It all started innocently enough.
A visual practitioner starting her own small business wrote me with a question about working digitally. Here’s a paraphrased version of her message:
Dear Jeannel, I do graphic recording myself and are just starting up my small business [overseas]. A potential client asked me if we can make it possible that I harvest online conversations \’real-time\’ and participants directly see on their screen what I am drawing. Could you give me advice about what technology, devices, programs, etc, I might want to look into, for figuring out how to do good virtual visual work? Thank you! –V
Being passionate about helping new business owners, my response grew into something more than simply addressing the question about working virtually. (No surprise there: digging deeper is just how I roll!)
In the hopes that this information is helpful, (and with my correspondent’s permission), I am sharing my response here for you as well.
Working virtually
Dear V,
Congratulations on starting up your own small business! I view starting my own business as one of the best and most fulfilling things I have ever done, and I wish you all the success in the world! :^)
Regarding virtual graphic harvesting, I have to admit that I don’t do a lot of it. A main reason for this is that my business is grounded in the power of the group dynamic in real-time, and frankly very few people ask me to work with them virtually or digitally. (I just had one company ask me about this earlier this week, but before that it’s literally been years since someone wanted to work virtually.)
When I did work virtually with a distributed team a few years ago, I leveraged an online meeting platform such as GoToMeeting, Digital Graphic Guides from The Grove to upload in whiteboard spaces for the entire team to contribute to, and drew on whiteboards using a dedicated web-cam for the board as a “meeting participant.” It worked pretty well.
I have also live-streamed several events, but those were events where a small group of participants (12 or so) were streaming out to thousands around the world. They still got to see me work live. . . but it was WITH the group who was presenting and therefore grounded in the purpose and experience of the event. (These are other core aspects of my work and business.)
I think a reason I don’t get many requests to work virtually is that I am so crystal-clear on the value and importance of working live in real-time with the group. Not all practitioners share this value, which is fantastic! There are folks out there who love and excel at working remotely, and there are folks like me who love and excel working with groups in the thick of it all. The good news is that there is also a place for all of us and what we do in this industry. :^)
Going deeper
So where do you want to be in this industry? I ask because you said that you were starting your own business. And if you are starting your own business, then these are things to become clear about so that you may stay happy and actually enjoy the work that you do in and for your business.
Just as an example, when I first started out with my company, some folks asked me to create infographics and data visualizations for them. I said “yes” to these projects because, heck, they wanted to do business with me so hooray for them! Never mind that I HATED doing data visualizations and infographics: I said “yes” anyway. But every time I said “yes” to one of these projects, I was miserable, I undercharged and felt undervalued for what I was doing, I was muttering under my breath while I worked on these projects, and I started to hate my business.
I didn’t want to hate my business.
Stop saying “yes” to dead projects
So I sat down and realized why I hated these types of projects so much (they were “dead” projects, separate from the people who were creating the ideas) and why I continued to say yes to them (I was afraid that if I said no to any prospective client at that time, I would not make it as a business.)
Then I made a decision to no longer say yes to “dead” projects. Even though it meant saying no to people who wanted to pay me good money for things I technically could do.
The cool thing is that when I stopped saying “yes” to the projects that did not suit my gifts and passions, I had more people asking me to work on projects that were exactly what I loved to work on! Instead of creating a business shortage, my saying “no thanks” actually created space for me to have more of my ideal clients and projects!
Start saying “yes” to the right projects for you
So, what is it that you want to be saying “yes” to?
Do you LOVE the virtual/digital work? Or is it something that you do because someone is willing to pay you to do it?
If you LOVE it, I would recommend connecting with folks in our practitioner community who embrace digital and run with it. (Rachel Smith is one of my personal favorites!) They will have better and more up-to-date guidance on how to use technology than I do.
However, if you do NOT love working digitally or remotely, I would invite you to consider getting clear on what it is about your work that you DO love, and building your business (and clientele) to support and attract THAT.
And if you are not sure if you would love it or not, then try it out and see! You will get a feel for whether this way of working suits you or not, and you will then have a clearer understanding of what you want to build as a business owner.
At the end of the day. . .
However the virtual digital harvesting all shakes out, you deserve to shine. To this end, you are better off saying “yes” to projects that truly suit you and allows you to shine than you are saying “yes” to projects that do not suit you and cause you to do sub-par or grouchy work just to get them completed. (Take it from one who knows! ;^)
With thanks for your note, and looking forward to what you draw forth,
