Читать книгу Start & Run a Creative Services Business - Susan Kirkland - Страница 28

Do you have the right equipment to finish the jobs you compete for in the marketplace? Again, think turnkey: the more you can do to push the job to completion, the more money you get to keep. And back up jobs properly. Computer hard drives are getting bigger and faster every day, and it’s tempting to store everything on your computer and neglect having an archive system for completed jobs. The first time you can’t retrieve a file or find a piece of art, you will realize the importance of having a backup copy. As a regular part of client service, supply a copy of the completed project on CD-ROM for the customer’s archive, and inform her or him that you maintain a backup copy as insurance. This is a value-added, no-cost bonus for any client and builds high rate-of-return for customers.

Basic equipment for your home office should include all the necessary peripherals required to complete a job. When providing hard copies, you will need a high-end, photo-quality color laser jet printer such as those made by Epson. A flatbed scanner with ocr (optical character recognition) capability is another important piece of equipment: it will avoid a lot of data entry. Pay close attention, though, because this software is still not perfected.

For transferring files and archiving, buy a good-quality DVD/CD burner. Forget about floppy disks, 3.5-inch disks, and Zip disks; nobody uses them anymore because of their low storage capacity and the high risk of transferring a virus. Blank CDs are a dollar a dozen and can hold ten times what a Zip disk holds — plus they create a permanent record. For archiving, CDs and DVDs can be sleeved and stored in a three-ring binder, minimizing storage space. Shop online for the best deals in equipment and storage media, including the sleeves or jewel cases to package your archival CDs. Online is also a good place to locate deals on blank CDs and DVDs. Computer catalogs frequently use media storage as a loss leader, sold at cost to attract customers.

The type of software you use can easily tag your level of proficiency in the industry.