Biz has slowed to a bit of a crawl, so you’re looking around for something to do. No, it’s not time to update your Facebook status, it’s not time to play Mafia Wars or Farmtown, or spend the rest of the day Tweeting. And no, now is not the time for housecleaning, watching TV, or anything else unproductive. TV is for lunchtime and a short break here and there, and then it’s back to work.

Now is the time to do two things. I assume you’re already hard at work networking, because clients don’t generally fall out of the sky. So networking doesn’t count.

Now is the time to catch up on your paperwork and to get some learning under your belt.

Catching Up on Paperwork

I don’t know about you, but since I work at home, even though I have a space dedicated to my work (the corner of my bedroom and other assorted areas), papers tend to accumulate throughout the house. At least once a week, I like to gather these papers and put them where they belong in a stack of inboxes – one for each purpose – household, business, etc. Now that you’re between deadlines, start working your way through the inboxes. Pay bills, file papers (you ARE organized, right?), throw away junk mail. Clean out the inbox. Work your way through the next inbox, and so on. If this is not your cup of tea, find someone who is really organized and will do your paperwork for you. It’s important. It’s required for taxes. It’s required for your sanity. Unless you want to spend a half an hour looking for a manual to your printer while you’re on deadline and the thing just died because you couldn’t find 30 seconds to file the manual! If you’re really between deadlines, assess whether your organization is adequate and make necessary changes. Buy a book on it if you have to.

You Don’t Know Everything About Your Biz

Over the last couple of years or so, I’ve become unhappy with the level of my Photoshop skills (among other skills), so I got Visual Quickstart book on Photoshop CS3. As I’ve worked my way though it, I can’t believe the things I’ve learned! Not only have I become faster at using Photoshop, but it expanded my design possibilities as I learned more about what the program could do.

In our biz, you have to be in constant learning mode or you won’t survive. Our software and hardware is constantly changing. If you are a web developer, your programming and coding languages are constantly changing. Browsers are constantly changing. Search engine marketing is always changing. Social networking is always changing. If you are a graphic designer, you need to expand your skillset. Don’t know enough about marketing? Do you know what the latest equipment your printer is using? You should. If you do web and graphic design, you have plenty to keep you busy.

Time for Some Classes – Offline and Online

Look at your local community college’s latest schedule for the Fall or Spring. Can you swing a campus class a couple of times a week?

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Check out some online classes – I’m a fan of International Webmasters Association’s eClasses. They have four web certifications to choose from. Even if you choose not to go for the certification, they have many, many classes to choose from anyway. For $49 a year for membership, you get $100 off every class you can afford to take for the next year (the discount puts your price between $80 and $140 for a 6-8 week class).

Try the courses at Lynda.com. A $25 a month membership opens a world of courses to you.

For Adobe users, try Kelby Training. An annual subscription is $199, and a monthly subscription is $24.95.

If you love Photoshop, consider becoming a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) for $99 a year. On top of all the discounts you get, you also receive a subscription to Photoshop User magazine, and you have access to hundreds and hundreds of member-access-only tutorials.

Browse Amazon’s selection of books of different topics on graphic and web design, marketing, advertising, psychology of the consumer, etc., buy some books, and READ. LEARN.

If money is tight (and it probably is), visit your library. There are also thousands of tutorials online.

Read, Read, Read

Read design magazines and books, and especially the annuals, to get an idea of design trends. When you’re out and about running errands or seeing clients, be mindful of what catches your eye, and then look to see why it caught your eye.

What don’t you know abut your business? Learn it!

Summary

Then when business picks up again, your mind will be clear, your desk will be clean, and you will do better work than you ever have before, and make your clients happier than they’ve ever been. Happy clients refer you to other people. Happy clients often keep giving you work. It’s cheaper to get clients this way than any other way.

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If you’re in business for any amount of time, you’re going to make mistakes. Customers are going to get upset at you, or they’re going to tire of you.

What if they just slip gently into the night? You have no idea why they went away. “Was it something I said? Can we just talk about it?” In this biz, doing one-hit wonder work isn’t unusual. In this economy, maybe their own finances went south and they decided to try to do their business cards or website on their own.

On the other hand…are you brave enough to find out why? And if you are, how do you do it?

I’m thinking a survey…but I want clients to feel comfortable about answering, so something that is hosted privately. SuperSurvey’s Knowledgebase gives some thoughts on customer service surveys.

I’m checking out some places that have online surveys. I wonder how much it will cost?

How about you? Can you look in the mirror of your client’s opinions of you so you can become better? Because you CAN be better. We all can.

I’ll keep you posted…
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NEVER discuss color with a client without having both versions of the Pantone Color Bridge in front of you. Maybe you won’t lose the client on top of that, even if you do the right thing and pay to have the whole job reprinted and still on deadline.
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Doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing something – there’s always something else to learn. There’s always something else to add to the ever-growing list of things to learn. For me, it’s learning how to design and create templates for WordPress and ZenCart.

What’s on your list?

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