THRIVE

Doodle: network

Maximize your existing network. If you have family members or friends who have existing businesses, you can start there. 

Working with people you know can have its own set of challenges, but one perk is you can ask them to feed you in exchange for all the work. 

I often do quick design jobs for my friends and family in exchange for a coffee. When I was figuring out how to make more money through my illustrations, I offered to make a comic for a friend’s organic farm. They offer guided tours for school children, so they could give the comic to the kids as a souvenir activity book. 

I designed it so they could just produce it with their office printer, meaning it would be very cheap to produce. They liked the “cheap to produce” part the best! That project took me one step closer toward my current service of infographics illustration for paying clients, usually in the development sector. 

Note: Even if you’re working for free, you should have clear boundaries -- especially if it’s with friends or family. Learn more about setting boundaries while working for free at the end of this chapter. 

Doodle: impact

Maximize impact. Go through the list of companies with low budgets for creative services. Find one that would greatly benefit from your service (even if they don’t realize it)  

As creative professionals, we are in the business of solving other people’s problems. Sometimes, they don’t realize that they need what we have to offer because they’ve just been doing the same thing over and over again. 

I’ll say it again, the priority in this part of your journey is building your portfolio. Therefore, we need to find a problem that showcases your work’s benefit for maximum impact. 

If you approach your old high school and what they need is a new website, but what you want to showcase is your graphic design and you can’t code, find a middle ground so you can meet their needs with your services. Design a really nice banner for their facebook and make some announcement graphics for the next few special events on their calendar. You get to flex your design muscles AND help them with their web presence.

If a small cafe wants to promote their business and what they want is brochures, but you’re a songwriter who wants to write jingles, write a catchy song for them that showcases your musical skills AND captures their vibe. You can let them blast it in their store and share on their social media, maybe work with a friend to make a music video. Things like that tend to get shared, and it might even go viral. If it goes viral, YOU go viral. 

This is the time to activate your superpower as a creative professional:
finding creative ways to use your unique skill set to solve their problems.

Doodle: exposure

Maximize exposure. Find a company on the low-budget field that already has the most reach and visibility, whether online traffic or in offline foot traffic.

If you’re confident enough in your skill level, you can approach high visibility entities, such as a public hospital or a government run attraction like a zoo or a park. They probably don’t have extra budget so you’ll be happy for the free labor, AND your work will get out there. 

That kind of exposure is a decent exchange for your minimum (or zero) pay. When small companies approach creative professionals for free work in exchange “for exposure,” they usually don’t have the kind of reach that makes it worth your while. Of course, you could still do the work for the benefit of your portfolio, but let’s not kid ourselves. There’s no exposure benefit from those small fish. 

When you have recognizable clients on your portfolio, you add their credibility to your own. Clients think, “wow, THAT company trusted you to work for them? You must be the real deal!” They don’t have to know that you didn’t get paid for the work. 

Disclaimer: With maximum exposure type clients, you will have to be more generous with revisions. If you really think that your solution is the best way, use this opportunity to practice your convincing skills to help them to see why you think so. You really want them to like your work enough to actually use it, so just do your best to go the extra mile to give them the best service, even if it takes more time. 

Doodle: significance

Maximize significance. Find an advocacy that aligns with your personal beliefs. 

Living in the developing world, there are a lot of things that we feel deeply about, problems that we desperately want to fix. It could be big things such as poverty, injustice, gender inequality. It could be systemic problems such as lack of access to basic services such as clean water or dental care. It could be about a vulnerable population such as abandoned babies, orphans, widows, single mothers, lonely elderly people, or abused animals. 

Ask yourself what makes your heart bleed, and find a partner organization that is already making a difference in that sphere. By volunteering your services, you are sharpening your skills for the benefit of a cause that is worthy of your time. 

Maria was naturally gifted in most creative arts, she painted, sculpted and even did pottery. She developed an interest in photography, so she bought a camera and looked for opportunities to practice. She found a local animal shelter and offered to take photos of the dogs who were looking for new homes. The photos were shared on social media, and people’s hearts melted at the sight of those soulful puppy eyes and smiling dogs. Many of them were adopted thanks to Maria’s portraits.

That volunteer gig built up her portrait skills and her portfolio. She eventually got the opportunity to do children’s portraits, which wasn’t that different from photographing dogs: they’re energetic, playful  and they hardly sit still, but when you get a good shot, they’re so cute and their personality really shines. 

Maria eventually got a job travelling around the world, as a portrait photographer for a nonprofit organization that takes care of marginalized children and orphans in Asia, Africa, and South America. She found her sweet spot: doing something she loved, for a cause that she believed in, and she even earned a living doing it. Bonus: she got to travel, which she also enjoyed!