Heather’s article was fun to read and a great reminder that if you want to love your life it’s helpful to really focus on what you love. Your “joy people” is a great way to think of the people you want to have around you. Thanks for sharing!

Happy to connect with you and know you through #playingbig.

xo

The focus of business (or dating, for that matter) networking seems to be about “catching” anyone, therefore no one in particular. The old fashioned business/dating networking model connotes a predator/prey sensibility for me thus making it doubly difficult to show up in any way at “networking events.”

Thank God for the 15,000 strong, alternative business community based here in Seattle called
“Biznik: Networking that Doesn’t Suck” — Like Facebook, they’re accessible everywhere! Unlike Facebook, they offer an equal emphasis on “Screen Time” (virtual connection) and “Face Time” (in-person connecting). See their link: http://biznik.com Sign Up and join my network… I’ll look for you!

Because there are people I enjoy, it’s fun to go to “meet and greets” via Biznik. Because we are all “solopreneurs” we often refer people to each other (we don’t necessarily hire each other). As you know most business happens for us through referral (indirectly).

I’m so happy to have found my “Joy People” and as a result of their “down-to-earthness” I’ve found some wonderful “down-to-earth” clients who want help writing and publishing their own book and have referred many people to other “creatives” I’ve met on Biznik.

Best to you and keep on sharing. We all benefit!

Boy did you say a mouthful here! As a graphic designer and website designer, this is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. Designers who hold their clients artwork hostage give our entire industry a bad name.

Years ago, this was a standard form of practice for some designers to keep business and income coming in – it was a way to guarantee repeat business. But this approach is unethical and it saddens me to see that people are still doing business this way today.

I hear horror stories weekly from new clients who hired a designer to create artwork ranging from logos to websites and the designer won’t give them the files they PAID FOR! We then end up having to recreate art from scratch for them so they can continue to move forward and market their business.

I choose to empower my clients to stay in control of their brand and their website at all times.

All final artwork we create for them is provided in several different file formats and the original PSD of website designs are uploaded to the site via FTP for future reference/access. These steps ensure that my clients are bot only able to use their art for any purpose they need, but they are able to work with anyone they choose.

Does this make it easy for them to use someone else in the future? Yes. We’re not the cheapest on the block by any means and sometimes our clients need to work with a more affordable designer for things like flyers and postcards, but want us to provide the brand and style guide.

I also think about what would happen if I was in a car accident or killed tomorrow – they would need to keep moving forward and if I had all their artwork hidden away, they wouldn’t be able to do that!

I don’t want to do business with people who are only working with me because they have to… I want my clients to continue to work with me because they want to, because the experience was fantastic!

I agree with your response to the comment above… Great designers retain their clients because they are talented and they put the clients needs before their own. Great designers receive repeat and referral business continuously because they choose to serve. Those that need to hold art hostage to ensure repeat business get an F in my book.

As always, thanks for steering your readers down the right path!

Best – Jennifer Bourn, Bourn Creative
Transforming Businesses into Extraordinary Brands