Grace Smith is a designer, self-proclaimed Apple fan-girl and Twitter addict based in Northern Ireland. Her design studio, Postscript5, specializes in Blog and User Interface design.  Grace works with individuals and companies based mainly in the UK and USA, on a diverse range of projects and enjoys collaborating with other designers and developers.

Grace is very active in the design community and can be found on Twitter, her design blog, and her Freelance resource aggregator—The Freelance Feed.

First, thanks Grace, being interviewed on the Freelance Show! Can you tell our readers about your background in design leading up to starting your studio, Postscript 5?

Thanks for asking me, I’m thrilled to be on The Freelance Show!

A passion for design and art is a huge part of who I am. I was an avid artist throughout my childhood and right through school. I actually remember creating sites using Geocities when I was a lot younger, so it’s been a long time since my first site, but I didn’t start designing ‘properly’ until my first year at University.

After I graduated with a Multimedia Design Degree in 2005 I started work as a graphic designer for a local print company. Concentrating so much on print work made me miss working online though, so after a year I started to freelance in my spare time and build up both my contacts and portfolio to the point where I could freelance full-time and create Postscript5, which has now been in existence for over 3 years.

Being a designer is just very natural and suits my sensibilities and passions. I can’t really think of being anything else!

Describe how blogging, social media and your personal projects impacted your design business? Have you noticed a direct impact resulting in new clients that you may not have otherwise had?

Writing and blogging is important and has become an integral part of my personal branding and also acts as a way for me to continually learn and explore new ideas, techniques and technologies.

I have noticed an increase in enquiries to Postscript5 since I started blogging early last year. It has essentially acted as a fantastic branding and promotional tool. I regularly get asked to take part in articles, interviews and features for other sites and blogs, which further helps to build my brand and introduce me to new audiences. For instance being featured in 40 Amazing Female Role Models for Web Designers and on various Twitter lists has landed me clients as recently as last week.

I don’t think any freelancer can overlook blogging and social media as ways to build both your brand name and credibility. It serves as cheap, invaluable marketing for your business if you approach it with the right focus.

My personal projects such as Theme Thursday and most recently The Freelance Feed are essential for me to experiment and work at my own pace as well as putting some of creative energy into projects that I work on independently.

What are some of your favorite apps (web or desktop) that you incorporate into your freelance business?

These are the apps that I use on a regular basis within my business:

Chrome

I recently switched from Safari to Chrome and so far it’s been excellent, although i do have to use Chromium to enable the plugins. It’s been an awful lot more stable than both Safari and Firefox, the fact it’s lightning quick also helps!

Coda

I’ve used both CSSEdit and Espresso but always come back to Coda. It integrates everything that I need; namely a code editor, CSS editor, preview pane, SSH Terminal, website management and an FTP client.

Google Apps

I run all my mail through Google Apps as a desktop app using Fluid, with all my accounts streaming into a single inbox and then filtered into their own labels to keep thing organised. Previously I used the native Mail app, however I switched to Google to better streamline my email process. Google Apps is essential to my business, especially Google Doc’s which is fantastic to use with clients and collaborators, to work on Specs, Scheduling and project specifics.

Curdbee

I was a Freshbooks user for several years but recently switched to Curdbee as I needed a simpler, more cost effective solution. Curdbee is an excellent service, offering the necessary functionality and features which suit my needs perfectly.

TaskPaper

After longing for a super simple, ‘get your stuff done’ to-do list app, I knew my search was over once I found TaskPaper. No bloated complex software, just a fast, simple app that makes sure I keep up to date with my tasks.

Noteable

I started using Noteable just a few weeks back and so far have been hugely impressed. It allows me to easily and efficiently get visual feedback from clients via a slick, intuitive interface. It’s by far the best method of getting feedback and signoff I’ve ever used.

Photoshop

I’ve been using it since the days of Photoshop 6 and can’t see myself usng any other app. It’s where every design I work on is created and polished.

What are some of the upcoming trends you are seeing in web and User Interface design? What trends do you see on the decline—or perhaps that have become too overused and abused?

With the development of CSS3 and HTML5 I think we are going to see designers and developers utilising these new features to add more unique and innovative ‘touches’ to their designs. A small number have already implemented some of the new techniques, and this will increase greatly over the year, in my prediction.

Like myself, more and more designers and developers are stepping into Mobile design, I would expect a marked increase in 2010 in mobile specific design.

I think overall we’re going to see a continuation of some of the major trends of 2009, namely;

1. Huge Typography
2. Oversized footers
3. Modal boxes
4. Grids & Magazine Layouts, and
5. Hand drawn illustration

I would personally like to see an end to the overuse of cliched stock photography! I love it when a site uses rather quirky imagery rather than the obvious, even if it’s stock, it doesn’t have to be boring.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far in your freelance design career? How did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge would have to be the fact I was quite shy. I’ve found though that freelancing has been a great way to build my confidence, force me to step outside of my comfort zone and push myself to become composed and confident when communicating with others to the point where I’m now completely at ease when speaking publicly, meeting new clients and in large groups, for example.

Now I actually teach IT & Design classes in a local development centre so it’s certainly paid off!

Lastly, what advice would you have for beginning freelancers—or those who are looking to grow their freelance business?

To any new freelancer it’s important to be prepared! Not just with the obvious such as your portfolio. Have a rock solid contract in place, create proposal and estimate templates, setup your email (including signature) and have reliable hardware and software.

Being thoroughly prepared, setting your rates and routine, knowing exactly how you will operate and what you will offer, will not only save you time but it will mean more billable time in the beginning. Instead of spending 2 hours in Photoshop and 22 hours trying to sort out your admin and finances!

For those looking to grow their business, it’s always difficult though there are some excellent resources available such as: 101 Ideas to Get More Freelance Work and Generate New Client Leads.

Personally I’ve found referrals have helped grow my business to a point where I now usually collaborate with other trusted freelancers on projects, which has allowed me to grow the business and take on larger projects without the expenses of physically employing someone. Plus I get to work with some awesome people!

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Thanks Grace, I really appre­ci­ate you tak­ing the time to share your story with the Free­lance Show!

Again, be sure to connect with Grace on Twitter, her design blog, and her Freelance resource aggregator—The Freelance Feed.

By Ros Hodgekiss,
Community Manager
at Campaign Monitor

Pitching a new service to your clients is never easy, regardless of how compelling you perceive the case to be. When the service is email marketing, there’s an additional twist—often your introductory conversation will not so much consist of explaining what it is (‘a compelling way to get in touch with your customers’), but deconstructing what it isn’t (‘spam’).

So, how do you bring your clients around to seeing the value in email marketing? What can you charge for? Perhaps most importantly, what’s in it for the designer? In this article, we’ll go through some of the core selling points you can pitch to your clients and the range of services that you can offer.

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Why should my clients be interested in email?

If you have the blessing of tech-savvy clients, then getting them to be involved in email marketing, or even self-manage campaigns shouldn’t be a great stretch of the imagination. Even if your clients are distinctly hands-off, here are some reasons why they should consider collecting subscribers and sending campaigns:

It works

Regardless of the size of your clients’ enterprise, email marketing is a channel that consistently delivers return on investment, for comparatively little cost or effort. In fact, on average it delivers almost $44 in revenue for every dollar spent. Your client can use email to facilitate a relationship with their customers using personalized messages and relevant content, support other marketing channels such as social media and print, or simply widen their sales funnel to receive more inbound enquiries. What’s better, you only send to people who have expressed an interest in hearing from your client, unlike the pay-and-pray approach of placing an ad in your local paper (that inevitably ends up in the compost heap).

It’s targeted and measurable

One of the great advantages of sending email is that the results are readily available—and fast. Your clients can look at reports and discover what’s working and what’s not, then rapidly make tweaks. As we touched on earlier, email is targeted—if your client believes a certain segment of their subscriber list will respond better to an email promotion or message, then they can send to that group only, or run split tests to identify what tactics work best. That can’t be said for a lot of other marketing channels.

It’s easy to use

It doesn’t usually take much effort to set up an account in an email marketing application and let your clients access reports, or edit email templates themselves. Web applications like Campaign Monitor, MailChimp and My Emma handle the administrative niggles such as unsubscribe and bounce management, maintaining deliverability and even invoicing. This allows you and your clients to simply get on with the fun stuff — designing sweet email creatives and optimizing your campaigns.

It’s flexible

The beauty of email is its flexibility. Does your client want to promote time-sensitive events like holiday promotions or product releases? Or do they value communicating with their customers based on their interests or purchasing habits? With email, you can tailor your message to specific audiences, land your campaign in customers’ inboxes at exactly the time you want and drive engagement in creative ways. Get your client excited by suggesting they use email to tie in with new or existing campaigns like customer surveys and seasonal sales. Or look at their marketing pain-points—if your client is concerned about their carbon footprint, introducing email newsletters or catalogs is a great way to lessen their dependence on print media, while providing customers with a more convenient (and timely) way to keep in touch.

It’s hands-on

Get your client involved by sending them a demo newsletter featuring their branding, giving them access to an account in an email marketing application, or setting up an email template that they can customize using an in-app visual editor. If they can take a part in the campaign lifecycle, or simply view post-campaign reports, they will not only see how manageable it is, but be reassured that the money they spend produces quantifiable results.

If this isn’t enough to convince your client, take a look at Beautiful Email Newsletters or Campaign Monitor’s email design gallery to find fresh ways email is being used to drive customers to a site, supplement promotions or simply get in touch. For a lot of folks, HTML email is synonymous with spam and slow-loading graphics. Show them that it can be done legally and professionally and you may have a new convert on your hands.

Your email templates can be just as beautiful as your landing pages

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Charging for email marketing

Just like any web design project, providing email marketing comes with its own set of potentially billable tasks. Regardless of whether you bill at a fixed-rate or by-the-hour, here are a few of the services you can charge for:

Template design

In a similar vein to designing and building a site or landing page, you can charge your client for creating and testing an email template. If done right, a solid template can also save you a lot of recurring work in the future, too—your more savvy clients will be able to use the template to insert their own content and send campaigns with little intervention, time and time again.

Campaign review and consultation

Providing insights into campaign results and suggesting email optimizations doesn’t have to be something that you trade for a cup of coffee – you only need to read a case study on A/B testing to realize that it’s serious work. Develop a mature email marketing strategy by trying different approaches to the use of subject lines and email content, developing key learnings from campaign results or diving into Google Analytics to track conversions.

Amends

Client-issued changes are often the bane of a designer’s life. A lot of folks offer a few rounds of amends as part of the normal testing and sign-off process, but as soon as you start amending email templates based on your recommendations, or substantially refactoring campaigns, it becomes a billable item.

Delivery

Delivery is potentially one of the more obtuse line items you can include when billing a client. If you’re on a monthly plan with a service provider like MailChimp, then it effectively costs you nothing on top of what you would usually pay. When billing your clients, however, it’s often used to charge for tasks like production and testing.

Using Campaign Monitor’s internal billing system, you can set your individual clients’ delivery and per-recipient sending fees as you see fit, providing the opportunity to come up with flexible pricing schemes while still having these marked as line items on system-generated invoices. For example, if you’re offering a complete design-and-send service, your delivery fee can be marked-up high enough to cover production costs, or if your clients are sending on behalf of themselves, you can set your prices competitively to encourage frequent sends. Alternately, you can bill independently of an in-app invoicing system, say, by simply a charging a monthly fee for your services. It’s entirely up to you.

Charging your clients markup on top of Campaign Monitor’s base rates also provides the opportunity to generate passive income. If your clients send their campaigns themselves, any amount they pay above the base rates will be sent to you each month as profit. Campaign Monitor is rebrandable and all invoices are white-label, so your clients won’t know that they’re paying anyone but you.

You can rebrand and customize Campaign Monitor to make it your own

For more tips and advice, take a look at this comprehensive article on charging your clients for email marketing.

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Lets get the party started

The great news is that if you’re already developing sites commercially, you’re ready to offer email to your clients—most of the tools required are free to use, plus there’s an abundance of resources to help you on your way. Furthermore, you can set your own prices, offer your clients everything from templates, to comprehensive campaign management and not dramatically change your business model while you’re at it. If you’re going to add to your service offering this year, give email marketing a try—not only will it clear your clients’ misconceptions, but it could possibly bring a new revenue stream to your business, too!

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Your Turn:

Do you provide email marketing services to your clients? If so, what types of services do you charge for—template design, consultation, delivery?

This is part 3 of a 4 part series that looks at dif­fer­ent approaches to free­lanc­ing and which one may be best for your sit­u­a­tion: Part 1: Working Full-Time while Freelancing and Part 2: Working Part-time while Freelancing.

Freelancing Full-time

To me, there is nothing like the feeling of running your own freelance business. It’s one of the most rewarding —and most challenging—things I have ever accomplished.

I spent the majority of my design career working full-time as a Creative Director for a publishing company while running my freelance business on the side. A few years ago, I left to start a business with a partner who was a friend. I ended up leaving that business after one year because of some unexpected issues that arose. My wife and I were expecting our first daughter at the time and I was fortunate to return to my previous employer and soon to my former position.

That was a tremendous learning experience, however, that made me much stronger and wiser. I resolved that the next time, I would only go into business for myself and I would be much better prepared for success. That ‘next time’ was a little over one year ago and, so far, has been such an incredibly rewarding experience.

But what was it about the allure of running my own freelance business that kept drawing me to it?

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The pros:

Control
When you freelance full-time, you are finally in control of your own destiny. You’re no longer at the whim of a company buyout or other circumstances that are beyond your control. My business is dependent upon many different clients and I’m constantly gaining new clients through word-of-mouth, referrals and a little marketing here and there. If I do lose a client or two, the impact on my overall business is minimal—or at least short term as I continue to pick up new clients.

Freedom
Being an independent designer is the ultimate freedom. Want to work from home? Then do so. Want to take time off? Then take it. You set your own schedule. Sure you have to be self-disciplined and motivated for it to work—but how powerful is that to no longer be under the control of an employer’s rules and restrictions?

Flexibility
My wife and I have two young daughters. I didn’t want to be the Dad who gets off at 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. and has to face an hour commute home. And if one is sick or has a special event coming up, I don’t have to ask someone’s permission to spend time with my own child. Think about how crazy that sounds! I didn’t want to look back on this time of their lives and have any regrets.

Ownership
You get to create your own brand that uniquely reflects who you are. You’re the one who lays out the vision and direction for your business to go. That was very appealing to me as a designer and entrepreneur. I was used to designing brands, websites and marketing materials for other companies. Now I had the opportunity to apply my knowledge and skill to my own business.

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The cons:

I even hesitate to call them ‘cons’—perhaps ‘challenges’ might be a better term. Fortunately, each one can be addressed and managed, but let’s take a look at some of the biggest challenges.

Many Hats
As a full-time freelancer, you have to wear many hats. You’re now the bookkeeper, the receptionist, the owner, the designer, the salesperson, the collections department and even the janitor.

Long Hours
There is no doubt that with success comes hard work. As a result, you can find yourself working longer hours than if you just worked full-time.

Feast and Famine
If not careful, you can experience the feast and famine cycle where you may have little work or receivables coming in for a while. Then by contrast, the next month you may be faced with multiple projects that are all due at the same time.

Isolation
A common theme of freelancing is feeling isolated if you don’t take the proper steps to guard against it. Sometimes, it can even lead to depression.

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Summary:

The pros far outweigh the cons here in my opinion. You just have to be aware and manage the cons so they don’t get out of control. I believe when you freelance full-time, you can experience the most rewarding and creative time of your life. It takes hard work and dedication, but so does anything in life that is worth having.

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Your Turn:

What is your experience? Do you freelance full-time? How long have you been doing so and what are some of the biggest rewards—and challenges—that you have faced?

At the end of the day, do you ever find yourself wondering where the day went? How many items did you get to cross off your to-do list? Do you even have a to-do list? One of the things that many of us struggle with on a daily basis is productivity.

The old saying is true—time is indeed money. And being more productive can have a tremendous impact to your bottom line.

If you can effectively manage an additional website project per month, how much have you increased your revenue for that month? Now multiply that over the course of the year.

And notice I said effectively manage. I’m not talking about sacrificing quality to take on additional projects. We should all know exactly where that strategy will eventually lead. I mean working more efficiently while still producing quality work.

There are entire books and blogs written on the subject of productivity. I want to just share my recommendations based on what has helped me. Everyone works differently so you will have to find methods and a system that best fits your personality and work habits.

Also, don’t get discouraged when you have periods of lower productivity—it happens to the best of us. Just learn to recognize it and continue to make adjustments.

Here are my top 10 productivity tips:

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1. Begin with a clean slate

I don’t know about you, but when I have a cluttered desk, or my office is in disarray, that has an adverse affect on me. Same with my computer’s desktop—lots of screenshots and other files on the desktop and multiple windows open can be very distracting.

Develop an organization system to manage your clutter. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. There’s a place for everything and everything has its place. Once it’s organized, then take a few moments during each day to maintain it so old habits don’t lead back to the same clutter issue.

Now you can focus more on the tasks at hand since you have removed a lot of visual distractions around you.

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2. Plan your day

This is something I still have to work on occasionally. It can be easy to slip in to what I call “reaction mode” where you let interruptions—such as impromptu client changes—dictate your schedule for that day. You end up spending most or all of the day “putting out fires” and the tasks that you needed to complete end up taking a back seat.

Of course, things are going to happen that you will have to address. But if you start each day with a plan of action, you’ll be able to keep your focus so much better and get more done.

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3. Begin with your most difficult task first

Most of have certain tasks that we just dread for one reason or another. We find other things to do in order to avoid the task at hand and often that is when distractions usually occur.

But if we tackle that task first thing and get it out of the way, then it is such a relief to know you don’t have to face it later. Procrastination is the enemy of productivity so if we can be disciplined to address the tough issues head on, the rest will all be downhill.

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4. Take regular breaks

We’re all human. We must have some mental downtime on a regular basis or our productivity can plummet. It can be as simple as getting up from the computer and going to grab a drink. Or perhaps go outside and take a short walk to just get some sunlight and fresh air. It’s amazing how much better you feel and how much your focus increases when you return.

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5. Be passionate about your work

If we do work that we truly love, it won’t seem very much like work at all. When I used to work full-time and freelance, I’d have friends wonder how I could stand working evenings on the computer when I had been at it all during the day. I never saw it as an issue. I absolutely love what I do. I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. Sure, there are times of stress, but I wouldn’t trade it for any other job out there.

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6. Remind yourself of the big picture

It’s so easy to get caught up in the daily tasks and to-dos. We need to set aside time to take a couple of steps back and look at the big picture.

Why do I freelance? How does my work impact my family’s well being? What projects do I have coming up next month? In the next couple of months? What are my goals for this year?

When you have a clear sense of where you going and how you’re getting there, then the how part of the equation suddenly becomes easier.

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7. Get up early or stay up late

How would getting up an hour earlier impact your productivity? Perhaps you could catch up on all of your email correspondence and scan over the day’s RSS feeds and Twitter/Facebook posts during that time. Then with that out of the way, you can focus on projects.

Same with working late. One of the quietest times in my house is when my wife and our two girls are asleep. I have found for myself that I am most productive during that time. Even if you just take an extra hour at night to plan your schedule for the next day that would make a big impact.

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8. Work in bursts

Along the lines of taking regular breaks, I have found it very effective to work in bursts of time with a break in between. For example, I may work from 8–8:50 a.m. on Task A, then take a break and work on Task B from 9–9:50 a.m. During that break time, I try to at least step away from my computer briefly. I may also use that time to reply to a couple of emails or check Twitter and Facebook.

I don’t follow this precisely to the minute all of the time. But I try to be mindful of working in chunks of time, while ignoring email, Twitter or any other distractions. You can set manual timers (such as kitchen timers) or use software apps to help with this process as well.

I also know designers who divide their day up so they work on one large project in the morning and another in the afternoon. So experiment with what works best for you. It has to fit your personality and working style or you won’t stick with it for very long.

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9. Break down large projects into manageable tasks

When faced with a large project, you can get overwhelmed with all that there is to do. So break it down into phases and tasks and set aside time to work on them one at a time. If you stick with it and work through the tough spots it will help keep the project moving and deadlines met. And the sooner you finish, of course, the sooner you get final payment!

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10. Reward yourself!

All work and no play is not good for any freelancer. Decide ahead of time what kind of reward you will give yourself for finishing a certain task or wrapping up a project. It can help motivate you through any tough times. It can be as simple or as elaborate as necessary. Just try to keep it fun and be creative!

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YOUR TURN:

Do you struggle with productivity? What system or tactics have you found helpful to become more productive? I’d love to hear your tips and suggestions on what works for you.