lifestyle navigation for the mapless

It’s been four and a half months since dezabulous opened its doors (or more accurately, since I filed the paperwork in Seattle for a license and turned on my computer). And I must say, I’m pretty proud of where it’s been, where it is, and where it’s going. (End gloating).

It’s been one month since my last blog post. I am not so pretty proud about that. (End self-flagellation).

It’s been a month of travel, a month of family (oh the holidays…), a month of work, a month of dealing with seasonal affective disorder (yes! It is a real thing! And Seattle is really, really freaking gray!), and a month of lesson learning on extreme amounts of caffeine (as in, I can’t believe one person can cram in so many ‘oh, eff, duh’ moments and still feel like she came out on top).

So here’s the break down of lessons learned for those of you out there venturing into the beautiful world of entrepreneurship/self-employment/freelancing (I know they aren’t the same thing, but these lessons apply to all of them).

First of all: know your limits. I have a pretty good sense of how much work I can take on, how much of my focus, time and energy a particular project will take (minus those nasty little inevitable sticks in the road, but even those can be factored in to a certain degree with experience).

Knowing what you can and can’t handle sanely (and maintaining a consistent level of quality and integrity) is the first step in learning to say ‘no’ to projects that will throw you over.

Second: listen to your limits. Say ‘no’ when you need to. Work will keep coming if what you produce is good. If what you produce is crappy, it will not matter that you completed so many projects because no one will come back!

(I’m pretending this isn’t a list post by spelling everything out…cheating? Maybe. Lying to myself? Definitely. You know what? I’m okay with that.)

Thirdly: sign a contract with clearly defined deliverables and timeline for both parties for every single job. Here’s where I needed to be a little more assertive in clarifying expectations with a couple clients. Really this comes back to knowing what you’re capable of and knowing what sort of structure you need to work best.

I know that I’m a very deadline oriented person. Completing a project that meets or exceeds expectations and being able to launch on the launch date – such a priceless feeling. But I know (now) I can’t do that without being able to schedule my time down to just about the minute (control freak? Maybe…but not such a bad quality for a solo entrepreneur). This means, writing in a time frame to get all of the materials and change requests from the clients, with the understanding that if, for whatever reason, they are unable to make their deadlines it may affect me being able to make mine. (This includes pro-bono clients and for trade clients! Regardless of the method of payment, every client should be treated like a client and a contract helps ensure that you’re both meeting those standards.)

Fourthly: Take the time to organize all your files, keep them organized and back everything up. This is another one I normally don’t have trouble with, but this last month with 5 sites to build, files coming in left and right from various clients (not to mention repeated updates of files – making remembering which is the latest edition really difficult if your organization skills are not quite up to par), some files vital for right now and some vital for next month, it’s really hard to keep track and losing files is the most humbling kick in the face for a designer (I know. I did it. I regret it. My organization skills are now borderline impeccable.)

Fifth: Write everything down. Always. Every conversation. Every time. I don’t care if you are Encyclopedia Brown, you will forget that one little point that turns out to be super important to your client and will cost you so much time and effort to correct.

This is precisely why I try to persuade every client I work with to correspond with me only through email. Then I have a record of every single conversation, every to do list, every change request and we are both looking at the same wording. And even with emails (now) I retype or write out each point of tasks I need to complete. I don’t copy and paste because the act of actually writing it out makes me read each word carefully and (though sometimes tedious) makes me feel that much more confident that I’m not forgetting anything.

Lastly: (haha…for now!) Honor your integrity. Hopefully whatever job you have taken up doing, you’re doing it because you love it, because it speaks to you, because you understand it. I may not have been designing websites for very long, but I’ve been a designer my whole life. There are tricks you learn, skills you pick up, books, tutorials and degrees that can lend you credibility, but having an innate understanding of the efficiency, the aesthetic, and the possibility of well planned and executed design isn’t something you can necessarily learn. And let’s be honest, can just as easily be mislead by said books, tutorials, etc.

Constantly studying what you do is incredibly important to stay on top of all the possibilities, but the things you learn are just that: possibilities. They are not ‘must do’s. Remember you were hired to be the designer (or whatever you were hired to do), do your job, and if necessary, kindly and politely insist on being let to do your job. Be proud of what you put your name on.

Phew! So needless to say at this point, I worked my little tush off last month and January is shaping up to be a busy one as well! But with this better understanding of how I work and how I schedule and what I need, I see that building in more time for me and my projects is essential. So, say 'hello' to my blog because we’re back!

Talk to me: What challenges have you faced in the first few months of a new business? If you haven’t started yet, what are your greatest concerns?

other posts you might like

• October 15, 2009 -- epic fail or epic win?
• December 9, 2009 -- warning: blognapping emo hipster on the loose!
• September 17, 2009 -- step out, step up
• September 18, 2009 -- fail with finesse
• September 28, 2009 -- perfectly practical for the emotionally explosive