I am Michael Janda, an executive level creative leader with more than 25 years of experience in both in-house creative departments and agencies working with some of the greatest brands in the world including Disney, Google, Fox, ABC and NBC. I create books, courses, workshops, lectures and other training materials to help creative entrepreneurs run successful businesses.
What Should You Do if the Potential Client Really Won’t Get On a Call? I’m always pushing creatives to skip the emails and get on phone calls or in meetings with potential clients. The more face to face interaction you have with a potential client, the better. Gotta build that…
When it comes to the dilemma of aligning with your cheap clients on a more realistic rate for your freelance design services, the problem is just that: alignment. If you have a cheap client you are struggling to get up to your rates, it’s because they don’t understand the value…
You had a few meetings to scope the project with your new client. The meetings were productive. The client was excited. Everything seemed to be in order and you won the project. Peeling Back the Onion of Creative Crap Following another productive meeting with the client, this time to kickoff…
I’ve seen some advice that a creative entrepreneur should ALWAYS require first payment to be made PRIOR to starting a project. While I understand the positive intention behind this advice, I don’t agree that it should be a required policy for your business. Here are few things to consider when…
There is a debate in the creative community that you may not be aware of regarding source files. Should you send your source files to clients as part of your original project fee? Or should you charge the client extra when they request that you send them the source files?…
Is it time to increase your prices? The short answer, for almost every creative entrepreneur in the world, is “yes.” Most creatives are dramatically undercharging for their services based on both market value and the value they create for their clients. Most creatives are charging less than their clients are…
It is easy to get frustrated when a potential client asks for a meeting to discuss a project and in that meeting they start fishing for your solid gold ideas to solve their problem. You, being helpful like you are, offer up strategies for their challenges, free of charge in…
Should you charge clients a licensing fee for your design work? How about royalties? These questions have come up to me a few times, so I thought I’d address them once and for all in this article. To be honest, I didn’t know anything about this when I started freelancing…
Sometimes I feel like my content exists to refute questionable advice you might find elsewhere. This article may be one of those cases. Some design advice floating around recommends that you submit just ONE logo option for your client. (This could also apply to any design deliverable: one brochure design,…
It is no surprise that there are some concerns about short term economic health of the world. The stock markets are down. Energy costs are soaring. Inflation rates are the highest in decades. And the news media loves to tell you about it 24/7 because it will capture your clicks,…
