9 Ways to Be a Successful Subcontractor - YouTube

Welcome to Design Domination, where you'll learn to become a better, more business-savvy

designer, so you can dominate your competition.

Hi, and thanks for tuning in. I’m Colleen Gratzer, and in this episode of Design Domination,

I’m getting into 9 ways for you to be a successful subcontractor. Stick around to

get lots of tips to help you be a successful subcontractor, so you get hired over and over again.

Now, I’ve been on both sides of the fence when it comes to subcontracting—the hiring

side and the working as a subcontractor side. And I’ve hired many subcontractors over

my career. And some have been good and some I decided to never work with again. [laugh]

I’ve also been hired as a subcontractor and praised for my work ethic and attention

to detail. And clients are often willing to pay more for that. So I’ve experienced the

good and the bad.

And I want to help you make the most of your experience when you’re working as a subcontractor,

so that you make a good impression. Because that's gonna help you get hired again and

again and charge more.

Because trust me, there are a gazillion graphic designers and web developers out there. And

just doing great work doesn’t mean that someone is going to want to work with you again.

But if you’re reliable and trustworthy, too, those designers and creative agencies

and other types of clients will want to work with you again. And if you’re not, let me

tell you, they will remember that.

Tip number 1 is take the work as seriously as other client work. For some reason, a lot

of designers, when they’re hired as subcontractors, don’t seem to take the work as seriously

as when they do work for their own clients.

I mean, I don’t know. I guess that’s the reasoning. But I’ve had this experience

with a lot of designers and developers. I’d give details of what needs to be done and

then I wouldn’t hear back for days or weeks. And then when I’d go to check in, I’d

often be told they hadn’t started the work.

I mean, what’s up with that? I mean, I guess they think other people’s clients don’t

have deadlines or those deadlines don’t matter, like it’s time to lollygag.

But, hey, I’ve got a business to run. I need things to get done—and on time. And

I would get absolutely furious! I just couldn’t understand how they could drop the ball like

that. But, you know, they didn’t have to answer to the client. I did!

So it was a pain. And not only that, I could have gotten the work done by myself,

at that point. I think some subcontractors think that because they don’t have to answer

to the end client, they just don’t take the project as seriously.

So always treat the designer or the agency that you’re doing the work for as if they are

the end client.

Tip number 2 is abide by the requirements. When I work with subcontractors, I sometimes

ask that they do certain things.

I might have specific requirements in place for a reason—and that's either because someone

else I know had an issue and change part of their process or because I’ve personally

had to endure the pain of something that I had to deal with myself.

Like one time I asked a really nice and talented developer that I knew to help me out with

some functionality that need to be added to a client website. And I needed his expertise

on this one particular part.

Well, after I was done building the site, I gave him access to the development site

and asked him to do the work there. And then he told me he would prefer to copy the site

to his own server, work on it there, and then upload it back to my server. And then he said

he’d also prefer to change the setup of the CSS, and I was like, yeah no. [laugh]

So I told him I wasn’t comfortable with any of that because I wanted to have access to

the site at all times in case something happened, and it really wasn’t necessary to make any

of those other changes. So I asked him not to do it and he did it anyway.

And guess what happened? He got sick and he was unavailable for two weeks. The work I

had actually asked him to do got delayed because he decided to redo something I specifically

said not to do. And the because he got sick, he didn’t get around to what he was supposed

to do. What I was hiring him for.

Not only that because he took it upon himself to do the work on a copy of the site that

I didn’t have access to, I couldn’t even see what had been done—or not, not done—at

that point.

And that put me in a really bad spot with the design agency that had subcontracted this

work to me, you know, they were looking to see the site. I was embarrassed and I was

really pissed.

And this brings me to tip 3, which is to communicate often. Don’t go MIA. Subcontractors in our

industry and really any other industry for that matter, they get a bad rap for disappearing

once they get the work. Because once they get the work, they don’t communicate.

And few things make a designer or a business more nervous, than when somebody just disappears

on them. And that's… that feeling is something that they will not forget.

I hate being put in that position. You know, if something comes up—a personal issue or

a project-related problem—it’s always best to know about that right away. It makes

the situation so much easier to handle.

I mean, if a subcontractor tells me about an issue up front and they don't wait to say

something because they’re afraid to—that gives me more time to find someone else, or

I could do the work myself maybe, you know. Or I could try to negotiate an extended deadline

with the client.

But otherwise, I have to be the one to clean up the mess. And the entire point of hiring

a subcontractor to do the work is so I don’t have to do it myself, [laugh] to make my life

easier. So I don’t like it when that doesn’t happen and then, oh, it’s now on me to figure

out what to do next.

My 4th tip is ask questions. I think a lot of designers are afraid to ask questions.

And I use to be like this, in earlier of my career. And I think that maybe, some designers

think that it will make them appear as if they don’t know what they’re doing even

if they do know what they're doing.

But asking certain questions can actually demonstrate how much you do know and that

you are interested in doing the job well.

So take for example, I’ve done tons of book layout in my career. And even though that

I've done that, I will always ask certain things, like I'll ask if it's for me to change

certain things for consistency or proper formatting, or ask if there’s a preference for sections

to start on a righthand page.

And the designer or agency that’s hired you usually knows their client really well.

Clients often have different preferences that they might forget to mention to you.

So if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. They’ll probably actually appreciate

it. I know I do. I’d rather get asked a lot of questions than none at all or too few.

Tip number 5 is check your work. [laugh] This is a big one to me. When another designer

or agency hires you to help with creative work, they don’t want to have to babysit.

They want the job done on time, and they want it done well.

The reason a designer or agency looks for a subcontractor is either because they don’t

have that expertise in a specific area or they don’t have time to do the work themselves.

I’ve been hired by agencies over and over as a subcontractor because they know that

they don’t have to babysit me. That’s been a huge issue for them in the past with

other designers, so that is a pain point to them that they want to avoid.

And when I say “babysit,” I mean that they don’t want to have to point out things

you should have already checked for yourself.

I’ve had several subcontractors who were so giddy about getting the work—which I

really appreciate—but then they didn’t pay attention to the instructions or the job

requirements and they didn’t ask questions. And they just focused on getting the job done

fast rather than getting it done well.

So it’s vital that you check your work and really take ownership of the quality of it.

Check the creative brief, pay attention to special requirements and check that your work

meets all of those before you submit a draft for their review.

Tip number 6 is be open to art direction. When you’re hired by another designer or

creative agency, being open to art direction is so important. And some designers just aren’t.

A lot of times, the hiring designer or agency has worked with their client in the past and

they know their tastes and preferences pretty well. And so they might offer some art direction

throughout the process.

My advice to you, in that case is don’t let your ego get in the way. Take it constructively.

Because remember, it’s them—not you—who has to answer to the client.

Tip number 7 is offer your expertise. And don’t be afraid to do this either. You and

the client might have different experiences or backgrounds. And maybe they don't understand

why something would be a good or bad idea.

So if you have suggestions for a better way to accomplish what they're trying to achieve,

then say so. And then they can then decide to take it or leave it.

And they'll probably appreciate you for speaking up. And it will also show that you care about

their needs.

Tip number 8 is invoice promptly. For some reason, invoicing to an untimely manner can

be so problematic. [laugh] I’ve run into this many times, and I just can’t understand

it. I mean, are designers not interested in getting paid on time?

When you’re a subcontractor and you don’t invoice when you're asked to, it really mucks

up the designer's invoicing process or the agency’s invoicing process, especially if

you’re being paid by the hour.

Because they are often dependent upon you to send that invoice, so that they can bill

their client for those hours.

And when you don’t invoice promptly, you could be delaying them getting paid, and that

could delay you getting paid.

And my final tip is get permission. Another potential problem is showing the work that

you've done without permission or taking credit for the work where it’s not necessarily

due.

Now a lot of times, the client of the designer or the agency who’s subcontracted that work

to you isn’t even aware of you in the first place. And in that case, it could be a really

unpleasant surprise if they happened to come across your website or a social media post

talking about the work that you did for them.

So it’s always best to make sure that you have written permission from the designer

or the agency allowing you to display the work. And if you are, a lot of times, they

will just ask you for a credit for art direction or whatever role they played in the work and

then maybe a link back to their site.

I’ve done a lot of work with other designers where we’ve had this arrangement. And one

time a designer created the branding for their client and then I built the website and designed

other brand elements. And then with that designer’s permission, I showed the work in my portfolio

and gave them credit for their part and a link back to their website.

Now, having said, all of this, sometimes the issues that I encountered were the fault of

the subcontractor. You know, you just can’t make someone care about their work ethic.

You can’t make them pay attention to details.

But in other cases, there were things that I could have done to prevent some of these

situations from even happening in the first place.

So in another episode, I’ll get into how you can make the process smoother when you’re

working with a subcontractor.

And if this episode was helpful to you, please take a moment to help me by leaving a review

wherever you listen.