Getting Started with the Right Clients

In the initial years as a growing studio, it is tempting to not always think about our long-term relationships with clients. Often, each project is thought of as a short-term commitment. However, what begins as a short-term website collaboration often becomes a long-term relationship driven forward by questions such as, “Can you also do x for me?”

When you are a small and hungry studio, it feels necessary to say yes to all reasonable projects. However, it is difficult to grasp the importance of your first client contacts, as many of these folks will still be with you when your studio has matured; we’re just about at the beginning of our third year of being an independent studio. Some of our most pleasant relationships now are with folks that came to us in the beginning.

If you want to make a habit of keeping relationships with clients and contacts, then you’ve got to be picky about who you work with from the get-go. If a project just doesn’t feel right, don’t take it. Don’t think that you are just doing this small little project,. Think about whether you’d want this person to be involved with your business for the next 5 or 10 years (people don’t like to change web designer – it’s scary).

Kandace Brigleb

Producer, co-founder of Needmore. Currently residing on the left coast.