I’m Back. Well. Kind of. Some News
It’s been almost a year since I struck out on my own. I launched this website after a long internal battle. “What am I going to do on this? Will it languish in website hell with outdated content? Will I just waste money doing this?” Well it’s a little bit of of everything. I have a bunch of articles backed up and in my queue to finish, but I have not been able to finish any of them.
[pullquote] On a side note. I was asked why I don’t join online Freelancer sites and groups to do work for foreign clients. My response is, “I tried,” but competition is extremely fierce, and I didn’t really feel the need to constantly fight to be the lowest bidder to people who probably aren’t looking for quality. It was just too much work to follow up those leads for little gain. I can write more about this as another post.[/pullquote]
It’s not because I’m being lazy, far from it, I’ve been busier than I have ever been in my life. It’s been one whole year since I launched the website and the name “ReidDesigns” and it’s been quite a ride. This post is a summary, retrospective and some thoughts for next year
In September of last year I gave myself a goal. “As many clients as I can no matter the cost.” This worked up to a point. I got a lot of business from the time I launched the website. I joined a business group on Facebook run my by my dear friend and former colleague Adana Austin, and in the first month I got embroiled in a discussion about “cheap logo design”. This led to so many requests to do logos it was a very good month.
My next goal was to “keep as many clients as I can” and some were happy with the work, and a few weren’t interested in a long term relationship, but a few stayed and I still do work for them today. Most, if not all, are small businesses with very tight budgets. Also I didn’t want to position myself as a “logo factory” my thoughts were that I wanted to get more involved with digital strategy. So even though I don’t pass on the logo design, I’m really focussing on website design, deployment and promotion.
Everyday We’re Hustling
The hustle is real though. It was enjoyable after 18 years in an office, to work out of home and try to spend more time with my kids, but the income stream was not enough, unfortunately. The challenge I found was realising I needed to be competitive with pricing, but not too competitive so that I work for peanuts. The issue starts with the budgets of my clients. I don’t care what anyone says, whether a big client or small client, the budgets are exactly the same: Small. So you work with what you have.
My third goal was “do good work” and I have to say that I have been doing a lot of good work. If you follow me on Instagram you would see a lot of the work on my stories and feed. So no complaints there and I believe most of my clients think I do good work.
Where things got interesting
In April I was asked to come on board a team to work on the Five Islands Amusement Park with a company called EyeScream Animation. I am there, basically, as a creative consultant and full time graphic artist. The work has been very involving and rewarding. There is a lot of digital work that is trickling through the door and there is a great team of young fresh minds who form a great team there. Unfortunately, this means I have less time to devote on the “brand” ReidDesigns and also less oppurtunity to get more new clients for myself. I still work on my own core clients work on the off times and so far this has worked out well, but I have had to put a freeze on major new work.
In one year things have not been so bad. Its been a fun ride and I’ve learned so many things and collaborated with so many different people over the last 12 months its really been a blast. Not to mention the relationships I have developed with the following brands and people:
- Intimate Affairs
- Prestige Awards Ltd
- EyeScream Animation
- CinemaONE Limited
- Karenix Gifts
- R&C Enterprises
- Christine Ragoobar LL.M(Lond.)
- Alethea Gollop
- Fenceline Consulting
- PCL
- FV Marketing and Advertising Limited
- Bodyart Caribbean
The future
One of the things I’ve learned in the last year was that writing is really hard. From the first time I posted on this website to updating my Tumblr, writing is really f—king hard. Especially in the world of Yoast SEO. This post is probably going to be low on Yoast’s reading scale, but not really concerned. It actually isn’t. I’m surprised!
So what’s next? I want to do more live videos but my full time job is getting in the way of that, I also not sure if its really doing anything for me or the brand. It requires a lot of planning and set up to do a live drawing session or any kind of session. But what I’ll do is drop a poll on Instagram and Facebook and see what people might want. I know some people like the live stuff cause they get to interact with me, but I’m really a shy person and don’t like to show myself. I think I sound terrible on video/audio and look weird. Anyway let’s see how it goes.
I am actally thinking of doing more Youtube type tutorials, but there is only so much you can do in a day!
Finally, I’m planning on shifting, slightly, the focus of this website to more personal type stuff, stuff off topic like movies reviews and stuff I like, for example Star Wars and geek stuff. I’m also going to transfer some of my Tumblr posts over here, specifically “Artists you should know”. This is so I can keep the website active. I will categorise the posts so the “serious stuff” doesn’t mix with the “personal stuff”. Let’s see how that goes.
So that’s it. Thanks to my clients and to all who visited, folllow me all over, and message me. Its appreciated.
“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” – A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens.