If you’ve followed me for a decent amount of time, you know I’m big on being more than just the main job that you do for clients.

In other words, I don’t see myself as “just” a direct market graphic designer. Starting out I probably did since it took all my energy to establish myself. That one task kept me plenty busy.

But even back then, I could appreciate that, as a freelancer, I had the freedom to expand what I do, or quickly change directions.

Just in the last year or two, here’s what I’ve been doing beyond “just” design:

• Wrote the book Increase Sales & Build Deeper Connections
• Started the Magalog Guy Podcast
• Created Book Layout Studio
• Joined forces with Traci Hayner Vanover to create Neanderthal Marketing, the Neanderthal Marketing Radio Show and Content Protection Tips
• Put together a presentation on content marketing and repurposing that I gave in Australia and will now give in different forums
• Put one of my blogs on the Amazon Kindle

And that’s the quick list. There’s even more going on, but you get the idea.

So I started as a designer. Now it’s designer, consultant, speaker, author, podcast host and more.

Why bother?

First, it’s fun. One of the reasons to freelance, at least for me, is to get involved in things that I enjoy and to explore new areas. Otherwise, I could have stayed an employee and been told more-or-less what to do each day and had my work boundaries set for me.

Second, and more applicable to make a living, is that I get a lot of exposure in a number of different areas. How do you think that makes me look when people are considering hiring me? And what might be the perception of me compared to other people that are being considered for a project?

Might the perception of me be higher when a potential client sees how open and engaged I am? Might I be exposed to more potential clients than I would if I just put all my efforts on this site?

And forget clients for a moment. Might being engaged and involved in all these different endeavors increase my knowledge and experience that I can apply to projects?

You bet!

There is a catch to all this activity. It’s easy to confuse activity with activity that brings in new projects and revenue. I’m not immune to that myself.

While your own list similar to the one above may look impressive to you and others, it has no value if it’s not leading to income.

With that in mind, I’ll leave you with a simple question: What are you doing today to expand your business boundaries and increase your income?

I don’t mention this a lot, but if you need help, I do offer coaching sessions using my 8 years as a freelancer to help you get out of a rut or determine a direction. Think of it as a get-on-track or get-back-on-track session.

I usually just do a session or two. If you need someone on-going, I can refer you to someone I work with.

I’m kind of picky about who I take on for these sessions. When it’s just a session or two, I don’t want to waste time being your cheerleader. The point is to examine your issues and get you taking immediate action.

It’s not unlike the small-group sessions during my Australia trip where I had a short amount of time to critique attendee’s marketing materials. There wasn’t time to stroke egos… we needed to quickly dig in, find the potential trouble areas, then determine what fixes should be made.

Same with a coaching session between you and me.

If you’re interested, contact me using the info at the bottom of my homepage.

I’ve written what is perhaps one of the most important article I’ve ever tackled about freelancing.

I rate it so highly because I was making this mistake for a long time. So it’s something that directly affects whether I’m successful or not.

Fixing the mistake required me to get over some mental barriers that I think most freelancers suffer from.

AWAI was kind enough to publish the article, so I won’t ramble on instead just point you to that article: Marketing vs. Sales, And Why Knowing The Difference Is Critical To Your Success.

I’ve been doing some cold-calling.

Unlike some who cold-call and try to sell something, I’m calling to offer a book I wrote. (I’m also calling to make a friend, but I’ll expand on that another time.)

I don’t try to sell anything on that call for a very important reason: I have no idea what their needs are.

Imagine the scenario… you’re sitting at your desk when a call from someone you don’t know interrupts you. The person calling immediately starts talking about what he – or she -  does because he’s scared he only has a few seconds to make his pitch and doesn’t want to waste his golden moment. Maybe he finishes off with an invitation to visit his online portfolio, or have his marketing package sent in the mail.

As you’re sitting there thinking about how soon you can hang up and get back to important work, the caller pushes to get any kind of decision from you. Maybe you’re interested. Maybe you’re annoyed at his rookie technique of trying to sell you something without understanding your needs.

At that point, you feel like just another name on a list and you’re not terribly inclined to waste more time on the phone with him. If you want to be polite, maybe you’ll take his name and number and let him know you’ll contact him, “if something comes up.”

Let’s be honest… even the worst techniques of all time occasionally work. But that approach sure makes it harder on yourself and is probably taking you much longer to reach your sales goals.

Fully respecting that I’m interrupting someone, and that I haven’t got a clue as to what his specific needs might be, I offer my book that has value whether the business ever hires me or not.

The book is not one of those, “I’ve got a secret that I’m going to tease you with and you can only get the full information if you call or hire me,” pieces. It’s full of great value.

When I check back a week later (and I ask them upfront if it’s OK for me to do that) I’ll ask if he has any questions and see if he wants to discuss his marketing needs. Based on the content of my book, he already knows what I do and how I can help.

If I can help, great… the conversation continues. If he didn’t find any value in the book, or doesn’t feel he needs the services I offer, that’s fine, too.

Here’s what someone wrote me after I sent my book following an initial call:

Hi Mike, thanks. Interesting lead gen too. I’ve had people call from the web site, but not to offer me something of value for free. It’s amazing how many marketers still don’t get that.

Those last two sentences are interesting, aren’t they? Replace the word marketers with freelancers so you can appreciate how this applies to you.

You do not have to offer a book. It could be a special report, a helpful video, an audio download… whatever. But offer something, don’t try to sell at that point.

Even if you never intend to make a phone call, is there a free offer when people visit your site? It might attract interest that you might not otherwise have had.

Not that long ago, I looked at my connections on LinkedIn and realized something rather embarrassing: I had no idea who half those people were.

I knew there was a reason I was connected to them because connections require permission from both parties. And I could guess that some I didn’t know were probably connections that came after interactions from LinkedIn’s Q&A section.

Just from my own completely unscientific poll, only a relative few people seem to use LinkedIn as a serious tool in terms of creating a meaningful relationship with their connections.

The rest of us really aren’t sure what we should do with the connections we’ve made. And there’s that small group who seem to just be playing a numbers game… get as many connections as possible just for the sake of it. Or use it as another way to spam people through the status update function.

Bottom line: For those of us in that “not sure what to do” category, there’s room for improvement.

So I’ve decided that I’m going to reach out to the connections I don’t really know and ask to talk by phone.

And let me be clear: This is not a sales call!

Personally, I love helping people connect. If you need a person who does X and I happen to know someone that does X, I get a lot of joy from connecting the two parties.

But how can I connect people if I really don’t know them that well? How can I find potential partners on projects if I don’t really know you or what you do? How can I be a fantastic trusted resource for my clients if I’m not constantly building and interacting with my connections.

The answer is, I can’t. Or at least I can’t do it well.

I’ve done a couple of these calls so far and plan to do a lot more in the new year.

So far, all calls have been great and showed me what a good idea this is.

I want to share with you how simple the process is. Then you can decide if you want to give it a try.

1. If it’s a brand new connection, I now tell them right off the top that I’d like to talk by phone. If it’s someone that’s been a connection for a long time and I’ve never really interacted with them, I’ll send them a note through LinkedIn and explain what I’m doing.

2. In that request to talk, I’m totally honest about why I’m doing this, and it’s the reason I’ve given above. I also make it clear that it’s not a sales call. Truthfully, I couldn’t care less if we talk about what I do. I simply want to know about the other person and his/her business.

3. Assuming they accept the invitation, we setup a time to talk either by phone or Skype. Skype is really handy to talk to people in other countries. While this hasn’t happened yet, if they have no desire to talk at all, either by phone or even e-mail, I think I’ve probably learned everything I need to know about them.

4. When the scheduled time/day arrives, I’m the one to make the call since I made the request. I don’t ask to talk, then expect them to call me.

5. I ask lots of questions, but I don’t have a rigid list. I don’t want it to feel like an interview, I want it to be a natural conversation. What do I ask? Great question. Glad you asked:

• I ask about what they do. Yes, their website probably says it, but there’s often more to it. Honestly, not everyone does a great job of explaining their passion on their site. Digging a little deeper helps me understand them better.
• I ask which keywords should make me think of them. For example, I know a lot of copywriters, but most have preferred areas they like to work in. Perhaps even more important is understanding what isn’t a good fit for them.
• I ask how they market themselves or their products. Since I don’t tend to connect with other designers, this question isn’t so I can gain some competitive edge. I mostly talk with other freelancers and we all deal with how best to market ourselves. So I’m curious to know what has and hasn’t work for them. And I’m also willing share my successes and failures if they’re interested.

And depending on how the conversation goes, there are any number of other questions that might spring to mind.

As they’re talking, I’m typing notes that I’ll put alongside their entry in my address book. And I tell them I’m doing that so they don’t hear the keyboard clicking and wonder if I’m chatting on Facebook while they’re talking.

6. If they want to know about what I do in the design, consulting and speaking realm, I’m happy to share whatever they want to know. And if that happens, we both begin to get a better picture of whether there might be some partnership opportunities between us down the road.

7. When we wrap up, I stress that they are free to contact me any time if they want to talk, bounce around some ideas, or update me on what they’re doing and their keywords.

I don’t put them on a mailing list or try to push off any of my free marketing materials on them. Not that there’s anything wrong with doing either if you think it’s beneficial and you’ve asked their permission. It’s just not my style.

In the calls I’ve done so far, I could tell there was genuine appreciation for the effort to reach out. And in all cases, I’ve shared different tips that I’ve picked up that they can apply to their own situations.

I’ve learned from them as well because I’ve found people genuinely like to engage and share what they know.

So as this year comes to a close, take a look at the connections you have, whether it’s on LinkedIn or some other site. How well do you know all of them? What might be the value of getting to know them better? What might that mean for growth and success of your business in the new year?

There have been times where it probably seems like I get really nit-picky about what another freelancer has done with their marketing, especially in how they reach out to other freelancers.

The most recent case was my article, How Not To Drum Up Business With Your Freelance Colleagues.

I could sum up why I get nit-picky like that with the old cliche, You only get one chance to make a first impression.

But let me make it more tangible and talk about it from the financial aspect.

When I first got started as a designer, I was able to pick up some work with another, more experience designer (Person A). Person A referred me to Person B who brought me in on a number of projects that she was managing for a client of hers.

Then Person B referred me to Person C where I did a few projects.

Person B also picked up a new client – Person D – where I did some work, but then Person B left. However, I’m still working with Person D.

OK… we could have probably used a flow chart on this one.

Let me make it simpler: All that work that sprang through Person A has amounted to around $60,000 or more.

Imagine if I hadn’t made a good impression with Person A. It’s unlikely I would have ever been introduced to Persons B-D. I’d like to think I would have landed other projects. But as I was just starting out, the boost from Person A was sure appreciated and got me off to a quicker start.

When you’re starting out, you need to lead with your best effort. Trying to take shortcuts shows and doesn’t leave the best first impression. That could lead to missing out on some great opportunities that others might be willing to send your way.

Maybe that means setting up a personal call with people you want to connect with instead of mass, generic e-mails. Maybe it means buying a domain so you’re not sending your business e-mail through a Hotmail account.

I don’t want you to think I’ve got freelancing, marketing and sales down to a science. For reasons I’ll go into in a future article, I’ve decided to do a bit of cold-calling for a new niche I’m looking at. Let’s just say my initial calls won’t go into the cold-calling Hall of Fame. In other words, I sometimes blow it, too, even after 7 years of freelancing.

But what has always been my hope with this blog is to share what I’ve learned so you can apply it to your business and hopefully avoid needless mistakes.

I’ve put a referral fee plan in place for my business.

Doing this is not without some controversy and it’s something I’ve wrestled with over time.

But let’s start at the beginning…

I refer business to colleagues when I think there’s a good fit. I expect nothing in return, although a “Thank you” would be nice. I truly get a lot of joy out of connecting people who need each other.

Being able to send my clients to appropriate colleagues is also a “value-add” for my business. I run into lots of people who need other services but don’t know where to turn. Try a Google search on “copywriter” and see how thrilling it would be for someone who has never used a copywriter to figure out the right person to contact.

Smart businesses take advantage of their networks to find the right people fast.

Me being able to say, “I’ve worked with ________ in the past and know he/she is worth talking to for this project”, is priceless for a client that doesn’t know where to turn.

Of course, if I make referrals to people who are horrible to deal with or do rotten work, it’s my reputation that takes the biggest hit. So even if I was promised a referral fee from someone, I wouldn’t make any referral if I didn’t think there was a good fit.

But I must be naive in that belief because when I talk about this with others, some are stunned. How can you be completely ethical giving referrals that you’re paid for? That’s a tainted referral!!

Fine. If that’s your belief, you’re welcome to it. (Reminds of the pro- and anti-spec work argument where people get a little too aggressive about their opinion being accepted as fact.)

Some people probably would make a referral to people they don’t completely believe in simply to get a fee. Again, it’s their reputation that takes the biggest hit, so I’m not sure how often that really happens among smart and respected business people.

I have some colleagues who give referral fees, others that don’t. Or maybe they’ll give a gift certificate. Doesn’t matter to me whether or not I get paid for a referral to them since I only refer if I think there might be a good fit.

But I’ll be honest… I’ve always felt a little bit guilty over my ability to give referrals. In the general flow of a project, the copywriter is often hired first, then the designer. So while I have been able to give referrals for copywriters, it’s more likely that I’m getting a referral from a copywriter… often many times by the same copywriters.

I wanted to somehow return the favor, especially to people who were sending me lots of good clients. If I couldn’t send over a lot of actual business to the copywriters, I felt the next best thing was cash. I could have done a gift certificate, but cash is universal. I also could have done nothing beyond saying Thank You, but I wanted to do something more.

So, I recently put into place a referral fee plan. When someone refers a new client to me, they get a percentage of the price from the first project.

Where I think some controversy may come in is when a referral fee is added to the price of a project. I don’t do that as it can become a bit of an administrative nightmare.

When I quote a price to prospect that has been referred to me, it’s the price of the project, not the project price plus a referral fee.

So from the client’s point of view, I’m not sure why they’d care about a referral fee. The price is the same to them whether they came to me on their own or through a referral. I’m the one taking the financial hit giving up a percentage of the price to someone else.

If the price is fair and acceptable to the prospect, and it’s my regular price, what I do with the money shouldn’t concern them, whether I give part of it as a referral fee, pay bills, or take the family on a vacation.

I do understand a possible concern on the part of prospect wondering if a referral to someone is “tainted” by a referral fee.

But that’s where I stress to people who give me referrals what a referral should be. A referral should never be an iron-clad “You must work with this person only!” type of situation.

What a referral should always be is a recommendation to talk to someone specific that you personally know so both sides can determine if there’s a good fit. That’s a very, very important clarification.

Whenever anyone calls me for potential work, I don’t automatically accept them as clients unless I feel I can serve them properly. And there have been cases where I thought it might be a good fit, but the prospect didn’t and moved on.

To evaluate whether or not there’s a good fit, I offer a free phone consultation to discuss a prospect’s needs. In other words, I invest the time up front to see if there’s a potential relationship.

Between that call, samples of my work, and plenty of free resources, the decision whether to work with me or not should easily be based on more than just someone saying I’m the one to call.

The referral simply starts the conversation. And I’ve decided to reward a sale with money because I’m now working with someone I didn’t find on my own. Someone has saved me the time of finding a good client which can be very rewarding for my business if it turns into a long-term relationship.

But whether it goes beyond that initial conversation is based on whether the prospect and I feel it’s worthwhile to move forward. If we do move forward, everyone benefits. If not, there was no harm in having the conversation.

There is no referral fee for the conversation… only if it leads to a project.

Another point… I only mention specifics about my referral plan to people I know. It’s not like it’s a public page on my site where people I’ve never met can get the details.

So if I’m at the point where I’m talking about it with them, it means we’ve just had a conversation and have a good idea that we’re a good fit for each other in some capacity. We’ve taken the time to learn about each other and know what an ideal referral is.

For example, I don’t do logos. So someone referring a business to me for logo work is pointless. The colleagues I’ve talked to know that and wouldn’t bother making that type of referral.

That seems to be one of the big issues with the anti-referral fee crowd… they’re afraid of getting tons of useless referrals as people send them anyone with a pulse in the hopes of getting a fee in return.

If that’s the case they find themselves in, I’d have to say that’s really their own fault. As mentioned, a referral fee shouldn’t be something that’s out there for anyone to see. It should be discussed with people you know and who understand what a good referral is for you.

So, that’s the story. As a freelancer with flexibility, it’s nice to be able to try things out. And that’s what my referral plan is… an experiment to see for myself what works well and what doesn’t.

Like any plan for my business, if it works well, I’ll keep it in place. If it doesn’t, I’ll scrap it and move on.

A few months back I mentioned Dean Rieck and pointed you to an article he wrote called, Open Letter to Direct Mail Designers. If you didn’t read it, you should. (And if you did read it, it wouldn’t hurt to go over it again.)

Copywriters should be our best friends in business. Making them look good makes us look good, and makes the client look even better.

Dean offered me the opportunity to write an article for his site, ProCopyTips.com. Instead of giving him an article I had already written, I wrote about something I recently learned to increase my freelance income. It’s very powerful and very simple.

Even though Dean’s audience is primarily copywriters, this applies 100% to designers.

So please visit Dean’s site to read my article, Ask this one question to close more freelance sales.

As soon as I wrote the headline for this article, I realized – more than usual – that what I’m about to say is just my opinion. And that what I’m suggesting you don’t do can actually work in some circumstances.

But I think there’s a better way and I’ll tell you what it is in just a bit. First, let my tell you what happened.

I received an e-mail from someone trying to drum up business as an Internet researcher. He was soliciting copywriters who might need the services of a researcher as they’re writing copy for a client. Can you see the first mistake he made with me?

Mistake #1 – I haven’t marketed myself as a copywriter for about 5 years. I state on my website that I work with businesses on the layout and design of their marketing material. So when I get an e-mail that is clearly targeted to copywriters, it gives the impression that this guy hasn’t done his homework. Somewhere he had old info, or misinterpreted something, and didn’t bother to check the facts. Not good for a researcher.

Next… The e-mail wasn’t just sent to me. I could see about 15 other names on the To: line. I knew about half of them.

Mistake #2 – C’mon… At least pretend that I’m special and you’re just writing to me. It’s bad form to solicit business with everyone’s name on the To: or even the CC: line. At the very least do a BCC: (Blind Carbon Copy.) Even that’s bad form, but if you’re going to be lazy, use the BCC. Ideally, you’d send an individual note to each person.

This e-mail was a great example of “spray and pray”… spray it out to lots of people and pray you get some response. But in this case, it just shows a bit of laziness. Not exactly the quality I want in a researcher or any other type of freelancer I work with.

Moving right along… The e-mail had different sized fonts throughout the letter… most of it bigger than normal, some smaller.

Mistake #3 – Granted, with so many different e-mail programs, it can be hard to come up with an e-mail that you know will look perfect in every single case. But especially when you’re sending an e-mail to multiple people, you have to keep it simple. It might have been wiser to send a Plain Text e-mail instead of Rich Text. Remember what they say about making a great first impression.

Next up… The e-mail suggested that I recommend him to any clients who needed a researcher. That way, I wouldn’t be paying for his services, my client would.

Mistake #4 – On a certain level, this isn’t a bad idea. But make it worth my effort. When someone refers business to me, I give them a percentage of the sale. And I have partners I work with who do the same for me. So if you’re going to make the first three mistakes, and then suggest that I recommend you to my clients, at least try to grab my attention by making it financially worth my time. Even putting aside the money issue, you better show me some proof that you’re good before I recommend you to my clients.

Which leads us to… No proof.

Mistake #5 – Every significant promotion I’ve worked on as a designer has included proof that the claims being made are true. This is extra important for clients reaching out to brand new customers. The e-mail I received – which is a promotion itself – had no proof that his services were valuable. I know a researcher can be valuable, but I’d want to know why this guy in particular is valuable. Unfortunately, there was no proof in the e-mail. It came across more as, “Here I am! Hire me!” Maybe he has proof. If so, he should have dropped a little nugget in the e-mail to pique my interest.

Finally… The e-mailer’s website and e-mail address were from an Apple-hosted site.

Mistake #6 – OK… this can be a bit nit-picky, but I’ll just lay it out from my experience and many, many chats on the subject with clients and colleagues. Perception counts for a lot. These days, it is incredibly easy to setup a website with a personalized URL and e-mail address. Take the time to look as professional as possible. A personal URL and related e-mail address based on your business name or your job comes across as more professional.

Any of these mistakes on their own might not have been too big a deal. But when combined, it simply doesn’t give the best first impression.

When I get an e-mail from you like the one this gentleman was sending, it should inspire me to respond to you directly, not blog about everything you did wrong for everyone to see.

Earlier I promised a better way. Let me spell it out and you can decide which method (his or mine) might be best. Or maybe you have a better solution.

Judging by the names on the list that I recognized, he was reaching out to some good people. How much better would it have been to contact each person personally? Send a personal e-mail or make a phone call.

If it’s an e-mail, ask to schedule a time to talk on the phone and explain what you’re offering. The best social media tool is the telephone for a one-on-one conversation with someone. That’s the quickest way to get to know someone and begin developing a meaningful relationship.

Here’s something you might use or adapt: “Hi, my name is _____. I’m an Internet researcher, helping clients and copywriters quickly and efficiently gather the necessary information to create winning promotions. I’m looking to develop partnerships with other copywriters and was hoping to talk to you on the phone… learn what your needs are and show how I might be a valuable member of your team based on work I’ve done for other clients. If we find there’s not a good fit, no problem. I’d still find it valuable to learn more about what you’re doing in case there’s a good fit down the road, or if a client of mine might need your services.”

During that phone call, ask a lot of questions. The answers to those questions will help you determine if there’s a good fit.

If not, I think you will have left a better impression which is important… not a good fit now doesn’t mean there can’t be a good fit in the future.

What else could you do? How about a link to a video introducing yourself? How about a free report on the value of a researcher and why you’re the right one to choose? How about a case study showing what you brought to a project?

Like I said at the top, this guy’s method might work in a few cases. But my belief is that you’ll have even greater success using a more personal approach.

After the last article about my one-year anniversary on Twitter, I recalled something that’s worth mentioning.

As a freelance designer on Twitter, are you just talking about design (something cool in Photoshop, something you learned in InDesign, etc.) in the hope that clients will see what you have to say on the subject and hire you because you know your design tools?

If so, that could be a mistake.

Now if you just want to talk about design and primarily connect with other designers on Twitter, that’s fine.

But clients don’t really care about the nuts and bolts of design. That’s why they hire you so you can care about it for them.

So what do clients care about? Great question! I’m going to let you mull that one over yourself.

If you don’t have enough clients right now, I’d be willing to bet you don’t have a really good answer to that question. Or if you do, you haven’t done a good enough job of showing prospects that you know the answer.

If you’re using Twitter to attract clients, talk about what’s really important to them.