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Collaboration
tool - Email/Tasks/Calendar ! Which one ?
Myself and my colleague are having a little dylema on how to deal with our management
of e-mails, tasks, meetings, customer info.... Currently we use our own Yahoo
Mail pro to deal with emails and we deal with tasks and meetings via e-mail; however
as our business...
Multiple
ISP's with one NAT server.
We're attempting to selectively route over multiple ISP's using a single NIC on
the external side. We can get it to send the traffic out the correct direction
(verified via tracert), but the IP address it comes back to is always on one ISP,
regardless what gateway it went out from.
AOL
Blocking emails sent from my server!
I've been having a problem for while since we upgraded our company's server to
Win2003 SBS standard. We use Exchange 2003 which is included in Win2003 SBS to
send and receive everyones emails within the organisation but it seems that whenever
we try to reply or send a new email to a client with an AOL account...
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10.18.05
How To Build A Successful
Graphic Design Business
 By
Katrina Rauch
Being in the graphic design business is very competitive - you have to learn to
swim or you will sink fast. I've been a graphic designer for 12 years and I'd
like to share the journey I took to owning and building a successful graphic design
business.
One of the first things I recommend to help develop skills and learn tricks that
you would never learn in school is to get an internship. I got my first taste
of graphic design in high school and by my senior year I was working as an intern
for a small graphic design firm and also a print shop. I took an active role in
my job to learn as much as possible by asking lots of questions to the senior
creative director and also to the head print shop pressman. My skills and thirst
for design blossomed from there. I majored in graphic design in college and had
landed a very high profile graphic design internship and was taught a vast amount
of tricks of the trade by highly skilled designers.
The next thing I would recommend is to read. Read as many books as you can find
on graphic design and soak up as much of the industry as you can from the people
who know it best. A friend of mine always says that the only thing that makes
you stand out from your competition is the knowledge you gain from the books that
you read. I am a visual learner, so for me I like to collect books that are informational
as well as provide examples. I use design books as inspiration for a lot of the
graphic design work that I do.
Having confidence in your ability and being able to apply that to your business
is essential to your business success. When I first started my business, I was
nervous, but confident in my ability to run my business with class. I plunged
right in with both feet by developing a business plan, company name, web site
and logo. Once I had the logistics in place I began the tedious task of marketing.
Marketing is the hardest part of owning a small business and takes immense amounts
of confidence and strength of character to do well, but if done effectively it
will catapult your business to success.
Sell, sell, sell. Building a successful graphic design business is all about selling
and marketing yourself. You can never stop selling, no matter how busy you are,
you have to keep marketing in the forefront of your mind. Every person you meet
is a possible client. Every contact you make has a sphere of influence that might
need your services, and every vendor you work with might know someone who needs
your help.
Some practical ways I have marketed my business is by: joining my local Chamber
of Commerce, building a strong web site that is correctly optimized, adding numerous
reciprocal links to my web site, handing out business cards that function as a
mini brochure, joining a leads group, joining special interest clubs, attending
business expo's and conventions, and networking with other business professionals.
The key to marketing your business effectively is to become well known in your
community by attending any and all networking opportunities you have. Marketing
is all about building relationships with others and then capitalizing on the opportunity
to sell your graphic design services.
Customer service is key to your success. The clients you gain and the customer
service they receive from you is imperative to your success. I've learned from
my clients that they appreciate a quick response from me all the time. I recommend
that you be available to your clients by email, phone and fax at all times. I
make a special effort to respond via email to my clients within 2 hours 6 days
a week. I try to return phone calls even sooner if at all possible, even if it's
only to say that you received their call and will get back to them a little later.
Every client has a sphere of influence and their referral will be dependant on
the customer service they receive from you at all times. A prompt response is
a good indication of solid design work and will give your client confidence in
your services. If your client has a pleasurable experience with you they will
happily refer you on to all the people around them. In the beginning, referrals
are the quickest way to ! build your business on solid ground and with minimal
costs.
The last thing I'd recommend is to keep your costs to a minimum as much as you
can. I've built my business by starting out working from my home. The great thing
about graphic design is the ability to do the job from the comfort of your home
and this is a great way to minimize costs. Operate on a debt free basis, paying
for all your business expenses with cash. You can still use older versions of
software to build solid designs without your clients ever knowing the difference,
and without the constant cost of upgrading.
While you are working from home, plan to meet with your clients at a local coffee
shop or their place of business. Send design proofs via email instead of printing
them out on costly paper. In fact most of my business operates over email. I send
invoices, proofs, contracts, and estimates via email so I don't have to pay for
the paper, ink, envelopes, and postage. There are a lot of corners you can cut
in order to save money.
About
the Author:
Katrina Rauch is the President/Creative Director of KaTasidy. KaTasidy was founded
in 2002 and is operated out of Denver, Colorado. Visit KaTasidy.com
and sign up for our FREE monthly eZine, Solutions. |
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