This video is a little late, as it was supposed to come out before the post “Who Else Wants Higher Paying Clients“, but it took forever to get uploaded. Anyways, in this video I talk a little bit more in depth about certain aspects that I cover in the article linked above.
Talking Shop - Working with Bigger Clients from Danny Outlaw on Vimeo.
If you haven’t checked out the article Who Else Wants Higher Paying Clients, I highly suggest you do. It has some very in depth advice and tips on how to land higher paying clients and bigger projects. The article isn’t a bunch of fluff and theory, but things that I have learned from my own experiences.
4 Comments
Danny,
Great video post, chalked full of very valuable information. Here at my 9-5 job I have picked up a lot of these little details over the past two years, that end up making a huge difference. And I’m grateful for it, because it will only help me when I do step out on my own.
Keep up the good work.
Hey Kyle -
Im sure working in a 9-5 job you pick up a lot of things that we freelancers have to learn on our own. It is interesting how that works.
DO - I work a 9-5 and I do freelance.
It’s not that working a 9-5 you get handed processes and methods vs having to learn them the hard way working freelance. The difference is just that - freelance will teach someone in a 9-5 things like people skills they wouldn’t otherwise pick up. Sales approaches as you mentioned. The challenges of working with different types of clients.
Where as a freelance gig - sometimes your’e working solo and if you don’t get the project done - food and rent become more of a motivating factor. In a 9-5 (salaried) there is typically room to slack off some and things can be put off until tomorrow and it’s not the end of the world.
One thing I find irritating over the years dealing with short-term contract or other 9-5 gigs is that typically the designers don’t interact too much with the clients. There is usually a (middle man) Project Manager in between. If you’re lucky there’s a PM that knows their stuff and can rather seamlessly go-between designer and client with little effort. But that is the exception.
The rule I’ve found tends to be more that the PM has barely any clue as to how to translate what the client wants when talking to the designer. And vice-vesa. things get lost in translation. Things end up having to be redone 20 times. the fees are irrelevent as most of this has long been worked out between the client and the Upper Management long before the PM or the Designer get involved. It’s almost a temporary retainer and that 20 changes could jump to 100 changes until the client likes it. But I find also that it’s not really the client having the issues but the people like the PMs not handling the information properly.
And my initial reaction is “why can’t I simply talk to the client and we could have saved 95 out of 100 version changes from the start” - but for some reason companies like to pay middle men.
So jumping into the corporate world somewhat I’ve had to bite my tongue a few times more than I care to.
Also - nice clip. But a little too much echo from the surrounding room.