Setting Up Your Illustration Business for the New Year
(Illustration by Gabe Lanza)
It’s more than a cliche to say that the new year is the perfect time to revisit and refresh your Freelance career.
Here are some ways that you can revitalize your business in 2011:
Take Stock
As I mentioned earlier, one of the first things that you should do is take some time and space to step away from your business. That way you can return to it with an outside perspective and reevaluate what is working and what is not. Some possible areas of focus might be your portfolio, your marketing strategies, your current style and skill level, etc. Sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the day to day tasks and lose sight of the big picture, so making this step a priority can help you to keep your eyes on the prize, whatever that may be for you.
This is also a great time to address any frustrations that you’ve been putting off dealing with throughout the year. After a while, we tend to accept pesky annoyances as part of our daily life. This can become a problem when one or more of them decreases the effectiveness of your business. It’s time to face the music and clear out any bad habits or working conditions.
Clean House
We all know how quickly physical and mental clutter can build up and cloud our creative process and our daily focus. The New Year is an ideal time to get rid of anything that distracts you or devalues your business. This means cleaning up your studio, your computer desktop, and your brain. Give yourself the room you need to succeed by organizing your workspace and your thoughts. This will make you more focused, efficient, and sane.
Make Lists
It’s no secret that daily lists are often used to increase productivity, but taking a broader approach as you refresh your business can help to organize your thoughts and aspirations for the short and long term future. Take some time to outline your goals and responsibilities for the coming weeks, months, and years in order to relieve the mental burden of keeping them in your memory banks and allow you to visualize an overall business strategy.
Organize Your Time
If your current schedule isn’t working for you, now is a great time to make any necessary adjustments. Are you not devoting enough time to your most important tasks? Are you wasting hours every week checking your email or drooling over the work of other artists? Are you not taking enough breaks or time off? If so, rearranging your schedule might help you to get things done and live a happier, more balanced life.
Learning is Growing
Expanding your knowledge and experience is a valuable activity that will enhance your value as a creative professional and increase the effectiveness of your business. Take some time to learn more about freelance business, Illustration, Design, or whatever you think might help you progress in the new year. This can be done through books, online resources, or simply speaking with someone you look up to. The one thing you should beware of is getting lost in consumption at the expense of production, so plan your time wisely.
A Well-Oiled Machine?
I hope these simple steps help you to refresh your Illustration business and make your efforts more successful and rewarding in the coming year. I’m implementing these ideas myself as I think about what I’d like to accomplish in 2011, and they’re already helping me to visualize a clear path ahead and remove some big obstacles that have plagued me in the past.
What are you doing to restart your business this year? Please share any thoughts in the comments section of this post.
Special thanks to Gabe Lanza for providing the artwork for this post.
About Gabe Lanza: Gabe has had experience in editorial illustration, graphic arts, and product design including: apparel, branding and advertising. His passion lies in a strong graphic quality involving an eye for texture, pattern, and design. When he’s not locked in his studio, Gabe enjoys sipping a Whiskey Old-Fashioned, riding his vintage motorcycle, and playing board games with his wife, newborn son, and 26 pound cat.
Related Posts:
- Taking Stock of Your Illustration Business in 2010
- 10 Online Creatives To Watch In 2011
- How to Recover from a Holiday and Get Back in the Groove
- 9 Ways to Run a Smart Creative Business
- Are Your Promo Materials Out of Date?
Very good advice – now to put it to practice :o)
Keep up the good work. Your advice and information are always quite helpful.
–Duncan
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Freelance magazine and book cover illustrator for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, American Media, Fort Ross, Asimov’s Science Fiction, and many other publishers. See my illustrations at: http://DuncanLong.com/art.html
An illustrator friend and I have found a location to hold a monthly networking group in our area. We each know a few other illustrators that we will invite, and I have contacts with a community theater, so we plan to have costumed models come for part of each meeting so we can all get some sketching in as well.
Remember to build a community by showing what you are passionate about. It’s about dynamics verses lists.
The 2nd to last par reads: “I’m implementing these ideas myself as I think about what I’d like to accomplish in 2010″. Shouldn’t it be 2011?
Anyhoo, these are some wonderful ideas to get the new year jumping!
Thanks for spotting that!
Looks like I have made a good start already as I have done all those things on your list. I realised as the year was coming to a close that I have been running myself ragged trying to do far to many things and please everyone. So I spent some time over the holidays re-evaluating my work and I now plan to concentrate on taking my work in one direction and make it really work for me.
At some point in the next few months I also intend to update and make my website more focused on my illustration work rather than my painting. I had come to the point where I needed to chose which to concentrate on. I started painting more after I was made redundant from my job two years ago- l became really bogged down with my illustration work through my job and needed a change but didn’t want to step away completely so I took up painting. My faith in my illustration work has now been renewed after a few recent commissions and possible opportunities for this year. I am now ready for a positive and productive year with my illustration work.
Hi Zoe. I think it’s great that you’re thinking about focusing your portfolio to help you get more of the type of work that you want to do. It’s always nice when you get a sense for which path you’d like to take, and when you have the courage to take a step in a specific direction. I wish you the best of luck in 2011!
Thanks so much for the encouragement!
Thank you for another nicely organized and practical post. It immediately inspired me to make an outline of my business goals for January. Now I have a more defined plan for how to use my time.
That’s great, Paula. Having an outline of your goals in place is so helpful. I’m glad you were inspired by these tips. Thanks for the feedback!
I think people underestimate the power of selling their work through online portals such as http://www.brightonpod.com/
Illustrations from Sean Sims here: http://www.brightonpod.com/designer/sean-sims-m-122.php
And Oliver Lake here: http://www.brightonpod.com/designer/iota-illustration-m-158.php
were our best sellers last year. Making it clear whether framing is included in the cost of your work is important and offering framing as an option can sometimes be helpful.
I always enjoy your articles. You are so right about our space being organized. During the last year my space was under remodel construction. Changing the space was hectic. Now it is now a great space to work. I agree about the clutter. It does help to tidy up, come up with a master plan and continue moving forward. Great article and may there be many lucrative assignments in 2011 for you. :)
Great post, very insightful & inspiring!
I think this year I’m going to try to focus more time on myself – more breaks, less working myself to the bone. I need to make a list of everything I want to accomplish & work backwards in my calendar – gotta get on those mailers!
Love that you mentioned physical clutter. This year I’ve realized that I’m in a better mood if my home/studio are organized! Good thing to know!
Best wishes for the new year! xx
Thanks Sabrina. I think I just might have to try and follow your lead on focusing more on breaks and self-preservation. We’ll see how that goes.