Parse aims to make sense of issues and information relevant to design practitioners, regardless of the disciplines they work in. Parse makes big ideas useful, actionable and applicable. It distills jargon, reduces complexity, pares words, omits gobbledygook. It’s open-source, approachable and friendly.
Craft A More Effective Identity (2)
2/09/12
Here’s a common problem with solopreneurs and creative agencies: we do a great job for our clients but when it comes to our own identity, we often miss the mark. An effective identity represents two things: your personality and your target market. To attract your ideal clients an identity must align the two and stay true to both.
Recently Parsed
Failure: It’s Not That Bad (3)
2/06/12
Failure can be defined as a lack of success. But, how does one understand success within a creative practice? What if the fear of failure and the accompanying baggage is worse than the failure itself?
Get High Quality Clients (4)
2/02/12
The “secret” to a full pipeline of high quality prospects that convert into well-paying projects is actually no secret at all: it just takes steady marketing, day in and day out.
Magnetize Yourself Via Public Speaking (3)
1/30/12
Clients don’t just buy your services, they buy what you believe. Speaking works as a business development tool because it is an opportunity for you to share what you believe in a non-sales environment. People don’t like to be sold to. Use speaking to build trust and then enjoy the magnetic pull of clients approaching you with their business card.
Celebrate Your Entrepreneurial Weirdness (3)
1/26/12
Creative entrepreneurs are creatively different. Sometimes it can be a bit lonely and unnerving, but it’s absolutely something to celebrate. You can take control and make something out of nothing—that’s what you’ve done with your business, do you realize that? You’re an entrepreneur—that’s really something.
Use Simple Tools, Keep On Track (3)
1/23/12
With design teams taking on increasingly complex problems it’s surprising so many overlook simple tools and habits that would help them work more effectively. Rather than depending on memory, or an implicit understanding between colleagues, designers can use the most basic techniques to make working together easier—and more successful.
Stop Cold Calling (2)
1/19/12
Cold calling has always been something people dread doing but seem to believe that it’s a necessary action they need to take. The problem with cold calling is that it’s simply not an enjoyable process and when we don’t enjoy something it becomes difficult, we procrastinate and never really get any satisfying results.
Plant the Seed: Alternative Funding Ideas for Design-Driven Start-ups (4)
1/16/12
One of the primary barriers preventing a great business idea from becoming a great business is access to funding at the beginning of the development process. This “early stage” or “seed” funding can be vitally important for a start-up, and especially challenging for design-driven ventures, since most designers lack experience in finding funding and managing the financial side of start-ups.
Promote Your Self, Not Your Sell (3)
1/12/12
PARSE SELF PROMOTION WEEK: It may go against a common notion, but perhaps selling your services is best done by not selling at all. Getting a client to buy your services may not be as key as first getting them to pay attention.
Push and Pull the Pieces Together (0)
1/09/12
Through some combination of conceptual thinking, wit and the element of visual surprise, the designer can push and pull all the pieces together in a way that will advance the viewer’s understanding of the essence of the material.
