Sometimes is fun to sit outside a coffee shop, next to the parking lot of a busy mall, and soak on the fumes of the passing cars while sipping my coffee in a beautiful afternoon…
All while I swipe my phone screen looking for inspiration in Pinterest or following up on some drama from one of the strangers I call Facebook friends. Suddenly… My message app jumps into the screen. It’s a friend from long time ago.
“Hey man…” -said the blue bubble followed by a smiley face icon.
“Oh hi!!!!” -I answered back.
“I’ve been reading some of the stuff you’ve written in facebook, man. You are doing it…you work doing something you love”
Oh oh…free consulting alert in
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“Me in turn…”, continued the blue bubble “I hate my job. It’s sucking the life out of me. I want to do what I love. And I want to be free doing it.”
“Well…what do you love doing?” – send…coffee sip.
“You know man…” ( no I don’t)
“I want to do animation and comics and all that.”
“Oh ok…so, have you done some work people can see?”
“… well I have some sketches” “Sketches. It’s a start. What else?” – I replied.
“Nothing else. Just that. No one hires me and I don’t have a full piece to show.”
So now, you see…there is the problem. We spend so much time worrying for the final product that we forget what is the thing that really attracts more clients…your process.
Tom Beland is one of my favorite cartoonists ever. For his latest book, Chicacabra, Tom shared with his fans almost every stage of his creative process, from the writing to the proof reads his wife did for him. The book took several months to complete, but Tom kept his fans tuned in and hyped with all the details of the production.
Tom Beland shares his process for Chicacabra. Click this image to see the book.
When the book finally came out, (us) fans rushed to get a book that felt ours because we saw it develop before our eyes (so to speak…although I once met Tom Beland in a Food Court in the mall while he was writing one of the chapters of the book).
We live in a time where people have so much crap tossed at them from all over the place, that the only thing we really care about is a GOOD STORY…and believe it or not…artists and creative entrepreneurs have great stories to tell. The work (finished or in progress) you share with your audience (and clients) helps you connect with them and attract more clients. You give them the chance to relate with you and finally contact you to help them make their ideas a reality because (in their mind) you are the one who gets it. In his book SHOW YOUR WORK, Austin Kleon shares a thought I really believe to be true:
Audiences not only want to stumble across great work, but they, too, long to be creative and part of the creative process[…]
Ok cool…so how can you attract more clients by showing your work in progress?
1. Document your progress daily (share small stuff and progress): Sharing your process keep people in the loop while building anticipation for when the time comes to unveil the final product. That’s why movies show trailers, clips, and featuretes to build hype before the movie arrives. When you show your process and small chunks of your work, you are doing a soft marketing of your art people are happy to consume.
2. Share the stories behind the process (What problems are being solved): The creative process is problem solving in its core. Share the problems that your creativity is solving. Say you are building a branding package for your client…share what needs is your design covering and how you cam up with the design. When people read this, they will think you understand their problems and their goals. In the end…you can only attract more clients if they feel you understand them and know how to help them.
3. Open up to people: Sometimes is cool to let people in your process and let them express their opinion. I made a tshirt that I intended to sell after my presentations. I did a couple of designs and posted it on facebook asking people to comment on which design they liked the most. Based on their feedback, I finished the design, printed the tshirts, and sold them. The reception people gave to the shirts was so good, I felt confident to sell them on local retail stores and they sold super great!
4. Build your own website/blog: Your website is your little piece of land on the internet. That is where you will have better control of what you share and how you share it. Social media networks come and go…and they only let you post under their rules. Your website stays with you as long as you are willing to fight. It will change with you, adapt with you, succeed with you, and die for you. Social networks allow to drip some of your personality in their brand. Your website is YOUR personality taking the center stage. The cool thing is you can have a PRO website built to make your creative business more profitable, quickly and affordable!
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