Do I hear a cricket?

Ouch.

Well, I've been posting as a creative service on Craig's List, which has led to some inquiries and a couple takers. I've also got a slight word of mouth going from college friends. Other than that, I've called and emailed a bunch of local joints.

Nobody here has any more ideas?

Don't know what your budget is, or what kind of clients you're looking for - but how about advertising? Direct mail pieces could target specific audiences, and if you wanna go real low budget, the US post office has a service that allows you to place an image on a glossy postcard. They print and mail em for you - the quality isn't the greatest, but you can flood the neiborhood for faily cheap.

good luck to you!

Cheers!

Hm. I looked into the post office postcards. That's how I used to send my resume to design firms, actually. That could be a good option.

Also

I just talked with a barter company (http://ctebarter.com/). Does anybody work with a barter company? I barely know what one is, but it sounded like it could be a pretty nice option as well. But that's because the salesman didn't discuss any downsides...

well, it sounds like you're looking for a low cost way to get going (much like I was when I was in LA). here's a few techniques: get to know local businesses, join an active chamber of commerce (eg City of Industry, Long Beach, LA), make contact with every agency and studio you can find, and pass out lots of business cards. oh yeah, and never stop making phone calls -- you never know who you're going to find.

and a few other thoughts: I found Craig's list tends toward the low-ballers of the world. then again, I haven't looked in a while. CreativeHotlist might be a good spot for getting in touch with other agencies or corporate contract jobs. and AIGA LA might prove to be a strong resource (I hate designer socials, so I didn't try).

best of luck to you. your work is quite good, and the writing on your site should win over any sensible business person.

Hi Dan,

All I can suggest is:

1. Look anywhere for clients.
We have found that some of our best clients have come from the strangest places.

2. I assume that you're a designer first and a businessman second. Most of the people you deal with will probably be business people first. This means that:

100% of your clients will be honest, likeable individuals when you discuss their initial requirements.

40% of your clients will need two or three reminders before they remember to pay up.

25% of your clients will have a book keeper or accountant who goes on holiday for three weeks whenever you submit an invoice.

One or two of your clients will just refuse to pay.
(If the legal system in the US is anything like it is here in the UK, don't waste your time chasing debts. Either write the debts off, or hire someone big & scary)

I just spotted this article on CreativePro. it looks pretty general, but it never hurts to freshen up on the basics.

Nothing about starting up is too general. I just got back in to town and these posts have been a very pleasant surprise. Thanks for the help. I'll let you know how things go!

There are a lot of great published resources on marketing, promotion and getting new clients out there, including:

BRAG! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It, by Peggy Klaus

Designers’ Self Promotion: How Designers and Design Companies Attract Attention to Themselves, by Roger Walton

Get Noticed!, by Sheree Clark

HOW Magazine’s Annual Self-Promotion and Business issues - the regular issues of the magazine focus a lot of the business and marketing aspects of the industry

Off The Wall Marketing Ideas, by Nancy Michaels & Debbi J. Karpowicz

Self Promotion Online, by Ilise Benun

Self-Promotion for the Creative Person: Get the Word Out About Who You Are and What You Do, by Lee Silber

The Graphic Designer’s Guide to Creative Marketing: Finding & Keeping Your Best Clients, by Linda Cooper Bowen

The Business of Graphic Design, by Ed Gold

The Business Side of Creativity, by Cameron Foote

The Creative Business Guide to Running a Graphic Design Business, by Cameron Foote.

The Graphic Designer’s Guide to Clients: How to Make Clients Happy and do Great Work, by Ellen Shapiro

Someone else already mentioned Creativepro.com as a resource. A few other good online resources are www.creativelatitude.com (especially the "Articles" section), www.creativebusiness.com and www.creativepublic.com.

Good luck! - J.

Jeff Fisher :: Engineer of Creative Identity
Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Author: Savvy Designer's Guide to Success from HOW Design Books

Dan,

Congrads on going out on your own in a new city. big challenge.

All the advice is good - most of it can be summed up as make lots of noise and eventually momentum will begin to work in your favor.

Can I suggest that you take a little more strategic approach?

Sit down and figure out what your position in your marketplace should be - based on who you are, capabilities, where you succeed, what kinds of clients are you successful with and what do these clients look for in a design firm - that is for starters.

Anyway, figure out what you can deliver on and who is an ideal fit. That fit needs to include who is able to appreciate your value and is willing to pay for it. Once you have a profile of the ideal client start researching your market to identify actual companies that fit your target. Create a database of these potential clients - call them, ask for who buys your type of service there - get name, title and phone number. no need to talk to them yet, just get info at this point.

OK - now that you have an idea of your perfect client, a list of potential perfect clients and some free time on your hands ... begin to work out what value these clients are looking for - NOT what you have to offer, but what value they want. (If this does not click, get some books out on value oriented marketing etc.) Figure out that value - it may be different for each one or all the same. You gotta figure it out. if it is different for each, you may have been too broad in identifying your target. Keep it tight for starters - you can always broaden once you have some success under your belt.

Now, you have your value identified, create a message around that value - tell them how you offer the value they want. this is your mantra. hammer it home. Any contact you have with them should communicate this value - phone calls, direct mail .etc.

You have a number of references here on self promotion and marketing, so I will not go through a step-by-step on that. The key here is:

Identify your target based on fit
Identify the value your target wants
Create messaging around that value

March out your marketing machine. Unleash your campaign - and don't just rely on a one-off effort. Soften them up with a post card, make a phone call, get a portfolio review, send off a white paper that you wrote (make sure it is value oriented!) and book orders, baby!!!

Also, key - I am begging you not to sell on price. You live by price you die by price. No need to step on their neck and take advantage - that is wrong and bad business. but, charge a fair rate and get paid for the value you offer.

Gasp ... one last thing, I do not agree regarding earlier comments about business people not wanting to pay and 25% of them screwing you over. That may be someone else's experience, but it is like marriage and divorce - rarely is it just one side's fault. I *rarely* have a client that does not pay - rarely. We work with great people and we do great work. We deliver and they pay. Everyone is happy. Out of a million in sales this year I am out about $1,200 and that is because the company went under. Not bad odds if you ask me.

Ok, enough outta me - all the best Dan!

--
Mike

I started my company by purchasing 40 white pocket folders at Staples Office supply, printing different 5 samples of my work 40 times off my Commodore Amiga & b/w Canon bubblejet printer, putting a cover letter and price list into the folder with the samples, and then mailed it out to the 40 closest printshops in my area.

I had NO CLUE as to what I was doing.

After three months, I got a call from one printshop who picked out a line off my cover letter that read - we have (we meaning me, myself & I) over 70 (wow!) different typefaces. They had to replace a line of text in a job, and didn't have the font Romic.

Neither did I, but that didn't stop me! I bought the font from Letraset on a Mac disk, paid $40 to have it transfered to a PC disk, and used a PC to Amiga disk reading program to get it onto the Amiga. Then I converted it to an Amiga font with a PD utility (Amiga's had a utility for ANYthing back then) and I typeset the line of text they needed.

That was 1992. Today, we do over $20k a year business with that same (my very first) client.

Moral of the story...

Getting business means solving people's problems. You are never loved or needed more then when you are solving a problem for someone. All you need to do is let the world know what problems YOU solve. *HOW* you do this is the subject of many, many marketing and business books, but once people know you can solve *their* problems, they will come to you. The first step is letting them know you exist.

I started my company by purchasing 40 white pocket folders at Staples Office supply, printing different 5 samples of my work 40 times off my Commodore Amiga & b/w Canon bubblejet printer, putting a cover letter and price list into the folder with the samples, and then mailed it out to the 40 closest printshops in my area.

I had NO CLUE as to what I was doing.

After three months, I got a call from one printshop who picked out a line off my cover letter that read - we have (we meaning me, myself & I) over 70 (wow!) different typefaces. They had to replace a line of text in a job, and didn't have the font Romic.

Neither did I, but that didn't stop me! I bought the font from Letraset on a Mac disk, paid $40 to have it transfered to a PC disk, and used a PC to Amiga disk reading program to get it onto the Amiga. Then I converted it to an Amiga font with a PD utility (Amiga's had a utility for ANYthing back then) and I typeset the line of text they needed.

That was 1992. Today, we do over $20k a year business with that same (my very first) client.

Moral of the story...

Getting business means solving people's problems. You are never loved or needed more then when you are solving a problem for someone. All you need to do is let the world know what problems YOU solve. *HOW* you do this is the subject of many, many marketing and business books, but once people know you can solve *their* problems, they will come to you. The first step is letting them know you exist.

William, the Amiga was the machine, wasn't it.

hhp

Hrant,

Yeah, Amigas rock. I've had a couple myself, and I have friends that were still using Amigas a couple of years back... Good ol' Deluxe Paint. :)

I remember running Fontographer on that MacOS-emulator,
and the Altsys tech support guy hanging up on me in a rage.

hhp

So far that word-of-mouth thing has started to work, slowly but surely.

The start of my Whoisdan advertising begins this week after tapping an old (well, new) resource, my buddies at Hatch Show Print. I had them make me some posters that I will hang up all over the South Bay (Los Angeles) area. It's cheap, it looks cool, and even if it doesn't work I'll still have some kickin posters for myself!

Dan, poster pictures please!

__
www.typeoff.de

They're in the mail. I'll post a link to the pics this weekend. For now, here's a couple posters I made when I was there.

http://www.whoisdan.com/business/ryman/

I got some pics of the posters. You can view them below my initial post.

The first two pics are the poster I "designed" (if you can design a letterpressed poster from 2,000 miles away). The other poster I left up to my buddy at Hatch.

I actually like the first two.
The others are trying too hard.

hhp