freelance Archives - Career Coaching for Advertising Art Directors, Copywriters and Graphic Designers

5 Days of Work Doesn’t Fit into 4 Days

The no-work-on-Monday-because-it’s-a-holiday workweek. (Thanks, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.)

Ah yes, another wonderfully-long weekend that’s benefits wear off once we’re back at work. Let’s cram 5 days of work into 4 days now, shall we?

No.

Why should the fact that we all had permission to take one day off mean longer hours and more stress for the next four or more days? It shouldn’t. I don’t need to argue this point any further, do I? You’re with me. Simply put, we can enjoy our day(s) off and not pull our hair out when we come back to work.

How?

Well, the best way is to PLAN AHEAD. If you’re reading this after the holiday, the next best ways – PRIORITIZE & CLEARLY COMMUNICATE.

What can you cut from your workweek? We’re looking for a 20% cut here. Prioritize what you can realistically handle during the short week. Delegate to someone else, streamline the process, delete the item or delay the task to next week in order to make your few days in the office more manageable.

PRIORITIZE –> Delegate – Streamline – Delete – Delay – Do

Right now, take 14 minutes and write down everything you thought you were going to have to tackle this four-day week (including your dentist appointment, happy hour with the client, etc.). Then mark each task with delegate, streamline, delete, delay or do. For each, jot down a note of whom else needs to be involved in order to make this happen. Remember, we’re shooting for a 20% cut here – saving you 8 hours of time or more. To clarify, your list is going to have a lot of “Do’s” still on written on it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure that your priorities are also your boss’s priorities. It’s a good idea (not imperative) to check in with your Creative Director, Creative Manager, whomever necessary to confirm that you are focusing on what they would also deem as the top priorities. The key to successfully delegating, streamlining deleting and delaying tasks is clearly communicating with those involved what you are doing and why (more on this point later).

DELEGATE

Advertising Creatives, can you delegate anything to the production studio, an intern or the account team? If so, clearly communicate with those involved in the project what responsibilities have been transferred and to whom. Freelancers, can you delegate any tasks to a virtual assistant or webmaster?

STREAMLINE

Are you able to streamline your day by not attending a meeting and asking the account manager to e-mail you the key points that will affect the creative? Before the meeting, let all the attendees know of this plan and the reasons behind it. Can you get on the phone with the strategy team, account team and project management/operations team all at once instead of meeting with each in person separately? How can you set up your files on your computer this week to save yourself time?

DELETE

What can you delete from your day: Designing nine comps before checking in with your Creative Director? Answering that call from your long-winded brother-in-law? Getting caught up on the latest celebrity gossip? Checking Twitter or Reddit every hour?

DELAY

Creatives, what can you delay until next week that won’t negatively rock your world next week: Being briefed on a project that has a long lead-time? Updating your Adobe software? Posting your Monday-was-a-holiday photos on Facebook or Instagram?

TIMING

Yes, it may seem like a bunch of back-and-forth will be necessary to delegate, streamline, delay and delete tasks. When choosing these tasks, keep in mind which are more likely to go smoothly and which will save you the most time. If missing a 30-minute meeting is going to take you 15 minutes to get out of, is it worth it? It might be a better use of your time to walk over to your Creative Director’s office and unofficially meet with him about the direction your comps are going before you spend the next 3 hours on them. You may not need to do all the strategies mentioned above. If you’re lucky, you may only need to negotiate around two tasks on your To Do List.

CLEARLY COMMUNICATE

Trouble – you will run into it if you neglect clearly communicating. Inform the people you work with that you are prioritizing and appropriately managing your time for the short workweek. You’ll get bonus points if you throw in some phases like, “the attention this project deserves,” “focused, quality effort,” “to respect your time as well,” if they are genuine.

Please know that this doesn’t mean that you have to walk every assistant account manager through the list of what you are prioritizing to do this week and what items you’re delegating, streamlining, deleting or delaying. Share what is necessary with who is necessary. This is all about saving time.

Also, using the strategies above does not give you permission to be difficult (not that you would). Keep the delicate balance of creating boundaries while remaining flexible.

FOR THE FUTURE

I’ve been there; I know what it’s like to have 5 days worth of work that is expected to be crammed into 4 days. By prioritizing and clearly communicating, you can shift those expectations.

After all, you shouldn’t be expected to make up the labor that you missed celebrating a holiday like Labor Day. By shifting and managing expectations this holiday week, you set the new standard for holidays and shortened weeks to come.

By the way, there are 10 Federal holidays in the U.S. That’s 10 opportunities to make these short weeks work for you.

Why Are Freelance Advertising Creatives Failing?

Why aren’t freelance advertising creatives making the money their talent deserves? (photo credit: efffective.com)

Freelance advertising creatives – art directors, copywriters and graphic designers – have great potential but often fall short in creating and maintaining a successful advertising freelance business. Getting enough clients to sustain a full-time, lucrative business is the main challenge. CLIENTS = MONEY Freelance creatives aren’t landing clients so they aren’t making money (or enough money to continue freelancing and maintain their lifestyle).

Why is that? Why are many talented advertising creatives unable to make money as freelancers?

Because of their brains. Some of the best creatives are much more creative-minded than business-minded, much more right-brained than left-brained.*

Because they don’t connect one on one. While advertising art directors, copywriters and graphic designers have perfected the art of connecting with the masses through, let’s say, a print ad, they aren’t experienced in generating client leads person by person.

Because they go straight for the jugular…I mean…sale. It’s a rookie mistake to pitch your services to a potential client before understanding if the individual and/or business is even interested and if so, what their true needs are. Imagine pitching a serious brochure when a business wants a funny microsite. Now imagine overwhelming an individual with talk of social media, web banners and mobile apps when they haven’t the slightest idea of what they want their logo to look like. Freelancers must understand a potential client’s needs and then communicate how as an advertising creative professional they can meet those needs.

Because they offer everything upfront. Many creatives can do it all; they can create fully integrated campaigns and they can art direct and write. Even if they can do everything, there are certain things they do better and enjoy doing more. The freelancers that are having a harder time making money, are the ones who are offering everything upfront and not specializing. Whether it’s designing packaging or writing radio scripts, freelancers who market themselves as an expert in an area are sought out by clients who need their expertise. Once a freelancer is hired for what they’re known for, they can offer the client everything else. For instance, a designer who is hired because of their specialty with packaging can also recommend he or she designs the business cards, brochures, print ads, landing pages, etc., in the same look and feel.

Because they don’t target their ideal clients. Ideal clients are the individuals or businesses that the freelancer is genuinely interested in and THAT HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY the freelancer. As an advertising creative career coach, I primarily coach and consult senior- to executive-level creatives. While I have a soft spot for helping students and juniors (and I do as much as possible), younger creatives aren’t my target audience. As a business owner, I must market to those who can afford the services I provide. And currently, more than half of my clients freelance or own their own businesses, which I work with them to grow.

OR many talented advertising creatives are unable to make money as freelancers…

Because they don’t follow up. Freelance creatives aren’t politely persistent – calling, e-mailing, stopping by in person, etc. – until they get a yes or a no.

As a freelancer, which of these is holding you back? Post it in the comments below.

The good news is that while inherent creativity can’t be learned, business and sales skills can be learned. Freelance creatives can succeed if they invest more of themselves in learning that left-brain, business side.

(*Side note: I am almost equally right-brained and left-brained. My creative side is a notch above my business side. Both sides came in handy when I was managing the creative department at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, and now both benefit my clients as I coach and consult them to get unstuck, reach their goals and finally feel satisfied.)