Make My Home Office Amazing: Part 1

As a freelancer or small business owner, there’s always the pressure of putting your best face forward, and for a time I felt that if I had a regular office (outside of the home), it would help me normalize my schedule while making me look more professional. After much soul searching and budget crunching, I’ve decided that a not-at-home office does not work best for me. At least not now with my odd hours and the responsibilities that being the mother of two young boys requires. In three months’ time, I literally used it twice.

Thus, I bring you the “Make My Home Office Amazing” series, wherein I make my home office amazing.

Web Designer’s Lament (or Ohhhh, sparkles!)

Every web designer’s dream job would go something like this: “So, I’ve developed a design based on your needs and design style preference. I think you’re really going to like it.” Client: “Oh, it’s wonderful! Just what I was looking for. How soon can we launch?” Code, test, launch, done.

Every web designer’s hell: Client: “I know we agreed on the design, and it’s great, really, but we have a staff member we’d like you to train to add early 90′s clip art to the front page of the site.” Designer: “Well, if I had been aware that this would be added after the fact, I could have accounted for it in my design.” Client: “I’m sure we told you.” Designer: (checks contract) “Nope.”

So, a project that you just knew would have been a great addition to your portfolio becomes something you now feel compelled to apologize for.  Depressing.

How do you deal with this kind of situation? My first impulse has been to offer (usually free) updates so that Sally the Staff Member won’t jack it all up, allowing me to retain some sense of pride. A professional designer can’t afford to do this in reality, though. Giving stuff away for free sets a terrible precedent and puts you at financial risk.

Take control early. Your client has come to you for your expertise. Listen to their needs and guide the process as much as they’ll allow.

Communicate often. Clients often realize that they actually do want the awesome twitter widget you recommended in your first meeting. You didn’t account for it in your design and it’s not in the contract but catching it early can make both easier to amend, which brings me to my next point:

Always have a contract! I’ve made it a practice to always have a contract. That said, I don’t always have a contract. I usually have a facepalm moment shortly afterward. My problem is (because I’m a pushover and a little too nice) that, especially in a small town like mine, people tend to operate by handshake. Asking for a contract can feel like saying “I don’t trust you.” My solution? I tell every client that our contract protects both of us. That makes me feel better, anyway.

Get over it. You know, sometimes it’s just out of your hands. You’ve stood up for your design, you’ve drafted and revised, you’ve done your best and once your client gets their hands on it, it still winds up looking like a tech school Learn  Frontpage class assignment (Ohhhh, sparkles!). Grow a thicker skin and get over it.

I work hard for the money

I started a new job working at a print shop. Today was my first day.

It went well, but I’m not used to being tied down to a place since I’ve worked from home for the last 8 years. That’s going to be a challenge to get used to, in addition to having to learn all the quirky methods they seem to use to get things to work the way they want them to. Every piece of equipment has some different process to prepare things to print. I’m actually honestly trying not to think about it too much because I could get easily overwhelmed. Hell, it took me half the day to get used to using a normal mouse since I’ve been using a trackball for so long! However, I did learn today what work-and-turn and work-and-tumble mean. I’m not gonna tell you.

Neener.

The job didn’t last long for various reasons, but I’m on to bigger and better things!

design:related

working as a creative person, it’s always a challenge to stay inspired. sometimes the pressure of having to produce something when i’m not feeling it is really tough . working from my home office, i don’t get a chance to hang out with other creative people very often and i’m learning that i have to seek out inspiration.

just recently i joined design:related, a creative community site where you can look for other members close to you, join networks (somewhat like facebook), post your portfiolio, your personal inspirations… it’s really become part of my daily routine. i’d encourage you to join, or at least lurk. it’s worth it. here’s my profile thingy.

holla