Welcome!
I’m so pleased we have this opportunity to work together growing your business. I’m invested in your success and we’re going to create some amazing results. Along the way, I want you to feel confident in what we’re creating and confident in our process. I’ve laid out some guides and details on what to expect and how we can best work together.
As someone who hires contractors myself, I understand how important workmanship and deadlines are. While you are working with me I am going to always give you my best work, be responsive, and respect that you are trusting me with a piece of your business.
The magic happens when your hard-earned skills and expertise come together with mine. You and I are well-versed in our own worlds; effective feedback and discussion is how we get the best out of both realms of expertise.
What to expect
First you’ll receive a bit of homework from me so we can start collected any needed materials. Don’t worry! I’ll guide you on everything you’ll need to get, from existing assets to a questionnaire to fill out.
While you are working on your homework, I’ll be putting together a project timeline with a list of steps and deliverables. You’ll know what you’re getting and when so that you can be prepared to provide feedback.
Speaking of, feedback is really important! I have a section on effective feedback further down. Please make sure to read that. Your proposal will have included a set number of revisions for each stage of the project. Please group all your feedback together and then check the deliverable one more time to make sure you’ve got it all down. Also, at each step in the process, I’ll make providing feedback as easy as possible. You’ll be given a Google Doc with comment or make suggestions in, an Invision prototype to comment on, or an email request, depending on what the deliverable is.
Once you’re ready to move forward with the next step, send me your approval. Each step builds on top of the previous ones, so approvals are final. If you have any change requests for assets that have already been approved, please let me know and we can discuss how that will affect the project.
Once everything has been approved, you will receive the final copies and a wrap up.
Effective feedback
Your input is important and totally necessary to guide my work. I may not get everything right on the first try. That’s not just okay, it’s part of the process. Our work together can (and will) be iterative. This process will help us more efficiently reach a successful end result.
Helpful (Good) Feedback
Example: “That shade of blue doesn’t feel vibrant enough for the visual language of my brand.”
- Be honest. If you don’t like something, please let me know. You won’t hurt my feelings. Handling feedback is part of my job.
- Be specific. Point out what exactly is not working for you and why. Be as detailed as possible.
- Ask why. If you aren’t sure what I was thinking with a choice, please ask about it. I’m happy to explain. Everything I’ve done for the project has a purpose.
- Refer to your goals. Always orient your comments to your end objective.
- Relate to your audience. Your audience should be top of mind for every
critique, so please include how your comment will help better serve them. - Be timely. I need feedback as soon as possible so we can fix things sooner rather than later.
Prescriptive (Not So Good) Feedback
Example: “Change this word. Make this bigger.”
- Team commentary. I work best when you alone serve as the expert on your company and its audience. Art by committee is rarely successful, so let’s keep the process exclusive to you and me.
- It’s not personal. If I missed the mark or disagree with you, it’s because I’m thinking about your goals and audience. It’s not personal, it’s business.
- Doing my work for me. Please give me written or verbal instructions about what isn’t working; don’t redo my work to illustrate your point.
- Prescribing fixes. You hired me to provide expertise and solutions, so let me use my skills to help you. Explain the problem and I’ll pitch potential fixes based on what I know.
Other Things to Know
- Sometimes I’m going to ask why. It’s not a challenge, it’s a question that will help us get on the same page and find the best outcome.
- Feedback is on a tight schedule. If I don’t get your notes within the specified time frame, our project deadlines can be thrown off.
- Approvals are final. I’ll ask for your approval at each step as every stage of the project is built on the previous steps. Going back to change something foundational can throw off our deadlines.
- Remember, we’re in this together. Feedback can be challenging, but when we work collaboratively, we can produce something truly valuable for your business.
If you have questions or concerns at any point, please let me know and we’ll talk it through.
Contact Me
I make an effort to respond promptly to my clients between 9:30am and 4:30pm eastern but sometimes I am heads down in a project and I may not get back to you until the next day. If anything is urgent, please mark it as such so I can prioritize it when going through my messages.
If you’d like to schedule a meeting, please select a time on my Calendly and send me an agenda.
