Two years on from Pitch Your Portfolio
It’s been almost a couple of years since I first did Pitch Your Portfolio (and I’m keen to go through it again this year for a refresh), so I wanted to share my experiences since finishing the course.
Firstly, what is Pitch Your Portfolio?
It’s a course taught by surface designer Shannon McNab that’s aimed at designers who have a portfolio of work (it doesn’t have to be a huge amount) and are ready to start pitching their designs to clients.
Where I was at before I started the course
When I first started in art licensing, the thought of reaching out to clients (even by email), was quite a scary prospect. I also had so many questions including; how to find the right person to contact? What should I write? How should I send my artwork? How long should I wait until I follow-up? In the early days, I would browse blogs or Facebook group posts to see what other people did, which was helpful, but sometimes left me even more confused.
So while I had a few licensing deals already, I still felt a bit out of my depth and didn’t know how to find ways to consistently pitch to clients and have a process to make sure I wasn’t spending half my day crafting an email and look book of work tailored for one client who may not even reply.
I had followed Shannon for a little while and made sure I had taken her free classes before I committed to anything paid. I immediately loved her straight forward approach and down to earth personality. While it’s nice to have big dreams, the reality is, art licensing and having your own creative business is a lot of hard work and it takes time to build your style, portfolio and brand. There are artists and designers out there earning a nice income, but this isn’t the story or stage in our career for so many of us, so I always felt Shannon’s classes were practical and engaging without over promising too much.
What's changed since I finished the course?
In the time since finishing the course, I don’t have any hesitations when approaching clients. I feel comfortable knowing what to write and following up without feeling like I’m hassling the client. Another big change is a mindset shift. When I don’t hear from a client or get a ’no’, I’m able to move on quickly and not take it too personally.
One of things I liked about this self-paced course is the quarterly calls Shannon hosts where you have the opportunity to ask any question. I this found helpful when dealing with unique situations that the course material didn’t directly answer.
Since finishing the course, I’ve licensed my work on scarves, reusable baby nappies, tote bags, dish cloths and fabric. On the odd occasion I have had a client directly reach out to me, but the majority of the time you need to pitch your work to clients. And there were plenty of no replies along the way!
Even though gaining more clients and licensing more art is one of the main goals of every student, there are also so many more things to take away from the course. Time saving processes and tips means I can easily send off a bunch of emails and move onto other tasks.
If you’re at the stage of your surface design career where you’re looking to get your work out there and need the confidence to approach clients, this course will walk you through some best practices step-by-step.
If you're still not sure whether it's right for you, you can join Build a Portfolio That Sells free workshop that Shannon McNab is running on May 10 and May 11. She'll share her insights and talk about the course. I found this the best way to work out whether it was the right fit for me.
Enrolment for Pitch Your Portfolio opens on Tuesday May 10 and if you use my affiliate link* to sign-up, you’ll receive a Fabric Drawer gift pack posted to you valued at $35!
Use this link to join the waitlist (prior to May 10) or sign-up when enrolment opens: https://www.sketchdesignrepeat.com/pitch-your-portfolio?affiliate=beck_ng
Read my first review of the course if you'd like to go back and see how it all went within the first 6 months of finishing the course.
*While I am an affiliate for the course, I would only promote a course I genuinely got value from - and I have never been an affiliate for anyone else!
