Freelance Fridays -- Making Impressions

A unique opportunity to take over a rural Main Street storefront came up for me this week. I'd been considering looking for a more professional-looking space where I could meet with clients and focus on the artistic side of my work for a little while, and a local businesswoman was desperate to get out of her lease.

After checking out the building several times and attempting to schedule a walk-through, the deal fell through. That's life. There are many takeaways I can point to from taking the time to observe businesses such as hers and examining why they struggled and what could be done to avoid those pitfalls, but those are not the focus of today's discussion: What are you doing to make a better impression?

You don't need swanky downtown real estate to leave branding and image impressions with your clients. And if you aren't actively cultivating a strong reputation, your business isn't likely to stick around long term.

Like most things that are worth much, creating good impressions that stick with other people involves money, time, or both. Here, I've started a running list of some of the things I have done or seen others do to get that first bit of attention. We'll address some of these more thoroughly in future posts:

Professional memberships
Networking: shows, conferences, clubs, other venues
Business cards
Designated office space
Portfolios
Appropriate wardrobe
Hygiene and grooming
Schedules, calendars, appointment books
Multiple lines of contact: voicemail, fax numbers, e-mail
Blogs or websites
Charitable and volunteer contributions
Spec projects

What things have you tried to make a better impression on your clients? Were they successful?
Kate

Back in the Saddle Again!

Didja miss me?

So what we thought would be a quick break turned into more like a six-month hiatus as this crazy little  Squirrel found herself a much-needed editorial academic and business gig that's been keeping her scrambling! Now that college finals are settling down, it's back to the blog to catch up on some very important maintenance. We'll be working on archiving some old posts, tweaking the layout and hopefully adding some useful new material here in the next few days. Thanks for your patience and keep the feedback coming!

Happy trails!

Kate

Break Time!

Happy Hump Day and enjoy the rest of your week.
Squirrel's taking the next couple days off to prepare for a new job and a vendor booth.
See you later!

Freelance Fridays: Do You Coach Your Clients?

A former boss of mine had a litany of favorite sayings that reverberated around the office and never seemed to die, including this one: "If you're not training somebody to do your job, you're not doing your job."

Fair enough, but what about those of us who work from home offices, who have few to no employees, and who make a living by advising, and creating for, others?

I think it's still true. Part of your job is teaching your clients. And contrary to what you may have been told, coaching your clients doesn't make them run away because they "know it all" and can now "do everything themselves." Successful coaching demonstrates your skill and professionalism, teaches them just how much work you do for them, and shows them how valuable your services really are.

Now I'm not suggesting you give away state secrets or anything. But offering unprompted free advice is a nice add-on service that helps your clients grow into more sophisticated consumers who can distinguish between the quality service you provide and the work performed by competitors.

What you can give, of course, depends on your business, but consider these examples:
       A photographer could offer little tips on lighting, framing and other technical points on how the client can improve his own personal shots.
       An editor could discuss common writing problems and grammatical issues.
       A graphic designer could talk about the design principles in a proposed layout.
     
Do you coach your clients? What sort of advice do you provide?

Kate 

P.S. Since it's freelance day, I didn't want to dedicate an entire post to this, but you really must see this week's satirical cartoons in French magazine Charlie Hebdo responding to the post 9/11 uproar. The Toronto Standard has a good summary (and some translation) here.

Enjoy!