More about Ilise here.
« April 2011 | Main | June 2011 »
With all the recent buzz about age, a client has suggested that I start a Marketing Group specifically for creative solopreneurs over the age of 50 that would help older creatives marketing their services in ways that remove the age factor.
She suggested this group focus on web-only marketing (so clients get to see the creative’s merit before seeing their age).
What do you think? Is there a need for an over 50 Marketing Group?
Bryn Mooth recently left 20-year career in publishing, and she’s embarking on her own as a freelance writer. Her blog at Writes4Food.com started as a way to spark her own creativity, and has turned into a business where she writes on food, cooking, nutrition, and healthy living topics.
In the beginning of Bryn’s 2nd week as a self-employed person, I interviewed her to see what the first week was like. She shares insight on:
• What’s been most energizing and gratifying during this transition
• Getting her head into self-employed mode
• When she realized she wanted to leave her job
• How she prepared for self-employment
• What it feels like to be “ready” to make the leap
• Building a viable business that creates income to exceed that of a full-timer
• How she knew food was a good market to focus on
• How to balance her own marketing with paid work
• Using the cushion of her network during the transition
• & more… Listen to the interview here…
Any advice for Bryn?
If you’re considering leaving your full-time job and going out on your own, check out the Marketing Group for moonlighters. It will help you get clients in your pipeline—before you make the jump.
It seems Laurel Black caused a stir with her recent post, Too old to be a designer? on the Creative Freelancer Blog. She’s received more comments on this post, than any post has received in the history of the Creative Freelancer Blog.
At the age of 61, Laurel says:
The design profession seems to have a youth bias that is not working in my favor. Whereas other professions (medicine, law, etc.) value experience, the design and marketing fields seem to think that if you no longer fall into the coveted 18-34 demographic, you are too old to be relevant or useful. Experience is often seen as a sign of being “out of it.” Read more.
The Freelancers Union is also dealing with the topic of age, in What’s age got to do with it?, saying, “More than any other age group, older workers have remained unemployed for ninety-nine weeks or more, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, and one in every three seniors earn less than $22,000 a year, according to the National Council on Aging.”
On Friday, in his post, In-house Interpersonal: Designers & Fine Wines, Andy Epstein wrote:
Recently on the Creative Freelancer Blog, designer, Laurel Black, wrote a post, Too Old To Be A Designer? in which she worried aloud whether, at 61, she could continue to get work as a designer. She pointed to a youth bias in the design and marketing professions and wondered why experience isn’t always valued by the people who hire designers, whether for freelance or salaried positions.
Black is not alone in her worries; she clearly struck a nerve. Her blog post received more comments than any other post in the history of the blog (and they’re still coming)! Most were long and thoughtful, some optimistic, others plaintive. They came from across the spectrum, from designers who had recently lost their jobs, from those who’ve recently gone back to school for design and from independent or freelance designers who can’t imagine retiring but, like Laurel, worry about the “youngins” taking their place.
With age getting a lot of press these days, it seems to be more top-of-mind than we might have thought. What do you think about the effects of age on being a creative solopreneur?
Hi, I'm Deidre. In my posts, I talk about my voyage down the road of self-employment as a website copywriter, my achievements and roadblocks along the way, and what I’m learning as I go (with Marketing Mentor as my guide).
I went to the chiropractor today for an initial consultation. I didn’t realize this would require stripping down to a robe and touching my toes. All I could think about was how I hadn’t shaved my legs. What underwear am I wearing? I suppose I’d imagined we would talk about my back pain. Oh Deidre, you are so unprepared.
I hate being unprepared.
But, at least I learned something. Always shave your legs.
Although I may be unprepared in many areas of life, at least I can try to be prepared in business. Thank goodness for documents and templates! Some of the things that help me be prepared are my:
Although I couldn’t tell the chiropractor I needed to “run home and shave my legs,” I can do that in business. If I find myself unprepared in a call with a client or prospect, I can quickly reference one of my documents or spreadsheets to be in-the-know.
I created most of these materials in the Beginner Marketing Group (where I also updated my website, created a newsletter, and found a target market). If you want to be ready for whatever comes your way, there is a new group starting the week of May 16th.
What helps you to be prepared?
Creative pros are busy—and they don’t have all day to learn about bettering their business. They need to maximize. That’s why I love hearing that my latest book, The Creative Professional’s Guide to Money is a quick, easy read.
Here’s some proof:
When Alisa Bonsignore, from Clarifying Complex Ideas, passed through Hoboken early Monday morning on her way back to California, I gave her a copy of the book. She read it on the plane and already wrote a review on her blog – exactly 48 hours later! (Granted, Alisa is pretty amazing and ultra-productive, but still…) Here is Alisa’s review:
Creative professionals are in a strange, unique and interesting position. We’re not plumbers or electricians who show up with parts and tools to fix your emergency. Nobody has a design or content emergency (not that they know of, anyway).
How do you price a service with intangible value? What is your personal philosophy about money, and how does it affect your business? How do you have “the money talk” without your throat closing from sheer panic?
The Creative Professional’s Guide to Money: How to Think About It, How to Talk About It, How to Manage It comes with much of the same tone and wisdom that its author, Ilise Benun, brings to the annual Creative Freelancer Conference. You need to know this stuff, but she’s not going to make you feel like a schmuck for not doing it (yet).
Read the rest on Alisa's blog.
Recently, Lee Silber called it one of the best books he’s read (rather than skimmed) in a long time. I’m thrilled because people seem to be really enjoying the book, and getting great value from it. See more reviews here.
In a December 15, 2009 Marketing Mix blog post, Peleg Top explained how he planned for a new year by reflecting on the year just passed - coming up with obstacles overcome, accomplishments and what he celebrated.
At the time, I realized I couldn’t follow his lead because I only had a handful of specific memories of what had happened in 2009. It was a good year, but detailed particulars to reflect on? I didn’t have many.
I wanted 2010 to be different, so I put it on my calendar and every Friday afternoon for the whole year I spent a few minutes making notes about what happened that week. My categories included: Obstacles Overcome, Special Moments, The Happy Unexpected, Accomplishments and What Was Important To Me This Week.
Since I took Dyana Valentine’s up on her suggestion and gave myself permission to have a non-traditional fiscal year, I recently finished my reflection and review of 2010 with the goal of planning for my Fiscal 2011 (April 1, 2011 through March 31, 2012).
Having 15-months’ of weekly notes - January 2010 through March 2011 - made it the most amazing and fun “New Year” planning I have ever done. Going through them, I could easily see what was significant in 2010, how much had happened. And I was reminded of some big things that would have gotten lost otherwise in the day-to-day hurly-burly.
To my complete surprise, ideal Next Steps became instantly apparent, and coming up with my Goals and Intentions for 2011 was really a joy. (Which it never was when I was trying to cram it all in - without notes - during cold, dark, too-short weeks between Christmas & New Year’s!)
Making the weekly notes took such a relatively-small amount of time, but the pay off was unexpectedly huge. It turns out that the past is prologue - and a good and useful one to the chapters yet to be written. Thanks again to Peleg and Dyana for the big, got-me-out-of-the-box ideas.
Patrice Robertie specializes in working with professional services firms whose offerings have to be persuasively and compelling described because … they’re service businesses … there’s no “product” to show. She can be reached at patrice@acornadvertising.com.
If you run a design firm—whether single or multi-person—don’t miss this opportunity to see Cameron Foote, Editor of Creative Business, in person in New York. He doesn’t give seminars often, but when he does, they are full of tremendous value for creative business owners.
Cameron Foote is, in my opinion, an absolutely brilliant resource of business information for creative pros. Past attendees think so too:
"This was perhaps the most valuable seminar I have taken in the seven years of having my own design firm. I wish I had done this a long time ago." -Nicole Curran, Principal, WhyDesignWorks, Boston, MA
There may not be too many opportunities to pick his brain—so join Cameron on June 10th, and I know you’ll get priceless insight into your business.
Cameron Foote presents:
Marketing Design Services
June 10, 2011 - New York, NY
Sign up here: http://www.creativebusiness.com/seminars.lasso
See his best-selling materials in our Toolbox: the Creative Business Newsletter with free advice, How Much Would You Charge?, Pricing & Billing Standards and more…
A series of posts documenting Marketing Mentor's search for a new tagline and what happened when we opened up the discussion to the Marketing Mentor community.
Recent Comments