To my very pleasant surprise, I received an email back from a client who has been loyal over the years. Even though I was deep in my full time job last Fall, I worked with Kitty of Design Backslash (www.designbackslash.com) to create a Greetings Card for him to send out to his customers. It is something I had done for the past few years but I hadn’t talked with him in almost a year since doing that last project and was a little skeptical that he would still be looking to work with me. It was a nice surprise that he not only was looking to continue our relationship but also had a few other projects for me to work on. It seemed very fitting that the client who gave me my first paying freelance gig (his business logo) would be the first to respond when I made the decision to pursue that direction again. We are currently working on his latest Greeting Cards for this year. It’s nice to know there are some very loyal customers to be found out there.

The reason I am telling this story is to remind those out there doing freelance to not forget about those clients you work with only once in awhile. Make sure they are on your marketing list and you reach out to them once in awhile. They may not have work for you every month but you want to be sure that you are the one they think of when they do have that project come up. In today’s busy and overwhelming world, it is easy to be forgotten about. Not because they didn’t like your work but because they are bombarded with so many things that they might just forget your business name, your website or you phone number. So just take a few minutes to reach out to them and remind them that you are still there. A simple email with a “Hey how is business and how are you?” or a quick phone call just to say “HI!” It doesn’t take long and I think you will find that a few of those clients will have something they want to work with you on.

It’s easy to drift away from good marketing practices when you are really busy with projects but that is when it is most important. You don’t want to end up with a dry spell after all the projects you currently are on just because you forgot to market. Hopefully this little reminder will help that from happening.

When you plate your food it is very similar to when you design. You want good color combination, good balance on the plate and you want it to stand out. No one wants to eat bland looking food no matter how good it tastes. You start with a blank canvas, your plate and you arrange your food to paint that canvas.

I think what attracts me to cooking is that there is an immediate result to your work. Even though there is the same planning and preparation like you find with design the results are much more immediate. Designing a company identity or marketing material can take weeks and some times months. Cooking however, you have results within a much shorter period of time. However is it still important to plan to achieve the best results, just like in design.

You can find some of my cooking creativity on www.thefoodieskitchen.com that is run by Kitty Florido of Design Backslash and The Foodies Kitchen. She is an amazing cook and baker herself, who I find a big inspiration for both my cooking and design work.