Before you start a business in your home, check the zoning in your locality. If you rent, check your lease for restrictions on commercial activity. Usually if you have no employees, heavy traffic, or toxic waste associated with your business, you won't run afoul of any laws.
Just to be safe, I checked with my city before I began to find out what was and wasn't allowed. I didn't want to inadvertently break a regulation and get shut down. For the most part, graphic design is a clean and quiet business. I've never had any complaints from neighbors.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Checklist
As you prepare to start your business, follow this checklist. This summarizes what I think are the essential steps to maximizing your success. Read individual chapters for more details.
- check zoning in your locality
- write your business plan
- design your logo and website
- build your network
- add professional clothing to your wardrobe
- designate and furnish your office space
- save money, apply for credit
- set up your bookkeeping system
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Turning Disadvantages into Advantages
"There are two sides to every coin" is a cliché, but a helpful way to think about your disadvantages. If you are just starting out, you are not only inexperienced, you bring a fresh perspective to age-old problems. If you are an individual without an office and staff, you are also lean, responsive, and don't have to charge for overhead. There is always an upside if you think about it.
You might think that a single mother working at home with two young kids might be a disadvantage. But I played it up. When they weren't in school, I brought my kids with me for pick-ups and drop-offs (never to meetings). I baked cookies for all my clients at Christmas, and my kids decorated the boxes. Sure, there were many companies that wouldn't dream of working with someone like me, but there were plenty who would. Enough to make a good living.
You might think that a single mother working at home with two young kids might be a disadvantage. But I played it up. When they weren't in school, I brought my kids with me for pick-ups and drop-offs (never to meetings). I baked cookies for all my clients at Christmas, and my kids decorated the boxes. Sure, there were many companies that wouldn't dream of working with someone like me, but there were plenty who would. Enough to make a good living.
Copyrights and Work for Hire
Almost all original, creative work produced in the United State is eligible to be copyrighted. Once your work is copyrighted, no one else is allowed to profit from it by copying or reproducing. Copyright is intrinsic to an original artistic work, and adding a line to that effect has no cost or process required. For example: "Copyright © 2011 Gretchen Wieshuber." Enforcing your copyright is another matter. In order to bring an infringement suit, your copyright must be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. All the details are on their website. Then you must show that your work has been copied or stolen to pursue the matter legally. Please consult a lawyer if this has happened to you.
As a graphic designer, my work is custom created for each client and each project. It is unlikely that my designs can be used for profit by anyone else. I have chosen in most cases to do work for hire. That means that once the project is paid in full, all rights transfer to the client. Some of the larger organizations I work for insist on that as part of the contract.
I like working for hire because it ensures that I charge a fair fee for my work, without expecting to sell additional rights in the future. I can easily comply with requests to send copies of files on disk for the use of my clients in house or even with another designer. Repeat work comes my way because, as the creator of a design, I am in the best position to make updates or companion pieces. Charging a large fee to release files clients thought they had already paid for leaves a bad feeling, and makes them less likely to hire you again.
I retain the right to use samples of my work to promote my own business. Anyone who balks at this small concession might not be someone you want to work with.
Photography, illustration, and other fine art is in another category and should be copyright protected. I am not addressing that here.
As a graphic designer, my work is custom created for each client and each project. It is unlikely that my designs can be used for profit by anyone else. I have chosen in most cases to do work for hire. That means that once the project is paid in full, all rights transfer to the client. Some of the larger organizations I work for insist on that as part of the contract.
I like working for hire because it ensures that I charge a fair fee for my work, without expecting to sell additional rights in the future. I can easily comply with requests to send copies of files on disk for the use of my clients in house or even with another designer. Repeat work comes my way because, as the creator of a design, I am in the best position to make updates or companion pieces. Charging a large fee to release files clients thought they had already paid for leaves a bad feeling, and makes them less likely to hire you again.
I retain the right to use samples of my work to promote my own business. Anyone who balks at this small concession might not be someone you want to work with.
Photography, illustration, and other fine art is in another category and should be copyright protected. I am not addressing that here.
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