Selling Yourself Short: Placing a Value on Freelance Work

Using crowdSPRING as a guide for freelance design pricing...

So I'm definitely in a pickle right now. Recently, I've managed to pick up a potential client and I'm trying to figure out the pricing for my services (no, not those kinds of services). For me, putting a price on my skills has always been a challenge. Up until this point, I've always sold myself "cheap" designing t-shirts and posters for free. Of course, that's because my projects were almost always for my youth group. I had two clients before that wasn't related to my youth group. One had requested a poster design for a youth rally, and in return for my help I received a $25 Target gift card and a tin of brownies. The other project was a logo design for my cousin's tax and bookkeeping services firm. For that, I earned $50 in cash.

The difference between this new project and my projects before is that this is going to be an established company. What it is is a Western themed bar and grill in Houston. Any logo that I create will ultimately be copyrighted and be associated with the company for(almost)ever. Since the person that asked me to do this job is a religious brother, I'm a bit reluctant to charge too much. My friend says to ignore that fact and treat it as only a business thing, that I shouldn't sell myself short. So what is a good price for a logo?

On top of the logo design, he asked me to help market and advertise the grand opening of the restaurant which is set to open early next year. I mainly consider myself a graphic designer so I feel uncomfortable even trying to set up advertising strategies. But then again, I got a marketing minor for a reason. Ugh. This is going to be wayyy outside of my comfort zone. Time to put my business classes to use.

Movie Marketing: You're Doing It Right

For those of you who don't know, Disney and Pixar have created a sequel to Monsters Inc. called Monsters University. The movie isn't set to come out until June 2013, but the Disney company has already worked on marketing it. There was already a lot of hype about the trailers that were released, but now Disney and Pixar have added something else to their marketing scheme: a website for Monsters University. Now I'm not just talking about the movie. The companies have created a university website complete with information about professors, alumni, and even financial aid. There's even a store where you can buy actual Monsters University merchandise. I believe that  Disney and Pixar have raised the bar for movie marketing. The site is already viral. This is one of the reasons why my ultimate goal is to work for Disney. Their advertising creatives are top notch. I really, really hope I get to be part of their team one day. Until then, I gotta start small. Hooray for being a server at Studio Movie Grill.

To see the Monsters University site, click the link below:
http://monstersuniversity.com/edu/index.html

To see the Monsters University trailer, click the link below:
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/monsters-university/trailers/monsters-university-teaser-trailer-29717274.html

UTD Job Fairs are Pointless for Me

So in the light of my very recent rejection from the Disney College Program, I decided to hit up the UTD Career Fair with my good buddy Hien. Turned out to be a huge waste of time for me. Not that I'm surprised by that fact or anything.

Now, this isn't the first time that I've been to a career fair on campus. The last time I went, it was a lot less crowded. But huge crowds aren't the problem. The problem for me walking into any of these career fairs is the lack of variety in jobs or internships. What do I expect? UTD is a school focused on business and engineering and computer science. Of course there's mostly going to be job listings for program designers and business managers. Being a graphic designer, it's hard to find a niche in any of these job fairs. For artists, we have to rely on building connections elsewhere like on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn. Meanwhile, business and computer science majors can just walk into these career fairs and boom! Opportunities everywhere!

My time spent at this job fair wasn't completely wasted. I did hand out a couple of copies of my resume (a couple being only 2). I handed one to the lady from Michaels (like the craft store) for a summer internship next year. Not exactly what I was aiming for, but if I have no job by the time summer rolls around again, I'll take it. The second resume went to a company called Reynolds and Reynolds. What they do is that they provide marketing and business solutions for automotive retailers. Luckily for me, they did have a graphic design internship even though it wasn't listed on the job fair's program. The only thing about this internship is that if I get accepted I'd have to relocate to Houston. That's not too bad, but I wouldn't have anywhere to stay.

So in essence, UTD needs to learn how to expand and accommodate these job fairs to not just business and computer science majors. That is all.

A flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all...

My acceptance card from last year.

Sooo those who know me know that I was really looking forward to doing the Disney College Program. It was part of my career plan since forever. I got accepted last year so I assumed that I'd be able to nail the job again. Nope. I bombed my phone interview so badly on Sunday that they didn't have to take 2 weeks to make a decision. They took less than 24 hours. Ouch.

Why would I want to take part in the Disney College Program? I mean, it's only an opportunity to work in one of the Disney parks on an hourly wage. That's because the Disney name has that much value to it. On top of that, based on what I've read, if you start at the bottom of the pyramid you can work your way up to higher internships and eventually corporate positions. Disney does have a graphic design program. On top of that, the Disney College Program is a "magical" experience. It's a great way to make connections. Plus, it's a good idea to get out and be independent if you haven't had a chance to (like me). I've lived at home with my parents for my entire life.

Some of you are probably wondering why I didn't take the opportunity last year. There's really one reason: my parents. My dad was concerned that if I took a break from school to go work that I wouldn't come back and get my degree. I guess that is a somewhat legit fear although I'm not sure about the percentage of people who take a break from school and don't finish their degree. I'm actually really regretting not taking the opportunity last year. I know that I'm determined enough to finish everything that's necessary in life including finishing my degree.

So what's the plan now? I'm just trying to build up some kind of work experience. This is an area I'm seriously lacking in. Tomorrow (or more like later today) I'm heading to the UTD Career Fair to see if I can land any good internships.

Billboard by The Richards Group

I tried to apply for an art director internship at The Richards Group. If you don't know, The Richards Group is basically the largest marketing firm in Dallas. They have worked with several huge clients including Chick-fil-a, The Home Depot, and Zales. They have quite an impressive portfolio and it would be awesome to work for them one day. My friend Shirley is actually interning there right now and based on what she's said it's a great place to work.

Maybe I'm being really ambitious in the way that I approach things. Ambition is what killed Caesar but without ambition you have no goals and accomplish nothing. Here's to being ambitious and hopefully landing a job before my parents can nag me about being a good-for-nothing artist.

For more about the Disney College Program, click the link below:
http://cp.disneycareers.com/en/default/

For more about The Richards Group, click the link below:
http://richards.com/index.html

Another "Shocking" List of Worst College Majors for Your Career

Read the full article here.

     Honestly, I'm not shocked by anything that showed up on this list. Any kind of art degree is going to be considered "bad." I guess the world isn't so interested in developing a fine culture anymore. It's all about business, science, and technology. Just human advancement through the discovery of things in the world, not the discovery of the mind's potential.
     The high unemployment rate for art majors isn't completely shocking either. I would expect as much in such a highly competitive field. And on top of that, some people go and get an art degree despite the fact that he or she might not actually be built to become a good artist. Not that I'm hating on everyone who wants to be an artist. I'm just saying that you should definitely explore more into fields that you might be more well-suited for. I guess that's why UNT has such a competitive communication design program. 300+ students could be lined up to try and get into the program and at the end of 4 years, only about 50 kids would end up with a communication design degree because their portfolios got accepted. This kind of competition scared me so much that I transferred to UTD. A cowardly move? Maybe. I didn't want to waste 2 years of my college career studying art only to be rejected. I guess I should clump myself in with the other people who might end up being ill-fit for the art world.
     Actually, I don't regret my decision to transfer to UTD. Why? Because it's much easier to get a minor at UTD than it is at UNT. My major may be graphic design, but I made sure to have a backup plan in case I can't immediately find a job as a designer. My backup comes in the form of a marketing minor. Business is a pretty stable industry right now compared to art. If becoming an artist fails, at least I have enough knowledge to take my skills to the business world. If I do end up as a designer, my marketing knowledge will actually benefit me as well, especially if I'm going to be doing ad design.
     I guess what I'm trying to say is that you art majors shouldn't give up hope just yet! You can still be an artist. Just make sure you have a backup so that you don't end up in the unemployment numbers.