Travel Secrets for Romantics and Lovers

When I was studying in NYC, I heard of Bennett Peji. He was all the way out in San Diego. He had a design firm in La Jolla where seagulls shit on your car, parking is impossible to find, and guys in their 30’s still play flippy-cup. But on the other hand, women come to lunch wearing sandy bikinis and the telecom boom was just taking off.

Everyone was there. Qualcomm, Verizon, Nokia, Motorola, and even Jabra. I know this because I moved out to San Diego right about then.

I met Bennett at an AIGA conference. I networked the hell out of that event. What I found was that 98% of the designers there were starving. The other two, including Bennett and just a few others were doing well. Their clients were the well funded big telecom and biotech clients in San Diego. I asked the 2% how they got their clients. Nobody said a word. Bastards.

Since then, I’ve been asking my most successful friends how they got their big clients. These are the 9 hidden disciplines of creatives who score big clients (who actually pay).

9. They Take Names
There is no way a million banner ads, billions of brochures or trillions of #FFs can even compare with the rapport and trust built by one hand shake. When you meet another human, whoever they are, add them to your contact list. Add them to your contact list using their profession, city, and venue. You’ll forget their name. You’ll never forget what they do or where you met.

8. They Make Contact
Immediately drop them an email. Do the reverse of the above. They will forget your name. They will forget what you look like. But they will not forget where they met you or what you talked about. Put that data in the subject line of your “touch-base.”

7. They Touch-Base
Back when I started my research on the habits of the most successful designers and writers and basically anyone who has clients, it was a Rollodex. Yes, people were still using Rollodexi just one decade ago. They had some fancy filing system where they would know who to touch base with every day. Today, there’s Google Calendar. Use it.  

http://img1.uploadscreenshot.com/images/orig/11/32010541841-orig.png 

6. They Touch-Base Early
I was creative director in a couple of ad agencies. The most successful AEs and principals always got into the office and placed touch-base phone calls right around 6 am local time. It wasn’t until much later that I found out why. Their prospects weren’t used to email yet. Their prospects were in their 50’s. Their prospects enjoyed phone conversations. Most importantly, at 6 am, they sent out the implied message that “if you give us a project, we will be in the office working on it at 6 am.” Touch base with your prospects monthly. Touch base early.

5. Golf

4. Be the Best Dressed Human They Will See All Month
When you meet a big prospective client, may not know what political party they align with. You may not know what their favorite book is. And you certainly will not know when you’ll meet them. So there’s no possible way to know how to make a lasting impression on them except by dressing well - all the time.

3. Get in Their Social Circle
Go to the same charity events. Go to the same country club. Go to the same church, sinagogue, mosque, temple, and Kingdom Hall. If you had to chose to buy bread from an amazing French baker vs a mediocre guy who could get you Lakers floor seating, who’s bread would you butter? Face it. It doesn’t matter how talented you are. It doesn’t matter how good you are. Pretty girls get hired more than ugly ones. Mediocre designers with connections get hired more than pretty girls. And if you’re a moderately decent designer…

2. Publish Yourself In High Profile Websites
Back in the day, you’d submit your work to annual competitions like CA, Print Magazine, HOW, etc… Now, nobody reads print. So, post up your work in user generated content sites like http://stumbleupon.com and niche design sites like http://plurban.com … If you still have time, submit your work to design blogs. I get just as much work from my web “presence” as I do the local execs I meet.

1. Never Fuck Up
Earn the reputation that if you’re given a project, it’ll be done perfectly - every time. Clients are stressed out. Be their oasis. Be perfect. Think about it. If your girlfriend goes out and once in a blue moon she fucks some dude, you’re going to stress every time she goes out.

This is my top 100 list of graphic designers in major cities:

http://plurban.com/top-graphic-designers-los-angeles.html

I hire designers. I love and hate working with you guys. Sometimes you want to turn my projects into your own personal platform for expression. Other times, you want to find the most powerful way to communicate the needs of the project both visually and functionally. But most of the time, you do something of both. And I have no way to know where my project will end up with you.

The most compelling designer I’ve ever worked with was a kid names Japheth in LA. It wasn’t his portfolio. It wasn’t his presentation. It wasn’t even his personality. 

Japheth had a rap sheet of acclaim. He had collected a list of comments and attributed them with photos of the people who made these praises. It was as though he brought a mob of Japhethites along with him. It was almost a religious experience.

I love designers. I want you guys to revolutionize the world starting with the denim I’m wearing to the crazy freeway signs in LA that make you turn onto oncoming traffic in rush hour. I want to help you do that. So, I built http://plurban.com/design

If you upload your favorite (doesn’t have to be your own) fashion designs, graphic designs, art, performance art, you’ll get this:

1. I’ll publish out your work to my 37,000+ Twitter and Facebook friends. 

2. At the end of the month, the designer/artist with the most comments from unique commenter will will $100 out from my pocket.

3. Best of all, you’ll get that rap sheet. You’ll get that roll-out list of critical acclaim.

So go ahead, upload and publish your best work at my new site: http://plurban.com/design

PS… really, the best part is that when people Google your name, they will find you along side the top designers in the world who are already published in Plurban. So you’ll be rubbing shoulders with all the right people… What else you bump and rub is totally up to you.