Answers for Freelancers » Art Biz

A4F 215: How Did You Get Started? The Story of Bob Ostrom

bobostromstudio — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 02:29:58 +0000

A beautiful sunny July morning in Framingham Massachusetts 1989. A young artist and his art director are out for a casual morning stroll. The art director turns to the artist and without warning blurts out, “We’re laying off some people and… you’re one of them”.

Suddenly unemployed and with no where to turn Bob blindly stumbles into what will one day become a successful 20 year freelance career, but first he’ll have to spend a few years in the school of hard knocks.

Bob answers the age old question…”How did you get started?”
Hang on to your hats listeners. Bob finally tells the story of how he got started as a freelancer all those many…many…years ago.

Links:

A4F Zazzle Site

A4F 212: Trust your Gut

bobostromstudio — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:09:03 +0000

Ever have that sinking feeling like you’ve made a bad decision… one that might end up costing you both time and money? Do you listen to your gut or do you just shrug it off. Could be your instincts are trying to tell you something. In this episode Chris and Bob talk about trusting your gut.

Guest Introduction by Seth Harwood

Logo designs by: Bob O’s Logos

Make sure to say hello to our new friends at: Freelance America

A4F 206: The “M” Show

bobostromstudio — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 03:19:37 +0000

“M is for mailbag. “M” is also for Matt. A while back we did a mailbag show and promised to dedicate a whole episode to, friend of the show, Matt’s question.

Matt asked us to track a job from start to finish… kind of like that School House Rock where a bill becomes a law…. Well it took a little while, but here it is. Starting with a phone call and ending with an invoice. This episode is all about the life cycle of a job. Thanks for writing in Matt.

A4F 203: The Money Show

bobostromstudio — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 04:18:49 +0000

Welcome to season 2 episode 3. In this exciting episode Chris and Bob talk about money. Addressing the age old question… As a freelancer, how much do I charge? Chris and Bob discuss the difference between a full-time salary and a freelance pay check. How much do you need to make to equal what you might be taking home from your full-time position. Chris helps us out with a handy simple to use equation. Finally the boys say good-bye to an old friend and hello to a new beginning.

http://thebatfry.com/

A4F 201: Networking: Its not Who You Know, its Who Knows You.

Chris — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 03:16:52 +0000

Know it or not, we all have a number of networks in our lives. Our friends. Our family. Our workmates. All are sub-networks within the larger network we call our lives. Networks happen every day, and as we change and grow, our networks change and grow with us. We use our networks for information, connections and help. We find great entertainment, deals, and services based on recommendations from our networks. Networking isn’t about selling, its about creating and passing along goodwill to those you work with, like, and respect. When you’re connected, it stops becoming about whether or not you can solve the problem, and instead becomes about whether or not your network can solve the problem. If you get that, you begin to see the power of networking. If you see the power of networking, then you start seeing the need to pay attention and manage your networking efforts. Networking isn’t about selling, its about connecting. It isn’t about selling, its about solving problems. It isn’t about selling, its about creating communities. It isn’t about selling, its about becoming top-of-mind to those who can help you build your business. Networking isn’t about selling, its about living.

Glad to get this interview out there. I interviewed Bill last November, just a couple of days after our interview with Michael Gerber, which caused such a stir amongst ourselves and some of our listeners, that we ended up revisiting the Gerber topic and sitting on this interview longer than we expected. Sorry, Bill!

Show Notes:

Networking You – http://www.networkingyou.com/
Why Don’t Doctors Cold Call – http://networkingyou.com/self_study.htm

Networking Boot Camp – February 1st – Glastonbury, CT

Books mentioned by Bill, written by Harvey Mackay:

Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty

Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten

You know, if we’re gonna keep linking to books, maybe we should get an affiliate account?

Online Networking Resources mentioned in the interview

LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/
MySpace – http://myspace.com/
Second Life – http://secondlife.com/

A4F 111: Deadlines: Keeping the Trains on Time

Chris — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:58:44 +0000

Whether you are freelancing or employed, no doubt deadlines are part and parcel to your life. When you’re working for someone else, deadlines can be important, and missing them can have dire consequences. When you’re working for yourself, however, missing deadlines can destroy your business, leave you clientless, and kill your ability to find more work (or even a new job).

On the other hand, deadlines can be the fuel to keep your business running on time, keeping projects from being delayed, and keeping even the toughest clients happy with your results.

In this roundtable discussion, Bob, Ken and Chris discuss the importance of deadlines, how to keep them from becoming your downfall, and how to turn them to your advantage.

Also, Bob gives you would-be adventurers a pep talk and an art director’s perspective on getting your portfolio out there. Don’t Hesitate. Do it now. Not later. Don’t wait. Really. Why are you still reading this?

Show Notes:

Introduction and Promo: Dennis Gray from 101 Uses for Baby Wipes.

Show Art: Alexandre Tchobankov – http://sashil79.googlepages.com/

A4F 108: Interview with Michael Gerber of E-Myth Worldwide and In The Dreaming Room

Chris — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 05:05:08 +0000

Michael Gerber, author, entrepreneur, and acclaimed business consultant, talks to us about what happens when Freelancers are ready to start growing their business into a true company. The kind of business that allows the owner to touch the world in a way that is truly meaningful and allows him the freedom to pursue those interests, both inside and outside of work, that he feels are the most important.

If you have reached a point in your career where you are looking for this kind of growth, then this is an interview you don’t want to miss.

Freelancing is an idea that is full of romance and wonder; doing your own thing, anywhere you want, anytime you want. Traveling the world while creating your art, or working from home while watching your children grow up. Paying the bills when your ‘real job’ disappears. Freelancing presents itself as an ideal solution to many people under various circumstances, and if it didn’t work, people all over the world wouldn’t be doing it.

However, the very nature of freelancing is this: as guns for hire, we only make money when we are producing. This means that eventually we hit a threshhold we cannot pass beyond, since we can only work so many hours, and we can only charge so much. Also, for most of us, as we get older, the number of people we are responsible for providing for keeps increasing. Finally, as creative individuals, most of us have all sorts of projects that we wish we could be working on, but our freelance duties keep us from accomplishing them. How do we move beyond that?

When its time for you to move beyond the pay-per-piece or pay-per-hour world of Freelancing, but you want to continue working as a independent artist, its time to get a fresh perspective on your business and what it will take to truly make the next phase of your career take flight. Our interview with Michael Gerber serves to open the door to this line of thinking, and we hope you will join us as we consider these new ideas.

Show Notes:

E-Myth Worldwide: http://www.e-myth.com/

In the Dreaming Room: http://inthedreamingroom.com/

Michael Gerber’s Manifesto: http://blog.inthedreamingroom.com/

E-Myth Revisited: Amazon.com

Also, make sure to follow up with us next week as we discuss in more detail many of the ideas that Michael has presented in his book that we simply weren’t able to touch on in our interview.

A4F 105: Wheel of Misfortune 2

Chris — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 02:13:50 +0000

In this installment of the Wheel of Misfortune, we go inside a job interview with Bob, and boy, what an interview it was(n’t). Lessons learned? Don’t be too cocky, look over your potential client’s business before you go in to meet with them, and think twice before taking life-drawings on an interview.

Show Notes:

Promo: 101 Uses for Baby Wipes – Dennis Gray explores the various facets of parenting from a father’s point of view.

A4F 104: Where Does the Time Go?

Chris — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 01:52:00 +0000

“When you work from home, you’re always at work.” The very freedom we gain as freelance artists can easily become the shackles that keep us working all day and all night, robbing us of our sleep, our family time and our sanity. How do we overcome this?

Show Notes:
Round Table -
Keeping control of your life, amidst the freedom of working for yourself.

Lance Panstrom: PodCamp Boston is coming September 9 & 10. Chris will be attending. Visit Podcamp.org for more information.

Guest Musician: Oh, no! We don’t have a guest musician this week. We could choose artists that we like from the Podsafe Music Network, or Garageband.com, but we’d rather have your music. Send us your website address, and we’ll check it out. If we like what we hear, we’ll play it! answersforfreelancers@gmail.com

Promo: 7th Son: Descent - (explicit) JC Hutchins spins a tale of intrigue, suspense, action and clones.

A4F 102: Its a Small (online) World

Chris — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 23:55:57 +0000

Today’s freelance market is largely an online market. While you can still find work the old fashioned way, if you don’t have an online portfolio, you are at a serious disadvantage.

Show Notes:

Round Table Pt. 1 -
Ken’s Online Portfolio – www.kenperkinsillustrator.com
Bob’s Online Portfolio – www.bobostromstudio.com
Chris’ Online Portfolio – www.aithene.net

Arnold Shortzarebiggr: free online space
www.Flickr.com
www.MySpace.com
www.BlogSpot.com

Round Table Pt. 2 -
www.MarketingTool.com – Sign up for a free listing under a number of relevant categories: Illustrators – Photographers – Writers – Flash Designers – and more.
www.CareerBuilder.com – Online Job Board. Post your resume and set up job search agents. If you set your preferences to Contractor and Part Time, and set one of your Job Categories to Consultant, it effectively returns jobs where people are looking for Freelancers.

Guest Musician: Van Heffer – Ozzy Osbourne in Blue Grass, the way it was meant to be. Find more about Wichita Rutherford and Van Heffer at www.5minutesWithWichita.com

Introducing Bobo the Gorilla and Spalding Breedwell. They will be hosting our Gorilla Marketing section.

The Melman from the Mailroom Show: send in comments, ideas, rants and random thoughts to: answersforfreelancers@gmail.com with ‘mailroom’ in the subject line.

A4F 101: Meet the Talkers

Chris — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 05:56:07 +0000

Proud fathers of a PodCast. We present you with our premiere episode introducing the crew and having fun along the way. Also, listen in for Chris’ tale of woe in the first installment of “Wheel of Misfortune”.

Show Notes:
Intro by Rob Walch of Podcast411.com – inside the podcaster’s studio.

Freelance News: send in your Freelance stories and news to Lance Panstrom: answersforfreelancer@gmail.com with Freelance News in the subject line.

Wheel of Misfortune: send in your freelancing tales of woe to:
answersforfreelancers@gmail.com with ‘misfortune’ in the subject line.

Guest Musician: RD Roth and the Issues @ rdroth.com and cdbaby.com

7th Son – Podcast novel from J.C. Hutchins

The Melman from the Mailroom Show: send in comments, ideas, rants and random thoughts to: answersforfreelancers@gmail.com with ‘mailroom’ in the subject line.