My husband can tell you that building my customer base, therefore my business, is always on my mind. We may be on a weekend getaway, sitting in front of the TV, horseback riding, taking road trips, or whatever…but my mind is occupied with the question, “How can I grow my business?” It’s a passion, almost an obsession, with me. So, I’ve spent hours and hours researching the best ways to spend my ad dollars, time, and talent. He failed miserably in some ventures, but found great success in others.
This is what I have found so far. First, you need to establish a quality product or service that earns you enough profit to be generous. As many of you know, I make up reasons to almost give away my products. Customers constantly thank me for the great prices I offer…but I’m still making money too! If you’re here long enough, you’re going to hear me quote Zig Ziglar, “You can have anything you want in life if you help enough people get what they want” and “Give, and it will.” it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be given into your bosom. Luke 6:38 Why will you hear me say it so often? BECAUSE I BELIEVE IT and my husband and I live it!
Generosity does not go unnoticed or unrewarded. We are living testimonies of that statement. Give more than you have to, work harder than you need to, make sure you’re delivering a service or product you’d like to have… at a lower cost than you’d like to spend. But make sure you also get paid for what you do. It sounds like a puzzle, and sometimes it can be hard to do all of this at the same time. An example of a way I found I could be generous is in my Terms of Use. Look, it doesn’t even have to be a minimum price that you give your customers, it can be an additional service, a small gift, a good tip, etc. LOOK for ways to go further! People will remember you for it. My Terms of Use are the most liberal I know of for the use of graphics. I think if someone buys the graphics they should, for the most part, be able to USE THEM…and they don’t have to buy a commercial license to do so!
My overhead is minimal, which allows me to be more generous than someone who produces tangible items. My husband, for example, is a gladier. His business is the installation of mirrors, bathroom screens, glass for shop windows, etc. You can’t afford to be as generous as I am. He has a material cost and when he invests x number of hours and material in a job, he gets paid for that investment… and that’s it. In my line of work, I can create a graphic collection, spend several hours on it ONCE, and put it up for sale. So I’m basically done with that collection, but it can earn money for me indefinitely. Not everyone has a skill that allows them to get such a return on the hours invested. Just food for thought.
Another point I would like to make is that managers can be more effective than producers. Okay, we have to have producers, or nothing would get done. But if you can adopt the attitude of a manager, you can achieve more than if you have a producer mentality. One time I was visiting my brother in Oklahoma and he was showing me some of the houses that he had bought to remodel and resell (a very good business he runs as well). He stopped at a house and, almost ruefully, said, “I didn’t have time to put a roof on this house, so I hired someone else to do it for me… and I only made x amount of dollars for that job.” .” I said, “You didn’t pick up a hammer, and yet now you’re so much more money for good! What’s wrong with THAT?” He was thinking about the money he had to pay someone else to do that job. But, while the other boys put up that roof, my brother was free to work on another house… and thus earn even more money than he could have made if he had spent all his time on the roof. Does any of this make sense? I think he got it, or he figured it out on his own… because now he pays other people to do jobs he doesn’t need to do. He has become a manager, not a producer.
My heart goes out especially to women who want to stay home and raise their own children. But it goes beyond that. I have a great passion for seeing people find the freedom to pursue their passion and be able to earn an honest living doing so. Lots of people want the security of a weekly paycheck, and if that works for them, great. But more and more people realize that they are in an endless rat race. They work 40 hour weeks, earn a fair wage, and employers get all the money for the efforts of the employees. Does that sound like a double standard? I’m suggesting you become a manager yourself… where does that leave the people who work for you? Again, I refer back to my earlier quotes about helping others get what they want, giving as much as you want it back. Good managers produce good managers and don’t feel insecure doing it.
While you are paying someone else to work for you, you can also focus on how to make that person the steward of your own dreams. Ask them questions about their passions, find out what occupies their minds when they’re allowed to drift, encourage them to pursue deep-seated, hidden, and repressed goals. All most people need is a cheerleader! They just want someone to believe in them and their abilities. It worked for me! My first marriage was to a man who thought my passions were “child’s play.” When he decided to divorce me, I met and married an opposite man… my soul mate, my best friend, my biggest supporter and my biggest fan! I was in awe of my talent, excited about my work, and sold on the fact that I could use my gifts to touch lives AND make money!
My first marriage was to a man who insisted that the security of earning a $200.00 weekly check at a job I hated was better than daring to dream that my passions and God-given talents could earn me a much better living. In contrast, my best friend/husband/soulmate could see right away that my work and talents had the potential to earn me much more money than I would have made in the “real world.” It started off slow, and I got discouraged, and wanted to quit, and the depression would kick in sometimes. But my husband would not let me give up. Thanks to his encouragement and support, we are now earning a very good income from my work. I personally know people who work two full-time jobs (requiring a college degree) and don’t make as much as I do: with only one passion, to do EXACTLY WHAT I WANT TO DO WHEN I WANT TO DO IT. Ummm, I have a total of 16 college hours under my belt. LOL! Isn’t it funny how we buy into the lie that college is everything and that the natural and innate gifts that GOD gives us are second best and not to be trusted? Disclaimer: Yes, there is a place for college, but it is NOT for everyone… nor does it absolutely guarantee financial freedom. Not only that, but I once worked for a millionaire who only finished eighth grade. That’s quite a rags-to-riches story that I won’t take the time to tell right now.
Finally, I want to address the treatment of customers. This goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway. I have been appalled at how some of my peers treat their customers. Occasionally I get an email from one of my clients who visited other graphic sites and for one reason or another the site owner broke it. It is beyond my ability to understand how a site can succeed when their treatment of customers is so brutal. Some of these sites have been the ones I have referred clients to, until I discover their lack of respect for my clients. Once found out though, you can bet I won’t be sending anyone else their way. I like promoting other graphic artists… there’s room for everyone! But the mistreatment of customers is inexcusable! This goes for any type of business. When I know that customer service is the top priority for a business I have dealt with, I am confident that I can send others their way and hope they are treated the same way.
Points by weight:
1. Be generous
2. Know your passion
3. Dare to chase it
4. Love your customers
