Crafty Tuesday Professionalism
Posted By Kathleen David on March 13, 2012
By professionalism, I am talking about client/artist interactions which needs professionalism on both sides even if it is your bestest bud.
I am a former moderator in a community on Live Journal called Artist Beware which states the purpose of the community as a place to voice positive or difficult experiences with commissioners or artists. This includes both paid transactions and art trades. Customer and artist reviews, lost contacts, and reports of art theft (as long as there are commissions/trades involved!) are welcome. Positive reviews are in a monthly format; a moderator posts and members then comment regarding their positive experiences. Separate positive review posts will not be allowed.
This community is also open to discussions and questions on how to conduct business between artists and their customers. (copyright the owner of Arist Beware 2012).
There were a lot of problems that could have been solved or not even occurred if there had been even a modicum professionalism on one if not both parties parts.
When I have a client, I have a contract as to what is expected of me and of them. There are due dates for various things including approvals from the client and also points that there are no more changes allowed unless agreed to by both parties. There is also a schedule of payment(s) for the project. I expect a certain amount of professionalism be it a company or a person who is commissioning me to make something for them. Honestly I have had more problems with companies than people in terms of this but I have had some clients who were never going to be happy no matter what I did.
Recently I have seen a trend that I find a little troubling. People who are OK to decent at something that decide that they are going to do it professionally. They have all this energy going into it and more power to them but they quickly discover that moving a hobby to work is not easy. For one thing they find out that their window for getting their project completed is probably a much shorter window than the leisurely way that they have made things in the past. Work is work and it is great if one enjoys doing it but it is still work. One is being paid for product they are to create. And, much to these people’s amazement, their clients would like to be (or insist upon) being informed where their project is and what is going on. They have invest money in you and expect results.
And throwing up one’s hands and having a temper tantrum on the Internet is not going to endear one to new clients. Also constantly complaining about not being able to sell one’s wares while person X, whose work is not as good, just sells and sells and sells. Well person X is getting product out to their clients in a timely fashion in a professional manner.
How one presents one self on the internet is important especially if one is considering making their hobby a business. I would suggest researching who is doing what you want to do. See what the market is for what you do. Is there something that you bring to the table that is totally different/unique that is a sellable point to clients? And you do need to think of your customers as customers no matter if they are your best friend. And develop a thick skin especially if you succeed because there are others out there who are going to pick you apart because you succeeded. Act professionally and you will find yourself in a stronger position when things do go wrong because you did.
I am grateful for the lessons I learned early about professionalism which have served me well.
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