Welcome to Week 44 of my adventure of following the Start Up Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and Week 7 as a member of the Marketing Plan Group. 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 from my group experience.

There is nothing I love more than sending out invoices at the end of each month. (I invoice via Freshbooks which I absolutely adore!)  This month, I especially love the invoicing process – because this month, I’m billing the highest amount since I became self-employed.

Early on in my posts, I set a very lofty goal of tripling my income this year. I’ve finally attained that magic number… If I billed this number every month, my income would triple.

This achievement feels incredible. Why? Because it shows me that my once seemingly unattainable goal is completely realistic. Heck, I even took a week’s vacation this month… the very same month where I billed the most money.

Here’s why I hit the magic number this month:

• Marketing.Two of the clients I billed this month found my website online. Two came from cold-calling. That’s 4 clients (and 4 billable jobs) that happened because of marketing.
• Bigger jobs. I had two larger projects this month (both resulting from marketing efforts). These are the ideal jobs that I’m looking for. Writing larger websites… writing a series of articles, blog posts and press releases, etc...
• Charging more. I charged higher rates, closer to what I should be charging. When I did the quote for one of these jobs, it felt ridiculously high. But as I crunched the numbers, it was what it should be. It felt nuts, but I sent it anyway. I decided the worst that could happen was that the prospect would say no.  Instead, the prospect said yes.
• Offering help. There is one client I’ve been working with for a while (who I also got from cold calling). I’ve been doing some article writing for him. I was talking to him one day and he was telling me about the other things he was working on. These were things I could do for him, so I said, “I can do that for you” and he said “Okay, great, let’s do it.”
• Gigs that repeat. There is one client who I write a newsletter for every month. There is one who I edit and post articles for. There is another client who I help with blogging on a weekly basis.  Since these jobs repeat, they build a base for my income every month.
• Keeping in touch. Sometimes I call clients to say hi. This month, one of them said, “Oh, hey Deidre, I’m so glad you called… I have something you can help me with.”

I’ve spoken to a lot of people who said business has picked up since summer ended. Anyone else having good months? What do you think it’s attributed to? Any marketing tactics that have been paying off?

In my latest edition of Biz Bits, I asked the question, "When was the last time someone asked you what you do?" Here's why:

I just returned from a week’s vacation cruise. Every day I met dozens of people from around the world and had to answer this exact question over and over again.

Having a ‘seven word blurb’ is a business necessity. I teach people to craft their statement as part of every consulting relationship I get involved in.  So you would think that when it’s my time to answer the “what do you do?” question, I would have no trouble. Right?

Big trouble.  I found I needed to rethink entirely the way I answer this question.

My practiced answer to the ‘what do you do?’ question is “ I mentor creative agency owners and teach them how to grow their business.” You understand that, right? Of course you do, because if you’re reading this newsletter, you’re most likely a creative agency owner or a creative person in my target market.  Most of the time I answer this question I’m meeting creative people at creative industry events:  not on a cruise ship.

So in the cruise ship dining room one evening when a guy from Sweden asked me “what do you do?” and I gave him my practiced answer, what I got in return was a peculiar look and the honest response, “I have no idea what that means”.

“What is a creative agency?” the Swede asked. “And what’s a mentor?” I found myself trying to explain what I do in a whole new way.  I started stumbling and stuttering (which is so not me).

I knew I had to find a simpler way to explain what I do and still get the “oh, tell me more!” response from the other person, I hope for. It had to be clear enough that a foreign tourist could understand and still convey a depth that would leave things open to take the conversation further.

So after a few more tries, and a lot more explaining in ways that were clearly still too confusing to people outside my target market I came up with the line that worked magic for the rest of the week.

“I teach artists how to make money.”

“Wow!” “That’s so interesting!” followed that simple line, and the hoped for:  “Really?  Tell me more!” Everyone understands artists and money. So sure, creative agency owners are artists and growing a business is all about making money (to most) so by simplifying the answer it opened up space to go a little deeper and tell more of what I do without having to explain things first.

The other lesson I realized from this experience is that many people think that their blurb is their title. They answer “I’m a graphic designer” or “I’m a – [your title here].” That doesn’t leave room for a conversation to continue and doesn’t really sound special or unique.

Your blurb should concentrate on how you help others. It should be an answer that makes the other person raise their eyebrows and say “Really? Tell me more.” Get creative and don’t get hung up that it doesn’t exactly describe you. It’s an invitation to a conversation not a job description.

Instead of “I’m a graphic designer” say “I help increase product sales online” or “I help non-profits increase their donor base.”  Think of the benefit your work brings to your clients and use that as your blurb.

And have fun with it. A client of mine who owns a small design firm says “I make killer brownies.” It’s hard not to love that answer.   It starts a conversation.  Eventually the conversation reaches her business but that doesn’t have to be the leading part of the conversation.

Do you have a seven-word blurb? Do you still find that you have to explain yourself too much? Can you distill your blurb so Swede on a cruise over a dinner table could understand it?
 
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Peleg Top is the co-founder of Marketing Mentor and works with creative agency owners in helping them grow their business, become more profitable and live a balanced life. Biz Bits, his free monthly business tips, will add a dose of inspiration to your business growth efforts. Sign up to get Biz Bits delivered to your inbox today.

A designer recently shared a tale about how important it is to make sure the real decision maker is involved in a project from the beginning. Here’s what happened to Robert:

Robert recently met with the President of a company about a large project.

Robert noticed that the President seemed to be lacking passion and involvement, but since the company staff was deferential to him, and the title “President” was printed plainly on his business card, Robert decided his authority seemed solid.

After Robert met with the President, he followed up with members of the marketing and operations teams to get more information about the project. A few times, someone suggested that Robert meet the Owner.  Unfortunately, the Owner always ended up being “too busy.”

Robert began to get the impression that the Owner, not the President, was the real decision maker, and considered “pushing” the President to introduce him to the Owner. But he was concerned about challenging the President’s authority – or seeming like he was trying to go over the President’s head.

Ultimately, Robert wrote the proposal, and the President accepted it.  Robert put his team to work. 

When Robert presented the creative, the President forwarded it to the Owner, who said, “It wasn’t what we were expecting.”

In the end, Robert lost the account.

Robert shared this story as a lesson about the importance of finding, and meeting with, the real decision maker.

This topic also came up in a recent interview I did with Petrula Vrontikis. Here's how she finds the real decision maker.

Has this happened to you? What can you do to avoid this scenario? How can you “push” the President to meet the Owner without seeming “pushy”?

Welcome to Week 43 of my adventure of following the Start Up Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and Week 6 as a member of the Marketing Plan Group. 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 from my group experience.

Last week, I was in Lanzarote (one of the Canary Islands) on vacation. The trip was 7 days long, and I relaxed and had a therapeutic, fun time for 4 of them. After that, I was dying to get back to work. Not because I was stressed about what I was missing, but because I was excited to get back into the swing of things. While away, I realized a few things:

1. I love what I do. I missed it and couldn’t wait to get back to it. I’m so grateful for that. I also realized that the longer I’m self-employed, the more I adore it and the more I want to work towards being able to do it, successfully, for many years to come.
   
   
2. I don’t want to eat Eggplant Parmigiana at a Mexican restaurant. In the touristy resort town of Lanzarote, all types of food are available: Spanish, Indian, Chinese, Italian, Steak, Seafood, Mexican, Greek. Yummy, right?  Here’s the problem:  All of these cuisines are available at all of the restaurants. You can order Curry in the Italian restaurant, Pizza in the Chinese restaurant, and Paella at the Indian restaurant. Interestingly, none of the food was very good!  Lesson: As self-employed people, we can’t fill every niche in the same way these restaurants can’t satisfy every palate.  If I want Eggplant Parm, I want to go to an Italian restaurant that really knows how to do it right. If I want a Fajita, I want to go to a Mexican restaurant that really understands the spices. Experiencing this lack of specialization in the restaurant world made the dire need to specialize even more apparent in ours.

Marketing Plan Group Mind Blower #1

This week, my Marketing Plan Group got a lesson on the 10-word blurb. (This is what you say when someone asks you what you do.) I’ve heard a lot about the 10-word blurb and thought I had a good grasp on the concept, but then Ilise shared something that kinda blew my mind.

She said it’s all about the language. You can really draw in and attract your ideal clients by carefully choosing your words. Makes sense, right? But check it out in action. Here’s just one example:

I’m a fundraising copywriter.

OR

I can write a sales letter that will make your donors open their wallets.

It’s so short, but when done right, the 10-word blurb can be way more powerful than I thought.

Marketing Plan Group Mind Blower #2

We’ve also begun to compile information about where our prospects go, which groups they belong to, etc.  (I’m totally blown away by how many resources are out there for finding prospects!) Anyway, one of my group members found an event she wanted to attend but it was very pricey.

Then Ilise blew my mind again.

She said, “If you’re working with a small budget – why not volunteer at an event you want to attend? It gets you there, it’s free, and it gives you a reason to get involved with the other attendees.”  Seems obvious and perfect, but it simply never occurred to me.  Now you know… in case it didn’t occur to you either.

Have you learned any marketing lessons lately? We're always looking for guest posters. If you'd like to submit a post, send us an email!

We've been talking a lot lately about how creatives can do a better job dealing with the "money conversations" with clients. For my new book, I've been interviewing people on the client side to hear what they're looking for when it comes to talking money with creatives.

So last week, I interviewed Dana Manciagli, GM of a large division of Microsoft, who described to me her dream of how the money conversation would go with her ideal creative. She suggested creatives make it part of their process to talk money in every single conversation. Do a Budget Check in before hanging up. Just say, “By the way I want to let you know you’re on budget and there have been no changes since we talked last.” This shows a great deal of respect for the client and demonstrates your professionalism at the same time. (Plus it helps your client sleep.)

And if something has changed, that's the time to speak up right away and say, “That new section on the web site is out of scope so I’ll go get some new prices for you.” Then you formally re-quote, using the same language. “That extra section was out of scope and now we’re putting it in scope. Here’s the revised estimate.”

What do you think? Could you do this as a formal part of your process? Would it help?