Graphics to Start Your Freelance Business

Ways to Get Around Branding When You Can't Afford a Graphic Designer      

Starting a freelance business isn’t free.  Even though you don’t have the same investment like start-ups who sell a physical product, you still have expenses - like creating a website.  And you run into the graphics wall.

If you’re like me, graphics isn’t your thing.  I mean, you like them and all, but developing them?  That takes a lot of patience.  (Isn’t it interesting the things we have lots of patience for and a complete lack of elsewhere?)

This summer, my ability to navigate graphics has improved.  This knowledge would have been nice to have nine months ago, but better late than never, right?

Getting Started

When you think about starting up a business, a logo comes up.  However, in today’s world you need more than that.  You logo appears in many places across social media, your website, business cards, and possibly in your office.

Prevailing advice says pay for a professional logo and don’t skimp.  This is your identity, after all.   

Some even believe Fiverr is better than trying to design your own.

There are times when conventional wisdom doesn't quite work as expected and it gets expensive chasing the "right" way.  I’ll share with you my experiences and you can make your own choice.

Going the Fiverr Route

I’ve paid for three logos now.  One for my husband’s freelance business, one for my first company, and one for my company after I incorporated.

Mine were overseas designers (Romania, Lithuania, etc.) where the money goes farther.  However, things can get lost in translation, and it makes it difficult to get the revisions the way you envision – if at all.

The first experience was good, and we paid the premium rate.  He delivered on time.  He also specialized in that industry, which is a plus.  (Tip for choosing a designer … the higher the rates, the more experienced, and likely better quality.)

The second experience, with a different designer at entry cost plus generous bonus, wasn’t so good.   

The basic concept was nice, if one element could be removed. The promised changes never materialized.  It left me with a logo I didn’t want to use.  I finally gave up.  I proceeded to avoid the website and branding thing for months. Very unhelpful for the income producing thing.

The third experience was somewhat better, and I paid the premium rate.  I ordered the whole ride.

Business card design, branding manual, social media kit, etc.  It was still like pulling teeth to get what I needed.  I never did get everything.

Understanding How to Make Use of It

Then I couldn’t figure out how to use the branding manual.  I thought copy and paste would work like it does in a Word document.  This week, I learned that copying out of a .pdf document involves drawing a box around the words or object to select in the same manner as in Paint - and then copying.

A lot of frustration and wasted time went into that.  Then I needed different sizes in order to use it on various social media sites. 

I learned a bit more about resizing in Paint.  I learned that I can adjust by pixel, but I really need to pay attention to the little auto-checked box.  “Maintain aspect ratio” keeps the image nice, but won’t play well with social media recommended sizes.

The fonts he used weren’t fonts I had, so I’d have to purchase them to create the cohesive look he suggested.  I didn’t love the font, either.

He gave information on colors he used, but not in a manner other programs asked for.  I spent a lot of time doing trial and error to get close so my information packet text colors would match.

Finally I Gave Up

I looked at the branding manual and decided to create my own logo and web banner, using the picture he had.  I figure I’ve already paid for it, it’s mine to use in whatever capacity.  I think that’s the only piece I kept from the whole thing.

Why change it?  First, the logo over that picture felt a bit cartoonish.  Second, and more urgently, I needed to change my tagline.  I didn’t want to pay again and have more delays.  I’m already three months into this. 

It was also a white logo over a dark picture.  The picture didn’t carry my brand color.  Either change the picture or change the brand color.

I Created My Own

I couldn’t do it as fast or as elegantly as a designer or hobbyist could.  Nevertheless, I created a simple logo.  I created a favicon while I was at it.

I used fonts I had so I could replicate them in my information packet.  I also wrote down the colors so I could replicate those.

Saving the Professional Option for Later

Would I love a high-end professional solution now?  Absolutely.  I’d love to avoid spending hours on this.

And I’ll do that at some point.  Maybe.  It may be good enough to leave alone. 

I value my Fiverr experience.  My ignorance wasn’t the designer's fault.  I just didn’t want to go through the repeated hassle to get something I loved – or at least liked.

If I was commissioning a high-end professional, there’s a better understanding of how to communicate what I want.  And I wouldn’t feel bad about asking for revisions if needed.

Until then?  I like what I created. 

We’ll see what my website building advisor has to say!

A Little Inspiration to Tame the Savage Email Beast

Email Fatigue Is Real, But You Can Stop the Pain!

Counting the Cost

 

Have you missed important emails like I have?  

Freelance businesses or anyone working from home already has to battle the temptation to “stay at work” just a little longer.

But email strikes everyone.  And it has a special little curse.   We can check it anytime, often without disturbing anyone else.   In the car, standing in line, laying bed, even in the bathroom for crying out loud!  We sneak a peek everywhere because ... we don’t want to miss something important.

It happens anyway.

The worst part: we signed up for it!

• Professional growth blogs to help us up our game
• Free e-courses to optimize our game
• Quick, easy, healthy recipes to save our dinner-making sanity
• Inspirational quotes to keep us going when we want to give up
• Individual lists for market study to stay on top of our game
• Travel offers for business trips and that escape to a small island nation with no internet
• E-bills/E-banking to help us stay on top of our finances.

The list of possibilities are endless.   All good things.  

That doesn’t even include your other email which is just for fun, spiritual growth, hobbies, bills, notes from friends and family …

It’s easy to get 50 or 100+ emails a day that aren’t directly related to work.  Worse, it’s easy to get sucked in by great-looking free offers enticing us to sign up for more.

It’s time to get that monster vanquished and I’m determined.  Want to join me in reclaiming your inbox sanity?  Read on!

Unsubscribe, Unsubscribe, Unsubscribe

Streamline for better time management.  Less inbox distractions means less things to intend to get done. Merely deleting (or worse, ignoring) the stuff you aren’t reading is only creating pain for you tomorrow, or the next time they send you something. 

If you aren’t going to read it, you aren’t getting any benefit from having emails sent to you, right?  Let go of guilt and shame about what you “should” read.  Be realistic about your time, those things that move your business forward, and cut the cord! 

If it helps you feel any better, create a bookmark to their website, in case you find some spare time and want to re-subscribe.  (Decluttering bookmarks will be another project for another time!)

Subscribe Wisely

I have developed a new policy.  When I subscribe to something, I will give it 2-4 weeks max to evaluate.  I will access the return on time investment. 

Inbox offenders who send multiple emails a day don’t take me as long to remove, unless I want it for market study.  If they are sending a great email once a week, it may take a month for me to decide if it’s something I want to read regularly.   

If the majority are saved to “get back to later” it’s a candidate for elimination.  If I’m really unsure, I’ll give it another week or two.

It always comes back to priorities.  There isn’t enough time to read all of the great stuff out there.  No shame in realizing it’s time to let go.  (I'm trying to build up my courage to do this - can you tell?)

Make Use of Technology Helpers

If you Google inbox helpers, you’ll find a slew of options like Unroll.me, Boxer, ProtonMail … etc available to help you manage your email.  Quite a few people swear by them. 

For me, it’s just one more technology thingie to figure out.  It’s more potential to get a setting wrong … and wasting time tracking down which setting is creating the problem.  That annoys me enough to avoid it until someone proves fantastic value to overcome potentially wasted time.

I prefer to make use of filters to sort some of my email ahead of time.  You can also just make folders and manually move each email as it comes in so that you see it as it comes.  

Inbox Zero does that.  I tried to open the site today, but couldn’t.  Lots of other articles are available if you are interested in that system. 

I have set up an entirely different email for my market studies so that I’m not sidetracked until I’m ready to engage with them.   I don’t want to see folders with 163 emails in them.  Too much pressure.  We’ll see how I like doing it this way.

Develop Folders To Suit Your Style

I made one for actionables … one for emails I must deal with and empty often.  Putting it there meant out of sight for an uncluttered inbox, but readily accessible for action time.  It's a favorite for bills or reminders to renew my car registration.

Another folder is for billing reference.  I have this silly thing about holding my payment receipt until the next billing cycle.  Makes me feel invincible in case someone says they didn’t receive my payment.

When I have a project I’m working on, I put “1” before the name so the folder sits on top.  It’s more convenient for me to engage with it several times a day.  Others might find that obnoxious … your mileage may vary.

The Great Purge

I have folders from when I tried to create a system before.  Full of good things.  Several hundred good things.  In 54 folders.  I’m slowly coming to accept that I must let go.  If I haven’t read them by now, what makes me think I’m likely to do so in the future?  It’s time to purge these, too.   

To borrow a Flylady-ism, organized clutter is still clutter.  Yet, some of that is archived stuff  I refer to and I appreciate the organization.

You know by now I wrote this to myself to bolster my courage to tackle this beast of 1000's of emails.  Good stuff mixed with stuff I'll never miss.  But I will do this.  Do you need to join me?  Post below and we'll hold each other accountable!

Once I have done all of the unsubscribing I need to do, and I shift things to their new folders, I won’t miss any more email – unless of course my email provider is slow to get it to me. 

A big part of my motivation is some email trouble.  Some of yesterday’s email quietly sneaks into my inbox 24-36 hours later and sits down with yesterday’s emails as if it arrived yesterday, too.  I already looked at yesterday’s email, so I only look at the most recent arrivals.  If my inbox is empty, I won’t miss them anymore.  Take that, slow email provider!

Did you enjoy this post?  Please like and share!

Weekly Challenge

Last week has been about bits and pieces.  Preparation details.  My logo is still in process due to delays on my end, then on his end.  This morning I received word that the revisions should be received today.  It’s after 6 and I haven’t seen anything yet.  May just be a slow email thing and I’ll have a notification in the morning.  Fingers crossed!

I’m still working on assigned reading.  Apparently this week is the foundations week, an introduction to the system.  The 12 weeks starts next week.

Depending on how much spare time I have, I want to see my main inbox reduced by 1000 emails.  I will make myself subscribe from 10 lists.  That’s going to hurt, because I like them … but I’m not reading them.  I will also change emails for the marketing study lists that are still in my regular mail.

Success Requires Avoiding This Bad Habit

When Great Ideas Torpedo Progress

You may or may not have heard of Shiny Object Syndrome.  I hadn’t when I started learning about copywriting.  Would you believe that I still fell into the trap, even after reading about it early in my training?  I’ll tell you about that in a bit (it seemed logical at the time!)  But first, what is it?

Shiny Object Syndrome is a fancy way of saying focusing on too many things. 

It reminds me of an episode of The Profit where Marcus Lemonis turned around the clothing boutique, The Blues Jean Bar.  (He rebranded it as Denim & Soul in the process in Season 3, Episode 11.)  They expanded too fast.  They didn’t really pay attention to what was selling.  They added stuff they liked, rather than paying attention to what interests their target buyer.  He got them consolidated.  He focused on the parts that worked and created a solid process.

Let’s put it in non-business terms.  A new farmer bought a piece of land and moved in.  He’s determined to be a farmer and do everything farmers do.  So the next day, he goes and buys calves, pigs, goats, and chicks.  Tomorrow he plans to plow 25 acres of land to plant 25 different crops.

He’s new to farming.  He doesn’t have the infrastructure in place to scale up quickly.  He hasn’t tested the soil to determine if it's correct for the crops he wants.  He’s new to the processes for each “product.” 

Ok, so you and I wouldn’t do THAT.  

Yet SOS is sneaky.  For example, we need to be on social media.  If you try to do too many at once, you’ll find you’re managing social media with time for little else.  How many platforms are you familiar with?  How much time do you have to do ONE really well?  You can’t do one well if you are trying to learn how to be effective with six!

Shiny

Pick one or two and master that.  Each one plays different.  It’s how you play the subtle differences that makes or breaks your ability to create a raving fan base.  That’s a subject that requires study.  I haven’t even gone there yet because I need to focus on finishing my basic coursework.  (I'm happy to say that I'm very close at this point.)

When I started to learn about copywriting, I was so excited about the opportunity.  Did you know that learning new stuff creates a release of brain chemicals that make you feel happy?₁

Then the path got hard.  Life got in the way.  Hubby is starting a business (and I’m a partner.) If it wasn’t for an accountability buddy, and a large bill to pay off that lets me learn all things writing, I’d have quit … three times by now.  Fighting life and ideas and everyone else’s needs is hard.  

I couldn’t quit.  I need to write.  I love to help those who want to be helped.  I want to be supportive of those around me.  Yet I can’t bear to let my dream go.  It led to a crisis of decision – one I’ve returned to several times when it all feels impossible.

One way or another, I must dig deep and focus to make this happen.  I will find a way.  I’m following through with the commitments I have in place, and everything else can wait until I’ve assimilated this part.  I may need to choose to write in the field of my husband’s business.  This way my focus isn’t so divided. But I will write!

Are you starting too many things at once?  Pull back and slow down.  Focus on your main things.  Too many good things add unnecessary stress and impede progress.  

Are you going too fast?  Where are you spread too thin? 

_{1 http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/107006/chapters/Memory,_Learning,_and_Test-Taking_Success.aspx}

Hey Woman - You Want to Start a Business?

As a woman, you deal with different things than the average man who works at home.  Starting and maintaining a business while running a household requires an effective process or stress will quickly toss you under the bus.  Time management is crucial or your life will quickly lack the balance it needs to maintain success in key areas.

Running a business has many facets.  Throw in a husband who still needs a wife/lover to come home to.  Add in kids who need mom.  And because a woman’s work is never done, the nest needs maintenance.  You even have some homeschooling, homesteading, or active church or community participation going on.  It’s enough to make you want to throw in the towel before you even get started.  Yet you have this dream that just won’t let go of you.

I’m primarily writing to married women who work - or want to work - a freelance business from home.  Others may find value here, and you are welcome to glean anything you can, too.  Just know that your mileage may vary.

Women face different struggles 

Many men have written some good material about working from home.  The one challenge many of them don’t face is the need to cook and clean for their spouse and kids.  Typically they can get up and work until breakfast is ready.  They worry about shutting off the constant interruptions.  We rarely have the same luxury.  I know there are exceptions (men with military spouses on leave is just one example.)  I rarely see men writing from that point of view.

Studies still indicate women do a disproportionate amount of the housework, even when the woman works outside the home.  We also need to consider our physical needs and scheduling certain challenges more lightly during certain parts of the month.  We need to deal with stereotypes that come with being a female entrepreneur as well as a freelancer.

Deal with the start-up

Pulling together the pieces to open your business is dizzying and time-consuming.  Learning which business entity makes sense for you.  Picking a logo and business cards.  Deciding on an accounting system. Understanding how to work with technology to build your website. You just want to do your thing already!

Keep a business alive

You have your accounting system picked, and you know how to use it for your day to day operations, but you still need to know what certain numbers mean and why they are critical for the life of your business. Learn how to market regularly and even out cash flow.

Time management

Time-management is a challenge.  It’s a messy process to find what works best for you.  This will be a place to find ideas and be reminded of the big picture when you find yourself absorbed by overwhelm when something isn’t working.  Learning how to get the important stuff done by your designated quitting time?  Priceless!

Balance

Learning to pay attention to various categories for a balanced life is critical to success or it will be hollow.  A fulfilled wife/mom who isn’t stressed out all the time will be the biggest gift to her family and community, as well as her clients. Pursuing health through exercise, sleep, hydration, and good eating gives you more energy for all the challenges on your agenda.  So does personal growth – in business, relationships, and especially God.  

Streamline

Whether it’s a system for marketing, billing, cleaning or paying bills, streamlining the process lets you optimize your day and reduce stress.  Some of you will be able to negotiate with your husband for help.  Some won’t.  We’ll talk about it in a way that upholds your marriage.  No man-bashing here.  (Not only is it harmful to the relationship, it’s a complete waste of energy.)

I hope you’ll join me 

This is a space where people get your struggle.  I’m just starting this journey.  Some areas are stronger than others are.  Sometimes, I have it together better than others - and then I hit a bump and struggle.  I’m determined to learn and give you a front row seat.  You get to avoid my mistakes and see where I succeed. I want to be a beacon that helps you avoid my pitfalls.  I want to demonstrate that it’s ok to be imperfect – a journey in itself for this perfectionist!   

Tuesday Table Talk 

Look for posts every Tuesday.  This will be our time to gather around the coffee table, enjoy a cuppa together, spread out our workload and see where we can gain clarity in our lives.  With clarity, we will have greater success and value in the activities we choose.  With those wise choices, we stand a far greater chance to succeed in our business ventures.

I hope to see you Tuesday!