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Updated September 19, 2022Youβre reading an excerpt from Art For Money, by Michael Ardelean. This small but powerful book helps every creative freelancer know their value and scale their business. Purchase the book to support the author and the ad-free Holloway reading experience. You get instant digital access, commentary and future updates, and a high-quality PDF download.
As part of your proposal, list the touch pointsβthat is, the moments over the course of the project where you (and/or your team) will engage in a planned conversation with the client (and/or their team). The purpose of these touch points might be to hand off the deliverables, ask questions, or give a general update on the progress. Over-communication is key, because, as James Altucher says, βMost people are 8-year olds.β
This is not an insult to anyone, itβs the reality of dealing with busy, stressed, insecure, distracted human beings, some of whom donβt care a lot about their jobs. You might be dealing with one person, or more likely, a team of people who donβt talk to each other. They are never listening as closely as you think they are, so you need to repeat yourself.
This might sound annoying. Get over that, and quickly. Just master it. Itβs not hard, and it will reward you exponentially. Get in touch with the client over the course of the project, rather than waiting for them to get in touch with you. Even if thereβs nothing to report, just say a quick βhiβ and remind them what youβre bringing to the next touchpoint.
Break down the phases of work. Even the simplest job can be broken into smaller pieces that are easy for your client to understand and easy for you to deliver.
The objective of breaking the job into phases is to give your client a quick inside look at what goes into this stuff. Letβs say a client asks you to create a logo for her business. For simplicityβs sake, letβs say this clientβs business is small, and sheβs a bit less experienced when it comes to working with creatives. Weβll call her Tanya.
When Tanya first contacted you, she had a certain idea in her head. You asked her what she was interested in seeing, and she says that she wants something clean and modern but also retro and classic and also a little edgy. When you ask her to show you references (existing logos that sheβs attracted to) she says, βItβs in my head. Iβll know it when I see it.β