How 3 Pennies Changed My Life

This is a declaration of a strong change of direction.

As those of you who have actually followed this blog previously have undoubtedly noticed, I haven't posted in a very long time despite my best efforts to stick to posting. I'm not going to bore you with excuses because I have more important information to share with you right now.

Before I tell you about my new focus let me try to explain where it came from. Two out of my last three attempts at freelance artwork have failed miserably. By failed I mean I put hard work into designs for clients that ultimately rejected the work I was doing/had done and decided to go to other artists to fulfill their needs without notifying me of their change of heart or compensating me for the work I had done. I have no ill feelings towards them or their decisions what-so-ever but the circumstances left me in a very deep rut of self reflection. So here are the decisions I've made as a result of my failed freelance artwork.

1. I do not have the patience to teach a client sound marketing strategy.
2. I refuse to treat logo design as anything less than a strategic marketing symbol and I refuse to compromise on my pillars of logo design.
3. I will not work with any clients in the future that seem even remotely unsure of what they want.
4. I will only work with one client per project. Meaning I will not try to simultaneously please two clients that have different visions of what they want with the same design.
5. I will not work for free. My design services come with a $100 non-refundable up front fee regardless of any circumstances. This fee or a portion of it may be deducted from the total cost of the sale if negotiated, but will not be refunded in the event of a dissatisfied client or a client choosing to go with someone else's services. Any serious client will see this as more than reasonable  .
6. Until further notice, I will ONLY work with clients by a referral basis and after extensive review.

In short, I really don't plan on doing much freelance work in the future. If future attempts go more smoothly I may change this stance, but for now I really don't have the time to be working on building other people's wealth for a modest one time fee.

Such strong words from such a modest, weak minded, push over right? But wait, there's more! So far I have explained my new disposition towards freelance work, but I haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet. I've been spending a lot of time thinking about how I am going to turn my life around. Obviously I can't be a delivery driver forever and I certainly don't want to be working my way up the ladder of pizza company enslavement. I now know that I don't really want to be doing "for hire" work either. Not only would my income be strictly tied to a 'dollars for labor' trade but it would be a never ending battle with wishy-washy clients. I'm not the only one in my inner circle in this position, either. There are others who can't sustain themselves doing what they are doing but they aren't sure how they are going to change for the better. I also have deadlines to make decisions fast approaching. I have to decide if and where I am going to move in a very short time and the consequences of the move are very far reaching no matter what I decide.

The other day I logged into my blogger just to post the images of the last logo I had finished and I was looking through my statistics to lament how I hadn't gotten any real views since I stopped posting. While looking through my stats I found something that completely changed my outlook. This blog has made me money! 3 pennies to be exact. Such a small and seemingly insignificant amount, but you have to realize, that's 3 pennies more than I have earned from my last two clients and I didn't even have to do anything. Its a very modest beginning but it means more to me than you can understand. This means I have something I can do right now from anywhere in the world and be actively building my own future. Its something that won't diminish if I move and doesn't hinge on variables that will be changing in the very near future.

So here is the current plan:
1. I'm going to revamp the nature of this blog since freelance work is at least temporarily being phased out of the picture.
2. I'm going to re-commit to posting (not exactly daily posting) with a new focus on creating material that's less about me and more about bringing value to other people's lives.
3. I'm going to be alpha testing a whole lot of different strategies and ideas while the variables in my near future sort themselves out.

And now you know...

An excersize in futility

I'm not really going to say anything about this. Just going to post the art.

Good News!

So acting on a hunch of Darlene's I re-evaluated my design of Jacci's leaf, did some heavy redesign work to make it look more,"wispy", and Jacci loved the outcome. No more artist's block for me! I also turned the dot of the J into a globe because Jacci wanted to see that as well. Here is what it currently looks like:

I may end up doing some very slight changes to this before I'm happy (the kind you wouldn't notice unless you had someone point them out to you while you were looking at a before and after image) with it. The next step is to translate it into color. Jacci already reviewed the last set of color choices I threw at her and preferred the more green and gold looking version. So I'll be taking those colors and making a lot of subtle variations of them and giving them to jacci to look at. I'm also considering looking into adding some heavy vector color work into my logo design process. The flat colors just aren't doing it for the clients and I agree with them. I need to find some advanced illustrator coloring techniques learning material to consume before I try to just do it on my own though. Otherwise I'll be wasting too much time for a crappy looking product.

In other news, I may have picked up a new client. This one is unique in that rather than needing 1 brand for one store, he may end up needing multiple brands for multiple products. This client is also unique in that he has his own clients. I'll be helping him with both his own work and his client's. He is a very talented artist himself, so the work I do for him may end up being less in the arena of producing art and more in the arena of marketing consulting.

So how do you feel about the new logo design for Jacci? Are you excited to see what ideas I have for coloring it?

today is to be a busy day.

This is just a preemptive "I'm probably not going to post today" post. I've got a meeting with Darlene at 11 and then I've got to go to work until around 9pm.

ta ta for now.

Perpetual List 6/30/12

Old List

For Darlene

• Research
• Amy Porterfield
• Lejure
• Social Marketing Tribe
• Word Press
• Facebook Apps
• Talk Fusion
• Stack of business Cards
• 16x16 web icon

New Client

• Send new schedule for this week
• meet and discuss project
• test out new client assessment form
• test out first draft project assessment form
• Begin logo sketches
• talk about logo sketches
• refine sketches

Jacci

• Tweak B&W design
• Submit color variations for approval 
• Get approval on a color design
• Deliverables
• send .ai to Jacci's hired FB team
• 16X16 web icon

My Youtube Channel

• Create Google Account 
• Decide on Show Format(s)
• Pick Channel Name and Create it
• Acquire a cast and crew
• Begin Production

My Business

• Pick a Name
• Fill out Paper Work
• Get it published in the Paper
• Obtain generic contracts
• Blog disclosure
• project agreement (one per package or per project)
• Make a definitive list of packaging solutions for clients
•  Figure out pricing
•  Build an opt in form/members sign in aspect for my website
• Build some sort of calendar for my website for scheduling purposes.
•  Create a businessy planny thingy to send to a friend to show to a potential contact
• Travel to Lake Havasu on June 4th
•  Begin to implement strategies to make this blog actually make money and bring back re-peat viewers without HAVING to spam my FB and Twitter page
•  Create My own FB business page complete with apps/etc.

BBSV

•  Re-energize the group
• Model
• Rig
• Animate
• Texture
• Light
• Render
• Composite
• Upload – to where?

Me

• Ellens Dance Dare
• Hair Cut
• Exercise 
  

List Version 6/30/2012

 

For Darlene

• Research
• Amy Porterfield
• Lejure
• Social Marketing Tribe
• Word Press
• Facebook Apps
• 16x16 web icon
• reassess logo ... look at ways of making it shinier

New Client

• Obtain approval on logo design to move forward to digital phaze
• Research color possibilities discuss options thoroughly with client

Jacci

• Make logo "softer" ... and not suck
• Get approval on a color design
• Deliverables
• send .ai to Jacci's hired FB team
• 16X16 web icon

My Youtube Channel

• Create Google Account 
• Decide on Show Format(s)
• Pick Channel Name and Create it
• Acquire a cast and crew
• Begin Production

My Business

• Pick a Name
• Fill out Paper Work
• Get it published in the Paper
• Obtain generic contracts
• figure out exactly what I need to be included in contracts
• Blog disclosure
• project agreement (one per package or per project)
• Make a definitive list of packaging solutions for clients
•  Figure out pricing
•  Build an opt in form/members sign in aspect for my website
• Build some sort of calendar for my website for scheduling purposes.
•  Create a businessy planny thingy to send to a friend to show to a potential contact
•  Begin to implement strategies to make this blog actually make money and bring back re-peat viewers without HAVING to spam my FB and Twitter page
•  Create My own FB business page complete with apps/etc.

BBSV

•  Re-energize the group
• Model
• Rig
• Animate
• Texture
• Light
• Render
• Composite
• Upload – to where?

Me

• Ellens Dance Dare
• Exercise 

I need a business plan

I need to write a business plan.
I need to write a business plan.
I need to write a business plan that doesn't suck.
I need to write a business plan and I don't know how.
I need to write a business plan to solidify my course of action.
I need to write a business plan so I don't look like an idiot.
I need to write a business plan so people will start to take me seriously.
I need to write a business plan so I can adequately measure my progress.
I need to write a business plan so I can figure out when it's safe to abandon my job and embrace my career.
I need to write a business plan.
I need to write a business plan to gain more support.
I need to write a business plan to gain leverage.
I need to write a business plan to move forward.
I need to write a business plan.
I need to write a business plan.

Hiatus (& thoughts that entered my head)

It's been well over a week since my last post. Shame on me. I haven't been 100% non-productive however. Since I've met with my newest client I have been able to make good progress on a logo design for him. If he approves of my latest sketch, we'll be moving into the digital phase of his logo design.

Jacci's logo is kind of at a stand still at the moment. She wants a "softer" design of the logo I've been working on. With the corners of the leaves already rounded I'm not sure how to make it softer. When I try to make them blunt at the tips it no longer looks like a leaf at all. The melalueca leaf that she wanted me to model hers to be similar to does not have rounded edges, it's pointy. I think I need a new approach to the leaf. I suspect it's not the edges being round that makes the leaf look sharp or not "soft" but perhaps the shape of the leaf in general. It's a conundrum.

I have acquired a new employee ... sort of ... it's hard to explain. But I paid a good chunk of money and now it's understood that if I need a hand they need to help me. We'll see how that works.

I've noticed that not writing in this blog every week and not posting my lack of progress has let me be lazy. Without the fear of embarrassing myself on the web by posting a lack of progress I haven't felt the pressure required to make progress.

I don't know what I want out of my business and it's causing me serious problems. especially in the way of organization. I need to get my head screwed on straight.

I like the idea of owning the local guru business of design and media production. a business that handles everything and does it better than everyone else. By everything I mean everything that is not being done already. The area has good print shops, good photographers (at least I think it does ...), good layout designers, and even some broadcasting companies. What it doesn't have is any decent branding designers, or an advertising agency/marketing company, or a quality media production company for film or animation, it also doesn't have any web design businesses worth their salt (aside from a few freelance artists here and there that aren't advertising their services). Having one business that handles all of these things appeals to me.

But it's not like I can do all of that. Not without a whole lot of money to pay real professionals to do real work (more on that in a second). The alternative is doing just one thing and finding other people to fill in the other things with their small businesses. In other words be a sole proprietor for life. I think I will die before letting someone talk me into cornering myself into the S quadrant for life (that was Robert Kiyosaki speak for those of you who don't understand what I just said). having my own business that handles just brand design or just media production or just advertising strategies is a business that dreams small and stays small. It is a buisness that never makes the B quadrant and dies with it's owner or in many cases even sooner.

And let's say for the sake of argument that I did go the route of the sole proprietor working only one aspect of the design. Where am I going to find the people to fill in the missing holes? There is no one out there at the moment filling my needs (at least not to my standards). What if I find someone to do it, but then later realize I don't like working with them?

So how do I get what I want? Is it even what I want? The things I know are: I really want to get onto YouTube, and not in the way the typical business owner thinks of YouTube as nothing more than an advertising strategy or small limb of their "real" business. I want to really get onto YouTube in the way it was meant to be utilized; for the production of free entertainment. I want to own my own business that goes big. I want to be able to step away and let it run itself. I want to hire quality professionals who work for serious cash. I dont want to work with people who think pinching pennies in their advertising budget is a smart business model. I want to create something that outlives me. I want to offer something that improves lives. I don't want to stay local.

Just some of the many things that race through my mind on a daily basis...