danielredbeard’s weblog

It’s been a while since I last wrote, or at least it feels like it. For the past month I feel like I’ve been on a vacation from my body. With the sickness just before Chrismas, then Christmas, then the trip to IL and New Years, then sick AGAIN… man, it’s just been too much off-timing and I long for my former routine. Tomorrow is a new day, though, and I have hope that I can get back into a healthy rhythm.

The biggest lesson that I am learning right now as a business owner is to keep trusting my gut intuition. A couple weeks ago I landed a new client by way of referral, and the referrer wants a cut of the first job I do for the new client to the tune of 20%. I asked around to see if this was a standard rate, but no other designers or design firm owners I know of had even heard of finders-fees since the late 1980s, but this is Cincinnati, so I chalked it up to it being yet another “Bermuda Triangle of the Midwest” moment. This city… man, so much I could write just on the backass ways of this city.

Anyway, I got the client, and began work on the first project. Also put together a very time-consuming, comprehensive proposal of things to address on their web site over the next 5 months. I’ve sent the first 2 drafts of the first project to the cleint, and have now hit a wall of silence. The kicker: I waived my normal urgency to get 1/3 down payment BEFORE beginning work. For almost every other new client, I do this, but in this case, since I knew the referrer, I wasn’t urgent about it. Stupid me.

What’s more, my gut is screaming that this client doesn’t like my work, and that would seem normal in this case due to the nature of what this other company does – they’re sort of creative in a way. And since there’s no such thing as “good” or objectively good design, it’s pretty much just whatever someone thinks is good.

So that’s a headache. The lesson, though, is to just keep moving when rejected. I should have treated this customer the same way I do everyone else, and when it became apparent that the style of work or cost wasn’t a fit, I should have moved on. But instead I’ve done a lot of hand-holding for what… ? … nothing so far. Someone slap me.

Moving on…

I need to write this:  I cannot recall another time in my life where I had the kinds of friendships that I have right now.

I’ve started an interesting conversation about the book “The Shack” over on Facebook.

And G’s latest thing is for me to get on my knees, and him to run and tackle me so that I’ll throw him up in the air as high as I can… he loves it. O the joys of a 14 month old. I love being a dad.