I’d like to read it long ago…

Anyway. Thank you!

And, for me too, the hardest part is to find the woman of my dreams.. :(

Hey! Maybe you could ask a mary for a photo.. you never know..

Btw, I’m from venezuela, too

Regards

Hey Joel! Thanks for your question about Pitch work. Let me preface my response by saying that Go Media is not a firm with a ton of experience in the area of pitch work. Our company was built on direct requests and referrals from people that saw and liked our work. We’re just now getting into the proposal writing side of things.

Having said that, I completely agree with your ideas about pitch work being better than just fictitious work. Any time you have a real project scope with a client in mind – the work is going to be more realistic. It will also give you the invaluable experience of working for someone. AND it may net you some paying work. It’s a win-win-win scenario.

I guess my main tip is that you should make contact with someone at your prospective company BEFORE you produce your pitch designs. Sometimes the company will even have a fake project all lined up for just such an occasion. You mentioned the Amores Perros posters that we pitched. That is a perfect example of this process. Jeff contacted All City Media about Go Media doing work for them. Our contact there gave us this assignment as a test of our abilities.

If you are given a test project it’s critical that you follow directions TO THE LETTER. No company wants to work with a designer that can’t follow their instructions. This is also something I look for. People write me asking to work for Go Media all the time. I will send them instructions on how to submit a resume and samples. The second I see they didn’t follow my instructions – their resume goes in the (digital) trash. Why would I hire someone that can’t follow instructions. It will be nothing but a headache.

In terms of getting the logo and other media to do your work – this is different with each company. Some will send you a massive folder with hundreds of beautiful high-res images of their products and logos. Other companies have nothing and you have to scour the web for materials. One fantastic resource is http://www.brandsoftheworld.com. This website has almost every major company’s logo as vector art available for free download.

As Go Media continues to expand our knowledge in this area I promise to write more!

Most importantly, Never Never Never Give Up.

I had a question about the pitch work we were discussing on the “Moving Beyond Freelancing” article. That insight about doing pitch work (which actually started as a discussion about doing ficticious work) really made alot of sense to me. The big thing for me is that I don’t want to be caught up doing work I don’t enjoy (ie – boring projects) for people who don’t pay well. The whole point about doing ficticious work even just so that your portfolio shows the styles/type of projects you enjoy and do well makes alot of sense. But you know what makes even more sense? Doing those projects not just “ficticiously,” but with the a purpose – for a pitch. That way your making well thought out moves in your designs – moves that will appeal to a client – hopefully one of your dream clients. So I wanted to say all that just makes so much sense to me, and it’s funny that I never thought about it until reading that post.

SO on to my question. My question is that I’d love to know some pointers on how to go about pitch work – mostly from a business standpoint, but also any tips on the creative process are good, too. I’ve just never done any real pitch work for a large client that I’ve never made contact with, so I’d love to hear some insight. Like for example, what’s the best way to make sure your pitch is even heard by the right person at the company so it doesn’t just get deleted as junk mail or thrown in the trash before it reaches a mover & shaker? Also, how do you get ahold of things like a company’s logo or other elements to use in creating the design? (I noticed Jeff’s email today about how you guy’s are all doing sample posters for that movie – how did you get the images you used and other logos and stuff?).

So I know there’s probably alot you could tell me with that regard, and I also know that there are tons of other GoMediazine readers who’d also love to know these answers. SOOOO, just a thought, but why don’t you guys do a business insights posting about pitch work?

Thanks sincerely and all the best.

I do indeed have a very strong opinion about this subject matter. I can’t tell YOU what to do, but let me give you some food for thought.

You said that you were going to be responsible for 75% of the work. I am confused. Is your partner not going to show up at work a full day? Will he not be putting in as many hours as you?

When my partner Chris and I got together – the background and circumstances of the situation were FAR from equal. I had a college degree, I had 75% of the customers, it was my revenue stream that made it possible for Chris to quit his day job and I had more years of design experience (I am 5 years older than Chris). But When we became partners – our new company was a 50-50 split. Why? Because despite the disparity, we were still just a couple of broke guys getting started. And I wanted Chris 100% on board with no questions or regrets about his decision. After all, we were about to invest years of our lives, work long hours and take huge financial risks together. I needed him committed. Which he was – in spades.

Whatever deal you strike with your partner… make sure you are BOTH satisfied. It NEEDS to be a win-win situation for both of you. If either of you are unhappy with the split, I suggest waiting. Otherwise regret and frustration will creep into the partnership. Those late-night work session where you’re cramming to get something done and it’s 3am and you decide to take a nap… you don’t want your partner turning to you and saying: “Hey Mr. Seventy-Five Percent Owner… this is mostly YOUR company, why are YOU going to take a nap. It should be me!”

Also… percentage of ownership does not have to equal percentage of income. For instance… you could OWN 75% of the company, but pay all the partners equally. As the company grows in value… YOU are worth more, but the daily pay is equal. Of course, you don’t “see” this worth unless you sell the company or get bought-out by your partner. So, owning a higher percentage of the company in this case really only benefits you if the company grows.

There are now 3 partners at Go Media and this is how we do it. We have unequal amounts of ownership but we all pay ourselves the same. There was definitely a debate about what percentage of the company our third partner would get. After all, he was coming in at a much later stage of the company. Things were really starting to roll. And I had already put in 8 years building the company.

In the end I gave up MORE percentage than I had originally wanted to. It was significantly higher than what we had even originally agreed to. But I didn’t want any regrets. Chris and I were going to bet on Jeff. And once again, we have not been let down. In this regard perhaps I have been VERY lucky. My partners are extremely hard working, humble and fun to be with.

One last thought… and this is a bit more complex but one thing we are working on now is what is known as a “buy sell agreement”. Basically, a partnership can lay out the rules for ending the relationship. Lets say you start working together and it SUCKS… how does one partner leave? Who keeps the clients? Is there severance pay? Or what happens if one partner dies? Does their family now own your company? This is something you’ll need a lawyer for.

Hope this helps.

-Bill

Hey Joe and Matt… If you guys really trust each other and are joining forces and will be struggling together day and night for years to come building a company…

Why exactly would you not come up with one company name?

I understand it’s hard to let go… After all, you’ve probably already invested a lot of time, thought and energy into your current brands. And the human ego says: “This is me. I can’t just throw it away.”

But let’s look at this situation from THE CUSTOMER (the only one that actually matters) – what is the purpose of two names? Or three? Is it two companies or one?

And then how do you advertise? Do you put out THREE ads? One for each of you, then one for the “company”. And how do you answer the phone? “Matt’s Design firm, now merged with Joe’s design firm also known as X design, how may I help you?”

In my opinion you need to sacrifice your current brands. Put them on the chopping block, raise your ax high and let the blood fly! My partner and I went through the same thing. Even if you try to maintain three brands you will slowly drift towards the new one. So, I say – make a clean transition. Build a new brand and let go of the past!

My former company was “Graphic Odysseys” – so, we took the first letter from those two words (Go). And my partner’s company was: “Next Level Multimedia” so, we took the “media” from his name. Result: Go Media.

I have no regrets.

Good luck to you guys!

-Bill