Living The Creative Dream

I want you!

2008-01-29T12:03:00.000-06:00

am wanting to continually feature & interview some artists on this blog to show others how they are living their creative dream.

Are you living your creative dream? I am!!

I am looking particularly for photographers, painters (fine artists), scrapbookers, crafters, knitters, designers, potters, sculptors, chef's and those with unique creative talents.

In order to narrow the responses I get, I have come up with some requirements for being featured:

Being an artist must be your full-time job (working for your own business). You must have a significant income from your business (by significant, I mean you are supporting yourself and/or your family with your art).

So if you have an interesting story about how your dream job has become your day job, please email me!

brightideas(at)hollicongerstudios.com

*Feel free to pass this post on to others!

Underpaid & Over-delivered

2008-01-22T15:33:00.000-06:00

o, you give a client the world when all they give you is a little budget. All you want is clients and you will bend over backwards in order to get just one. That's pretty much what happens when you first start out in your career. I have done my fair share of underpaid and over-delivered work. And I have to admit I still do some but I know my worth now and some jobs just aren't worth it. And you know what? It's ok. It got me where I am today and will get me where I want to go tomorrow. Don't beat yourself up over taking jobs that are not the best paying (but it is ok to say no, trust me, you will survive!). Think of it as a chance to add something great to your portfolio that you will use to get bigger and better clients. I once did an illustration early in my career that was a basic farm scene. Nothing spectacular about the project or the budget, but I wanted to do a really good job and I know I spent way more time on it than I should just because #1: maybe they would work with me again on something bigger and #2: I needed to fill my portfolio. I have gotten 4 jobs, that I know of, that were directly from seeing that one illustration and the clients referenced it in their first contact. See, bigger and better. Don't think of it as paying your dues in the industry, think of it as gaining future clients!

Freelance

2008-01-08T15:35:00.000-06:00

ccording to Webster's the word "freelance" is a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer.

Over the last few months this word has really gotten under my skin. I can't pinpoint why, it just does. It bothers me when people ask if I'm "still freelancing" as if it was something temporary. Maybe that's the mentality of the people I run into. I'm sure some of it is my fault because I haven't really expounded on what I do. Part of it is shyness, the other part is prejudging and thinking they wouldn't understand if I told them. But no more!

From this day forward, I am not a freelancer, I do not "work from home." Nope, nope. I own a successful creative studio, I take action with my ideas and make a great living - all while spending time with my family. Don't you want my job?

How do you categorize yourself? Your business?

See you next year!

2007-12-16T18:46:00.000-06:00

orry for my lack of posts for the last few months. I've been a wee bit busy.

I plan on going full force with the site next year now that I have the physical space to think. Go ahead and start writing out your goals for next year and get busy making them happen!

Feeling Successful in your Business

2007-10-22T15:36:00.000-05:00

've written before about feeling successful in your business and even got others opinions on it. Anette let me know about this newsletter from Michael Katz and it's worth a read!

Agents

2007-10-17T18:22:00.001-05:00

was going to write this whole long post on agents, but the girls from Illustrator Group Soup did such a great job I'll just link to their's instead.

Here, here, and here.

And also, here's an oldie but goodie post from Janee (we share the same rep).

How Network Marketing Helped My Business

2007-10-04T16:02:00.001-05:00

n the summer of last year (2006), I joined a network marketing company. I know, I know! I did it to help my sister-in-law and then it turned into "hey, I could do this business." My reason then turned into getting out of the house, focusing on something besides art. I really enjoyed it and I overcame a lot of personal fears. I was around motivated and motivational people who wanted to be successful and have their dreams come true. And they wanted that for me too! I loved the atmosphere and excitement of each meeting. It also taught me a lot about people and a lot about negativity. I discovered I don't have room for negativity in my life. I've separated/limited myself from some negative people in my life and I've pretty much stopped watching the news and tend to fill my head with entertaining movies, music and art. I can tell it's done a lot of good in the way I feel day to day and I approach my work in a more carefree attitude. I'm not as rigid as I used to be.

At the beginning of this year I had to take a break from that MLM (multi-level marketing) business. My father had unexpectedly passed away and the situation surrounding his death was extremely sad, difficult and just plain weird. During that time it forced me to really see how fortunate and blessed I was to have my dream job and still be able to take the time I needed to deal with everything going on. I leaned upon my work and really fell in love with it all over again. It was really hard to stay sad and depressed when I was drawing happy kids and cute little animals. It was good therapy for me and it became so clear as to what I needed to do from that point on.

I still had that MLM business waiting for me, people in my up line and down line depending on me for activity and sales, but I realized I didn't need that business. I don't want to be know as a so-and-so consultant. I want to be known as an illustrator. I've worked hard to get that title and I'm proud of it. I wasn't wanting to get out of my day job or replace my income, I do get paid what I'm worth, and yes, I can and do make more than the potential income that the top level of consultants make in this company. And a residual income? Those are royalties in our business. Don't get me wrong, I didn't sour on the company (I'm a product user for life) I just realized the reason I was involved in it and it wasn't income. It was education.

I then starting going through what I learned while doing MLM and applying it to my illustration career. Be positive, do something to reach your goal everyday, be accountable. Going back through all my notes, I've been able to apply all I've learned to my business and career. Success in this business is only going to happen if I make it happen. Things start happening when you're in constant activity. Meaning: following up, promoting, getting involved in things, appreciating your clients and rep and let them know that. Be gracious! It's all about goals and having a no matter what attitude.

I wanted to help people in the way I knew how. In the same career field I was in. This blog actually came out of all this. I want to help people reach their dream. I don't feel I'm giving away trade secrets or too much information where my competitive edge is depleated, it's just some instruction to help others along their journey. It's up to you to make it all happen! Remember, I had to start out too.

I'm not saying go out and join a network marketing company, but if you do, open your ears, take it all in and apply it to the career you want!

Know What You Want

2007-09-04T20:24:00.000-05:00

now what you want out of your creative business. Make your career as fun as a hobby. Better yet, turn your hobby into a career. People do it all the time. I spoke to someone recently about opening an Etsy shop (Oh how I love etsy. Buying and selling! Here's a shameless plug for my shop). They were only interested to know what was selling and then that's what they would make and sell. If they go that route, they would have no passion or enjoy what they are doing. My response was for them to find what they like to do/make and then sell that because it's not going to work the other way.

Do you have a purpose for doing what you do. It can't all be about the money. I thoroughly enjoy my job because I know what I'm working towards and why I'm working. I'm staying home with my daughter, I can visit my 91 year old grandmother whenever I want, I can take mini vacations during the week and not be constricted to weekends and I don't have to ask permission. I'm a tough boss for myself to have, but I'm good to myself for jobs well done.

Venting Publicly

2007-09-02T15:09:00.000-05:00

on't whine on your blog about not getting work. Don't go on a rant about a particular client or project you are working on. And vent lightly about career woes. I know it's hard and sometimes I just want to tell the world to get it off my chest but it's not in my career's best interest.

I've run across some blogs lately that have done a really good job of venting their career woes in a positive way, others have invited their readers to their personal pity parties. First off, what you are saying is public meaning that potential clients could read it. New clients find me all the time through my blog. Secondly it makes you look unprofessional and not serious about your career. What you talk about you bring about and if you are negative about not getting work or your career, it's going to stay that way. Use your critique group to vent your frustrations and woes. That way you are doing it in a private and safe place. Name names, quote emails, rip a client to shreads (I've done it!) but keep it private. Keep your public attitude positive even if you're about to blow inside.

Some people have a personal blog and then a "business" blog. You may choose to vocalize your career woes on your personal blog, but remember that prospective clients find you through numerous ways and google is one of them. They may be looking for you and the first page they find might be the personal blog where you are negative all the time. If you must vent, re-read what you've written and see if the whole thing shines a negative light on you. Just something to think about!

How I Promote

2007-08-26T18:17:00.000-05:00

Sorry to be AWOL the last month or so. I had unexpected gall bladder surgery (that was fun!) and then was behind on deadlines and work just kept coming in so I had to put the blog on the back burner for a while but hopefully I will get back on track. I did want to post my promotion process and this is actually posted over at my other blog but wanted to share it here too:

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I thought I'd lay my promotion process out to help answer the numerous emails I receive a week asking about it. This post took me several days to write since I only had time to work on it in between saves on projects I'm working on. It's gonna be a long one, but a good one!

Postcards:
I do postcard promotions every 3 months, and yes, they do work. My latest one hit at the end of July and has yielded 3 jobs so far and lots of looks on my website:

And here's my postcard for my Junk A Doodle work. This is the first separate postcard I've sent out for that style:

My best response postcard to date was this one. I got tons of work from it.

Client List:
Research, research, research!! Know who you are sending to and make sure you want to spend your money promoting to them. Spend days if not weeks doing it. I recently went through my mailing list (over 300 names) and researched every company making sure I had the correct address, seeing if they had new submission guidelines on their site and double checking their style to see if mine would fit with their's. I cleaned out about 20-30 names, so I saved myself a good about of money right there.

I also have 2 list going. One for my overall styles and a separate one for my Junk A Doodles style (since it's not specifically related to the children's market).

Who I use and why I use them:
I get my postcards printed and mailed through USPS/Premium postcards. I will never go back to getting postcards printed 500 at a time. I do this for a few reasons.
The biggest ones being, I don't have to see 500 postcards laying around and then start nit-picking the images used and then hate the postcard thus never sending
it out (this happened to my very first batch). I also don't like to go through and print labels, buy stamps, and sit there and stick them on one at a time. My time could be much better spent.

There has been a lot of talk about USPS postcards and the saturation levels they print out. I sometimes have issues with them and sometimes don't. You need to send a sample to yourself first to see what your potential clients will get. I usually send 4-5 postcards to myself at one time. All with different color adjustments so I can then see which level is the best. That way I can send them right out instead of trying several times to get the color right. This could delay your mailing for weeks depending on how many times you go back and forth. I say test it in one swoop.

Email list:

I try and send out an email monthly. It's usually short and sweet and I send it to people who have signed up on my website or to people I have worked with directly or have shown interest in my work (I have ?? people on my list that grows monthly). I don't spam any one and have a explanation at the bottom of my email that says why I'm sending them the email and how they can be removed from the list. Since I've been sending one out, no one's removed themselves from the list.

I used to send out plain text emails with an image attached but this year have switch over to Your Mailing List Provider That way I can send out an HTML email with no images attached.

Website:
I try to redesign or do a major portfolio update when I send out a new mailer. I try to do it more often but I sometimes get too busy or don't have any new pieces to show yet since they haven't been published. I have 2 websites for my illustration work:

holliconger.com
junkadoodles.com

A lot of people ask me if I design it or if I have someone do it. I design and code it myself. I mostly code by hand since it's easier and quicker for me, but I do use Adobe GoLive for my image maps and anything tricky I might run into.

Website Stats:
I am a stats junkie. I look at my stats probably 20 times a day. I track 8 websites. I see who's visiting, who's linking to me, etc. I make notes and analyze them. Some people choose to track all the pages on their site. I only track the homepage. The stat program I use is Stat Counter.

Domains:
Now I showed my geekiness a while back when I mentioned the number of domains I have. Nearly all of them have to do with my business in one way or another or I'm saving them for a idea I want to execute in the future. Here are a few that are forwarded to my main sites:

hollyconger.com
hollieconger.com
holieconger.com
picturebookartist.com
foundobjectillustration.com
dimensionalillustrator.com
nashvilleillustrator.com

Portfolio Sites:
Yes, spend the money. Even if you can only afford to advertise on one site. Do it to test it.

I have a paid listing on the following sites:

childrenillustrators.com
theispot.com
folioplanet.com

These sites have done really well and have paid for themselves every year I've been listed. I did have a paid portfolio with portfolios.com and although it did pay for itself that year, I didn't get any new job from it about 5 months after being listed (7 months with no activity).

Back Up Plans:
Now a lot of people starting out can't do this, and I understand, but it is something you should think about and budget for. Have more than one workstations. At the moment I have 2 main ones. I have a desktop and a laptop. I have a large wacom tablet and scanner for my desktop and a smaller tablet and scanner for my laptop that are dsmall enough for my laptop bag. I keep all my work on a portable harddrive and switch between the two. I used to use my ipod but I switched over to a smartdisk firelite.

Now, why should you have more than one workstation? Deadlines!! I have had deadlines due and my computer have problems. Software, hardware, harddrive, you name it. If I have a problem on one, I switch to the other workstation, make my deadline and then figure out the problem with the other one when I have time.

Time:
The all important question I get asked is how do you find the time to do all this?

I plan my week out on Sunday night. I write a list of all the deadlines I have, what promotion stuff I need to do and other business things I want to accomplish that week. I plan my day out mentally the night before. I keep a calendar by my desk and with every new assignment I write down when sketches are due and when finals are due. I also have a wonderful daughter who allows me to work. Some days she doesn't and I just know I have to work late that night or get up early in the morning, but most of the time she does. She loves to spend hours digging though all my junk I collect for my junk a doodle pieces while I get some computer work done.

Know your time limits and restrictions and know when to say no to work. I've recently turned down some projects from pretty big clients (one was the Department of Defense if you can believe that?!). I know what I do and don't have the time for and what I can and can't draw well and what jobs in general will stress me out. I'm the only one that controls my business so I want it stress-free as much as possible. I want it to continue to be fun for me:)

Well, that's it but I'm sure not everything to answer the questions out there. Hopefully you've gotten some ideas though.

Learn From Others

2007-07-09T15:59:00.001-05:00

t's so important to learn from others as your career grows. I am constantly looking at other people's work, getting their advice and running with it. Someone who has opened my eyes to a lot of things is Dani. She gets down to the nitty gritty of stuff and it shows in her work. I am constanty bookmarking her blog posts to keep as reference. I've implemented some of her suggestions and her post today was fantastic!

I've somewhat become a literal type of illustrator and I think doing educational work has pushed me to that somewhat. Not nessasarily because it's required but I've just gotten, for lack of a better word, scared to do too much crazy stuff with style and color. There seems to be a lot of restrictions with it. I remember one project where the publisher was on a war path for NO COWLICKS on the children's heads! I am slowly breaking out of that frame of mind when I sit down to sketch a project out. I've recently been using more color for instance. A school desk doesn't have to be beigy-brown like they are in reality. They can be blue, green, purple or even polka-dot, well, maybe not polka-dot. A pencil doesn't always have to be yellow. And when I get stuck drawing something I just can't seem to draw right, I look at other illustrations and see how the illustrator's drew their's. It helps me break out of the mode of "this chicken must look exactly like an actual chicken." I can see that I can add my own spin on it and make the chicken a little funky or funny and it's ok.

Since I also do illlustration work "outside" the computer, I watch/DVR a lot of crafting shows. I've learned several techniques from That's Clever that I apply to my clay and found object work. I also watch kids show, along with my daughter, to see what's working for the kids market these days. What styles and colors are they using. When I watch Sesame Street I usually come up with an idea for an illustration. It just really gets my mind thinking.

Measuring Success Part 2

2007-06-29T15:04:00.000-05:00

arlier in the week I asked how "you" measure success. I heard from Megan, Annie, Nina and Michael. I encourage you to visit their sites and see how they promote their business.

Here's how they measure success:

For me, success is being able to do what I love, what comes naturally to me, and seeing it bring joy and happiness to others. I will always create art, because I don't think I could do anything else. But if I can't share it with others and bring beauty and wonder into their world, I don't feel like I have completed my purpose. Art is meant to be seen, feel, enjoyed, experienced. I more people I am able to share my art with, the more successful I feel.

Megan Stringfellow
Site: www.stringfellowart.net
Blog: stringfellowart.blogspot.com

These days, I have a full time day job that I am not happy with, but am staying at for a while for financial reasons. One good thing about not liking my job is it is forcing me to get proactive in my pursuit of self employment. I also have a toddler at home and feel torn between wanting to be with her, and working on art jobs and building my portfolio. So, I need to measure my success in small increments, if I draw for at least 30 minutes a day during the week, and more on weekends, I am successful because I’ve done something to reach my goal of eventually being able to work for myself.

Annie Patterson
Site: www.anniepatterson.com
Blog: anniepatterson.blogspot.com

I measure success by how much I love what I am doing, but I also think some validation for the work that you are doing goes a long way in making you feel successful. And if you feel successful, well, that's it, you are successful! Validation can come in many forms, from comments on your blog to a bunch of jobs coming in. It can even be a nice note from another person working in your field, who's work you admire.

Nina Seven
Site: www.ninasevenillustrations.com

I believe there are different areas of "Success"...

I feel that I am successful in certain aspects of my life, like my marriage, keeping in touch with family and friends, giving myself some "me" time, etc..

As far as professionally, I feel that I'm successful with actually getting self-promo work completed, successful with continually drawing and creating new pieces. I'm not where I want to be at this point, but with my first 2 mailings (one in October 2006, and one in March 2007), I was able to get 2 jobs. That, in a sense, is successful.

I'm going to continue to work hard, love what I do, love my wife and family with all my heart and soul, and in time (hopefully soon :-) ), become a full time illustrator. Loving my family and making a living from the gift I was blessed with will make me, in my eyes, successful!

Michael Villegas
Site: www.mvillos.com
Blog: mvillos.blogspot.com

Getting out of your creative funk

2007-06-26T16:27:00.000-05:00

tend to get in creative funks. I can't seem to be able to draw anything right, I have a lull in work so I have a little pity party (where I'm the only attendee) and think no one likes my stuff and I'll never be hired again, I second guess my ideas and try to talk myself out of them, etc. My funks have been few and far between recently which is good. When I feel one coming on, I have to stop what I'm doing and take care of it. These are some of the things I do:

- Watch a movie that has lots of eye candy (and I don't mean the actors, I mean the set designs and cinematography). Movies always get me thinking positively again and I usually come up with some new idea when I watch them.

- Go shopping. Since I like junk, there is nothing more relaxing than browsing through an antique store. I'm always asking myself, "what could I make out of that or what could I use that for?"

- Go to a museum. We have a pretty good art museum in Nashville that has decent exhibits from time to time. I tend to like the hands-on kids' section the most though :)

- Start sketching randomly. Sometimes I come up with nothing and get more funky and sometimes things just pour out of me.

If I'm in a funk I know I have to remember that tomorrow, it will all be over. I know I'll wake up fresh the next morning and am ready to go. I always do. Now, sometimes I get in this creative groove where I tend to be running on nothing but adrenaline and I can't get down from my creative high. This week has been like that. I made a decision last week to build up a design studio again and start designing. Now, it won't take the place of my illustration career. No way, I won't let it, but I'm going a different angle with it that should protect me from the things I didn't like about it all before. Limit my client base and say "no" more often. My brain won't stop working on this one. So many possibilities. I've also been getting a lot of work done this week. Project just seem to be completing themselves. Weird!

So, everyone gets in a funk from time to time, you just have to way your own way to get out of it.

I'll be posting everyone's comments on how they measure success on Friday so be sure to send me yours by then.

Measuring Success

2007-06-21T08:15:00.000-05:00

ow do you measure your success? I struggle with this one. Am I even a success? I used to think I was successful by how much work was in my portfolio, how many clients I had or how full my calendar was. I'm not sure I was right. Success to me is doing what I love, freedom to actually do it and the fact that I'm making ends meet by doing it. Whenever I meet someone I always wonder what they do for a career. I wonder if they feel successful in what they do. I know so many people who don't like their job and would rather complain about it than do something to change it. How can they ever feel successful if they don't value what they have? That's the key. You have to value what you have. I think I have the best job in the world. I can work from anywhere, I can take days off at a time without feeling guilty, I get to stay home with my daughter and watch her experience new things and I can draw a duck and get paid $200 for it. It's great and I know how blessed I am to be able to do it. I appreciate it and am grateful everyday for it.

How do you measure your success? Send me an email (with your URL info) and I'll post your responses (again, by "participating" it increases your search ranking since I'll link to your website!).

Get Active

2007-06-20T14:24:00.000-05:00

he best thing you can do for your career is to get involved online. If you don't have a blog, I would seriously consider starting one. It does several things for you. It helps you network with others in your field. You build relationships with people you can trust and ask for advice. It helps your search engine results. Chances are if you have interesting content, people are going to link to you, therefore your search ranking are going to go way up. It allows you to play more. By this I mean do some just for fun or experimental pieces. The more positive feedback you get, the more confirmation you have that your work is good. I have a folder in my email program listed "FAN MAIL." Every week I get some sort of fan mail. People like my work, my Becoming and Illustrator story has helped them, etc. When I have blah days, I go to that folder and read some emails. It's an instant ego boost. Leave comments on other people's blog. I try and leave 5 comments a day to help encourage others since I like the encouragement. I also urge you to participate in things online. There are many great sites out there. Take a look in the sidebar under "Get active & Participate." If you have a good idea, start a site yourself. I did with Big and Little Art.

Blogs are very easy to set up. I personally use blogger and haven't had any problems. Since I know web design, I customize my page from scratch, but you can easily add in your own banner, change colors and make it your own if you don't understand the back-end.

So, if you are reading this and you don't have a blog, go set one up now. Traffic will be slow at first, but keep on posting!

Marketing Mondays

2007-06-19T11:27:00.000-05:00

was sick with a stomach bug yesterday and didn't get to post this on the appropriate day, but thought I'd go ahead and post it today. I make every Monday "Marketing Monday" for myself. I take time that morning to see what I need to do marketing wise. I do this on Mondays for two reasons. Number one, not much seems to be due on Mondays so I have a little time and two, it's a good way to freshen up my web presence so hopefully I'll get another job offer in the week.

Things I do on Monday are:

- Research potential clients to promote to
- Update my online portfolio listings
- Search some illustrators and see what they are doing to promote themselves
- Evaluate my web stats
- Think and dream about my long term goals (by doing this I sometimes come up with new ideas)

I've tended to stick with this method for a couple of years and it really works out for me. I don't have to worry much about finding the time to do all those things since I've designated time every week. It's also nice to know my web portfolios aren't out of date.

Concentrate on what you have control over

2007-06-13T12:06:00.000-05:00

came across a great post today from Gail. Being in a creative business can be a waiting game. Sometimes we can get so caught up in waiting we just wait for what we want to happen without doing what we need to make it happen. An idle mind is the devil's playground so keep busy with what you can control.

Concentrate on what you have control over.

This is actually her response to Linda's post.

Good stuff girls!!

Just Start Fresh

2007-06-07T13:06:00.000-05:00

o, you've been plugging away at trying to become a successful _______ (fill in the blank with your creative dream) and it feels like you're not getting anywhere. Well, I know the feeling. I sometimes get in a rut where I'm not getting much work and my website stats are low. What do I do? I act like it's the first day of my business. If I feel like I've failed in marketing the last few weeks then I start a new week and work as if it's my first day. I update my website, online portfolios, gather names for mailing lists etc. I forget about all the jobs I didn't get or all the rejections I heard and just start new. Some of my best ideas and work come from those fresh weeks.

Words worth quoting

2007-06-06T13:48:00.000-05:00

rint these quotes and hang them in your work area. When you are feeling discouraged, read them!

Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines.
Brian Tracy

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals."
Zig Ziglar

If you can dream it, you can do it.
Walt Disney

All our dreams can come true - if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney

You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.
Evan Esar

I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God's help I shall succeed.
Vincent van Gogh

You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do.
Henry Ford

Commitment leads to action. Action brings your dream closer.
Marcia Wieder

Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land amongst the stars..
Les Brown

Do it now. You become successful the moment you start moving toward a worthwhile goal.
Unknown

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
Jim Ryun

The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.
Mark Twain

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.
Dale Carnegie

Creativity takes courage.
Henri Matisse

May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.
Psalm 20:4

Rejection

2007-06-05T12:44:00.000-05:00

ejection stinks. We've all had it in one way or another with our work. It can come in several forms. Written letters, email, a phone call or you just get no response at all.

I have yet to write a manuscript for a children's book but I know several people out there who have and submitted it to publishers. It is very rare it gets bought on the first submission, so it must be shopped around. Sometimes for years and years. It's just part of it. I know that can be frustrating and people give up on it or continually rework it until they think it's better before they submit again. In April I heard Jack Canfield (remember him from yesterday?) speak. He is labeled "American's Success Coach" and I'd have to say he's pretty darn good. He is the co-founder/writer of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Everyone knows what those are, there are tons of them. He shared with us that day that the first book was rejection 144 times from publishers, but he kept keeping on and finally found a publisher to take a chance on it. He then shared that he was doing a talk show and a guest was on there that was going to commit suicide. Her mind was made up until she ran across one of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books and read a story in there that made her life worth living. He said that if he had given up at 130 rejections and shelved the idea, that person would be dead.

You never know how your work will impact others. It might brighten someone's day, be a part of someone's memory or change their life.

The lesson is, rejection is going to happen. Don't avoid your goal by being afraid to receive it. The worst thing they can say is "NO" and you are no worse of than you were before.

Reading

2007-06-04T06:05:00.000-05:00

have never liked to read and I think I finally know why. I've been reading the wrong stuff. I've found that I don't like reading for entertainment value, but I do like to read if I'm learning about something. I have a stack of books I'm going though and try to read a little bit everyday. If I read in the evenings, it's hard for me to go to sleep because my mind starts spinning with ideas on how to apply what I've just read to my career. I've become quite addicted to it which surprises me. It gives me fuel for the day.

I first picked up the book The Success Principles byJack Canfield (I'll be mentioning him a lot in this blog). I think everyone should read this book. It just makes sense and it has changed the way I think about things in everyday life and my career. It's a feel good, motivational book that is really just common sense. I had the opportunity to hear Jack speak in April where he went over some key principles in the book. He had some good information about rejection that I'll post about tomorrow.

I've also been listing to audiobooks while I work. For these I've been sticking with biographies of people who lived or are living their dream. Paula Deenwas a good one and I just finished up the 33 hour biography of Walt Disney and I encourage everyone wanting to go into a creative field to read or listen to it. It was really neat to see some of the things he did and be like, "Hey, I think like that!"

What they don't teach you in school

2007-06-01T06:57:00.001-05:00

his is geared more toward college students but it could help you if you are trying to break into your chosen field.

Work while you're in school. Let me rephrase that, work "in your chosen profession" while you're in school. My first one and a half years in school I continued my part-time job from high school. I worked at the Hallmark store in out local mall. I loved it. I was surrounded by experienced illustrators everyday (i.e. printed greeting cards and giftware).

Today one of my most sought after clients is Hallmark, even-though they hardly ever hire outside illustrators and I'll never move to Kansas City, I still have hope that they'll call me up one day.

My last three years in school I started my design business (6 months of that time was still at the Hallmark store - I liked a steady pay check). I was freelancing it, and I was freelancing it big time. With all the school projects, I had little time for client work, but when I graduated I had 3 years of "working" design experience when my classmates had none. So when job hunting came around, cha-ching, I had "experience."

I've had many graphic design student ask me, "When I graduate, should I go get a job or freelance right out of the gate?" My response is do both because there will probably come a time where you feel the need to go out on your own. Who wouldn't want to work in their pajamas all day? I had a professor that urged our class to find a full time job so we could mess up on someone else's dime. That's really good advice. If there was a typo that was printed or a lo-res image that was reproduced, the reprint cost doesn't come out of your pocket like it might if you freelanced. When you do mess up, you will learn what to check and double check and save your butt when you do go out on your own.

While you are working full time for someone else, start doing your freelance business on the side. This will build your client list and portfolio so you can eventually go out on your own. It can also be an outlet to become creatively fulfilled. When I started my full time design job out of school I took 6 months off from freelancing. I made enough money and I could use the break. Well after 6 months I was ready to start freelancing again. I needed the creative fulfillment I wasn't getting at my other job.

There are many places you can gain "experience" for your resume. Find a company that is doing what you want to do and see if they need and assistant, intern, or whatever, just get in there, or start lining up some freelance work and get cracking. If you are still learning what you need to know to get the aforementioned jobs, here are some ideas for places you can find work:

Graphic Designer = pretty much any job you could fit into. Think about what area you want to go into. Package design - grocery store, editorial design - bookstore, etc. Find your niche.

Interior Designer = furniture store, fabric/craft store, home improvement store

Fashion Designer = fabric/craft, clothing store (the type that carries the type of clothes you want to design)

Illustrator = greeting card store, bookstore (children's book department), art supply store

Photographer = camera/photo store

Crafter = fabric/craft store

Writer = Bookstore, library, copywriter intern

Film Maker = video store

Architect = builder, home improvement store

And so on and so on...

*Your job is to not just to be a sales associate, but to be inspired every day you work. Learn how things are made and designed. Learn from your co-workers and customers. And remember, you will probably receive an employee discount so stock up on things you will need for your business!

If you feel you are stuck in a job where you can't necessarily afford to give up for another, think about how you can apply your interests to that job.

Get In a Group

2007-06-01T06:56:00.001-05:00

he best things you can do for your creative career is join a group of others who have your same dream. If you can't find one, start one and do it now. With the web as great as it is, it easy to set one up and find others. About 8 months into my process of being able to work from home I was invited to join a critique group. It was a small group of other children's illustrators and writers who shared their thoughts and work via an email group from Yahoo. I learned a lot from that group and when the time came for me to move on, I started up another group inviting a few illustrators to join me. We set up a private message board which seemed to work out much better than the email group previous. My hosting company had a message board I could host on my server so it was really easy. It is totally private so you are free to talk. We share things from our personal like and career life. We have our own website for promotion and we combined our mailing lists and send out postcards quarterly, each splitting the cost of the printing and mailing.

To set up a group, remember to keep it small. You want it to be intimate and you probably want each person to have different styles just so no one feels as if they are competing with the other. Find some people who you would like to be in a group with (google illustrators, photographers, designers, etc) and look at their sites. Read their bio and look at their work. Do they have a blog? That might help you see a little of their personality and see if you think you will mesh with them. When you have your group together, let them know that you all will have a trial period to see if you all can converse and get along with each other. Let them know they are not locked into this group. Sometimes people don't mesh and that's ok.

Pick Your Potential Clients

2007-06-01T06:55:00.000-05:00

've gotten a lot of emails asking me how to find people to promote to. I always recommend they get the latest Graphic Designer & Artist Market and Children's Writers and illustrator's Market books. They have a ton of information in there as well as name and addresses of potential clients. Another thing I do is google searches. I use phrases like “illustrator submissions” or “looking for an illustrator” (you would obviously use search terms for your creative profession). I also look at the client list from other illustrators. To save yourself some postage, be sure and research the companies you are going to promote to. They may have specific guidelines for what they are looking for or their products may not fit your style. Don't just send your promotions blindly, know who you are sending to.

Belief

2007-05-31T07:51:00.000-05:00

ne of the first things to do when you are starting the process (notice I say process, it took be one year to get to where I wanted to be) is have belief. Belief in yourself, your talent, and your ability to make this happen. I was kind of unexpectedly thrown into my process, so to speak. In April of 2004 I gave birth to my first child. At that time I was happy with my design job I had at a large Publishing House and wasn't planning on leaving. We'll 8 weeks of maternity leave change that and I was in a panic to be able to stay home with her. So what was I going to do? Well, I've always loved illustrations and even though I wasn't getting burned out on design work, it was becoming a very "needy" profession. Clients needed this and that and could you change this or that, revision after revision after revision. An illustration career has proven to eliminate the hand holding of most clients.

So I had my plan. My goal was to be home and working as an illustrator by my daughter's first birthday (April of 2005). There were obstacles. My husband and I worked for the same company in a totally different area or expertise (he was a data guy...think lots and lots of spreadsheets) and he was struggling. He was stressed to the hilt and in the summer of 2004 he found a way out. We had an opportunity come up that would allow him to have his "dream job." Due to his mounting stress, he needed to get out of his job before I left mine. A little bump maybe, but it was not going to delay my plans. Every day I would take steps to my ultimate goal. I spent time researching other illustrators who were where I wanted to be, book publishers for my mailing list, ways to promote myself online, work on new portfolio pieces, etc.

I had the determination to do this and the belief in myself to make it happen. I have to admit that I wasn't 100% confident in my style when I started out. I did both digital illustration and dimensional clay illustration (those of which I do today but they look a whole lot better!). I didn't wait around for myself to get better, I choose to get myself out there and work on my style along the way. I was going earn as I learned. I had to start getting my name out there and get better and learn more as I went along. Start accomplishing something instead of waiting on myself to get better. So many people wait and have excuses for not starting their business. "My style isn't where you want it to be", "I don't have money to do promotion", "Nobody's going to hire me, I have no experience" and the one that get's people (including me) all the time, "I don't have time." Do you have time to change your life? Yes, and if you still don't think you do, you will find it!!

Just remember, "If it's meant to be, it's up to me!!!"

Once you establish what you want, the how your going to do it doesn't matter. It will come and you will be like a freight train barreling down the tracks towards the station (your goal). When I was in the process of reaching my goal, I had a full time job, a newborn, freelance design commitments, marketing coordinator and designer for my husbands new brick and mortar business, plus personal commitments. There was nothing that was going to stop me, I HAD to do this. For my family and my own sanity.

Let me ask you. Whether you're an illustrator, designer, writer, photographer, crafter, artisan, etc, do you believe that you can make a living doing what you love. You may have no idea how it will happen, but hopefully I can share a few things with you that will get you started. Is it worth it? Believe me, it is so worth it!