3 Crazy-Good Business Tips From our Founder, Longina Phillips

design business tips freelance designer freelance fabric design freelance textile design print design business Mar 16, 2022

Wondering if you can share your design on social media once it's sold? Or how to reply to a customer request for a selection link?

As founder of our parent company, Longina Phillips Designs, Longina is our GREATEST source of business knowledge. She's been selling print designs for over 30 years and continues to lead the industry with her savvy, strategic skills.

Three students of our Comprehensive Business Builder for Surface Designers e-course had a burning question for Longina. Read on for her direct reply to them over Zoom (transcribed and repeated here for you lovely blog readers!).

1. Can you post a sold print design to social media?

Some clients do get very upset if you post without their permission and it's better to avoid that argument. It does rattle you because you think, Well I've done all the hard work, I should be able to post it. But ask for their permission first, or if it's already in the marketplace [in stores etc.] then it's usually fine to go ahead and post.

Sometimes a client might ask you take the post down because they might not want their competitors to know who their supplier is. When we get asked, we go ahead and remove the post and make a note not to put that customers work on social media again.

2. Is a relationship burned if you send two or three messages to a buyer on Linked In and they don't reply?

No, it's not burned. Some people don't check Linked In messages. Go to the information [on that person's profile] and there might be a Gmail or Hotmail address.

I also may have the client's email address so [if you are a student of the business course] you can ask me for it.

3. When a client asks to see a selection of prints, what's the best way to choose them?

If we ever get a fairly vague request from a customer we will always ask: Are you looking for winter? Are you looking for summer? Are you looking for swimwear? So we'll try to narrow that request.

It takes time to send the link to the customer, to make the JPEGS. So it's always helpful to have more feedback.

If a customer sends an example, look at what she's sending you and try to add some designs that are close to her image and some designs that are a little far away. I always do that because I like them to be able to reject something very quickly and then I'm only left with the things they like.

Got a sensitive business question you can't get a straight answer to? The Longina Phillips + Print School teams help with every conundrum – no holds barred – across our 6 x monthly calls inside our Comprehensive Business Builder for Surface Designers e-course. It's a complete guide to creating a successful surface design business, by our industry-leading print design studio. We open for enrollments just twice a year and the next one is right around the corner. So stay tuned!