I thank all of you, I will digest all the information on here and if any of you ever need a hand on a project or something I can do to help please let me know!
That would be great. There’s a section on the forum called Crit Pit that’s precisely for that.
The posting limit is only for new forum members. It’s mostly a spam or trouble-causer deterrent. I’ve bumped up your forum privileges so you won’t run into that again. I hope you stick around. 
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Wow what an honor. I would love to! Thank you so much. Yeah I can give or take advice or opinions and feedback on stuff.
I will post some of my junk in the crit section to see whst ya’ll think of it. I don’t see my self as a master or amazing designer, im very lazer focused and perfectionist when I design, but I don’t have the innate skill some have…
You guys are awesome and its cool to be able to speak to the real deal. Never had a mentor to lead, just me throwing shit at the wall as they say… 
In my 50-years as a creative professional (15 years working for other companies as an employee and 35-years in my own company/ad agency) I found that I might convert one out of ten cold calls, but 9 out of 10 referrals. Referrals worked best. Second was word-of- mouth.
Another great source was having good relationships with salespeople who often called on me. They would often “talk me up” to other companies they called on. I turned many of these into clients and kept several of those clients for over 20 years. One of them still calls me every month or so (even though I’ve been retired for five years) just to “check in on me” and ask me to work on special projects for him. That’s a relationship money can’t buy.
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Amazing. Yes I agree. I don’t have any decent sized clients and they “say they referred me to such and such…” but never actually gotten any referrals.
Its mostly logos for 50-200$ or once 6 months a $500-1000 brand book including logos and strategy.
I need to get my foot in the door with some when established with decent contacts on their level in order to get paid somewhat decently.
Will apply what you said though thank you!
Let me ask you, when you say salespeople, how would you make these contacts? Tradeshows and local meetups? Or was there another format to meet these folks?
What framework do you use for your strategy sessions?
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Well I begin with a questionarre to extract the Initial Brand Archetype and supporting Archetype. Gather comp list, and other small details like offering, current positioning, etc.
Create a moodboard out of some brands they aspire to be like as well as the previous details, and we start deep diving in the session. This way I have some ides already and the client is filling in the blanks.
From their begin 3 stylescapes based off of what I believe will achieve those core elements and present that to them.
I used to sketch a gajillion sketches, they would ask nieghbors, siblings, spouses for feedback, get totally unrelated nonsense suggestions leaving me in a iteration loop.
And catfish don’t feed on top, so of course they won’t pay for these “ideas because they didn’t choose one” so no backsies 
.
Since I started strat it helped some, life is not buttery smooth just yet, but it makes a difference.
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I forgot to reply directly see post for response…
But did you follow up on these referrals by actually calling the companies you were referred to? Following up is your responsibility. When ever you get a referral it often means that the company you are referred to already knows the name of the person who referred you, so call the potential new client right away and start the conversation with something like this … “Hi, I’m John Black and my client (name) said you might be interested in my graphic design services.”
Hey PopsD,
Yessir, I would definatley touch base if that was an option, but its smoke blowing they never give a contact.
They only claim that they refer never giving me contact info. Probably a manipulation to get me to discount. In my experience low ranking clients do anything to keep you because they know the worth vs cost is outrageous.
I just got to get my foot in the door of a decent mid tier client willing to pay for value. A couple of those and referrals will be same tier clients.
John — Try to avoid presenting yourself as a “pay for value” designer. Too many people translate that in their mind as meaning “cheap.” Keep your pricing as high as you know you are worth, and you may be worth far more than you realize. You are worth every dollar you deserve. Insist on it, and never sell yourself short. You will be much happier in the longrun.
I appreciate the support. I am a humble guy, I think my work could be better, but I know for a fact I take the time and attention to detail to demand more.
The problem is finding those clients willing to pay that premium and appreciate what it brings to a business.
I mean for God’sakes your entire business runs on communication, branding and resonance of said branding. How could that NOT be a priority for you as a business owner. Your literal fate rests on whether your client chooses you or the other 10 - 1000 companies doing the same.
But que sera, sera. My time to shine will come I suppose, I just need to be patient…
There’s your answer right there, you knew it all along.
I just need to be patient
Do for yourself what you want to do for the client. You know your business better than you know your client’s business. I don’t think you tell your client “Just be patient, your time to shine will come I suppose”, you deliver.
Will sh♡t if that ain’t straight to the point “tough love” I don’t know what is…
I really need to post my current portfolio so you all can see, I am currently rebuilding my site, hence my hesitation.
Thank you very much for your kick in the behind!
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Ok crew, here is the link to the crit-pit post of my portfolio…
scurries to corner and commences nailbiting franticly
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