Below you will find a few tips to help you keep your customers happy and keep them coming back.
1. Care about deadlines. If you don’t care about a deadline a client gives you, then you shouldn’t care about getting paid in a timely manner.
2. Write a list of projects and their deadlines. Don’t try to keep everything in your memory. It’s easy to forget and mix up details and dates. Use an online list like Trello.com if you are not a paper person.
3. Confirm your crystal clear deadline. If a specific time is part of your deadline, make sure to pay attention to the time zone of your client.
4. Make a cushion deadline for yourself. Give yourself a deadline so you will have extra time if needed. This is a good practice because things always tend to take longer when the pressure is on.
5. Define exactly what the client wants a the finish line. If needed, have your client give you a list of bullet points of what should be included in the illustration/project.
6. Strategize the illustration. Don’t try to put the whole sandwich in your mouth at once. Illustrate one peace at a time which will make it easier and not so over welling.
7. Get in the zone. By now, your know what works for your to produce your illustrations quickly. Some artist work better at night, with music, lots of light. This goes without saying but, make sure you have all of the supplies you need to start and finish the project. You should not any reason to stop if you have a deadline approaching.
8. Adequate time. If you know that certain steps will take a couple of hours, don’t try to finish them in an hour between cutting the grass and doing the dishes. It works better for me to get the chores down and out-of-the-way before I start on an illustration.
9. Communicate with you clients. Some clients may need their hand-held from start to finish. It might be beneficial to communicate all of the completed steps as the project progresses.
10. Don’t commit to an impossible deadline. That says it all. Your clients will appreciate your honesty and usually will try to be more flexible.
11. Put the kids to bed and stay up late. If life gets in the way, do whatever it takes to meet your dead line!
12. Missing a deadline. If you absolutely cannot complete the project by the deadline, you should contact your client immediately, inform them of a date and time the project could be finished. The worst thing you could do is to let the deadline go by without any communication.
If you have any questions or you are interested in have your own custom illustration created, contact me today.
