stating a few of the reasons why...

“First of all, the writing and formatting experience on Medium is just excellent. I’ve yet to find another web editor that makes it as easy to produce great looking articles. It’s just the right mix of flexibility and constraint.Writing on Medium is just beautiful.

Second, Medium has a wonderful community and readership that reaches far beyond our natural sphere of influence. Between just RECONSIDER andThe day I became a millionaire, I’ve had more than 500,000 people see those articles. We just weren’t getting those numbers hosting Signal v Noise on our own island.”

Many of the reasons we’ve already discussed plus they give a few more reasons in the article entitled, Signal v. Noise moves to Medium.

The Hack

Digging into this a bit further, it turns out this is nothing new. It is actually a ‘growth hack’ used by many established writers and bloggers to get their work out to a broader audience. They call it ‘cross-blogging’. There is even an article on it called “Why aren’t you cross-blogging on Medium?” by Chris Abrahms 

The opening paragraph of the article states this “I write to share my ideas and to build brand recognition, I don’t write for SEO or SEM.  What I want and need are eyeballs on my work — as many as possible…”

And it seems that’s what everyone is beginning to do as well, reposting their original content from their own sites and private (meaning you have to sign up first) newsletters to another platform to bring more exposure to their writing.

But here’s the down side, all those hearts, shares and comments don’t carry over to your blog. Your blog that’s full of your best work, in fact, your exposure on Medium rarely translates to new readers on your blog or even visits to your site. Sharing your article on Medium doesn’t gaurantee more sign ups for your newsletter.

All that traffic your article is generating isn’t being generated on your site, it’s being generated for Medium. You’re boosting their numbers and not your own.

Share It, But Beware

I’m not going to tell you not use Medium, it really is a great platform and there is nothing wrong with cross-blogging your work, as long as you have a home base to publish your content to and you understand that while more people are reading your post they won’t necessarely care to visit your site.

Instead, I will offer a bit of advice. Think about what you want to accomplish with your writing in the long-term. Is this just a place for you to write and share when the mood strikes? Meaning not very often. Or, is this a place where you plan on writing regularly and growing an audience?

If it’s the later put in the extra time and effort to set up a blog of your own instead of on a third-party platform. That doesn’t mean you can’t use Medium to amplify the reach of your existing content. But don’t let the power of instant gratification cloud your judgment. Don’t let a third-party platform be your only home on the web.

While I like Medium a lot, it is still a free, and therefor uncertain, platform. There is nothing keeping them from changing the rules on how you use it, on how and what you can share or who gets to see it. There is nothing stopping them from making the changes they need to keep the doors open. What if they need to start allowing ads into your post?

Remember Flickr (a FREE photo sharing platform), and their Creative Commons fiasco? As their numbers began to dwindle with the rise of Instagram they looked at ways to increase revenue for the app. In one of the first article about the announcement it read...

“The Yahoo-owned photo-sharing site has just announced that it will start selling prints of some 50 million Creative Commons-licensed images, but the photographers involved won't see any of the profits.” 

The CC license allowed people to re-use and re-post your images for free with credit to you the photographer. A great idea that they then tried to profit from, and legally I might add, until it blew up in their faces and it caused an uproar among it’s users.

While what they were trying to do was fully within their rights under the law, that didn’t make it a smart move, and if the community hadn’t pushed back the way they did, they would still be selling others work and reaping all the profits.

Medium, Is A Tool

Medium is a tool, and we should us it as such. Us it as an extension to further share your work, not as your only platform to build an audience and house your main body of work.

The lure of Medium plays off our need for instant gratification,   our need to hit publish and have it reach hundreds of thousands of people in a day and produce a steady flow of likes and shares. I’m guilty of this myself. Its a good feeling to know that people like what I am writing or that they can relate to it in some way.

But the likes and shares are fleeting and everyone is off to the next thing by the time I post something else and no one cares. There is no trick to building an audience, there are no short-cuts. If you want to build something strong and lasting it will happen slowly and over time and that makes it worth wild.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Coming up in next week's post,  a closer look at  platforms.

[vdomeier]

The SetUp

I thought I would give a bit of an in-depth look at my setup. From hardware to software and why. Let's face it using the latest software and updating your hardware yearly does not make you a better designer. There is no app to magically help you procrastinate less or focus more.

Hard work, practice, persistence, and time are the only things that will make you a better at anything you do. And only the desire to focus more will make it happen, sure there are things we can do to help us along the way.

And when it comes to doing creative work, there is no one-size fits all. What works for me, may not work for you. Yet we are  fascinated by how others work. What software do they use? What computer do they work from. Every work station is different; and while some may overlap no two are exactly the same.

I’m guilty of wanting to see what other creative use, in the vast land of apps and software, I have found that it’s the best way to discover new apps and try new approaches to how I do things.

As a freelance designer, I have the freedom to move around when and where I work. And the main focus for that is hardware. What hardware do I use and when?

Hardware

My primary computer is an iMac 27-inch HD, 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4 GB Ram. This is my workhorse and the place where I do all of my digital design work.

Why I use it - I love working on a desktop for two reasons. One, I take my time and do any preleminry sketches or research away from the computer, with out feeling a rush to jump into the digital design, you lose the organic flow sketching by hand allows for. Second, I know that when I get to the computer I’m ready to be there and my family knows once I’m ready to begin work at my computer; I’m working, and need to focus.

My primary writing machine is my iPad 3 with a Zagg case + keyboard. It also where I check Twitter occasionally, watch a movie on Netflix or Read my ebooks. Basically all the things I stopped doing on my desktop, which I wrote about here.

Why I use it -  About five years ago, I gave up using my Macbook Pro as it had become more of a web browsing, twitter checking, writing machine - once I started doing all my digital design work soley on my iMac.

Why I love it for writing - The iPad is smaller, liter and much more portable than a laptop and the batter life is unbeatable. It is also, I found a great machine for uni-tasking. On the laptop I had to many options, multiple apps open that I could switch between with a click. On the iPad however, I had to stop what I was doing, hit the home button and open a folder or swipe to switch apps. While multitasking nuts found this annoying, it helps me focus on the task at hand. And if you are wondering, while the new iPad certainly looks impressive, I will not be switching back to a multitasking machine.

Magic Mouse with a mobee rechargable batter. I love the battery charger on this, makes it super simple and quite to charge.

Apple Wireless Keyboard - Nothing special about why I use this one.

Sketchbooks - I have tried many, many sketchbooks over the years, from Molskines to other non-name brands. My latest is a Baron Fig which I absolutely love. I love the lay flat design and the quality is top notch. Plus I love that they are environmentally conscious. For every Sketch book/notebook you by they plant a tree - how great is that!

Micron Pens and a Mechanical Pencil - I just love the feel of these, they are comfortable to hold for long periods and the ink is quick dry, always a good thing.

My main (and only) smartphone is an iPhone 6 - It’s my main social media device and go to camera. Along with checking email or online shopping (never over an open wifi network though).

Why I use it - I like the bigger screen on this one, the plus model is just way to big for me to use comfortable. I need something I can use with one hand in a pinch. Plus it has a better battery life than my iPhone 5 and the fingerprint lock is nice when my kids want my phone.

Samsung NX300 Mirrorless Camera Once I had kids, I realized I really needed something more portable than my huge DSL with external flash and lenses. This has been a great camera with interchangable lenses that aren’t so bulky, a touch screen, Auto and Manual settings, Wifi enabled for cloud sharing, emailing, and social media upload.

These are the hardware items I use regularly for work. Now lets get into the softer side of things.

Software

The Desktop Software

Illustrator - Illustration

Sketch - Design

Chrome - I have always been a Safari user until last year when Apple screwed it up royally and it was on non-stop crash mode. The more I have used Chrome the more I’m glad I made the switch.

Here are some great plugins I use: Sort, Moment, 1Password

Lightroom - Photo editing

Ulysses - has become my go-to writing app as I have a few blogs now, it offers a great library, and organizing panel that my previous favorite didn’t have.

Time Machine - For obvious reasons.

Drive Alert - A free app that alerts you if your hard drive starts showing signs of problems.

Dropbox - Best sharing app ever.

Backblaze - It's always good to have an off-site back up just incase of a crash, a flood, a fire or anything else that can ruin a HD. And for $50 a month of unlimited back up it's well worth it.

Rescue Time - What to know how much time you spent surfing the net or editing photos. This is best app to track how you're spending your time when you're on your machine. And it's customizable.

BreakTime - I always need reminders to take a break and stretch.

Noizio - Great ambient noise app with lots of options, cafe, camping, ocean, etc.

iPad Apps

Dropbox

1Password

Instapaper - My bookmark repository for article I what to read, when I have time to read them.

TweetBot - My favorite Twitter app.

Google Cal - it’s great for syncing with my email and my husbands calendar.

Ulysses 

Diet Coda - for web design tweaks.

Paper - For color discovery and sketching

iBooks & Kindle for reading

iPhone Apps

These are my top go-to’s, and some are the same as my desktop. These are the apps I use daily or often.

Dropbox

1Password

OncReciept - As a freelancer having a way to track your expenses digitally is a must.

Mileage Log - Pretty self-explanatory, again a business must have to make it easier.

Instapaper - My bookmark repository for article I what to read, when I have time to read them.

TweetBot - My favorite Twitter app.

Manual - One of my favorite camera apps

Google Cal - it’s great for syncing with my email and my husbands calendar.

iA Writer - I hate writing on my phone, but when inspiration strikes and I need to get in on “paper” quickly before I can get to my iPad.

Boxer Pro - email

Scanner Pro - I use this quite often for transferring sketches to my desktop and creating multi-page pdf for home or family stuff.

Instacast - for podcast

Audible - for audiobooks

What does your set up look like? And why do you use those devices or apps? I’d love to hear from you on this topic.

[vdomeier]

Things I Stopped Doing On My Desktop.

It’s been over a year now and there are several things I stopped doing on my desktop.

A few years ago I uninstalled the desktop Twitter app and I haven’t looked back since. Knowing that I could not be distracted by the becoming call of that little icon was huge. It was nice to not feel the pressure to open up the app and try to keep up with all the incoming tweets, while simultaneously trying to focus on what ever project I was working on at the time. I only allowed myself to check Twitter on my iPad or phone from that point on. Which meant I had to physical take my hands aways from my keyboard or mouse to do this.

It was a small thing but it helped keep me on track. To this day  I have zero social media apps installed on my desktop. Last year, this got me to thinking what else should I stop doing on my desktop? So I looked for other distracting habits that kept me from focusing on the task at hand.

Here are a few more things I stopped doing:

I stopped watching Netflix. I am someone who genuinely works better with noise, so often times I would play a movie or a documentary on Netflix in the browser while I worked. Usually something I had already seen so I wasn’t distracted by what’s going on, but it was distracting when I would stop to take a break and start watching what ever was playing. Even for just a few minutes, it changed my focus. So now, Netflix only gets streamed to the living room tv when I’m ready to actually watch a movie and give it my full attention.

I stopped leaving my internet browser window(s) open. It’s a small thing really. And something most people probably do, honestly I didn’t realize how distracting is was until I stopped doing it. I often had several browser windows open at once, all competing for my attention with the “let me just check this one thing real quick while I’m thinking about it.” syndrome. The only reason I was even thinking about it was because I saw it.

I stopped reading articles. Yes, I will refer back to articles on my desktop through bookmarks or Instapaper but only after I have read them in full, and only as a reference or to copy/paste the article link or quote into an article I’m working on. I no longer read entire articles on my desktop. This one is more of a personal preference for me. I enjoy reading article more on my iPad or even my phone (in landscape mode). And because of this preference it has made not wanting to sit and read articles at my desk much easier. If I come across something I am interested in reading, without thinking twice I save to Instapaper for later and move on.

I stopped checking email. I know this may sound crazy to some of you, but it wasn’t that big of a leap for me. The year before I stopped checking email first thing in the morning - it’s just not productive and it often got my mornings started off on the wrong foot. So I sent out a notice to all my clients letting them know I would only be checking and responding to emails twice a day. Once in the morning and once mid-afternoon. Of course I went into detail on the merits of this decision with them and no one pushed back on it. But then I found once I did check email, after handled my client emails, I would notice other email that come in that looked interesting - and since it was ’time’ to check emails this was ok too. I would inevitably lead down the rabbit hole that is the internet for the next hour or so, before realizing it and immediately shutting the browser.

I wanted my desktop to be a place of serious work. Knowing that once I got to this point in my workflow it was time to really focus and get it done.

And it seems to be working for me. Not only did I deliver better client work last year, I wrote more than I ever have before, I published more blog post, I wrote an ebook, and I shared more of my personal work online than in previous years.

Feel free to share your thoughts with me on this, what have you stopped doing at your computer?

[vdomeier]

A Look Back On The Year of 'Do'

I was inspired to write this post by Tobias Van Schneider's post on the same topic: My 2015 — The Year Of Change.

2015 was the year of 'Do' for me. Though I didn't intend it to start out that way. Looking back, it was a rollercoaster of a ride. There were great moments, moments of unbelievable accomplishments,  missed opportunities and moments of pure failure. I had days when I felt at my lowest, and days I felt like I could concur the world, which were usually followed by days where I felt like I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

This year was particularly trying, as it was my first year to be both a stay-at-home-mom and a work-from-home-freelancer. There was a lot of change happening around me emotionally and mentally. It was a lot to take on and if I'm being honest; most days I felt like I failed. But I wasn't going to allow it to define me or to determine whether I succeeded at my tasks or not.

No matter what my struggle, this was still very much a year of Doing for me. I somehow managed to create, produce more than I did the previous year, and certainly more than I thought I was capable of, whether I did them well or not. Having them all be successful was never the point it simply about follow through. Finishing what I started no matter what the outcome was. And let’s face it somewhere huge failures and some surprising breakthroughs and even successes. Ultimately I would call last year a successful one; full of equal amounts of beauty and pain.

I had some of the best days at home with my two girls as well some of the most challenging. I had days I would like to forget altogether - but no matter how difficult, emotionally exhausting, or on the verge of losing my mind moments I had, they are all a huge part of what made my year a success.

A few of the highlights:

I Wrote A Lot Of Words I wrote more than I ever have before. I wrote seventeen blog post and eleven Weekend Edition posts of links to share. Not bad considering I didn't start writing until July 2015. According to my Grammarly app I wrote 179,751 words.

I Read More Books I have always had a passion for books, sadly in the years after having kids I found myself reading less and less, as long as we aren’t counting books for the kids. I am happy to say this year I read a lot of books (also in the last half of the year) for me. I read twelve books, half of them on audio. This was also the first year I ventured into the world of audiobooks, which I wrote about here.

Hand-Lettering I did more hand-lettering than ever before, something I have been wanting to do for years - but always made excuses why 'now' wasn't the best time. I even posted and shared them here.

Writing An eBOOK I wrote and published my first ebook on freelancing as part of a Gumroad 10-day challenge. This was probably the most difficult endeavor I took on creatively. I cranked out a 50-page book, edited then had to figure out how to publish it, which I had never even looked into before this moment, all in ten days while still taking care of my family full-time. But I certainly learned a ton in the process. More importantly, I learned what I am truly capable of. 

Teaching My Pre-Schooler I taught my four-year-old daughter how to write her letters and numbers, phonics (which we're still working on), the days of the week, mixing primary colors to create secondary colors, counting to 50 and counting by 10's. She cooks with me often and we've done some cool experiments like making our own play-doh.

Being A Mom I got to be home with my one-year-old as she speed through her milestones, rolling over front to back, rocking, crawling and walking by nine months. I have loved being here with her as she becomes her own, unique little person, watching her personality emerge has been amazing and I'm grateful I have had the opportunity to be here for every minute of it.

Self Improvement In November, I launched a new blog to chronicle our journey into A Year of LESS and living more intentionally as a family. We are spending the next year getting rid of our unused, unneeded, and unwanted stuff, only keeping what we need and love. This also includes learning to consume less; which is more difficult than I anticipated as a family. But still, I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Looking back on this last year, I had no idea what to expect knowing the changes and challenges that lay ahead. In a time when I felt like I was being pulled in more directions than humanly possible and had much more demand on my time than ever - somehow I managed to complete more and that is what I am most proud of.

Heading into 2016 I hope to keep that momentum going. And I'm getting a jump start by taking part of Justin Jackson's Maker Challenge.

To those who have taken the time to keep up with and read my post over the last year, Thank You! It truly means the world to me.

[vdomeier]

What’s Next?

Happy Wednesday friends! As the Holiday draws near and a New Year is just around the corner, I have been taking the time to plan out what I want to accomplish in 2016. One thing that keeps popping up over and over again is - Be Purposeful. 

I want to be purposeful in my work as well as in my life in general. I want to be more consistent with my writing and posting. And now that I have two blogs, that is becoming more and more necessary.

I have some great plans for my writing but in order to accomplish them and not be playing “catch up” all the time, and feeling like I’m just churning out writing to push it out the door when it feels incomplete. I will be taking the next 3 to 4 weeks off from posting any new content. I will of course still be writing, but I will be taking my time in editing and polishing them, at least enough so they feel complete. Besides, I have built up too much momentum to stop writing now! 

I will be planning out the release of each post for every Wednesday starting the first week in the new year. I have some great posts in the works, along with a more design/freelance focus in topics and a few other ideas I’m tossing around, maybe a Newsletter?

But the main focus is to get ahead of the game by loading up my Que with timed content ready to go. Plus it’s I have found that it’s always a good idea to have a few posts ready to go if something comes up, and with little ones in the house that is sure to happen.

I am also taking part in Justin Jackson’s, Maker Challenge for 2016. I’m really excited about that and have a growing list of ideas already. Check it out.

What are your plans for creating in 2016? Let me know. I look forward to sharing more with you in the New Year. 

Until then, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas full of family, fun and food and a wonderful and safe New Year!

[vdomeier]

How I Digitize My Hand-Lettering

There are many different ways to get your sketches from paper to digital and I’ve tried a few over the years. But I think I have finally found the best and easiest option to get my sketch from physical to a workable digtial file straight from my phone to app, ready to go the moment you import it. 

What you will need:

Sketchbook or favorite paper

Pencil (I like using mechanical)

Ink pens (microns)

Smartphone (I use an iPhone 6)

Scanner Pro App

Dropbox

Illustrator

Everything Starts with a Sketch

I start all my ideas on paper first. It’s a much more fluid way to get ideas worked out. Your hand on paper moves much quicker than clicking points in an app any day, no matter how fast you can work in a digital space. 

Once my sketch is finalized I break out the Micron ink pens and trace over the sketch to ensure the contrast is it’s best. You don’t have to ink your image, a dark enough pencil sketch will work just fine as well. I just prefer a dark, crisp contrast to work from, there is no second guessing with it. 

Now that you have your image ready, take out your phone, open Scanner Pro, hit the orance circle with a + in it to scan a new document. 

The camera will appear for you to line up your capture. Lay your sketch on a flat surface in a well-lit area, I’ve gotten pretty good at eyeballing the level of my shot, so they come out pretty straight. But that is something you can always fix in the program if you need to. Just try to get it as straight as you can.

You will also notice the little ‘picture’ icon to the right of the capture button, you will want to click that to set it to capture in black & white. Mine is already set to black & white by default.

Once your image is lined up, push the big white button to capture your image. After, and sometimes during the process of lining up your shot, you will notice a blue box appears at random, this allows you to adjust which part of the image you want saved. Adjust your points where you want them, finalize the scan and save.

The advantage of using Scanner Pro is the automatic black and white option which gives you a true black with great contrast, perfect for tracing. This virtually elimates having to open say Photoshop, Pixelmator or any other software to convert it to black & white and adjust levels and contrast manually.

Now your image is ready, select image for upload. As you can see, you have several options to choose from. I prefer Dropbox so that’s what we’ll go with.

Click Dropbox and upload. Open Dropbox on your desktop and drag your image to the desktop or folder and open Illustrator.

Full disclosure; I don’t use live trace. This is for two reasons. First, I love having full control over my image and really letting the organic nature of a hand drawn image or font come through. Second, my preferred version of Adobe Illustrator is CS3. Anything above that was just too buggy in my experience, once they went CC I just refused to subscribe. I would rather own outright, but that may be a post for another day.  

Using the Illustrator of your choice… open a new document to the size and orientation you need, or prefer to work in. Go to file and select place and import your image. Once you open your image it will be way bigger than your document, as is the nature of digital photos. Select it and resize it to fit. Once your image in place, lock the layer and open a new layer ontop. This will be the layer you will work from. It makes it much easier to select your points for adjustments without haveing to fight with selecting the image as well.

I like to use a bold, bright color that makes it easy to see against the black. Any bright color will work, I tend to use something in the magenta range. I also reset my line width to 0.25 so that I can gauge the accuracy better as I’m working.

Continue this process until your image is complete. Once you have outlined your image (see below), select (one letter at a time) the first letter that requires a knock out area, and fill both sections using the stroke/fill tool in your toolbox.

Open the Pathfinder/Shape Mode tool and select the ‘subtract from shape area’ button, shown circled on the right.

Wha-la. Repeat this process for any remaining letters that need it, in this case the ‘e’ and ‘a’ would be next. 

Hope this process helped! Happy Digitizing!