Update on three recently finished projects

It's time to post three of my most recent projects, just recently wrapped up.

In trying to do more work in the music field, I had an opportunity to do a piece of art for a shirt for a local Atlanta band called Soulhound. They use the term "funky, sweaty, soul-grooving music" to describe them, and that is the perfect description. For their shirt, however, they wanted to go a little more organic. So, we worked with the "groovy" side and organic colors. This was the final option they chose.

The next project was a book cover for Ned White. I must give credit to Bobby Hickman, editor, writer, www.Linkedin.com connection and fellow Freelance Forum member for sending this very quick project my way. I worked with this local author and his artist to complete this project. You can purchase this book at Create Space.

And last but not least, I helped a friend and fantastic marketing communicator, David Chesnut, rework his web site. This was a challenge for me to learn a few additional things. David knows what he wants and was not afraid to ask. AND he was very encouraging as I learned to overcome a few technical issues. The site looks simple but it did take more thought and effort to get it there. He wanted clean and simple and we delivered.

Become Visible - For Free (or nearly free)

It's time to share a few thoughts on helping to take your creative thoughts from the invisible sanctuary of your mind and the metal/plastic box of your computer and let them see the light of day.

But how to do this without paying a lot of money? Well, here are a few suggestions.

First, I'd like to push LinkedIn as a great free resource. Someday I'll pay for it, but for the time being I will be sticking with the free side. LI allows you to post your resume/qualifications/interests, practically anything related to your business or work. It has a few limitations, but for the most part it not only is pretty overarching but not hard to use. The best part is, is shows up at the top of most search engines!

Secondly, if you are a member of a trade organization, see if you can submit articles, artwork, anything that can get your name into their publications. I happen to be a member of Freelance Forum in Atlanta, GA and we have a monthly pdf newsletter. If you are in that newsletter, there is a good guarantee that you will hit at the top of a search engine list due to the great SEO work that has been done on our site.

Third, creating a blog, like this one, is very helpful. You can use your blog to assist your clients with useful information, or share information with fellow creatives. It helps on a two-fold level, sometimes you just need to discuss something in writing to work it out, and oftentimes that discussion can help another person/client, etc. in the process.

Fourth, you can use your blog to introduce new work that you've done. It's a chance to explain your project a little more in-depth. Your web site can continue to stay clean while you expand your project explanation on a blog.

Now is definitely not the time to stay invisible to the world. You have excellent ideas. You are creative. You are ready to improve a business, to liven up a book, to create dynamic advertising that promotes a product you believe in... Get out there and make yourself visible!