All articles by Kirstin Carey

  1. How Creative Professionals Can Get More Perfect Clients by Kirstin Carey

    When you work with the "perfect" client, life is wonderful and business is simple. The perfect client pays on time, is thrilled with your work, tells all of her friends about you, and makes doing what you do easy. If you could replicate the perfect client, then business wouldn't be difficult, right?

  2. How to Create A Persuasive Sales Flyer for your Creative Services by Kirstin Carey

    Flyers (or "one-sheets" as they are also known because you are using one sheet of paper) are great ways to market: they are inexpensive to print and can convey a lot of information if they are designed and written well.

  3. A Testimonial is Worth 100 Cold Calls by Kirstin Carey

    If you hate cold calling, and even if you don't, you should start capitalizing on the work you've already done.

  4. Exactly What to Say When Asked, "How Much Do You Charge?" by Kirstin Carey

    A client with a creative business called me one day and asked the following question. It's a question I get asked frequently, so rather than write an entire article, I decided just to tell you exactly what I told her.

  5. How to Charge What You Are Worth as a Creative Professional by Kirstin Carey

    If you are having difficulty knowing what to charge, then check out your competition and find out what they're doing. Find out if they post prices or fees on their website or if they have "packages" or deals. Do they have payment options?

  6. It's Not Your Job to Lower Your Fees to Help the Client Afford You by Kirstin Carey

    I constantly receive questions and complaints from my creative professional clients about what to do when a prospect claims, "I can't afford your prices, but I want your services." My clients are frustrated, because they are usually being told this while standing in a mansion-like home, furnished with top-of-the-line furniture, with a beautifully manicured lawn, and three luxury cars parked in a four-car garage.

  7. Creative Business should Stop Charging By the Hour and Make More Money by Kirstin Carey

    One of the biggest challenges with a creative business is getting paid what you are worth. The root of the problem isn't that the client doesn't have the money and it isn't that the client isn't willing to pay you what you are worth. The root of the problem is how you are charging and how you are creating value in the mind of the client.

  8. Dealing with A Bad Client by Kirstin Carey

    A client with a creative business called me one day and asked the following question. It's a question I get asked frequently, so rather than write an entire article, I decided just to tell you exactly what I told her.

  9. How to Handle Questions about How Much You Charge by Kirstin Carey

    A client with a creative business called me one day and asked the following question. It's a question I get asked frequently, so rather than write an entire article, I decided just to tell you exactly what I told her.

  10. Stop Going to Networking Meetings and Get MORE Business by Kirstin Carey

    A few days ago I returned from my annual National Speaker's Association (NSA) conference in Atlanta. The educational sessions were OK, the hotel was so-so, and the town was lacking in exciting things to do, but my experience was stellar. How is that possible?