10 Tips for Building a Freelance Business

Tuesday, November 10th, 2020|

At Artisan Creative, we work closely with our freelance talent to help them create success in the creative, marketing, and digital fields and best market their services to maintain an on-going freelance business.  Especially, during the current state of the economy, freelancing can provide a needed respite in between interviews and job searches. Below are 10 tips to help launch or enhance your freelance business.

  1. Update your Linkedin presence and ensure hiring managers know you are open to new freelance and full-time opportunities. Focus your expertise, use SEO keywords, and ask for endorsements.
  2. View your freelancing as a business. Revisit your resume or website to review all clients and brands served, list all new accomplishments, update software proficiencies, and highlight your client and/or project management skills.
  3. Create your Portfolio. Be sure to update your most recent work, and present your best pieces first. Your design samples should be representative of the type of work you like to do, as well as showcase your range of skills.  It must be well-organized with good UI, simple navigation, and include a description of the project and your role. If you are unable to build a portfolio, use some of the great free tools such as Krop or Behance.
  4. Represent your Brand. Let your personal style shine through your presentation and create a consistent thread via the color palette, font, and imagery on your portfolio, resume, and social media assets.
  5. Be a Subject Matter Expert. Join an online discussion, share articles, write blogs, become engage on Twitter.  If you have the bandwidth, create your own blog or podcast, guest blog, or write articles to industry publications.  These tools enable you to get your name and profile in front of a larger group of people to help establish your credibility and brand.
  6. Volunteer. Volunteering for non-profits is a way to give back to an organization that can benefit from your services. All will help improve your portfolio/skillset and offer built-in opportunities to network as well.
  7. Build your Network – In-person networking may be on pause currently due to the pandemic, however greater opportunities exist online.  Join existing social media groups and discussions, and attend online industry events and expand your circle of like-minded creatives who can become collaborators on projects or be a great source for referrals.
  8. Get Listed. Create your freelance business pages. Create profiles on directories, portfolio & resume portals as well as freelance portals where you can list your work and advertise your services.
  9. Work with Recruiters.  Recruitment agencies have access to opportunities that are not listed on job boards. This expands your marketing efforts for free by enlisting teams of connected specialists who also benefit from you getting work.
  10. Perfect your pitch. As a freelancer, everyone you meet may be a potential client (or knows someone who could be a client). Work on your presentation and perfect your elevator pitch.  Representing yourself professionally will speak volumes about your abilities, so don’t be shy about sharing how can be a great freelance resource.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the 573rd issue of our a.blog.

Giving Thanks 2019

Wednesday, November 27th, 2019|

We give thanks to our clients and talent, and to our a.team for 23 years of building a more creative world together.  Happy Thanksgiving.

Here at Artisan Creative, we have a #gratitude Slack channel where throughout the year our a.team shares what they are grateful for daily. Everything from bike rides and nature walks to home remodels and healthy families, we recognize every day how very fortunate we are in so many ways.

Here are some snippets of shares on Slack from the past year:

Grateful for health.
Grateful for family.
Grateful for laughter.
Grateful for loving relationships with friends and family.
Grateful for enriching experiences.
Grateful for launching our artisan podcast on creativity, inspiration, and determination.
Grateful for our virtual office and not commuting—celebrating 10 years of working remotely.
Grateful for a strong body and mind.
Grateful for learning to wake up to life at a deeper level.
Grateful for new friendships.
Grateful for old friendships.
Grateful for sunrises and sunsets.
Grateful for being able to give back and helping others.
Grateful for our 4-legged furry friends.
Grateful for air travel that makes it possible to see family and friends who are far away.
Grateful for babies sleeping through the night.
Grateful for positive attitudes.
Grateful for the bathroom remodel being done.
Grateful for “Find My Phone”!
Grateful for self-care.
Grateful for new beginnings.
Grateful for the amazing a.team!
Grateful for 23 years of Artisan Creative.
Grateful for our clients and talents.
Grateful for new additions to our team this year.
Grateful for our focus on life-work integration.
Grateful for living and being true to our core values.
Grateful for continual learning and growth.
Grateful for knowing and understanding our strengths.
Grateful for mindfulness.
Grateful for the entrepreneurial journey.
Grateful for a happy life!

Wishing you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving.
The artisan a.team

Become Your Own Influencer

Wednesday, September 25th, 2019|

Social media influencers are changing the way we think about marketing. You don’t need fancy vacations or five-course meals to make use of the concepts behind influencer marketing. As a creative professional, the success of influencers can inspire you to build your personal brand, increase your network and reach, and find better professional opportunities.

Know Your Niche

As a creative professional, the more specifically you define yourself, the more you will stand out. This means honing a concrete elevator pitch and choosing a niche within your industry. “An easy way to select your niche is to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses,” says digital marketing consultant Shane Barker. “Choose a niche that allows you to showcase your strengths and hone your skills further. Deciding on a particular niche will help you streamline your audience and tailor your content to suit their preferences.”

Develop a Content Strategy

Once you’re clear on who you are, you can create content that reflects your skills and values and establishes your presence and authority in your industry and community. Your content strategy can encompass your design portfolio, your social media activity, blogging, video, or anything else that gets your message out and makes others aware of what you do. To become more influential, treat yourself like a small media company, and be thoughtful and deliberate about what sort of content you put out and how it aligns with your brand.

Choose Your Channels

There are many digital channels available, with more emerging all the time. Rather than trying to use them all, it’s better to choose a few you enjoy the most and are best for transmitting your work. If you’re a visual designer, you’ll want to use video or image-based channels to showcase your aesthetic sensibilities. If you’re a copywriter, you can publish articles on LinkedIn or use Twitter to test your concepts, slogans, and taglines. Newer channels can present unusual opportunities for those on the cutting edge.

Keep It Consistent

Your choice of channels is less important than your commitment to show up and stick with them. To build influence, you should be willing to put out a steady stream of content, provide value for your audience, and pursue continuous growth and improvement. With social media, being “always-on” can be a challenge; automation software can help, allowing you to create lots of posts in one sitting and parcel them out over time.

Engage and Grow

If you persist, iterate, and keep putting your best self forward, don’t be surprised to see your influence grow over time. As your work touches people’s lives and new opportunities present themselves, be sure to engage with those who support you. The ability to develop a worldwide professional network and work out your ideas with a supportive audience in real-time is perhaps the most rewarding perk of being an influencer, even if it’s just in your small corner of the world.

At Artisan Creative, we help creative professionals find new ways to enrich their portfolios, networks, and careers. Contact Artisan today to learn more.

The Art of Self-Promotion

Wednesday, August 14th, 2019|

Whether you’re looking for the perfect job, starting your own business, or building your career as a creative freelancer, your success depends on more than doing great work. Others must know you’re doing great work, which can only happen if you share your skills, accomplishments, and passions in a visible way. This means you need to promote yourself.

Many creatives are shy about self-promotion, as it feels hard to do so even when you know you’re worth promoting. Experiment with these ideas and you’ll develop habits that amplify your work, increase your presence in your community, and put you on track to seize opportunities, careers, and the life you want.

Learn the Basics of Marketing and Branding

As you build the groundwork for your promotional initiatives, you can use the same principles and strategies that guide the marketing and branding efforts of the world’s largest corporations. The basics are freely available in our brief guides to defining your personal brand and marketing yourself like a business – you just need to apply them. To start, make sure your creative portfolio represents you as well as possible. Then, test your efforts in the real world by attending networking events. If you’ve built up some resistance to self-promotion, now is the time to take some risks and raise your comfort level.

Make a Brag Document

To promote yourself effectively, you should be keenly aware of your body of work, what you love, where you excel, and your larger career trajectory. Of course, when you’re immersed in creative work, it can be easy to lose track of how much you’ve accomplished. To keep track of where you’ve been and find clues about where to go next, maintain a “brag document,” an inventory of what you’ve done and a key to analyzing how it all fits together. Julia Evans explains the purpose and substance of a brag document and provides an easy-to-use template so you can create your own. This can help you prepare to get recognized, negotiate, back up your claims, and angle for promotions and new opportunities.

Defend Your Ideas

One of the most useful tools of self-promotion is also an essential skill in giving effective presentations: the power to defend your ideas. To do this, you should understand your own work better than anyone else. You should be prepared to explain your decisions and to field questions, comments, objections, and criticisms in a way that preserves the integrity of your work while allowing healthy space for improvement. This is easier said than done, and Mike Monterio can help. As the author Design Is a Job and You’re My Favorite Client, he’s one of the go-to sources of insight on how to get tough and give your ideas the robust defense they deserve. In this fierce and funny keynote presentation, while geared toward graphic designers, can help anyone dramatically improve their mindset around explaining themselves and their work, which is a key to effective self-promotion.

Beware the Negativity Bias

According to the science of evolutionary psychology, our brains have evolved to help us merely survive; if we’re going to thrive, we have to do it ourselves, with intent. Historically, negative information was more important to our survival than positive information – a tiger chasing you deserves more attention than a sweet-smelling daffodil beside the trail – so we’re wired to prioritize the negative over the positive. In the modern world, our natural negativity bias can hold us back if we fixate on risks and weaknesses and don’t focus enough attention on the rewards we want and the strengths that can help us achieve them. To cultivate a winning mindset, it’s important to bolster ourselves with positive information. This means choosing our relationships carefully, being mindful of our self-talk, and learning the basics of positive psychology. After all, our strongest self-promotion comes from within.

At Artisan Creative, we love to showcase your talents and promote your skills to our clients. When you’re ready to take your business or your career to the next level, let’s get in touch!

We hope you’ve enjoyed the 540th issue of the a.blog.

The California Job Market

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2019|

California is home to the world’s fifth-largest economy, worth nearly $3 trillion per year. Much of its economic activity is based around Greater Los Angeles (the entertainment capital of the world) and the San Francisco Bay Area (home base of the tech industry).

If you’re building your career in design, technology, or a creative field – or you’re launching or expanding a business of your own – which of these two world-class cultural nodes is a better fit for your skills, goals, and temperament?

San Francisco: All Hands on Tech

The Bay Area served as the cradle for the personal computing revolution of the 1970s, the popularization of the World Wide Web in the ’90s, and the current dominance of giant Silicon Valley corporations such as Google, Apple, and Facebook in global commerce, communication, and culture. It’s the place where engineers and entrepreneurs first fully embraced the world-shifting potential of connected gadgets.

With record-low unemployment and plenty of San Francisco open jobs, designers, developers, marketers, and other tech-savvy creatives are still feeling the love in SF, even as the city deals with staggeringly expensive… well, everything, especially housing. The city has its problems, and it will need its best minds to put their heads together and think up unprecedented solutions – and that’s what the Bay does best.

Fresh opportunities arise at the intersections of tech with other emerging fields, and the tight-knit cultural communities of SF are ideal for the formation of these sorts of symbiotic relationships.

“The Bay Area has a history of bohemianism and sophistication that is now melding with a technology-driven culture,” says author and economic geographer Michael Storper, in conversation with urban studies theorist Richard Florida. “One hopes that the Bay Area will not become a one-horse town, but will retain the mix of culture, criticism, eccentricity, and hard-driving entrepreneurship that has made it so dynamic for so long.”

Los Angeles: The Show Must Grow On

Since the beginnings of film, LA has led the world in entertainment. Now, that’s creating new opportunities in technology and content as tools change, economic power shifts, and showbiz dramatically evolves.

“We’re going through a renaissance at the moment because of the growth of entertainment and content,” says CBRE vice chairman Jeff Pion, in a Curbed exploration of LA’s growth in tech. “There’s a merging of tech and entertainment, and content is king at the moment. The potential for harnessing the existing entertainment workforce in LA immediately is incredible… Five years ago, a founder who wanted to keep their company in LA would get a lot of questions. Today, it’s like, why do I need to be anywhere else?”

Bay Area beasts such as Google and Facebook have bustling offices in Silicon Beach, as well. And SoCal is home to its own thriving breed of tech unicorns. With its deliberate and widely supported efforts to improve mass transit, build more affordable housing, and mitigate the stifling effects of its legendary urban sprawl, LA city is rising to the challenges of changing times. Los Angeles open jobs are more interesting and diverse than ever before.

“LA has had some hard economic times, but there is no doubt that it is an increasingly worldly city with an effervescent artistic and intellectual culture,” says Storper. What LA needs is to harness these advantages to better fundamentals: better and denser leadership structures, more connectedness among economic communities, more employment density, better basic education, and a focus on skills.”

Golden State of Mind

Los Angeles and San Francisco are both changing landscapes. Creative professionals and business leaders in both cities are defying outmoded stereotypes to nurture new ideas, build new communities, and help determine the futures of the places they love.

There’s much more to LA than great food and warm weather. And SF isn’t just for hippies and geeks.

Artisan Creative has many years of experience in the San Francisco and Los Angeles markets. We’re immersed in their communities, we pay attention to changes, and we see new opportunities as they emerge. Contact us today to start building your own California dream.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our 515th a.blog.

International Women’s Day 2019

Wednesday, March 6th, 2019|

It is an important time in our history to do everything possible to help forge a more gender-balanced world. Women have come a long way, yet there’s still much more to be achieved.

Many larger corporations, as well as local government agencies have diversity programs to work with women-owned companies in order to foster this balance. Some may require a Women Business Enterprise (WBE) certification in order to apply for certain diversity programs.

At Artisan Creative, we decided to apply and be recognized as a certified Women Business Enterprise a few years ago. I was fortunate that a friend and fellow member from the EntrepreneursOrganization had recently gone through the process and shared her wisdom with me.

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2019 on March 8th, I wanted to share some of the steps we took to de-mystify this process.

In order to qualify as WBE, a company must be a majority women-owned enterprise with at least a 51% ownership. As the female owner you must be the majority owner and you must also hold the highest role in the organization, set the strategic direction of the organization and be active in the company’s daily management, and be a US citizen.

As part of the certification process, ensure you have the proven documentation needed to establish ownership, and the decision making power such as having signatory responsibilities as well as hiring and terminating staff. Having these key documents ready will help facilitate the process.You can apply for WBE certification after 6 months of being in business.

Even if you decide not to go through the certification process, it is a best practice to have your incorporation papers, licenses, leases, resumes, stocks etc. in order and easy to access. It’s also a good idea to have all your information in one place, and make copies for future needs.

The certification process is lengthy and requires time and energy to complete. Most business owners are too busy running their business to be able to devote the time needed to gather all the necessary information, and complete the application process so it’s a good idea to rely on a trusted team member or accountant to help with the procedure.

If you are a solopreneur or a small company without any available internal support you can hire an outside consultant to guide you.

The National Women Business Owner’s Council has created a certification kit, to serve as a step-by-step tool for the application process.

The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), also provides a list of required documentation.

If you work with national and/or the federal government, your needs will differ from someone who works with local municipalities, or provides localized services. For example, the Los Angeles World Airports, and the Metropolitan Water District have their own criteria to abide by. Many cities and municipalities also have quotas for working with minority, disabled, veteran- or women-owned businesses, so having a local certification may be beneficial if your company is focused on working with the local government.

National certifications such as WBENC are great for those who work primarily with the private sector, or as sub-contractors for the larger entities who work with government entities.

It’s important to note that having a certification or being women-owned is not a guarantee for winning more business. As a firm, you must excel in your field, and have stellar products and services.

Once you’ve completed the application process and paid the necessary submission fees, you will be contacted within 90 days for an interview and an office visit.

Ideally it’s up to you whether or not to seek certification, or what kind is best for you. The services you provide, and who your ideal client is will help you determine what kind of certification you need.

At Artisan Creative, we have found this certification to be valuable. Please connect if we can be of any help.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the 511th issue of our a.blog.

Workplace Trends in 2019

Wednesday, January 16th, 2019|

Every day new talent enters the workforce, with new skills, new experiences, and even new expectations. Various industries will become more diverse, others will hang on as long as they can before they disappear. Innovations in technology will impact our careers and our lives.

A new year brings new changes. Existing currents will strengthen, fade, or continue. Here are five trends that we believe will shape the workplace in 2019 and beyond. These are already in progress.

Emphasis on Purpose, Wellness, and Growth

Surveys of younger workers indicate they feel happier and more accomplished when they work for companies with a sense of purpose, have flexible work schedules and offer continuous learning.

With a greater need for skilled and experienced labor, employers will provide new opportunities for training, upskilling, and mentorship. This will coincide with greater awareness of mental health and the unwavering importance of personal and financial stability. Ideally, these trends will lead toward professional relationships that are more mindful, more respectful, and better built to last. 

Adaptation to AI and Automation

Artificial intelligence and automation will continue to rise. Some occupations will decline, some will become far more powerful, and many people will find themselves partnering with new robotic coworkers. Much workplace activity will involve new training and new priorities to accommodate these new technologies until they become invisible.

Strength In Diversity

Recent controversies in the workplace are reshaping entire industries, making them more welcoming for women, minorities, and others who struggle against discrimination. Creating diverse workplaces and nurturing a culture for all isn’t just good karma; it’s necessary for doing business. Those who embrace changes and opportunities will help define commerce and culture for the years ahead.

Generation Z Goes to Work

The oldest members of “Gen Z” will turn 23, and many will join the workforce, of which this rising cohort will comprise an estimated 36% by 2020. They will usher in new expectations around technological competence. As Debby Carreau of Inspired HR said, “Even if you’re not a member of Gen Z you’ll start seeing software strategies, solutions and training trickling into your workplace; because if your organization doesn’t offer them, Gen Z will find an employer that will in short order.”

Meanwhile, members of older generations will continue to work longer and adapt their wisdom and experience to new circumstances. Chip Conley outlines this beautifully in his article calling himself a mentern (a mentor and an intern simultaneously).

Thus, we come back to the power of communication. If you are the sort of person who knows how to help the members of these different groups better communicate and more effectively work together, you will reap significant dividends in the years to come.

Change is the only constant. At Artisan Creative, we have years of experience in helping creative professionals and organizations thrive in times of change. Contact us today to learn more.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the 505th issue of our a.blog. 

Our Top 25 Blogs

Wednesday, December 12th, 2018|

We are thrilled to publish our 500th blog today. As we approach the end of the year, we’d like to share some of our a.team’s favorite blogs.

These cover a range of topics from self-development and time-management to job search, hiring, and much more.

We hope you enjoy this top 25 greatest hits compilation.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our 500th post.  You can find plenty of other tips, inspirations, best practices, and advice on our a.blog.

We look forward to connecting.

Maximizing Your LinkedIn Profile

Wednesday, May 9th, 2018|

If you are looking for work, considering a change, or have any interest in industry networking, we all know that a profile on LinkedIn, the top social media network for professionals is the place to go. Potential employers and recruiters may find it unusual if you aren’t on the site in today’s highly competitive job market. It only takes a few minutes to launch your profile, and with a bit more time and effort, you can make your LinkedIn profile a powerful tool for advancing your career and achieving your goals.

Here are a few tips to help maximize the potential of your LinkedIn presence, build your network online and offline, and gain access to opportunities that others might miss.

Complete Your Profile

Only 51% of LinkedIn users have fully completed their profiles, and LinkedIn’s search algorithm strongly favors those who have. Take the extra time to flesh out and optimize all areas of your profile, including education and work history as well as volunteer roles and interests, to gain a significant advantage in your job search.

Be Real and Be Specific

When writing descriptions for yourself and your previous roles, eliminate fuzzy buzzwords, and replace them with metrics, achievements, and real-life examples of what you’ve accomplished. Your headline should be succinct, and your profile should communicate a clear idea of who you are, what you can do, and what you value in your work. Be true to yourself, and you will stand out from the crowd. And, of course, always keep it positive – highlight what you’ve learned and how you’ve grown. Your profile should reflect well on you and on those who have given you their trust and invested in your career.

Use Multimedia

Media presentations add detail and credibility to your profile. If you have design portfolio samples, slide decks, videos, articles, or other files that showcase your work your expertise and your overall approach to business, be sure to include them where they best fit.

Connect Strategically

Profiles with 300+ connections get more attention and appear more substantial, so endeavor to build a robust network. When you reach that threshold, be more judicious about whom you add, to ensure that your feed remains useful and that your virtual network reflects your real life. When you request a connection, send a personalized message to let the recipient know why you value their work, their trust, and their time. Make sure your network is focused on those with some leverage in your industry. At a glance, it should give you credibility with anyone you might want to work with in the future.

Participate in Groups

LinkedIn Groups can be a useful way to monitor trends and participate in discussions, and they have some less obvious perks as well. For example, when you join a LinkedIn Group, you can privately message any other member. This can afford opportunities to connect with people who are passionate about the same things as you but maybe harder to reach through traditional channels.

Update Regularly

Every few months, inspect your LinkedIn profile from top to bottom, and update anything that’s out of date or that could simply use a polish. Take the opportunity to improve your profile on a regular basis, not just when you’re looking for work. Over time, you will build a much stronger presence than the vast majority of users. And, you may be surprised at the opportunities you discover through LinkedIn.

At Artisan Creative, we help top creative professionals get the most out of their careers. Contact us today, and we’ll help you master digital networking and take your work to the next level.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the 470th issue of our a.blog

 

Networking Opportunities in March

Wednesday, February 28th, 2018|

As a freelancer, you may work independently, but that doesn’t mean you have to work alone. There are numerous networks and communities, both online and in real life, that can help you find connection, inspiration, and support.

Despite its reputation for impersonal sprawl, Los Angeles boasts a particularly strong design community. LA designers gather at large, recurring events held by AIGA, Creative Mornings, and others, and they can also be found at smaller meetups around the city.

The organizers of the Los Angeles User Experience Meetup group track design-related gatherings on the west side, downtown, online, and all-around greater Los Angeles. They provided us with a curated list of five great events for LA designers to check out in March 2018. If you’re looking for designer camaraderie in LA, here are five places to find it.

Breakfast Panel: Diversity

When: Monday, March 5, 8:00 AM

Where: General Assembly, 150 2nd St., Santa Monica

Why: In the worlds of design and tech, issues of race, gender, and fair treatment in the workplace have never been more salient. Over breakfast, a panel of women and an audience of industry insiders will hash things out and chew on the big questions.

Product Management: Live Chat

When: Tuesday, March 6, 11:15 AM

Where: Online – register at the link

Why: This is an open-ended “ask me anything” session with Liliya McLean, lead product manager with the iconic home goods brand Home Depot. If you’re curious about product management or the product management community in Los Angeles, this is an ideal, low-pressure opportunity to assuage your curiosity and get involved. Registration includes an invitation to the highly active Product Management Los Angeles Slack community.

Tech Fair LA

When: Thursday, March 8, 10:00 AM

Where: Magic Box, 1933 South Broadway, Los Angeles

Why: Whether or not you’re looking for work, attending events geared toward job-seekers gives you an opportunity to see what’s out there, hone your networking skills, and get a sense of the market and community around the Los Angeles tech sector. This enormous job fair is more like a party than most, with demos, hack-a-thons, DJs, food trucks, and a fun, festive atmosphere.

Creating Reality AR/VR Hackathon

When: Monday, March 12 – Thursday, March 15

Where: Ronald Tutor Hall, 3710 McClintock Avenue, Los Angeles

Why: In the entertainment capital of the world, from Silicon Beach to the Hollywood Hills, the rise of virtual and augmented reality has been a subject of intense commercial and creative interest. This week-long series of workshops and team projects promises a full immersion in the technology, the community, and the field of VR/AR.

DTLA Community Hack Night at Nordstrom Rack/HauteLook

When: Tuesday, March 13, 7:00 PM

Where: The BLOC Office Tower, 700 South Flower Street, Los Angeles

Why: Creative people often bond best when they have something to work on together, preferably a project that’s ambitious, immersive, and fun. Girl Develop It Los Angeles hosts this hands-on skill-building session for designers, developers, and passionate makers of all stripes. It’s a safe environment for experimentation, and for curious techies and aesthetes of all descriptions.

At Artisan Creative, we believe that the essence of professional success is about more than money – it’s about building a strong network, doing interesting things, and leading a fascinating life. We keep our eyes open for all sorts of growth and enrichment opportunities for creative professionals, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and beyond. Contact us today to learn more.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the 463rd issue of our a.blog.