First of all, I had a hard time choosing a politically correct title for this post. I played around with:
- X Things You Really Need to Know About Freelance Designers
- X Struggles Every Designer Faces and How You Can Help
- The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Freelance Designers & Creatives
- Are You Really About That Custom Order Life?
- 10 Things to Understand BEFORE Ordering That Custom Design
But what my authentic self REALLY wanted to label it was, “How to Stay on a Designer’s Good Side…and Not Piss Them Off!” It’s too harsh I know; but, we’re here now…I said what I said.
Here’s the podcast!
Y’all need to first understand that this creative entrepreneur s**t is not easy. To be quite frank…it’s frightening! But, people like me choose to put ourselves out there despite the potential consequences.
We had a desire to create, and over time we received support and encouragement to continue. We’ve gotten numerous compliments for the work that we’ve done, and despite our personal fears and doubts, we made conscious decisions to step out into the land of entrepreneurship and make things official.
As to not beat around the bush, here are some rules of thumb to stick to when you’re interested in placing an order with a creative:
- Read our policies THOROUGHLY
- Research our work and/or inventory BEFORE you reach out to us
- Be PROMPT with your request and understand that it takes time, energy and MONEY to create your custom order
- Expect to submit a DEPOSIT or pay in FULL shortly after submitting your request
- Understand that there is no such thing as “perfection” when it comes to HANDMADE items
- Understand the CONSEQUENCES that come with granting designers “creative freedom/free reign”
- TRUST the designer you choose and respect their process (micro-managing is a no-no)
- Do YOUR part (know what you want, take your measurements, fill out forms in detail)
- Understand that little to no modifications can be made once a design is COMPLETE
- Know that custom orders are one-of-a-kind and usually NON-REFUNDABLE
A few more gems:
- We don’t have to accept your order. We can surely say no
- Most of us have actual careers, travel schedules…and oh yeah, families to take care of
- We don’t have to offer you a DISCOUNT just because you’re a friend or family member. It’s business boo!
- Shipping ain’t always included…and some of y’all live far AF soooo take that into consideration
After It’s All Said and Done…
You’ve selected your designer, received your piece, and are hopefully mighty pleased with the results. For goodness sake people, PUH-LEASE send QUALITY photos of yourself wearing the custom piece to the designer! We put our feet, backs, burned fingers, heart and soca-soul into some of these designs and aren’t always able to take proper photos of them before shipping them off. So that’s one-less design in our professional portfolio.
Additionally, there is nothing like seeing the piece ON the client’s body. We aren’t asking for a whole hour-long photo shoot (if you feel froggy please go forth and jump into action like said model above); but seriously, a close up, full body, and action pic will do just fine. And please…make it a good one so we can repost it. Don’t feel a way if you send a poor quality pic and it never ends up on our feed. Snapseed and VSCO can only do so much.
To my designer friends:
Stay strong. Cover your a$$ and always do your best. I have real tips for y’all too but that’s for another time. If you want in on the DNC please hit me up and I’ll gladly add you to the chat!
To our future clients:
We look forward to working with MOST of you LOL! I’m just keeping it real. Happy custom ordering!
Connect with our guests!
Morgan of Amethyst 7
Cyesha of Cy’s Crochet
Kev of Kevaughn Johnson Designs
Shout out to all the members of the Doers Network Chat!
